Beyond Pricing is Beyond!

[Fritz Mom]

Celebrity endorsements are expensive . I suspect Beyond fares include this celebrity.

 

Gwyneth Paltrow in Bikini Announces New Cruise Line Partnership

Gwyneth Paltrow is cruising into her next Goop collaboration. On Wednesday, the actress-slash-wellness guru announced a new partnership with Celebrity Cruises, flaunting her fabulously fit body by the ocean. The 48-year-old also revealed that she will have a special wellness-influencing role…and more surprises are in store, from her colleagues at Goop. In 2022 my @goop team and I are going to join @celebritycruises on their new ship, Celebrity Beyond," Paltrow captioned her Instagram snap. "I'll be behind the scenes, working on some special projects, as Celebrity's new Well-being Advisor. My team @goop is curating programming and fitness kits to add to Celebrity's wellness the experience. I'm sworn to secrecy on the rest—keep an eye out for the details coming soon."

Edited April 29, 2021 by Fritz Mom

[WonderMan3]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Yes and you can enjoy the exact same suite benefits in a Sky Suite.

Did Sky Suite on Edge. Would prefer a suite that is closer to the Retreat amenity areas and has more space. The Sky Suite was too expensive also. I’ll wait to cruise Beyond to when Blue Chip is offering discounts. Hopefully for early 2024 in the Caribbean.

[Cruising89143]

I like Celebrity and the Beyond looks outstanding. A good product but there is absolutely no way I would pay the prices being asked for the Beyond at this time. I priced out a ten night sailing from Civitaveccia (Rome) to Italy/Greece in mid May of next year. A Sunset Veranda with refundable deposit and the Premium drink upgrade was over $9200.00. A Sky suite came in at over $15,400.00 and slightly over $25,000.00 for a refundable Celebrity suite for the same sailing. I think that Celebrity forgot that they’re a mass market line. Yes, a step up over some of the others but their product is not worth that IMHO. Time will tell if they can fill this ship with the current rates. I wish them luck.

[Orator]

4 hours ago, Fritz Mom said:

Celebrity endorsements are expensive . I suspect Beyond fares include this celebrity.

 

Gwyneth Paltrow in Bikini Announces New Cruise Line Partnership

Gwyneth Paltrow is cruising into her next Goop collaboration. On Wednesday, the actress-slash-wellness guru announced a new partnership with Celebrity Cruises, flaunting her fabulously fit body by the ocean. The 48-year-old also revealed that she will have a special wellness-influencing role…and more surprises are in store, from her colleagues at Goop. In 2022 my @goop team and I are going to join @celebritycruises on their new ship, Celebrity Beyond," Paltrow captioned her Instagram snap. "I'll be behind the scenes, working on some special projects, as Celebrity's new Well-being Advisor. My team @goop is curating programming and fitness kits to add to Celebrity's wellness the experience. I'm sworn to secrecy on the rest—keep an eye out for the details coming soon."

Will the Suites get "This Smells Like My Orgasm"  candle? I guess that you wouldn't be allowed to light it aboard the ship unless they would allow it in The Retreat.

[rmalbers]

If you want better pricing you'll have to wait until all the FCC's move thru the system.  After all the FCC money moves thru the pricing will start moving back to a more reasonable fare. 

[tfred]

2 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

I like Celebrity and the Beyond looks outstanding. A good product but there is absolutely no way I would pay the prices being asked for the Beyond at this time. I priced out a ten night sailing from Civitaveccia (Rome) to Italy/Greece in mid May of next year. A Sunset Veranda with refundable deposit and the Premium drink upgrade was over $9200.00. A Sky suite came in at over $15,400.00 and slightly over $25,000.00 for a refundable Celebrity suite for the same sailing. I think that Celebrity forgot that they’re a mass market line. Yes, a step up over some of the others but their product is not worth that IMHO. Time will tell if they can fill this ship with the current rates. I wish them luck.

I think that they are trying to get out of that mass market scrum of "good enough" quality   Some of that Princess product is old but at moderate cost - nice, but.....  

