Go Big, Go Better, Go Best Expiry?

[brfan]

After running the numbers our agent offered us a cruise minus the "smoke and mirrors" .And along with her obc, we can cover our tips and drinks and have money left.

 

Just work the numbers, people. Had we picked the go big..drink package and then decided on tips, (go better ) those $350 tips would have cost us over $400. Where's the sense in that? I can't imagine seasoned X cruisers aren't smart enough to figure this out.:rolleyes:

 

The issue I see is no one knows how much of the go big price is the cost of that perk. So you still maybe paying $400 for the $350 tips by choosing the tips as the go big perk or maybe more if they've incorporated the drink package cost into the go big price.

[Christine Frances]

After running the numbers our agent offered us a cruise minus the "smoke and mirrors" .And along with her obc, we can cover our tips and drinks and have money left.

 

Just work the numbers, people. Had we picked the go big..drink package and then decided on tips, (go better ) those $350 tips would have cost us over $400. Where's the sense in that? I can't imagine seasoned X cruisers aren't smart enough to figure this out.:rolleyes:

 

How long is your cruise? Our tips would be $350 so how much do you have left to cover your drinks from the OBC provided by the TA?

[Snit13]

Huh...I booked the 2/16-16 to the Virgin Islands on the Connie and it seemed like a really good deal to me. Especially with the drinks thrown in.

 

I have not seen you post on the roll call for the 2/16/16 Connie. Come join in.

 

Grace

[eandj]

How long is your cruise? Our tips would be $350 so how much do you have left to cover your drinks from the OBC provided by the TA?

 

Our planned cruise is 2 weeks. Obc will cover all tips plus another $300 towards whatever. And this is on top of a discounted rate. A much better result than going into the Go Big swamp.;)

[MaseratiCruiser]

Does anyone know (from a recent cruise) if the booking department onboard their ship was offering BBB for cruises that are not normally allowed this offer on land or online? For example re-positioning, transatlantic, etc.

[Pavovsky]

How about charging more for the basic cruise, charge reasonable prices for drinks on a pay as you go basis and the speciality restaurants. The all inclusive model is not good - either for atmosphere or the destination ports.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[grayjay]

My understanding is that BBB is the new fare structure, and is here to stay. Until they reinvent it, of course!

 

What will be interesting to see is whether they layer promotions on top of BBB, eg pay for Big and get Better; book a Concierge cabin or above and get Best for the Big price.

 

Celebrity already do that - they offer "choose two" for some Europe cruises, i.e. prices shown for the Big and the Better package are the same. As they are still sky high I'm still not lured into booking.

[sollan]

After dividing cost of the GoBetter/Best offers with the length of a cruise, I realized that there are no way we could even break even.

The time we vould have to spend on the "free" internet (+ the internet we have beeing CC members) to break even, we rather spend eating and drinking and enjoying the cruse experience....:D

[DrivesLikeMario]

I think the new promo is too complicated for most newbies. They don't even want to consider anything beyond the basic cruise price. They rarely think about those extra charges until way after they've booked the cruise. Wish they'd bring back the 123Go Promo. That was simple and easy to understand.

[Nova Scotia cruiser]

I flew home from Miami yesterday and a ta told me that X is planning to drop Go Big.......apparently too confusing for the passengers and travel agents.

[duchesslt]

I did purchase the Go Best package for my upcoming cruise to Alaska on board the Solstice in July 2016. For me, it was a great deal. A little cheaper then the cruise I hand originally booked on the Explorer of the Seas for the same time period and similar ports. My basic cabin rate along with taxes and port fees and the additional Go Best cost came out to be about $20.00 less per person on the Solstice.

 

On the Explorer, the basic wine package would have cost me nearly $300 extra per person in additional fees; plus, tips still needed to be paid.

 

The $150 per person on board credit included in the Go Best promotion is another bonus, as well as the included internet on the Solstice.

 

Yes, I did come out ahead by switching to Celebrity Solstice for our cruise.

 

Hi! I booked Celebrity Solstice June 2017. I booked the 575sf family verandah for 5 passengers. With the "go best" pax 1 and 2 get all the perks, pax 3-5 get soda/internet but need to pay gratuities.

