It's gonna happen, so let's suggest our own ideas...

[BrendaJ]

I have just come back from a resort vacation (meh) and am very much looking forward to my next cruise. I just read this entire thread and do feel there is value in exploring how the cruise line could enhance profits without affecting what most people enjoy in their cruise experience.

 

To remain profitable, the lines need to attract passengers who are willing to pay for extras, be it suite perks, specialty dining, casino or other enhancements. An inside cabin passenger who disembarks with a very small onboard bill does not contribute much to the bottom line.

 

To remain viable, the cruise line must try to attract younger passengers who can provide revenues for many more years. Many young people who have never experienced lean times are used to luxuries and may not mind paying for them. Unfortunately, younger passengers accustomed to luxuries may not necessarily be able to afford a total luxury experience, so I think the key is to offer individual upgrades to the overall experience so that individuals can choose things they think are worth paying more for.

 

One thing is certain - young people want constant connectivity with the outside world (postings on social media can become free advertising), so I think affordable, reliable internet is not a luxury but rather a necessity. I don't want to see the majority of passengers with their faces glued to their phones, but it's become a fact of life that many people are not happy if they can't connect with their friends and family, not to mention workplaces that expect contact even while on vacation.

 

Personally, I love the idea of an upgraded boarding experience - one that allows you to board early, go to your cabin as soon as you arrive and have your luggage delivered immediately. I personally would pay for that perk. Access to a specialty restaurant for a non-chaotic lunch the first day would be a bonus. I also love the idea of high end whiskey tastings, special gourmet dinners and wine appreciation and am willing to pay more for them, assuming the offerings are more special than the norm. We did a wine pairing dinner on Celebrity once and I was not overly impressed; however, we did one on Azamara which was spectacular and I would definitely pay for that again. I would also pay for special entertainment on itineraries with more sea days, although I don't want to pay Broadway prices for amateur performances.

 

I think all of us really want a luxury vacation for a rock-bottom price but that's not realistic. The price of cruising is much lower than it was when I started cruising 30 years ago. I pay less now to share a verandah cabin with my husband than I paid to share an inside cabin with three girlfriends on Carnival in 1985. After just experiencing a week at an all-inclusive resort where I stood in lines, swatted at flies, and ate mediocre food, I'm more than happy to look forward to my next Celebrity cruise, and don't begrudge the cruise line from looking for ways to make a profit. Giving them ideas of things that we'd be willing to pay for is a neat idea and I thank the OP for starting this interesting thread.

[patty1955]

I agree with a number of these suggestion, but Celebrity needs to find a way to make options available without making people feeling nickled and dimed to death. My sister and her husband say they're done sailing because they felt that on Princess everywhere they turned, someone wanted money. I've heard the same on the boards about Celebrity and felt that way on occasion on board.

[tnfcruise]

:)

I have just come back from a resort vacation (meh) and am very much looking forward to my next cruise. I just read this entire thread and do feel there is value in exploring how the cruise line could enhance profits without affecting what most people enjoy in their cruise experience.

 

To remain profitable, the lines need to attract passengers who are willing to pay for extras, be it suite perks, specialty dining, casino or other enhancements. An inside cabin passenger who disembarks with a very small onboard bill does not contribute much to the bottom line.

 

To remain viable, the cruise line must try to attract younger passengers who can provide revenues for many more years. Many young people who have never experienced lean times are used to luxuries and may not mind paying for them. Unfortunately, younger passengers accustomed to luxuries may not necessarily be able to afford a total luxury experience, so I think the key is to offer individual upgrades to the overall experience so that individuals can choose things they think are worth paying more for.

 

One thing is certain - young people want constant connectivity with the outside world (postings on social media can become free advertising), so I think affordable, reliable internet is not a luxury but rather a necessity. I don't want to see the majority of passengers with their faces glued to their phones, but it's become a fact of life that many people are not happy if they can't connect with their friends and family, not to mention workplaces that expect contact even while on vacation.

