Simply Sail not just within 90 days

[HskrCrsr]

I probably shouldn't open this can of worms, but here goes...

 

Celebrity says you can sail without Always Included under the Simply Sail program. Their description is (from the AI FAQ) "Simply Sail will offer a cruise-only rate for select sailings within 90 days of departure.  Simply Sail will replace Exciting Deals with a new creative look and feel but maintain the same offering parameters." Ok, select sailings and within 90 days of departure. This has been a major turn-off to many of us for many reasons, one of those being that within 90 days of departure all the good cabins are gone. (Another is that the savings are minimal.)

 

However, if one checks the Simply Sail cruises being offered, many are significantly outside 90 days. For example, here is a mock booking for

leaving Oct 24, 2022:

 

Whether the discount is significant is perhaps subjective. But this is clearly more than 90 days out. And the room is only AQ Guarantee.

 

This is easily found under the Deal menu on the Celebrity site.

 

There may be more opportunities to sail without AI than I have seen anyone yet suggest. I don't mean to appear pro or con, just putting this out there. Apologies if this has been obvious to everyone but me.

[jelayne]

With the Simply Sail rate for AQ add the daily gratuities of $16pp per day and the cost is now $7026.  
Booking with AI with a assigned cabin is  $ 7,418. so Simply Sail  saving of $392 or $28 per day. For us $28 for a beverage package & wi-fi for 2 is a bargain.

[Mike45LC]

My first reaction to the Simply Sail notice was that Celebrity has been lying to us again.  "Always Included" perks were promised to be included in every single booking, and now Celebrity is telling us that they can be negotiated away.  As non-drinkers, my wife and I "grinned and bore it" when we were forced to pay for the Classic Drink Package as part of our Always Included fare.  Now, I need to do the math and decide between the falsely named "Always Included" and the non-including Simply Sale.

 

Well, I should be used to Celebrity's liberties with the truth -- they are the ones who call a window stateroom without any balcony an "Infinite Veranda".

 

[HskrCrsr]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

With the Simply Sail rate for AQ add the daily gratuities of $16pp per day and the cost is now $7026.  
Booking with AI with a assigned cabin is  $ 7,418. so Simply Sail  saving of $392 or $28 per day. For us $28 for a beverage package & wi-fi for 2 is a bargain.

 

For those that insist they don't want or use wi-fi or a drink package, this is an option, and better options than it seemed they would, IMHO.

 

But I was going more for the fact that the 90-day window is not the decisive factor. It looks like cruises get listed under Simply Sail either once the room options are seriously limited OR within 90 days of departure, rather than when both conditions are true.

[HskrCrsr]

3 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

My first reaction to the Simply Sail notice was that Celebrity has been lying to us again.  "Always Included" perks were promised to be included in every single booking, and now Celebrity is telling us that they can be negotiated away.  As non-drinkers, my wife and I "grinned and bore it" when we were forced to pay for the Classic Drink Package as part of our Always Included fare.  Now, I need to do the math and decide between the falsely named "Always Included" and the non-including Simply Sale.

 

Well, I should be used to Celebrity's liberties with the truth -- they are the ones who call a window stateroom without any balcony an "Infinite Veranda".

 

 

The site still says "Now, every Celebrity cruise always includes drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips* on every sailing, in every room, every time. It’s that simple." That asterisk does some heavy lifting.