 

My total cost w/go best and taxes was $8860 - so $1770 or so per pax. You seem to have done pricing on Solstice vs other lines. Is this a good rate or expensive for Alaska/Solstice? Thanks!

[az_tchr]

I flew home from Miami yesterday and a ta told me that X is planning to drop Go Big.......apparently too confusing for the passengers and travel agents.

 

It is indeed very confusing. Many TAs will not book X because of very confusing perk; especially what does and does not combine which seems to change often.

 

It will change when X decides to make the change and then they will certainly come out with something else different unless bookings are very very strong. Usually there is at least some notice before.

[corakari]

Hello,

 

Apologies if this has been asked before but through my searches I can't find any information.

 

Does anyone know when the current Go Big, Go Better, Go Best promotion will end? Nothing is stated on the Celebrity website or the fine print as to when it will end, all I know is it's for cruises that sail from October 2015 and onwards.

 

Regards

I see this is an older thread, but this info may help some go ahead and book now, although the offer could always be extended past Jan 3, 2016:

 

OFFER TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

 

*Prices are per person, cruise only, for stateroom category 08, select sailings and based on double occupancy.

 

Cruise must be booked on or after Nov. 16, 2015. Offer is capacity controlled, availability varies by sailing and eligible staterooms may sell out. Offer applies to 4-night and longer cruises that depart Jan. 2016 – Apr. 2017. Offer excludes Celebrity Xpedition®, Transatlantic, Transpacific, repositioning, Asia, and South America repositioning cruises.

 

Offer provides each of the first two guests in an ocean view and above stateroom booking with a complimentary Go Big option, which includes guest's choice of a Classic Beverage Package, Unlimited Internet Package, $150 per person onboard credit ("OBC"), or Prepaid Gratuities. For an additional charge, select the Go Better option and receive a choice of two amenities or the Go Best option and receive all four amenities plus an upgrade to the Premium Beverage Package. Guests who book any suite between Nov 16, 2015 to Jan 3, 2016, will receive complimentary Go Best option for applicable sailings that depart Jan. 2016 to April 2017. Charge varies by option and cruise nights.

Edited December 13, 2015 by corakari

[farmerslou]

It is real simple.

 

I do not want to do math while on vacation, adding up what I am spending.

I will even pay extra for this. I know, that is heresy, but I don't care.

[Jade13]

After running the numbers our agent offered us a cruise minus the "smoke and mirrors" .And along with her obc, we can cover our tips and drinks and have money left.

 

 

 

Just work the numbers, people. Had we picked the go big..drink package and then decided on tips, (go better ) those $350 tips would have cost us over $400. Where's the sense in that? I can't imagine seasoned X cruisers aren't smart enough to figure this out.:rolleyes:

 

 

Even the onboard FCC on Millennium told us not to go better. The numbers do not work in most cases.

[bigbenboys]

It is real simple.

 

I do not want to do math while on vacation, adding up what I am spending.

I will even pay extra for this. I know, that is heresy, but I don't care.

 

I think the above is correct. I had a cruise with 123Go allin and I changed it to Best with a Sky suite. Do I need a suite No, Do I need premium drink package over classic No. Do I need a drink package at all No. I can go to the Elite events. Do I need unlimited internet No as we are Elite plus we get really all the internet mins we need. But I'm no vacation.

 

It is the same with airfare. I do the number and wait. I see the price go down, then up. When should I buy. I'm buying sleeper seats and the price seem to only go up or down 10%. Bite the bullet and get want you want.

[AtleeH]

The BBB promotion is either going to end in the near to medium future, or there are going to be some tweaks made to it.

 

I see the major tweak as being this. With Go Big, instead of choice of Classic drinks pkg, the choice will be Standard drinks pkg. With Go Better, the drink pkg choice will be Classic. With Go Best, the drink pkg choice will be Premium.

 

The 3rd lower cost Standard drinks pkg wasn't introduced for no reason at all.

