Thumbs down for Celebrities 2 day sale

[tbelian]

It seems that most posters here have stated that the price of the cruise that they were interested in went up.

 

Well, my point is some did go up and some didnt (as shown in my quoted post above) so it's not completely a 'phantom' sale. Sure the RED couch is on sale, but you dont like red, oh, sorry , we only have red on sale today.... blue 'might' be on sale next month.... that's the way it is with 'sales'.

[Cruise Junky]

Well, my point is some did go up and some didnt (as shown in my quoted post above) so it's not completely a 'phantom' sale. Sure the RED couch is on sale, but you dont like red, oh, sorry , we only have red on sale today.... blue 'might' be on sale next month.... that's the way it is with 'sales'.

 

No, that's not what they did...they raised the price of the red couch $100 and then put it on sale for $100. It's obvious that this is done in other companies, I think what people are saying as they didn't expect Celebrity to sink to that level. I certainly wouldn't want my company being lumped in the same boat as used car dealerships, and that's where they've put themselves trying to make an extra $100...it's the lowest form of selling.

[Susan-M]

it's not completely a 'phantom' sale.

 

OK it's a partially 'phantom' sale .... wonderful! ;)

[MoreCruisesNow]

The fact that SOME prices went up has absolutely nothing to do with the sale. Had that been the case, ALL prices would have been raised.

 

In fact, on some sailings only some categories went up - price increases are based on sales, that's the long and the short of it.

 

An old sociology professor of mine used to say that just because two things happened at the same time did not necessarily mean that one caused the other.

 

That's a fact.

[floridacruisers]

It's all in the fine print:

"This offer is based on stateroom availability and may be withdrawn at any time. Certain restrictions apply" Love those words!

[nmtraveler]

The May 5th Alaska from SFO did not change in price. I got the $250 reduction in the cabin fare BUT my $250 Shareholder Benefit cannot be used. So, no savings to me. I'll file for the Shareholder benefit anyway because you never know if the sales people know what they are talking about.

[goofysmom99]

The May 5th Alaska from SFO did not change in price. I got the $250 reduction in the cabin fare BUT my $250 Shareholder Benefit cannot be used. So, no savings to me. I'll file for the Shareholder benefit anyway because you never know if the sales people know what they are talking about.

 

I'm planning to file my shareholder benefit when I receive my receipt from my TA with the booking number. I'll bet we get the benefit. I got it with the RCI "sale" they had last month. No problem. They didn't want to give the Diamond discount with that one, but I'm not done with that yet.;)

[nmtraveler]

I'm planning to file my shareholder benefit when I receive my receipt from my TA with the booking number. I'll bet we get the benefit. I got it with the RCI "sale" they had last month. No problem. They didn't want to give the Diamond discount with that one, but I'm not done with that yet.;)

 

I just emailed it in to see what happens.:confused:

[cruzerfornow]

Ah, the CCDNW (Celebrity Can Do No Wrong) people are coming out in force now. As a shareholder and frequent cruiser (Elite) with over 35 days booked on Celebrity in the next year or so, I am in awe that someone would defend this practice, using "two wrongs make a right" (other businesses use such practices) convuluted logic, "free market" hogwash and the like.

 

Shady business practice is shoddy business practice and I, for one, would expect more of Celebrity than my local used car huckster.

 

I ASSume you must be speaking to me as you used my "free market" quote, you can BE SURE that I am as about as far from a cruise line cheerleader as you can get on these boards!

 

I was answering a question regarding this being not legal and as I stated it is perfectly legal. What baffles me is why people seem so surprized by this marketing tactic as it is a VERY common one in this country. :confused:

 

If you would expect more from Celebrity then speak with your almighty 35 days booked this year and go elsewhere! :)

[cruiseorbust]

It's all in the fine print:

"This offer is based on stateroom availability and may be withdrawn at any time. Certain restrictions apply" Love those words!

 

The other thing about this cruise sale, is that if the price of your cruise comes down, you can't take advantage of it. If I am mis-informed, I apologize. I think I will take my chances and wait for the cruise price to drop.

[hcat]

What is the Diamond Discount? We will turn Diamond this yr & have future cruises already booked...will they give us a reduction the way Royal carib does? So the big sale was a non-event--evidently!

[rchauv]

I rarely open cruise line e-mails that announce sales.

 

Maybe, there is an instance or two when there are actual savings involved, but like so many others, on the times when I've done any research, the savings are phantom.

