Misleading Summer Savings Sale

[whitecap]

We just tried to book a Celebrity Reflection cruise for April 2019 under the Summer Savings Sale. The reason we chose this sale was the Celebrity Web Site explains that under this sale, "Plus book an ocean view or higher stateroom and everyone gets free drinks to enjoy on your award winning, modern luxury vacation". Clearly this means that if you book an ocean view or higher stateroom, everyone in that stateroom gets a free drinks package as part of the booking fare. Now, next paragraph, "First two guest choose 1 Free Perk". Now that seem to mean that guest number 1 and 2 in the stateroom will also get to choose 1 free perk.

We contacted our TA and advised that we wanted to book and that we should receive the free beverage package, as part of the fare, and we wanted to choose the OBC perk as the "Free Perk" for guest 1 and 2.

Celebrity, 2 different people, advised our TA that they agree the advertisement was misleading but we couldn't get the drink package and the "Free" perk. Well, if everyone gets the free drinks, it isn't a perk so why can't we choose a free perk as paragraph 2 states? No explanation from Celebrity. Very misleading.

 

THIS SUMMER, EVERYONE WHO SAILS—SAVES.

 

For a limited time, everyone in your stateroom—any stateroom—saves up to $150 off their cruise fare.* Plus, book an ocean view or higher stateroom and everyone gets free drinks to enjoy on your award-winning, modern luxury vacation.

First two guests each choose 1 free perk:

Classic Beverage Package • Prepaid Tips • Unlimited WI-FI, and $150 to spend on board.

Friends and family in your stateroom get:

Classic Non-alcoholic Beverage Packages and 40-minute Internet Packages

Want it all and more?

Book Suite Class accommodations and the first two guests get all FOUR perks—with an upgrade to a Premium Beverage Package. Plus, everyone in your stateroom saves $200 off their cruise fare.*

Savings per person is based on type of stateroom:

• $50* Inside
  
• $100* Ocean View or Veranda
  
• $150* Concierge Class or AquaClass®
  
• $200* Suite Class
  

Set sail on your next vacation and take advantage of our Summer Savings Event. Book by July 5, 2017 and get this incredible offer applied to almost any sailing departing July 1, 2017 through April 30, 2019.

Edited July 1, 2017 by whitecap

[Jayneykul]

Celebrity excel at this. I booked a future cruise onboard and needed to change it. I was told no problem ring to discuss the call cost me £25 to be told I could move it, it's called cancel lose yr deposit and re-book! I call that a deal that sucks and 1 which is not what I was sold. I won't book direct with them again

[easyboy]

You are right. If they acknowledge it is misleading, then it may have been worded deliberately.

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

[awhcruiser]

Why not call Celebrity and ask them?

[whitecap]

Why not call Celebrity and ask them?

 

Just got off the phone. They explained that you get to choose 1 free perk; they also agreed that because "everyone" gets the drink package it isn't a perk, SO, I said I want to book and get the free drink package that EVERYONE gets and I choose, as my free PERK, the OBC. She said, can't do that you only get one perk so by choosing the free drink package, you can't choose another one. So I said, "how can it be a PERK, if EVERYONE gets it?" Her answer, "i can't do anything about it".

Like I said, it is very misleading!

[4cats4me]

I interpret it to mean that everyone gets free drinks. However, if you don't wish the free drinks then passengers one and two can choose the OBC in lieu of drinks, or the Internet or gratuities.

 

This is how Princess advertises it, too.

Otherwise, X would advertise that you could choose two perks. Since the drink package is already a perk and Is worth more than the OBC, they probably just assume most will want the value of the drink package.

Wish they would be more consistent with the wording In their promos. One perk two perk three perk or go big, better, best are much clearer as to what you actually will get.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jayneykul]

Hope you didn't get charged £25 for your fruitless phone call like I did! I did get the money reimbursed eventually after I complained about it

[4774Papa]

Pricing a cruise was soooo much better prior to the price bundling that Celebrity stated with the Go Better Bull S---/

[sanger727]

All cruise line ads are misleading and meant to generate excitement. Sorry you fell for it, but I don't even bother reading them anymore. RCCL and Princess are the worst at this.

