Ellaleah

I checked a Celebrity for a solo and the price was triple.

I am wondering if the spa on the Eclipse is worth whatever they might be charging.  I will be doing a 13 night TA next year.  I was recently on the NCL Bliss and they had a great spa which included a jetted pool, steam, sauna, snow, and salt rooms.  What might I expect on the aeclipse?

10 hours ago, shrifk said:

I have cruised Transatlantic several years ago and it was wonderful.  My wife died last January and I am looking at a transatlantic cruise in Oct. 2025.  If there are other solos out there I'd like to hear from you.

I am booked on the 10/30/25 Eclipse TA departing Barcelona with 3 other women.  We were each able to book individual cabins when the cruise was first offered.  I’m not sure if you consider us solos, but I do.

I was booked on a Celebrity cruise.  I purchased 2 $500. Cards for 2 people and was going to purchase more.  Then my cruise was canceled.  I was stuck with them, but luckily I knew someone who was going on a Celebrity and they bought them from me.  They used them with their TA for final payment.

15 hours ago, vms said:

If Celebrity says they've changed this policy, I haven't seen it recently.

 

Tried looking at cruises with their most recent promotion of 75% off the second guest. So if a non-promotional rate I should expect 200% of the per person rate, then I should expect 125% with this promotion, right? Nope. Per person rate was around 900. Solo rate for same cabin was $4000+.

 

I was able to reach Elite status with my last cruise with them a couple of years ago, and sad that I won't get to enjoy any of the Elite perks as I won't be cruising with them again until they change this policy.

 

I did get an email about completing a survey based on my recent browsing experience, so did let them know I won't be considering them until they change. I don't like paying the 200% but I've always done it for a cruise that I really wanted to go on. But paying 200% of the total for 2 people?!?! Not in a million years.

I just checked prices on a solo for 1/26 as I did have 1 good experience booking far out when a cruise had just been offered.  This was not the case here.  The price for a solo is triple!

I am happy to see it back on there today, but it was definitely not there yesterday and it was exactly what happened before.  I am so pleased that it looks like a false alarm.

1 minute ago, Cruise Gopher said:

I checked the Celebrity booking site that TAs use and the sailing is showing as normal. Usually if it’s being redeployed or canceled they will mark the sailing as closed in the system but that’s not the case here. 
 

The Celebrity website might have just been undergoing some maintenance. Keep checking back. 

I really hope you are right because this is identical to what happened the last time and the customer service people made up all sorts of reasons until we, the passengers received letters and then they still didn’t know.

This is what I posted on my roll call, but I thought I might be wise to have it here also.

It’s most definitely accurate to state that Celebrity is OUTRAGEOUS when it comes to solos and even more so should they want the drinks and Wi-Fi.  I believe that Celebrity created the solo balconies on their newer ship as an accommodation for solos, but as soon as they were put out, they raised the prices to more for a solo in these cabins than if a solo booked a regular double balcony for 1!

3 hours ago, rj59 said:

Making general statements like that really isn't accurate, because it all depends on where and when you book, and what you spend on board. My first 5 X cruises in Solstice cost an average of $300, and a week on Apex cost $650 or so. Even last November/December I booked Mexico cruises on X for $300 or so, although for one I had to book a no-show second guest, to get around the price discrimination. I booked Ascent in January and Beyond next November for around $900, both with a solo discount--you just have to know when and where to book and grab deals when you see them. Next January I have Silhouette booked for $60/nt for a solo cabin. I find similar deals on other lines, like $100/nt for Azamara in Europe and the Caribbean solo, and last month I had a deluxe suite on HAL for $50/nt to Mexico under their standby program. As a solo cruiser, I also have complete control of onboard spending, so I skip packages, I buy e-sim passes for data in every port, and skip most excursions. I also had my first 5 X cruises paid for by buying RCL at $40 to get the OBC, and then selling at $120. No cruise line is perfect, they all have pluses and minuses, as do all ships and all destinations, which is why I'm agnostic about lines--I just returned from a Carnival cruise and last week booked 5 cruises on Quantum of the Seas to Mexico, since the Quantum class reminds me of Edge-class, but without the offensive-to-me closing of so much public space by the Retreat. 

This is a last minute cruise to South America.  Please see tgae charge for solo vs double!  Ridiculous!

2 minutes ago, JsMom2 said:

Check Celebrity in July and August.  I’ve found multiple sailings over the years with 0 supplement.  

How long ago?  I woukd be really surprised if that is the case now!

17 minutes ago, zitsky said:

So I listened to all the folks saying Celebrity is expensive.  So I got a quote from Regent for a 14 day Japan cruise all inclusive with airfare in a Penthouse B suite with butler.  It came out to ONLY $49,000 for two pax.  I just about fell off my chair.

 

I realize a better comparison might be a veranda cabin which I’ve peeked at before on the website but never formally priced out.  But since Celebrity includes a butler again in all suites I wanted to compare butler for butler.

 

However I still don’t quite see how Celebrity is more expensive than THAT.  I’m not quite ready to spend that much on a cruise.  Unless I get free toilet paper.