 

Personally, I love the idea of an upgraded boarding experience - one that allows you to board early, go to your cabin as soon as you arrive and have your luggage delivered immediately. I personally would pay for that perk. Access to a specialty restaurant for a non-chaotic lunch the first day would be a bonus. I also love the idea of high end whiskey tastings, special gourmet dinners and wine appreciation and am willing to pay more for them, assuming the offerings are more special than the norm. We did a wine pairing dinner on Celebrity once and I was not overly impressed; however, we did one on Azamara which was spectacular and I would definitely pay for that again. I would also pay for special entertainment on itineraries with more sea days, although I don't want to pay Broadway prices for amateur performances.

 

I think all of us really want a luxury vacation for a rock-bottom price but that's not realistic. The price of cruising is much lower than it was when I started cruising 30 years ago. I pay less now to share a verandah cabin with my husband than I paid to share an inside cabin with three girlfriends on Carnival in 1985. After just experiencing a week at an all-inclusive resort where I stood in lines, swatted at flies, and ate mediocre food, I'm more than happy to look forward to my next Celebrity cruise, and don't begrudge the cruise line from looking for ways to make a profit. Giving them ideas of things that we'd be willing to pay for is a neat idea and I thank the OP for starting this interesting thread.

 

I hope X (and cle-guy) read this post. Measured, smart, objective. Thanks.

[ailetoile]

To remain profitable, the lines need to attract passengers who are willing to pay for extras, be it suite perks, specialty dining, casino or other enhancements. An inside cabin passenger who disembarks with a very small onboard bill does not contribute much to the bottom line.

 

To remain viable, the cruise line must try to attract younger passengers who can provide revenues for many more years. Many young people who have never experienced lean times are used to luxuries and may not mind paying for them. Unfortunately, younger passengers accustomed to luxuries may not necessarily be able to afford a total luxury experience, so I think the key is to offer individual upgrades to the overall experience so that individuals can choose things they think are worth paying more for.

 

I believe that my husband and I qualify as some of the younger cruisers that you refer to here, Brenda. He's in his late 20s and I'm in my early 30s, and we have been sailing on Celebrity exclusively since our first cruise together almost six years ago.

 

On that very first cruise, we sailed with my husband's entire extended family (grandfather, cousins, aunts and uncles). What we observed was that even then many of the aunts and uncles felt extremely nickled and dimed to death. They had (mistakenly) believed that their fare covered anything that they wanted to eat or drink on board. They didn't like the idea of paying for alcohol and soft drinks on top of their fare. A specialty restaurant would have been out of the question. My husband was seen as a traitor for ordering a single beer or glass of wine with dinner each night. There was nothing, and I do mean NOTHING that they could have been incentivized to pay extra for aside from the gambling that they had budgeted for.

 

My in-laws seemed to be caught off guard by the lack of clarity regarding what they had paid for versus the product that they received. That lack of clarity was perceived across THREE GENERATIONS and translated to a stubborn refusal to part with any of their money once they were on board along with a lot of bitter complaining amongst themselves and to the staff. They did not have a good experience and Celebrity made nothing off of them beside the base fare that they paid simply because somewhere along the line they believed they had paid for one thing and then received (correctly) another.

 

Promotions that are being run today like the 123 Go would have made a big difference in their perception of the trip. Selecting a drink package as a "perk" would have likely given them the clarity that they needed prior to their vacation and would have also enhanced their onboard experience immensely. From the perspective of me and my husband, promotions such as those will get us to book every time and to recommend Celebrity to our friends and family. My parents are now trying out their first cruise as a direct result of our word of mouth about the experience of cruising Celebrity combined with the 123 Go promotion that allowed them to select perks that they would receive up-front as part of the fare they had already paid. Not only that, 123 Go gave them a sense of what WASN'T included (gratuities and beverages) simply because it was being offered as a perk. There is clarity there that was lacking several years ago.

