Beverage Package Pricing Increase

[chamima]

Yes Aytonlady that was what we were going to do ie use onboard credit to upgrade drinks package but will upgrade before we go and use onboard credit on something else (ie hair, shops etc lol)

 

We have $650 OBC ($300 from 1, 2, 3 and $350 from booking the cruise while onboard another).

We were looking forward to splurging - maybe an unlimited internet package, maybe something in one of the stores, maybe a fantastic shore excursion. But now it looks as if most of it will go towards upgrading the drink package ($16 + 18% = $19 and $19 x 2 x 14 = is about $530 vs. the $300 we expected.)

We will go on our planned 2016 cruise but the bad feelings this generates has made us re-think 2017. We are long time Princess cruisers who have sailed mostly Celebrity the last few years. Princess is currently looking a lot more attractive for the future. :(

[gsb]

We have $650 OBC ($300 from 1, 2, 3 and $350 from booking the cruise while onboard another).

We were looking forward to splurging - maybe an unlimited internet package, maybe something in one of the stores, maybe a fantastic shore excursion. But now it looks as if most of it will go towards upgrading the drink package ($16 + 18% = $19 and $19 x 2 x 14 = is about $530 vs. the $300 we expected.)

We will go on our planned 2016 cruise but the bad feelings this generates has made us re-think 2017. We are long time Princess cruisers who have sailed mostly Celebrity the last few years. Princess is currently looking a lot more attractive for the future. :(

 

Drop it to $330.40--$11.80 x 2 x14 by prepaying it.

I might go back to RCL , never again on Princess.

[milesfromu]

Just talked with the CC for the second time and it was confirmed that even though booked with the classic package, you must upgrade before April 20th or you will pay the $16+ difference before you cruise or when you are on board.

Doesn't seem right, but at least they are giving you a chance.:mad:

 

Helpful to know, but surprising to say the least. We have four sailings booked for post 4/6/2015 and planned to use OBC to upgrade for each. The cost of the upgrades is now increased by 60%, making it cost prohibitive to do so for what is gained. Upgrades for two based on the total sail days we have booked would be $1,397 for us, versus $873 (+$524). We will not absorb that. If this stands true, a "value" re-evaluation may be warranted.

 

If this interpretation stands, it suggests that X does not expect to offer beverage package perks in the future. Otherwise, how would they know on the ship whether its $10 per day pp or $16. As of today, the only folks with the freebie would be pre-cost change.

[DinaS]

Helpful to know, but surprising to say the least. We have four sailings booked for post 4/6/2015 and planned to use OBC to upgrade for each. The cost of the upgrades is now increased by 60%, making it cost prohibitive to do so for what is gained. Upgrades for two based on the total sail days we have booked would be $1,397 for us, versus $873 (+$524). We will not absorb that. If this stands true, a "value" re-evaluation may be warranted.

 

If this interpretation stands, it suggests that X does not expect to offer beverage package perks in the future. Otherwise, how would they know on the ship whether its $10 per day pp or $16. As of today, the only folks with the freebie would be pre-cost change.

 

How would they know anyway? Folks got free bev. packages through 2016. How will they know if someone paid for it in 2016, or got it free in 2015?

 

Will they charge EVERONE $16 plus 18% to upgrade on the ship?

 

There is NO WAY to do this onboard OTHER than to charge everyone $10 plus 18% to upgrade on board.

[gsb]

Helpful to know, but surprising to say the least. We have four sailings booked for post 4/6/2015 and planned to use OBC to upgrade for each. The cost of the upgrades is now increased by 60%, making it cost prohibitive to do so for what is gained. Upgrades for two based on the total sail days we have booked would be $1,397 for us, versus $873 (+$524). We will not absorb that. If this stands true, a "value" re-evaluation may be warranted.

 

If this interpretation stands, it suggests that X does not expect to offer beverage package perks in the future. Otherwise, how would they know on the ship whether its $10 per day pp or $16. As of today, the only folks with the freebie would be pre-cost change.

 

Prepay at the $11.80 per day rate before April 20th.

There will have to be two designations on cards to differentiate-one bot before the increase and the other after the increase (paid $55+18%)

[angelhelly]

One of my cruise is in 2017. By then, who know, they might raise the prices on the packages 2-3 times. I guess locking it now makes sense just for that reason. Who knows, maybe the upgrade cost on board will be 20-25$ by then :confused::confused:

[lovecruzin]

Next question --What about the cruisers who are not on Cruise Critic? Will they be notified in time by Celebrity or their TA's?

I've seen nothing yet.

