Has Celebrity Out Priced Their Cruises

[mcrcruiser]

Having taken well over 40 Celebrity Cruises ,we are now inclined to use other cruise lines ;because we feel that Celebrity has raised their prices far too high .

 

What is your opinion of this topic ?

[tomcruiser1234]

Suites yes

 

Verandas no

[4774Papa]

Celebrity is our favorite cruise line. However, since they started bundling their prices with drink packages that we don't want, the prices have generally mushroomed.

 

We have a TA from Southampton to Miami booked on the Eclipse this October, because the pricing was low and unbundled. However, in planning our trip with cruises from Sydney to NZ next year, we compared Celebrity to Royal Caribbean. The RCI prices were half of Celebrity's and the RCI cruise was a day longer. So we booked RCI on a NZ cruise and on a TP cruise from Sydney to Seattle.

 

We are elite and moderate drinkers (sorry, we don't imbibe 8-12 drinks a day). Since the happy hour satisfies the majority of our drinking, we normally spend only about $250 for two persons for a 14 day cruise.

There are still bargains out there with Celebrity, but we pick our cruises on itinerary and generally don't repeat the same cruise again.

 

Hope that X can become more competitive in the future.

[Orator]

They have out priced a number of loyal cruisers, but they have not out priced the market. Just check out Edge Suite prices and availability. I have booked several cruises that are now sold out. Prices will continue to rise until they reach a point of price resistance and that point has yet to be reached. The simple answer to your question is: "No"...

[Orator]

duplicate post

[rain_bowbrite]

Celebrity is our favorite cruise line. However, since they started bundling their prices with drink packages that we don't want, the prices have generally mushroomed.

 

We have a TA from Southampton to Miami booked on the Eclipse this October, because the pricing was low and unbundled. However, in planning our trip with cruises from Sydney to NZ next year, we compared Celebrity to Royal Caribbean. The RCI prices were half of Celebrity's and the RCI cruise was a day longer. So we booked RCI on a NZ cruise and on a TP cruise from Sydney to Seattle.

 

We are elite and moderate drinkers (sorry, we don't imbibe 8-12 drinks a day). Since the happy hour satisfies the majority of our drinking, we normally spend only about $250 for two persons for a 14 day cruise.

There are still bargains out there with Celebrity, but we pick our cruises on itinerary and generally don't repeat the same cruise again.

 

Hope that X can become more competitive in the future.

 

You can book without the perks. It not very intuitive on Celebrity's website, but when pricing instead of selecting the perks click under where it says something like "check for other offers" (sorry don't have site in front of me to check for exact wording)

 

From there, you check check for state resident special offers. Unless this has changed recently, you don't have to live in a particular state to book a resident special. I'd recommend checking several.

 

I was recently pricing out a cruise without the perks and while I don't live in California, the California rate was $100 less per person.

 

Worth trying out. ;)

[dodger1964]

They have out priced a number of loyal cruisers, but they have not out priced the market. Just check out Edge Suite prices and availability. I have booked several cruises that are now sold out. Prices will continue to rise until they reach a point of price resistance and that point has yet to be reached. The simple answer to your question is: "No"...

 

I'm not sure a brand new class and ship is representative of general market pricing.

[bigbenboys]

The prices seemed to have gone up. My next cruise will be cruise number 50. We started booking sky suites after they added Michael's Club and Luminae. We love the suite life. We cruise about 4 times a year. We still think we get good value for our money. If I see a price drop I email my TA and get the reduced price.

[mcrcruiser]

You can book without the perks. It not very intuitive on Celebrity's website, but when pricing instead of selecting the perks click under where it says something like "check for other offers" (sorry don't have site in front of me to check for exact wording)

 

From there, you check check for state resident special offers. Unless this has changed recently, you don't have to live in a particular state to book a resident special. I'd recommend checking several.

 

I was recently pricing out a cruise without the perks and while I don't live in California, the California rate was $100 less per person.

 

Worth trying out. ;)

 

We just learned something that a customer can book with out all those perks & get a lower price .:D Thanks for the heads up:)

 

Since we get competitive bids on all our cruises from TAs we get some perks ;which are usually OBCs ,that we apply towards the tips .

 

We too are elite + & have sufficient perks on board .

 

Yes we have seen Royal Caribbean cruises in the same geographical area as X & price lower

[Orator]

I'm not sure a brand new class and ship is representative of general market pricing.

 

OK, check out availability and prices of Suites on current ships. Other than Caribbean sales are very strong. Suites, especially top suites are usually the first to go.

[drew69]

Having taken well over 40 Celebrity Cruises ,we are now inclined to use other cruise lines ;because we feel that Celebrity has raised their prices far too high .

 

What is your opinion of this topic ?

 

Obviously not as they are still in business, making money, and selling many cabins.

for every cruiser who leaves, there will be one to take their place.

[rain_bowbrite]

We just learned something that a customer can book with out all those perks & get a lower price .:D Thanks for the heads up:)

 

Since we get competitive bids on all our cruises from TAs we get some perks ;which are usually OBCs ,that we apply towards the tips .

 

We too are elite + & have sufficient perks on board .

 

Yes we have seen Royal Caribbean cruises in the same geographical area as X & price lower

 

You're welcome. Makes sense to book this way if you don't really use the perks. I just tested the price of an Aqua class cabin for my Dec. Equinox cruise: entry level is $1599.00pp with the Go Better perks and $1199.00 without them. Big difference. :D

 

Note: I will add that I noticed it does say at least one person in the cabin must be a resident of the state offer chosen for the booking. A few years ago it didn't use to be like this. A TA could book you using any of the state rates even if you didn't didn't reside in that state.