 

Ever been to Las Vegas in one of the better hotels?  People spending money hand over fist.  Bellagio with food, booze, internet would be very close to that number and you cant find at the pool.  X wants them to do that on a ship, but calling it a movable, upscale resort.  You don't see anyone moaning about how it used to be with chocolate fountains, deals or free in room movies.  Those folks are now in Old Las Vegas at nickel slots

[zdad59]

I'm not surprised at all by high prices for the new ship.      It's the "new toy" effect they are trying to take advantage of, and I can't say I blame them.   There are people that have to have the new thing first and will gladly over pay for it.    I suspect, as is true with Edge and is slowing coming to Apex, prices will begin to come down as the shiny newness wears off and it becomes just one of the ships in the fleet.    Things ebb and flow.    A little while back they were having such trouble booking Edge that they offered my gang (and we accepted) a sweet suite deal.   We booked Sky suites for a 7 night Caribbean sailing for less than $3000 PER ROOM for the week.   This included all perks as well.   We ended up Lifting and Shifting that cruise to an April 2022 sailing on Apex.

 

Deals will be out there.   Just have to bide your time and now is now the time to look for or expect anything close to a deal on Beyond.

[jakebloke]

My favorite cabins (SV) sold out yesterday on the main itinerary I wanted.  People seem to be booking the Beyond,.  I’m kinda bummed.  I’ll keep checking as I know some people may cancel.  On another note,  Beyond looks amazing, but does anyone else feel a little bad for Apex?  She’s the middle child who’s younger sister is getting more attention before anyone has even been able to experience her.  

[kathynorth]

I was thinking about the same thing with Apex so I took a look. Lucky me, I found a great deal with a TA group on the Apex in the Caribbean. 

[WonderMan3]

5 minutes ago, jakebloke said:

My favorite cabins (SV) sold out yesterday on the main itinerary I wanted.  People seem to be booking the Beyond,.  I’m kinda bummed.  I’ll keep checking as I know some people may cancel.  On another note,  Beyond looks amazing, but does anyone else feel a little bad for Apex?  She’s the middle child who’s younger sister is getting more attention before anyone has even been able to experience her.  

That could work to the advantage of getting better pricing on Apex. Now that Beyond is booking I imagine that Apex bookings will start to lag.

[dandee2]

On 4/28/2021 at 5:11 PM, MarkWiltonM said:

I just did a quick price check for an 8-night Caribbean cruise in December 2022 on the Beyond in Concierge class. It was $866 a night for 2 people! I've spent less on Crystal. I currently have cruises scheduled for Equinox and Millennium in Concierge class. Those are, respectively, $432 and $493 a night for 2 people, both with free drinks, WiFi, and gratuities (but reservations were made before the advent of "Always Included"). My spouse won't sail on Edge class anyway because he doesn't like the so-called infinite verandas so it's moot for us, but the inflation is alarming.

8 000$ CAN  + Airfare !!!! At that price I'm picking up fishing and getting a boat and trailer.

[Cruising89143]

6 hours ago, tfred said:

I think that they are trying to get out of that mass market scrum of "good enough" quality   Some of that Princess product is old but at moderate cost - nice, but.....  

 

Ever been to Las Vegas in one of the better hotels?  People spending money hand over fist.  Bellagio with food, booze, internet would be very close to that number and you cant find at the pool.  X wants them to do that on a ship, but calling it a movable, upscale resort.  You don't see anyone moaning about how it used to be with chocolate fountains, deals or free in room movies.  Those folks are now in Old Las Vegas at nickel slots

Just spent three nights at the Wynn in Vegas last week. The product that they produce beats X up and down. I have no problem with paying “IF” the product delivers. In our experience, Celebrity has not. Mass market with BS Modern Luxury marketing. 
 

I could care less what Celebrity is trying to do with the pricing on this ship. It’s ridiculous IMHO. Others will not think so. It’s called freedom of choice. Also, it will be interesting to see how many deposits on this ship actually extend to paid staterooms. I think some will get sticker shock and move on. Again, time will tell.

[Jeremiah1212]

We would only consider Caribbean itineraries but comparatively I do not think prices are excessive. We don't consider suites but for steerage cabins you're not going to see pre-2020 prices for quite a while, if ever again. 

