Spring TAs marketing strategy

[Cruise Junky]

The spring TAs seem to be going for a song, Reflection is $799 for a balcony guarantee. Question...would you be more inclined to book one if you could get some kind of deal with a drink package? Say $500 pp added to the price, would that be an incentive to book? Every year the spring crossings seem to go at bargain basement prices, you'd think they'd try something to get higher prices.

[teecee60]

The spring TAs seem to be going for a song, Reflection is $799 for a balcony guarantee. Question...would you be more inclined to book one if you could get some kind of deal with a drink package? Say $500 pp added to the price, would that be an incentive to book? Every year the spring crossings seem to go at bargain basement prices, you'd think they'd try something to get higher prices.

 

The Equinox TA is $679pp for a balcony and the Silhouette TA is $584 for a balcony...:D

 

The Constellation TA is $384pp for an inside... :eek:

 

With free "Elite drinks" every night, I can "splurge" and buy a lot of my own martinis. ;)

[helen haywood]

I prefer the west bound fall TAs. Hopefully the discount trend will continue there!

[Cruise Junky]

The Equinox TA is $679pp for a balcony and the Silhouette TA is $584 for a balcony...:D

 

The Constellation TA is $384pp for an inside... :eek:

 

With free "Elite drinks" every night, I can "splurge" and buy a lot of my own martinis. ;)

 

You my friend are the king of the last minute deals. My question was more what would entice people to book these at higher prices so celebrity didn't have to resort to crazy pricing

[CathyCruises]

You my friend are the king of the last minute deals. My question was more what would entice people to book these at higher prices so celebrity didn't have to resort to crazy pricing

 

We WANT the crazy pricing!!! How else would we get these great deals? We learned our lesson a long time ago. . .

[benbess]

The Equinox TA is $679pp for a balcony and the Silhouette TA is $584 for a balcony...:D

 

The Constellation TA is $384pp for an inside... :eek:

 

With free "Elite drinks" every night, I can "splurge" and buy a lot of my own martinis. ;)

 

Wow! Where are you seeing those prices??

[rose6]

If Celebrity had originally priced these cabins at a more reasonable rate they might not have had to discount the unsold cabins. I believe that this year's prices were higher than the previous year's and the cruises in some cases were fewer days with fewer ports offered. Savvy cruise customers do not want to pay more for less value.

The ships have to be moved to Europe for the summer cruise season in any case, so why does it concern you that unsold cabins are being discounted?

One other issue is that the transatlantics seem to be leaving earlier than last year, many people prefer to go to Europe later in the season because of the weather.

[Cruise Junky]

If Celebrity had originally priced these cabins at a more reasonable rate they might not have had to discount the unsold cabins. I believe that this year's prices were higher than the previous year's and the cruises in some cases were fewer days with fewer ports offered. Savvy cruise customers do not want to pay more for less value.

The ships have to be moved to Europe for the summer cruise season in any case, so why does it concern you that unsold cabins are being discounted?

One other issue is that the transatlantics seem to be leaving earlier than last year, many people prefer to go to Europe later in the season because of the weather.

 

Where did I say it concerns me? I find it interesting that they take an approach that results in a fire sale every year. I would have thought there would be a better way to get passengers interested earlier.

[Cruise Junky]

Wow! Where are you seeing those prices??

 

Couple of online agencies have those prices right now. I saw the $799 directly on X's site for Reflection. I know two or three other TAs are on the exciting deals for next week.

[benbess]

Couple of online agencies have those prices right now. I saw the $799 directly on X's site for Reflection. I know two or three other TAs are on the exciting deals for next week.

 

Are the "exciting deals" direct from Celebrity? I would enjoy taking one of these transatlantic cruises, esp. since it's been a dream since I was a kid—and I'm 51 now! But work prevents it.

 

I wish I could convince my elderly parents to do it. But when I mentioned it to my mom, she said maybe if I came along....

Edited February 27, 2016 by benbess

[Cruise Junky]

Are the "exciting deals" direct from Celebrity?

