Go Stupid, Stupid-er, Stupid-est. My offer to you...

[QE2_Fan]

Abbreviation for Celebrity's latest marketing ploy... "Go Big...Go Better...Go Best," that just replaced the earlier "1-2-3-GO!" marketing ploy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your points pretty much sum up the entire concept of "customer choice." ;)

 

 

 

Don't worry about your cruise and/or any class consciousness concerns. :cool:

 

 

 

Celebrity's on board experience is absolutely wonderful, even if you are schlepping in an inside cabin with the rest of us commoners. :p

 

 

 

The "loyalty benefits" once you get to the "Elite" level are pretty nice and nothing to sneeze at.

 

 

 

I USUALLY book one of those DREADFUL inside cabins, (better now that they no longer make you shovel coal :eek:)

 

 

 

So have they stopped providing the white vinyl overalls and the daily hose down on deck as part of the inside cabin perks now that coal shovelling is no longer a requirement? [emoji13][emoji43]. Geez even down at the coal face they are taking perks away. [emoji23][emoji38].

 

Sorry, just loved your humorist sarcasm in your post !!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[teecee60]

So have they stopped providing the white vinyl overalls and the daily hose down on deck as part of the inside cabin perks now that coal shovelling is no longer a requirement?

 

 

That was ONLY if you booked a DELUXE inside cabin...way too pricey for me! :eek: :p ;)

[chisoxfan]

Gee my head is spinning. I just learned to determine if the bed was by the balcony or bath on my S class cruises.

[ehfl]

Unfortunately, Celebrity has jumped on the fake promotion bandwagon that Royal Caribbean has been doing for a while. It's just frustrating when trying to book a cruise, and it's so difficult to find the exact price you will be paying. The KISS (Keep It Simple ...) strategy really works. Transparent pricing means that people can simply book when their ready.

 

Booking today requires jumping through lots of hoops to try ti figure out what the price really is. I don't understand why they want their customers to have to put in this much effort just to book a vacation.

 

We love Royal And Celebrity, but when looking a vacations, we much prefer looking at the web sites of the other cruise lines with more transparent, easy to understand pricing.

[BCHappyGal]

We love cruising with X but I cannot see the value in this new promo ... I too reviewed it and thought who in their right mind would pay more for a perk then the perk is worth!!!

 

thankfully we are booked into 2017 and have 2 cruises booked that we need to transfer ... so hopefully X will have seen the "Light" by then and done away with this new pricing strategy

[bayonnejoe]

I will say that this promotion is aimed at people who don't do the math. However, for a short cruise, (7 days or less), you can definitely make the promotion work in your favor. Especially on a four or five day cruise, the Go Better promotion is a steal. You can get the beverage package and $300 OBC for just an extra $150. For Go Best on a five day cruise you would then spend an extra $300 for two people that pay for your gratuities and upgrade to premium beverage. You would then get the unlimited internet basically for free. I would issue one caveat as I have before. Since this is now part of your cruise fare, it may raise your insurance if you take it. On the other hand, on cruises of more than 10 days, the promotion is a losing proposition. The change Celebrity has to make in order to make this new pricing structure work is to give more OBC for longer cruises.

[PoppyandNana]

We love cruising with X but I cannot see the value in this new promo ... I too reviewed it and thought who in their right mind would pay more for a perk then the perk is worth!!!

 

thankfully we are booked into 2017 and have 2 cruises booked that we need to transfer ... so hopefully X will have seen the "Light" by then and done away with this new pricing strategy

 

Good point. The drink package value, regardless of the number of nights, is on the surface the best of the three. Assuming one drinks of course. Getting free tips worth $270 doesn't make sense when you can pick the $300 OBC and pay it from there. On a 14 day cruise the dynamics changes a little.

 

On our last, a seven day, we had the bev package. Regardless of the math it was nice not to sign every time we got a drink. Also, we tended to get a lot more speciality coffees, something we don't normally do at five bucks a pop.

[karena1]

for us, the cruises we have booked totally make sense. They are about the same price as Royal and include the bev pkg so a no brainer for us.

 

Booked a Princess and NCL for the same reason. In the past we cruised almost only with Royal, but with other lines offering the bev pkg (even if you hae 5 drinks a day and water/soda it is worth it) Royal is making it really hard to continue to book with them.

