Huge Price Increase!!!

[Orator]

We booked in February of 2015 for 2017.

We sail in Aqua class.

The fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice has been removed from the room service menu along with other "special" offerings(and the orange is no longer available even in Blu),.

The daily water has been removed.

Our waiters and sommeliers have more tables.

The wines, even on the premium package , have gone up in price and the good ones seem to never be available . (They "run out" of wines a lot in the last year)

 

Luggage Valet seems to have disappeared.

 

And this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

Nothing earthshaking but just snip, snip, snip.

 

You are correct! Fortunately I always have the Premium Drink Package so I can restock water, but the removal of the water from AQ is a cause for complaint and lessens the value of AQ.

[PoppyandNana]

So glad we booked early. I check the Celebrity website often and the prices keep fluctuating. Yesterday, I made our final payment for the Equinox next April although the final payment is not due until January 3rd. I believe we got a great deal - if makes me feel better anyway. Now, to save for airfare and all the other hidden expenses.

 

 

Why, why would you make your final payment six months before is due? Makes no sense. Put the money in a bank and earn $20 but don't give the cruise line your float. Sorry three months. Still, just saying.

Edited August 26, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[PoppyandNana]

X has another guess coming ,if they think people will pay those outrageous cruise price increases . The balcony we booked for our May 17th coastal cruise on Infiniti has doubled in cost ,according to the web site of a major TA . :eek:

 

This type of price manipulation , by any company ,for what ever reason leaves a lingering taste of distrust in the consuming publics mind . Thus ,I predict that X will need to have many sales in the future to recover from this fiasco :rolleyes:

 

Additionally I am forecasting that many former X patriots will abandon X for both other cruise lines & other types of vacations .

 

Happy sailing X . just remember you did it all to yourselves:eek:

 

We were all set to book Panama Canal for next year ON X. We are so close to elite plus and as much as I hate to jump I see HAL has similar 15 days for $2200 less AND INCLUDES a beverage package and modest OBC.

[PoppyandNana]

The first half of you statement is correct... the second half is not.

 

*I* am STILL getting my cruises at $50pp/day. :eek: :D ;)

 

 

 

 

Already done that... 69 days booked/cruised on Royal... ZERO on Celebrity. Once again... all of them at under $50pp/night. :)

 

 

69 days?? We're lucky if we can get 20/22 in, in one year.

Are you in need of a 70 year old man servant?

[Baron Barracuda]

Typical X marketing ineptitude. Jack up prices without announcing new promo and scare away anyone looking to book. Makes Princess, Hal and even Oceania and Azamara look like real bargains in comparison. Bet X's reservation lines haven't rung all week.

[Gordoncruickshank]

At these prices I guess we will revert to what we used to do. Go to a decent hotel in Cyprus or the Canaries.

 

We are in Gran Canaria just now for a 14 night vacation sitting in a room that is around 500sq ft plus another 100 sq ft of balcony with the equivalent of a classic beverage package plus all inclusive food. Cost including flights is around £1,300 per head. Ok no butler but that saves the worry about what he can do for you.

 

I don't expect to get a suite on a cruise for that but I certainly will not pay £5,000 per head for an S2 Sky suite or the ridiculous prices for CS - more than an RS before with RS at £16,000 plus for 2 weeks in the Caribbean.

[jules815]

The Sky Suite I have booked for April 1 on Reflection has gone up $833pp!

[luvstosail]

You've performed a valuable service in alerting those on Cruise Critic about bargain prices. I know you also provide very helpful information to your fellow cruisers when on a ship.

The new reality for Celebrity is that they no longer want the "bargain" cruiser. Their focus has been shifted to the high margin spender. The strategy appears at this time to be working well. Suite prices have been raised to very high levels and are still selling quite well. There appears to be particularly high demand for Royal and above. My sources, usually very reliable, tell me that indeed there will be no inside cabins and the ship will be Suite heavy. I suspect that major design changes will be made to accommodate more passengers in larger cabins. Wonder what the public space will be? Many long time passengers will leave as prices rise, but data must be telling Celebrity that there will be more than enough demand to replace those who leave. This is the new reality and I believe it will be at the center of the new builds. Guess we'll see if I'm right when pricing information for the first new build is released.

