yorkyred

If it's a good weather cruise nothing is better than the balcony. Breakfast with a view of a Caribbean island, it does not get better than that.

Never seen a watch bargain on a single cruise, bargains to be had in a few of the Caribbean ports though especially if you are a Brit.

I concur with OP.

 

Our Infinity south America cruise this past February in the MDR had very disappointing food. Our table of repeaters routinely sent over 50 per cent of the entrees back. When measured against previous years it was very clear the quality of the ingredients have been reduced.

 

If you are new to Celebrity you would not note the obvious cost cutting here. Celebrity is counting on the new cruisers so they do not have to provide MDR food per the high quality standards of past.

 

It was the food on Celebrity which gave this company licence to say they were a "premium" in the mass market.

 

Celebrity is being downgraded while focus is on superficial and extra pay.

 

Interestingly our table of repeaters all boycotted the extra fee dining.

 

Recent email exchanges indicate no one has a celebrity Cruise booked as the boycott continues - we are all elite and no one will pay the increased prices for drink package when the elite benefits provide similar.

 

The product downgrade, focus on superficial, canned loud music and price increase well beyond inflation have eliminated my households cruise patronage of Celebrity.

 

ABoatNerd

Having never cruised Celebrity ( our first cruise with them in four weeks) it's going to be interesting making the food comparison with other cruise lines we have used such as Princess and RC. What I will say is if the quality of the product overall has dropped it does not appear to be effecting booking, our cruise seems close to being fully booked a month in advance. I also notice from many of the reviews around the net that there are still many loyal to Celebrity, cruising with them again and again and giving four/ five star feedback. It's obviously still a product the vast majority seem happy with.

Average cruise review score on here

Carnival 73%

Holland America 75%

Royal Caribbean 76%

Princess 78%

Celebrity 83%

Clearly Celebrity offers a better product than the other mass market cruise lines.

Don't post your email on here, you leave yourself totally open.

We got great reductions in the UK on a wide range of Celebrity cruises for this summer in Europe around about late April (still at least 6 weeks before final payment). The one we picked worked out 50% less than we paid last year (and we thought that was a good price) for the same ship, same cabin grade (gte balcony), itinerary and freebies (none :D ).

 

I had been tracking the prices for about 8 months and they were significantly more expensive, changing daily, one offer replaced with another. In those months I saw lots of "warnings" about how availability was low, book now to avoid disappointment, prices will go up when this offer ends etc etc - but then one weekend - several UK TAs and Celebrity themselves slashed prices for about 36 hours. No freebies, just low prices.

 

It worked for us, YMMV. One risk I see about waiting (other than the reduction never materialising) is that airfares do seem to go up significantly the longer you leave it and at the last minute can be silly.

 

I also found it useful to watch the prices of other cruise lines - there were several ships doing similar itineraries around about that time (2 week med cruises ex Southampton) and they were all significantly cheaper than Celebrity (Cunard, RCL, P+O) - At one point Celebrity were asking over £5000 for a 2C cabin about 40% more than the other lines.

 

At the moment cruises are offering us very good value and we are enjoying them a lot. If and when that changes we'll probably shift back to land based holidays, there is no way I would pay £5000 for a 2 week cruise around the Med, for example.

I'm honestly not sure there is any sure fire way of getting the cheapest deal. For the November cruise mentioned we booked an inside cabin early, six months later the prices dropped and we cancelled and got a balcony on the hump for less than the inside. Prices then started to rise again and never came back down unless you accepted a guarantee. I'm happy enough getting a 13 night cruise in a balcony plus drinks package plus onboard credit for *£2770

Our cruise in November has gone up and up and only has guarantees left in most of the Balcony cats at lower levels so you just never know. Interestingly I also priced up for a cruise next September. We use a TA that is linked to a big ta in the states but use a London address. You get through to Florida when phoning the freephone number but don't get the benefits of US cruisers such as not losing your deposit. The price using an American TA for that September cruise is way more than booking with the UK one so its not always cheaper.

I don't know, but I doubt that the price is being set to screw the people who purchase the premium package. It is more like likely $13.50 because that is what the normal markup comes to when rounded.

 

What percentage of passengers actually get the premium package? I'd guess 5-20% depending on the cruise. What percentage of those drink a wine that happens to be $13.50? Probably not many.

 

X cannot make every detail perfect for every passenger, and often the chips fall where they may.

The percentage of passengers on the premium package is as low as that ? Quite surprised.

So does your drinks package show up on the e docs ?

Yes you as long as you cancel before final payment is due you can get your deposit back although some agents may charge a fee. You can get price drops and take advantage of different offers for this reason.You usually have to track the price yourself though and ask for the drop. If the price drops after final payment you can't get a reduction but you may be able to upgrade as long as the cabin you upgrade to is a higher price. Also if you book a guarantee cabin you can change it to one in the same category once it has been allocated. They used to allow this in the UK but not any more. You can also usually make changes to your booking such as changing cabins etc without charge.

Most agents in the US don't hold your money, your card is charged directly by the cruiseline although the agent will have it on file. They don't charge any credit card fees either and if you use a specialist card for overseas spending such as Halifax Clarity , you get the market exchange rate rather than being charged about 3% as is the case with a lot of cards.

 

 

Just out of interest did anyone get an e mail from Celebrity about this offer?

 

If it hadn't been for Host Andy I would have been none the wiser!

