Is "Pick Your Perk" coming back? (Returning Aug 30th)

[ariawoman]

Just called and had the Pick Your Perk added. They were a little unorganized as they had not loaded the codes. Other than that, no issues.

 

I had the same issue. My sailing hadn't been added yet. I think they are scrambling because they changed the dates to 8/30 and then forgot that meant to do all the prework LOL. I'm just excited i got to keep my 100 OBC from the NJ/NY promotion (same holds true for the facebook/twitter promo) and got to choose a pick your perk item, all with 0 change in price!

[vermonter16]

I just booked my cruise a few weeks ago. Can I get the FB offer added? Waiting on hold now….but it's a 20 minute wait, lol.

[s0479]

Was your cruise already booked and they gave you the perk? I'm worried I won't be able to get it if I have to cancel and rebook. I did my cruise with Marriott Club Points and the "points" for the cruise has gone up....

[ariawoman]

Yes I was able to add the FB offer on an existing booking.

 

As for the perk, I didn't have to cancel/rebook they just added the perk (well they will once it's loaded) so you should be ok hopefully - but i dont know how marriott stuff works.

[ranchette]

If you purchase a future cruise certificate onboard is this combinable with the pick your perk. Can you book the cruise onboard and later transfer to a TA?

[ariawoman]

If you purchase a future cruise certificate onboard is this combinable with the pick your perk. Can you book the cruise onboard and later transfer to a TA?

 

According to what i'm hearing if you book a specific sailing on board (not the open ended one), that will be combinable with 1 other offer. It was posted by someone earlier this week on my roll call, I haven't tried it yet as I've not sailed recently. :-)

 

If you book a specific cruise on board you have 60 days to transfer it to an agent. If it's open, I believe you have 60 days from the time you pick a sailing.

[Turtles06]

Was your cruise already booked and they gave you the perk? I'm worried I won't be able to get it if I have to cancel and rebook. I did my cruise with Marriott Club Points and the "points" for the cruise has gone up....

 

I was able to add the perk to an already booked cruise -- the cabin price was the same today as when we booked, and we are nowhere near final payment. In this scenario, Celebrity will simply add the perk since you could just cancel without penalty and without any cabin price increase and simply rebook. I can't say what will happen in your "points" situation.

 

I just booked my cruise a few weeks ago. Can I get the FB offer added? Waiting on hold now….but it's a 20 minute wait, lol.

 

I was able to add the FB offer to my existing booking.

[s0479]

I was able to add the perk to an already booked cruise -- the cabin price was the same today as when we booked, and we are nowhere near final payment. In this scenario, Celebrity will simply add the perk since you could just cancel without penalty and without any cabin price increase and simply rebook. I can't say what will happen in your "points" situation.

 

 

 

I was able to add the FB offer to my existing booking.

 

 

Thanks for the information. I confirmed that my booking does qualify...except the points have gone up for it seems only my exact cruise/date. I'm hoping they will work with me since I'm not cancelling my cruise and they still have my points....but....,

[Mr Elegant]

No one enjoys waiting 27 minutes on hold to speak to a Celebrity Cruises agent, but I can assure you, I'll wait that long any day to save a combined total of $716 on our upcoming (2014) Bermuda cruise.

 

Since we always book directly with the line (online or via the phone), I was fairly certain we wouldn't have a problem adding the new Pick Your Perk promotion. We chose the Standard Beverage Package, valued at $308 per person for the seven day voyage, but upgraded it to Premium for another $10 a day plus $1.50 gratuity per person, well worth the added expense IMHO.

 

The same goes for the current Facebook promotion (which expires on Aug. 31!). Now, simply for "liking" Celebrity on Facebook, we received a $100 on board credit (which, incidentally, is also available to Twitter followers). Be aware this OBC is only good on 2014 cruises to Alaska, Bermuda and Europe.

 

I was lucky enough to reach a Celebrity agent (a very friendly young man named Alexander) who knew all about the new (once again) Pick Your Perk promo, as well as the Facebook promo, and in no time (after a short hold time of a couple of minutes) came back on the line and said everything was added to our booking, and we didn't even have to cancel our existing reservation, which had been made in July. So, again, kudos to Alexander!

 

And I didn't have to give him the special codes for the Facebook/Twitter promos, which if one isn't aware are SPT4 for Facebook and SPT5 for Twitter.

 

In addition, I must tip my hat to the Cruise Critic community for keeping readers of this forum up to speed on these various promotions. Without your tireless contributions, many readers would be left in the dark and their collective wallets would be considerably lighter. So, thanks for everything!

