Does not pay to book celebrity early

@ambercascades...we sail on Infinity on March 15th out of Valparaiso to Florida. I am counting down the days! Traveling with my parents, and 17 year old son and 19 year old niece.

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Buying a cruise is no different from waiting on the grocery ad's to hit the mail box on Tuesday, Tide an chicken are cheaper this week than last, but will go back up next week. The car dealer just put another $1000 rebate on the model you bought last week, are you going to March in and want them to cut you a check? Of course not, why that would be just plain silly.

Yet we want a vacation based business to do just this. Really?

Edit:

I just checked our upcoming Equinox sailing, our 1A without the 123 perk is up $510.00 per person.

We booked our Alaska cruisetour back in October. We paid $1824.00 each for a balcony cabin (sweet 16 on the starboard side). We also got $200.00 each discount, for the pick one promo, for a total of 1624.00 plus port charges.

Right now, there are no starboard cabins available at all, let alone the sweet 16, and the minimum balcony price for our sailing is now $3409.00 per person...

So, had we waited the price would have more than doubled and we wouldn't have gotten the cabin we wanted.

When you book early, you usually pay top dollar but get your choice of one or two amenities.

Not always the case. Our upcoming EQ cruise has done nothing but rise in price since we booked and our stateroom category went quick. Also our air has more than doubled. One has to decided what is important to them but booking later is not always best.

No rhyme or reason with X and their pricing. I booked early on my Hawaii cruise later this month. (Booked last June). The price was better for AQ than a lot of other cruiselines basic balcony staterooms. After final payment the rate dropped about $100.00 pp for an AQ guarantee. (They went fast).

Most of time when I take a peek at X pricing for itineraries way out, their pricing is higher than similar sailings that are closer to the sail date.

I feel lucky to have gotten pretty decent pricing early. This seems to me to be the exception though.

No rhyme or reason with X and their pricing.

It makes perfect sense. It's a matter of supply and demand. A cruise that is selling well will not go down and may actually go up in price, as has been described by many on this thread. One that isn't selling well may go down, especially as the date nears or after the final payment date, in order to sell out all the cabins.

This is no different than any retail business that is trying to move inventory. It is to maximize revenue, which any business HAS to do to stay solvent, otherwise they will go bankrupt.

Not sure why you don't understand this most basic rule of economics. :confused:

 

So, had we waited the price would have more than doubled and we wouldn't have gotten the cabin we wanted.

You make another very good point -- booking early pays off, if you want a particular cabin/location. Those afts and Sweet Sixteens go fast! :cool:

Not sure if this is just a UK thing, but when I booked our Panama Canal trip for next April on the Infinity (direct with X), our booking states that if the price goes down, we will be refunded the difference :). What's the betting the price will not drop! Though it may be interesting to compare what we paid for the trip in GBP to what it is going for in the USA, that's probably why they can give this undertaking in the UK as it has often been said on here before that the prices charged in the USA are lower than that charged in the UK :(

Definitely depends on your priorities. I just booked a B2B for next January so I could get the family verandah for both legs. 2nd 3rd and 4th passenger were free (taxes only), beverage package for 2 and reduced deposits. I am not sure the deal will get any better than that, but I will keep watching. The price has gone up in the last two weeks though.

I agree totally about the air - very hard to find deals the closer you are to the travel date.

When I called Celebrity, they would not even upgrade us to a non-obstructed cabin for what we had previously paid and would not let us upgrade even if we paid more which I thought was totally unreasonable. Celebrity needs to change their policy on this in my opinion.

We just upgraded from a C2 to AQ GTY (got A2) on an M-class cruise about a week before departure, after prices totally plummeted. We were very happy with our original cabin/price (booked less than a month prior to departure), and sure, we kick ourselves for not waiting until the week before to book when the C2 was $400 less in total, but that is just unrealistic. So at the end of the day, we get to try AQ for the first time for no "extra" cost. (Of course, this does mean they'll lose on some Persian Garden revenue from us...)

Anyway, I would try calling again and speaking to someone else.

Though I do wonder if their policies are different if you book through a TA vs. direct.

The fact that we booked a Baltic cruise a few weeks ago when Aqua Class was cheaper than Veranda or Concierge must demonstrate something, but what exactly? The following week, Aqua Class had gone up 200euros and was more expensive than Veranda, which must demonstrate something, but what exactly?

If you booked with a TA and the price drops give them a call. 9 times out of 10 they will be able to adjust the price down to the new lower price(before final payment). You may have to give up some of the perks you got when you booked so you have to weigh out your options.

After FP you will probably only be offered an upgrade and that upgrade may cost you a little bit extra depending upon how much the prices dropped. You also have to be careful because what X thinks is an upgrade may not be upgrade in your eyes.

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When you book early, you usually pay top dollar but get your choice of one or two amenities. If you wait until 30 to 60 days before sailing and book, many times a couple will save several hundred dollars but will not get the amenity previously offered and will not get to choose their exact cabin but will at least get a guaranteed category. If you do book early and have paid for the cruise and price goes down, good luck in trying to get the lower price or at least an upgrade. In our case we booked early, got choice air for $529 per person and got an obstructed view balcony. Six weeks before sailing, price dropped $600 per person less than what we paid for a guaranty balcony and it was for an Aqua Class cabin. When I called Celebrity, they would not even upgrade us to a non-obstructed cabin for what we had previously paid and would not let us upgrade even if we paid more which I thought was totally unreasonable. Celebrity needs to change their policy on this in my opinion.

