Price drop for a few hours??

[sanger727]

So, I haven't heard back from my TA yet, but anticipating that I will be disappointed. I have price alerts set for my Celebrity Hawaii cruise (April 2018) and I received an alert late last night (close to midnight) that prices for my cruise had dropped by about $400 pp. I was really excited and shot my TA an e-mail asking him to call and get those applied to my account.

 

I work night shift so went home and went to bed. I woke up this morning and prices are right back where they were! I haven't heard back from him but assuming that I would have if he had gotten the email in time to take advantage of the price drop. For all I know it was back up to the old price by beginning of the business day today.

 

The whole thing seems pretty crummy, to offer a price drop but to cancel it within hours. Has anyone else experienced something like this? :mad:

 

I guess next time I'll just have to book a new reservation as soon as I see the drop and just call and cancel the reservation with my TA in the morning.

[sanger727]

Ugh, just did a mock booking. I had been planning on switching to the "go best" promo with our room savings. To add insult to injury, along with the prices going back up, they increased the "go best" price by $150pp!!!! Really made at myself for not just booking it when I saw it and canceling out the TA reservation.

[RickT]

If you're outside final payment that's exactly what you should have done. That said, if the price goes down again just book the cruise, let your TA know and if the new booking saves you $ and the TA throws some OBC your way you can transfer it to them.

 

I've found some of my best cruise deals after midnight, most have been gone by morning.

[sanger727]

If you're outside final payment that's exactly what you should have done. That said, if the price goes down again just book the cruise, let your TA know and if the new booking saves you $ and the TA throws some OBC your way you can transfer it to them.

 

I've found some of my best cruise deals after midnight, most have been gone by morning.

 

Good to know, thanks. The last big price drop (before I booked) lasted two days, so didn't think it could disappear in a few hours. lesson learned, hoping it drops again

[Bo1953]

So, I haven't heard back from my TA yet, but anticipating that I will be disappointed. I have price alerts set for my Celebrity Hawaii cruise (April 2018) and I received an alert late last night (close to midnight) that prices for my cruise had dropped by about $400 pp. I was really excited and shot my TA an e-mail asking him to call and get those applied to my account.

 

I work night shift so went home and went to bed. I woke up this morning and prices are right back where they were! I haven't heard back from him but assuming that I would have if he had gotten the email in time to take advantage of the price drop. For all I know it was back up to the old price by beginning of the business day today.

 

The whole thing seems pretty crummy, to offer a price drop but to cancel it within hours. Has anyone else experienced something like this? :mad:

 

I guess next time I'll just have to book a new reservation as soon as I see the drop and just call and cancel the reservation with my TA in the morning.

 

Yes, on airline reservations I either made and paid for in advance or decided that I would wait...

 

bon voyage

[FlorenceItaly]

So, I haven't heard back from my TA yet, but anticipating that I will be disappointed. I have price alerts set for my Celebrity Hawaii cruise (April 2018) and I received an alert late last night (close to midnight) that prices for my cruise had dropped by about $400 pp. I was really excited and shot my TA an e-mail asking him to call and get those applied to my account.

 

I work night shift so went home and went to bed. I woke up this morning and prices are right back where they were! I haven't heard back from him but assuming that I would have if he had gotten the email in time to take advantage of the price drop. For all I know it was back up to the old price by beginning of the business day today.

 

The whole thing seems pretty crummy, to offer a price drop but to cancel it within hours. Has anyone else experienced something like this? :mad:

 

I guess next time I'll just have to book a new reservation as soon as I see the drop and just call and cancel the reservation with my TA in the morning.

 

Next time use the 24 hour hold feature.

[GUT2407]

It happens, I always put a hold on when I see a great deal.

[VivianK]

Hi, Great idea! Where is the hold option in the reservation? Do you think the OBC on the original reservation would transfer? We got 200 OBC because our cruise was chartered.

[cheeseheads4ever]

You really have to make sure you don't lose OBC or any perks. Like the previous poster stated above if you got OBC beyond the original$300 OBC like for instance booking while on a cruise or birthday OBC will that all transfer? Or is it a lot of red tape and phone calls. What about deposit on original booking? Do they just give that back?

All has to be done prior to final payment right?

[sanger727]

Phew, just got off the phone with the TA and he was able to get us a different but better deal. We had originally booked two 2d obstructed view balconies at $4,672 per balcony. The price drop would have allowed us to switch to two non-obstructed view balconies at $4,472 per balcony and we could have added on the "go best" promotion for an extra $405 pp. He was able to get us two 2b unobstructed view balconies at $4,152 per balcony! Can't add on the "go best" promotion, but still get the classic bev package and I'll take the extra savings. :)

[cheeseheads4ever]

Congrats always nice to hear fellow cruisers got a deal.

[amcco]

Congratulations! Always nice to see that happen :)

[Cruise Raider]

Glad you were able to get the better deal.

I have definitely seen pricing drop in the middle of the night so would just book it as others have said, although would have set you up for a lot of extra work today.

I may be incorrect on this but think if you just put a hold on it with no money placed as a deposit will save a cabin but not guarantee the price. Others may chime in and hope they do ... would like to know the answer to this.

