No discounts within 30 days.

News here has RC CEO saying no discounts within 30 days of sailing for all 3 lines.

Can we get captain's club rep to comment on how this affects the "new" upgrade program?

News here has RC CEO saying no discounts within 30 days of sailing for all 3 lines.

 

Can we get captain's club rep to comment on how this affects the "new" upgrade program?

The CEO said they would in effect rather see a cabin sail empty than do big price cutting during the 30 days - maybe 40 or 50 - before a sailing. He did not preclude discounts, just not doing the 50% off deals they did last year if I heard it correctly. Would that effect the upgrade program since they are simply upselling to an existing customer and not cutting prices to fill an empty cabin? I would say definitely not. Also if the offer is to provide an upgrade for free then it is simply a matter of providing goodwill at very little or no cost to the company. does it cost Celebrity more for a couple in a Veranda vs. an Inside Cabin? Probably not. How about Aqua vs. a Veranda? Maybe a few dollars a day, but not much.

News here has RC CEO saying no discounts within 30 days of sailing for all 3 lines.

 

Can we get captain's club rep to comment on how this affects the "new" upgrade program?

So looking at another thread, it looks like they are just selling inside guarantees and then assigning balconies. This way it looks like an upgrade instead of a price reduction.

To the OP, I Am not sure how the correlation is made between the two programs that requires an 'official' response, please explain your thoughts further.

bon voyage

Price on my c2 on the Eclipse 4/3 sailing dropped from $2500pp to about $1700pp since final payment two weeks ago. Balconiy gtd for the 14 day itinerary now down to $1250 (w/resident deal). As of last friday there were over 200 unsold cabins. Now down to 97. Doubt that Fain will let ships sail with many empty cabins. More likely they will just roll the discounts out at 60 day mark rather than the 30 day mark and obscure them as resident and senior deals.

We have heard this kind of pronouncement before, and it has always been a lot of baloney. It is a matter of what economists call "Opportunity Lost" Revenue. An empty cabin/berth means not only the permanent loss of the cruise fare revenue, but also means the loss of related onboard revenue. Yes, a cruise line can "threaten" to eliminate last minute discounts, promotions, etc. But in the final analysis, they will not be working for that cruise line very long if they cannot fill berths.

Personally, we could care less about these pronouncements...and we say this having been on over 100 cruises to 6 continents. Unlike some, we shop around among many different cruise lines (have been on 14) and itineraries, and we also love to take lengthy land trips. If we do not find an interesting or reasonably priced cruise we will simply fly to Europe or Asia and spend 1-2 months traveling (usually by rental car in Europe). As to the Caribbean, if we do not find a deal we like we simply book a high-end All Inclusive.

As to RCI, we used to cruise on that line (RCCL) regularly, but a few years ago when they changed some policies regarding Diamond, changed a lot of their emphasis from quality to just building Mega ships, and seemed to reach out to very young cruisers....we stopped cruising on that line. We have continued to enjoy Celebrity, but now we are seeing too many cut-backs combined with major price increases....so will likely reduce our X cruising. In fact, it is just those issues that drove us back to HAL where we are doing a 55 day cruise. That would have been multiple back to backs on X until our most recent X experience. The cruise industry is a very dynamic business and is always undergoing change. Some travelers are also fine with changing to other options :).

Hank

Gee. There are 3 cruises on the current Xciting Deals page that are LESS than 30 days out........They speak with "forked tongue".

Gee. There are 3 cruises on the current Xciting Deals page that are LESS than 30 days out........They speak with "forked tongue".

They do not appear to be reuced too much, or maybe I should say they aren't

good enough deals to get me excited.

They do not appear to be reuced too much, or maybe I should say they aren't

good enough deals to get me excited.

My friends are in AQ on the Mar 4th Equinox which they booked a year ago and the "deals" are $300 more expensive!!. They also have the 123 promo. I book really early and all my cruises are much higher now.

Price on my c2 on the Eclipse 4/3 sailing dropped from $2500pp to about $1700pp since final payment two weeks ago. Balconiy gtd for the 14 day itinerary now down to $1250 (w/resident deal). As of last friday there were over 200 unsold cabins. Now down to 97. Doubt that Fain will let ships sail with many empty cabins. More likely they will just roll the discounts out at 60 day mark rather than the 30 day mark and obscure them as resident and senior deals.

Been following our cruise, pricing, availability, etc for the past month. Several cabins were showing yesterday in C1,2,3 on another site which shows all available cabins. A few days ago X site showed nothing available except verandah and concierge. Today X shows nothing available. I know this other site had many cabins available yesterday. Today it shows nothing available except for a FV for this 3/4/16 cruise on Equinox. So, my take is they cut everything off 30 days prior except maybe for call ins to TA's? Or, they start shifting cruisers between cabins as goodwill gestures? I could be so wrong, but it seemed odd everything was sold out overnight.

