New "fee" of $14/day on Perks Drink Package to be added?

[Jokare]

5 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

We all should now be aware of the latest money woes regarding X's beverage packages.

Unfortunately, there are several other upcharges, add-ons, money laundering etc. on the horizon for our enjoyment. They include but are not limited to the following.

- $100.00 per cabin charge to have two (2) single beds pushed together to create one (1) queen. Note: if rooms are connecting, guests will push the beds together.

 - Cabins with balconies shall have automatic sensors detecting each time the balcony door is opened. A $5.00 open-door fee will be added to the bill with each opening.

 - Dirty dishes left outside the cabin must have $10.00 included to cover the cost of pick-up. No money, no pick-up.

 - Elevators will become coin operated, 25 cents to go up, 50 cents to go down. This per person charge is intended to promote more exercise and fitness. I can see that.

 - Tickets to theater shows and lounge entertainment shall be scaled to fit charges matching Broadway and Vegas.

 - Inside cabin passengers and Suite passengers shall be charged an additional discretionary amount to be determined by X at the end of the cruise. Reasoning, you did not pay enough for your cabin or the amount you paid means you can pay more.

 - At formal gatherings such as Captains Cocktail Party, etc. greeting and speaking to officers and ships staff will require a $5.00 handshake fee or $10.00 for a hug. On a personal note, I am out ten bucks if Captain Kate is there.

 

You wonder what else can add to the enjoyment of your cruise. I'll probably still get on the boat.

 

 

Don't forget the resort fee of 49.99 per day as it is a form of a resort.

[hubofhockey]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

Corkage fee is $25.00. Depending on the length of cruise and stateroom your gratuities estimate isn't accurate. Bringing the allowed two 750 ml bottles of wine isn't a pain. Smuggling additional bottles would be. 

 

I can't keep the cruise lines straight.  I think it's $10 on Azamara.  $25 is steep and didn't realize they limit it to two.  They have you by the short ones.    My price for 11 day Reflection for gratuities in aqua is $319.  "Smuggle"?  

 

Celebrity is pushing suites, taking away public space from other cruise passengers, while pushing more charges on its non-suite guests.  One of the reasons we gravitated from Princess to Celebrity was the Aqua Class with classic beverage perk.  It hit a sweet spot for us, but maybe the dynamics have changed.

[ABoatNerd]

On 9/29/2019 at 3:36 PM, grandgeezer said:

This is an entirely different situation. Like it or not, Celebrity has turned into a booze cruise. Of all the posts so far, how many have said that this would be their line in the sand, and they wouldn't pay it, or change cruise lines? If this doesn't sputter, I can see them doing it again in six months or so.

 

grandgeezer, precisely.

 

Celebrity will do more price increasing in the future, all with the blessing of their customers. It is basic consumer behavior - only a few will accept they are being hosed and do something about it. One of the first principles of marketing and the foundation of pricing models. Love the bell curve in action.

[mac_tlc]

Even with the $14/day fee, the all-in price of the beverage package as a perk is quite a bit less than buying it separately on a few Edge sailings I have been looking at. The added cost of a two-perk option of the beverage package and OBC was $210 per person. That equates to a cost of $60 for the BP for a 7 day sailing, or less than $9/day. Even adding $14, it’s a total of $25/day—- much less than purchasing separately. 

 

Of course, if you want to look at it differently, the BP cost just went up 178%. 

 

It it always seemed to me that the BP included perks should be valued higher than the others. Not because of the cost to Celebrity ( which has little bearing on the price) but because the popularity could support a higher price. 

 

mac_tlc

[Georgia_Peaches]

21 hours ago, CulverCityCruisers said:

Out of all of this, the single most interesting thing I see is that X is comparing themselves to NCL and what they charge for a beverage pkg !!  NCL?? Really??  True, they are the only other major line that offers a pkg as a perk, but NCL????

NCL is quite nice, actually.  My last three cruises have been with them in their Haven and I dare say their suite product is pretty hard to beat.  Will be on Celebrity in a RS next month and though I'm looking forward to it, part of me will miss some of the things NCL has to offer:

• fantastic thermal suite
• dynamite evening entertainment options
• Outdoor waterfront restaurants and bars on deck 8 (not all ships)

In fact, one of my main goals with our next Celebrity cruise is to determine if I've missed them while I've been gone.

