bkbarrym

1 minute ago, Big_G said:

 

So suites aren't the only cabins with a regular verandas?

There are 94 other cabins with regular verandas including sunset verandas and deluxe oceanview with veranda (1A &1B).

4 minutes ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

 

Next cruise I'm.booking after final payment is due. I will pick the less popular time to go. My gamble might not pay off.

 

 

Thinking the same. It may be worth the gamble for cruise itineraries with multiple sailings and at off-peak times. In hindsight, for our upcoming cruise in June it would have worked out better for us to have booked after final payment.  

1 hour ago, Globehoppers said:

 

nb: Suggest those who don't like the IV cabins select something else, even a different ship.

Not much else to choose then.  IV  (including CC and Aqua) make up over 62% of the Edge staterooms. If you can't afford a suite then there are only 94 true verandas, 148 OVs and 131 inside cabins.

After final payment they will not refund or take you lower than what you have paid.  However, you should be able to move to a better  concierge cabin, if available. You could also look to upgrade to Aqua for the difference, if any.  And maybe even look at adding perks, like moving to the 4 perks for the difference. It may turn out that the difference to move to 4 perks for your cabin maybe small.  As long as you wind up at or above your final payment amount I believe that it should be possible.

Don't believe that it applies to 2020 Alaska itineraries.

Besides, I have found that this $200 OBC booking bonus to be a bit of "smoke and mirrors". It seems lately that his promo has been running every other week.  In between the prices drop accordingly, at least for the cruises that I have been monitoring.

Looks like you made out great.  As long as you don't care where you are located forward/mid/aft your GTY cabin should be fine.

15 minutes ago, jelayne said:

 Celebrity has heard the concerns and on another thread about changes it was reported that they were going to do a trial with frosted glass on the bi-fold doors.

Our IV Cabin had the bed by the balcony and this was my solution.  It worked great and we are taking it on our other cruises as it would allow opening the veranda drape more so I could get ready in the a.m. while DH sleeps.

While I'm sure this worked just fine it shouldn't be necessary for passengers to bring their own jerry-rigged solutions for something that should have been foreseen.

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Not sure how to put this but I do think that somewhere in the process something went wrong with Edge. It is like no one who had a practical / realistic mind looked at the plans to see if there could be potential issues. Surely, that is what all businesses do when planning new projects. Is it me???

 

Nope! Not just you, many have the same opinion. For such a large investment and change there definitely should have been more thought put into it including obtaining feedback from experienced cruisers as well as potential target markets (focus groups). 

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

There is another side to this story from the cruise line's perspective.  There are too many cruisers who will book multiple cruises with the intention of later cancelling all but one.  In fact, we know a couple that has booked 3 cruises from next New Years!  Why?  They cannot make up their minds which cruise they want to take and this way they can reserve the cabins they want on each cruise.  For them its no biggie and they will get their deposits back once they cancel.  But they have taken cabins out of inventory which means others who want to book those cruises/cabins lose out.  And when lots of people do this and then cancel around the final payment period the cruise line is flooded with available cabins at the "last minute."  Sometimes this forces the cruise lines to lower the prices to unload all these last minute cabins.   

And yet Celebrity still offered reduced deposit promotions ($25/20) earlier this year. I recently received a promo from Hal for $1 deposits. Princess has done the same.

Besides, refundable deposits usually at $900 per couple still requires some commitment by most. Not many of us can afford to plunk down this type of money to hold several cruises. Even though it's refundable it would still tie up a lot of cash.

Booked with reduced deposit late January around Wave season.

1 hour ago, tartana said:

Big time - Our local Canadian companies hardly touch cruises in my area.  I got Free drinks, free grats and a total of $500 OBC with a basic balcony cabin price.  It's all the perks where you save. (If you are one to utilize the perks which we are)   From Canada, we hardly get any perks offers that I've ever seen. Cruises are typically priced in US anyway - the Canadian companies have already just converted them to CAD. 

Sometimes yes sometimes no. I booked our June cruise direct with Celebrity late January in $CDN. Afterwards checked pricing with big US T/A I've used in the past and found them to come out significantly higher when factoring in exchange and credit card charge so kept my reservation with X. In the past it worked out better with the TA, however not this time.

10 hours ago, Koslm said:

How do you cancel and rebook excursions? I cannot locate the cancel option online. Thank you

Actually did this last night. Go into "cruise planner" under your booking. At the top click on "order history". Your booked excursions should be listed. You can modify or cancel.

Needed to cancel first before rebooking at lower price. Make sure there is still availability at your preferred time before cancelling original.

On 5/12/2019 at 12:41 PM, Toronto Guy said:

This looks even smaller than a regular veranda room.  

 

Case for trading out the king size bed. 

3 minutes ago, sasset said:

Thanks, but the way it's worded on the site makes it read like two perks and an additional OBC.

Correct. Current promotion, ending today gives you $200 OBC in addition to whichever 2 perks you choose.

21 minutes ago, sasset said:

With the 'Sail Plus-Best Value' it says: Choose two perks and bonus on board credit. How much is the bonus on board credit? the

Think you are referring to the current spot promotion offering up to additional $200 OBC. I believe that this ends tomorrow.

1 hour ago, JLS07 said:

We got ours accepted today.  It took several weeks - I would have to go back and check emails to see, but it was a long while.