[I&J Cruisers]

Judging what we observed on our recent Reflection cruise looks like the drink packages are not going anywhere. All the bars and cafe al baccio were hopping all the time. We've been cruising a long time and never before saw that much activity. With the amount of alcohol being consumed I wonder if the current prices won't increase. The point is for X to make a profit.

[Iamcruzin]

The BBB promotion is either going to end in the near to medium future, or there are going to be some tweaks made to it.

 

 

 

I see the major tweak as being this. With Go Big, instead of choice of Classic drinks pkg, the choice will be Standard drinks pkg. With Go Better, the drink pkg choice will be Classic. With Go Best, the drink pkg choice will be Premium.

 

 

 

The 3rd lower cost Standard drinks pkg wasn't introduced for no reason at all.

 

 

I agree even a blind man can see that coming.

[drakes2]

I wonder why it's confusing for TA's and passengers. I booked a Scandinavia/Russia cruise on Black Friday for $25.00 deposit per person and chose the Go Better promo, with prepaid grats and $ 300 OBC. I booked a guarantee cabin as I felt the price a bit steep; it's a 12 night for $3,500 CDN but I guess when you look at the numbers, $200 each in obc plus free gratuities which was slightly under $200 worked out a better deal. I also got my cabin assignment, the 2D's were sold out so they upgraded me to a 2C which I switched out to the cabin I wanted with huge balcony. Oh yeah, and then they were running an additional sale just for a couple of days with an additional $100 and I was able to take advantage of that as well. I have till mid May when I have to make final payment so will keep checking for price drops but I have a feeling as the months go on they will most likely increase prices. I hope I did ok, it just seems like a lot of money.

I flew home from Miami yesterday and a ta told me that X is planning to drop Go Big.......apparently too confusing for the passengers and travel agents.

[luv2cruisecats]

The competition is fierce...NCL is even offering it now on TA's if you can believe that (we shamelessly booked one!). One explanation is that even though many folks drink a lot more with these most do not. Couple this with the fact that the marginal cost of drinks is no where near the "MSRP price" and it is easy to see why this is a low cost perk. The other perks bundled in these packages are also much less costly to the cruise line than their stated value (other than prepaid gratuities).

 

The key element is that as we enter 2016 there will be many short term "reduced fares" to fill empty cabins...especially in Europe where the fears are growing. If you still feel that Celebrity offers good value for money if the price is right jump on these as they pop up.

[cruisin_ppl]

The competition is fierce...NCL is even offering it now on TA's if you can believe that (we shamelessly booked one!).

 

We cancelled our Nov 2016 Silhouette TA and instead booked the Oct 2016 Royal Princess TA

when they had a "Sip & Sail" promotion which included a drink package.

With our currency (Canadian dollar) losing against the USD every day, it looks like we made a good move.

 

 

.

[Nova Scotia cruiser]

We cancelled our Nov 2016 Silhouette TA and instead booked the Oct 2016 Royal Princess TA

when they had a "Sip & Sail" promotion which included a drink package.

With our currency (Canadian dollar) losing against the USD every day' date=' it looks like we made a good move.

 

 

.[/quote']

 

HI Montreal,

Didn't know Princess quoted in CAD. I have a Silhouette booked for Oct. 16, but not thrilled with X lately. I have an Azamara booked for March in CAD.....really looking forward to it. May switch out the Silly for another line.

[cruisin_ppl]

Didn't know Princess quoted in CAD.

 

Hi NS cruiser

Yes Princess does price in CAD. :)

We've been mostly on Celebrity cruises in the past few years and thought

it wouldn't hurt to give Princess a try. An included drink pkg on a TA is a really nice perk.

We booked it last August and haven't seen the "sip & sail" promotion since.

 

 

:D

[Nova Scotia cruiser]

Hi NS cruiser

Yes Princess does price in CAD. :)

We've been mostly on Celebrity cruises in the past few years and thought

it wouldn't hurt to give Princess a try. An included drink pkg on a TA is a really nice perk.

We booked it last August and haven't seen the "sip & sail" promotion since.

 

 

:D

 

DH and I are born and bred Montrealers........retired to NS, and I love my wine so a beverage package is great for us. Would like to know how you like the Princess, we haven't sailed on a princess since 99.