Any new changes I should be aware of?

[Mynki]

We last sailed Celebrity back in May. We board Connie next week but I haven't really read these boards very much since then. Knowing how frequently X make changes I'm wondering if there's anything that has changed recently that may impact us. We have the classic beverage package included and are in aqua class. I also plan on upgrading to premium once onboard. 

Thanks in advance. 

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, Mynki said:

We last sailed Celebrity back in May. We board Connie next week but I haven't really read these boards very much since then. Knowing how frequently X make changes I'm wondering if there's anything that has changed recently that may impact us. We have the classic beverage package included and are in aqua class. I also plan on upgrading to premium once onboard. 

Thanks in advance. 

Mynki enjoy your cruise on Connie.  No changes- Celebrity will still try to separate you from most of your money.

[DebInAntigua]

9 hours ago, Mynki said:

We last sailed Celebrity back in May. We board Connie next week but I haven't really read these boards very much since then. Knowing how frequently X make changes I'm wondering if there's anything that has changed recently that may impact us. We have the classic beverage package included and are in aqua class. I also plan on upgrading to premium once onboard. 

Thanks in advance. 

You may not get a tote bag, X is beginning to do away with them for non-suite guests. 

[kearney]

You might call and ask if you will have to pay extra on upgrading your beverage package... there is some word about adding $14/day on classic package... I think for gratuities... but we never get a beverage package... so I did not pay close attention... but you might want to call and get that done before you go... sorry I don't know the details

[snyniew]

17 minutes ago, kearney said:

You might call and ask if you will have to pay extra on upgrading your beverage package... there is some word about adding $14/day on classic package... I think for gratuities... but we never get a beverage package... so I did not pay close attention... but you might want to call and get that done before you go... sorry I don't know the details

It's already too late as that went into effect today. Shouldn't be applied to an upgrade on board. Only would be added to an existing reservation if they made a change like add a person, change cabins etc.  Upgrading should be the normal $10+20%

[kearney]

Thanks for that info. We don't usually get a package... 

[Mynki]

19 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Mynki enjoy your cruise on Connie.  No changes- Celebrity will still try to separate you from most of your money.

 

 

Thanks. You know I'm sure I'll end up taking that chateaubriand and grand marnier soufflé bait they dangle before you in Murano again! 

Thanks to everyone else for the replies. I'm glad there's no unwelcome surprises ahead. 

[Mynki]

14 hours ago, kearney said:

You might call and ask if you will have to pay extra on upgrading your beverage package... there is some word about adding $14/day on classic package... I think for gratuities... but we never get a beverage package... so I did not pay close attention... but you might want to call and get that done before you go... sorry I don't know the details

 

I've just read about this. I strongly suspect it will be abolished soon, quite possibly after increases to the cost of the beverage package as I believe many people will feedback complaining about the additional complications when pricing their cruise. 

[kearney]

As an old marketing person.... I sometimes imagine what is going on within a company's marketing department. In the case of Celebrity... I imagine a guy named Fred who came up with the initial idea of a beverage package. Wow what a great idea Fred! Great way to make extra money, here is your promotion. Fred moves on a legend in the marketing department. Mary replaces Fred and is told about the legend of Fred and asked, how are you going to top that! Well Mary, not to be outdone comes up with the idea... 'lets have a premium beverage package! This will not only cover cost of higher cost items... but will make even more $'. Hurray Mary... a promotion for you. Well the pattern continues, Susan gets promotion for specialty dining packages etc. Poor John comes on board... hears the stories of those who went before him... but what can he do... dessert package... naw.. that will never go over.... well how about a separate charge for beverage gratuities... Yeh thats the ticket. Will he get legend status? Only time will tell.