 

RCCL will have a room on sale for $600 pp, then the next day run a sale for half off the second guest. Guess what, the room still costs $1,200, they just raise the rates to $800 pp.

 

Then princess runs sales where they advertise - go to this sailing on this date, starting at $500 pp. Then when you go to price it out - you need 4 people in the room for it to average out to $500 pp. The first two are still charged at a much higher rate.

 

If I see an ad I always do a mock booking online before I contact anyone about booking it. It's usually misleading and no better deal than usual.

[Orator]

Celebrity considers that anything beyond items covered in the basic cruise fare are "perks". They are not alone in the hospitality business. I've been lured by ads that are indeed misleading until I understood what they most likely mean.

[whitecap]

I interpret it to mean that everyone gets free drinks. However, if you don't wish the free drinks then passengers one and two can choose the OBC in lieu of drinks, or the Internet or gratuities.

 

This is how Princess advertises it, too.

Otherwise, X would advertise that you could choose two perks. Since the drink package is already a perk and Is worth more than the OBC, they probably just assume most will want the value of the drink package.

Wish they would be more consistent with the wording In their promos. One perk two perk three perk or go big, better, best are much clearer as to what you actually will get.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

To me Princess explains it much better: You get a free drink package with the booking BUT if you don't want the drink package you can choose the OBC equivalent.

This Celebrity ad is completely different: it give the drink package to everyone and later in the add tells guest 1 and 2 that they can choose 1 Perk. I believe that this is how they hope it works: you call and book believing that you will get the drink package as advertised then the Celebrity person will tell you that you can choose 1 Free Perk and once you do, the price of your fare goes up and they will explain that by booking and accepting the FREE drink package, that was your 1 FREE PERK! and now you must pay for the other perk you chose. I believe my theory to be correct and with two representatives telling my TA it was misleading and one telling me the same they know it.

Please don't get me wrong, I like Celebrity and I am sure I will book with them again I just don't like to be hustled.

[Jade13]

Just got off the phone. They explained that you get to choose 1 free perk; they also agreed that because "everyone" gets the drink package it isn't a perk, SO, I said I want to book and get the free drink package that EVERYONE gets and I choose, as my free PERK, the OBC. She said, can't do that you only get one perk so by choosing the free drink package, you can't choose another one. So I said, "how can it be a PERK, if EVERYONE gets it?" Her answer, "i can't do anything about it".

Like I said, it is very misleading!

 

 

 

I saw this the other day and agree it is misleading.

 

The reason that I noticed it was because we had booked a cruise for later this year with one perk. When I initially saw this ad I thought the promo was 2 perks and I wanted to see if I could have the second one added but quickly realized this didn't appear to be any promotion at all.

 

How is this promo different than what anyone could book a week earlier?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[whitecap]

I saw this the other day and agree it is misleading.

 

The reason that I noticed it was because we had booked a cruise for later this year with one perk. When I initially saw this ad I thought the promo was 2 perks and I wanted to see if I could have the second one added but quickly realized this didn't appear to be any promotion at all.

 

How is this promo different than what anyone could book a week earlier?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You are so right. No different that the regular Go Big thing.

[riclop]

All there sales are non sales.

[robandlil]

Find a travel agent who also gives an add on perk.

[varoo]

But surely the winner for misleading enticements today has to be the Cruise Critic letter with the latest QM2 prices -- (obviously errors).

 

Did anyone else receive them?

Here are just a couple of examples:

 

7-Night Transatlantic from New York (Manhattan) - Aug 03, 2018

Queen Mary 2 (QM2) Starting at

$19

Balcony 99% ↓

$2,099 2 days ago

Show Prices »

 

 

7-Night Transatlantic from Southampton - Nov 18, 2018

Queen Mary 2 (QM2) Starting at

$59

Balcony 96% ↓

$1,629 2 days ago

Show Prices »

 

 

I clicked on the link that said

See more drops like this →

but alas, the prices shown were nothing like these. ;)

Edited July 2, 2017 by varoo

[ChucktownSteve]

For anyone believing Celebrity does any cruise sales, I own a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you a piece.