That hasn't been my experience. On our British Isles cruise last spring on the Infinity, we were able to upgrade from a regular balcony to an AQ1 guarantee. It was after final payment and the price of the AQ1 was less than what we had paid for the regular balcony.

I fancy a Canada/New England cruise and decided to wait to book until after final payment, as it was too expensive when I first looked.

Guess what, only insides are left!:eek:

went last Oct RT Boston on Brilliance of the Seas (not my favorite line) with a

balcony and got the Chief's Table + 3 specialty restaurants/ loved the whole

thing/got great weather/ship just ok but we are not picky people.....would

do that itinerary again and the price was excellent!

That hasn't been my experience. On our British Isles cruise last spring on the Infinity, we were able to upgrade from a regular balcony to an AQ1 guarantee. It was after final payment and the price of the AQ1 was less than what we had paid for the regular balcony.

There has to be something the OP is missing? There are many comments like Linda's where this has been handled without any problem. OP, you need to recheck with Celebrity.

You could book the air well in advance and wait until the last minute to book the cruise, but that would be risky. You might get burned if it sells fast and prices go up.

They just let me upgrade yesterday only 4 days before sailing. I wasn't eligible for their "exciting deals" promotion at $249 pp for a veranda because that was for new bookings only, but even without that deal it was only $269 pp average for 3 in a veranda cabin. That was only $110 total more than the inside we had at $232 pp.

Though, obviously I didn't get a prime location veranda.

Every cruise is different, you cannot use one example to establish a personal booking policy.

Exactly, there are so many variables that there is no hard and fast rule for this.

I am a nurse do you need mouth to mouth LOL

Did not know how important punctuation was on CC as far as I can see most people can not even spell

Ha! I always need mouth to mouth; the real question is "Are you a woman?" I would "loose" it , if you were a man. Thanks for the "advise".:D

We usually book early. Because we like to pick our cabin, also we manage our own air, so sometimes we are using ff miles, got to do early.

We cruise Princess, HAL, Cunard, NCL, and Celebrity. It has been our experience most lines give us the better price if there is a drop, we don't cruise Celebrity that much, even though we are elite on Celebrity, so not sure of their policy.

We are on the Silhouette in October, going because itinerary has 3 days in Israel... we have our air already booked on Air France. If the cruise price drops we will see if they give us the better price. If no, that is okay because we like the itinerary.

One thing we have decided regardling X, is we no longer need to book Aqua Class or CC class on these newer ships, we booked a 1B on the Silhouette; with the money we saved on the cabin, we will pay our expenses. Did not find Blue or the MDR experience to be that great on these ships. We tried the Eclipse and Equinox already... both did not meet our expectations.

The buffet on X is more than adquate so, we enjoy the buffet and skip the rest.

Leaving on Eclipse in a few days. Booked it when it just opened over a year ago and now, after systematic price increase - SOLD OUT.

Like few people said: if you don't care when and where to cruise and location of your cabin - yes booking after final payment makes sense. And if you don't have to fly - it is just a bonus.

Ha! I always need mouth to mouth; the real question is "Are you a woman?" I would "loose" it , if you were a man. Thanks for the "advise".:D

Its ok im a women lol :)

Hi.............we've only done 3 Celebrity cruises.........2 Caribbean and 1 Norway.......we've booked as soon as the bookings open and we've always got a great price........for our Norway cruise we booked a SV at £2000 per cabin...........now the price is £3800 per cabin including a drinks package...........no contest!!

We have always booked early and the prices have only gone up!!

The competition for cruise customers is way too high to book early. Simplicity or Peace of Mind isn't worth paying retail.

Either load up on a sale full of perks or book at a great price inside the final payment period.

Those who are flexible will and do benefit the most. :D

When you book early, you usually pay top dollar but get your choice of one or two amenities. If you wait until 30 to 60 days before sailing and book, many times a couple will save several hundred dollars but will not get the amenity previously offered and will not get to choose their exact cabin but will at least get a guaranteed category. If you do book early and have paid for the cruise and price goes down, good luck in trying to get the lower price or at least an upgrade. In our case we booked early, got choice air for $529 per person and got an obstructed view balcony. Six weeks before sailing, price dropped $600 per person less than what we paid for a guaranty balcony and it was for an Aqua Class cabin. When I called Celebrity, they would not even upgrade us to a non-obstructed cabin for what we had previously paid and would not let us upgrade even if we paid more which I thought was totally unreasonable. Celebrity needs to change their policy on this in my opinion.

I disagree, I always book early and almost always come up with the lowest rate. We don't cruise the Caribbean and the cruises that we sign up for are generally very popular.

I am sure that you can get last minute bargains, but if you are flying to South America, Asia, Australia or Europe, you need to buy airfare ahead of time and any savings you make on last minute buys disappears with having to buy airfare late.

If you want to go on a British Isles or Cruise around the Horn of South America, buy early. Our SA cruise was $1200 more pp last minute, if you find a cabin than when we booked.

There has to be something the OP is missing? There are many comments like Linda's where this has been handled without any problem. OP, you need to recheck with Celebrity.

Very possible the OP saw a Tuesday special price which is for new bookings only.