Celebrity Cruise Pricing

[Guest ldtr]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:33 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

100% agree.  Cruising and AI land resorts are two entirely different experiences each with their own pros and cons

While they are different experiences they are competing for same travel dollar. Cruise companies in the past have maintained a prince structure relative to the pricing of their competition, land based travel, including AI resorts.  

 

Last year land based hotels and resorts, including both al and non ai, had substantial price increases. Cruise lines did not as they were still getting back up to speed with both staffing and passenger occupancy.

 

Now that occupancy is nearly back to normal, the CEOs of the major cruise companies, have commented that cruise pricing has been at record discount levels compared to land based alternatives and that they expect to narrow that range to historical levels.

 

Basically they will be increasing prices and test their pricing power  The expectation us percentage increases similar to what the hotel industry has already taken.

[NutsAboutGolf]

18 minutes ago, ldtr said:

While they are different experiences they are competing for same travel dollar. Cruise companies in the past have maintained a prince structure relative to the pricing of their competition, land based travel, including AI resorts.  

 

Last year land based hotels and resorts, including both al and non ai, had substantial price increases. Cruise lines did not as they were still getting back up to speed with both staffing and passenger occupancy.

 

Now that occupancy is nearly back to normal, the CEOs of the major cruise companies, have commented that cruise pricing has been at record discount levels compared to land based alternatives and that they expect to narrow that range to historical levels.

 

Basically they will be increasing prices and test their pricing power  The expectation us percentage increases similar to what the hotel industry has already taken.

 

The CEO of Carnival said "we are way too much of a value" but they're generally the cheapest US cruise line, often less than half of X's fare

 

We have to remember once we get a month from the sail date if there's a room type with low occupancy, they lower the fare to "fire sale" pricing.  They claim they keep breaking booking records so clearly they have demand, why not test their pricing power and if they don't get the booking they lower the pricing

[neverlaysup]

On 2/19/2023 at 3:22 PM, High on the Seas said:

For the first time in years My wife and I won’t be booking a future cruise while on the ship. We have a B2B for a total of 14 days in Aqua class later this month that cost a total of $6710. Last year when I was onboard I booked a 14 day B2B in Aqua for 2024. The price had increased to $8138. A comparable 2025 cruise comes in at $10991 for 14 days. I understand the cruise industry has had its share of issues due to the pandemic but at these prices and needing to add airfare and trip insurance this is no longer an affordable vacation compared to other options. Raising prices 63 percent over a 2 year period is going to drive customers to an alternate vacation option.  I’m pretty sure there must be others with sticker shock also. Looks like a trip to sunny Florida will be in our future in 2025.  Happy cruising to those with bigger wallets.

You can always just book a normal veranda and price shop around heavily to find the best deals out there. I see great and not so great deals out there so shop around. If you are particular to a class or ship, then good luck to you.

[Nemanoxer]

I do not see too much point in pricing discussions these days.

 

For either good or bad reasons, Celebrity´s upper management have decided to not listen to this subject for the time being. That is my personal impression, at least.

 

So, every few weeks I look up my TA´s Celebrity offers, I see that nothing is on for me, and so I am not booking.

 

My house will be happy to see some renovations instead. Covid made me more comfortable with liking to stay at home.

[manmachine]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:21 PM, tfred said:

JW Marriott Marco Island Florida at the beginning of March is $1200/night for a standard room - $8000 for the week   That price doesnt include food, booze or shows. It will sell out

 

Still think the X price is ridiculous ?

Yes

[manmachine]

1 hour ago, Nemanoxer said:

I do not see too much point in pricing discussions these days.

 

For either good or bad reasons, Celebrity´s upper management have decided to not listen to this subject for the time being. That is my personal impression, at least.

 

So, every few weeks I look up my TA´s Celebrity offers, I see that nothing is on for me, and so I am not booking.

 

My house will be happy to see some renovations instead. Covid made me more comfortable with liking to stay at home.

Yes indeed.  We have a 12 night Scandinavian in Aqua this summer.  Already paid for and was quite reasonable.  May be the last for awhile.  Not to be too revealing, but I know what we make and our income is in the top single digits, percentage-wise.   Just checked and we are in the top 4% for the country.  And the new prices of flights and hotels seems really high to me… offensively high, even.  Does everyone defending the high prices make that much more than us?   
 

