Pay as you go 123 go

[PeterPan997]

Hi All

 

Thought I would let you into how the 123 go pricing works, it's a case of pay as you go.

 

The Celebrity rep must have thought a come over on the Banana boat or sadly lacking in mathematical skills.

 

I booked a cruise with Celebrity for a reasonable price with a Free drinks package, so when I met a Celebrity rep on a presentation night I had to ask the question " why did I not get the other benefits" the answer was

if you pay the current price you can have on board credit or free gratuities.

 

Now that works out at me paying a further £900 each to get back £193 derrrr, I am from this planet.

 

So it seems to be you are paying for your own benefits, however there may be some person out there that has managed both and a cheap booking price to boot, it would be interesting to know.

[kevinyork]

I got the 123 Promo for our Eclipse cruise from Southampton this May. We chose the classic package and free tips plus the T/A gave us $300 OBC. The same price with Celebrity was $600 more pp without the OBC. We are happy.

 

 

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[ariawoman]

I paid the lowest price that my cruise has been offered for to date, plus got the free classic alcohol package. Not every sailing will be higher in price due to the package, it's more relative to how well the ship is selling at the time and how long it is until sailing. I booked this sailing in December 2012 for May 2014. I got a significant price drop in January, 2013 on the cruise, while saving the perk as well. (of course the honoring of price drops varies by country).

[gimletgal]

Definitely comparing apples to oranges here. European pricing and "rules" are much different from the U.S. and Canada.

 

If a price drops on a cruise we can get the new pricing without losing our "perks" - as ariawoman referred to. From what I understand, this is not the case in Europe. So, there will be different experiences for people, depending on where the sailing was booked.

 

Note to OP: Nothing in life is really "free"! :D Everyone needs to do the math. If it makes sense, book it! If not, take a pass.

[Wiltonian]

I paid X for a med cruise in October, and got free classic beverage package plus free gratuities. That was in January. Now the price is £70 more. I'd get a bit of OBC, no free drinks and no free gratuities.

 

So, not sure how I can be said to have paid for my 123Go.

 

I note that the OP is an expert on such things despite having joined the forum just this month.

 

Stuart

[shoreham01]

We booked for this year whilst on the Eclipse in July last year. Got a stateroom upgrade, free classic drink package and $300 OBC plus $200 OBC for early booking. Marvelous deal. The price now is a lot higher than we paid.

[PeterPan997]

I paid X for a med cruise in October, and got free classic beverage package plus free gratuities. That was in January. Now the price is £70 more. I'd get a bit of OBC, no free drinks and no free gratuities.

 

So, not sure how I can be said to have paid for my 123Go.

 

I note that the OP is an expert on such things despite having joined the forum just this month.

 

Stuart

 

I joined cruise critic in 2009, could not log into my old a/c had to start again!

[RickT]

To the OP, not sure I understand what you are trying to say. Perhaps the X rep was having a bit of fun with you. You state you booked the cruise for a reasonable price which included the drinks, maybe asking why you didn't get the other perks when you already have the best one may have gotten you a reply with an attempt at humour.

 

I booked a Baltic cruise with the 1,2,3 go promo and was able to choose 2 perks because it was a Europe cruise (I picked drinks/onboard credit). There never was a program that gave you all three perks. So, not sure how paying "full price" would change anything.

 

As far as pricing. I paid less for my cruise with the 1,2,3 go promo than it is currently priced at without the promo. Compared to prior years the pricing is similar so in my books I DID get the drink package for free.

 

Sorry your not happy.

Edited May 29, 2014 by RickT

[Redtravel]

If you drink heavily, the drink package is a good deal. For me, it was not. I seldom drink alcohol and carbonated soda. I like the specialty coffees, bottled water, and fresh squeezed oj. On my recent cruise, we chose the tips. We had some OBC which we used to buy drinks. We came out ahead. We did not buy many drinks. With the recent cutbacks in staff, it is hard to find a server to bring you a drink. If you like a drink while lounging on the pool deck, be prepared to go to the bar. If I get up, I opt to get a drink from the Aqua Spa self serve area. Drank a lot of ice water and tea. It was fine. Also, not much bar service in the MDR. Cafe Al Bacio has also cutback. On the couple of times that we went there, it took them a long time to serve us....and it wasn"t crowded.