 

 

I would bet my money that you are spot on when it comes to this topic. Over the years you are one of only a couple of cruise critics that truly does know understand the facts and gets them right on every issue. Even if they are sad but true...thank you !!!

 

Luvstosail

Boston Ma

[Mr&MrsBee]

I would bet my money that you are spot on when it comes to this topic. Over the years you are one of only a couple of cruise critics that truly does know understand the facts and gets them right on every issue. Even if they are sad but true...thank you !!!

 

Luvstosail

Boston Ma

 

Agreed. Orator is always right on. When I see the name I always review the comments. Larry B

[jjh9]

Just check Celebrity website our May Med cruise has gone from $2650. to 4200 pp for 2b cabin do not understand why.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Yes im not sure what Celebrity is doing to its loyal customers. I guess why the huge increases? We lucked out for our April cruise on pricing think it went up $300 pp but we wont book after that if prices continue to rise.

Would be nice if we really knew why? Bottom line is people just wont cruise Celebrity.

You think there would be something online about the increases but maybe thats coming.

[kk99]

There is a new promotion launching September 1st that covers oceanview and higher sailings on most four night or longer sailings between December 1, 2016 and April 30, 2018 for new bookings. The first person pays full fare and the second one pays 50% or an overall 25% discount.

 

So on three of my four sailings the prices rose two days ago from what was showing on Celebrity's website to much higher prices this week before the date of the new promotion on September 1st. So if we had booked a cabin at $2250 pp or for $4500 total two days ago, the new prices rose to $3000 pp and then when the new promotion is applied for bookings made after September 1st it is $3000 a person for the first and $1500 person for the 2nd passenger for a total of $4500, or no net change in the fare.

 

Our fourth cruise that is booked into 2018 is a cruise that won't be covered by the promotion as it is a repositioning cruise. The prices rose on Celebrity's website two days ago, and then came down to the prices it had been showing before the increase.

 

It is all a matter of marketing, and getting people to book during promotions. I will call our travel agent next week to see whether there are any other additional benefits to rebooking the sailings as they are all outside final payment date.

 

Some cruise prices may have risen significantly since anyone originally booked, but I was comparing prices from two days ago before the rise(and not what I originally booked for) and the new prices. It would seem logical that Celebrity just loaded in the new prices on most cruises in anticipation of the new promotion.

 

I have already gotten email from some online travel agencies advertising Celebrity promotions for next week. If Celebrity can fill their ships at much higher prices, they will try and do so, but if the prices are too far out of range for mine or anyone's comfort level, and the sailings are not being booked, then you will see price drops.

[richsea]

We were all set to book Panama Canal for next year ON X. We are so close to elite plus and as much as I hate to jump I see HAL has similar 15 days for $2200 less AND INCLUDES a beverage package and modest OBC.

 

I have been watching 4 different 10 night sailings for Jan/Feb of 2017.

 

As of today , the least expensive balcony rooms are:

 

Equinox 1/20 $2599 per person

 

Serenade OTS 2/3 $1948

 

Royal Princess 1/19 $1299

 

Royal Princess 1/29 $1299

 

We could do both Princess sailings (20 days), for the price of 10 days on Equinox.

 

Celebrity has long been our go to line (20 years), but the difference between the lines is not enough to justify to me paying that much of a premium to sail Celebrity.

[richsea]

Orator, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. Thsnks.

[PoppyandNana]

Just check Celebrity website our May Med cruise has gone from $2650. to 4200 pp for 2b cabin do not understand why.

 

 

Our Jan ten day went from $4441 to $6332 for a C3. Glad we booked last year while aboard the Equinox

[Cruise Junky]

I have been watching 4 different 10 night sailings for Jan/Feb of 2017.

 

As of today , the least expensive balcony rooms are:

 

Equinox 1/20 $2599 per person

 

Serenade OTS 2/3 $1948

 

Royal Princess 1/19 $1299

 

Royal Princess 1/29 $1299

 

We could do both Princess sailings (20 days), for the price of 10 days on Equinox.

 

Celebrity has long been our go to line (20 years), but the difference between the lines is not enough to justify to me paying that much of a premium to sail Celebrity.

 

Wait until Celebrity announces the sale on Sept 1 before making a decision. I'm thinking they'll be more inline with the other lines.