Glad I am out of the corporate rate race.... 🙂 

[Cirdan]

28 minutes ago, kearney said:

As an old marketing person.... I sometimes imagine what is going on within a company's marketing department. In the case of Celebrity... I imagine a guy named Fred who came up with the initial idea of a beverage package. Wow what a great idea Fred! Great way to make extra money, here is your promotion. Fred moves on a legend in the marketing department. Mary replaces Fred and is told about the legend of Fred and asked, how are you going to top that! Well Mary, not to be outdone comes up with the idea... 'lets have a premium beverage package! This will not only cover cost of higher cost items... but will make even more $'. Hurray Mary... a promotion for you. Well the pattern continues, Susan gets promotion for specialty dining packages etc. Poor John comes on board... hears the stories of those who went before him... but what can he do... dessert package... naw.. that will never go over.... well how about a separate charge for beverage gratuities... Yeh thats the ticket. Will he get legend status? Only time will tell.

Glad I am out of the corporate rate race.... 🙂 

 

So they behave not like IT people: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Changes are bad for users and for companies.

[kearney]

30 minutes ago, Cirdan said:

 

So they behave not like IT people: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Changes are bad for users and for companies.

Change is how you make your mark. Ever notice a packaging change on a product? Odds are it was done by a new manager trying to have something to show... If nothing changes... why do they need you at all? You don't get rewarded for maintaining status quo... but growth... but the key is for your changes to actually make customers happy AND increase revenue/profits. But people are measured on a short term basis (did you make your revenue/profit target this quarter or year), generally moving on before longer term impact is known. So ... say you add extra cost to a service.... odds are that the positive revenue impact will be greater than any loss in sales (pissed off customers)... at least in the short term.... Seeing this recent change to beverage package suggests that the team is running out of ideas of products/services that will actually make customers happy and are willing to pay for and they are trying to reach a revenue goal or offset rising costs. Could be that beverage packages are too successful...and costs associated are not being adequately covered by the fees or people drinking more than expected... cutting into 'gratuities' planned for... Now as someone who does not purchase beverage packages... this is fine with me... because the other option is to raise cabin prices... and that would mean a cutback in cruises... at least for me. 😞 

 

[proshopred]

The new $ 14 "tax" only applies to reservations made AFTER 10/10.....If the "complimentary" beverage was one of your "free" perks for a reservation made BEFORE 10/10.....the new policy will not effect you....Happy Cruisin'

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, kearney said:

As an old marketing person.... I sometimes imagine what is going on within a company's marketing department. In the case of Celebrity... I imagine a guy named Fred who came up with the initial idea of a beverage package. Wow what a great idea Fred! Great way to make extra money, here is your promotion. Fred moves on a legend in the marketing department. Mary replaces Fred and is told about the legend of Fred and asked, how are you going to top that! Well Mary, not to be outdone comes up with the idea... 'lets have a premium beverage package! This will not only cover cost of higher cost items... but will make even more $'. Hurray Mary... a promotion for you. Well the pattern continues, Susan gets promotion for specialty dining packages etc. Poor John comes on board... hears the stories of those who went before him... but what can he do... dessert package... naw.. that will never go over.... well how about a separate charge for beverage gratuities... Yeh thats the ticket. Will he get legend status? Only time will tell.

Glad I am out of the corporate rate race.... 🙂 

Interesting perspective.  My additional contribution on what you describe- after all of the marketing people got promotions, awards and free trips, the CFO's office noticed that they were losing money!  That's what drives the cost increase here.

[villauk]

7 minutes ago, proshopred said:

The new $ 14 "tax" only applies to reservations made AFTER 10/10.....If the "complimentary" beverage was one of your "free" perks for a reservation made BEFORE 10/10.....the new policy will not effect you....Happy Cruisin'

 

 

Yes, unless you make any changes to those reservations from prior to the 10th at a later date.

[Northern Aurora]

I am posting from the Constellation.  We boarded on October 1st to start a B2B2B.  So far all is going well -- the ship has a happy upbeat vibe to it.  Just don't expect that special Murano soufflé (which I also love) as there is no Murano on the ship.

[kearney]

14 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Interesting perspective.  My additional contribution on what you describe- after all of the marketing people got promotions, awards and free trips, the CFO's office noticed that they were losing money!  That's what drives the cost increase here.

