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Eligibility for discounts


tezzasmum
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As first time cruisers we made an 11th hour decision to book (and pay for), via a TA, for a Celebrity cruise, leaving in 4 weeks. Our instructions to the TA were that we wanted to take advantage of a Pick Yor Perk drink package. When we enquired, stupidly post payment, if the drink package had been applied we were told that as an over 55 discount had been automatically applied we did not qualify for the package. We had not been asked which discount / package we would prefer. I have sent an email to Celebrity who confirmed what the TA told us. Is it possible to ask to pay the difference for the over 55 discount ($1120) and have the classic drink package applied (@ approx $55 per day x 2 passengers for 14 days) - a substantial difference. Or is it not worth the hassle?? :confused:

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As first time cruisers we made an 11th hour decision to book (and pay for), via a TA, for a Celebrity cruise, leaving in 4 weeks. Our instructions to the TA were that we wanted to take advantage of a Pick Yor Perk drink package. When we enquired, stupidly post payment, if the drink package had been applied we were told that as an over 55 discount had been automatically applied we did not qualify for the package. We had not been asked which discount / package we would prefer. I have sent an email to Celebrity who confirmed what the TA told us. Is it possible to ask to pay the difference for the over 55 discount ($1120) and have the classic drink package applied (@ approx $55 per day x 2 passengers for 14 days) - a substantial difference. Or is it not worth the hassle?? :confused:

 

As a qualifier I am referencing my comments based on my knowledge of US bookings. Perhaps there are different restrictions for Australian bookings, which I assume is your situation.

 

But I think you should qualify for the 55+ discount if offered on any itinerary regardless of when you book and if Celebrity's booking system is similar to RCI it would be applied automatically if your TA selected that option (as they apparently did) as part of your booking profile. This - at least with US bookings - is a passenger profile discount that is available to all and to my knowledge I am not aware that this would be and either / or discount regarding other promotions or booking programs. This should apply to you either way and should not be a choice of one or the other IMO.

 

I don't know why the Pick Your Perk didn't allow you to get the drink package along with the 55+ as my understanding is that would be a separate promotion. I would have your TA talk with Celebrity about this as unless there are restrictions on when and how the Pick Your Perk program can be applied, I would think your should qualify for both. But again, there may be restrictions on when it can be applied to a booking or other conditions that apply to an Australian booking. But IMO it is worth a call to find out.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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I'm a frequent Celebrity cruiser and maybe I can help. First, is your cruise a trans-ocean cruise, meaning are you cruising from the US back to Australia? If so, Celebrity does not offer the free drinks package. I'm taking a trans Atlantic cruise on Celebrity in October 2015, and could not get the 1-2-3 Go choice of a drink package because they do not offer it on cruises that have lots of sea days. I guess they discovered that they lost a ton of money on cruisers who drank a lot on all those sea days.

 

Now, for some reason, bookings outside the US seem to have a lot of differences. I know that our friends in the UK have had a lot of difficulties in getting the same advantages that we get on our cruises. This may be the case for Australians when they book.

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i am not sure why, but most of the time RCI does not allow combining discounts or OBCs. It is one thing about that company that does not compare favorably with other lines.

 

Again, specific to US bookings, it depends on the promotion and what you are defining as a discount. For instance the old C & A savings certificates (now automatically included with the pricing when offered) cannot be combined with the C & A balcony discount. You will benefit from one or the other, whichever is the better of the two.

 

However, the OBC from an on board booking or future cruise certificate for example can be combined with the C & A balcony discount. And any external OBC from a TA can be combined with any booking price as well.

 

And age, residency, military, etc., discounts when offered can be combined with any pricing program or OBC and are also done so automatically with the pricing when a booking is generated once the qualifying options are selected.

 

I think most of the restrictions are with shareholder benefits, some of the UK based beverage package inclusions or other non-US booking restrictions, and the savings certificates as mentioned. But other than that we have always been able to combine C & A balcony discounts, age / residency discounts, and on board or future booking certificates OBC in our US based bookings.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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Discounts and promotions with OBC etc., are tied to a particular Rate Code .

 

A cruise reservation can only be booked with a single Rate Code.

 

So if you change your booking to a new Rate Code , you lose the Discounts , OBC associated with the old Rate Code.

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:) Thanks for the feedback. Seems different rules apply for different countries - bit strange, but perhaps worth a phone call tomorrow to plead my case. Guess the worst thing will be they'll stand their digs and say no! In which case it will be a lesson learnt.

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