Celebrity and Alaska

[foxnan]

Interesting.  With Seattle and Vancouver closed  through Oct 31 Celebrity is restricting  all cruises to suite class only.

I wonder if they think mostly empty ships with only the highest paying rooms will be aloud to sail.  Maybe they are banking

on low occupancy ships being aloud to sail.

If you check all these sailings you will see all other room classes are sold out which I know is not so.

[osborne66]

27 minutes ago, foxnan said:

Interesting.  With Seattle and Vancouver closed  through Oct 31 Celebrity is restricting  all cruises to suite class only.

I wonder if they think mostly empty ships with only the highest paying rooms will be aloud to sail.  Maybe they are banking

on low occupancy ships being aloud to sail.

If you check all these sailings you will see all other room classes are sold out which I know is not so.

Very intersting what they are doing 

[Fouremco]

Very strange. I've no idea why they would continue to show suites as available but block the rest. Oh well, the website is always a little bit wonky.

[cruiserchuck]

Canada has banned all ships with over 100 people (passengers and crew).  So no Celebrity ships will be able to do Alaska cruises this year.

[vivian02]

I for sure thought you were nuts and then I checked.....$8400 for a suite? Not sure if I would want to make final payment with this kind of money. If those prices drop to say maybe to $1600 precruise then I might take the bait. I to will be watching to see how this one plays out.  

[foxnan]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

Canada has banned all ships with over 100 people (passengers and crew).  So no Celebrity ships will be able to do Alaska cruises this year.

Thats my thought exactly.  But they are still booking...go figure

[Arizona Wildcat]

15 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Very strange. I've no idea why they would continue to show suites as available but block the rest. Oh well, the website is always a little bit wonky.

The question is not if the suites show up on the magnificent (Sarcasm) Celebrity website, but if one can actually complete a booking.  My TA said no.

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, vivian02 said:

I for sure thought you were nuts and then I checked.....$8400 for a suite? Not sure if I would want to make final payment with this kind of money. If those prices drop to say maybe to $1600 precruise then I might take the bait. I to will be watching to see how this one plays out.  

Let's see, $8400 invested for a month or so before Celebrity cancels. With 125% FCC, that's a $2100 profit, not bad.

[Fouremco]

3 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The question is not if the suites show up on the magnificent (Sarcasm) Celebrity website, but if one can actually complete a booking.  My TA said no.

Well, I tried a dummy booking and took it as part as the final step before backing away, but I'll take your TA's word that I wouldn't have been able to complete it.

[jelayne]

The same thing has happened on the Millennium TP for Sept.  Yesterday all Eclipse sailing in August & September disappeared.  Today 2 Of the sailings are back but with only suites.  

[upwarduk]

Announcement re sailings to Alaska will be made on June 2nd( according to Social Media).

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Let's see, $8400 invested for a month or so before Celebrity cancels. With 125% FCC, that's a $2100 profit, not bad.

It would potentially be, if prices for next year were not more than 125% higher!  When I did a lift and shift on one of my cruises the pricing was definitely more than 125% of what I paid.   Not sure if that is the case for all cruises, but that has been the word going around on these boards in many cases.

[phoenix_dream]

38 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Announcement re sailings to Alaska will be made on June 2nd( according to Social Media).

Specifically what type of social media?  From someone in the know, or someone just speculating?

[Fouremco]

21 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

It would potentially be, if prices for next year were not more than 125% higher!  When I did a lift and shift on one of my cruises the pricing was definitely more than 125% of what I paid.   Not sure if that is the case for all cruises, but that has been the word going around on these boards in many cases.

Most are up in price, but some posters have identified cruises that are actually cheaper. There is also some debate as to whether cruise lines might drop prices at some point to attract customers back. Of course, there is also some question as to whether Celebrity would still be around to let you use the FCCs. Bottom line is there is no way that I would ever use this as an investment opportunity, I was just thinking out loud. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[harkinmr]

3 hours ago, foxnan said:

Interesting.  With Seattle and Vancouver closed  through Oct 31 Celebrity is restricting  all cruises to suite class only.

I wonder if they think mostly empty ships with only the highest paying rooms will be aloud to sail.  Maybe they are banking

on low occupancy ships being aloud to sail.