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I know people who are booked on cruises that are not on CC. They have the bevvy pkg and are planning to use their OBC to upgrade at $11.80 per day. Who will notify them? I for one haven't heard anything from my TA or seen anything on the Celebrity website highlighting this.

 

I imagine the bar servers who already work hard will have some irate passengers when they have to tell them it is $16 plus gratuity. :mad:

[milesfromu]

Prepay at the $11.80 per day rate before April 20th.

There will have to be two designations on cards to differentiate-one bot before the increase and the other after the increase (paid $55+18%)

 

We have cashed in rewards for OBC to cover the cost of upgrades. Not sure how we will use the OBC now, but that is of no major concern to us right now. Not going to drop an additional $873 in cash now to save $524 in OBC. We can get by fine on the Classic and use the OBC to cover what the Classic does not. Our point is the overall "value" changes a bit here, as it will for others too, thus it may warrant closer evaluation of alternatives.

 

A bit of a bummer to feel you have everything mapped out, then things change unexpectedly (though X reserves right to do so at anytime). Fortunately we have a head's up and can determine what works best for each of our circumstances. Thanks to X for communicating with us in advance.

[wwcruisers]

How would they know anyway? Folks got free bev. packages through 2016. How will they know if someone paid for it in 2016, or got it free in 2015?

 

Will they charge EVERONE $16 plus 18% to upgrade on the ship?

 

There is NO WAY to do this onboard OTHER than to charge everyone $10 plus 18% to upgrade on board.

 

Hi Dina :) -- that's one of the questions I'm hoping that CelebrityCruises will return with clarification on. If not, I'll probably just err on the side of caution and upgrade my two recent cruise bev pkges now.

 

But, I for one do take CelebrityCruises post at face value -- especially after their follow-up post that this thread was NOT an April Fools' prank.

 

Several months ago, CelebrityCruises gave all of us on this board a timely "heads-up" about the drink pkge gratuities increasing from 15% to 18%. Some of us took advantage of that info to upgrade our existing bev pkgs, and saved a few $$. A few days later, I saw LOTS of howling on the RC boards, because RC had done exactly the same thing. The only difference was they hadn't had anyone to warn them. :eek:

[MR_T]

Looks like there should be some bargains in the future as it seems loads of current celebrity cruisers are all going to leave as prices have gone up...

 

How dare celebrity increase their prices without writing to everyone before and asking permission to do so!!! [emoji23]

 

Some people do like to have a good old moan about stuff!!

 

Here's an idea... Don't upgrade your free promo drinks package and enjoy what you can get for free without all the moaning & stress!! [emoji33]

[fla jack]

If you upgrade prior to 04/20 (either thru TA or Celebrity)

you pay $10 + 18% P/P per day.

If you upgrade at/after 04/20 (either by phone or onboard)

you pay $16 + 18 % P/P per day.

I think--?????????????????

Jack

[ghstudio]

Helpful to know, but surprising to say the least. We have four sailings booked for post 4/6/2015 and planned to use OBC to upgrade for each. The cost of the upgrades is now increased by 60%, making it cost prohibitive to do so for what is gained. Upgrades for two based on the total sail days we have booked would be $1,397 for us, versus $873 (+$524). We will not absorb that. If this stands true, a "value" re-evaluation may be warranted.

 

If this interpretation stands, it suggests that X does not expect to offer beverage package perks in the future. Otherwise, how would they know on the ship whether its $10 per day pp or $16. As of today, the only folks with the freebie would be pre-cost change.

 

If they keep the price of the classic package at 49 and raise the price of the premium package, then I have no problem with paying the $16 vs $10. If, however, they value what they offered at $49, but raise the price to $54 and still try to charge $16, I think they may have almost as big a problem as they had when they tried to suddenly significantly cut the alcohols included in the classic package.....especially in the UK where this type of change is probably legally challengeable.

 

However, there is another (sneaky) change that will probably come....I think the limit on drinks now for the classic package is $8. They just raise the prices over $8 and raise the "new" classic package limit to $9....further eroding the value of that marketing "bonus". At this point, I wouldn't put anything past Celebrity......

 

But I'm hoping that Celebrity Cruises comes back with a clarification .... and I seriously hope that they realize that making this announcement (even informally) just a day after ending a promotion that talked about $10 upgrades will not look too good should someone in the UK make a complaint...oh and then there's the cancellation penalty issue...it costs money to cancel your reservation in some geographies. I doubt they really want to open that can of worms....

Edited April 2, 2015 by ghstudio

[CanadianDee]

How would they know anyway? Folks got free bev. packages through 2016. How will they know if someone paid for it in 2016, or got it free in 2015?

