Prices Gone Up & Perks Gone?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I would argue that a land based holiday is not necessarily more expensive at all. One can argue what class of hotel = a Celebrity ship, and what class of restaurant equals eating in the MDR. So we could each come up with scenarios to prove our point..

 

I agree that anyone could prove their point with this method. Springhill Suites + Morton's Steakhouse, $250+ a day just for accommodations and dinner. A Vegas Hotel & Casino + Outback, $100+.

 

Personally, I would get stir crazy sitting in one location for a week, and road trips are fun but hard to compare. I sail for ports, so a cost comparison involving airplanes and foreign hotels across the Caribbean would be astronomical! :eek:

[wallie5446]

Yes, we are onboard with you!

 

Great! We have just over 60 on the Roll Call, come join the party!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2129719

 

ps: Don't forget to sign up for the Conections Party,

https://secure.celebritycruises.com/cruisecritic/getParty

Edited April 3, 2015 by wallie5446

[R'man]

The beauty of cruise vacations is that the market largely sets prices. Prices up today? No perks? Wait...the market will eventually come to you if you are flexible and pay attention.

 

As far as cruise costs versus land vacations. It's not difficult these days to find $50/night cruises in the cheap seats. So, for $100 per, DW and I enjoy the ship's food, entertainment, transportation, and destinations...or we can go to a budget motel chain, and enjoy packaged breakfast pastries, McDonald's for lunch and Denny's for dinner. That's with no additional entertainment (okay, HBO at the motel, and two bits for the coin massager on the bed), plus the cost of transportation - and otherwise doing nothing while watching the scenery pass in western Kansas.

 

As always, your mileage may vary.

[Germancruiser]

No more fresh orange juice- well I read about that here on the X board. So another cost cutting- 123 go- yeah 123 go cheaper by the cruise! As I mentioned when we want X to keep the product we all like- they should stop giveing us free drinking pacages and on the other hand lower the quality of stuff! And if they sell their Orange juice as " freshly pressed orange juice" it should be that way- everything other is plain and simple cheating!

[Germancruiser]

..........in other words- one gets what one pays for!

[grandgeezer]

I agree that anyone could prove their point with this method. Springhill Suites + Morton's Steakhouse, $250+ a day just for accommodations and dinner. A Vegas Hotel & Casino + Outback, $100+.

 

Personally, I would get stir crazy sitting in one location for a week, and road trips are fun but hard to compare. I sail for ports, so a cost comparison involving airplanes and foreign hotels across the Caribbean would be astronomical! :eek:

 

This response is aimed at the quote from Stateroom_Sailor:

Seriously, you are comparing cost of a land based vacation versus a cruise? If you are at least compare apples with apples. Unless you are in one of the big suites, the cabins are clean and serviceable and that's about it. I would not book this cabin if it was on land. We've eaten at all the specialty restaurants and it would be a stretch to even compare them to Outback. I agree, at normal pricing cruises are a better deal but not based on your comparison.

I agree with the person who responded to the quote.

[luv2cruisecats]

We just got off the Infinity on 3/29/15 after a 2 week canal cruise and the onboard agents were quite busy booking future on-board cruises the last 2 days. I assume this was because word was spreading that this deadline was just announced with little notice (we learned from an online TA we use and the onboard agents claim they heard this from us!). We booked 3 new cruises onboard so we now have 6 in our backlog with the all-in perks.

 

After we returned I heard that this announced due to a decision by the Celebrity top brass and took many by surprise including the TA's. It would make sense to me that they probably met occupancy goals on many cruises with these perks being thrown in as "free" so now they can selectively use them to fill ships closer to sailing dates. Again, just like airlines do with fare drops.

[luv2cruisecats]

Also need to add that our future booked prices have not dropped.

Edited April 3, 2015 by luv2cruisecats

[Cruise Junky]

I would argue that a land based holiday is not necessarily more expensive at all. One can argue what class of hotel = a Celebrity ship, and what class of restaurant equals eating in the MDR. So we could each come up with scenarios to prove our point.

