Excursion Price Deception

[ParksvilleCruiser]

On Monday, December 18, 2017, I received an email from Celebrity stating I only had a few hours left to take advantage of an "Up to 20% Off" sale on excursions. I checked the Celebrity website for excursions being offered for our January 5, 2019, cruise aboard the Millennium; Singapore to Hong Kong. For each excursion, there was only one price listed, i.e., no distinction between the "regular" price and the "sale" price, and no indication of the savings. I called Celebrity customer service and was told the only way to determine the savings was for me to download Celebrity's excursion brochure and compare the regular prices listed there with what was listed as the sale price on the celebrity website. Are you kidding me? Can you imagine, say, a dress store, posting a sign outside saying, "Up to 20% Off", and discovering that inside the only way to know how much you're saving is by looking up each dress in a catalog and comparing prices between what's listed there and what's on each price tag for each dress? The best part of this is that I called Celebrity back and spoke to a second customer service representative. She checked for me and discovered that not a single excursion for my Singapore cruise was subject to any discount whatsoever. What Celebrity did here is send me (and no doubt thousands of other customers) an email urging me to buy excursions at a sale discount of "up to 20% off", list excursion prices with no way of knowing from that site the amount of the discount, and all of this for excursions that were not discounted a single penny. Obviously what Celebrity was hoping for was that when customers found just one price listed for each excursion as part of a so-called sale, customers would assume every price is the sale price. Yes, I know up to 20% includes 0%, but any store trying this trick would be run out of business. I wonder how many Celebrity customers have fallen for this scam. I understand Celebrity's head office is in Miami, Florida. This deceptive practice is outrageous, and should be investigated by Florida's Attorney General, who is responsible for consumer protection.

[cruisestitch]

Deceptive? Didn't it say something that not all excursions were on sale? I seem to remember that language.

 

When I see a sign on a store that says "up to 20% off" I know that not every item is on sale. Most won't be, but some will.

 

I don't see that Celebrity did anything deceptive. None of your excursions were on sale, but some people's were.

 

The CSR's advice about downloading the brochure was a little silly, to be sure.

[PhD-iva]

I was tricked as well. I texted my SIL and asked her to devote some time before the sale ended to selecting some excursions so we could spend our OBC wisely. She didn’t see my text, so the next day i called, but it was a really bad day for her. Anyway, i pressed a little and we were both dealing w this that evening until almost midnight. Of course, the website was not working for my SIL so she spent an hour on hold w Celebrity to book the excursion. The next morning i checked and the unsale price was identical to what we had paid during the sale. Celebrity duped me!

 

 

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[Bo1953]

I believe that anyone who feels/felt duped by X in any fashion need to consider cancelling and going on another line....

 

Especially if one does not understand that all things will not be 'on sale' or available for a sale. I think some of the more premium lines have tours included, so no worries there...

 

bon voyage

[gerelmx]

selected sailings and discount applied at checkout

[Jade13]

but any store trying this trick would be run out of business. I wonder how many Celebrity customers have fallen for this scam. I understand Celebrity's head office is in Miami, Florida. This deceptive practice is outrageous, and should be investigated by Florida's Attorney General, who is responsible for consumer protection.

 

 

 

Really? Sorry none of your excursions for a Cruise in 2019 were discounted.

 

I would expect that they are concentrating on non selling excursions for cruises in 2018.

 

 

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[ParksvilleCruiser]

A customer who's fine with a business promoting a sale in which nothing is for sale and in which it's very difficult to determine that nothing is for sale is the very customer such a business is counting on. Deceptive advertising can exist when consumers excuse it and except it.

[cruisestitch]

But it's not true that "nothing is for sale". There were plenty is excusions for sale. Just none on your sailing.

 

Blasts like these are meant to drum up interest. It got you to examine all your excursion options.

 

They send them to everyone. Just like the ones that encourage you to buy a drinks package even if you already have one.

 

They can't filter out who should get and who shouldn't get any particular marketing email. Their data base isn't that sophisticated.

 

Expect to get emails selling internet, spa treatments, even though you might already have them reserved.

[ParksvilleCruiser]

Celebrity sent me an email telling me that I had only a few hours to take advantage of a sale on excursions. The link took me to excursions for my cruise. There was nothing on the Celebrity website indicating that the prices listed for each excursion on my cruise were anything other than sale prices. There was certainly nothing on the Celebrity website indicating that none of the excursions for my cruise was on sale. Sending a customer an advertisement for a sale when nothing that customer can buy is on sale, and when it is very difficult for that customer to determine that nothing for him/her is on sale (download a brochure) is deceptive. I can understand Celebrity making up excuses (e.g., unsophisticated database) to explain away a practice that could result in customers being duped into thinking they are saving money when they are not. But one has to wonder why a customer would look for such excuses. As I said earlier, consumers who accept and offer excuses for bad business practices welcome those practices onto themselves and every other consumer.