 

We big the absolute minimum and it was accepted.  Moved from inside to veranda, saved us easily $2,000 by doing move up verse just purchase it straight (we have 2 young kids in the room, so with moveup they aren't charged, but with rooms they are).

Congrats, when do you sail?

17 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

How is a Sunset Veranda priced in comparison to Aqua on Edge?

On my booking for next year the SV was actually priced a little lower than the IV. 

7 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

 

non-refundable deposit?  But insurance or use the right credit card or self insure.  The new system discourages people from booking multiple cruises then cancelling most of them.  Sounds good and fair to me.  

Just curious, will insurance cover your full refundable deposit as all but $100pp will go into a future cruise credit?

45 minutes ago, Oville said:

Could you please explain your $700 dollars?  We recently booked a 7 night cruise and the cost for all 4 perks is $560 ($315 for Sail Plus and an additional $245 to upgrade to Sail All).

I am seeing Delta's for the Sail Plus and Sail All more in line with what the OP has stated. I think that $560 for all 4 perks would be rare. 

2 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

We never had a problem with a queen bed even though we have a king size at home.  More room to move around and a sofa, or at least a love seat, would be preferable to the king.

We always found their queen beds to be larger than our queen bed at home. Don't need anything larger than those.

Do you know the location of your veranda or is it still a GTY? A move up to CC would likely give you a better location and no risk of an obstructed cabin. Other than that the extra frills would not be worth it.

2 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

May I ask how you do this?  Did you book direct? Or with an agent? How do they add perks for the same fee after final payment?  If it's an Agent, can you please PM me the name?  Thanks!  and... Happy Sailing!  

Originally booked on-line direct with Celebrity and follow up has been with our assigned Vacation Planner.

At final payment date we had OV with no perks and $200 OBC ("Book Now" Bonus) - $2389 PP CDN

This week pricing for same OV cabin dropped and we added 2 Perks and new "Book Now Bonus" - $2489 PP CDN.

The price for the OV without perks was lower than $2389 so couldn't do that as Celebrity won't refund difference after final payment. Instead went to the 2 perks at $100 more PP which was doable.  Since they were running the $200 Book Now bonus again this week we were able to keep it. So it cost us another $200 CDN out of pocket but we are better off after factoring in the 2 perks. 

Now, we will monitor and hopefully the gap will close on a veranda. Ideally, it will fall to the current price of the OV and we can upgrade at no additional cost.  If this doesn't happen then we may try the Move Up.

5 minutes ago, citronella said:

 

Only booked last week and my pricing is with 4 perks. Will look at 2 perks.

Currently there is a "Book Now" promo that may give you and extra $200 OBC.

5 minutes ago, citronella said:

 

We have an upcoming Baltic cruise on Silhouette in June - called and booked late December as the price seemed good - 1A Verandah with 3 perks. We must have lucked out as current price is a fair bit higher for same category. I am still trying to get my head around cruise pricing.

We are booked on the Summit for late June. We felt pricing was quite high for a veranda and wound up booking an OV instead (though we have always sailed with a balcony). We repriced a bit before final payment but the gap to a veranda was still too high.  Now past final payment, and only recently, has pricing significantly dropped.  Though we cannot drop below our final payment price, we have managed to add perks and OBC. We continue to monitor and hopefully, with the gap closing, we will be able to upgrade to a balcony. Otherwise, we may bid on a Move Up.

I am also trying to wrap my head around X's cruise pricing (game). This week alone it changed 3 times for this cruise. 

As others have mentioned, it would probably depend a lot on the ship, desire for a particular cabin type & location and itinerary (uniqueness and frequency of sailings) as to when you book. Certain strategies may not work in all cases.

3 hours ago, citronella said:

 

It is the 15 June 2020 Med on the Edge. The itinerary is great for us as there would be no repeat of any ports (except Naples). 

 

We put a deposit down on a Sunset Balcony as we don’t like the IV - looks to me like an OV with a window that opens LOL. Current price for 2  is $12,500 Cdn which I find high. I’m thinking that price wouldn’t drop till after final payment ? However, if we go that route, we might lose the SV and would like to have airfare booked before mid March.

I guess great minds think alike! Though, we are facing a similar dilemma.

We too have an SV booked for this same June 15th Med cruise.  Chose it for the itinerary and NOT the ship. Agree that the pricing is way too high and the vacation becomes even more expensive once you factor in airfare, pre-cruise hotel,  transfers and excursions. I am hopeful that there will be some significant price movement or promotional activity prior to final payment to make this all viable. Though given the itinerary it may not happen to the extent we may like it too.

Since there are only 36 -SV's on the Edge it is risky to try to pick it up cheaper past final payment. In such case we/you would have to be willing to accept a IV  as a default.

We would have preferred that this itinerary was available on an S class (or even M class) ship instead as it would have given us more flexibility towards ending up in a true balcony cabin.

We will play the waiting game for now as we do not have until next March to decide.  In the meantime we will also be considering vacation alternatives. 

Fyi, we booked mid January with X and are paying a little less with 2 perks.  Maybe you could at least reprice your booking depending on where pricing is at today.

2 minutes ago, citronella said:

We are only looking for double occupancy. I did a mock booking first and it showed only 2 SV available - I then called Celebrity who told me the same thing. All the verandahs on Deck 7 were grayed out - I was surprised they were all booked. Or is it a marketing ploy ?

Not that many SV on the Edge so they were likely scooped up quickly by those looking for a real balcony.