[rosequeen]

We booked a Baltic cruise this summer through Travelocity, thinking we would get the obc they had to offer plus the Celebrity promo. Once we had booked and tried to choose our perk, Celebrity said that we didn't qualify because our great price for an AQ2 room was through a resident discount. If we had given up that discount, the perks wouldn't have been worth the cost. We did get an upgrade to AQ1 with a small credit back because we had sailed on Azamara a few years ago! We also still have $250 obc from Travelocity, so we're not too upset!!

[Jacques O]

Hello every one

 

last week, I bought a cruise on the Constellation to the Baltic Sea, out of Amsterdam, sailing on 8th July. Did it on line, through a US major cruise agent.

 

The internet pages on the cruise, for the cabin and price I chose (guarantee) showed 75 US OBC, plus a free excursion, and free gratuities, as well as 100 usd reduction for senior citizen.

when I paid, there was no mention of these perks, except for the free gratuities, which appeared on the invoice (price breakdowns).

 

Once I saw that, I phone the cruise agent, but the lady said that I had booked a special offer, and that for that 'cheap' fare, there were no perks at all, except the gratuities.

 

needless to say that I'm not happy at all. Their internet site is totally misleading. they make you think that you are elligible to perks (and the internet pages show that, when you go through your booking); but in the end, you end up getting virtually nothing.

 

I'm sure that some of you have encountered a similar situation. Is there anything that can be done?

 

 

jacques O, paris.

[Seatbelt_Bag_LOVE]

I did have a similar experience when I booked my Bermuda cruise online. Particularly the pick your perk promo was not showing up. I ended up having to call the agent who called celebrity in order to realize that I did qualify for pick your perk. From the details on the website I thought I qualified for $350 of onboard credit. When I inquired about the OBC, it turns out only $150 of OBC was combinable with the PyP promotion. The websites are certainly misleading. Honestly, I will book my future cruises directly with celebrity. The hassle of not being able to make changes to my reservation on the Celebrity website is not worth $150 OBC.

 

 

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[kevinyork]

If you drink heavily, the drink package is a good deal. For me, it was not. I seldom drink alcohol and carbonated soda. I like the specialty coffees, bottled water, and fresh squeezed oj. On my recent cruise, we chose the tips. We had some OBC which we used to buy drinks. We came out ahead. We did not buy many drinks. With the recent cutbacks in staff, it is hard to find a server to bring you a drink. If you like a drink while lounging on the pool deck, be prepared to go to the bar. If I get up, I opt to get a drink from the Aqua Spa self serve area. Drank a lot of ice water and tea. It was fine. Also, not much bar service in the MDR. Cafe Al Bacio has also cutback. On the couple of times that we went there, it took them a long time to serve us....and it wasn"t crowded.

 

 

This wasnt our experience last week on Eclipse. Drinks service in the MDR, pool, buffet and bars was excellent. Over two weeks we never had a problem getting a drink anywhere and saw no evidence of staff cutbacks. The Cafe was very busy and on one day we counted 7 people behind the counter making drinks and 5 servers. I appreciate different ships may be different but wanted to give a recent view of our experience.

 

 

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[tasia]

We just went thru all of this with Celebrity. 2 years ago we booked a cruise while on Celebrity and were given some perks and asked what agent we would like to go with. We gave them the name of the travel agent that had booked the cruise we were on. We had been told that if perks come up thru a travel agent we would still be able to get them. ? not sure what happened but didn't end up with any perks? Spoke to different customer service reps and did not get any satisfaction.