[Turtles06]

The same goes for the current Facebook promotion (which expires on Aug. 31!). Now, simply for "liking" Celebrity on Facebook, we received a $100 on board credit (which, incidentally, is also available to Twitter followers). Be aware this OBC is only good on 2014 cruises to Alaska, Bermuda and Europe.

 

 

You don't even have to do that. All you have to do is know the code for the FB offer and tell it to the rep on the phone (or your TA). :)

[BrendaJ]

I just heard from our travel agent. Our previously booked cruises (Jan 2014 Caribbean and Oct 2014 Med) both went up $100 per person between yesterday and today. Our January cruise had included a $200 onboard credit which we will have to forfeit if we want the Pick your Perk.

 

At the end of it all, I guess we can say that we can get a drink package valued at $308 for an extra $200 per person. We're not really big drinkers, but as we plan to spend most of our time lounging on the ship on the Caribbean trip, it's probably worth it.

 

For the 13 night Med cruise, there had been no onboard credit from Celebrity when we booked, so taking the Pick your Perk is a no brainer, although I'm torn between the drink package and the air credit, as we will not be spending much time on the ship and air is probably going to be rather pricey. On the other hand, we're travelling with a couple that might get good value from a drink package, and as they are new cruisers, we would not be taking advantage of our Elite cappuccinos and pre-dinner drinks.

 

All in all, it's nice to have these problems. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised that Celebrity allows us to add the perks to an already booked cruise. :)

[ranchette]

According to what i'm hearing if you book a specific sailing on board (not the open ended one), that will be combinable with 1 other offer. It was posted by someone earlier this week on my roll call, I haven't tried it yet as I've not sailed recently. :-)

 

If you book a specific cruise on board you have 60 days to transfer it to an agent. If it's open, I believe you have 60 days from the time you pick a sailing.

What is an open ended one?

[Turtles06]

All in all, it's nice to have these problems. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised that Celebrity allows us to add the perks to an already booked cruise. :)

 

It is nice, but not surprising since you can cancel and rebook without any penalty before final payment. If your cabin price is the same as it was before the promo, Celebrity at least is smart enough not to put itself and its customers through the hassle of making pax cancel and rebook. Same if the cabin price has gone up and you want to get the perk by paying the new cabin price. (You're effectively rebooking at the new cruise price.)

 

Or is it surprising that Celebrity is operating so rationally in this situation? :)

[vermonter16]

Gosh - I think I got two bad reps. After almost 50 minutes on the phone, I gave up. I'll try again later. I called the number associated with the FB Promotion and the woman said I couldn't use it with the Pick Your Perk. We went back and forth about it and finally I said, ok, how about the Pick Your Perk then? She then transfers me to sales. Sales then transfers me to someone else….oh, that will be another 20 minute wait on top of the first 20 minute wait. That rep says that the promotion had already started when we booked our cruise and that we didn't take advantage of it. After arguing back and forth about it….I said, forget it…. It was definitely not my lucky day.

 

But - if I just call the regular number….can the rep add the Facebook promotion and the Pick Your Perk promotion at the same time? I'm going to give it another shot!

 

Also - anybody experience a price drop after they booked similar promotions? Would I still qualify for that? Thanks!

[Turtles06]

But - if I just call the regular number….can the rep add the Facebook promotion and the Pick Your Perk promotion at the same time? I'm going to give it another shot!

 

 

Yes; from the electronic phone menu, select the option for help with an existing reservation (not new sales). And some folks are reporting that you can try calling the Captain's Club number for better service (if you are a member).

[vermonter16]

Great! Thanks Turtles06! Going to give it a shot later this afternoon.

[Cruising89143]

Gosh - I think I got two bad reps. After almost 50 minutes on the phone, I gave up. I'll try again later. I called the number associated with the FB Promotion and the woman said I couldn't use it with the Pick Your Perk. We went back and forth about it and finally I said, ok, how about the Pick Your Perk then? She then transfers me to sales. Sales then transfers me to someone else….oh, that will be another 20 minute wait on top of the first 20 minute wait. That rep says that the promotion had already started when we booked our cruise and that we didn't take advantage of it. After arguing back and forth about it….I said, forget it…. It was definitely not my lucky day.

 

But - if I just call the regular number….can the rep add the Facebook promotion and the Pick Your Perk promotion at the same time? I'm going to give it another shot!

 

Also - anybody experience a price drop after they booked similar promotions? Would I still qualify for that? Thanks!