BTW:  just booked the #1 rated hotel in Southampton for the nights before our cruise.  Their largest loft room.  Less than $200 US for the night, tax included.  So not everywhere is nuts.

Edited February 28, 2023 by manmachine

[C4HCG]

6 minutes ago, manmachine said:

 

BTW:  just booked the #1 rated hotel in Southampton for the nights before our cruise.  Their largest loft room.  Less than $200 US for the night, tax included.  So not everywhere is nuts.

Prices in the UK are nuts, I can assure you of that through first hand daily experience.  What you have found in Southampton I would suggest is the exception rather than the rule, hotels we use in London have seen costs increase to a point we are giving our annual Easter trip there a miss. 

[JeanieC,Aston]

2 hours ago, C4HCG said:

Prices in the UK are nuts, I can assure you of that through first hand daily experience.  What you have found in Southampton I would suggest is the exception rather than the rule, hotels we use in London have seen costs increase to a point we are giving our annual Easter trip there a miss. 

I thought it was only foreign tourists who holidayed in London.

You have picked one of the most expensive cities in the word for accommodation.

Come over to Liverpool for a great weekend for less than £200 a night.🥳

[C4HCG]

43 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

I thought it was only foreign tourists who holidayed in London.

You have picked one of the most expensive cities in the word for accommodation.

Come over to Liverpool for a great weekend for less than £200 a night.🥳

We love spending time in London.

 

and whilst being offered £200 a night to stay in Liverpool is generous, we’d need £300 at least with free transport there and back 😁

[HMR74]

One of the beautiful thingsin life is we are all diiferent which changing needs and goals.

Whether cruising, AI resorts or land based trips, escorted or not , intensive in an area or quick drive by tours.

 

All of the above or none of the above, or different combinations.

 

I'd personally like to have a suite sized cabin but do not need the heavy fancy food. Only way to do that is book a suite and go MDR.  Expensive way to get what I want.

 

The other part is are you looking for a reastful vacation or a lot of sightseeing. YOu know where I am going on this--a Self directed land based vacation.

 

Doing that this spring and if we did not have to pay for expensive 1 hour flights between greek islands it would be incredibly cheap for pretty good quality and a lot of flexibiity and "full days " meaning from breakfast till late "coffee and".

 

Image Santorini and Mykonos and seeing sunsets from a cliff side restaurant as the ships are leaving.

 

I just watched the Smithsonian Institutes "A guide to Essential Italy" and I quickly  realized how much local culture there is in Rome,  Florence,  and Venice and countryside and Southern Italy. 

 

The effort put in during  the planning is matched up with the excitement of being there and seeing it all.

 

Unfortunately the ships mostly do not  do good overnight stops. Or late night departures where you can enjoy  and if in port early like 8 am usually leave around 5, and than means gangwalk up at 4: so 5 really means 4 for scheduling and assuming you can get off ship asap in the AM.

 If you have an apartment -realy good ones with great locations in main tourist towns and cities  are 200 a night, -you just get back a little later. Rhodes Greece is 80 a nite on the water 3 blocks from town center.

 

And the trains  in Italy are part of the experience.

 

But you are not on a billion dollar ship with a crew of 1200 including entertainment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Veggiegrwr]

I take these types of posts with a grain of salt. Sure cruise prices have increased but what prices haven’t increased? Do authors of these posts not do the grocery shopping? Do they not fill the gas tank in their car? Do they not go out to eat? The list can go on and on.  Prices on pretty much everything are increasing substantially.  I was actually surprised the cruise we just booked wasn’t higher. 

[RichYak]

9 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

They claim they keep breaking booking records so clearly they have demand

Pay no attention to that verbal gymnastics. Of course they have record bookings, they have 3 more ships to sell cabins for than they did pre-pandemic. Demand isn't necessarily higher, they just have more places they can put ships to meet what demand there is.

