Celebrity Pricing Question

[suntan]

I hope someone can explain to me what Celebrity is doing with their pricing. I have seen made threads about this but don't understand it. Thank you.

[Tatka]

I hope someone can explain to me what Celebrity is doing with their pricing. I have seen made threads about this but don't understand it. Thank you.

 

I don't know when it started but most of the cruises in the last 5 years where at discounted prices. (many 40% to 60%). IMHO now X decided to sell them at 100%.

 

Before... many TA used part of their comissions to offer discounts, now they can't do this either.

[sammiedawg]

I get lots of unsolicited emails about discounted X cruises. Just got one for Summit Alaska, 7 days most of the summer prices reduced to $600. Also got one for cruises into winter 2006 greatly reduced. Wish I could mention the name of this agency. They have a wonderful web site that shows the deal of the day, it is often Celebrity.

[ocngypz]

Any Celebrity "deals" which are emailed to you.. such as the Alaska promotion you mentioned... are Celebrity deals... not the travel agents. BTW it wasn't on most dates... just a few dates within 30 days.

 

Last week we had a weeklong Happy Hour....great deals to Bermuda for peak season. This coming week it'll be higher room rates.. but reduced air for those folks who need air into Philly or the NJ/NY area. There are also sme more reduced air deals on Century Europe.

 

Other sailings have senior rates on some categories... and resident rates on others.

 

The best thing any passenger can do is to establish a good working relationship with a ta who can keep them abreast of the "deals" as they come out. Some of them come and go very quickly.

[Mike2131]

I hope someone can explain to me what Celebrity is doing with their pricing. I have seen made threads about this but don't understand it. Thank you.

 

Seriously though, it seems the cruise lines have embarked on a course of raising their prices through a revised pricing structure with the agencies and just charging what they feel the market will bear. Compare 2006 prices with the flood of fire sales on 2005 cruises we all see every day and I think you have the recipe for a some wild price swings.

 

I think many cruisers (those who can or want to) will wait for the deals and the cruise lines will be forced to bring prices down to a more palatable level. The other consequence is that loyal customers will bolt for another line. The sky high pricing on the new Crown Princess out of NYC made us really shop and we found on a longer cruise on Oceania for less money!

 

I might be wrong, but I think the market will prove the cruise lines misguided in their approach.

[tmt9367]

I might be wrong, but I think the market will prove the cruise lines misguided in their approach.

 

I agree with you Mike 1000%!

 

SDT

[jezzdogg]

I agree 100% with Mike.

The cruises we have booked are the cruisesd, before they had to stop discounting. Since then we have not booked one cruise. Looking at next summer and the price for Europe was 1000pp more than this year..... when we booked last year and were able to get a good price from an online agency........( by the way we have been very happy with the service Of the many people on our roll call, we have our documents and all paperwork in our hands first, they always answer the e-mails. I do not need my hand held so why do I have to pay for other peoples wants and needs.

On our last cruise, there were 60 TA who were happily clapping their hands at the new policy of no "gift cards" and no discounting. I spoke to several of them, and they did not care one bit if the bookings were down for a particular line or ship, as long as they did not have to discount and have to compete with the 'big boys" Level playing field.....my.....this was done to help the line and some of the companies like E.......... ,T, O...

We just may switch cruise companies. because I will not over pay, when I can get the same ports from another line at 1/2 the price.

[Petoonya]

Mike,

You will *LOVE* Oceania! Just returned from a Mediterranean on Regatta- it was pure heaven. The cuisine! The service! And we booked it last year at this time when we got the 14 nites with free air-what a deal when you stacked it up against 12 on Millennium. On a per diem basis it was LESS than Millennium. We'd done the Med/Millennium 2 years ago so decided to try something different.

 

I liked Celebrity before stepping onboard Regatta (and still do) but my eyes have been opened. There ARE alternatives- and what extraordinary ones they can be.

 

There are always "deals" out there as Ocngypz says. I know I may not always be able to cruise where and when I want to, but if I stay flexible and knowledgable I can cruise. I look at Celebrity's and other lines pricing- they test the market the same as if I were selling a car or my home.

 

It doesn't seem that Celebrity is too worried about people like us disappearing. We've been stewing about their pricing policy for awhile, yet their ships seem to be selling just fine. They must know something we don't.

 

They didn't even send me a "we miss you" email when I was on Regatta. ;)

[Dolphintime]

T/A's are allowed to advertise value items for Celebrity. The only restriction is that no dollar value may be shown. Some agencies are giving away Ipod's, free insurance and other items, all allowed as long as no dollar values are shown.

 

As to those T/A's clapping for a no discount policy. The fact of the matter is that the spread on compensation for travel agents is not that great. Most of the discounters were small agencies who took charge of their business and were aggressive in the marketplace. Their prices were always lower than the travelocities of the world, etc.

 

The smart agency owners are making great profits while the other agents are either sitting on their hands or clapping as you mentioned. Guess they pay retail for every item in their daily life as well.

[waltw]

Cruising is still a great value! Ships are now sailing at or near capacity. Cruise lines set prices based on costs and demand. If Celebrity decides to set a price that is too high for the market, they will find this out quickly and adjust. But I would expect other cruise lines to start following this "new" pricing structure. And we will still be cruising and the ships will still be full. Cry and whine all we want, thing do change!