Gee. There are 3 cruises on the current Xciting Deals page that are LESS than 30 days out........They speak with "forked tongue".

Fain did not say they would be no discounting. It was a general comment - not a formal policy - that there would not be what he said at one point was predatory discounting in the days just before a cruise. I took it to mean they would not be doing $199 week long cruises like carnival offered last year close to sailing date. Nothing more and nothing less.

Fain did not say they would be no discounting. It was a general comment - not a formal policy - that there would not be what he said at one point was predatory discounting in the days just before a cruise. I took it to mean they would not be doing $199 week long cruises like carnival offered last year close to sailing date. Nothing more and nothing less.

And the beat goes on....and on.... I say just believe what you want. It is what it is.

My friends are in AQ on the Mar 4th Equinox which they booked a year ago and the "deals" are $300 more expensive!!. They also have the 123 promo. I book really early and all my cruises are much higher now.

If you are looking at Canadian pricing, of course it is more. Our dollar has tanked in the past year. Celebrity has adjusted their Canadian prices accordingly.

Even when they don't drop the prices advertised to the general public, they often drop special category prices to fill available cabins.

That way they don't need to give the fare reductions to those who booked earlier at higher prices, most of whom are often not even aware that other passengers are booking the same category for much lower prices.

Did not celebrity ceo say last year no discounting after final payment date.And they will sail a ship half emply when pigs fly is when that will happen They will do what ever to fill ship

If you read the press release carefully, it only targets certain markets. Given RCCLs recent forward looking guidance, and stock tank, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. The strong dollar, weak China, Zika, and issues in the eastern Med will all impact this pricing strategy. My guess is there will be additional perks before there will be large price drops. However, it's all supply and demand. If enough consumers decide to forgo/scale back based on pricing, the pricing will return to more reasonable levels.

I booked in early Dec in CDN funds. My veranda was 3200 all said and done with grats prepaid a 100$ obc and classic drink package for both of us. That's 457$ a day. Now let's put that into perspective. I would pay 180 a night for a hotel. 40$ on lunch and breakfast a day plus approx 100 on dinner per day. So that's 320$ a day. Add drinks at 50$ a day per person I'm at 420$. Entertainment each night 80$ I'm at $500. Plus traveling to different countries...well I think a cruise is good value and I think I its a fair price to pay.

I booked in early Dec in CDN funds. My veranda was 3200 all said and done with grats prepaid a 100$ obc and classic drink package for both of us. That's 457$ a day. Now let's put that into perspective. I would pay 180 a night for a hotel. 40$ on lunch and breakfast a day plus approx 100 on dinner per day. So that's 320$ a day. Add drinks at 50$ a day per person I'm at 420$. Entertainment each night 80$ I'm at $500. Plus traveling to different countries...well I think a cruise is good value and I think I its a fair price to pay.

I live in Europe and benefit from good air routes to Asia. I can fly to Thailand for 1200 euro for two. A good 4 star hotel including breakfast is 100 euro a night which comes to 1400 for two weeks. Spending is a max 70 a day for drinks, food and local transport so 1000 spending bringing it to a total of 3600.

A 10 day med cruise with a few nights at either end, a premium drinks package and EU flights costs the bones of 5000. A Caribbean cruise can add another 1000 to that. But yes a cheap internal cabin could reduce that by a good bit.

So for me a cruise has to offer good food, good entertainment and good ports to grab my attention.

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2 years ago I was able to score an upgrade from C3 to A2 for $20 pp/wk (well, 5 days).

Last year I was able to snag low OV to sweet 16 for $75 for the week (total) & low OV to FV for $150/wk

I still see some pretty good values on the same Constellation cruise right now but I haven't been following it so I don't know if they have remained static.

4 weeks out & our ships seems to show quite a bit of availability but prices haven't budged. I paid $150 less pp for our cabin PLUS got drinks package, tips & $400 OBC in February. (if you figure all that in, it's like getting a balcony for $500/wk--SCORE!; we thought $500/INT was a good deal 10 years ago!)

Now, catching deals like this is just fun for me. But I have been very happy with the deals I scored when I booked. That's what has kept us cruising Celebrity the last 3 years.

CEO is an idiot or full of hot air. Empty cabins are lost revenue.

 

And they will sail a ship half emply when pigs fly is when that will happen They will do what ever to fill ship

 

CEO is an idiot or full of hot air. Empty cabins are lost revenue.

Economics 101 combined with the History of Advertising and Propaganda. ;)

Economics 101 combined with the History of Advertising and Propaganda. ;)

Loved my Econ classes...:D

Have checked prices daily since final payment. We booked C3 & prices have remained $150pp higher than when we booked a year ago. Yet I don't see cabins being sold...we are about 2 weeks out now. I had done all of our upgrade about 1 month prior to departure the last 2 years.