 

 

One guy getting a 20% bonus... probably wouldn't impact things.... but a decline in purchase of drink packages to the point where drink package revenue declines, would be noticeable. Will be interesting to see if this extra fee holds remains in place... seems high to me.

 

Did a quick calculation... the extra $14/day/pp for 'gratuities' translates to an 18% tip on a daily expense of around $78/day/pp. If the highest drink covered (classic) is $9.. that equates to nearly 9 drinks/day/pp. That seems like quite a lot as an average. Now if they follow this fee up by raising the cost per drink.... well that brings it more in line.... look for a price increase for those purchasing individual drinks... just a guess on my part.

[snyniew]

6 minutes ago, kearney said:

Did a quick calculation... the extra $14/day/pp for 'gratuities' translates to an 18% tip on a daily expense of around $78/day/pp. If the highest drink covered (classic) is $9.. that equates to nearly 9 drinks/day/pp. That seems like quite a lot as an average. Now if they follow this fee up by raising the cost per drink.... well that brings it more in line.... look for a price increase for those purchasing individual drinks... just a guess on my part.

That math isn't correct. 18% on the drink package of $59 is only $10.62. Not sure how they came up with the $14 as it doesn't seem to be gratuities which currently are 20%. $14/day equates to almost 24%. Also when looking at drinks/day you are thinking just alcoholic drinks. I will drink 4-5 bottles of water if not more a day, specialty coffee, pop along with the others and that does work out in my favor for the drink package. 

[kearney]

Good point on the other drinks.... I am not a specialty coffee, water or soft drink drinker... just the captains club cocktail hour and ocean view beverages.... I backed into that assuming that if the $14/day is gratuities... and as I recall we were charged 18%... that would equate to a daily drink expenditure of $78 (ignoring package).... the most expensive drink on classic is $9.... so that is about 9 expensive drinks a day..... and more if you adjust for specialty coffees..... what about $5? Looks like the new charge is based on some estimated usage vs package cost.... At least that is my interpretation. 

[Luvcrusn]

As I understand the $14pppd charge from my TA, the charge is added onto the cost of the cruise when someone chooses the Classic beverage package as a perk (after 10/10/2019), not added onto your account daily once onboard.

[villauk]

1 hour ago, Luvcrusn said:

As I understand the $14pppd charge from my TA, the charge is added onto the cost of the cruise when someone chooses the Classic beverage package as a perk (after 10/10/2019), not added onto your account daily once onboard.

 

 

Correct, it’s charged at time of booking.

[Mynki]

2 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

I am posting from the Constellation.  We boarded on October 1st to start a B2B2B.  So far all is going well -- the ship has a happy upbeat vibe to it.  Just don't expect that special Murano soufflé (which I also love) as there is no Murano on the ship.

Yep. I forgot Ocean Liners were replaced with Tuscon. Ah well. :)

[Luvcrusn]

2 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Correct, it’s charged at time of booking.

Thanks for confirming. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the $14pppd charge and quite a bit of misinformation about it. I was beginning to think I was wrong (silly)!😜

[Mynki]

2 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Correct, it’s charged at time of booking.

It doesn't appear to be showing on the UK website. Is this a US thing with the $14 pp/pd being 'hidden' in the UK cruise fare do you think? 

[Luvcrusn]

2 minutes ago, Mynki said:

It doesn't appear to be showing on the UK website. Is this a US thing with the $14 pp/pd being 'hidden' in the UK cruise fare do you think? 

I have no access to the UK site, but maybe do a mock booking and add the beverage package as a perk and see if the cost jumps by $14 per person per day to find out. The charge in the US became effective applied to new reservations made on or after 10/10/2019 when the passengers chose the beverage package as a perk. The charge is added to the cost of the cruise.

[villauk]

50 minutes ago, Mynki said:

It doesn't appear to be showing on the UK website. Is this a US thing with the $14 pp/pd being 'hidden' in the UK cruise fare do you think? 

 

 

Yes, I think it possibly will be ‘hidden’ over here.