Future booked cruises with All Included? Tips no longer included.

[Cruise till you drop]

9 hours ago, OysterD said:

Exactly, and without the hysteria, speculation and incorrect assumptions. Just the facts. Which in reality don't amount to many changes. 

[Cap_D]

26 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Elimination of OBC from Retreat Suites is several hundred dollars of lost purchasing power.   I would be surprised if Retreat prices are reduced by a comparable amount.  As most know, but stating for future recollection, the amount varies by number of days, and is per person.  E.g., $300 for 6-9 nights , which is $600 for a couple or $900 for a threesome (my family).  Will the total cost of sailing in Retreat decrease for our family by $900 on a 7 day sailing?  

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Cap_D

[chisoxjmp]

We booked a cruise on the Beyond for March, 2024 while on board the Reflection last December.  It included tips, drinks and wi-fi.  When the booking was transferred to our TA, the cruise amount had the tips itemized separately even though the total price that was quoted on board and our details on the transferred reservation showed the correct OBC and that the tips, drinks and wi-fi was included.  So I am not overly concerned about us losing our tips being covered on our March cruise.  Just like any other purchase we make, it is us as consumers who should be evaluating what we are receiving and deciding on what we will buy.  There are lots of options out there so any cruise line has to make their business decisions but expect their customers to make their own consumer decisions.

[Cruise till you drop]

10 minutes ago, chisoxjmp said:

We booked a cruise on the Beyond for March, 2024 while on board the Reflection last December.  It included tips, drinks and wi-fi.  When the booking was transferred to our TA, the cruise amount had the tips itemized separately even though the total price that was quoted on board and our details on the transferred reservation showed the correct OBC and that the tips, drinks and wi-fi was included.  So I am not overly concerned about us losing our tips being covered on our March cruise.  Just like any other purchase we make, it is us as consumers who should be evaluating what we are receiving and deciding on what we will buy.  There are lots of options out there so any cruise line has to make their business decisions but expect their customers to make their own consumer decisions.

What I found interesting is that you booked onboard a Celebrity ship but had the booking transferred to a TA.  Didn’t know you could do this but more importantly, why would you want to do this?

 

Wouldn’t you just want to deal directly with Celebrity for the booking ?

[wrk2cruise]

53 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

What I found interesting is that you booked onboard a Celebrity ship but had the booking transferred to a TA.  Didn’t know you could do this but more importantly, why would you want to do this?

 

Wouldn’t you just want to deal directly with Celebrity for the booking ?

 

No I don't want to deal with Celebrity, my agent does that for me.   He also adds around 8% of the total cruise price as refundable OBC which he allows me to deduct from final payment.  So thousands of dollars is why I do it.

 

Some TAs also have group rates which can be more advantageous as well.  Booking onboard give you the reduced deposit and the bonus OBC  from Celebrity.

Edited August 31, 2023 by wrk2cruise

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

What I found interesting is that you booked onboard a Celebrity ship but had the booking transferred to a TA.  Didn’t know you could do this but more importantly, why would you want to do this?

 

Wouldn’t you just want to deal directly with Celebrity for the booking ?

We do it with every booking. X also does it automatically to the Agent you made your current booking through so if you don't want them to do that you need to tell them and sign a form. You can also move it to any agent for which you have the details.

[crusinthrough]

I was loyal to RC but their drink package is getting out of control and everything is al la cate. I jumped ship to Celebrity and booked a few cruises.  I even kept booking during the shutdown.  I was trying to hang in there  but it's getting harder each time I read a post.  

 

To recap since 2021..

• Sunset the Elevate / Indulge package options
• Added AI (tips, wifi and classic drink package)
• Tips removed from AI
• Suites OBC gone 
• Sky suites lose butlers
• Speaking of suites deposits increased to 10% of fare
• Refundable deposit price as much as another cruise (to encourage NR deposits) 
• AQ class loses pillow menu (what was the savings with this one) 
• AQ class loses canapés 
• Cookies $2 plus 20% gratuities experiment (tried and failed) 
• Speciality dining price increase
• Buffet choices decreases
• Non professional cruise photos eliminated from cruise planner and ships 
• Vaping in casino experiment (tried and failed) 
• Reduced lobster night to one lobster per person
• Food quality diminishes 

 

RC and Celebrity are in a race to the bottom.  Stock prices are down.  I sailed a few times during the restart and those cruise were great.  Since it seems Celebrity has lost its way. Maybe time to venture out while waiting for Celebrity to find its way home.  

 

I don't want to book anything in 2025 because who knows what cruising will be like by then.  

 

[ChucktownSteve]

12 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

It's already listed on the website as $20 pp/pd but it's currently on sale for 5% off.

OMG! A whole $1 discount? How magnanimous Celebrity has become.

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

I was loyal to RC but their drink package is getting out of control and everything is al la cate. I jumped ship to Celebrity and booked a few cruises.  I even kept booking during the shutdown.  I was trying to hang in there  but it's getting harder each time I read a post.  

 

To recap since 2021..

• Sunset the Elevate / Indulge package options
• Added AI (tips, wifi and classic drink package)
• Tips removed from AI
• Suites OBC gone 
• Sky suites lose butlers
• Speaking of suites deposits increased to 10% of fare
• Refundable deposit price as much as another cruise (to encourage NR deposits) 
• AQ class loses pillow menu (what was the savings with this one) 
• AQ class loses canapés 
• Cookies $2 plus 20% gratuities experiment (tried and failed) 
• Speciality dining price increase
• Buffet choices decreases
• Non professional cruise photos eliminated from cruise planner and ships 
• Vaping in casino experiment (tried and failed) 
• Reduced lobster night to one lobster per person
• Food quality diminishes 

 

RC and Celebrity are in a race to the bottom.  Stock prices are down.  I sailed a few times during the restart and those cruise were great.  Since it seems Celebrity has lost its way. Maybe time to venture out while waiting for Celebrity to find its way home.  

 

I don't want to book anything in 2025 because who knows what cruising will be like by then.  

 

 

Yes, this!!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

You still can get photo sessions 🤔

 

 

[hcat]

What about photo packages?

On our last cruise, BEYOND, we signed up for one but they could not do it and we  cancelled it.. We ended up buying prints and they gave us some folios. Worked out ok but we liked getting the photo package.

[terrydtx]

4 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

I was loyal to RC but their drink package is getting out of control and everything is al la cate. I jumped ship to Celebrity and booked a few cruises.  I even kept booking during the shutdown.  I was trying to hang in there  but it's getting harder each time I read a post.  

 

To recap since 2021..

• Sunset the Elevate / Indulge package options
• Added AI (tips, wifi and classic drink package)
• Tips removed from AI
• Suites OBC gone 
• Sky suites lose butlers
• Speaking of suites deposits increased to 10% of fare
• Refundable deposit price as much as another cruise (to encourage NR deposits) 
• AQ class loses pillow menu (what was the savings with this one) 
• AQ class loses canapés 
• Cookies $2 plus 20% gratuities experiment (tried and failed) 
• Speciality dining price increase
• Buffet choices decreases
• Non professional cruise photos eliminated from cruise planner and ships 
• Vaping in casino experiment (tried and failed) 
• Reduced lobster night to one lobster per person
• Food quality diminishes 

 

RC and Celebrity are in a race to the bottom.  Stock prices are down.  I sailed a few times during the restart and those cruise were great.  Since it seems Celebrity has lost its way. Maybe time to venture out while waiting for Celebrity to find its way home.  

 

I don't want to book anything in 2025 because who knows what cruising will be like by then.  

 

Our journey with Celebrity exactly.

 

A couple of things you forgot on your list of changes:

 

*Drinks and More package gone

*Raising daily gratuities to highest among mainstream cruise lines, then removing them from AI

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by terrydtx

[Cruise till you drop]

4 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

I was loyal to RC but their drink package is getting out of control and everything is al la cate. I jumped ship to Celebrity and booked a few cruises.  I even kept booking during the shutdown.  I was trying to hang in there  but it's getting harder each time I read a post.  

 

To recap since 2021..

