best place to purchase celebrity cruise?

[mrose1120]

Hi all,

 

Fiance and I are looking to book a 14 day Mediterranean legends cruise this Nov 14th for our honeymoon. I think were pretty well decided on a concierge level room, because theres not enough to make me want to spend the extra money on a sky suite.

 

Is there a place which has the best deals on cruises I should be looking at with Celebrity, or is it pretty much the same across the board? Also, are they owned by Royal Caribbean? An email from one of their agents was from rccl.com, so I wasn't sure.

 

Thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated :)

[tampacruiser]

I booked directly through Celebrity, The price quoted was the same as I got everywhere else. I even went through a corporate discount site. I work for a MAJOR us bank and we have a TA to do leisure travel with. There so called great discount was the same price quoted to me directly by Celebrity

[devnull]

The benefit to booking with "some" TA's is they will give you a on board credit or paid gratuities for booking your cruise with them. If Celebrity is also giving a on board credit promotion, you will also get that, plus whatever your TA wants to give you as a thank you for your business. However, not all TA's give gifts, onboard credits and those who do will vary their percentage.

 

You might find this thread of interest:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=961796&highlight=travel+agent+discounts

 

I believe the forum guidelines prevent anyone from recommending a TA directly to you. Sorry.

[Longboysfan]

The benefit to booking with "some" TA's is they will give you a on board credit or paid gratuities for booking your cruise with them. If Celebrity is also giving a on board credit promotion, you will also get that, plus whatever your TA wants to give you as a thank you for your business. However, not all TA's give gifts, onboard credits and those who do will vary their percentage.

 

You might find this thread of interest:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=961796&highlight=travel+agent+discounts

 

I believe the forum guidelines prevent anyone from recommending a TA directly to you. Sorry.

 

Yes. Work with a TA that company does cruise business.

You will be better off.

[Mysticks1]

To me it depends upon how much control you want to have over your booking. As others have said you can sometimes get on board credits or other small things from travel agencies, especially the large online ones. They are prohibited from offering a cruise rate that is lower than Celebrity so that price will be the same.

If you book with a TA then any change or inquiry you have about your cruise will have go through the TA. I booked with a TA in the past but this next cruise I booked myself directly through the Celebrity website. I personally like this better as I call them directly with any question or request that I have. I think that is worth more to me than the small OBC that I could have gotten from a TA. If you want someone to guide you there are vacation planners for Celebrity that you can call that can assist you in planning just as a TA would.

[ncaaref]

I believe that I agree with booking directly with Celebrity. I like having the control over my reservation, plus I like being able to pick up the phone and ask a question which gets answered immediately, directly from "the source".

 

We are cruising the Baltics in May and booked this cruise many, many months ago. Some have suggested that you book the cruise online and then turn it over to a TA prior to final payment.

 

However, our cruise price has fluctuated dramatically over the past 30-45 days and I have called twice now to receive a refund for the price differential posted on line that day. To date, we have been refunded a total of $1940 for our Sky Suite.

 

These prices have fluctuated as much as 3-4 times in a given day and I'm not sure that a TA would be as "responsive" in getting those refunds quickly enough. The refund I've received is much more than any OBC or pre-paid grats we may have received.

 

JMHO

[jagoffee]

I believe that I agree with booking directly with Celebrity. I like having the control over my reservation, plus I like being able to pick up the phone and ask a question which gets answered immediately, directly from "the source".

 

We are cruising the Baltics in May and booked this cruise many, many months ago. Some have suggested that you book the cruise online and then turn it over to a TA prior to final payment.

 

However, our cruise price has fluctuated dramatically over the past 30-45 days and I have called twice now to receive a refund for the price differential posted on line that day. To date, we have been refunded a total of $1940 for our Sky Suite.

 

These prices have fluctuated as much as 3-4 times in a given day and I'm not sure that a TA would be as "responsive" in getting those refunds quickly enough. The refund I've received is much more than any OBC or pre-paid grats we may have received.

 

JMHO

 

Are you saying that when you noticed the reductions, you are concerned that the TA will not respond quick enough to your request to get you the reduction? This has not been my experience, but I have not experienced reductions of more than one a day. I do not even check my everyday. Perhaps I should check it more often.

 

O.P.,

If you search this forum, you will find many discussions on this topic. In my case, it depends on how much of a credit is being offered. I usually do not need much help.

[mrose1120]

thanks for all the responses...do prices typically change a lot between now and November??

Also, if I book a concierge now, are there opportunities for an upgrade later if a skysuite is avail?