Edited April 5, 2017 by rain_bowbrite

[grandgeezer]

Obviously not as they are still in business, making money, and selling many cabins.

for every cruiser who leaves, there will be one to take their place.

 

Really? I thought they would be forced to go out of business. As long as people are willing to play a inflated price for a so so product, they will thrive. It will be without help from us though. In the last several years they've taken a wonderful time and turned into a frat party. We'll suffer going back to our 10 days to two weeks at a condo on the beach in Maui. More money but so much more enjoyable.

If things get tight for them and bring quality back to the product, and they say pretty please, we might give them a second chance.

[bayonnejoe]

Really? I thought they would be forced to go out of business. As long as people are willing to play a inflated price for a so so product, they will thrive. It will be without help from us though. In the last several years they've taken a wonderful time and turned into a frat party. We'll suffer going back to our 10 days to two weeks at a condo on the beach in Maui. More money but so much more enjoyable.

If things get tight for them and bring quality back to the product, and they say pretty please, we might give them a second chance.

 

This is your opinion and you are completely entitled to it. DW, many friends, and myself, still consider Celebrity a high quality vacation for the dollar paid, not an inflated price, as they are very much in line with the other mainstream lines.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We enjoy the suite life and are still willing to book at prevailing rates. The way we look at it, as we age cruising is an easy way to travel. As long as we have the money we will continue to book.

 

Re Resident Rates, we used them in the past and you always had to have one passenger in the cabin a resident of the applicable state.

[bogofman]

Yes they and also RCI have priced us out this summer , we have taken a summer cruise with rci or X for the last 6 years

 

Currently prices are nearly double what we paid last August and they did also include drinks package

 

We are watching for last minute deals to see if the price drops, otherwise we will go else where,

 

I notice the caribbean prices are still good for us ( no the increase is not due to exchange rates,)

[flyingv4me]

I think it depends on the itinerary and when you book. We are very happy with the sky suite we have booked for October. We're very happy with the price paid!

[Luvtoeat]

When I booked our Sept. cruise in Feb. I had the choice of taking the perks or booking with the senior/resident or military rates. These 3 rates were all the same and about $1,000 less than booking with the perks. I think price I paid was not bad and that price is now up about $500.00. I booked a balcony on the hump.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Prices on all of the lines I checked before booking our next 2 cruises were higher on ALL lines.

 

Some folks may disagree, but for us we began noticing it with the introduction of "FREE AMENITIES" that are really just built into the advertised cost. No company is giving away gratuities, drinks, excursions, etc. for "FREE". We're all paying for it in some way or another.

 

While we enjoy cruising immensely, I've started looking at all-inclusive land-based vacations for future trips. Sadly, that means we will not be cruising as much. :(

 

Until we move to a cruise port city, where we can save on the airfare, we'll need to shop around a LOT harder before committing our vacation dollars!

[Hlitner]

Celebrity is writing the book about promotions, perks, pricing strategies, etc. Just spoke to our cruise agent yesterday about 2 (back to back) Celebrity cruises we have booked. which we were having "repriced" to see if we should make some changes. It was a real exercise in math to figure the best deal. Since we have done a lot of cruising we know what a specific perk is really worth (to us) versus the price put on the item by the cruise line. We price out our cruises by taking the total cruise cost, less the real value (according to moi) and then dividing by total days to get the "real cost per passenger day." There are times when we will book a cruise with zero perks because we can save hundreds and even thousands of dollars with a much lower cruise fare. On one 36 day HAL cruise we reduced the cost of our booking by $11,000 (not a typo) by simple eliminating their drink package! So it always makes sense to shop around for the best deal, and then keep an eye on the latest pricing for your cruise to see if it pays to have it repriced (or re booked).

 

Hank

[poffles]

I think it must depend on ship and sailing but I keep comparing other ships/sailings for Caribbean cruises and when I add in value of the perks on all, Celebrity keeps coming out cheaper for me.

 

I keep hearing NCL is cheaper from some on different posts and when i check them out they are not, not sure what I am missing other than perhaps the type of itinerary. I am typically comparing a veranda so maybe that is more alike price wise across ships? I also deal with CAD $ conversion but our dollar has been pretty much same for a while now so think all the ships have the conversion similar.

 

Bottom line for me, Celebrity is cheaper than com-parables. That said, the cost has definitely gone up but that is clearly an industry thing so there seems to be no place to turn to go cheaper. If it keeps going higher it will definitely reach a point where it may get harder and harder to rectify the value compared to other vacations. For now, a sailing we go :)

[Talex831]

As a convert to Celebrity from Disney Cruise Line, no, we are still thrilled with what we get for our money.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NLH Arizona]

This is your opinion and you are completely entitled to it. DW, many friends, and myself, still consider Celebrity a high quality vacation for the dollar paid, not an inflated price, as they are very much in line with the other mainstream lines.

This is how I feel as well and I've never been on a Celebrity cruise that remotely resembles a frat party.

[iambumbo]

Smart marketing by RCL corporate. Don't include drink packages on RCL which has more of a party crowd more willing to buy them or buy drinks separately, and thereby generate more revenue. Then include them in the price on Celebrity which has less partying and thus less alcohol consumed and more upfront revenue in cabin price, again generating more revenue than the alternative. I always get a drink package so this pricing scheme makes Celebrity more attractive than RCL to me.

 

Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Forums mobile app

[Ma Bell]

They have out priced a number of loyal cruisers, but they have not out priced the market. Just check out Edge Suite prices and availability. I have booked several cruises that are now sold out. Prices will continue to rise until they reach a point of price resistance and that point has yet to be reached. The simple answer to your question is: "No"...

 

We'll see if they are sold out at final payment time.