[Guest ldtr]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

The CEO of Carnival said "we are way too much of a value" but they're generally the cheapest US cruise line, often less than half of X's fare

 

We have to remember once we get a month from the sail date if there's a room type with low occupancy, they lower the fare to "fire sale" pricing.  They claim they keep breaking booking records so clearly they have demand, why not test their pricing power and if they don't get the booking they lower the pricing

Keep in mind that there is Carnival cruise line and Carnival Corporation with its numerous brands.

 

The person making the comment is the CEO of the corporation CCL, not the cruise lines and was talking about increasing fares across all lines (HAL, Princess, Costa, P&O, AIDA, Cunard, Seabourn).  Just as the CEO for Celebrities parent company RCL had made similar comments.  So one can expect increases for pretty much all lines across the board.  They will certainly try with their posted prices.  Then we wait and see if they stick.  They started with the on board prices and now have moved on to fares.  For those thinking that the price increases puts makes the premium lines such as Oceania price competitive will soon find out that each of those lines will also being doing their own fare increases as well.

 

Josh Weinstein - We are capitalizing on the 25% to 50% value gap for land-based alternatives that, frankly, should not exist with new marketing campaigns to communicate our significant value advantage to land-based alternatives, including newly launched digital creatives from several brands.

 

"On the revenue management side, we are ensuring that each brand is utilizing pricing philosophies to maximize revenue, from launch to sailing, and sharing best practices across brands," 

Edited February 28, 2023 by ldtr

[paulh84]

3 hours ago, ldtr said:

Keep in mind that there is Carnival cruise line and Carnival Corporation with its numerous brands.

 

The person making the comment is the CEO of the corporation CCL, not the cruise lines and was talking about increasing fares across all lines (HAL, Princess, Costa, P&O, AIDA, Cunard, Seabourn).  Just as the CEO for Celebrities parent company RCL had made similar comments.  So one can expect increases for pretty much all lines across the board.  They will certainly try with their posted prices.  Then we wait and see if they stick.  They started with the on board prices and now have moved on to fares.  For those thinking that the price increases puts makes the premium lines such as Oceania price competitive will soon find out that each of those lines will also being doing their own fare increases as well.

 

Josh Weinstein - We are capitalizing on the 25% to 50% value gap for land-based alternatives that, frankly, should not exist with new marketing campaigns to communicate our significant value advantage to land-based alternatives, including newly launched digital creatives from several brands.

 

"On the revenue management side, we are ensuring that each brand is utilizing pricing philosophies to maximize revenue, from launch to sailing, and sharing best practices across brands," 

 

Industry analysts were on the cruise lines pre-COVID to raise prices. The overarching opinion was they should not have been easily and consistently achieving 100+% capacity numbers. COVID threw a big wrench into things but as the environment continues to stabilize prices will increase across all lines from budget to lux. 

 

5 hours ago, RichYak said:

Pay no attention to that verbal gymnastics. Of course they have record bookings, they have 3 more ships to sell cabins for than they did pre-pandemic. Demand isn't necessarily higher, they just have more places they can put ships to meet what demand there is.

 

Having the net passenger count willing to book and fill three additional ships as you say would, by definition, be considered increased demand. 

[cgolf1]

We travel insides The prices per person per night for the 2025 10 night beyond cruise with no perks we booked and have since canceled, based on the final number with taxes applied was 127 and change. 

 

The prices per person per night for the 2025 10 night eclipse cruise with no perks we booked in place of the beyond cruise, based on the final number with taxes applied was 120 and change. This cruise includes a 550 OBC.

 

Those numbers are lower or similar to what we have paid in the past. The difference was in the past we did the math prior to taxes and stuff, so Celebrity is probably cheaper now than what we paid in say 2011. If Celebrity was cheaper than this we really missed out on some deals.

Edited February 28, 2023 by cgolf1

[mlmbar]

On 2/19/2023 at 10:10 PM, Duanerice1 said:

No one really cares.... we just ignore rude people....

 

As for price, I agree.  We are back with Celebrity for an ABC cruise but it's been about 5 years since we sailed Celebrity, due to prices.  I found a pretty good Black Friday deal with decent OBC so we will give it a shot. Although once I booked and did my final payment I learned that they downgraded the MDR menu and it's now  pay for room service.  I'd say this will probably be our last Celbrity crusie but I guess we aren't allowed.....  People get mad. 