 

we did change our Dec Reflection to Princess Regal only b/c we will be on Silhouette in Dec and with the OBC we get from Princess we are $100 to the good, so easy decision.

[Bruin Steve]

The change Celebrity has to make in order to make this new pricing structure work is to give more OBC for longer cruises.

 

That's the first obvious adjustment they have to make...The cost of the "upgrade" is per day...$15 per person per day...but the offered perk is a constant $150 in non refundable OBC...If they changed the OBC to also be based on a per day basis, they could, at least, stay ahead...and not have the situation that prompted the thread--where the site says, for a 13 night cruise like mine, "Pay an extra $195 pp and get $150 in OBC!"...

 

The "free gratuities" will never be worth the cost...Gratuities...for the standard cabin...are $12.95 per person per day...whatever the length of the cruise, you are always $2.05 per day behind when you select that option for the Go Better...

 

I had breakfast yesterday with a friend who once worked for Celebrity, but for the past several years was a VP of Operations for Princess...He hadn't kept up on this particular controversy, but when I told him about it, he had a good laugh...

 

All Celebrity has done here is to find a way to get everyone to insure they purchase drinks, Internet and other goods...and prepay the costs...and all at a level higher than the average cruiser...as well as to guarantee you pay the gratuities as well...

 

Even if you find math that appears to justify it all, the cruise line is still making a hefty profit off of all of this...

 

To those folks who have calculated that they're paying an extra $1240 but getting $1320 in value by buying the Go Best...realize that you are prepaying your tips, drinks and Internet at levels you probably would not have spent plus guaranteeing you'll spend another $300 on board on top of that...in order to "save" $80. The cruise line will take that deal every time. They would gladly give you, basically, a 6.5 percent discount for you to buy all of that from them.

[midwestchick]

That's the first obvious adjustment they have to make...The cost of the "upgrade" is per day...$15 per person per day...but the offered perk is a constant $150 in non refundable OBC...If they changed the OBC to also be based on a per day basis, they could, at least, stay ahead...and not have the situation that prompted the thread--where the site says, for a 13 night cruise like mine, "Pay an extra $195 pp and get $150 in OBC!"...

 

The "free gratuities" will never be worth the cost...Gratuities...for the standard cabin...are $12.95 per person per day...whatever the length of the cruise, you are always $2.05 per day behind when you select that option for the Go Better...

 

I had breakfast yesterday with a friend who once worked for Celebrity, but for the past several years was a VP of Operations for Princess...He hadn't kept up on this particular controversy, but when I told him about it, he had a good laugh...

 

All Celebrity has done here is to find a way to get everyone to insure they purchase drinks, Internet and other goods...and prepay the costs...and all at a level higher than the average cruiser...as well as to guarantee you pay the gratuities as well...

 

Even if you find math that appears to justify it all, the cruise line is still making a hefty profit off of all of this...

 

To those folks who have calculated that they're paying an extra $1240 but getting $1320 in value by buying the Go Best...realize that you are prepaying your tips, drinks and Internet at levels you probably would not have spent plus guaranteeing you'll spend another $300 on board on top of that...in order to "save" $80. The cruise line will take that deal every time. They would gladly give you, basically, a 6.5 percent discount for you to buy all of that from them.

 

 

X may find this bites them where it hurts the most....in their pocketbook. If loyal pax stop booking with them, how long will it take to rebuild the customer base they currently have? Of course, that's just my opinion. It makes no sense to me that the most loyal customers "seem" to be the ones that will lose the most, according to everything I've read. There truly is something wrong with this whole new pricing structure. Cruising is not the only alternative for great vacations.

[cle-guy]

To me, this program is not much different than the good old 123 program.

 

Book a cabin get 1 perk included in the fare. - GO BIG!

 

So don't see how this is going to push anyone away.

 

Then people can decide if they want to add on Bigger or Best perk(s). No one is being forced to go bigger or best, but to some, it may make sense to get the unlimited internet for example, or suites the free gratuity on longer cruises.

 

Agree that if one gets OBC and pays more than the value, that's a silly choice to make.