 

Comparable dates in Feb 2023, aft balcony, seven night, Eastern Caribbean:

 

X Beyond  - $4300 (Tips/Drinks/WiFi + 10% OBC) 

X Apex - $4100 (Tips/Drinks/WiFi + 10% OBC)

NCL - $3930 (Tips/Drinks/WiFi/all of their random fees and charges)

Royal - $3951 (minus any inclusions or drinks pkg so easily another $1k+ to make an equal comparison)

Princess - $3,638 (Tips/Drinks/Wifi)

HAL - $4168 (Drinks/WiFi/Excursion Credit/Spec Dining)

 

Average price - $4,014 

 

Royal and NCL have way too many kids, HAL would probably be too sleepy, Princess could be worth a shot. MSC fares aren't out yet. We do have an MSC cruise booked in YC but I'm still very on the fence about it. So far Celebrity is the best fit for us, by far. The slight higher cost isn't going to break the bank and is worth it to us.  

 

 

 

 

[Orator]

Since 1999 I've found Celebrity to be a good value for me. They had a wonderful crew, good food and entertainment. When they added tiers to the loyalty program with increased benefits I saw a  real value in staying with Celebrity. There is still a wonderful crew, but for me Celebrity has not been the same experience. They reduced benefits and increased prices to the point where don't represent IMHO the same value to me. I've found that the overall value to me of other lines is a appealing. For example, the price difference between Celebrity and Crystal has narrowed to the point  that on some cruises on Crystal  are actually the same or less than Celebrity. Crystal has been a good option and I've shifting my future bookings to them. I'm not leaving Celebrity entirely and will sail with them if a find value. I did book the Edge TA in April, 2022 to use my FCC and as transportation to Amsterdam.

[Denny01]

Jeremina1212 - excellent comparisons. Yup, Beyond is higher price, no surprise, and the other Lines’ costs with/without Inclusives is useful.

 

I’ll be a bit biased on how I choose. To be upfront, I book Celebrity unless there is a specific reason such as itinerary or joining friends, but have cruised on a number of the Lines. I enjoyed Princess, but for us, we compare the price of standard balconies on Celebrity to the Princess mini-suites. Why? The standard Princess SR, on the 3 ships we cruised on, had very small BR’s and especially the shower (and I’m not That big!) and no room to have friends over as we can on a standard Celebrity SR. So I compare mini-suite Princess SR costs, not just the ‘same’ SR type. 

 

Enough on costs. We can talk ourselves into spending more money on what others think is a waste; and we can chuckle at those that waste their money on things we don’t see as worth it. Ahh, choice!

 

Den

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Denny01

[Orator]

21 minutes ago, Orator said:

Since 1999 I've found Celebrity to be a good value for me. They had a wonderful crew, good food and entertainment. When they added tiers to the loyalty program with increased benefits I saw a  real value in staying with Celebrity. There is still a wonderful crew, but for me Celebrity has not been the same experience. They reduced benefits and increased prices to the point where don't represent IMHO the same value to me. I've found that the overall value to me of other lines is a appealing. For example, the price difference between Celebrity and Crystal has narrowed to the point  that on some cruises on Crystal  are actually the same or less than Celebrity. Crystal has been a good option and I've shifting my future bookings to them. I'm not leaving Celebrity entirely and will sail with them if a find value. I did book the Edge TA in April, 2022 to use my FCC and as transportation to Amsterdam.

Caught my error in ship too late to correct. I am taking Apex TA to Amsterdam.

[CroozFanatic]

I think a travel boom is coming.

 

It's busy here.

 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

On 4/29/2021 at 11:06 AM, Fritz Mom said:

Celebrity endorsements are expensive . I suspect Beyond fares include this celebrity.

 

Gwyneth Paltrow in Bikini Announces New Cruise Line Partnership

Gwyneth Paltrow is cruising into her next Goop collaboration. On Wednesday, the actress-slash-wellness guru announced a new partnership with Celebrity Cruises, flaunting her fabulously fit body by the ocean. The 48-year-old also revealed that she will have a special wellness-influencing role…and more surprises are in store, from her colleagues at Goop. In 2022 my @goop team and I are going to join @celebritycruises on their new ship, Celebrity Beyond," Paltrow captioned her Instagram snap. "I'll be behind the scenes, working on some special projects, as Celebrity's new Well-being Advisor. My team @goop is curating programming and fitness kits to add to Celebrity's wellness the experience. I'm sworn to secrecy on the rest—keep an eye out for the details coming soon."