 

I enjoy cruising and I find that I really like the 123 Go promotion. I fully understand that fares are higher to offset the cost of what's being included in the promotion and I know that it's not popular with everyone, but speaking as a member of that younger crowd I will say that it makes a difference for us when we book. We've been sailing in Concierge Class rooms for the combination of the extra Captain's Club points and the all-in 123 Go perks. To us, it's well worth it -- after all, we keep coming back.

 

So, speaking from the perspective of a younger(ish) passenger who's been loyal to Celebrity for a while, here are ways that they could make me happy and keep my business, even if I have to pay a bit extra for it either as part of my fare or on top of it:

 

*Keep up promotions like 123 Go, but make it easier to book at a lower price without it. I'm willing to pay a bit more for what I perceive as my base fare if the drinks and gratuities are included. Many of us younger types like to just have it all laid out up front and this promotion does a good job of that without us having to hunt around the website adding packages once we've booked.

 

*Fix. The. Website. Celebrity, your primary clientele might still be the generation ahead of mine, but people in their 20s and 30s with disposable income are cruising, too. One of the biggest characteristics of my generation, as Barbara alluded to, is that we like our Internet. As a generation, we tend to LOATHE the telephone. Give us a more enjoyable and usable booking experience online. For goodness sake, ask us when we book online if we would like to ADD the drink package or prepaid gratuities or a specialty restaurant or any of your other "extras" before we ever get to the part where you ask for our credit card. Give us a chance to cobble together the perks we want in our dream vacation and get a single price so that we don't feel the sting of paying for those extras individually.

 

*Figure out a better Internet setup and add additional packages. I'm not one of those people who's glued to my phone (I actually choose to cruise because it forces my husband to disconnect), but the lack of a solid Internet connection isn't going to endear you to most of my generation.

 

*Figure out how to offer a beverage package that includes the mini bar and delivery of drinks to the room. Max it out at one drink at a time per drink package holder if you must. I believe that people would pay an additional premium for that convenience as opposed to the a la carte approach.

 

*Make Concierge Class worth it. This isn't an on-board perk that I'd pay extra for, but I WOULD be more comfortable paying extra for Concierge Class without the perks of the 123 Go promotion if it felt like the experience was actually worth the often ridiculous amount of extra money they you want for those rooms. A few suggestions of amenities that I would be willing to pay extra for and that would actually make the rooms more attractive to my husband and me are:

 

-Include a 45-minute Internet package in the fare

 

-Make the canapes more appealing to a wider audience through expanded choices -- my husband would be all over having six pieces of sushi delivered to the room every day instead of the current offerings, for example

 

-Extend the Aqua Class specialty dining discount to Concierge Class

 

-Give Concierge Class AND Aqua Class the option of a small discount on a drink package (10 or 15% would go a long way towards getting bookings in those rooms and drink package purchases even without an additional promotion)

 

I guess that's all I can think of for now. Just figured I would chime in on the heels of that lovely comment from Brenda.

Edited February 1, 2015 by ailetoile

[Texed]

I believe that my husband and I qualify as some of the younger cruisers that you refer to here.

 

What a great post. :)

[tinaperth]

What a great post. :)

 

Ditto:)

[Chitown12562]

I ant get the search function to work, so I'm not sure if I've witten this already.

 

Bring back the little things like chocolates on the pillows and flowers in AQ. If we're going to pay more then so be it.

 

Ability to rent an acoustic guitar. I'm going to hve to bring one, because 14 without it is not my idea of a vacation. If they want to offer a music room that would work too.

 

Cooking classes.

 

Cooking excursions. There are not enough of those. Learning to cook a native dish, love it!

 

Better internet pricing. It needs to be a whole lot more reasonable.

[cle-guy]

I'm just back from a Summit sailing, and have read a few comments about Internet and its pricing here.