 

Actually just looking at a dummy booking. 7 night Western Caribbean on Reflection, Dec 5. GO BIG< and select drinks. To add GO BETTER, is only $105 per person, and I can choose $150 pp OBC, so I make money there....GO BEST is $315, and I get $150 OBC, $90.65 in Grats (more in suite) and unlimited internet, $299, so $539.65 in benefit, or I'm ahead by $224.65. Of course I'd only GO BEST if internet were important to me.

 

So I guess on some sailings it is priced differently? I really haven't paid attention to this thread so not sure where it's all gone, but to me seems like Go Big and Go Better are definitely worthwhile, and Go Best is if internet is important.

 

What am I missing? :confused:

Edited July 31, 2015 by cle-guy

[Cruise Junky]

To me, this program is not much different than the good old 123 program.

 

Book a cabin get 1 perk included in the fare. - GO BIG!

 

So don't see how this is going to push anyone away.

 

Then people can decide if they want to add on Bigger or Best perk(s). No one is being forced to go bigger or best, but to some, it may make sense to get the unlimited internet for example, or suites the free gratuity on longer cruises.

 

Agree that if one gets OBC and pays more than the value, that's a silly choice to make.

 

Actually just looking at a dummy booking. 7 night Western Caribbean on Reflection, Dec 5. GO BIG< and select drinks. To add GO BETTER, is only $105 per person, and I can choose $150 pp OBC, so I make money there....GO BEST is $315, and I get $150 OBC, $90.65 in Grats (more in suite) and unlimited internet, $299, so $539.65 in benefit, or I'm ahead by $224.65. Of course I'd only GO BEST if internet were important to me.

 

So I guess on some sailings it is priced differently? I really haven't paid attention to this thread so not sure where it's all gone, but to me seems like Go Big and Go Better are definitely worthwhile, and Go Best is if internet is important.

 

What am I missing? :confused:

 

What you're missing is the OBC doesn't go up. So you did the math on a 7 day cruise. Now do the math on a 12 day cruise paying $15 pp pd for $150 OBC. Another option is the free gratuities...well unless you're in a suite, who's going to pay $15 for less than $13 in gratuities? Best does workout but better is a joke. As I posted on the other thread it's a well known marketing trick. Throw in a crap alternative and they're going to drive more people to go best than they would without the crap alternative.

[grandgeezer]

To me, this program is not much different than the good old 123 program.

 

Book a cabin get 1 perk included in the fare. - GO BIG!

 

So don't see how this is going to push anyone away.

 

Then people can decide if they want to add on Bigger or Best perk(s). No one is being forced to go bigger or best, but to some, it may make sense to get the unlimited internet for example, or suites the free gratuity on longer cruises.

 

Agree that if one gets OBC and pays more than the value, that's a silly choice to make.

 

Actually just looking at a dummy booking. 7 night Western Caribbean on Reflection, Dec 5. GO BIG< and select drinks. To add GO BETTER, is only $105 per person, and I can choose $150 pp OBC, so I make money there....GO BEST is $315, and I get $150 OBC, $90.65 in Grats (more in suite) and unlimited internet, $299, so $539.65 in benefit, or I'm ahead by $224.65. Of course I'd only GO BEST if internet were important to me.

 

So I guess on some sailings it is priced differently? I really haven't paid attention to this thread so not sure where it's all gone, but to me seems like Go Big and Go Better are definitely worthwhile, and Go Best is if internet is important.

 

What am I missing? :confused:

 

I think what you are missing is there is a cost of your first choice already built into the cruise price. What that is is not known. If you don't believe this, look at the cost difference between an inside cabin (no perk) and ocean view (one perk), it's several hundred dollars, in most cases. If you check other lines, that don't have a promo like this, it's $100, or less.

[cle-guy]

I think what you are missing is there is a cost of your first choice already built into the cruise price. What that is is not known. If you don't believe this, look at the cost difference between an inside cabin (no perk) and ocean view (one perk), it's several hundred dollars, in most cases. If you check other lines, that don't have a promo like this, it's $100, or less.

 

I get the built in cost thing, with 123 it was also built into pricing.

 

My upcoming sailing in RS, when all-in 123 went away, the fare dropped $500 pp. For $315 I get the same perks I had with all-in 123, plus unlimited internet.

 

Looking at the Dec 5 cruise I mention, Inside to OV difference is $350 pp, $50 a day. Classic beverage is $55 + 18% = $64.90 a day, saving me $104.30, assuming I'd want a beverage package, of course, which is the perk the majority of people take.

