Celebrity Cruises' web site circa 1997

[cybx]

So I was messing around with archive.org's Wayback Machine, which keeps archived copies of certain web pages. I decided to plug in celebrity(dash)cruises dot com (for some reason I cant type that URL without the message board censoring it) to see what came up.

 

The oldest copy it has is from 1997, seen here. Many of the links work, so take a look around.

 

Interestingly, celebritycruises.com (without the dash) pops up in 1998 as a now defunct travel agency web page.

 

It looks like Celebrity took control of the URL sometime in 1999 or 2000 and this became the homepage

 

And this is the earliest mention of the Solstice I found. Unfortunately I couldn't get the old Solstice Class promotional site to come up.

 

Anyway, I thought people might enjoy seeing it. It might even bring back memories for some people.

 

Edit: Take a look at this price page from 1997. I think you can find cheaper Alaska cruises today than you could 18 years ago.

Edited November 22, 2015 by cybx

[cybx]

It looks like the WayBack machine went down, so the pages aren't accessible that the moment.

Edited November 22, 2015 by cybx

[chemmo]

An X site that works!

 

So much for progress.

 

Thanks for posting, great fun!

[Formerly known as Seabee]

Be careful😳 At some point about that time, celebrity dot com was a porn site! I found that out there he hard way!:eek:

[az_tchr]

Did the porn site work better than Celebrity Cruise lines site today? LOL

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Thanks for the link. Our 1st cruise was on Celebrity Zenith to Bermuda in 1997. Although we had a computer, I think, we booked through a Travel Agent after researching cruises in travel books. No idea what we paid but we had an ocean view room. This was before Zenith had more balconies added to it.

[dkjretired]

Be careful😳 At some point about that time, celebrity dot com was a porn site! I found that out there he hard way!:eek:

 

Same here, I remember that, it was when web sites started becoming popular.

[cle-guy]

Interesting to see real historical fares.

 

A 7 night June sailing was $1149 per person for an inside on Galaxy in 1997 - and this was a 2-for 1 pricing scheme, so true fares would be double this!

 

Today booking Alaska for June 10 2016 is still $1149 per person - standard fare - and includes drink package.

 

Adjusted to inflation, the fare should be $1555. Also today's fare includes drinks for 2, so that adds another $454.30 pp in value to the fare today.

 

So it's interesting to see how much cruise fares have actually plummeted over time, kind of amazing the service levels are as they are versus 20 years ago.

Edited November 27, 2015 by cle-guy

[dkjretired]

Interesting to see real historical fares.

 

A 7 night June sailing was $1149 per person for an inside on Galaxy in 1997 - and this was a 2-for 1 pricing scheme, so true fares would be double this!

 

Today booking Alaska for June 10 2016 is still $1149 per person - standard fare - and includes drink package.

 

Adjusted to inflation, the fare should be $1555. Also today's fare includes drinks for 2, so that adds another $454.30 pp in value to the fare today.

 

So it's interesting to see how much cruise fares have actually plummeted over time, kind of amazing the service levels are as they are versus 20 years ago.

 

We did the 2 for 1 on the Galaxy that year. It was pretty much the regular price, everything was 2 for 1.

 

Also, they did reduced pricing for kids as a third or fourth in the cabin on almost all cruises. Sometimes they were even free but usually half the price of the regular price. Tipping for children as a 3rd or 4th in a cabin was half what the adult fares were. That was changed I'm guessing about ten years ago.

 

Service levels are much reduced from what they were 20 years ago. In the dining room you had four people serving you, waiter, assistant, Sommelier, and a separate person to take drinks and they had less tables. The Service in the Specialty restaurants as well as the food now is near what you had 20 years ago every night.

 

Many more bartenders throughout the ship, loads of them at the pool area.

Edited November 27, 2015 by dkjretired

[richsea]

I have to laugh at those 2 for 1 fares. They're always based upon exaggerated fares that no one ever pays. I have Celebrity brochures from '96, '97 where they listed the fare for each category, with port charges itemized. Anyone who part brochure rate back then just did not do any homework. Now, brochure rates are even more meaningless.

 

Celebrity used to send the cruise tickets in a faux leather engraved travel folder; & later on, in a spiral notebook. Now all you heed is your express pass.