 

Celebrity hasn't done a sale in at least a couple of years. Even their Xciting Deals are no deals any longer. Just the regular price.

 

Their Go BBB raised the price to roll in the cost of the perks they're giving you. In cases of longer cruises, you actually pay more for the OBC value that they give you for free.

 

It's all marketing voodoo designed to fool the uninformed. Find an itinerary at a price with perks you like and forget the hype.

[4774Papa]

You said it well:

 

It's all marketing voodoo designed to fool the uninformed. Find an itinerary at a price with perks you like and forget the hype.

 

 

 

 

What still amazes me is that I read on these boards many statements from people that don't check their bills to see how much they spend on alcohol. I do this and four us the drinks packages are way too much.

Many others have posted that they just like the convenience of having the drinks packages. What was it W.C. Fields said, Never give a sucker an even break.

[ChucktownSteve]

What was it W.C. Fields said, Never give a sucker an even break.

 

I suspect it was CEO LPP who said that.

[whitecap]

For anyone believing Celebrity does any cruise sales, I own a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you a piece.

 

Celebrity hasn't done a sale in at least a couple of years. Even their Xciting Deals are no deals any longer. Just the regular price.

 

Their Go BBB raised the price to roll in the cost of the perks they're giving you. In cases of longer cruises, you actually pay more for the OBC value that they give you for free.

 

It's all marketing voodoo designed to fool the uninformed. Find an itinerary at a price with perks you like and forget the hype.

I consider myself and DW to be "experienced" cruisers and when we see a cruise we are interested in, on any cruise line, we research, calculate, estimate and read everything including the small fine print. If it doesn't benefit us we look for something else. We changed TA's many months ago because our former TA stopped giving any perks. Our current TA offers something on every booking and we currently have 6 booked with them.

I hope that my original post will remind people to be careful and don't take anything for granted; read everything and ask lots of questions. Just like many politicians who promise "free" stuff, someone is paying for it! :D

[dkjretired]

I agree it is misleading but remember that some may choose the other perk because there are a lot of people who don't drink.

[Jade13]

You said it well:

 

It's all marketing voodoo designed to fool the uninformed. Find an itinerary at a price with perks you like and forget the hype.

 

 

 

 

What still amazes me is that I read on these boards many statements from people that don't check their bills to see how much they spend on alcohol. I do this and four us the drinks packages are way too much.

Many others have posted that they just like the convenience of having the drinks packages. What was it W.C. Fields said, Never give a sucker an even break.

 

 

 

I wouldn't consider someone a sucker just because they want a drink package for the convenience of not having to sign slips. They may find the convenience more important than taking the $150 pp cruise line offer of OBC as another perk option.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Jade13]

Error

[whitecap]

I agree it is misleading but remember that some may choose the other perk because there are a lot of people who don't drink.

I certainly agree and if their ad simply stated that "everyone gets to choose 1 perk", there would not have been any ambiguity. As an example, when Princess advertises the AIBP (all inclusive beverage package), it comes with he booking BUT they offer to those that don't want the package the choice to take OBC instead. You know up front that you get one or the other. With Celebrity's ad, they clearly stated that "everyone" gets the drink package and then they offer Guest 1 and 2 a choice of an additional perk. The cruise that we were looking at had a cost of $4021.00 and came with the beverage package; then we told our TA and Celebrity that we, as Guest 1 and 2, wanted to choose the OBC perk; suddenly the cost of the cruise went to $4400.00 and they explained that we had "chosen a second perk". We responded that we hadn't chosen a "second perk" as the beverage package came with the cruise fare because "everyone gets it". That is when they agreed it was "misleading" but nothing they could do about it. I don't fault the representatives at all. It is Celebrity's way of getting you to call so they can attempt to get you hooked. Like a good car salesman who says, "just take it for a ride". Our TA's representative was got somewhat upset about it as well and stated that they were going to send a message up the chain to advise their higher ups in hopes they would work something out with Celebrity.

[ebtrip]

We booked a sky suite for 2019. Received all 4 perks, premium Bev., gratuities, 300.00 OBC, unl. internet. On top of that my agent gave another $700.00 OBC.. I know we are paying top dollar, but take off the $1000. And we got a pretty good deal.