 

I guess I should change my philosophy to never open them. On the other hand, I don't like mail box overload when I am away for a couple of weeks. When the become too frequent (I had an irksome PPV from another line), I merely ask to be removed.

[hajekfam]

It sounds like I am in the minority, but my Jan 06, 2008 Millie cruise just went down -- on Tues this week, first a $150 reduction pp from when I last checked in April, and then another $50 reduction today (Thurs), of which I called TA and got the credit. So thats a total of $352 pp less than when I originally booked it on the Navigator in January, which I thought was supposed to be the "best" deal. It definately pays to check back OFTEN. Sorry to hear of the fake sale, that really is despicable and bad customer service.

I also had this happen - so not all cruises that went up in price.

I am doing a back to back at the end of the year and one of the cruises stayed the same price and the other went down $50 from yesterday's price.

My two and your cruise makes 3 cruises where prices were not raised.

[hajekfam]

What is the Diamond Discount? We will turn Diamond this yr & have future cruises already booked...will they give us a reduction the way Royal carib does? So the big sale was a non-event--evidently!

I think the poster was refering to the discount given to diamond members as a Crown & Anchor benefit and was referring to the RCL sale that happened a few weeks ago. There is no perk like that in the Captain's club benefits.

[ECCruise]

I ASSume you must be speaking to me as you used my "free market" quote, you can BE SURE that I am as about as far from a cruise line cheerleader as you can get on these boards!

 

I was answering a question regarding this being not legal and as I stated it is perfectly legal. What baffles me is why people seem so surprized by this marketing tactic as it is a VERY common one in this country. :confused:

 

If you would expect more from Celebrity then speak with your almighty 35 days booked this year and go elsewhere! :)

 

Actually, I was NOT referring to your quote but the general concept that appeared a couple of posts above this one. The fact that the wording was the same was unfortunate.

 

And why should one have to vote with their feet when making a comment that it is not the kind of business practice that gives you a lot of confidence in a corporation? Why should I cost myself $5000+ in non-refundable airfare because of THEIR business practices?

 

It is just another example, unfortunately, of the way X has operated in the last few years. Everything is bottom line driven rather than the way a business truly builds a loyal following (and a healthy bottom line): Give the customer the best product at the best price and they will flock to your door.

 

Of course they can change their prices, and they should as the market demands. It was just arrogant to do it the night before their "sale"--whether is was ten cruise prices or a hundred. They either thought that their consumer was not sharp enough to check or that it wouldn't matter. Neither shows a complimentary opinion of their customer.

[nmtraveler]

The other thing about this cruise sale, is that if the price of your cruise comes down, you can't take advantage of it. If I am mis-informed, I apologize. I think I will take my chances and wait for the cruise price to drop.

After I made my reservation the Celebrity guy said if the price goes down you can take advantage of it. We will see:eek:

[floridacruisers]

nmtraveller,

 

It has been my experience that you have to constantly monitor the price of your cruise and call immediately if it falls. Celebrity( or most other lines) won't do it for you. Your T/A can watch but you have to be on top of it. The price for my cruise on the Connie this winter dropped $100 p.person for only two days and went back up. If I didn't catch it, I never would have gotten the lower price.

[MoreCruisesNow]

To pretend that all who visit CC know what's going on is living in a dream.

 

There is at least as much misinformation posted here as was ever given by Celebrity.

 

Most of all, so many folks don't seem to understand that what you get here is often just one person's perceptions of what is going on...or their side of the story.

 

The fact of the matter is that Celebrity is not peddling snake oil and that some of God's children are getting a good deal over today and tomorrow.

[goofysmom99]

The $250 off our fare on the Infinity today was a "real" sale. And yes it was the RCI sale a few weeks ago -- they gave us a $250 fare reduction, $450 deposit, but wouldn't allow the $300 diamond discount. So with them, it was more expensive to book it on their "sale!" I wanted to cancel it and rebook, for the $300 discount, but my TA asked me to leave it alone for now. She's going to bat for her customers to get the diamond discount reinstated. I'm waiting to see how that resolves itself.

 

nmtraveler if you get a reply from X re shareholder benefit, would you please post? Thanks in advance.

[Benjo8]

Not sure what the meaning of "sale" is. Cruise cabins, like airline seats, are adjusted by the carrier by some computer "load" program. So who knows if the "sale" price you get today or tomorrow will be any better than what you could book three or six months from now or a week before departure for that matter, other than cabin selection which is also better the farther out you book, whether an airline seat or cruise cabin. Yeah, the 50% deposit is nice, but how big a deal is that. You get that back is you don't follow through within 60 days of date or whatever, and anyone booking a cruise can certainly tie up some extra bucks on the deposit if you don't book during the "sale" days. Please don't anyone yell "fire" during this "sale".