 

But just for consideration - this past March DH wanted to go on a cruise and I wanted a land vacation in Fort Lauderdale or San Antonio. I priced out both locations versus a cruise vacation. In the end, the cruise vacation cost us 20-25% more (he was dying for another cruise so we picked it anyway). This was including all reasonable variables - including adding rental cars, meals, and daily entertainment to our land trip in addition to nice (Hilton or Doubletree) if not top of the line hotels, which I feel are comparable to staying in an AQ cabin on Celebrity if not nicer.

 

I think it is a fallacy that cruising is cheaper than land vacations in general. There are often a lot more acceptable options to choose from in the way of airfare, hotels, restaurants etc. on land, which allows you to find more reasonable pricing. I love cruising, and I think there are many perks about cruising that do not come with a land trip (unpack once, less planning, less stress and on and on) but cost? Not necessarily cheaper IMHO.

 

We 100% agree with this. We do about a 4-1 ratio of land trips to cruises. We just cancelled a Great Barrier Reef cruise for 2017 to switch it to a land trip. Rented a place in Queensland for a week and still it's about $4,000 cheaper than the cruise.....that's a lot of food :)

[Stateroom_Sailor]

This response is aimed at the quote from Stateroom_Sailor:

Seriously, you are comparing cost of a land based vacation versus a cruise? If you are at least compare apples with apples. Unless you are in one of the big suites, the cabins are clean and serviceable and that's about it. I would not book this cabin if it was on land. We've eaten at all the specialty restaurants and it would be a stretch to even compare them to Outback. I agree, at normal pricing cruises are a better deal but not based on your comparison.

I agree with the person who responded to the quote.

 

I apologize if I upset you, but my comparisons were meant to be diverse from various opinions, which unfortunately I don't see yours. What would you compare a normal cruise cabin to? Holiday Inn, Ramada Inn, or a pay by the hour dive on the wrong side of the tracks?

 

Nope, I didn't say anything about Specialty Restaurants. What would you compare Celebrity's MDR food to? Morton's, Outback, Chilli's, Denny's, McDonald's?

[Oxo]

We do Celebrity, RCL and Princess each year. Which is our favorite? They all have their good points and weak points. Celebrity is getting to be a very expensive line as they are constantly raising their prices on everything to include: TIPS 15 to 18%, Specialty Restaurants which are now $45 - $50 compare to RCL and Princess who are $25 and now drink packages. Even the price of the cruises are going up. However, Celebrity seems to be higher than the other two.

 

What are we getting in return? Many cutbacks. Yes, I know other lines are cutting back, too. But if you compare the newer ships from RCL and Princess (Royal and Regal) to Celebrity, the difference is not very much. Entertainment, food, cabins, etc., is very subjective. That is why we cruise more than Celebrity and do not say Celebrity is better and the only cruise line to cruise.

 

Not every cruise line or cruise ship will be your favorite. Nor, can you take one cruise on a ship and say it was all bad or all good. That is why the cruise lines are in business. They offer just a little difference from each other, but in many ways are just like each other.

 

Opinions are opinions. Everyone has an opinion. LOL

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I'm booked on the 4/3/16 sailing of the Eclipse in an Aqua Class cabin w/ the 123GO All Inclusive promo - not only are Aqua and Concierge cabins sold out for this sailing, but 1C cabins are selling for what we paid with ZERO perks from Celebrity.

[Azulann]

I'm booked on the 4/3/16 sailing of the Eclipse in an Aqua Class cabin w/ the 123GO All Inclusive promo - not only are Aqua and Concierge cabins sold out for this sailing, but 1C cabins are selling for what we paid with ZERO perks from Celebrity.

 

WOW, that makes sense that the 123 promo was ended.

It was a success for your sailing that far out.

We are booked for 8/16 and got the 123 in Jan. Later the promo was for sailings thru April 2016 and they tweeked the class of cabins from OV to Vera to CC and above.

 

enjoy planning for your 2016 cruise.

[riredsox]

Also need to add that our future booked prices have not dropped.

 

One of our future cruises went up $1000 apiece (booked thru a TA)! Aqua Class 2 with no perks!!! Unbelievable new prices indeed. They should change that statement on their website...