AI vs Cruise Only

[charlielinda]

We are thinking of taking a last minute cruise in January or February.  I have a quick question before I start comparing prices.  Does anyone know what the cost of gratuities is for 7 days in Aqua Class or CC cabin?  Also price of a week of WiFi for one person?   We would have free drinks in the evening with Elite Plus.  Thanks for your help.  

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, charlielinda said:

We are thinking of taking a last minute cruise in January or February.  I have a quick question before I start comparing prices.  Does anyone know what the cost of gratuities is for 7 days in Aqua Class or CC cabin?  Also price of a week of WiFi for one person?   We would have free drinks in the evening with Elite Plus.  Thanks for your help.  

https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/gratuity-program

[Auntiemomo]

Wifi pricing is different from cruise to cruise.  You'd have to check the cruise planner, but can't do that until you book.  As Elite + you each get 240 minutes of internet.  That might get you thru a few days, but just logging on and off to get emails, etc.

[neverlaysup]

8 minutes ago, charlielinda said:

We are thinking of taking a last minute cruise in January or February.  I have a quick question before I start comparing prices.  Does anyone know what the cost of gratuities is for 7 days in Aqua Class or CC cabin?  Also price of a week of WiFi for one person?   We would have free drinks in the evening with Elite Plus.  Thanks for your help.  

Looking at pricing for a 7 day Apex in Feb, the all in pricing is only $135 more than cruise only. Also, Elevate was $293 (on sale) more then cruise only and Indulge was $634 more. The cost of tips in CC or AQ would be $224 for two people and High speed WIFI is absurdly expensive. I would price it out for yourself but it appears that Elevate has the best value right now.

[Purplsmurf]

We just paid for streaming wifi for my husband for our upcoming cruise, and with the discount  he paid approx $165 for a week for one device. I believe it’s $35/day for streaming before any discounts

[Auntiemomo]

I paid $128pp to upgrade from surf to stream on an 11-night sailing.

[grandgeezer]

3 hours ago, Auntiemomo said:

Wifi pricing is different from cruise to cruise.  You'd have to check the cruise planner, but can't do that until you book.  As Elite + you each get 240 minutes of internet.  That might get you thru a few days, but just logging on and off to get emails, etc.

We are both Elite+ so we each get 240 minutes. We do e-mails, check news, sports, stocks, etc., and even have played a few games on Facebook, and have never used all the minutes.

[drakes2]

4 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

We are both Elite+ so we each get 240 minutes. We do e-mails, check news, sports, stocks, etc., and even have played a few games on Facebook, and have never used all the minutes.

I just switched my January 2022 7 night cruise on the Edge from AI to simply sail (same cabin) for a savings of $630 canadian $.  Being Elite I get 90 minutes of decent wifi included plus drinks at any bar from 5 to 7 pm. I also bring onboard 2 bottles of excellent red wine which I prefer to most offerings on the ship. Even if I buy the odd martini, specialty coffee and some water  I figure I'll still be ahead. 

[miched]

Do a mock booking on The X site.   One of the questions is do you want to prepay gratuities.   It will be the amount charged for that category

 

You have to evaluate what the perks are worth to you.   Sometimes is it more economical to pay as needed instead of getting the package.   There is no need to pay for the internet or drink pack if you don’t really need or use them.   

 

We were recently in a suite and had all of the perks.  Other than the wine we had at dinner the majority of our drinks came from the Retreat lounge.  It was convenient and they had what we wanted and was rarely busy.  There was also the Elite HH and the two receptions that we never attended or used.
 

We had enough minutes from the Captains  Club for the internet if we didn't have the unlimited included.   We could have also used the internet offered at many places in port if needed.   The crew wasn’t allowed off of the ship so none of the places were overloaded.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