[Hflors]

Just want everyone to hear the next chapter in this "sale" Well at lunch time after steaming for two hours I checked back here and found that there were about 23 responses to my thread. I then went to Celebrity's website with an intension of e-mailing them my displeasure. Went to the Captain's club and decided to call. A very friendly person answered the phone. I told her what had happened she kept appologizing to me and told me she couldn't do anything. I told her I knew that when I called. I also told her that I had posted a thread on my favorite boards and had already received 23 responses and some of the people had found the same thing when they went to book. And I wanted Celebrity to know how I felt about it. Finally she took my name and poof she knew my address etc. (I guess she had access to customer's files) Anyway we finally hung up and not five minutes later, feeling a bit better after my rant my sister calls and she is ready with her credit card number etc so I can book her cruise the same time I book mine. So I get off the phone with her and call the ta and leave a message for him to call my back. Well he does and we start to do the reservation, well low and behold when he puts in my info and books the cabin the price reverts to the original price from yesterday! NO I am not kidding! Honest to god he tells me that even though the price was one before he booked it when he actually books the cabin the price dropped the hundred dollars!!!!!!!!!! (Even before the discount) He said he never saw anything like it before. So he just grabbed the two cabins I wanted (luckly they were both still available) before anything else happens to the price. And so now we are booked. I'm still a bit flustered about what transpired today. But my sister was so happy since for the past four months we have gone on and on about how wonderful this cruise was this past march (did I tell you my dh and I just did this exact cruise on Galaxy in March? Well we did)

 

I keep wondering if because I made such a fuss and the captain's club person took my name it that had anything too do with the price dropping back $100.00 or because so many people complained to Celebrity that they set the computer to revert the price to the original price before the "sale". Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening?

 

Before I go I just want everyone that responded to my thread to know how much I appreciate you all taking the time to post your thoughts. It really helped to know that there were other people who were upset by this as I was. And to those who responded who were not upset I can see your point. This really isn't earth shattering in the whole scheme of things, but thank also for taking the time to post.

[Wilde_37]

On a happy note. I booked my cruise two weeks ago and only yesterday I checked the reservation online and noticed that the balance due was different from what I thought.

When I checked it I found that the price had dropped by €150 or $200 and Celebrity had applied this to my booking without having to be asked. That pays for the pre-cruise hotel for one night !

 

 

 

.

[amanda blake]

wow I have never heard of celebrity dropping the price on the payment without being asked....

[MortgageChick]

All Travel Agents had this offer. I purposely got competitive quotes yesterday and again today. The price did not change , however my TA (strictly email and very "Quick" ;) booked 11 nights on Galaxy which meant my deposit was 1/2 of the regular450 pp. I currently have 2 Celelbrity and 2 RCl cruise booked and 3 are 11 days or longer, so it is nice not to have to tie up 900 on this booking. I still ended up with a VG price.

 

EDIT

 

Just checked Celebrity site. I had only received quotes from Ta's yesterday. The total stateroom cost on Celebrity right now is $372 more than I paid this morning for Cat 09. So my TA is really getting me a good deal ..

[cruzerfornow]

Actually, I was NOT referring to your quote but the general concept that appeared a couple of posts above this one. The fact that the wording was the same was unfortunate.

 

And why should one have to vote with their feet when making a comment that it is not the kind of business practice that gives you a lot of confidence in a corporation? Why should I cost myself $5000+ in non-refundable airfare because of THEIR business practices?

 

It is just another example, unfortunately, of the way X has operated in the last few years. Everything is bottom line driven rather than the way a business truly builds a loyal following (and a healthy bottom line): Give the customer the best product at the best price and they will flock to your door.

 

Of course they can change their prices, and they should as the market demands. It was just arrogant to do it the night before their "sale"--whether is was ten cruise prices or a hundred. They either thought that their consumer was not sharp enough to check or that it wouldn't matter. Neither shows a complimentary opinion of their customer.

 

You dont have to vote with your feet but you seemed so infuriated by this tactic you may want to consider it..:D

 

AND..since I was the ONLY PERSON who used the term "free market system" in this thread which you refered to as "hogwash"..YES you were refering to me!!:cool: