Celebrity will get their $400 from someone else! Back to Princess!

[donnaw]

Hi all, Just here to say farewell. We reserved a cabin on the Mercury yesterday and the TA got a call back from Celebrity with a $400 increase in price from what has been listed on their and other sites for the last 3 days (at least). It took that long to figure out FF air so we could go ahead and book. She was so distraught, she was almost in tears. She is an independent agent for one of the majors that is battling with Royal Caribbean and managed to get caught directly in the cross fire. Fortunately, we hadn't bought air yet so said no thanks. If Celebrity is having problems correcting their prices in a timely manner then it sounds like they need to shake up their IT department pronto. I would volunteer to head down and help them but don't think I would like it right now with the way sentiment is running with this new program. We can do a balcony on a 7 day Princess and 3 days land for less than it would cost for the inside on the Mercury. Only part that I am sorry about is that we planned to book the Galaxy for June while on the Mercury but will now be looking at alternatives.

 

Not saying that we will never be back but I don't see it in the near future. As a past Princess cruiser, we do get offered some pretty good deals and I have other ways to spend the savings like on a major kitchen remodelling. I have enjoyed our Celebrity cruises but am unwilling to get caught up in the current mess that RCL has created so by all! Hope everyone has a wonderful time on their planned cruises and will be back to check out Lois's Bermuda review.

[Hilary]

Wow, that's REALLY bad business on Celebrity's part IMO!!! Gee, I sure can't blame you for going back to Princess, I'd do the same thing. I think that Celebrity should have honored their published price and I hope you will write a letter to Jack Williams about this. RCI really needs to hear from people like you who WANT to take a Celebrity cruise, but now won't because of their shoddy treatment of customers.

[BB5953]

I am so sorry to hear you won't be able to cruise X. I am hoping that everything settles down in a month or two. I don't mind paying a little more for increased service and benefits, which I am hoping will be implemented soon since the price increase has already taken effect, or get ready to lose more customers. If enough people stop booking they will have no choice but to bring prices back down, however, there is quite possibly many potential cruisers out there who won't mind spending the $$$.Only time will tell.

[Sky Sweet]

One of my pet peeves is when travel agents blame Celebrity for a problem that they could have prevented. Even if it took a few days to figure out the FF air, your travel agent should have reserved that cabin ASAP to lock in the price. Celebrity would have then held your reservation for up to seven days without a deposit. With this in mind, I think your anger is misplaced. If I were you, I would think twice about using that travel agent again.

[donnaw]

Sky Sweet, I'm sure she would have if we had requested it. Because of black out dates and odd flight times, we didn't.

 

The issue here is that the price was advertised at the time she booked it. Feels a bit like bait and switch which I'm sure is everyone's favorite. This is Celebrity not a used car dealer!

 

We booked the Horizon last September and a cat 3 upgrade was not available so they billed us for a cat 5 cabin. What a difference a year makes!

[Tybug]

I have to agree with Sky here. As a TA, I never quote a cabin without a courtesy hold. It's unfortunate, but I've seen the prices change in a matter of minutes. :(

[Ma Bell]

Your TA could have definitely avoided the problem. She should have held the cabin while you decided.

[addicted2traveling]

Ok, I'm confused. When we talked to our TA about a specific cruise, she immediately places a complimentary hold on it for 7 days so we do not lose the rate. At that point then we decide if we want to put a deposit down. Did your TA actually have a hold then Celebrity switched prices, or did the prices just change in the few days she was researching your air? It is not unusual at all for cruise prices to fluctuate daily. For example, at one point when we were looking at 3 different cruises and had no hold on any of them, one of the cruise lines bumped their price by $100 per person. Our TA had warned us that may happen with no hold on any of the cruises. So I'm with SKY SWEET on this one, if you discussed a specific cruise with your TA and she did not put a hold on it while you decided, then it is no fault of Celebrity's.

[Sky Sweet]

Donna, I once told a travel agent that I wanted to check with the airlines before booking a cabin. That agent then suggested that she put a hold on that room ASAP to lock in the price. Even if you didn't ask your agent to do so, she should have advised you that the rate might be different in a few days, and prevented you from having that problem.

[Tatka]

Hope everyone has a wonderful time on their planned cruises and will be back to check out Lois's Bermuda review.

Lois didn't go to Bermuda...she went on HAL Zuiderdam to Eastern Caribbean and if everything is ok weatherwise tomorrow will be back. :)

[donnaw]

Thanks Tatka, I knew she switched to HAL for this one and just assumed that she was still doing Bermuda. I'm sure she is having a wonderful time no matter where she is.

 

As to the TA, maybe some clarification is in order here. We have used her many times and she has always been wonderful. She is an independent working through one of the agencies that is not getting along with Celebrity at the moment. She says (and I have no reason to disbelieve her at this time) that Celebrity said that no, the price had been wrong all along but it takes time and a lot of work to correct it. I correct databases on a daily basis (admittedly not the size of Celebrity's) and I wouldn't have a job if it took more than a an hour to get the information corrected. The wrong price was still showing on Expedia after this conversation and when I clicked on book, it notified me that the pricing was incorrect. The price two hours before the conversation was still the wrong price on the Celebrity website but I checked after the conversation and it had been changed.

[isujim]

For clarification..........was the delay in the price increase 3 days or 2 hours??

 

I think any cruiseline has the right to raise (or lower) prices at any time.......they do it all the time.......it is called supply and demand. I think anyone who has cruises booked (we have 4) realize that in general prices are going up and bargains harder to find.

 

You MAY, have a point if a price was not changed for 3 days.......I am not in the computer data base business so I don't know what is involved in getting this changed..........but the fact the cabin went up $400 doesn't surprise me....it can and does happen all the time.........