 

Now looking at a closer in cruises with no BBB, Summit to Bermuda Aug 30, 2015 - Inside to OV is $150 pp premium, with no perks. So that tells me the BIG! premium is $350 - $150 = $200, so that's $28.57 per day for a classic beverage package that sells for $64.90/day, saving $36.33/day, $254.31 for the cruise.

 

The other thing, is that the all-in 123 did a great job of preselling cabins, so cabins left for sale are now at a premium, so they are doing premium pricing I think on Verandas and better because of it. They've built revenue in advance in quite a smart way.

Edited July 31, 2015 by cle-guy

[bjarrett7]

I just changed from a HAL large inside cabin western Caribbean itinerary for a Celebrity 2D balcony. Both cost $899 both included beverage packages. One was the Eurodam the other was the Silhouette. Same dates and nearly the same itinerary... Though I would give Celebrity the edge for itinerary. I think that's a pretty good deal!

Edited July 31, 2015 by bjarrett7

[woodyren]

Actually just looking at a dummy booking. 7 night Western Caribbean on Reflection, Dec 5. GO BIG< and select drinks. To add GO BETTER, is only $105 per person, and I can choose $150 pp OBC, so I make money there....GO BEST is $315, and I get $150 OBC, $90.65 in Grats (more in suite) and unlimited internet, $299, so $539.65 in benefit, or I'm ahead by $224.65. Of course I'd only GO BEST if internet were important to me.

 

So I guess on some sailings it is priced differently? I really haven't paid attention to this thread so not sure where it's all gone, but to me seems like Go Big and Go Better are definitely worthwhile, and Go Best is if internet is important.

 

What am I missing? :confused:

 

The upgrade to the premium bev package. There is another $11 per day.

 

I agree with you. On a 7 day cruise if someone wanted to upgrade the drinks package and was willing to pay their inflated prices for the net then the best deal is good value.

Edited July 31, 2015 by woodyren

[cle-guy]

The upgrade to the premium bev package. There is another $11 per day.

 

I agree with you. On a 7 day cruise if someone wanted to upgrade the drinks package and was willing to pay their inflated prices for the net then the best deal is good value.

 

I'm not following, to be clear, the premium beverage package isn't included in any of the 3 Big Better Best is it? nor was it part of the other 123.

 

It's always a $10 a day plus 18% to upgrade ($11.80/day) , no matter what scheme one books under. In my case, the OBC from Go Better would be used to upgrade, so I'd use $82.60 of the $150 to get there.

[Cruise Junky]

I'm not following, to be clear, the premium beverage package isn't included in any of the 3 Big Better Best is it? nor was it part of the other 123.

 

It's always a $10 a day plus 18% to upgrade ($11.80/day) , no matter what scheme one books under. In my case, the OBC from Go Better would be used to upgrade, so I'd use $82.60 of the $150 to get there.

 

its part of the best package

[woodyren]

I'm not following, to be clear, the premium beverage package isn't included in any of the 3 Big Better Best is it? nor was it part of the other 123.

 

It's always a $10 a day plus 18% to upgrade ($11.80/day) , no matter what scheme one books under. In my case, the OBC from Go Better would be used to upgrade, so I'd use $82.60 of the $150 to get there.

 

If you select go best it also includes an upgrade to the premium bev package.

 

EG.

 

Big Drinks

Better + OBC

Best + + + Grats, internet, upgrade to premium.

Edited July 31, 2015 by woodyren

[ChucktownSteve]

X may find this bites them where it hurts the most....in their pocketbook. If loyal pax stop booking with them, how long will it take to rebuild the customer base they currently have? Of course, that's just my opinion. It makes no sense to me that the most loyal customers "seem" to be the ones that will lose the most, according to everything I've read. There truly is something wrong with this whole new pricing structure. Cruising is not the only alternative for great vacations.

 

In sales, there are only two ways to generate revenue...increase the revenue from existing customers or attract new customers. The cost of new customer acquisition is way more expensive than the increased customer spending.

 

I prefer longer cruises than 7 night which seems to be the cut off for whether the BBB is cost effective.