 

Thanks for the links, cybx. Mercury was the flagship of the fleet back then; now she is but a memory. Back when they built Horizon & Zenith, balconies were in their infancy, & not to be found on them. They did add one to Horizon as an experiment, but transferred her shortly after. Zenith never had balconies, & as far as I know, does not have them today either.

Edited November 27, 2015 by richsea

[C-Dragons]

We did the 2 for 1 on the Galaxy that year. It was pretty much the regular price, everything was 2 for 1.

 

Also, they did reduced pricing for kids as a third or fourth in the cabin on almost all cruises. Sometimes they were even free but usually half the price of the regular price. Tipping for children as a 3rd or 4th in a cabin was half what the adult fares were. That was changed I'm guessing about ten years ago.

 

Service levels are much reduced from what they were 20 years ago. In the dining room you had four people serving you, waiter, assistant, Sommelier, and a separate person to take drinks and they had less tables. The Service in the Specialty restaurants as well as the food now is near what you had 20 years ago every night.

 

Many more bartenders throughout the ship, loads of them at the pool area.

Agreed! And the pool butlers not only walked around and "spritzed" sun bathers with water to cool them off, they also served sorbet.

Those were the good 'ole days... ;)

[BrendaJ]

The cruise prices are really amazing. I went on the Infinity to Alaska in May 2001, and the price is the same now as it was back then (inside cabin).

 

Many complain about the nickel and diming and constant revenue generating tactics, but really, cruising is an exceptional value if you can resist the optional add-ons.

[dkjretired]

I have to laugh at those 2 for 1 fares. They're always based upon exaggerated fares that no one ever pays. I have Celebrity brochures from '96, '97 where they listed the fare for each category, with port charges itemized. Anyone who part brochure rate back then just did not do any homework. Now, brochure rates are even more meaningless.

 

Celebrity used to send the cruise tickets in a faux leather engraved travel folder; & later on, in a spiral notebook. Now all you heed is your express pass.

 

Thanks for the links, cybx. Mercury was the flagship of the fleet back then; now she is but a memory. Back when they built Horizon & Zenith, balconies were in their infancy, & not to be found on them. They did add one to Horizon as an experiment, but transferred her shortly after. Zenith never had balconies, & as far as I know, does not have them today either.

 

Rich:

 

You are correct and even Century had minimal balconies at first, they added them later. Mercury and Galaxy were the first ships with a large number of balconies. I remember on this board people who stated they would never sail such a large ship when Century was introduced.

 

If you have some of the old brochures, there's a picture of the Butler serving drinks to a couple. That Butler was Nikki, one of their first butlers. His picture was in those brochures for years, he was our first Butler, kids loved him.

[Gracie115]

Service levels are much reduced from what they were 20 years ago. In the dining room you had four people serving you, waiter, assistant, Sommelier, and a separate person to take drinks and they had less tables. The Service in the Specialty restaurants as well as the food now is near what you had 20 years ago every night.

 

Many more bartenders throughout the ship, loads of them at the pool area.

 

 

Absolutely right!! Our first cruise on X was in 1998 and the difference in the MDR experience to today is significant. We still enjoy X a lot but there is less staff in nearly every area(at least the ones visible to the public). There were Sommeliers all over the MDR, a rarity today. Bartenders and servers were everywhere......

 

Things change and we love the new ships, so all good, but no question there are large differences in the experience from then to now.

[nijh]

Fascinating site overall - thanks for posting [emoji3]

[Iamcruzin]

My wife and I were married due to a 2 for 1 cruise offer through Princess.

I asked her if she wanted to go on a cruise and she said that she would only go if we were married. I accepted her proposal and here we are booked on a Celebrity cruise to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Thank God she was bit by the cruise bug or else I would have had to find another 2 for 1 deal just to get to one of those islands for a quickie divorce.:)

[Hooked!]

So interesting! It brings me back to when my family got our first computer, an HP, in 1996 - those days of dial-up internet (don't pick up the phone!) when downloading one song (through Napster, of course) took 2-3 hours.

 

I would love to go back and cruise during what many say were the 'glory days'. Cruising is such a pleasure now; I can hardly imagine it being any better!

 

Fascinating that the site still works - although I have to say my attempt at booking a sailing on the Century was most unsuccessful. ;)

 

Thanks so much for sharing.

[foxjim1]

I had a call from X and they told me there working on it and hope to roll it out late 2016 or early 2017!