PS -- obstructed balcony cabins on the S class ships really aren't so bad but if you can save money to move ... that's what really matters. Happy for you that things worked out.

:)

[sanger727]

Yes, if I see another midnight price drop will def book a courtesy hold to lock it in. But very happy with how it worked out this time.

[cazzi]

Happy to hear it worked out for you

[dgraham]

I have a suspicion that since Celebrity has a policy of not letting travel agencies offer lower rates that those posted by Celebrity, that Celebrity may lower their rates for a few hours to allow a major travel agency to book a block of cabins at the lower rate. So it is wise to keep up with the rates periodically. I think I lucked out a while ago when my rate went down dramatically.

Edited November 2, 2016 by dgraham
Adding an extra comment

[wrk2cruise]

I had this happen to me once. Since then the TA advised that I use the 24 hr hold and then send them the new reservation number the next day. They work it all out from there. I have never lost perks from onboard booking when doing this but if the new price has different booking perks than the original booking you may lose those.

[pandj24]

If you utilize the 24 hour hold, can your TA get you the same stateroom from your original booking?

 

Thanks!

[ISABELLA]

I have a suspicion that since Celebrity has a policy of not letting travel agencies offer lower rates that those posted by Celebrity, that Celebrity may lower their rates for a few hours to allow a major travel agency to book a block of cabins at the lower rate. So it is wise to keep up with the rates periodically. I think I lucked out a while ago when my rate went down dramatically.

 

Big agencies get blocks of cabins in advance with X - they don't need to wait till midnight for lower pricing. Some of them even know on Monday what Tuesday specials will be and offer pre - booking.

[twinsbur]

I saw a price drop on my Bermuda cruise (June 2017) last night and I called and saved $300. At first the representative said that there was no reduction but he eventually found the price that I saw on the website. I kept all of the perks (Go Best). I received a new confirmation and everything was correct.

I already had the price reduced 2 times. I check every once in a while and hope I get lucky.:D

[lastchamp64]

I booked my trip last Friday for January 2018 for a concierge cabin on the Summit for $3788 with the "Go Best" offer. Last night I noticed the same cabin was now $3356 with the same offers. I booked a hold and sent an email to my rep at Celebrity. He was excellent and adjustment my price on my current reservation.

 

I also originally wanted to book a Sky Suite last week and there were none available. Last night I saw that a Celebrity Suite was available for $5598... I'm still tossing it around if it's worth the added price, but I do have a 24 hour hold on it to make up my mind.

[dsarah]

Late last night I did a mock booking to check my Feb. 2018 14 day cruise on Eclipse. The fare total was over $1,000 lower than what we paid! I called Celebrity first thing this am and got the lower pricing, and kept the prepaid gratuities. Not sure if this was a "sale" or not. The pricing was straight forward, no buy one, get one half off. Just a cheaper price than we paid and an added $200 "savings" per person.

 

It pays to jump on a price change. I went to the "fish" place to check the price history. The price had gone down and up again yesterday before falling today to the lowest that its ever been.

[vtcruising]

Yesterday morning I had two price change alerts for my Fall 2017 Reflection Med cruise:

 

at 12:12 AM the AQ1 went from $3299 to $2811(down $488 PP - 14.8% decrease in cost). Not sure if the perks were the same since that offer was gone from the Celeb site by the time I checked.

 

at 6:17 AM the AQ1 went from $2811 to $3449 (up $638 PP - 22.7% increase)

 

I slept through the whole thing :). I assumed that they were adjusting prices for the latest "deal" that started Tuesday.

[lysolqn]

Cruise fares have gotten more like airfares over the last several years. I'm told it's the result of cruise lines utilizing the same yield management programs airlines use to keep a close eye on reservations. If bookings for a particular cruise are soft in a specific area of the country, you might see some resident discounts pop up to stir interest. Should activity increase to what is deemed to be an acceptable level, those resident discounts may quickly disappear. If bookings are brisk in balcony cabins on that very same cruise, you may see balcony fares go up in price. It's all a matter of supply and demand, thus it's not unusual to sees prices drop and rise again, or vice versa, in a matter of hours. Per our TA, if you find a fare you're comfortable with, grab it because it may be gone in a matter of minutes, literally.

[dsarah]

Cruise fares have gotten more like airfares over the last several years. I'm told it's the result of cruise lines utilizing the same yield management programs airlines use to keep a close eye on reservations. If bookings for a particular cruise are soft in a specific area of the country, you might see some resident discounts pop up to stir interest. Should activity increase to what is deemed to be an acceptable level, those resident discounts may quickly disappear. If bookings are brisk in balcony cabins on that very same cruise, you may see balcony fares go up in price. It's all a matter of supply and demand, thus it's not unusual to sees prices drop and rise again, or vice versa, in a matter of hours. Per our TA, if you find a fare you're comfortable with, grab it because it may be gone in a matter of minutes, literally.

 

That is probably true. But if air fares go down, previously booked passengers are out of luck or have to pay change fees. The cruise lines allow previously booked passengers to easily call and get a lower fare applied to their booking. (unless its past final payment or the deal is limited to new bookings). That seems to defeat the purpose that they are trying to achieve. But I'm not complaining -- just got a terrific reduction on a previously booked cruise for 2018.