 

I've never cruised w/ Celebrity :)

[jwattle]

Your other option is to book direct, and then shortly before final payment, transfer the booking to a TA who gives you good benefits (IE: OBC)

[mrose1120]

Your other option is to book direct, and then shortly before final payment, transfer the booking to a TA who gives you good benefits (IE: OBC)

 

that seems odd.... why would a TA take on your cruise after you book w/ celebrity?

[frisbeeace]

These prices have fluctuated as much as 3-4 times in a given day and I'm not sure that a TA would be as "responsive" in getting those refunds quickly enough. The refund I've received is much more than any OBC or pre-paid grats we may have received. JMHO

 

I fully agree. I check prices everyday and shortly ago I missed a big drop which lasted only for a day because my TA did not act promptly after I called him. The following week I requested him to change my cabin within the same category but, again, he was to slow and I missed it. So, I cancelled with him and rebooked with one of the big US online TA, got a OBC, prepaid gratuities and much faster and efficient response.

 

Bottom line, my recommendation is to pick one of the big cruise wholesellers (look for their banners at the homepage), wait until their next promotion (there will me many before Nov.) and book with them.

[wecruiz]

If memory serves the differece between these two cabins is the balcony. I do not believe the Concierge cabin has one, the Sky does. Double check.

[mrose1120]

If memory serves the differece between these two cabins is the balcony. I do not believe the Concierge cabin has one, the Sky does. Double check.

 

 

Concierge does have one....overall its smaller than a sky suite

[devnull]

To me it depends upon how much control you want to have over your booking. As others have said you can sometimes get on board credits or other small things from travel agencies, especially the large online ones. They are prohibited from offering a cruise rate that is lower than Celebrity so that price will be the same.

 

If you book with a TA then any change or inquiry you have about your cruise will have go through the TA. I booked with a TA in the past but this next cruise I booked myself directly through the Celebrity website. I personally like this better as I call them directly with any question or request that I have. I think that is worth more to me than the small OBC that I could have gotten from a TA. If you want someone to guide you there are vacation planners for Celebrity that you can call that can assist you in planning just as a TA would.

 

I guess it depends on what you call small OBC. For our upcoming 7 day cruise on the Milly in a FV our TA is gifting us with a $200.00 OBC. Personally that makes it worth while for me to give them my business. Their policy is also not to charge a cancellation fee if one has to drop the cruise before final payment. (I mention that because I understand that some TA's do charge up to $100.00 for a cancellation before final payment). While I know that Celebrity will usually give OBC's also if you book a future cruise during a cruise, this never works out for us with my husband's crazy work schedule.

[devnull]

that seems odd.... why would a TA take on your cruise after you book w/ celebrity?

 

If it's before final payment and you transfer from your Celebrity booked cruise to a TA, the TA will still get their commission. I've done this in the past when I wanted a special stateroom that suddenly became available and didn't want to wait on the TA before grabbing it. The TA still gives me my OBC and is happy to get the business.

[Cruise Junky]

You can always find on board credit for a Celebrity cruise. Booking direct is throwing away money. The price might be the same, but the perks won't be.

[nothriver]

I booked direct. We have 4 cabin and I've been able to move them around and take advantage of price drops that sometimes lasted less than a day, without having to call a TA and play phone tag. Even calling the cruiseline directly with simple questions is easier than having them tell me to call my TA instead. By checking the cruisline website regularly, eventually, I got all the cabins I wanted at a GREAT price. I'm delighted with our cabin selections and the price we paid, almost half of what we originally booked at 9 months ago. I really don't believe I would have gotten the cabins we wanted had I used a TA, and that to me is worth more than the OBC. I thought about transfering our reservation to a TA but I spoke with the only TA I know, not a cruise specialist, and the OBC they offered was based on the price of the cabins, which after we got all the discounts, wasn't really very much OBC anyway.

 

Even if your reservation is straightforward, I think the biggest benefit aside from OBC is if you have a problem with your trip, your TA should be able to assist, either by dealing with the cruiseline or with your travel insurance company.

 

I think on my Honeymoon, I'd want the security of having someone to call if something went wrong! Definately look for a TA who is a cruise specialist.

 

Good luck and congratulations!

[Mysticks1]

I guess it depends on what you call small OBC. For our upcoming 7 day cruise on the Milly in a FV our TA is gifting us with a $200.00 OBC. Personally that makes it worth while for me to give them my business. Their policy is also not to charge a cancellation fee if one has to drop the cruise before final payment. (I mention that because I understand that some TA's do charge up to $100.00 for a cancellation before final payment). While I know that Celebrity will usually give OBC's also if you book a future cruise during a cruise, this never works out for us with my husband's crazy work schedule.