[MortgageChick]

I have been crusing for 6 years and have number 14 coming up in Sept on the Summit .(14 nights) Also have the NCL Sun booked for 10 nights on New Years and march 12 2006 on the Summit to Hawaii. I refuse to pay more than 100 a day(port and tax incl) for an Oceanview, and have not yet had to do so. We like longer repo cruises and I have no problem purchasing cruises on the Auction for deep discounts. ( I have seen numeruos winning bids in the $100 plus port range for 7 night Alaska in June on "The Auction"- total around 350 p/p).

 

The Mercury continues to be a "bargain" with next seasons 10/11 night Riviera cruises starting at 718 p/p , port and tax incl. This price is advertised on line at a very large supplier.

 

For those of us with flexible schedules who can go at last minute or on longer cruise itineraries, and who do not require hand holding, we will continue to obtain bargains. If you want to cruise in the Summer or when kids are out of school then it will be expensive.

 

Airfare last minute can be bought for a discounted price at an on line airline discounter/bucket shopsand we have had some great pricing on this such as $244 p/p from Boston to Barcelona one way on Swiss air last year for our Repo cruise.

 

I think the Cruise LInes are trying to make up for lost revenue of the past 4 years, but they will not get it from me. While cruising is my passion, I feel absolutely no sympathy for the cruise lines, they are making plenty of profit.

 

When the next serious economic downturn happens , the deals will be back.

 

 

Best Auction bargains this week:

Celebrity galaxy 14 nights repo Oct 17 $786 port and tax Inc(inside)

NCL Majesty 10 night Christmas cruise $655 port and tax incl(inside)

 

BTW I do not work for any TA or Online Auction.

 

Next up 14 nights on the Summit September 16 -Vancouver to LA

[tmt9367]

I think the Cruise LInes are trying to make up for lost revenue of the past 4 years, but they will not get it from me. While cruising is my passion, I feel absolutely no sympathy for the cruise lines, they are making plenty of profit.

 

When the next serious economic downturn happens , the deals will be back.

 

When the economy takes the next down turn and times get lean for the cruise lines, Celebrity's loyal Elite members, like us, will be elsewhere. Why don't they think about this?

 

I agree with a lot of what MortgageChick says, but we don't cruise just to cruise. We pick a cruise by the itinerary for the ports and not were the discounts are. After some 30+ cruises, we have seen the Caribbean, Alaska, etc. many times and like to pick a cruise that has better port stops.

 

As for cheap airfare, we use certain airlines for frequent flyer miles and would never think about booking it through the cruise line or buying a fare from a discounter.

 

SDT

[jezzdogg]

If you look at a lot of the Celebrity ships and RCCL they are not sailing filll.

On our last 2 cruises the ship was not full.....one was President's week where usually every Cabin is bursting........ and the Mexican Riveria on Mercury again not full. My son just booked the ADventure for June 12 and had hs choice of cabins and we cruise on July 2 on Constellation and every category has cabins available. Last year we could not even get on the cruise, and we tried booking 8 months in advance, we di the Med instead. This year 5 weeks out and you have your choice of cabins.

I am a stockholder and have seen the stock dip fcr the last 2 quarters....maybe more people cruising.....but not necc. with RCCL

[Mike2131]

Mike,

You will *LOVE* Oceania! Just returned from a Mediterranean on Regatta- it was pure heaven. The cuisine! The service! And we booked it last year at this time when we got the 14 nites with free air-what a deal when you stacked it up against 12 on Millennium. On a per diem basis it was LESS than Millennium. We'd done the Med/Millennium 2 years ago so decided to try something different.

 

I liked Celebrity before stepping onboard Regatta (and still do) but my eyes have been opened. There ARE alternatives- and what extraordinary ones they can be.

 

There are always "deals" out there as Ocngypz says. I know I may not always be able to cruise where and when I want to, but if I stay flexible and knowledgable I can cruise. I look at Celebrity's and other lines pricing- they test the market the same as if I were selling a car or my home.

 

It doesn't seem that Celebrity is too worried about people like us disappearing. We've been stewing about their pricing policy for awhile, yet their ships seem to be selling just fine. They must know something we don't.

 

They didn't even send me a "we miss you" email when I was on Regatta. ;)

 

We found the same situation. Everything about the Oceania 12 night cruise appealed to us - a smaller ship (we have wanted to try one), very limited smoking, a terrific itinerary of smaller ports (not the usual Eastern Caribbean), a casual atmosphere (no formal nights - yea!), and what promises to be great food and service. Add that to a more than competitive per diem cost and, as you said, there are alternatives out there - some very attractive ones!

[arby70]

Can you email me these auction and discount sites you speak of on this thread. It looks like you have invaluable info here. Thanks.

 

arby70@hotmail.com

[Analog187]

I almost missed that Happy Hour. All week the July 9th Philly to Bermuda Cruise was 850 pp for inside. I went to book it the other day and it went up to 1250 to 1450 depending on where you looked. I checked expedia and it was still 850. Got it booked and confirmed. The next day, it was 1250.