Last month (April 2014) we were on another cruise with Celebrity which we booked with an online agent and we were given 3 perks, gratuities, OBC and $ toward a hotel stay which worked out perfect. While on that cruise and wanted to re-book the Asia cruise we had to cancel. The Celebrity rep we sat down with was awesome. She helped with picking out our cruises ( 2 - 17 day cruises) and they were having their perks 1,2,3. We got an awesome price, classic beverage package and OBC for the first 17 day cruise, then on the 2nd cruise (which was back to back) we got an awesome price with OBC. The perks 1,2,3 are different for every cruise. The second cruise we booked is a re-positioning cruise from Asia to Vancouver and we were only given OBC but the price was very reasonable. We were happy with what we booked with Celebrity. Our rep told us we had 60 days to assign an agent and if we didn't assign one then Celebrity would keep the booking. We were told if we found an agent offering some perks, we would be able to keep what Celebrity gave us and what the travel agent was giving us. WOW, who can beat that. Last week we found our cruises online with a travel agent giving some nice OBC credits on both cruises. After several calls to Celebrity and back to the travel agent, confirmed and reconfirmed we would keep the perks Celebrity was giving us and the o n board credits the travel agent was giving us, we assigned the T.A. WOW, it worked. Doing the happy dance and looking forward to 2 - 17 Asia cruises starting out of Hong Kong April 2015.

[dastardley]

We booked our next cruise through a TA, we are on the 11 night Eastern Med cruise June 23rd. At booking we got the classic drink package and $300 obs included in the price. When I am logged on to the Celebrity website I can see our drinks package is included in our extras, but no mention of the $300 on board spending. Should I be concerned? I want to avoid if possible any trips to the reception desk onboard going back and forth with them regarding the onboard spending.

[jomf]

We booked our next cruise through a TA, we are on the 11 night Eastern Med cruise June 23rd. At booking we got the classic drink package and $300 obs included in the price. When I am logged on to the Celebrity website I can see our drinks package is included in our extras, but no mention of the $300 on board spending. Should I be concerned? I want to avoid if possible any trips to the reception desk onboard going back and forth with them regarding the onboard spending.

 

On my booking I have OBC and the drinks package, both given by Celebrity. Neither show up on the Celebrity website.

 

Check your written confirmation, it should be shown there. If not, then you need to ring Celebrity and make sure it is logged.

[Thechamp555]

Just asking...I have a friend who already booked his next cruise with a local TA here in ontario for next year but they were no promotions attached to his reservations at that time (123 go), only a small credit.

 

Do you think he would be able to get the promo added next week even if he's reservations are already made with an external agent ??

 

Thanks

Germain

[AlbertaCruisers]

Just asking...I have a friend who already booked his next cruise with a local TA here in ontario for next year but they were no promotions attached to his reservations at that time (123 go), only a small credit.

 

Do you think he would be able to get the promo added next week even if he's reservations are already made with an external agent ??

 

Thanks

Germain

 

He should be able to add 123 Go but he will have to take the prevailing rate for his room and it is the regular price for the room that applies. Next week when it starts he should call his TA and ask to see the difference and then he can make the decision of whether or not it is worth it for him. If his room price will increase too much it may not be worth it but it doesn't hurt to find out. TO get an idea, next week, once 123 Go is out, do a pretend booking online, using the codes in the flyer and you can see what his same category of room would cost someone booking right now and that is the best deal he would be able to get (will likely also lose the small credit you mentioned).

[rucruisn2]

We booked for the Silhouette while onboard the Reflection in April for December cruise. We got $250. onboard credit because we booked onboard. Then we got an extra $200. from the 123 promo We are elite and not big drinkers so the drinking package wasn't any biggy for us. Then we got free gratuities from our TA plus a free specialty dining credit. I'm happy. The only catch is I want to switch to select dining but will have to pre pay our tips and get the $175. onboard credit in exchange for he tips. Still not bad.

[Cruise Junky]

Just asking...I have a friend who already booked his next cruise with a local TA here in ontario for next year but they were no promotions attached to his reservations at that time (123 go), only a small credit.

 

Do you think he would be able to get the promo added next week even if he's reservations are already made with an external agent ??

 

Thanks

Germain

 

In the past there's been no issue getting it added to previous bookings, but as mentioned above, if they're on a sailing thats selling well, or expected to, the new price will likely increase... it may or may not be worth it to them to change their booking. My previous experience was that my price didn't change, but it's a crap shoot.

[dastardley]

On my booking I have OBC and the drinks package, both given by Celebrity. Neither show up on the Celebrity website.

 

Check your written confirmation, it should be shown there. If not, then you need to ring Celebrity and make sure it is logged.

 

Thanks jomf, I see both mentioned on my written confirmation, but only the drinks package is shown on the Celebrity website, guess we will be making a call to Celebrity for conformation of both.

 

Das