[TeeRick]

I found a number of excursions on our upcoming AUS/NZ cruise discounted by 20%. However for the most part they were the really expensive ones that were probably hard to sell. Even with 20% off they were still overpriced.

[cl.klink]

On Monday, December 18, 2017, I received an email from Celebrity stating I only had a few hours left to take advantage of an "Up to 20% Off" sale on excursions. I checked the Celebrity website for excursions being offered for our January 5, 2019, cruise aboard the Millennium; Singapore to Hong Kong. For each excursion, there was only one price listed, i.e., no distinction between the "regular" price and the "sale" price, and no indication of the savings. I called Celebrity customer service and was told the only way to determine the savings was for me to download Celebrity's excursion brochure and compare the regular prices listed there with what was listed as the sale price on the celebrity website. Are you kidding me? Can you imagine, say, a dress store, posting a sign outside saying, "Up to 20% Off", and discovering that inside the only way to know how much you're saving is by looking up each dress in a catalog and comparing prices between what's listed there and what's on each price tag for each dress? The best part of this is that I called Celebrity back and spoke to a second customer service representative. She checked for me and discovered that not a single excursion for my Singapore cruise was subject to any discount whatsoever. What Celebrity did here is send me (and no doubt thousands of other customers) an email urging me to buy excursions at a sale discount of "up to 20% off", list excursion prices with no way of knowing from that site the amount of the discount, and all of this for excursions that were not discounted a single penny. Obviously what Celebrity was hoping for was that when customers found just one price listed for each excursion as part of a so-called sale, customers would assume every price is the sale price. Yes, I know up to 20% includes 0%, but any store trying this trick would be run out of business. I wonder how many Celebrity customers have fallen for this scam. I understand Celebrity's head office is in Miami, Florida. This deceptive practice is outrageous, and should be investigated by Florida's Attorney General, who is responsible for consumer protection.

 

I'm shocked. Shocked, I say.

- Joel

[Alakegirl]

Office of Attorney General

State of Florida

The Capitol PL01

Tallahassee, FL 32399

 

Go for it

[cherburt]

i booked 3 on our Caribbean cruise in Jan 2018 and they were all 20%. the ones 20% off were labeled so. I believe it said something like select locations and excursions. There were many that were not on sale.

[Cruise Raider]

i booked 3 on our Caribbean cruise in Jan 2018 and they were all 20%. the ones 20% off were labeled so. I believe it said something like select locations and excursions. There were many that were not on sale.

 

Same here for my cruise last month ... there was a banner across those that were 'up to 20% off'. And ... 'UP TO' are the key words here. It is advertising and it got you to look and so I think it is clever but not really deceptive. If it weren't offered with specials that were actually 20% off (onboard dining and beverage packages), I might think it is deceptive .... but this seems pretty clear cut that if what you want isn't the price for which you are willing to pay, don't purchase it.

 

BTW, I did get 2 excursions that were on this 'Up to 20% off' sale as well as a dining package. On each excursion, my savings were noted. They were definitely only about 5% off but I knew it going in and they were excursions I wanted to take. The dining package was 20% off and a pretty good deal, although it started at purchasing for at least 6 specialty dinners per passenger.

[Bo1953]

But it's not true that "nothing is for sale". There were plenty is excusions for sale. Just none on your sailing.

 

Blasts like these are meant to drum up interest. It got you to examine all your excursion options.

 

They send them to everyone. Just like the ones that encourage you to buy a drinks package even if you already have one.

 

They can't filter out who should get and who shouldn't get any particular marketing email. Their data base isn't that sophisticated.

 

Expect to get emails selling internet, spa treatments, even though you might already have them reserved.

 

I received the same blast as all of us, as soon as I divined that there was nothing for my sailing including discount on beverage package, I went click and thanks...

 

 

Thinking back on it some time later, I figured out that there was no need for any discounts with a ship which is currently showing 87%+ full for an August sailing...

 

I will still have fun at full pricing...

 

bon voyage

[ParksvilleCruiser]

I stand corrected. We should be applauding the bright marketing minds at Celebrity.

[Grandmaanne7]

I also feel that this was a very deceptive sale. There is an excursion for our January 2019 cruise that I have been eyeing. It was labeled with an "Up to 20% off" banner, however it was actually MORE expensive than the previous time I had checked. It has remained the more expensive price. Not much of a sale in my opinion.

 

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[Zoedokey]

In this digital age, there is no excuse for Celebrity not making things clear on their website. Honestly, it’s not hard, even Mom and Pop shops have better tech than Celebrity.

