Go Better, Go Best

Is Go Best worth it? What is the difference?

It is simple math. You just have to look at the cost of each 'perk". I only got 1 free perk on a 15 day Panama Canal in 2019. I took the classic drink package because it was easily the most valuble. After that, the math just doesn't work. $225 for including tips is exactly what you are supposed to pay for tips on a 14 day cruise. 14x15 per day. is 210. None of the options cost more than they were asking you to pay extra for each perk. I couldn't figure out how to make it worthwhile to upgrade for tips, internet for the OBC they are offering.

Is Go Best worth it? What is the difference?

Go Best typically comes with 4 perks bundled into the price they charge you for it.

It may be worth it for one person and not for another, depending on which perks you want, the amount of the price difference, and how much those perks are actually worth to you.

Even for the same person, it may be worth getting Go Best one time and not the next time.

As the previous poster so wisely advises, just do the math each time.

My sisters and I with 3 Aqua class on Summit 1/29/19 just upgraded to Best. We had classic bev and paid gratuities, but then when there was a discount, we were adding upgrades to premium. So in my case I added 1 premium upgrade and also added 1 unlimited internet (12 nights) elite 30% discount and those 2 things came to $346. Yes, we need unlimited internet as it’s a long work absence for DH. It got me thinking about what the cost would be to just get Best. I did dummy booking on line -which I do every week to check prices- and found that to go up to Best for 2 would be $780.

So subtract what I was already paying $346 and then subtract $300 OBC from Celebrity and then TA offered $50 extra in change made the total $84. So for $84 more we got the second premium bev and the second unlimited internet. Total OBC $775 with TA’s $475 All refundable Also our cabin price has gone up $300 in the last three weeks after doing our change.

Is Go Best worth it? What is the difference?

It depends, as the upcharges vary by cruise.

For example, on a 2/20 Carib cruise on Equinox it costs 105 pp to 'Go Better' and 315 to 'Go Best'. Assuming you chose the classic beverage package as your 'free'perk, you can pay 105 and get prepaid grats (a loser, since they are 101.5 pp on a 7 day cruise), unlimited internet (a winner since unlimited internet is over 300 pp), or 150 OBC pp (a winner, since 150>105).

Assuming you pick internet as your 'go Better' perk you now have to look at the additional cost of the 'go Best' package, 210, vs. the value of prepaid tips (101.5) plus the 150 pp OBC, plus the upgrade from classic to premium beverage package (70). That adds up to over 320, so if you are going to use the perks that are included, 'go Best' is a no-brainer on THIS cruise.

The numbers and conclusions may be different on other cruises/sailings.

It depends, as the upcharges vary by cruise.

 

Assuming you pick internet as your 'go Better' perk you now have to look at the additional cost of the 'go Best' package, 210, vs. the value of prepaid tips (101.5) plus the 150 pp OBC, plus the upgrade from classic to premium beverage package (70). That adds up to over 320, so if you are going to use the perks that are included, 'go Best' is a no-brainer on THIS cruise.

 

The numbers and conclusions may be different on other cruises/sailings.

Actually since they increased the price on the Premium package the cost to upgrade is more like $115+ for 7 days so makes even more sense to upgrade to the Go Best if you were going to get all of those items anyway. That's exactly why I did it.

We just went with the go better. Picked $300 OBC and the drink package. It cost $600 for the 2 of us .

So the $300 I'd have to pretty much pay for gratuities anyway so I'll use OBC for that. I'll even have $10 left over, lol. So that left $300 cost for the drink package. Since the cruise is 10 nights thats $15pp per day for a drink package. To me that's a good deal .

We didn't need or want internet so it wasn't worth it to get the go best. Like others said, you have to do the math.

As the other has stated this requires you to know what you would normally purchase and how much they are charging for the upgrade. On our upcoming November Equinox cruise we originally only booked Go Big. A few months later they changed the promo to picking 2 perks and the price went down so we adjusted pricing and then had 2 Perks. A few months later the price went down again and when repricing the agent advised that she could get us in Go Best for only $100 per person. For us it was worth it as we always upgrade our drink package to premium and buy some sort of internet connection while onboard. On other cruises it makes not sense to upgrade above Go Big. Why pay $175.00 for a $150.00 onboard credit?? It all depends on your needs and pricing being offered on your sailing.

It depends, as the upcharges vary by cruise..

One thing we found quite interesting was learning that the upcharges vary not only by cruise, but also by the booking method you use.

It was a surprise to learn that they charge more for the exact same perk upgrade if you book under one rate category than another.

We end up paying for those additional "free" perks one way or another.

Even if we don't want them, they often bundle them into the price and give us no other choice.

Sometimes, if we are willing to wait, they do eventually unbundle the perks and drop the price, but that is always a gamble.