• Sunset the Elevate / Indulge package options
• Added AI (tips, wifi and classic drink package)
• Tips removed from AI
• Suites OBC gone 
• Sky suites lose butlers
• Speaking of suites deposits increased to 10% of fare
• Refundable deposit price as much as another cruise (to encourage NR deposits) 
• AQ class loses pillow menu (what was the savings with this one) 
• AQ class loses canapés 
• Cookies $2 plus 20% gratuities experiment (tried and failed) 
• Speciality dining price increase
• Buffet choices decreases
• Non professional cruise photos eliminated from cruise planner and ships 
• Vaping in casino experiment (tried and failed) 
• Reduced lobster night to one lobster per person
• Food quality diminishes 

 

RC and Celebrity are in a race to the bottom.  Stock prices are down.  I sailed a few times during the restart and those cruise were great.  Since it seems Celebrity has lost its way. Maybe time to venture out while waiting for Celebrity to find its way home.  

 

I don't want to book anything in 2025 because who knows what cruising will be like by then.  

 

I do hope your next 5 sailings on Celebrity in 2023 and 2024 go well

Edited August 31, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[happyyaya]

We’ve always given end-of-cruise tips to our wait-staff including sommelier, butler and room attendant - and participated in the all-included fares. My understanding is the included gratuities went to these individuals and more crew. I fear eliminating the all included gratuities piece will hurt the crew and staff. 

[wrk2cruise]

12 minutes ago, happyyaya said:

We’ve always given end-of-cruise tips to our wait-staff including sommelier, butler and room attendant - and participated in the all-included fares. My understanding is the included gratuities went to these individuals and more crew. I fear eliminating the all included gratuities piece will hurt the crew and staff. 

 

You are still charged the gratuity amount.  It's just charged to your seapass card vs being bundled in your fare.  Moves the cost to an onboard amount which new cruisers will probably not be aware of so makes the initial cruise price seem lower and more competitive.  

 

Of course they do allow them to be removed but we all know that's not right if you have any concern for the crew at all.

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Of course they do allow them to be removed but we all know that's not right if you have any concern for the crew at all.

Unfortunately this is too true, and there are some on CC who boast about doing this. Just go look at the long lines at Guest Services on the last day of a cruise to see how many actually do this. I do not believe you could do it if you have tips included in AI.

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, markeb said:

 

You'll still have the daily auto tip in place. The difference is it's not in the fare and could be removed. With AI it's part of the fare.

 

I frankly would prefer it be in the fare. 

I question now if the people in Sky Suites will not feel inclined to tip the butler team (extra) like previously tipping a dedicated butler.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

12 hours ago, Cap_D said:

Elimination of OBC from Retreat Suites is several hundred dollars of lost purchasing power.   I would be surprised if Retreat prices are reduced by a comparable amount.  As most know, but stating for future recollection, the amount varies by number of days, and is per person.  E.g., $300 for 6-9 nights , which is $600 for a couple or $900 for a threesome (my family).  Will the total cost of sailing in Retreat decrease for our family by $900 on a 7 day sailing?  

 

Wait until Oct 4 and see 🙄

 

 

[marieps]

22 hours ago, Bejay219 said:

For us, they do reflect major changes-

-As Zeniths, always sailing in suites, recently moved from Celebrity Suites to Sky Suites due to price and wanting to do more B2B2B's. As Zeniths, we already get Premium Drinks and premium Wifi, so we lost the Tips and OBC, that leaves the only perk we get is free laundry. Celebrity could have put a "Cruise Only" rate in for Zeniths in Suites, but they only added it for Aqua Class. 

-We book suites for the privacy and ease of having only 2 crew members in our suite, the Butler and Room Attendant.  When my husband fell, he was hurting for 4/5 days, he needed lots of ice, meals brought in and quiet.  Our Butler knew exactly what he needed, made sure everything was done quietly and efficiently, can't say a "Team" will. 

-The loss of bottled water in the Suite,  having to carry bottled water, soda and beer to our Suite is not our idea of relaxation. 

We obviously have loved Celebrity over the 21 years we have sailed with them.  We have seen things come and go. We go into each cruise knowing we will have a god time and anticipate that the food and service will be consistent.  My husband and I each spend close to 1 1/2 hours each on the survey at the end of each cruise (in May on B2B2B, that was around 9 hours of writing) We keep a list on our phone so we can  mention each person that has provided us with great service by name and and write a sentence about them. We write notes to the Hotel Director about outstanding service, we also, if we have a complaint, do it in a quiet manner to the appropriate person.

We give our feedback In an appropriate manner, we expect Celebrity to give us the same courtesy to communicate changes which effect us. 