 

Will they charge EVERONE $16 plus 18% to upgrade on the ship?

 

There is NO WAY to do this onboard OTHER than to charge everyone $10 plus 18% to upgrade on board.

 

Yeah, what you say makes sense to me, Dina.

 

I'll be following to hear what actually happens with this.

[gsb]

Here's an idea... Don't upgrade your free promo drinks package and enjoy what you can get for free without all the moaning & stress!! [emoji33]

 

You can drink that yellow fizzy stuff(classic package beer), not me.:p

[MR_T]

You can drink that yellow fizzy stuff(classic package beer), not me.:p

 

 

Don't worry about me I'll be upgrading whatever the price... [emoji483][emoji483][emoji483][emoji39]

[Ma Bell]

If they keep the price of the classic package at 49 and raise the price of the premium package, then I have no problem with paying the $16 vs $10. If, however, they value what they offered at $49, but raise the price to $54 and still try to charge $16, I think they may have almost as big a problem as they had when they tried to suddenly significantly cut the alcohols included in the classic package.....especially in the UK where this type of change is probably legally challengeable.

 

However, there is another (sneaky) change that will probably come....I think the limit on drinks now for the classic package is $8. They just raise the prices over $8 and raise the "new" classic package limit to $9....further eroding the value of that marketing "bonus". At this point, I wouldn't put anything past Celebrity......

 

But I'm hoping that Celebrity Cruises comes back with a clarification .... and I seriously hope that they realize that making this announcement (even informally) just a day after ending a promotion that talked about $10 upgrades will not look too good should someone in the UK make a complaint...oh and then there's the cancellation penalty issue...it costs money to cancel your reservation in some geographies. I doubt they really want to open that can of worms....

 

I wasn't aware that UK law governs ships at sea.

[Cruise Junky]

I wasn't aware that UK law governs ships at sea.

 

 

They govern the sales and advertising practices to UK citizens. It's a bit like when Princess tried to put in the fuel surcharges on already purchased cruises, it couldn't apply to Canadians.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Queen of Oakville]

I keep checking this thread for updates.

 

where are you Celebrity Cruises Official?

[DinaS]

I keep checking this thread for updates.

 

where are you Celebrity Cruises Official?

 

Celebrity is probably embarrassed at what they told the rep to post yesterday regarding costs to upgrade being "date dependent".

 

They are hopefully reconsidering this, and realizing that the difference between the Classic and Premium packages was, and will be ONLY $10 plus 18% gratuity.

 

Charging $16 plus gratuity per day to upgrade - no matter when - is just wrong (and bad math) on so many levels.

Edited April 2, 2015 by DinaS

[nomad098]

I wasn't aware that UK law governs ships at sea.

 

Just for information, adopted and agreed by the UK.

 

All cruiselines must agree before they can operate in UK/EU waters or use UK/EU ports.

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:334:0001:0016:EN:PDF

 

And a quick overview

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/194787/draft-guidance-note-0.pdf

 

Theres a whole lot of laws governing maritime operations a lot suggested by the British over the years :)

[Ma Bell]

When they gave people a free beverage package there was no guarantee that anyone could upgrade at any time at a certain price. The package was "free" and it remains free to those who booked.

[Ma Bell]

Just for information, adopted and agreed by the UK.

 

All cruiselines must agree before they can operate in UK/EU waters or use UK/EU ports.

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:334:0001:0016:EN:PDF

 

And a quick overview

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/194787/draft-guidance-note-0.pdf

 

Theres a whole lot of laws governing maritime operations a lot suggested by the British over the years :)

 

Yes, I'm aware of those kids of regulations. Many countries have them. I don't see anything pertaining to the cost of drink packages.;)

[DinaS]

When they gave people a free beverage package there was no guarantee that anyone could upgrade at any time at a certain price. The package was "free" and it remains free to those who booked.

 

And the price difference between the classic beverage package and the premium beverage package was, and still will be $10 per day plus gratuities.

 

That's all the difference should be to upgrade.

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, I'm aware of those kids of regulations. Many countries have them. I don't see anything pertaining to the cost of drink packages.;)

 

 

The issue would be if it was advertised in the UK that you could upgrade for $10. Celebrity would most likely have an issue on their hands if they changed the terms.

 

 

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[uktog]

When they gave people a free beverage package there was no guarantee that anyone could upgrade at any time at a certain price. The package was "free" and it remains free to those who booked.

 

They did in their advertising and so under UK law they will have issues unless it remains at the previously advertised upgrade price.

 

The silence of the Celebrity rep is deafening ....

Edited April 2, 2015 by uktog