TA booking, now Celebrity direct is price less

[Homestyle]

I booked through a TA last week for a sailing in three weeks on the Apex. Celebrity have now reduced the price by £400 on a direct booking. Is there anything that can be done? My TA booking does not qualify for the Best Price Guarantee. 

 

 

[jalves]

Why not have your TA check on it?  Mine has always done that for our sailings.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

I always work with a TA…. When there is a reduction, she gets it for me. 

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, Homestyle said:

I booked through a TA last week for a sailing in three weeks on the Apex. Celebrity have now reduced the price by £400 on a direct booking. Is there anything that can be done? My TA booking does not qualify for the Best Price Guarantee. 

 

 

Why wouldn't your Best Price Guarantee qualify with your TA?  I just had my TA rebook for me for a sizable price reduction for me.  She was happy to do it.

 

If yours will not, contact Celebrity Customer Service.

Edited June 28, 2021 by graphicguy

[AtlantaCruiser72]

OP appears to be in the UK.  Booking terms are much stricter when booked through the UK and in many cases price adjustments are not allowed unfortunately.  That said I encourage the OP to check with their TA and see if anything can be done.

[sammyboots]

1 hour ago, Homestyle said:

I booked through a TA last week for a sailing in three weeks on the Apex. Celebrity have now reduced the price by £400 on a direct booking. Is there anything that can be done? My TA booking does not qualify for the Best Price Guarantee. 

 

 

I’m also in the UK and contacted our TA for a price reduction when it came up, they charged us a £50 pp admin fee. It seems some charge for changes and some don’t. We lived in the US for quite a few years and generally you weren’t charged over there. 🤷‍♀️

[wrk2cruise]

The Cruise with Confidence program which includes the Best Price Guarantee is a world wide program and should be applicable to any booking.

[Antropos]

2 hours ago, Homestyle said:

I booked through a TA last week for a sailing in three weeks on the Apex. Celebrity have now reduced the price by £400 on a direct booking. Is there anything that can be done? My TA booking does not qualify for the Best Price Guarantee. 

 

 

Are you sure it's the same rate? I live in The Netherlands and here the exact same thing happened for the Apex sailings, but upon closer inspection it turns out that the lower prices on =X= are now a "Simply Sail" rate (i.e. no AI rate and therefore excluding gratuities, beverage package and incredibly slow WiFi).

[Homestyle]

28 minutes ago, Antropos said:

Are you sure it's the same rate? I live in The Netherlands and here the exact same thing happened for the Apex sailings, but upon closer inspection it turns out that the lower prices on =X= are now a "Simply Sail" rate (i.e. no AI rate and therefore excluding gratuities, beverage package and incredibly slow WiFi).

Just double checked and Always Included is included. Just waiting for the TA to get back to me. 

[Antropos]

1 minute ago, Homestyle said:

Just double checked and Always Included is included. Just waiting for the TA to get back to me. 

This is indeed interesting... I just did a mock booking on both the UK site and US site for an inside stateroom with Always Included and the price on the UK site is € 400 euro less... 

[Tapi]

9 hours ago, Homestyle said:

Just double checked and Always Included is included. Just waiting for the TA to get back to me. 

We have a cruise booked for September, but even though the sailing has the “Always Included” banner on the website, the rate that I’m booked under doesn’t include it. For our family of 4, it’s $1,200 cheaper than the advertised Always Included rate though. I realized that my rate didn’t include tips, drinks and wifi after making the booking, but I actually prefer the lower price. The booking does include onboard credit that will cover the drinks package if I choose to use it for that, in addition to a specialty dining package. 
 

Long story short, this Always Included promotion is not as clear cut as Celebrity makes it to be. There are still multiple rates with different perks. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Tapi

[Antropos]

6 hours ago, Tapi said:

Long story short, this Always Included promotion is not as clear cut as Celebrity makes it to be. There are still multiple rates with different perks. 

Correct, which is exactly what I thought when I read OP: the rate on the UK is probably a different rate with different perks. But I did a mock booking and it really has the same perks as the rate on the US site, but way cheaper depending on the type of cabin you book. For verandas it doesn't seem to matter. But when you, for example, book Deluxe Inside #9127 for the Sep 4 sailing you pay $3,609 on the US site and "only" $3,154 when booking through *.co.uk. In both cases same perks (AI).

[Homestyle]

17 hours ago, Antropos said:

Are you sure it's the same rate? I live in The Netherlands and here the exact same thing happened for the Apex sailings, but upon closer inspection it turns out that the lower prices on =X= are now a "Simply Sail" rate (i.e. no AI rate and therefore excluding gratuities, beverage package and incredibly slow WiFi).

Just double checked and Always Included is included. Just waiting for the TA to get back to me. 

[Homestyle]

Success, TA just called, Celebrity have put USD 500 onboard credit on our account 🙂