 

I always call the Captain's Club. Give them a call.

[grandgeezer]

For everybody going nuts over the Pick You Perk promotion, keep one thing in mind: This disqalifies you for any price reductions. If a price reduction comes up, to get it, you have to forfeit your perk, at least that's the was for me last fall. If you are looking at Europe in 2014, this could be huge. Last spring we did the transatlantic and the 12 day Mediterranean after it, on the Solstice. (The Solstice has been replaced by the Equinox for these cruises). We paid $1200 p.p. for a balcony on the 12 day leg. The last I checked that cruise this spring was $2200 p.p. That's quite a price to pay for a free perk. We are going to hold off and book it early next year when the price drops to a reasonable number. It has the last three years anyway.

[ariawoman]

For everybody going nuts over the Pick You Perk promotion, keep one thing in mind: This disqalifies you for any price reductions. If a price reduction comes up, to get it, you have to forfeit your perk, at least that's the was for me last fall. If you are looking at Europe in 2014, this could be huge. Last spring we did the transatlantic and the 12 day Mediterranean after it, on the Solstice. (The Solstice has been replaced by the Equinox for these cruises). We paid $1200 p.p. for a balcony on the 12 day leg. The last I checked that cruise this spring was $2200 p.p. That's quite a price to pay for a free perk. We are going to hold off and book it early next year when the price drops to a reasonable number. It has the last three years anyway.

 

Mine is for May 2014 in Europe but I just got a price drop of 450 per person before Pick Your Perk, and now added that promo, plus I got 1 other promo of 100 OBC that was applicable even with pick your perk. I've never seen a large drop on any of my Med sailings so I'll be surprised if one comes along. If it does, well then we'll decide what means more to us. (though I've read some instances of people that kept the perk even when a drop came along - so maybe it's a price code thing - if the code is different you'd lose the perk to switch to that code).

[vermonter16]

For everybody going nuts over the Pick You Perk promotion, keep one thing in mind: This disqalifies you for any price reductions. If a price reduction comes up, to get it, you have to forfeit your perk, at least that's the was for me last fall. If you are looking at Europe in 2014, this could be huge. Last spring we did the transatlantic and the 12 day Mediterranean after it, on the Solstice. (The Solstice has been replaced by the Equinox for these cruises). We paid $1200 p.p. for a balcony on the 12 day leg. The last I checked that cruise this spring was $2200 p.p. That's quite a price to pay for a free perk. We are going to hold off and book it early next year when the price drops to a reasonable number. It has the last three years anyway.

 

That's good to know. But, I suppose it doesn't hurt getting the Pick Your Perk and then if the cruise price drops a ton and outweighs the benefit, it may be worthwhile to give it up.

[Cruising89143]

For everybody going nuts over the Pick You Perk promotion, keep one thing in mind: This disqalifies you for any price reductions. If a price reduction comes up, to get it, you have to forfeit your perk, at least that's the was for me last fall. If you are looking at Europe in 2014, this could be huge. Last spring we did the transatlantic and the 12 day Mediterranean after it, on the Solstice. (The Solstice has been replaced by the Equinox for these cruises). We paid $1200 p.p. for a balcony on the 12 day leg. The last I checked that cruise this spring was $2200 p.p. That's quite a price to pay for a free perk. We are going to hold off and book it early next year when the price drops to a reasonable number. It has the last three years anyway.

 

We won't receive a price drop. Our category has sold out for our EQ next June.

[lauraapp]

Is it combinable with the future cruise credit and the perk? Have not booked yet?

[ariawoman]

For everybody going nuts over the Pick You Perk promotion, keep one thing in mind: This disqalifies you for any price reductions. If a price reduction comes up, to get it, you have to forfeit your perk, at least that's the was for me last fall.

 

Realize that this is not always the case. If the price reduction is for a price code that qualified for pick your perk, they wont lose the perk to get the reduction. If it was a totally different code, then yes, they would lose the perk to go onto the new price code.

 

Hope this helps, i know it's clear as mud. Just dont want to have misinformation out there.

[ariawoman]

Is it combinable with the future cruise credit and the perk? Have not booked yet?

 

No, you'd have to have a sailing picked out which was qualified for the offer in order to apply it as the perk only applies to specific sailings.

[gdpups]

Open ended is a deposit on a future cruise that has not specifically been selected yet. I have one and tried to use it when I booked the Equinox with a travel agent this week, but was told I could not combine it with the other perks being offered, so will save it for some future cruise.