Guarantee Verandah vs.Guarantee Concierge

[NHCRUISIN]

Currently booked on a Verandah Guarantee and for $300 more ($150pp) we can upgrade to a Concierge Guarantee, the verandah gets 2 free perks and $400 obc while the Concierge gets all 4 perks and $300 obc....having never done a Concierge is it worth upgrading?

[FlorenceItaly]

Currently booked on a Verandah Guarantee and for $300 more ($150pp) we can upgrade to a Concierge Guarantee, the verandah gets 2 free perks and $400 obc while the Concierge gets all 4 perks and $300 obc....having never done a Concierge is it worth upgrading?

 

How long is the cruise? Doing the math is the best way to figure if it is worth it or not. CC gives you 5 points per day, versus 3 points with the Verandah. If you are working towards Elite this may be worth it to you. Let me know what you decide.

Edited August 21, 2016 by FlorenceItaly

[gergles]

It's clearly worth it if you actually do get all 4 perks on the CC booking, since one of the perks is another $300 OBC which would be $600 total if your TA is giving you $300.

 

If you only get $300 OBC total if you do the upgrade, then it depends on how much you value Internet, since I assume you'd pick tips & drinks for the 2 perks on the current booking (again, unless you picked OBC and that's already part of the $400 you're getting for the current booking). It's really confusing to figure out what you have now based on the amounts you listed.

[NHCRUISIN]

It is a seven day cruise. With the Verandah our two perks we picked were $300 obc and drink package, With the Concierge package we get all 4 perks, the unlimited internet we could take or leave, gratuities I'm guessing would be around a $200 value ($100pp) and an upgrade in the beverage package that we were considering to upgrade. Not sure of that value.

[NHCRUISIN]

It's clearly worth it if you actually do get all 4 perks on the CC booking, since one of the perks is another $300 OBC which would be $600 total if your TA is giving you $300.

 

If you only get $300 OBC total if you do the upgrade, then it depends on how much you value Internet, since I assume you'd pick tips & drinks for the 2 perks on the current booking (again, unless you picked OBC and that's already part of the $400 you're getting for the current booking). It's really confusing to figure out what you have now based on the amounts you listed.

 

No obc from travel agent...just $300 from perks, not sure why we got an addl $100 with verandah package. We picked $300 obc and drink package as our original 2 perks as the $300 was more than tips.

[gergles]

No obc from travel agent...just $300 from perks, not sure why we got an addl $100 with verandah package. We picked $300 obc and drink package as our original 2 perks as the $300 was more than tips.

 

In that case then it's kind of a tossup, as for an extra $300 you'd get:

 

- tips (14*7*2 = $196 - but minus the extra $100 OBC that shows up, only worth $96)

- internet (this is really the question on how much you think it is worth to you)

- the extra captain's club points

- potentially a better location (some of the CC rooms are in more desirable locations)

- you might get the premium drinks package instead of the classic one if they're treating this a full go best booking, which is worth another (11.8*7*2 = $165.20)

[FlorenceItaly]

CC tips 14.00 pp, per day - $98 pp($196)

Upgrade to Premium for 7 day approx. 165 TOTAL for 2

 

Very interesting that the CC includes all 4 perks. I have never come across this.

[NHCRUISIN]

In that case then it's kind of a tossup, as for an extra $300 you'd get:

 

- tips (14*7*2 = $196 - but minus the extra $100 OBC that shows up, only worth $96)

- internet (this is really the question on how much you think it is worth to you)

- the extra captain's club points

- potentially a better location (some of the CC rooms are in more desirable locations)

- you might get the premium drinks package instead of the classic one if they're treating this a full go best booking, which is worth another (11.8*7*2 = $165.20)

 

Yes it is a full go best, and the drink package would upgrade to premium

[Travel Pat]

I came across this today too. For my sailing, it was $200pp. I decided to stick with the guarantee verandah. I had already planned to allocate $190 of the $400 OBC to tips....(I, too, haven't figured out why it's a full $400 and not just $300 due to my selecting the $150 per person OBC as one of my perks???). That leaves me $210 in OBC for extras and we will most likely do an excursion with that. To be honest, I didn't want to spend any more money to get things that I probably would not choose to buy on board anyway. It was tempting though [emoji51]

 

 

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[Mynki]

CC tips 14.00 pp, per day - $98 pp($196)

Upgrade to Premium for 7 day approx. 165 TOTAL for 2

 

Very interesting that the CC includes all 4 perks. I have never come across this.

 

I suspect they have a glut of CC cabins to sell and are improving the value of these bookings in order to sell them. But I've not seen this before either.

 

Then again I saw one TA offering additional OBC on suites if booked within the next two days only yesterday. I've not seen that before either.

[cle-guy]

There was a thread a week or ago whee someone could get all 4 perks on standard cabins in the website, but calling in could not.

 

Eventually we determined that there as a glitch on website that was showing the "Suites are Best" deal on standard cabins, but the phone centers couldn't book it.

 

That poser eventually emailed the screen shots they had and the center booked them.

[Sammigar]

When booking, I always work any cabin and package pricing from what it would cost to upgrade to there from the least expensive inside cabin. As you build on, you can see which deal actually saves you money because each is built on the same base. Then you know how much the difference is between balcony and CC and can make an informed decision if you want to spend the money to get there.

 

Also, when OBC is involved, make sure you spend it all on your cruise and you spend it on something you'd be doing anyway - like shore excursions or specialty dining (if you do that normally without the OBC).

 

One more thing to factor in with upgrade to the drink package: if you normally book the classic package and it works fine for you, you're not really gaining anything by the upgrade. If however, you keep getting told that the drink you want is not on your package, or you keep bypassing Crush because you know the martinis you want to drink are not on your package, or you're resorting to a cheaper glass of wine every night at dinner, then the upgrade becomes worth it.

[CELTICGIRLCRUISER]

If booked in the last couple of days the extra $100 OBC is a 5 day sale extra perk this week but not on CC/AQ.

[NHCRUISIN]

Looks like we decided to go with the Concierge, tips included saved us approx. $200-$100 from loss of ship credit was a net of $100,

Since we were going to upgrade our drink package anyway that was a savings of $162 and we can use our $300 ship credit to do a specialty restaurant or two, it looks pretty close to break even and for the better room, concierge service , Internet and increased CC points, seemed like the right call, thanks for everyone's help and input!!

[Travel Pat]

Enjoy!

 

 

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[Von & John]

Enjoy - we've always enjoyed CC, we select it when the upsell has been reasonable.

[Travel Pat]

I changed my mind! Today the price of upgrading to a concierge level guarantee cabin dropped to $150pp for our sailing, so I went ahead and did it. My analysis was essentially the same as NHCRUSIN. It's now better than break even with getting all 4 perks since we had decided to definitely upgrade our beverage package. Thanks for the info!

 

 

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[capecodmercury]

It is a seven day cruise. With the Verandah our two perks we picked were $300 obc and drink package, With the Concierge package we get all 4 perks, the unlimited internet we could take or leave, gratuities I'm guessing would be around a $200 value ($100pp) and an upgrade in the beverage package that we were considering to upgrade. Not sure of that value.

 

If you are already planning on upgrading to the premium drinks anyway, then go for Concierge.

[easyboy]

I changed my mind! Today the price of upgrading to a concierge level guarantee cabin dropped to $150pp for our sailing, so I went ahead and did it. My analysis was essentially the same as NHCRUSIN. It's now better than break even with getting all 4 perks since we had decided to definitely upgrade our beverage package. Thanks for the info!

Nice to know.