I am not surprised that Celebrity is not more than Regent, but as I understand it Regent is more of a luxury line.  Try comparing it to Princess, Holland, or NCL.  As a solo traveler I can tell you that Celebrity is outrageous!  In most cases if a solo was to book the AI option, which is now just tips and drinks, the price doubles or more than doubles and is way more than just adding the drink pkg and tips.  They have pretty much priced themselves out of that market and created a lot of bad will along the way!  Celebrity does not provide good value!

13 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I tried a dummy booking last week and for a solo it was a couple hundred less than two people…but that may represent the taxes and fees for the second person.  But it wasn’t more than double.  EM

It depends on the cruise.  Some are a lot more than double, but they have adjusted them a bit.  The real bad deal is that if a solo books the AI the price for the add on is way more than what it is pp if there were 2 people.  If one were to book for 2 and only 1 shows, wouldn’t you have had to put down a non refundable deposit for each person and wouldn’t that be lost? 

36 minutes ago, D. B. said:

I just booked my first NCL cruise in 10 years because they gave me A Solo veranda cabin with a lot of perks on a Panama Canal cruise at a very reasonable cost.

a similar cruise on Celebrity would have been more expensive even with Cruise Only price.

   Now believe me I’m still going to be sailing with Celebrity ( 9 future cruises booked) but I will see what NCL is like on one of their newer ships.

Our one and only NCL cruise was 10 years ago and very disappointing.

Recently returned from my second NCL (first in several years).  NCL puts together a good pkg in general and especially for solos.  No complaints on the food or service.  They had nightly solo meetings and I believe they arranged dinners and excursions for solos.  Production shows were excellent.  My biggest complaint might be that there was not nearly enough seating in the buffet and I did not care for the 2 excursions that I participated in.  They were, of course, third party.  I am going on my first Celebrity next year.  I would not anticipate them to be nearly as accommodating to solos onboard as the fares for solos that are more than 200% are not accommodating.

A little good news for solos!

Apparently Celebrity got some of the message that solos were not happy with paying over 200%.  I have a cruise booked for 10/25.  I prices for solos have just been adjusted  from the ridiculous price they were charging solos.  Also, it seems that the issue with the Cruise Care not carrying over to the final mock booking has been remedied.

44 minutes ago, Gloucester Girl said:

My TA just sent me a quote for three back to back cruise as a single traveler on Celebrity Millenium. I did my research and I am being quoted 44% more than for two passengers in the same cabin category or 289% more than those same two passengers per person fare. Will Celebrity start charging a singles “surcharge” for shore excursions, drinks, gratuities, and Wi-Fi? Or will the overcharge for the cabin itself be sufficient? 

There is definitely a surcharge on the “AI” if you are a solo and also on the Cruise Care.  None of this makes any sense, but if you book solo, you will pay more for all those things!

And if you add the “all included” on the cruise I listed above,it’s ridiculously more fo4 a solo than 2.  I believe that Celebrity is aware of this and it is purposeful!

13 minutes ago, geminitwin said:

I received my phone call from the Executive Office late last week.  "Selected itineraries for selected dates on selected ships will have a limited number of single supplements available."  The list of sailings is not available and will not be provided.   He rattled off the list of ships -- not surprising, no newer ships.  A mock inquiry of "ABC Islands in Q1 2025" shows no single availability;  closest is three sailings to ABC Islands all in Nov 2024, all leaving within a three day time span.  It's your bad luck if that week doesn't work with your schedule.  Was told that the 2025 "single supplements" were focused on Asia and New Zealand.  When I ask who determined that solo travelers wanted to travel to Asia and NZ in 2025, the answer was "Revenue Manager."  He tried desperately to redirect by telling me that the 'butler issue' and the 'wine issue' were being resolved.  As a shareholder, I seriously hope that someone at RCI has their eye on all these changes-then immediate rollbacks that are happening inside the Celebrity brand.  Management is clearly not doing their homework.  Maybe I just haven't seen it yet, but I'm surprised that no one is talking class action yet regarding unfair pricing practices.  Lots of choices when it comes to cruising, and like others here, I will vote with my travel dollars.  

24 minutes ago, kasowell2 said:

Just did a mock booking on the Reflection for March 10th. A suite guarantee for two people was $4900. Not too bad but a suite guarantee for one person was $10,000. I’d make up a name and book two and just say the other person is checking in later. That’s ridiculous 

I have found this to be the case in several mock bookings I have done and in some cases the cabins that are “solo” cabins are priced higher than if you book a double for a solo.

I had the same issue and it is pretty much the same case every time I do a mock booking.  Celebrity has the worst website and interface of any of the cruise lines though it has greatly improved.  I don’t trust them and wonder if this insurance thing is purposeful!

Any suggestions?  Thank you.

On 12/20/2023 at 9:01 AM, asctony said:

If you like 'all in', relook at the things you are getting with Princess' packages.

There is no 'all in' with X's pkgs. You only get Drinks and Wi-Fi. I am not talking about Suites or Retreat. Price out the X Pkg and compare to the Princess Pkg. 

the Princess Pkg is way more appealing and economical!

38 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

And why should we care what he thinks? When will people who have done with Celebrity move on, soon I hope.

It’s not what he thinks.  It’s the facts.  Celebrity is screwing solos and I guess if you don’t fall in that category and don’t care about their business practices, you just don’t care!  Personally, I don’t trust them!  I think this is sneaking and very bad for their PR and image!