 

We've been on 5 cruises since Covid but Celebrity was always more than I wanted to pay compared to what I could get on other lines.  

Enjoy....

 

 

I agree! We have been on two cruises on Princess since cruising began again and we have a third booked. We loved Celebrity but the prices are crazy. I resent having to pay extra for a refun dable deposit especially when Covid was more prevalent. Then add the increase in specialty dining, room service, etc it is too much.  Princess just increased prices on specialty also but their specialty were always much lower.  Crown grille steak house is now $39 up from $30.  Mini suites are less than Aqua and deposits are refundable. We are booked on Equnoix in October which we booked a year ago, The price went down by $800 at first but is now up over $1000.  We also got 200 OBC when  we booked our Princess for March 2024. We are now Princess customers

[RichYak]

54 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

Having the net passenger count willing to book and fill three additional ships as you say would, by definition, be considered increased demand. 

Certainly by the marketing department, yes. My point was that "Record bookings" is not a meaningful metric when you have 30% (finger in the air guess) more capacity to book than in 2019.

Edited February 28, 2023 by RichYak

[C4HCG]

49 minutes ago, mlmbar said:

I agree! We have been on two cruises on Princess since cruising began again and we have a third booked. We loved Celebrity but the prices are crazy. I resent having to pay extra for a refun dable deposit especially when Covid was more prevalent. Then add the increase in specialty dining, room service, etc it is too much.  Princess just increased prices on specialty also but their specialty were always much lower.  Crown grille steak house is now $39 up from $30.  Mini suites are less than Aqua and deposits are refundable. We are booked on Equnoix in October which we booked a year ago, The price went down by $800 at first but is now up over $1000.  We also got 200 OBC when  we booked our Princess for March 2024. We are now Princess customers

Each to their own what they perceive to be value for money, lots of variables that are different to every one of us. You seem to have found your ideal with Princess, good luck and hope you enjoy your cruises. But remember not all of us think Celebrity prices are crazy, including us, so far we have got brilliant value for money and expect to do the same when we sail again in September. And see many other posters here who are booking again having recently sailed. But all forums thrive when there are different opinions. I do wonder though why you see yourselves as exclusively Princess customers?

[paulh84]

24 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Certainly by the marketing department, yes. My point was that "Record bookings" is not a meaningful metric when you have 30% (finger in the air guess) more capacity to book than in 2019.

 

NCL went into more detail in their annual report to quantify similar statements made my Royal Caribbean. RCG made several references to expecting to be at historical occupancy levels by spring 2023. There's no reason to believe RCG would not be in a similar position as NCL.

 

Update on Bookings 

 

The Company entered the year with a record cumulative booked position of approximately 62% for full year 2023, in line with previously outlined expectations and within the Company’s optimal 60% to 65% range, and at higher prices than 2019 at a similar point in time. Booking volumes have accelerated in recent months buoyed by strong WAVE season demand. The Company’s brands achieved several booking records in recent months including at Norwegian Cruise Line which reached an all-time record booking month in November, boosted by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which was subsequently exceeded in January 2023. As a result, full year 2023 cumulative booked position is ahead of 2019 levels inclusive of the Company’s approximately 19% increase in capacity, at continued higher pricing. Net booking volumes continue to be at the pace needed to reach historical Occupancy levels for the second quarter of 2023 and beyond; however, our full fleet may not achieve historical Occupancy levels on our expected schedule and as a result, current booking data may not be informative. In addition, because of our cancellation policies, bookings may not be representative of actual cruise revenues.