 

 

 

A thoughtful post from a thoughtful loyalist.  I hope =X= spends at least a fraction of the time considering your comment cards as you do writing them.

Edited August 31, 2023 by marieps

[bnurick]

1. X is in damage control, thus the reason they are making a travel agent and social media influencer push right now.

2. X is under serious net revenue pressure and went too far with a lack of transparency. The result is everywhere you read loyal cruisers are now looking at other options now, which is a negative for X.

3. It is understandable that X needs to make changes to address their financial realities, but the lack of transparency is a reflection of management.

[paulh84]

5 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

I was loyal to RC but their drink package is getting out of control and everything is al la cate. I jumped ship to Celebrity and booked a few cruises.  I even kept booking during the shutdown.  I was trying to hang in there  but it's getting harder each time I read a post.  

 

To recap since 2021..

• Sunset the Elevate / Indulge package options
• Added AI (tips, wifi and classic drink package)
• Tips removed from AI
• Suites OBC gone 
• Sky suites lose butlers
• Speaking of suites deposits increased to 10% of fare
• Refundable deposit price as much as another cruise (to encourage NR deposits) 
• AQ class loses pillow menu (what was the savings with this one) 
• AQ class loses canapés 
• Cookies $2 plus 20% gratuities experiment (tried and failed) 
• Speciality dining price increase
• Buffet choices decreases
• Non professional cruise photos eliminated from cruise planner and ships 
• Vaping in casino experiment (tried and failed) 
• Reduced lobster night to one lobster per person
• Food quality diminishes 

 

RC and Celebrity are in a race to the bottom.  Stock prices are down.  I sailed a few times during the restart and those cruise were great.  Since it seems Celebrity has lost its way. Maybe time to venture out while waiting for Celebrity to find its way home.  

 

I don't want to book anything in 2025 because who knows what cruising will be like by then.  

 

This is the issue I’m seeing. You could break it down into two buckets - price vs everything else. 95% of what your bullet points are completely inconsequential to me when I make a decision to book a cruise. I’m not going to move my business elsewhere because people got mad about a $2 cookie, or a missing pillow menu or because I can’t get prom pose photos (who really buys these in 2023??)
 

You’ll read the same complains about Princess, RCI, MSC and NCL. Yes the cost is rising. But when I try to find a equal comparison among the mainstream cruises, the price is within a few hundred dollar of one another when you get your all in number established. I’m not going to move to NCL and sail with 1,200 kids to save $200. And on a 7 day cruise you’re paying $625 in gratuities. Give this whole debate a month and it will be back to business as usual. 

 

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

*Raising daily gratuities to highest among mainstream cruise lines, then removing them from AI

 

 

NCL takes the prize by a long shot. 7 days on NCL Viva is $20pppd for gratuities, automatic $305.20 for drink package gratuities and a default $39.60 service fee for the included specialty dining. Grand total $624.80 or $89.25 per day in gratuities/fees alone. Haven increase the daily charge to $25pppd.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

NCL takes the prize by a long shot. 7 days on NCL Viva is $20pppd for gratuities, automatic $305.20 for drink package gratuities and a default $39.60 service fee for the included specialty dining. Grand total $624.80 or $89.25 per day in gratuities/fees alone. Haven increase the daily charge to $25pppd.

Wow, I missed that can't believe anyone still would sail with NCL at those rates. Celebrity's $23 per day for the Retreat is also ridiculous.

[crusinthrough]

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You still can get photo sessions 🤔

 

 

This is a photo session.  I was referring to a photo package for pictures taken around the ship and in port.  At one time it was $50 for all digital photos.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 minute ago, crusinthrough said:

This is a photo session.  I was referring to a photo package for pictures taken around the ship and in port.  At one time it was $50 for all digital photos.  

Do people still by those ? 
most people I have talk with are happy to see the photographers in your face every 5 mins 😁

[phoenix_dream]

13 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

What I found interesting is that you booked onboard a Celebrity ship but had the booking transferred to a TA.  Didn’t know you could do this but more importantly, why would you want to do this?

 

Wouldn’t you just want to deal directly with Celebrity for the booking ?

Why?  Well for one reason on my recent bookings my TA is giving me OBC for 10% of the cruise price.  And that OBC is fully refundable which essentially means I am getting a 10% discount on the base price