 

It also reminds me of why I have a personal t/a that I can see everyday face to face.......she may be a little bit higher.........but when she calls the cruiseline and gets a price........I'm sitting across from her and say YEA or NEA or tell her to put a hold on a cabin.......face to face you are dealing with real time and not delayed time.

 

Good luck..........you may have a valid point........I just can't tell from all the posts and I've read them several times.......

 

The price increase may not be the issue at all.

[bean bag]

yep. i agree don't blame ,x blame ur ta!

[Jacqueline]

I just got new 2005 brochures. one way X has gotten out of this situation is to lost NO prices ! Even Silversea lists prices.

I sense that there is a transition in place and the X is going to need to work out where it is they fit in from a pricing perspective. They seem to be suggesting that they are moving toward the luxury line category- ie Crystal-

Here is a quote that raised my eyebrows;

" When it comes to sumptuous dining, it would be fairer to compare Celebrity to the world's most acclaimed restaurants than to other cruise lines."

[sammiedawg]

My TA friend told me he hopes people vote with their feet until this new no discount policy is changed. Glad you are looking at alternatives instead of paying the piper. Celebrity should honor an advertised price.

[Shaco]

When we made our final payment yesterday for our Nov X cruise, I told my TA that I would not be booking another X cruise until they dropped the no discount policy. This TA told me that he has not booked ANY X cruises since the new policy went into effect on 8/20. Makes sense since we booked him because he beat the quote from CruiseQuick.

[Hilary]

I have to agree with Donnaw on this one, it isn't the TA's fault. She tried to book a cruise based on an advertised price. Celebrity then came back and said that they hadn't updated their database, so she had to pay more. Sorry, but they should have honored the advertised price IMO.

 

It isn't the TA or Donna's fault that they haven't updated their database. It's like going to a store to buy a stereo, taking it up the counter and having the sales person try to charge you more than the price tag says. That simply doesn't fly in my book and I wouldn't buy the stereo, much less anything else in that store.

[Sky Sweet]

Donna, when your TA said that Celebrity would not honor the price posted on their website, did you speak to anyone at Celebrity yourself?

[bdjam]

If Celebrity is having problems correcting their prices in a timely manner then it sounds like they need to shake up their IT department pronto.

I am not in the computer data base business so I don't know what is involved in getting this changed..........

Take it from someone who is in the IT business – the IT department can’t do the updates until the information comes from the business…and IT problem would be much more apparent that this.

OK – back to lurking.

[reggierail]

I have to agree with Sky here. As a TA, I never quote a cabin without a courtesy hold. It's unfortunate, but I've seen the prices change in a matter of minutes. :(

Even without names on the reservation, a courtesy hold will lock in a price for a minimum of 24 hours. I've never heard of anything like this happening and book RCCL and Celebrity almost exclusively.

 

Reggie

[SueSea]

Take it from someone who is in the IT business – the IT department can’t do the updates until the information comes from the business…and IT problem would be much more apparent that this.

As another systems person, the info doesn't always come from outside the system. In cruise reservation systems, there are undoubtedly triggers that cause price changes automatically. An extremely simplied formula would be: When x number of cabins are sold, prices bump up x%. I would think that for the vast majority of price changes, the increase is generated by the formula in the system. Granted, that formula is subject to change, and would have to come from the business, but I would bet that formulas do not change anywhere near as often as prices fluctuate. If my assumption is correct, it's not very likely (although still possible) that the price change was Celebrity's fault.

 

And while it is possible that this is Celebrity's fault, it seems difficult to believe that they would alienate potential clients by changing the price when it was their own fault the wrong price was quoted. Seems much more likely that the TA is covering her butt. If this happened to me, I would be on the phone to Celebrity to hear their side from their reps before I decided whether to swear off the cruise line, the TA, or neither.

[brigittetom]

" When it comes to sumptuous dining, it would be fairer to compare Celebrity to the world's most acclaimed restaurants than to other cruise lines."

I'm a big Celebrity fan but with that quote they are going to have some very surprised first time cruisers. :D

[reggierail]

I'm a big Celebrity fan but with that quote they are going to have some very surprised first time cruisers. :D

I was a very surprised first time cruiser on Celebrity.

I was totally blown away by every meal on my two Celebrity cruises.

The food, presentaion and service was far and away superior to anything I'd ever experienced on a cruise ship. It was very close to many of the 4 and 5 star restaurants I've noshed at on shore.;)

 

HI BT:)

 

Reggie:D

[ocngypz]

Your agent is at fault. With a 24 hour hold on a cabin, the rate would have been guaranteed. I've had rates and availability change right smack dab in the middle of the booking proceses... they can change that fast.

 

The most competitive rates are still in the Caribbean... because there is more supply. I am still seeing rates for some 2004 and 2005 dates LOWER than 2003. You have to be flexible.

 

AG Edwards released a report yesterday saying that Carnival Corp and RCL/Celebrity can still raise their per diems $20-30 to match 1999 rates... and still they will sail full!!

 

In looking at early 2005, I still see balcony cabins LOWER by several hundred dollars than what I paid for my balcony cabins in 1999 (with agency discounts.)..and I am using rates from Celebrity's website for comparison... not any group rates versus my invoices.

 

FWIW, with the unhealthy environment of the airline industry, I would not use FF miles for free tickets, but rather as upgrades. With flight schedules changing all the time..and the airlines becoming less customer friendly with redepositing plans, you run the risk of severe headaches.

 

Your agent would have risked nothing by putting the cabin onhold for you. It was their mistake.. and their's alone.

[RSteele]

I had a friend who was booking an airfare...as she and the reservationist talked the fare went down..not once but 3 times before the reservationist could get all the information. They jokingly talked about just staying on the phone together for an hour or two...the airline might have paid my friend to fly before it was over... :D