The pp charge that Celebrity is introducing on their BP was just a matter of time.

[rimmit]

7 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

NCL is quite nice, actually.  My last three cruises have been with them in their Haven and I dare say their suite product is pretty hard to beat.  Will be on Celebrity in a RS next month and though I'm looking forward to it, part of me will miss some of the things NCL has to offer:

• fantastic thermal suite
• dynamite evening entertainment options
• Outdoor waterfront restaurants and bars on deck 8 (not all ships)

In fact, one of my main goals with our next Celebrity cruise is to determine if I've missed them while I've been gone.

The pp charge that Celebrity is introducing on their BP was just a matter of time.

 

I agree that NCL has excellent night time entertainment options... if you can get a seat.  There is a reason those entertainment options s are offered 2-4 nights a cruise (at least on our 14 night Ta). It’s just so every can see it as the venues are so small you have to arrive 45 minutes early to get a seat.

 

The waterfront is awesome....  if the weather is not 40 degrees and windy outside.   For cold itineraries, the Breakaway class ship is not ideal.  I cannot speak about smaller NCL ships or the newer breakaway plus class which I heard has fixed some of the issues with the Breakaway class.

[Georgia_Peaches]

14 minutes ago, rimmit said:

The waterfront is awesome....  if the weather is not 40 degrees and windy outside

That's a good point.  I've only ever been on NCL in warm weather destinations.  And yes, the size of the ships (Away class) holds more people which can be a challenge in some venues.  Totally agree.  I just don't think that the over all product is as low level as another poster made it seem.  If planning a TA or a longer itinerary somewhere other than the Caribbean, I think I would likely go for Celebrity for their reliability.  NCL has had some issues in that department.

[rimmit]

5 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

That's a good point.  I've only ever been on NCL in warm weather destinations.  And yes, the size of the ships (Away class) holds more people which can be a challenge in some venues.  Totally agree.  I just don't think that the over all product is as low level as another poster made it seem.  If planning a TA or a longer itinerary somewhere other than the Caribbean, I think I would likely go for Celebrity for their reliability.  NCL has had some issues in that department.

 

I would have to agree.  NCL has come a long way.  It is the definition of nickel and dining though.  having just been on the revolutionized summit this year and the NCL Breakaway last year,  the overall aesthetic of the ship was very nice and very comparable.  I felt the food was better on celebrity in the MdR.  Shanghai’s was an excellent free venue as was O sheehans.  O Sheehans is the best free comfort food venue on any cruiseline I have ever been on and I have done all the mainstream primarily English speaking except Costa and MSC.  The gap is not nearly as wide as it was.  That’s for sure.

[cruiselvr04]

This thread made me nervous.  We had the classic.  I would have waited to upgrade until we got onboard but I called and did it today.  I just don’t want any surprises.  If it went up to an extra $26 pp per day  ( $14 plus the $12 to upgrade )we would not upgrade and just be happy drinking house wine.  They can have the extra money now....just in case.

[davekathy]

4 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

This thread made me nervous.  We had the classic.  I would have waited to upgrade until we got onboard but I called and did it today.  I just don’t want any surprises.  If it went up to an extra $26 pp per day  ( $14 plus the $12 to upgrade )we would not upgrade and just be happy drinking house wine.  They can have the extra money now....just in case.

So you paid just the $12.00 per day to upgrade from CBP to PBP, correct?

[cruiselvr04]

Yes.  It was an 11 night cruise and I upgraded both us for a total of $12 each per night.

[hcat]

18 hours ago, Oville said:

Hi hcat, have you ever sailed on NCL?  It’s a different world. Katie

Hi Katie

Never considered it.. We have rels who like the ships, format and relaxed  style  of NCL, but it is just not our style.....the ships do not appeal to us and we  still like the X clientele... a bit more dressy!

[hcat]

18 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 

I think more people will be bringing their own wine aboard.  Maybe Celebrity prefers getting a single $10 corkage fee and having passengers spend $300 elsewhere on board.  Many will choose the $300 OBC and $300 value of gratuities.  It is a pain in the butt bringing more than a couple of bottles on board, but that inconvenience is at the customer level and not at the Celebrity level.  Why should they care?

Yes,  we will go back to bringing our 2 permitted btls of wine with us...just more the carryon but we'll manage.

 

Plenty of ways to use OBC at the soa,

[JOVERNITE]

We don't drink much bit the BP perk was nice because we could get specialty coffees. We had it on our last 2 cruises and probably drank more alcohol than we normally would. We're already booked for 2020 & 2021 and it doesn't effect us (at least not yet!). We pay a higher $$ to add those perks so they were never really "free".  I just hope they don't remove tips from the perks. On 11 nights that adds up!

[misterkevin]

On 10/3/2019 at 9:21 AM, CulverCityCruisers said:

Out of all of this, the single most interesting thing I see is that X is comparing themselves to NCL and what they charge for a beverage pkg !!  NCL?? Really??  True, they are the only other major line that offers a pkg as a perk, but NCL????

I couldn't agree more! Celebrity and NCL are not in the same tier of cruising. It's not an apples to apples comparison. I compared average revenue per cruiser based on 2018 data to understand the cruising tiers. Average revenue for Norwegian Cruise line is $1700 per passenger; for Celebrity, it's $2700. Revenue-wise, Celebrity competes most closely with Holland America ($3100) and Princess ($2550).

On the top, its Crystal ($14000), Regent ($12750), Seabourn ($11050), Silversea ($8450), Oceania ($8000), Azamara ($6200), and Cunard ($4850). On the bottom are Carnival ($750), P&O ($1100), Pullmantur ($1250), Royal Caribbean ($1300), and Costa ($1450).

Edited October 4, 2019 by misterkevin
added info.

[hubofhockey]

3 hours ago, JOVERNITE said:

We don't drink much bit the BP perk was nice because we could get specialty coffees. We had it on our last 2 cruises and probably drank more alcohol than we normally would. We're already booked for 2020 & 2021 and it doesn't effect us (at least not yet!). We pay a higher $$ to add those perks so they were never really "free".  I just hope they don't remove tips from the perks. On 11 nights that adds up!

 

Everything counts.  This is an effective $280 increase in price in our Celebrity cruises.  I'll consider it along with everything else when decide on future bookings.  In and of itself, $280 won't get us to book a different line, it all add up.  You combine this with the taking away of public spaces in favor of suite passengers and then you combine these upcharges, then maybe we look at more premium products or Princess.

 

[PROCRUISE]

Hmmm. Glad my 1/20,  3/20, 12/20, and 3/21 X cruises with drink pack perks were all booked several months ago! Rechecked today with my TA, who after contacting X for a complete verification, has been assured this new X trick applies to cruises booked after 10/10/19. 

[villauk]

2 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

Hmmm. Glad my 1/20,  3/20, 12/20, and 3/21 X cruises with drink pack perks were all booked several months ago! Rechecked today with my TA, who after contacting X for a complete verification, has been assured this new X trick applies to cruises booked after 10/10/19. 

 

 

Let’s hope none of those booked cruises are subject to future price drops 🤞.

[hcat]

But wouldnt that be an adjustment in price,  rather than a new booking that triggers the upcharge?

[richstowe]

13 hours ago, misterkevin said:

I couldn't agree more! Celebrity and NCL are not in the same tier of cruising. It's not an apples to apples comparison. I compared average revenue per cruiser based on 2018 data to understand the cruising tiers. Average revenue for Norwegian Cruise line is $1700 per passenger; for Celebrity, it's $2700. Revenue-wise, Celebrity competes most closely with Holland America ($3100) and Princess ($2550).

On the top, its Crystal ($14000), Regent ($12750), Seabourn ($11050), Silversea ($8450), Oceania ($8000), Azamara ($6200), and Cunard ($4850). On the bottom are Carnival ($750), P&O ($1100), Pullmantur ($1250), Royal Caribbean ($1300), and Costa ($1450).