Crazy that you don't want a few extra $ from me to upgrade. I'm not paying $350pp more for AQ--we can get unlimited dining plan for about $200 each if available. The cabin itself isn't worth more, but we would pay a bit extra for Blu.

No worries, gonna have a good time no matter what!

I wish I could EVER figure out Celebrity's strategies on this...

In the past, several times I have upgraded withing the last month or so...usually to a Concierge from a standard Balcony with either no additional charge or a small upcharge (less than $100 pp). Typically happened because those Concierge cabins are the hardest for them to sell--you really don't get much worth anything for the additional price--extra hors d'oerves? A bottle of cheap champagne? A slightly upgraded shower head? "Better" shampoo?

Anyway, I've waited for those not to sell, then there would be a price drop...I'd call...or have my TA call...Celebrity and, voila! I'd move up...but only if I could improve my cabin or cabin location (I'd first check to see if any of the Concierge cabins with the oversized angled balconies were available--and snag one of those)...

So, here we are only 30 days from sailing on my next cruise--on Silhouette...

I've been monitoring the bookings as usual...and it's fairly true to form...

Insides and OVs are completely sold out--and, at least as of now, they are not even selling guarantees in those categories)...Suites WERE sold out--but it appears that ONE CS has come back on the market (I assume someone cancelled). ALL of the "standard" balconies (save one 1C which looks like it just came back on the market today) are sold out...but they ARE still marketing a balcony guarantee--for the same exact fare I've paid for my 2B midship (I'd be foolish to ask to be reassigned to this in the belief I could get upgraded since they could easily jockey others around to open up an obstructed 2D or 2C or assign me a location far aft or far to the rear--and I'd lose one of the two "perks" I got when I booked almost a year ago).

The cabins that ARE available...and there are LOTS of them:

28 Aqua class cabins

At least 44 Concierge cabins (the site I use to check only shows up to 25 cabins in any specific category--so the 25 C3s it shows could mean even more available).

So, 30 days to sell, 75 cabins left...and the overwhelming bulk of them are Concierge and Aqua.

But, they are still selling those balcony guarantees at a much lower price than for choosing a specific Aqua or Concierge cabin ($1249 pp for the guarantee, $1449 for a Concierge guarantee, $1549 for an Aqua Guarantee, $1499 to choose a Concierge cabin, $1599 to choose an Aqua cabin).

My guess is that anyone booking now would likely take that $1249 balcony guarantee and HOPE that means they get assigned a Concierge or Aqua...

For argument's sake, let's say in the next 30 days, they sell 75 balcony guarantees. Will they simply assign those folks all of those open Concierge and Aqua cabins? Or will they upsell or upgrade their current paid balcony bookings to open up some balconies?

(If they sell less than 75, I'm guessing those cabins will still not sail empty--they would first give them away to known gamblers, RCI employees, travel agents, etc.).

So, here's the big question for me: I am an Elite Plus Captains Club member with two 2B cabins in my party (the other is my sister and brother-in-law who are Elite Captains Club). Under a previously discussed alleged policy, one would think we'd be among the first to be offered, in some way, to move up from our current category to Aqua or Concierge. Of course, so far, that has NOT happened. Will it? Or will all of those 75 cabins evaporate over the next 30 days. It would be somehow unlikely that 75 customers would all bypass the cheaper balcony guarantee rates to pay $400-$600 more per cabin for those Concierge and Aqua cabins...We'll soon see...

The 200 unsold cabins for the Eclipse 4/3 sailing I mentioned earlier in this thread are now all gone. Only a single s2 and one gs are available. Obviously the fire-sale they conducted after final pmt worked. It's just aggravating to have seen a $1,500 price drop for my c2 with no benefit to me. They did roll out a resident deal where an s2 was just a few bucks over my c2, but that would have forced me to give up all my 123 perqs and res. isn't combinable with bbb. Not thanks.

 

Now, catching deals like this is just fun for me. But I have been very happy with the deals I scored.

 

That's what has kept us cruising Celebrity the last 3 years.

Agree completely! Some of the deals available make it almost as cheap to cruise Celebrity as to live at home.

In addition, vowing not to cut prices inside the 30 day mark is absolutely MEANINGLESS when they are cutting prices at 45 days or 60 days, or even BEFORE final payment... to keep those who booked early from rioting over having paid too much.

The 13 night Constellation transatlantic (inside cabin) is $499pp (45 days out)

The 16 night Reflection transatlantic (balcony cabin) just went from $999pp to $799pp (50 days out)

I'd be curious to hear how those who booked at $1699pp feel. :(

Imagine the vast majority of cruisers who don't even know these price drops happen.