We like to book early but not many perks available

[bencruzN]

We always book our cruises early, at the least 12 months. Ready to book for next year Oct 2014 for Mediterranean, but I'm not finding any cruise agents giving up perks. Yes, there's OBC, but the most so far has been $100.

 

We would really love to do the 123Go, but not applicable for us. I had one agent even tell me they would prorate when/if it became available for our cruise in Oct 2014. :rolleyes: Don't know how true that is. Does anyone know of this, will or can the agents prorate once you're booked? I thought the 123 promotion was just for new bookings. We've never cruised Celebrity, so don't know it they allow this or not.

[cle-guy]

You basically need to be able to cancel and rebook a new reservation.

 

So that means you have to be able to eat any cancelation penalty you may be imposed based on the time of the switch if any applies at that time. If your booking is a standard rack-rate no or very little discount, it may be easy to do.

 

Also, you will often find the 123 offer only comes once they raise cabin prices accordingly, so you may give up a favorable low rate for this and may not make out on the overall deal (maybe a $1000 beverage package is more than that, but perhaps the $200 OBC is less than that may be...)

 

And you may lose that perfectly selected location in the process finding 123 only applies to certain higher category rooms etc.

 

Pros and cons to booking early and late.... Supply and demand in action!

[shoreham01]

We have lost out big time for booking really early and being loyal customers. Celebrity will not price match, even though the price has gone down by about £345. They say it is for new bookings only, even though I can find no mention of that on the web site. The only offer for new bookings I can find is one that gives a free excursion, but I was not looking at that offer. If we cancel and re-book we lose our OBC including separate OBC kindly given to us by Miami regarding a little problem on our last cruise.

 

Next year we will wait and book later, feel confident we will find something on Celebrity at a better price than if we book early. We will also look at Princess.

[Presto2]

I have to say that we have been very critical of the fact that UK folk have not been able to make sure of the 123 go promotion, but looking back we have to admit that by booking early last year we did get 'quite' a good deal:

 

We got £400 off as return cruisers

The TA gave us another 10% which was about another £400

We also got $200 OBC

Our TA also gave us an additional £50 as a loyalty bonus

 

As a result we booked the cruise without hesitation 16 months in advance and we got the exact cabin we wanted.

 

Hubby is now checking if there has been a price drop before our final payment.

[ariawoman]

You basically need to be able to cancel and rebook a new reservation.

 

So that means you have to be able to eat any cancelation penalty you may be imposed based on the time of the switch if any applies at that time. If your booking is a standard rack-rate no or very little discount, it may be easy to do.

 

Also, you will often find the 123 offer only comes once they raise cabin prices accordingly, so you may give up a favorable low rate for this and may not make out on the overall deal (maybe a $1000 beverage package is more than that, but perhaps the $200 OBC is less than that may be...)

 

And you may lose that perfectly selected location in the process finding 123 only applies to certain higher category rooms etc.

 

Pros and cons to booking early and late.... Supply and demand in action!

 

Some of the above isn't true. You dont have to cancel and rebook in order for 123Go to be added to the cabin (I'm talking for the US I'm not referring to any other countries). You would have to pay the prevailing (read: current) rate on the cabin category to get the promotion, but you'd keep your booking number, cabin, etc.

 

So, there's no harm in booking now, and if 123 makes a reprisal, having your TA add it (provided celebrity is still allowing it on existing bookings - which so far, they have each time). Yes they could change the rules of the game, but likely since they are selling well even doing it this way, they'd probably leave well enough alone.

[Suzy Smith]

Next year we will wait and book later, feel confident we will find something on Celebrity at a better price than if we book early. We will also look at Princess.

 

That is exactly what we are going to do. We got a great deal last year by booking early and we would normally have next year's cruise booked by now, but pricing policy seems to be changing and we can't guess what X is going to do next. They increased most of the the cruise prices, and then brought out promotions like 123 Go, which they seem to switch on and off at random, impose booking restrictions and only offer to certain markets. So we are going to wait and see what happens. If enough people do the same, there may actually be some good last-minute deals:) and, although we are long-time Celebrity customers and love their product, we will also look at alternatives.

[cle-guy]

There have been times where c3 may not be eligible but c1 may be eligible. So to get 123 if on c3 reservation you'd lose your chosen room as you'd need to move rooms and rebook a c1 and there may now be oohing but unfavorable c1's left.

 

All depends on t&c of then current offer.

 

But the gist is basically start over and with now prevailing rates promotions and terms, many of which don't combine with earlier accepted offers.

[wallie5446]

Not sure what I was thinking~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bencruzN]

Some of the above isn't true. You dont have to cancel and rebook in order for 123Go to be added to the cabin (I'm talking for the US I'm not referring to any other countries). You would have to pay the prevailing (read: current) rate on the cabin category to get the promotion, but you'd keep your booking number, cabin, etc.

 

So, there's no harm in booking now, and if 123 makes a reprisal, having your TA add it (provided celebrity is still allowing it on existing bookings - which so far, they have each time). Yes they could change the rules of the game, but likely since they are selling well even doing it this way, they'd probably leave well enough alone.

 

Well we'll see if 123 opens for our sailing later. I sure hope so. Thanks for your input. Cancelling and rebooking, I know I'll be taking a chance on loosing my room and rate. Starting to feel a little better. :)

[Tiggertastic]

I have to say that we have been very critical of the fact that UK folk have not been able to make sure of the 123 go promotion, but looking back we have to admit that by booking early last year we did get 'quite' a good deal:

 

We got £400 off as return cruisers

The TA gave us another 10% which was about another £400

We also got $200 OBC

Our TA also gave us an additional £50 as a loyalty bonus

 

As a result we booked the cruise without hesitation 16 months in advance and we got the exact cabin we wanted.

 

Hubby is now checking if there has been a price drop before our final payment.

 

Please share who your TA is, we never have been able to take advantage of a price drop from the UK, how are you doing this?