Many thanks

Could someone explain to me exactly the benefits of a U.S. Ta. If we book now for a cruise next September can we cancel and receive a refund on our deposit. if the cruise price drops do we receive the same drop in our booking with the TA automatically? Anything else of benefit ?

that's ok! Just use a us travel agent and get the same deals!!

The problem is many UK cruisers would have no idea of which US agent they could use. Even for many on here it's easy enough to do a Google search but without the ability to receive recommendations many have no idea of the quality of those a search brings up.

I guess it depends on what you do. Only a small percentage of cruise passengers go snokelling with far more enjoying exploring the islands. Bonaire really has very little for us and we're much happier with the overnight in Caracoa. Being able to spend time on an island later at night is something we enjoy.

We just take whatever seat given and enjoy the meal and our table companions. We also just wait our turn at the various bars and don't try and reserve the best seats at the theatre. Strangely we have never found it to be a beyond awful, maybe we are just weird people.

An iPad air2 64 comes in at £384 so just below the £390 customs limit so you don't need to worry about customs in the UK.

Hi, given they have not updated the iPad air 2 this year I'm looking to purchase on the eclipse in November. Has anyone been onboard lately that can give an indication on stock levels.

Tips are an extra payment for good/exceptional service, if you aren't getting it why should you reward someone for not doing their job? Before you get your undies in a bundle, we've have never reduced/removed tips on any of our 39 cruises, but I want the option if it so arises. Add it to the fare and it eliminates the decision. Make it a service charge that is included in the fare and market it as such.

Been on the one Thomson cruise with tips included and it's some of the best service we had. Had some terrible service on a cruise where tips were not included. I'm not convinced it would see a drop in service standards. Poor staff are poor staff regardless in my opinion.

Just include tipping as part of the cruise cost as some other cruise companies do.

Must admit it's the tables for two that would actually put us off Blue. Some of our best experiences of cruising have come from meeting new people in the MDR on a shared table. When on our honeymoon we took a table for two most night and admitted afterwards we really missed a shared table. We have made new friends and the good has far outweighed the bad.

I am only repeating what was explained. The lack of production shows on the third cruise from today (sorry, I haven't investigated the exact date) has to do with the complexities of changing over from one show to another. There are MAJOR changes that have to happen in regards to sets, lighting and communication technology. Celebrity is installing some very advanced and expensive equipment.

 

There will be entertainment, just not the large production shows.

I wonder if Celebrity will let passengers on that cruise know in advance because that's quite a change to what they have paid for.

We are just off the best ship in the fleet, that being The Eclipse and we were advised by Sue Denning of some exciting developments in regards to the production shows.

 

Celebrity is now going to be producing their own shows and will thus have complete ownership and thus control of them. Celebrity has a huge production facility in South Florida where all the shows will be developed from conception through to fruition. The initial two shows will be rolled out on The Eclipse in the next three weeks and on The Silhouette (yikes, I think it was the sil!). There will be some interruption and limitation of shows over the next three cruises on the eclipse, particularly the third one from today where there won't be any production shows. Of course there will be plenty of other types of entertainment offered.

 

As for the question of Acapella groups, these have been pulled due to their expense (as they require several cabins) and lack of popularity.

I'm glad we are not on the Eclipse until November then. We love the shows and would not be happy to arrive and find they had none the entire cruise.

Thing is while just about everyone will drink more on holiday than they do at home it's for a relative short period of time so I don't see the issue. That's actually more than I drink but I don't see drinking on a cruise as any worse than the majority that are drinking in holiday hotels. It's a bit of a none story really.

We also are on BA flight A380-800 out of LHR into MIA on the 15th Nov'15. Originally booked with Delta who made unacceptable flight changes then changed to Virgin who re-scheduled their flight to the morning then changed to BA. Although all the changes were frustrating the eventual flight resulted in a significant cost reduction.

 

Last year Miami International was hell on earth when we arrived as US Customs had a work to rule which caused major chaos and it took over 3 hours from plane landing to get to the taxi rank. Hope things will be different this year ....................!

Yes I've heard it's pretty bad, never usd Miami before. We are flying out on Saturday the 14th and staying in a hotel on south beach for a couple nights then another night after the cruise.

I don't think we have ever had a bargain in the Caribbean although we have generally been happy with what we paid. You have to book flights so far in advance to fit around the cruise that unless you go for around 4 weeks, you can't leave booking the cruise later to chance.

 

Our first cruise with Celebrity was an AQ which was much cheaper (around 40%) than Princess so we moved lines. Didn't have drinks built in then. The current pricing still works out at around the same as 4 years ago if you add in the cost of the drink package.

This is certainly our first cruise with Celebrity so I don't know the history regarding late bookings. But speaking with others while in the Caribbean in the past they got fantastic late deals. That was on the likes of the P&O Ventura though so maybe not a great comparison.

But yes the flight are an issue, we booked ours with BA around last November and got a decent deal deal given it involved a transfer down to Heathrow. We're on one of the new BA super jumbo's which I think they are just having delivered around now.

It is very difficult to work out Celebrity's pricing policy, seams bizarre ! We are on the same cruise 16th Nov. (don't see you on our rollcall ?) and booked the cruise last February paying $4370 which is $1020 less than the current price for C3 cabin, both prices included the drinks pkg. but we also had free grats and $650 obc. Can't believe how the prices have increased now and for 2016/17, trust reality will return again in the new year as the leisure economy is still relatively flat.

Hi, I introduced ourselves on post 79, not sure if that counts as signed up to the roll call or not ?