Fascinating . Where did you get this info ?

Is your hypothesis that revenue P P translates directly into cruising quality (to use your term cruising tiers) ? Perhaps but not perfectly .

[JOVERNITE]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

But wouldnt that be an adjustment in price,  rather than a new booking that triggers the upcharge?

 

Per Captins Club, any changes to an existing reservation after the deadline will trigger the new BP pricing.  Good-bye price drop!

[vtcruising]

1 minute ago, JOVERNITE said:

 

Per Captins Club, any changes to an existing reservation after the deadline will trigger the new BP pricing.  Good-bye price drop!

Not quite good-bye. For existing reservations, will have to figure in the $14/day addition when taking advantage of new offers, if chose beverage package (still might be worthwhile to change), though after 10/10 all of the new reservations will already be charged the surcharge, if beverage pkg chosen, so won’t have to keep paying the surcharge over and over for each change in reservations. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

8 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

Hmmm. Glad my 1/20,  3/20, 12/20, and 3/21 X cruises with drink pack perks were all booked several months ago! Rechecked today with my TA, who after contacting X for a complete verification, has been assured this new X trick applies to cruises booked after 10/10/19. 

You know?  There was a rumor a few months ago on this board about Celebrity adding a pp drink charge to the BP and someone posted about here stating that they heard it from their TA.  There were a lot of skeptics who chimed in and said Celebrity wouldn't do such a thing and that the rumors weren't founded.  Still, I went ahead and paid the deposit on my next 2 cruises (2020, 2021) just in case the rumors were true so that I could avoid the up charge.  (I'm not too worried about price drops before final payment as I rarely seem them in our category.)  I wonder how many other people out there pulled the trigger on booking around that time so that they could avoid the up charge?  If there was a spike during that time, what a great strategy (to increase bookings) on Celebrity's part.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Georgia_Peaches

[Hlitner]

14 hours ago, misterkevin said:

I couldn't agree more! Celebrity and NCL are not in the same tier of cruising. It's not an apples to apples comparison. I compared average revenue per cruiser based on 2018 data to understand the cruising tiers. Average revenue for Norwegian Cruise line is $1700 per passenger; for Celebrity, it's $2700. Revenue-wise, Celebrity competes most closely with Holland America ($3100) and Princess ($2550).

On the top, its Crystal ($14000), Regent ($12750), Seabourn ($11050), Silversea ($8450), Oceania ($8000), Azamara ($6200), and Cunard ($4850). On the bottom are Carnival ($750), P&O ($1100), Pullmantur ($1250), Royal Caribbean ($1300), and Costa ($1450).

"Average Revenue" is really a worthless number as it does not account for the length of a cruise.  So a  cruise line that only did a single 365 day cruise per year might have an average revenue (per passenger) of $80,000 vs a cruise line that only did 3 day cruises with an average revenue of $1000.   A line like Crystal is up top because they do mostly longer cruises (with a relatively high cost per passenger day).    Regent generally  includes Business Class air fare and many excursions in their pricing.  Carnival is near the bottom since their cruises are primarily 7 day as is RCI.  

 

You really need to consider what is provided for your money.  For example, the entertainment on many NCL ships will far exceed the quality of entertainment found on Celebrity.  MDR food on Celebrity will be of somewhat higher quality,  Cabin sizes will vary based on the ship and category.    IMHO, since LLP has taken over Celebrity and enacted her "death by a thousand cut-backs (my terminology)" campaign...the quality of Celebrity has taken a big dip.  Perhaps Celebrity is still a better overall quality product then NCL, but in 6 months that may no longer be the case.   The bigger question is what lines provide the best value.  I used to think that X provided the best value (quality vs cost) in the mass market cruise industry.  Now I do not think that X is even close to the best value.  Hard to believe that our recent 14 day Seabourn cruise actually cost a lot less then a Celebrity cruise (in a similar sized cabin) and there is no comparison between Celebrity and Seabourn when it comes to overall quality.

 

Hank

[TeeRick]

Hank points out that it is not about total or average revenue but instead totally about profit as the bottom line.