 

They now have an "unlimited" package for $200 on the 7 day cruise. A few years back, some hotels would charge $35 a day for unlimited internet, so this isn't out of line, especially concerning the costs and challenges with satellites and internet at sea.

 

I find this a far better value than the former pricing model and limited minutes. Though as Eliteplus, my included minutes were good enough for my needs, in fact left about 60 minutes unused. Though if I had unlimited, I would have left my MacBook logged in the entire trip to make email management simpler.

 

Not sure if it's an option on all ships yet, or how the cost may vary on different lengths of itineraries and regions.

[need2bespoiled]

I'm just back from a Summit sailing, and have read a few comments about Internet and its pricing here.

 

They now have an "unlimited" package for $200 on the 7 day cruise. A few years back, some hotels would charge $35 a day for unlimited internet, so this isn't out of line, especially concerning the costs and challenges with satellites and internet at sea.

 

I find this a far better value than the former pricing model and limited minutes. Though as Eliteplus, my included minutes were good enough for my needs, in fact left about 60 minutes unused. Though if I had unlimited, I would have left my MacBook logged in the entire trip to make email management simpler.

 

Not sure if it's an option on all ships yet, or how the cost may vary on different lengths of itineraries and regions.

 

This is good news, but I know they were going to to do some testing for suite guests having unlimited internet packages. Are you sure this is moving fleet wide, or was it testing to see how it would work, and how much would be used in advance of the roll out of 20-40 + guests having free unlimited internet?

 

I would be VERY happy if this was a package that was available all the time, I have bought my fair share of $400+ packages on 10-14 day cruises and run out of minutes, so a comparable package for a longer cruise would be most welcome.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[cle-guy]

This is good news, but I know they were going to to do some testing for suite guests having unlimited internet packages. Are you sure this is moving fleet wide, or was it testing to see how it would work, and how much would be used in advance of the roll out of 20-40 + guests having free unlimited internet?

 

I would be VERY happy if this was a package that was available all the time, I have bought my fair share of $400+ packages on 10-14 day cruises and run out of minutes, so a comparable package for a longer cruise would be most welcome.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

This was advertised in the sail-away first "Celebrity Today" - definitely not a suite guest only perk. As in my initial post on this, I have no idea if it's fleet wide, all cruises etc, but it was advertised to the general public, and I had at least 3 of my friends in my group take the offer staying in standard cabins.

[Gordoncruickshank]

This was advertised in the sail-away first "Celebrity Today" - definitely not a suite guest only perk. As in my initial post on this, I have no idea if it's fleet wide, all cruises etc, but it was advertised to the general public, and I had at least 3 of my friends in my group take the offer staying in standard cabins.

 

I know it was on the Reflection a few weeks ago as I saw it in one of the posts from Arno.

[need2bespoiled]

This was advertised in the sail-away first "Celebrity Today" - definitely not a suite guest only perk. As in my initial post on this, I have no idea if it's fleet wide, all cruises etc, but it was advertised to the general public, and I had at least 3 of my friends in my group take the offer staying in standard cabins.

 

I never thought it as a suite guest only offer. Sorry for the confusing comment, again, it would be great if this was a fleet wide Internet price change. I also think that it may just be w test, to offer an unlimited internet package to guests, to see how an unlimited internet package impacts the systems onboard. They need to test the impact so they're prepared for when unlimited internet becomes a suite perk. We were told a bit about plans for a test like this when we were onboard in Nov/Dec. I had inquired why some suite benefits like this, or unlimited minibar weren't being released earlier then the restaurant when Michael's Club was.

 

If this is a new pricing plan, it would be great, $199 used to get about 500 minutes and $400+ was 1600 minutes so this was definitely a price reduction. Now if they could get internet service to include speeds like Disney, the newer Royak Caribbean ships or even some airplanes, that would be great!

 

Happy sailimg,

Jenna