Does not pay to book celebrity early

[Iamcruzin]

While overall I like Celebrity's product once onboard the ship, their rewards for captains club are ridiculous in terms of pricing for early birds on many of their itineraries, I guess Bermuda being one of them. So now I will watch every day to see when the prices drop to within reason----We are planning to one day do the New England/Canada cruise as well--thanks for sharing that itinerary fills up fairly quickly---I'll start monitoring the prices for those cruises as well. The Bermuda cruises for this June during the 2 sailings that I would consider for next year still has plenty of cabins that could work for us available.

 

We were considering the NCL ship- but I don't like their smoking policy-- and would rather not be on a ship with slides and all the kids stuff at this point in our lives. We were also thinking about doing HAL's ship from Boston, but don't like that they arrive in Bermuda at 1:00 and leave at 1:00-- also their smoking policy is the same as NCL: allowed on balcony----

 

Booking a cruise shouldn't have to be this much work! Anita

 

Check out the Canada/ New England itineraries on Princess as well as Celebrity. I Agee with your comment about NCL. My kids are 18 and 21 so we are done with slides as well. I choose to sail in May to avoid the extended families and the crowds which is why Celebrity is my first choice. However I would be willing to give NCL a try for this itinerary only in May Early June when school is in session. Who knows in the end we may both be on the same Bermuda cruise next year.

 

 

 

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[Suzy Smith]

Do we get the same protection though as we do when booking with a UK agent ?

 

I was told it can be done by getting around the system, but we have no protection if the US agent goes bust, do you also have to provide a US address ?

 

I have never booked with a US agent so I don't know if that is just said to put people off.

 

If you are sailing from Southampton, you are not taking too much of a risk by booking in the US, but if you are booking a fly/cruise, you lose the protection given under EU law for package holidays. If anything goes wrong with your travel arrangements (e.g a flight delay causes you to miss the ship) and you have booked a fly/cruise package in the UK, Celebrity (or your TA) has to take responsibility for getting you to the ship. Many Brits who book with US agents fly to the departure port a day or two early to avoid any possible problem, but you then have allow for hotel costs, etc when working out how much you are saving on the total cruise price. Of course, it may work out well if you are departing from a city you would like to spend some time in anyway.

 

Only you can decide whether price is the only thing that matters or if peace of mind is more important. For us, peace of mind always wins, but you may be comfortable taking a small risk to get a rock bottom price. You also have to bear in mind that you will be paying in US dollars, so the price may go up or down, depending on the exchange rate.

 

I don't know when you are planning to cruise, but we have just booked a 2015 cruise with Celebrity UK, and any 2015 bookings made before 30th April are covered by their cruise fare price promise. This means that if the cruise price goes down, they will give you the lower price and there is no limit to the number of reductions you can take advantage of. This works for us, as a straightforward low price is what we are looking for and we would get very little value from a drinks package - but if they offer extra OBC or free gratuities in the future, without a significant price rise, we have the opportunity of changing our booking.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Suzy Smith

[fleckle]

Do we get the same protection though as we do when booking with a UK agent ?

 

I was told it can be done by getting around the system, but we have no protection if the US agent goes bust, do you also have to provide a US address ?

 

I have never booked with a US agent so I don't know if that is just said to put people off.

Living in the US, I have never booked with a UK agent so I do not know what kind of protection you get from them.

 

We always make all payments on a credit card, so we have the protection of the credit card company in case there is a problem.

 

Whenever a travel agency makes a payment for you, it is very important to be sure you receive a copy of the cruise line's updated invoice showing that the cruise line has actually received the payment and that it has been applied to your reservation correctly.

 

The travel agent should send the passenger copy of the updated invoice from the cruise line to you automatically, but with some travel agents you may need to request it.

 

The travel agents will also send out their own company's invoice, but that alone is not sufficient. They can can put anything they want on their own invoice and it is no proof that the payment was actually made to the cruise line, or that it was applied correctly.

That is why it is important to receive the invoice from the cruise line itself.

 

Also, your credit card statement should show that your payment was made to the cruise line, not to the travel agent.

But it is best to check the cruise line's invoice as well to make sure the payment was applied to the correct reservation.

 

As long as our payments have been made to the cruise line, it would not matter to us if the travel agent goes bust because we would still have our cruise and whatever perks we receive from the cruise line (such as 123 go or pick your perk).

 

The worst that could happen if the travel agent goes bust would be that we could lose the additional perks offered by the travel agent.

 

[hamrag]

Do we get the same protection though as we do when booking with a UK agent ?

 

I was told it can be done by getting around the system, but we have no protection if the US agent goes bust, do you also have to provide a US address ?

 

I have never booked with a US agent so I don't know if that is just said to put people off.

 

My original post relates to the cruise only element, and if flights are involved we book independently and go a day early (two if long-haul).

 

As others have reported, the booking payments via the USA TA go straight to X. There is actually a huge upside, compared to UK, inasmuch as if you decide before final payment to cancel then your original deposit is refunded in full. Some TA's charge a small fee $25 or thereabouts, but most will waive that fee.

 

The more I book with USA agents, the more I see how much we tolerate being ripped off in the dear old UK!! Americans would not tolerate half of what we do.

Edited April 5, 2014 by hamrag

[Cruising89143]

It's only "this much work" if you chose to make it so.

 

We book at a price we find acceptable, no matter when we book it. We've booked some cruises 18 months in advance, and some cruises after final payment date, so we have covered all approaches. For those early bookings, I subscribe to a price monitoring service that for only 99 cents per cruise will monitor all cabin categories I am interested in and if a price drop occurs before final payment, it sends me an email notifying me of the drop and I request and always get the drop, or upgrade to a better stateroom for little or no additional cost.

 

After final payment, I never again check prices. Why torture myself?

 

We've been on cruises where the prices have dropped 50% BEFORE final payment, and we benefit greatly from that small price monitoring investment. On some cruises, such as the one we currently have booked, prices have not gone down. They may have stayed stable. Or they may have actually gone up - but I just don't care if they have. I'm not being asked by the cruise lines to pay more when prices go up, so why should I even care.

 

I do my research and decide on a cruise. I book if I like the price. I sign up for price monitoring. If prices go down, I call and get an adjustment. Other than that, I focus on excursions, pre and post cruise stays, how to get to and from the ship, and what to wear.

 

It just isn't that much work at all!

 

Agree with the above. We book because the price is fine with us. If it drops then great. :)

[fleckle]

After final payment, I never again check prices. Why torture myself?

:eek: I would never torture myself by checking prices after final payment if I booked penthouse suites.

 

But since I don't, I confess that I do torture myself by checking prices after final payment because I find a very nice upsell that way every once in a while.

 

[boogs]

:eek: I would never torture myself by checking prices after final payment if I booked penthouse suites.

 

But since I don't, I confess that I do torture myself by checking prices after final payment because I find a very nice upsell that way every once in a while.

 

 

The key words are "every once in a while". On all those other times, you now know you paid too much! :D