Sharp Practice from Celebrity

[Mickb]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

This is called dynamic pricing.

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

[jelayne]

This is not unique to Celebrity hotels, airlines, cruise lines , car rental companies do the same. Simple matter of supply and demand.

[cruisestitch]

Prices go up and down all the time depending on how strong the bookings are. The same happens with airline fares -- overnight they change and the fare quoted yesterday may not be the fare you can get today. Among cruise lines, this is by no means unique to Celebrity -- unless you put a hold on a stateroom, the price can go up. Or down. Your travel agent should have explained this to you.

[Bo1953]

Prices go up and down all the time depending on how strong the bookings are. The same happens with airline fares -- overnight they change and the fare quoted yesterday may not be the fare you can get today. Among cruise lines, this is by no means unique to Celebrity -- unless you put a hold on a stateroom, the price can go up. Or down. Your travel agent should have explained this to you.

 

 

Overnight? How about within 20 minutes things can change on airline pricing.

 

bon voyage

[Brangwen]

Overnight? How about within 20 minutes things can change on airline pricing.

 

bon voyage

 

Right! I was just going to comment the same thing.

[wendychloecruiser]

Just call again, the rates could be lower than your original quote. As others have said rate changes of flights and cruises are incredibly fluid and you are just as likely to catch a rate going down as up. If something like that prompts you to blow off a whole cruiseline...wow. But that's ok as I will get the rate that you won't check for! :p

 

Don't give up too quickly.

[DaisyFire]

Just my 2-cents, but your "reputable TA" should have told you that you could put in a hold reservation for 24 hours just to be sure that you had your price protected. Or does that option not apply for UK? (I have been flamed before for not paying attention to the location of the poster since not all rules are the same outside of the US. :) )

[Lastdance]

Definitely call again and even again. That is IF you are still interested! Was recently quoted a great amount of OBC for a certain cabin: I ended up booking one more expensive and was then told the OBC extra was no longer available. The process now goes to that part of the company that deals with those promotions. My TA never mentioned it to me until I questioned her. so, who knows what will happen...but I feel that this information should have been forthcoming...my TA agrees that it was her error.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Lastdance

[wallie5446]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

This is called dynamic pricing.

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

 

Looks like you need a more 'reputable' TA, or one that has an inventory of group space to work with for their clients.

 

But please stop back and let us know which cruise line you found to replace the on ship quality of Celebrity with.

EW

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

This is called dynamic pricing.

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

 

Good luck finding a cruise line that doesn't use dynamic pricing. All cruise lines do, as do hotels, airlines, car rental companies, etc.

 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

While all the cruise lines use Dynamic Pricing to a degree, RCCL and Celebrity by far have the most frequent fluctuations. The revenue management software they use, like the airlines, can actually tell how many "hits" (views/price inquiries and bookings combined) a particular cruise and type of cabin are getting. The more hits the more likely the system will raise the fare on that cabin, regardless of if a booking resulted from the hit or not. The revenue management software determines, just like the airlines that that cabin type on that sailing is "popular" therefore worth more ...... The same can go with odd looking price drops - if on a particular sailing a certain category has a large number of unsold cabins and relatively lower hits than other categories the system auto lowers the price. This is why it is not uncommon on Celebrity and royal to see a "higher" grade of cabin priced less than the "lower" grade.

 

Because of the highly automated revenue management systems their fares can fluctuate MULTIPLE times in a 24hr period :eek:

[jaspersmommy]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

This is called dynamic pricing.

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

 

 

Why in the world would you not book again with Celebrity because of that? If you look at an airline quote today and decide to wait until tomorrow to book, would you refuse to use that airline again if the price went up tomorrow? If you don't book right away (or put a courtesy hold on the stateroom if possible in the UK), that is your fault that you're now looking at a higher price. Do you really think that Celebrity should hold yesterday's rate just for you, while everyone else has to pay a higher price???

[kevinyork]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

 

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

 

This is called dynamic pricing.

 

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

 

 

 

Mickb, I am guessing you are pricing a 2017 cruise. If so that price will be up and down before departure, dependant on offers. I would also ask why you are pricing a C grade. Concierge isn't worth much extra unless you want the extra loyalty points. If your prices are for 7:8 nights then that underlines a poor price. Norwiegan Fjords cruises over 7/8 nights for a balcony with perks usually are around £800 pp.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cuizer2]

Yesterday I enquired about a cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Eclipse. From a reputable TA I was quoted £1710 pp for a C1 and £3272 for a C! for single occupancy - a friend is travelling with us.

This morning when I rang to confirm, I was told that over night the price had gone up overnight to £2050pp for the double occupancy and £4025 for the single occupancy.

This is called dynamic pricing.

Needless to say I shall not be booking or sailing again with Celebrity!

 

Everyone raises their prices based on supply and demand. Supply is constant, so it is based on demand. If you thought the price was good, you should have booked it then.

 

It is your choice who you do business with. But if you are going to eliminate those that raise prices then you will soon be unwilling to do business with anybody. Then what?

[cle-guy]

I wonder how many people when fares go down overnight when browsing ask for the higher price they were quoted the day prior?

[Mbett1]

Thank you everybody for your comments -

My travel agent is one of the most respectable agencies in the UK. They tried to hold the cabins overnight but Celebrity refused.They were surprised by the level of price hike.

I can understand that prices will rise but £800 overnight! I looked on the website and tried a dummy booking to see that the same cabins were still available.

I know this happens with airlines but my angst is with the quantum - not the principle.

I have now tried another line who allowed cabins to be held for 24 hours and will firm up tomorrow.

[Andy]

Overnight? How about within 20 minutes things can change on airline pricing.

 

bon voyage

 

True. Last week, I tried to book air for my sister and my brother in law to sail with us from Florida. As I was in the middle of the online booking, the price jumped over $300. Talk about dynamic pricing LOL