If you check all these sailings you will see all other room classes are sold out which I know is not so.

HAHAHAHAHA!  I would hope they are not foolish enough to think that would be the case.  

[harkinmr]

3 hours ago, foxnan said:

Interesting.  With Seattle and Vancouver closed  through Oct 31 Celebrity is restricting  all cruises to suite class only.

I wonder if they think mostly empty ships with only the highest paying rooms will be aloud to sail.  Maybe they are banking

on low occupancy ships being aloud to sail.

If you check all these sailings you will see all other room classes are sold out which I know is not so.

And on top of that, how does selling suites only get them below 100 person capacity...with crew??  Ridiculous.  It's like trying to sneak into a drive-in with people stuffed in your trunk 😉

[osborne66]

1 hour ago, harkinmr said:

And on top of that, how does selling suites only get them below 100 person capacity...with crew??  Ridiculous.  It's like trying to sneak into a drive-in with people stuffed in your trunk 😉

Good comparison 

[vivian02]

My thinking is top management is trying to find ways to keep prices as high as possible down the road. This kind of logic in this type of environment could backfire really bad. At the worst I could take my $500 deposit and take the penalty and go with a different cruiseline. I remember well what happened to the travel industry after 911. There were bargains like you wouldn't believe but people were afraid to travel at the time. In this case when will the airlines get back to normal? Not anytime soon. 

[Guindalf]

7 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Let's see, $8400 invested for a month or so before Celebrity cancels. With 125% FCC, that's a $2100 profit, not bad.

 

In what universe?

 

First, prices will have increased and perks decreased and second, it wouldn't be $2100, it would be much less once you take out taxes and fees. It's only 125% of the actual cruise fare, NOT the full amount paid.

[upwarduk]

7 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Specifically what type of social media?  From someone in the know, or someone just speculating?

Unfortunately C.C rules forbid reference to social media sites, but the attached was posted yesterday, claiming that. Royal would make an announcement today.

Edited June 2, 2020 by upwarduk
To attach file.

[york survey]

Just having a quick look and it's appears there have been a number of changes to available cabins.

 

Firstly, as noted on this thread, the whole Alaska season is now only bookable in suites.

 

Secondly, the same now applies to the Summit New England/Canada season including the two Canada Trans Atlantics in August

 

Finally, I may have missed some but it looks like only the top suites are available as i can't find and Sky Suites on any of these cruises.

 

Does that mean that the others bookings are to be bumped or just stopped for further sales to keep numbers down?  Time will tell

 

 

[TeeRick]

Taking Celebrity Eclipse as an example, there are 66 suites out of 1426 total cabins.  Most of which are Sky Suites and very few actual high end suites.  So do we really think Celebrity will spend all that money to run a ship for a week with only a few suite passengers no matter what they charge them??

[york survey]

9 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Taking Celebrity Eclipse as an example, there are 66 suites out of 1426 total cabins.  Most of which are Sky Suites and very few actual high end suites.  So do we really think Celebrity will spend all that money to run a ship for a week with only a few suite passengers no matter what they charge them??

 

Can't see any way Celebrity will run a ship with only top end suites. We already know that the break even point on Millennium class is 50% and all the fleet need at least 30% on board to cover EBITDA costs

 

Personally I think they have just stopped taking bookings as they are already at or about the sweet spot of covering costs v social distancing reduction. The cruise probable will not go but if i does passenger number will be restricted. So taking off sale achieves a number of things.

 

1. If the ship doesn't sail less 125% FCC to give out

2. If it sails less or no one to disappointed by bumping  

3. Keeps demand (and therefore prices) high for future sailing

4. Stops any repricing under the enhanced "Cruise with Confidence"

 

However, if someone wants to take one of the empty high on suites at mega $$$ - I'm sure Celebrity will make room!!

 

[wolfie11]

The restriction says 100 passengers and crew, and I'm pretty sure it takes more than 100 crew to sail a cruise ship. 

[york survey]

13 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

The restriction says 100 passengers and crew, and I'm pretty sure it takes more than 100 crew to sail a cruise ship. 

 

If it goes to Canada!

I know the Jones act and that - BUT - who expected us to be in this position just 3 months ago

Looking forward to the Celebrity update later today