[goofysmom99]

I think I can ring the bell for a price hike.  I just disembarked Saturday from nine  nights on Summit in a C1 (or Ultra C1 = one of the four in amongst the big suites on Deck 6).  This year, for those nine nights all-in, price was $1494 solo w/$100 OBC.  Next year, same ship, same dates, same nine nights, almost same ports (dropped GC, added Nassau), and exact same cabin, all-in $3735 w/$500 OBC.  That's a whopping 250% increase, to the penny.  I reeeally like the people I'm joining who are in the larger suites or no way I'd pay that much to X.  While onboard, we checked 2025 to see what we could arrange for all of us.  It was even worse so we cried uncle and finally said "no."  X reached my breaking point and PH/RS pax, too.  BTW, the OBC is irrelevant to me because I only pay for gratuities and on M-class, there's really only Tuscan (don't care for Le Petit Chef).  After eating in Tuscan twice this time, I slammed them pretty hard on the survey which I've never done before but things won't change if you don't tell them (the best seared tuna I've ever eaten was on Summit in 2021, and the worst, on Summit in 2023, among other things).

 

Some good came out of researching prices of my future cruises to compute increases = I noticed my Nov 2024 Silhouette TA dropped $595 (almost 17%).  It's a start.

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

Each to their own what they perceive to be value for money, lots of variables that are different to every one of us. You seem to have found your ideal with Princess, good luck and hope you enjoy your cruises. But remember not all of us think Celebrity prices are crazy, including us, so far we have got brilliant value for money and expect to do the same when we sail again in September. And see many other posters here who are booking again having recently sailed. But all forums thrive when there are different opinions. I do wonder though why you see yourselves as exclusively Princess customers?

 

We won't call ourselves "exclusively Princess customers"  but just booked a TA in late fall 2024 in a mini suite (and this particular one has near the square footage of a CS on X), included tips, the premium beverage package, club class dining, 4 free specialty dinners (2 for each person) about $500 in OBC and a few other perks for less than half the CS on X would cost and this cruise is for 17 nights, not the 11-14 that X is now pushing for it's TA's in 2024 & 2025.  AND 4 new ports for us.....it was a no brainer.  

[OysterD]

22 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

We won't call ourselves "exclusively Princess customers"  but just booked a TA in late fall 2024 in a mini suite (and this particular one has near the square footage of a CS on X), included tips, the premium beverage package, club class dining, 4 free specialty dinners (2 for each person) about $500 in OBC and a few other perks for less than half the CS on X would cost and this cruise is for 17 nights, not the 11-14 that X is now pushing for it's TA's in 2024 & 2025.  AND 4 new ports for us.....it was a no brainer.  

 

For the sake of fairness, I'm not sure your numbers paint a very accurate picture. 

 

The only 17 night transatlantic crossing I see end of 2024 is the 28th Nov Sky Princess sailing. The UK site states mini suites are 304-329sq ft and with the reserve collection (to get your separate club class entrance to the MDR) plus premium drinks etc it comes to £3955 per person. 

 

A sky suite on the 14 night Beyond TA would be £5354 per person but you get a lot more for that and a SS is 400sq ft (a CS is 500sq ft).

 

Princess mini suites don't come with the extra facilities or perks like you get in a suite on Celebrity. There's no retreat deck, lounge, separate restaurant or butler service. Actually a Princess mini suite isn't much different to a regular veranda on X size wise and facilities wise. 

 

Let's be generous and compare it to an AQ cabin on that same Beyond sailing, bearing in mind AQ gives you access to a specialty restaurant every night which a Princess mini suite doesn't. AQ which comes with drinks wifi and tips is £2835pp on that Beyond TA in 2024, £1100pp cheaper than the Princess mini suite. 

 

A standard balcony on that Princess sailing is £1899pp (no drinks package etc) but the cabins are small (179sq ft inc balcony) and don't even have a sofa. Standard IV on Beyond (243sq ft) on that sailing is £1548pp.

 

So let's compare apples to apples cos it's certainly not fair to compare a mini suite on Princess to a Celebrity Suite. Completely different products. 

 

And when we compare apples to apples ita obvious that Celebrity prices are very comparable to other cruiselines. I know for sure if it came down to £1548 for 14 nights on Beyond vs £1899 for 17 nights on Sky Princess it would be Beyond every time for me! 

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, OysterD said:

 

For the sake of fairness, I'm not sure your numbers paint a very accurate picture. 

 

The only 17 night transatlantic crossing I see end of 2024 is the 28th Nov Sky Princess sailing. The UK site states mini suites are 304-329sq ft and with the reserve collection (to get your separate club class entrance to the MDR) plus premium drinks etc it comes to £3955 per person. 