 

I haven't hit the Elitist level yet so I'm not tied in with any of those free benefits. Thus my loyalty hasn't been as cemented. I've already begun pricing other cruise lines since BBB began. I don't want to be forced to pay extra for benefits I may not want to overpay for.

 

I use an average cost/night comparison on insides to start my analysis before looking at the higher categories. I have noticed there are very few under the $100/night even with Tuesday's exciting deals like there used to be.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ChucktownSteve

[Redtravel]

I have a good TA. I have 4 future Celebrity cruises booked. 3 were booked last January while cruising and transferred to my TA. 1 was booked during a good deal in May with free tips, $600 air credit, and OBC from TA. When making final payment on an upcoming cruise, my TA asked me what I thought of the BBB. I don't think it is good for me. TA said that he has been getting fewer Celebrity bookings. Many loyal Celebrity cruisers have jumped to other lines. The BBB is the most recent perk promotion. What will be the next promo?

[Iamcruzin]

Actually just looking at a dummy booking. 7 night Western Caribbean on Reflection, Dec 5. GO BIG< and select drinks. To add GO BETTER, is only $105 per person, and I can choose $150 pp OBC, so I make money there....GO BEST is $315, and I get $150 OBC, $90.65 in Grats (more in suite) and unlimited internet, $299, so $539.65 in benefit, or I'm ahead by $224.65. Of course I'd only GO BEST if internet were important to me.

What am I missing? :confused:

 

Well first of all you are missing the fact that not everyone wants a drink package, as you mention the gratuity is less than the value of the price paid. So that leaves internet and OBC. The internet sucks on a good day so I can't imagine it working at all when people are logged on 24/7. OBC is your best bet for go big if you don't drink or the elite benefits are enough for you. Unless you book an inside stateroom you are forced to pick something that you don't want. Now I can't speak for all itineraries but the base price of the itinerary that I booked in concierge has not changed. I did book under 123go so I got all of the perks. With the new pricing I would just book my usual ocean view and take the drink package. The price still holds value at that level and depending on price I might book a veranda. I wouldn't consider go better or best even though you point out the value of go best. The internet has no value to me until they can guaranty a reliable connection the gratuity is just throwing money away and OBC will have me spending more money than I intended to spend. We don't book restaurants or buy stuff in the shops. I have a $300 OBC from 123go so I will either buy liquor or cologne. My wife is not a shopper so I will have to force her to go to the shops. Maybe we will eat in a restaurant if we can get a discount or maybe upgrade to the premium package. Non of this is necessary and since we book select dining we pay the gratuity at final payment so buying OBC under go better would not make sense for me even on a 7 day cruise. I would be paying 210 to gain $90. The drinks are the biggest expense so I don't see myself spending more than $100 onboard for anything else. Why should I be forced to spend $300 on stuff that I really don't want?

Edited July 31, 2015 by Iamcruzin

[CruisingChick]

I thought with the 1-2-3 or PYP promotions you had the option NOT to get it and get your cabin at a lower price. But with BBB I don't see that option unless you wait for Senior, Resident, Military rate or Exciting Deal promotion.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn when I was looking at cruises with the 1-2-3 and PYP it gave me an option to pick the price with the promotion or pick the lower price with out the promotion.

[CruisingChick]

I just changed from a HAL large inside cabin western Caribbean itinerary for a Celebrity 2D balcony. Both cost $899 both included beverage packages. One was the Eurodam the other was the Silhouette. Same dates and nearly the same itinerary... Though I would give Celebrity the edge for itinerary. I think that's a pretty good deal!

 

That is a good deal for a balcony with a drink package. When's the cruise maybe I will come with you. :p

[Iamcruzin]

I thought with the 1-2-3 or PYP promotions you had the option NOT to get it and get your cabin at a lower price. But with BBB I don't see that option unless you wait for Senior, Resident, Military rate or Exciting Deal promotion.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn when I was looking at cruises with the 1-2-3 and PYP it gave me an option to pick the price with the promotion or pick the lower price with out the promotion.

 

It seems like the resident, senior and exciting deals were offered after the 123 and PYP ended for that particular itinerary. The only itinerary that I was watching closely was Bermuda. I was comparing 2015 with 2016. By the time the other discounts kicked in the 2015 itinerary was more money than the 2016 itinerary with PYP and 123go. The senior, resident rate brought the prices down to the 2016 prices with out the perks.