As you are from Australia and I assume? you are booking via either Celebrity itself or a local agent, then the gratuities are already included in the price of the cruise. Consequently the perks are then 1. Classic drinks package 2. Internet 3. $150 USD on board credit and 4. also $150 USD on board credit. We usually go with the Go Better deal and choose drinks and internet so we can stay in contact with family back here in Australia. I find this works out to be the most cost effective method as it only adds $199 USD to the price of the cruise for 2 perks.

decided to actually click on a dec 13 4 night bahamas on infinity that i got in an email and saw the better best thing. i must be doing something wrong as i'm new to celebrity

ov room is 299

go best is 180 pp but you get 150 PP OBC, drink pack, internet pack, free grats. 

so you pay 360 and you get 300 OBC (i assume you can pay grats with it), drink and internet. i dont know celebrity prices but i know other lines are about 70 a day for drinks and 10 for internet. so this seems like too good a deal for the 360. what calculations am i doing wrong?

On 8/6/2018 at 3:29 PM, snyniew said:

 

Actually since they increased the price on the Premium package the cost to upgrade is more like $115+ for 7 days so makes even more sense to upgrade to the Go Best if you were going to get all of those items anyway. That's exactly why I did it.

It keeps changing. With the increase in the price of Classic to $59 per day the cost to upgrade is again $11.80 per day including the 18% gratuity - so the value is $82.6 rather than $70

We use a TA that offers the upgrade from Better to Best at half price a few times year. It's a no brainer in that case.

You can arrive at the actual overall value a number of different ways. I view it as the cost per perk to purchase individually. We like the premium bev package and internet and would purchase those items anyway. 

On 8/6/2018 at 9:57 AM, youwash said:

So in my case I added 1 premium upgrade and also added 1 unlimited internet (12 nights) elite 30% discount

Off topic, but how do you get the elite discount?  We're elite +, tried to receive it, captains club and XTA didn't know how to apply discounts for dining package and excursions to our account.  Ended up giving us a $100 OBC.  Coming to the conclusion with everyone having to carefully calculate the benefit of these 'perks', that X is starting to scam or at least confuse us so that options will benefit them.

16 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

 

Off topic, but how do you get the elite discount?  We're elite +, tried to receive it, captains club and XTA didn't know how to apply discounts for dining package and excursions to our account.  Ended up giving us a $100 OBC.  Coming to the conclusion with everyone having to carefully calculate the benefit of these 'perks', that X is starting to scam or at least confuse us so that options will benefit them.

Generally the discount is applied automatically to your card.    For laundry all we do is write Elite+ plus discount on the special instructions.    For special dining they have always just looked at the card and applied the discount when calculating the bill.    Also for tours they have always been applied when registering for a tour.   Finally the 3x drink tickets are also automatically loaded onto sea pass.

I agree with you it is prudent to check you bill to make sure they are applied. 

15 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Generally the discount is applied automatically to your card.    For laundry all we do is write Elite+ plus discount on the special instructions.    For special dining they have always just looked at the card and applied the discount when calculating the bill.    Also for tours they have always been applied when registering for a tour.   Finally the 3x drink tickets are also automatically loaded onto sea pass.

 

I agree with you it is prudent to check you bill to make sure they are applied. 

Thx....laundry has been ok...but pre-booking the dining package and excursions online seems to be the problem.  There's no option to deduct the % (I thought it was 15% but now I hear it's 30%?).  In fact, I've never even thought of asking for a discount in the past, so my bad.  Rest assured our X TA hasn't mentioned it either.

I can only comment on my experience.

In November 2017 we booked a 14 Night S. Caribbean on Reflection sailing this Dec. 7.

We paid $630 pp for the go best package covered, Premium Drink Package ($910 pp), Gratuities ($189 pp), Internet Package ($299 pp) and OBC ($150 pp) ... Total goodies $1,548 pp... Paid $630 ... That was a no brainer for us...

Dennis & Sue

There is a CC Elite Plus discount for shore excursions and dining packages?

Everyone need to do their own math for their specific situation and personal valuation of each perk. And you need to break it down into each available sets of choices.

For example: say a 8-night cruise comes with the one Big perk included

you could value the perks at their costs:

Classic =$59x1.18x8=$556.96

OBC = $150.00

Gratuities = $14.5x8=$116.00

Unlimited Internet = $140.00

Upgrade to Premium = $10x1.18x8=$94.40

But suppose only one of you is interested in the Unlimited Internet and only one of you wants the Upgrade to Premium. This changes your "values" to:

Classic =$556.96

OBC = $150.00

Gratuities = $116.00

Unlimited Internet = $140.00x1/2=$70.00

Upgrade to Premium = $94.40x1/2=$47.20

With your cost/benefit analysis you would obviously pick the Classic as your one Big perk.

And you might then go straight to evaluating the choice of Big versus Best by comparing the "value" of OBC ($150.00) , Gratuities ($116.00), Unlimited Internet ($70.00) & Upgrade to Premium ($47.20) totaling $383.20 to the cost to go from Big to Best of $45x8=$360.00 and say that the savings of $23.20 still makes going from Big to Best a good decision - but you would be wrong!

If you break it into two steps: Big to Better and Better to Best you will see why.

Big to Better adds the $150.00 OBC at a cost of $15x8=$120.00 for a savings of $30.00.

Better to Best adds Gratuities ($101.50), Internet ($70.00) & Upgrade ($47.20) totaling $218.70 at a cost of $30x8=$240.00 for a loss of $6.80.

So you would be better off going from Big to Better with a savings of $30 and purchasing one internet and one upgrade separately rather than going to Best.

You always need to do your own math with your own valuations to make an informed decision on your perks.