 

 

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[Ma Bell]

I got the email, had no trouble seeing that it said "up to" 20% and for select excursions. Some were on sale and others weren't. Those that were had a banner across the top. Not too difficult to understand as far as I could see.

[jelayne]

Celebrity sent me an email telling me that I had only a few hours to take advantage of a sale on excursions. The link took me to excursions for my cruise. There was nothing on the Celebrity website indicating that the prices listed for each excursion on my cruise were anything other than sale prices. There was certainly nothing on the Celebrity website indicating that none of the excursions for my cruise was on sale. Sending a customer an advertisement for a sale when nothing that customer can buy is on sale, and when it is very difficult for that customer to determine that nothing for him/her is on sale (download a brochure) is deceptive. I can understand Celebrity making up excuses (e.g., unsophisticated database) to explain away a practice that could result in customers being duped into thinking they are saving money when they are not. But one has to wonder why a customer would look for such excuses. As I said earlier, consumers who accept and offer excuses for bad business practices welcome those practices onto themselves and every other consumer.

 

It sounds like your best bet would to explore other cruise lines.

 

Our upcoming cruise didn’t have any excursions on sale that we were of interest to use although some others on our Roll Call were able to book excursions at a discount. There was a discount on the beverage package for one of our booked cruises.

[MicCanberra]

Who wants to buy a bridge, it is up to 20% off. It seems that a lot of the sales that are promoted are just sales that are not cheaper at all.

[Bo1953]

Who wants to buy a bridge, it is up to 20% off. It seems that a lot of the sales that are promoted are just sales that are not cheaper at all.

 

... or some of the products desirable, at the time you want to purchase while a sale is going on.

 

bon voyage

[ParksvilleCruiser]

I will only belabor this point one last time, recognizing the futility posed by some folks' inability to get beyond their own narrow perspectives. Yes, as I and some of the geniuses on this forum have noted, "up to 20% off" can mean zero % off, and yes there are other cruise lines to choose from (such a helpful suggestion). My point was that advertising a sale in which absolutely nothing is on sale (in my case and no doubt many others), and in which there is no apparent way of determining that nothing is on sale (no banners, just single prices for each excursion), is clearly a deceptive practice. Certainly not for the geniuses here, but perhaps for those of us not quite so clever.

Bottom line is that businesses, at least those hoping to stick around awhile, only carry out practices they think consumers will accept. Here, we have folks not only accepting but in some cases commending deceptive advertising (or even suggesting it's not deceptive at all). This speaks volumes to the ethics of these individuals, and sadly for the dimwitted rest of us, only encourages more bad business practices.

[Bo1953]

I also feel that this was a very deceptive sale. There is an excursion for our January 2019 cruise that I have been eyeing. It was labeled with an "Up to 20% off" banner, however it was actually MORE expensive than the previous time I had checked. It has remained the more expensive price. Not much of a sale in my opinion.

 

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Points out the demand of the tour, to me, no need to discount that price then.

 

bon voyage

[Bo1953]

I will only belabor this point one last time, recognizing the futility posed by some folks' inability to get beyond their own narrow perspectives. Yes, as I and some of the geniuses on this forum have noted, "up to 20% off" can mean zero % off, and yes there are other cruise lines to choose from (such a helpful suggestion). My point was that advertising a sale in which absolutely nothing is on sale (in my case and no doubt many others), and in which there is no apparent way of determining that nothing is on sale (no banners, just single prices for each excursion), is clearly a deceptive practice. Certainly not for the geniuses here, but perhaps for those of us not quite so clever.

Bottom line is that businesses, at least those hoping to stick around awhile, only carry out practices they think consumers will accept. Here, we have folks not only accepting but in some cases commending deceptive advertising (or even suggesting it's not deceptive at all). This speaks volumes to the ethics of these individuals, and sadly for the dimwitted rest of us, only encourages more bad business practices.

 

Have you checked in your roll call to find out if anyone there received a 'discount of up to 20% off' on any tour/product/service on your sailing?

 

As others have indicated, they received discounts of varying amounts on tours, beverage packages, dining packages etc... for their sailings.

 

 

To categorically say that 'nothing was on sale' is in fact not true, just nothing you could access on your sailing. If that is your issue, then make it clearer.

 

It is too bad that one would get offended by others experiences and understanding of marketing. It does not mean that we like the approach, it means that we understand it and move forward. If it works out for us, then it works out, if not then we move on and not worry about it.

 

Seems like you or others are not willing to accept the fact that not everything will be on sale for every sailing, no matter how much we all would love it to be.

 

bon voyage

 

p.s.: do we have anyone around who won a prize in the recent X contest? Especially the Christmas Day prize, of course that is the day I forgot to enter... I think that X should have entered me daily without my having to worry about it... oh well. LOL

Edited December 26, 2017 by Bo1953