 

Another example from the past Marketing Officer.  

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Another example from the past Marketing Officer.  

Can you imagine what would happen if Celebrity added Goop as part of the AI package!  🤪

[Jeremiah1212]

4 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

I think a travel boom is coming.

 

It's busy here.

 

 

 

On top of a surge in travel demand there has been a labor shortage in the hospitality industry even before COVID hit. Now many hotels and resorts can't fill to capacity because they don't have the staff to support it.

 

Add a rental car shortage after the big players sold off significant portions of their fleets last year...travel is going to get expensive. 

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Another example from the past Marketing Officer.  

No, that's definitely LLP's baby.

[miched]

We have cruises booked into 2023.   We booked them when prices were reasonable at $200 to  $250 /day pp   With perks in either AQ or SS.   Now i see prices are  $300 to $750/day pp for AQ and SS. 
 

We enjoy being on a cruise but we can’t justify paying  $600 to $1500 per day for both of us.   We can do a nice land vacation with more.choices and less restrictions for a lot less.   Even the lower class cabins are still way too expensive for what we would be getting.  
 

We could stay in Key West at a nice place,  have all the drinks we want, dine in nice restaurants, free internet, more TV channels and still have money leftover.   Same with Boston. Bar Harbor, Naples Fl. NOLA and etc.   

 

We live in Mi and drive to FL Las Vegas, NOLA, and etc   My wife doesn’t like flying and we enjoy the drive seeing the great country of the USA.   We enjoy the journey. 
 

Cruising for us may end in 2023.  It isn’t that we can’t afford it as it is more of we can’t justify the ridiculous rates per day when we can get more value and a better product for less money. 
 

Will the cruise line miss me?   Don’t think so as there must be a lot of people that are willing to pay the price 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

[jelayne]

The great thing of living in this great country is we have choices.  You like driving to LV, NOLA,  FL, etc.  I hate road trips, hate trying to determine where we stay or eat.  I have always thought that airplanes were invented so I don’t have to drive.😀.

When started cruising seriously $80  a night in a OV was what we paid ( no perks). 
Inflation over time raised the per day price, our 1st X cruise we upgraded to AQ on the way to the airport because of all the great reviews on CC.  After that a regular veranda was unusual for us, we loved AQ and still do.  A few years later  beverage packages were introduced,  loved not having a bar bill.   Then in 2014 the upgrade fairy put us in a Sky Suite.   Many say there is no turning back but we do.  We have 6 cruises in 2022,  1 veranda, 1 CS, 2 SS, 2 SVs. Like you we could afford a suite on all of these but we spend the extra when it is a long cruise of when we catch a great deal. 
 

As long as each of us are happy with our choice there is no wrong choice.  

 

[MarkWiltonM]

On 4/29/2021 at 10:43 AM, jelayne said:

The Sunset Verandas don’t have a porthole opening, they have a oversized veranda  and are aft facing with great views of the wake.  I think you must have looked at the P2 category- Deluxe Porthole View Stateroom with veranda.  
check out the Sunset Verandas, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Here is 1 of a number of photos of the balcony on line.

 

On 4/29/2021 at 10:49 AM, C-Dragons said:

The Sunset Verandas don’t have a porthole opening, they have a oversized veranda  and are aft facing with great views of the wake

 

Thank you for the clarification. I've never done an aft-facing veranda. Often, they are terraced out so that there is little shade and the decks above you can see you on your veranda. Both are nonstarters for me, but I know that some people absolutely love the wake-facing verandas. I will look at photos and deck plans to see how these are configured on the Edge class ships. 

[tfred]

4 minutes ago, MarkWiltonM said:

 

 

Thank you for the clarification. I've never done an aft-facing veranda. Often, they are terraced out so that there is little shade and the decks above you can see you on your veranda. Both are nonstarters for me, but I know that some people absolutely love the wake-facing verandas. I will look at photos and deck plans to see how these are configured on the Edge class ships. 

we have reserved an aft S1 cabin on Apex 2022 for a Baltic cruise.  Done AQ in the past and liked it, just looking for smaller ship feel with big ship amenities . We have done two Crystal River trips and loved the no signing, good food and booze and top service aspect

 

Taking one yearly "big" vacation, instead of a bunch of smaller ones,  so rolling the budget into upgraded room