 

$200 is not worth me giving up my personal control of my booking. I have changed my cabin for this cruise 4 times - gotten a price drop - requested a table for two and a specific table in the dining room all by calling Celebrity direct. Below is my story.

In 2005 I had a cruise booked through a travel agency in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina came through and no more New Orleans businesses - no more travel agency and our ship was moved to Galveston. I couldn't contact them and it took me two weeks of calling Carnival direct before they finally accepted that I couldn't get the travel agent to make my change (adding my daughter to the cruise) and they couldn't contact them either.

Since the agency had it set for my cruise docs (paper ones) to be delivered to them I didn't get them. After another week or so of calling and speaking to supervisors I finally got them to mail me another set of cruise documents.

If I had booked directly through the cruise line I wouldn't have had these weeks of stress and worry about my cruise.

[richsea]

We usually use a large on line agency & get an on board credit plus free insurance. They always respond immediately to any questions or problems which may arise.

 

With all the stories on these boards regarding Celebrity's on shore customer service (or lack thereof), I would be very hesitant about booking directly with them.

[ghstudio]

I guess that some of you have not read the horror stories of booking with Celebrity Direct if you are not physically in the US when making your booking....or not living in the US. Celebrity, without your knowledge, gives your reservation to the contracted agency in that country...and any changes you want to make have to be made thru that agency. If you call Celebrity directly, they will not help you. Recently someone posted that they booked a cruise on Celebrities site while visiting in South Africa....and even though they lived in the US, they had to make any changes or requests thru that south african travel agency....Celebrity would not help them at all.

 

I think that's a terrible policy and I would never book directly with Celebrity.

 

In my opinion, you are much safer by booking with one of the large on-line agencies....and some, but certainly not all of the large ones advertise on this site. You will also get many more discounts and perks if you shop around, sticking with the large agencies.

[dmk]

I guess that some of you have not read the horror stories of booking with Celebrity Direct if you are not physically in the US when making your booking....or not living in the US. Celebrity, without your knowledge, gives your reservation to the contracted agency in that country...and any changes you want to make have to be made thru that agency. If you call Celebrity directly, they will not help you. Recently someone posted that they booked a cruise on Celebrities site while visiting in South Africa....and even though they lived in the US, they had to make any changes or requests thru that south african travel agency....Celebrity would not help them at all.

 

I think that's a terrible policy and I would never book directly with Celebrity.

 

In my opinion, you are much safer by booking with one of the large on-line agencies....and some, but certainly not all of the large ones advertise on this site. You will also get many more discounts and perks if you shop around, sticking with the large agencies.

 

No problem booking directly from Canada:)

[sheeng]

No problem booking from here either. When you open Celebrity home page you must make sure it shows there that you are from the US. If it reads ( My computer skills/language severely limited!) if it reads that you are in Belgium, as in my case, or in South Africa or wherever, the screen will tell you that if you are not from there then to change your country. All you have to do is scroll down the list and enter US. Never had a problem! I don't think I explained this very well but I hope you get the idea.

[ghstudio]

No problem booking from here either. When you open Celebrity home page you must make sure it shows there that you are from the US. If it reads ( My computer skills/language severely limited!) if it reads that you are in Belgium, as in my case, or in South Africa or wherever, the screen will tell you that if you are not from there then to change your country. All you have to do is scroll down the list and enter US. Never had a problem! I don't think I explained this very well but I hope you get the idea.

 

However, if you are in other countries than the US (and perhaps Canada) you are booking with a Celebrity agent...not celebrity. If you call celebrity and ask them to move your cabin or do anything at all with your reservation, Celebrity will tell you that they can't do it. If there is a financial question, Celebrity will tell you it's between you and the TA.

 

To me....that is not booking with Celebrity....

[sheeng]

However, if you are in other countries than the US (and perhaps Canada) you are booking with a Celebrity agent...not celebrity. If you call celebrity and ask them to move your cabin or do anything at all with your reservation, Celebrity will tell you that they can't do it. If there is a financial question, Celebrity will tell you it's between you and the TA.

 

To me....that is not booking with Celebrity....

 

Not true! I book directly with Celebrity. I don't usually switch cabins but I get price adjustments -- I have had 3 on my upcoming Baltic cruise in August -- I call the Captains Club desk, give my booking number and it is done in minutes. However,I do make payment with a US credit card and I have a US mailing address. What happened to the cruiser who booked online while overseas on holiday or business need not have happened had he known all this.

[cvaty]

Not true! I book directly with Celebrity.

In the US or in Europe?!