[copi2boys]

Of course I had to go check pricing for our January cruise...The base price of the cruise is lower, but when I added in our perks that were "free" when we booked the price is now $700 pp MORE!! Ouch. Betcha there's a sale coming up :D

[PoppyandNana]

We have been looking at a 15 day Panama Canal. For the past week or so mid level balconies were in the $4/5000 range for two Just checked for a May sailing:

 

Almost $12,000!!!! What the hell is going on??

Edited August 27, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[sanrod2]

Our euro cruise next year on the Connie went from 10k to 14k in the class we booked !!! Overnight ... !!! If this is a Labor Day marketing ploy ( raise prices to have a sale ) I will be disappointed as this is very deceptive ...

[luv2cruisecats]

We booked this 11 day cruise a few months ago in AQ and with 2 perks came to around $6200 total for both of us with taxes. This was not any big sale price at the time.

 

Now with 2 increase in the last 3 days it costs almost $9600 with the same perks and taxes. 54% jump...why???

[Hlitner]

We booked in February of 2015 for 2017.

We sail in Aqua class.

The fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice has been removed from the room service menu along with other "special" offerings(and the orange is no longer available even in Blu),.

The daily water has been removed.

Our waiters and sommeliers have more tables.

The wines, even on the premium package , have gone up in price and the good ones seem to never be available . (They "run out" of wines a lot in the last year)

 

Luggage Valet seems to have disappeared.

 

And this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

Nothing earthshaking but just snip, snip, snip.

 

WOW! When I read your post I thought it was mine :(. Every issue you cited we have previously posted (in other threads) and more! So we have AQ booked for this coming November, which was booked nearly 1 year ago! Our norm would be to book the same cruise (soon) for 2017...which has been our habit. But now, we look at Celebrity pricing, Celebrity cut-backs (drip drip drip), and other options (such as the new Koningsdam Or perhaps Princess). So what to do? It appears that we are going to cruise 103 day in 2016....but we have nothing yet booked for 2017. But we can assume that next year will include at least 100 days of cruising....but at this point, we are thinking none of it will be on Celebrity. Yes, we have really enjoyed Celebrity for many years (Elite Plus at the moment). But Czar Lisa seem to be trying very hard, to pitch some frequent cruisers overboard. We are the rare (perhaps not so rare) cruisers who look for value (different then price). For the past several years we have thought that Celebrity delivered terrific value..when compared to the competition. But now, we are not so sure.

 

Hank

Edited August 27, 2016 by Hlitner

[Cruise a holic]

Since reading this post my dh and I have for the first time in years, requested brochures and information from Princess, HAL and even peaked at Carnival. We are booked currently for a few celebrity cruises at very good rates. However if this trend of increases continues, perhaps we will not sail on the New Edge ships and move our business to another line.

[villauk]

Our euro cruise next year on the Connie went from 10k to 14k in the class we booked !!! Overnight ... !!! If this is a Labor Day marketing ploy ( raise prices to have a sale ) I will be disappointed as this is very deceptive ...

 

Well the sale definitely starts 1st Sept (do a web search and it's there) - 50% off the second guest pricing. So most cruises, I would have thought, will work out to exactly the same as pre increase pricing. You may be lucky and get a small reduction - work it out on the current pricing and half the 2nd guest amount.

 

I thought one of ours may calculate to a little less and then noticed it's been raised again - obviously a glitch in their systems when they automatically put the formula in to account for the sale pricing (no shocks there then :D).

[Iamcruzin]

What a freaking joke. I just checked my Bermuda sailing for May 2017 and the $949 ocean view with 2 perks is now $1265 with all 4 perks. I could have upgraded to best for the same increase in price when I booked. Now they are forcing you to take the go best package. I'm sure I paid the increase for the go better package when I booked as go big is usually $100 less for the time of year for the same category. This is really a scam. Celebrity stop paying games.

[ChucktownSteve]

In business, every time you raise prices, you'll lose some customers. The bean counters know how much business they will lose and how much more money they will make on the remaining customers with the price increase.

 

Apparently Celebrity believes they'll make more money by forcing the perk purchases rolled into the fare than the people that jump ship. As long as the uninformed keep filling their ships this tactic will remain.

 

So far Queen Lisa may be laughing all the way to the bank but their stock price this year doesn't prove that out.