 

A sky suite on the 14 night Beyond TA would be £5354 per person but you get a lot more for that and a SS is 400sq ft (a CS is 500sq ft).

 

Princess mini suites don't come with the extra facilities or perks like you get in a suite on Celebrity. There's no retreat deck, lounge, separate restaurant or butler service. Actually a Princess mini suite isn't much different to a regular veranda on X size wise and facilities wise. 

 

Let's be generous and compare it to an AQ cabin on that same Beyond sailing, bearing in mind AQ gives you access to a specialty restaurant every night which a Princess mini suite doesn't. AQ which comes with drinks wifi and tips is £2835pp on that Beyond TA in 2024, £1100pp cheaper than the Princess mini suite. 

 

A standard balcony on that Princess sailing is £1899pp (no drinks package etc) but the cabins are small (179sq ft inc balcony) and don't even have a sofa. Standard IV on Beyond (243sq ft) on that sailing is £1548pp.

 

So let's compare apples to apples cos it's certainly not fair to compare a mini suite on Princess to a Celebrity Suite. Completely different products. 

 

And when we compare apples to apples ita obvious that Celebrity prices are very comparable to other cruiselines. I know for sure if it came down to £1548 for 14 nights on Beyond vs £1899 for 17 nights on Sky Princess it would be Beyond every time for me! 

 

First of all the mini suite we are in is only one of 4 on the ship, unique design, with separate bedroom and living area.  The balcony is larger than any balcony we've ever had on X, including the wonderful "hump" balconies that the CS on Solstice class has.  We've actually stayed in the same room on the Regal Princess so we do know what we're talking about.  I didn't have actual square footage but yeah, based on your numbers, it's smaller inside the room than the CS but very equal to the SS on X.  The package we have includes the premium beverage package(same as X), club class dining(not Luminae, but very nice, and separate from the MDR area) and other perks including as I said a few specialty dinners which X does not offer at the SS or CS suite level, reserved theatre seating and others.  It's 17 nights, not 14 as the Beyond.  The price for the lowest level SS on the Beyond is right around $6300 per person(per the X website).  The price on Sky Princess is $4240 per person.  3 extra nights, $2K less per person.  We like the butler on X but it's not essential for us at all.  

 

It's all in what's important to each of us and we're ready to try something not quite as "exclusive" as the Retreat area, but still a fun cruise without breaking the bank.

 

You are quoting a standard mini on Princess, and, yes, it's not much more than a standard balcony on X, but if you research the ships you can find the better rooms, which is what we did the first time we stayed in this type of mini.  And if you opt for what they now call the "reserve collection" you receive the perks I've mentioned.  It works for us.  

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Gracie115

[Tigerfnan23]

We are on a Celebrity cruise right now and priced a similar cruise for the same time next year since we were enjoying ourselves on this one.  All things being basically equal it looks like about a 50% Increase which just isn't something we would do, so I suppose we will either hold off on cruising for a while or look at other cruise lines, which we really don't want to do.  Its unfortunate since Celebrity has managed to nail what we are looking for in a cruise experience, but at some point we just can't justify paying that kind of money.

[mlmbar]

5 hours ago, C4HCG said:

Each to their own what they perceive to be value for money, lots of variables that are different to every one of us. You seem to have found your ideal with Princess, good luck and hope you enjoy your cruises. But remember not all of us think Celebrity prices are crazy, including us, so far we have got brilliant value for money and expect to do the same when we sail again in September. And see many other posters here who are booking again having recently sailed. But all forums thrive when there are different opinions. I do wonder though why you see yourselves as exclusively Princess customers?

There are many here who feel like I do about the prices. Did you not see that? We have sailed RCI and Celebrity for 12 years. RCI has become too family oriented for us and as I said, Celebrity is becoming too expensive and nickel and dime a lot. Why moving on to Princess? I explained that but will reiterate it, Princess offers more and the prices are more reasonable.for now. If there were better prices and itinerary, we are open to doing Celebrity. Also, we do not like the Edge class so there is nothing there to offer for us