Price Reduction on Existing Reservation

Two days after final payment was made, the cost of the room went down $250pp/$500 total - still with all 4 perks. I called my TA, she told me Celebrity won’t give any credits or additional OBC once final payment is made.

Vickie

My own recent buyer beware story :

My wife and I called Celebrity direct regarding a sailing 11 weeks out. Having cruised on Celebrity several times before, we knew they usually slash prices ~6-8 weeks out, and we also thought we knew that once final payment is made you can no longer get a price adjustment and refund. So while talking to the agent and comparing prices of different categories/locations, we asked when final payment was due. She said “ummm….tomorrow actually”. And we asked “so if we book it now and the price goes down, we can’t get a refund or price adjustment, right?”. The agent said “That’s correct….you wouldn’t be able to get a refund after tomorrow, but if the price for the same sailing and room category were to go down in the future, you could call and we would issue you an on-board credit for the difference”.

I had never heard about that before, so I asked “so if the price is $200 lower a month from now and we call, we’ll get a $200 on-board credit?”. She replied “yes sir, that’s correct”. And so rather than wait another month or so for the price to drop, we decided to just book it. Of course it’s now 2 weeks later and the price just dropped $100. And so I called them. And was told that “no we don’t do refunds, and we can’t issue an onboard credit or anything. You can get a refund up until the final payment date, but after that, the price is what you paid and there are no further adjustments.” Which IS the way I originally thought it worked. BUT… we would have held off booking the cruise for another month or so and kept an eye on the price every few days, EXCEPT that the agent told us we could get an onboard credit, which we’d have been fine with.

So, buyer beware!

My 2 pieces of advice to those newer to Celebrity :

1. Don’t necessarily believe what their own agents tell you when you call. They may tell you one thing to entice you to book, and then deny it when you call them the next time.

2. Unless you’re booking a trip on a new ship or new itinerary, or during peak periods like holidays where demand is high and the cruise may sell out early, our experience is that it doesn’t make sense to book way in advance. A year ago when we looked, the cruise we just booked was listed around $3700 (for a concierge class room). 3 months ago it was $3600. 2 weeks ago we booked it for $3100. This week it’s $3000. (similarly, 2 years ago on a Celebrity cruise….3 months out it was going for around $3000. 5-6 weeks out, it dropped to $2600 and we booked it). It pays to wait.

My own recent buyer beware story :

 

 

 

My wife and I called Celebrity direct regarding a sailing 11 weeks out. Having cruised on Celebrity several times before, we knew they usually slash prices ~6-8 weeks out, and we also thought we knew that once final payment is made you can no longer get a price adjustment and refund. So while talking to the agent and comparing prices of different categories/locations, we asked when final payment was due. She said “ummm….tomorrow actually”. And we asked “so if we book it now and the price goes down, we can’t get a refund or price adjustment, right?”. The agent said “That’s correct….you wouldn’t be able to get a refund after tomorrow, but if the price for the same sailing and room category were to go down in the future, you could call and we would issue you an on-board credit for the difference”.

 

 

 

I had never heard about that before, so I asked “so if the price is $200 lower a month from now and we call, we’ll get a $200 on-board credit?”. She replied “yes sir, that’s correct”. And so rather than wait another month or so for the price to drop, we decided to just book it. Of course it’s now 2 weeks later and the price just dropped $100. And so I called them. And was told that “no we don’t do refunds, and we can’t issue an onboard credit or anything. You can get a refund up until the final payment date, but after that, the price is what you paid and there are no further adjustments.” Which IS the way I originally thought it worked. BUT… we would have held off booking the cruise for another month or so and kept an eye on the price every few days, EXCEPT that the agent told us we could get an onboard credit, which we’d have been fine with.

 

 

 

So, buyer beware!

 

 

 

My 2 pieces of advice to those newer to Celebrity :

 

 

 

1. Don’t necessarily believe what their own agents tell you when you call. They may tell you one thing to entice you to book, and then deny it when you call them the next time.

 

 

 

2. Unless you’re booking a trip on a new ship or new itinerary, or during peak periods like holidays where demand is high and the cruise may sell out early, our experience is that it doesn’t make sense to book way in advance. A year ago when we looked, the cruise we just booked was listed around $3700 (for a concierge class room). 3 months ago it was $3600. 2 weeks ago we booked it for $3100. This week it’s $3000. (similarly, 2 years ago on a Celebrity cruise….3 months out it was going for around $3000. 5-6 weeks out, it dropped to $2600 and we booked it). It pays to wait.

Thanks for the information. Your reply was helpful, informative, and much appreciated!

Vickie

Celebrity will go out of business quickly if they provide OBC or price adjustments to everyone when they drop the prices after final payment. These lower prices are to get rid of the last remaining cabins to try to get the ship sail full and are sold at a loss.

We booked a B2B while on board outside cabin. We paid 180 deposit and got two perks, drinks package and 600 OBC. Not sailing until next January. Then the price dropped..... and by booking again we were able to save 500 BUT we lost 600 OBO and our deposit of 180. We now have a C3 Concierge cabin and a drinks package.......we felt this was totally unfair and felt at least we should have been able to keep our deposit.

We booked a B2B while on board outside cabin. We paid 180 deposit and got two perks, drinks package and 600 OBC. Not sailing until next January. Then the price dropped..... and by booking again we were able to save 500 BUT we lost 600 OBO and our deposit of 180. We now have a C3 Concierge cabin and a drinks package.......we felt this was totally unfair and felt at least we should have been able to keep our deposit.

If you book non refundable rates....it should be no surprise that your deposit is non refundable.

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We were told our deposit was transferable to another cruise but that was not allowed either. Very confusing!!

We were told our deposit was transferable to another cruise but that was not allowed either. Very confusing!!

Keeping track of your cruise bookings has become a full time job! Non refundable vs refundable vs transferable, doesn’t always apply to your original booking when you try to upgrade to a new cabin. Regarding upgrades, some people get free ones after final payments others must pay more money. Some people are allowed to carry their perks from the original booking, some have perks taken away. My only conclusion is the people that have a great Travel Agent that does a lot of business with the Celebrity Brand seem always to maintain the best deal when making changes before or after final payment. We are Elite Plus and have never received a “free” category upgrade. On one occasion after final payment we paid a up charge from Aqua Class to a Suite and it was not inexpensive. If anyone has any secrets to share going through a change in your original booking to help making it a easier transition with less penalties I would appreciate you giving me some advice.

Thank you;)