 

Yep. But also bookable through a TA

[peyroutous]

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Exciting_Deals/XcitingDeals_cel_tues.pdf Edited February 27, 2016 by peyroutous

[az_tchr]

Yep. But also bookable through a TA

 

Every "deal" offered for the cruise fare by a TA can also be booked direct by Celebrity. The difference is a TA (not a TransAtlantic) can offer additional perks after the basic cruise fare is paid.

[Scrappytraveller]

What stops me is they're too early. If they left may 1 I'd be in.

[Cruising Is Bliss]

The spring TAs seem to be going for a song, Reflection is $799 for a balcony guarantee. Question...would you be more inclined to book one if you could get some kind of deal with a drink package? Say $500 pp added to the price, would that be an incentive to book? Every year the spring crossings seem to go at bargain basement prices, you'd think they'd try something to get higher prices.

 

We did an eastbound TA once and never again. The time changes were awful. Losing an hour so many consecutive nights followed by early risings for port intensive Med just about did us in. Love the many sea days on TAs but westbound only.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Cruising Is Bliss

[CathyCruises]

We did an eastbound TA once and never again. The time changes were awful. Losing an hour so many consecutive nights followed by early risings for port intensive Med just about did us in. Love the many sea days on TAs but westbound only.

 

???? By the time you actually get to the Med, the time changes are all over and done with except possibly one depending on routing. We love the Spring TAs for the long days; and we can have a wonderful post cruise adventure in Europe.

[benbess]

What stops me is they're too early. If they left may 1 I'd be in.

 

Same for me. I'm a professor, and last classes are in late April. I could make a May 1st, and in fact Royal C. has one on that date.

 

What does 150% mean on that sheet?

[teecee60]

Every "deal" offered for the cruise fare by a TA can also be booked direct by Celebrity. The difference is a TA (not a TransAtlantic) can offer additional perks after the basic cruise fare is paid.

 

Yours is a very commonly held, long standing belief that is also incorrect... :o

 

Celebrity website has the Constellation T/A at $499/$709/$699, while an online site has it for $384/$464/$609.

 

Celebrity website has the Equinox T/A at $899/$1249/$949, while an online site has it for $704/$739/$679.

 

Celebrity website has Silhouette T/A at $749/$929/$849, while an online site has it for $569/$574/$584

 

Celebrity DOES have "Tuesday Special" prices that are lower than their website price, but even those are still not as low as some prices from online sites...where you don't have to know about the "Tuesday Special secret handshake" like you do at Celebrity. :rolleyes:

 

Numerous Cruise Critic members have posted their experiences calling Celebrity to see if they will match the prices from the online sites and have been told "no." :eek:

 

These lower prices are in ADDITION to extra OBC regularly offered by the online sites... so it DEFINITELY pays to spend a few minutes to "shop around." ;)

[CathyCruises]

Same for me. I'm a professor, and last classes are in late April. I could make a May 1st, and in fact Royal C. has one on that date.

 

What does 150% mean on that sheet?

 

That's the single supplement. Normally singles pay 200% (double) but for the specials you can go for 1.5 times the one person fare. Here is a list of this week's Royal specials. Usually updated Thursday or Friday of the week before. http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf

[benbess]

Yours is a very commonly held, long standing belief that is also incorrect... :o

 

Celebrity website has the Constellation T/A at $499/$709/$699, while an online site has it for $384/$464/$609.

 

Celebrity website has the Equinox T/A at $899/$1249/$949, while an online site has it for $704/$739/$679.

 

Celebrity website has Silhouette T/A at $749/$929/$849, while an online site has it for $569/$574/$584

 

Celebrity DOES have "Tuesday Special" prices that are lower than their website price, but even those are still not as low as some prices from online sites...where you don't have to know about the "Tuesday Special secret handshake" like you do at Celebrity. :rolleyes:

 

Numerous Cruise Critic members have posted their experiences calling Celebrity to see if they will match the prices from the online sites and have been told "no." :eek:

 

These lower prices are in ADDITION to extra OBC regularly offered by the online sites... so it DEFINITELY pays to spend a few minutes to "shop around." ;)

 

Wow. Thanks. Can you mention the site you're talking about? Or send me a message? Or is that forbidden? A hint? Doesn't seem like it's Travelocity....?

[benbess]

That's the single supplement. Normally singles pay 200% (double) but for the specials you can go for 1.5 times the one person fare. Here is a list of this week's Royal specials. Usually updated Thursday or Friday of the week before. http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf

 

Thanks. That's what I thought it meant. Interesting....

[CathyCruises]

Yours is a very commonly held, long standing belief that is also incorrect... :o

 

Celebrity website has the Constellation T/A at $499/$709/$699, while an online site has it for $384/$464/$609.

 

Celebrity website has the Equinox T/A at $899/$1249/$949, while an online site has it for $704/$739/$679.

 

Celebrity website has Silhouette T/A at $749/$929/$849, while an online site has it for $569/$574/$584

 

Celebrity DOES have "Tuesday Special" prices that are lower than their website price, but even those are still not as low as some prices from online sites...where you don't have to know about the "Tuesday Special secret handshake" like you do at Celebrity. :rolleyes:

 

Numerous Cruise Critic members have posted their experiences calling Celebrity to see if they will match the prices from the online sites and have been told "no." :eek:

 

These lower prices are in ADDITION to extra OBC regularly offered by the online sites... so it DEFINITELY pays to spend a few minutes to "shop around." ;)

 

I KNOW which site you like but not seeing those prices. Is that with the military discount?

[teecee60]

I KNOW which site you like but not seeing those prices. Is that with the military discount?

 

All standard prices...they had your Reflection T/A balcony cabins at $749 for the last 4 days, as opposed to the Tuesday Special rate of $799, but they must have sold quite a few because the prices are now up to $624/$674/$949.

 

When balcony prices are LOWER than insides (or within $50) you KNOW there are HUGE numbers of empty cabins remaining.

 

Haven't checked their inventory in a couple of days since we can't take advantage of these itineraries/prices anyway... as Austrian and I are getting ready for the 35 night B2B on Explorer OTS.

 

Did you use the Jersey Girls? Get any OBC? How about shareholder? I know wanting OBC sounds greedy at these prices but...

 

I NEVER thought I'd see prices LOWER than my $449pp for the Reflection T/A two years ago... makes me wonder what's up.

Edited February 28, 2016 by teecee60

[jbuch02]

WRT the wild pricing on East Bound TAs........ I think I understand what is going on here:

 

First, Celebrity assigns groups of cabins to consolidators (the on line booking entities) early on in the booking cycle for TAs. The consolidators don't always sell what's been allotted to them. I believe, or at least I've been told this, that there is a price floor that Celebrity will allow a consolidator to sell the TA cabin for.

 

At some point, and this ALWAYS occurs inside the final payment date for the TA in question, Celebrity will call unsold cabins in the hands of consolidators back and offer them on email specials at lower prices than may have been available previously either as advertised on the Celebrity or consolidator web site.

 

This is true for just about every cruise. Not just TAs. The difference is that on high demand, non-TA itineraries, you won't see a lot of un-booked cabins nor will you see a lot of discounting of these. What you will see is upselling. This occurs when there is high demand for say, OV cabins. If you are booked in one, you may get a call asking you to upgrade to a veranda for X dollars. This might occur from Veranda to Concierge or Aqua to Sky Suite.

 

You may not keep your originally allotted perks if the cabin price being offered is heavily discounted. If you booked with a travel agent you won't get a call from Celebrity. If you hear about this going on, for example, on Cruise Critic, you can ask your travel agent to check for you and you should do this. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't. My sense is that there are not a lot of these and Celebrity likes to keep it simple by phoning those that have booked directly with Celebrity.

 

Be careful. What looks like a great deal may not be. That Concierge Class Veranda port side on Deck 9 may be right under the pool deck smoking area just above.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

We booked an April 2016 TA earlier and when the price dropped we upgraded to CC at no cost after final payment.