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If the rumours are true that Celebrity will become an all inclusive cruiseline...


Quo Vadis?
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1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

I was on the Equinox last fall, saw nothing like this at all.  I suppose all sailings vary.  

Have never ever seen more than a table by Oceanview or MDR except on boarding.  Walked by.  Sorry some felt it was intrusive.  SPA would ask me once of twice on my way to exercise.  After a couple no thank you comments they would simply give a greeting 

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36 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Clearly they have done many market studies and made a conscious decision to compete with the luxury market (though I already feel they are there with Edge and Apex) and they are appealing to a more affluent and younger market of folks.  It is a gamble one that I feel will be met with great success.  Then again, I love to gamble.🃏🎲

I feel they will have to shrink the amount of ships they have.  They will be able to fill some of their ships but not all with what the new pricing will be.  I couldn’t decide to lift and shift for my Jan Connie cruise or take the FCC.  This has helped me decide to L&S because I will never get that price again in the Retreat.  

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2 minutes ago, riredsox said:

I feel they will have to shrink the amount of ships they have.  They will be able to fill some of their ships but not all with what the new pricing will be.  I couldn’t decide to lift and shift for my Jan Connie cruise or take the FCC.  This has helped me decide to L&S because I will never get that price again in the Retreat.  

Agree on the reduction of some of the older ships.  Summit has been edgeified, so no doubt they will keep sailing her.  I did a L&S on Summit, from Jan 2021 to Jan 2022.  Was able to get the exact same Retreat suite for same price, give or take a few $, was very pleased with that.  I have 2 upcoming on Apex in May 2021, have not L&S yet.  Kind of holding off as it is a combo TA & Europe, those late 2021 early 2022 itineraries aren't posted yet. I suppose I will need to keep my eyes open as soon as they are and make a beeline to do so, along with all the rest of us!

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1 hour ago, Pinboy said:

The Cruise Line should make sure there is a profit or not offer the cruise at that price point.

People shouldn't have to pay for something that they will not use. Liquor, as an example , is a costly add-on for non-drinkers.

However, IMO--- Gratuities should always be included in the price, with absolutely no possibility of removing them --- period.  I've seen and read enough on CC where some people find an excuse to " stiff " the Staff. 

 

 

 

hotels don't really make money off of a room for rent.  They money comes from add on events - sales meetings, weddings, groups.  That is the same as a cruise line   Selling only cabins would put you in , well, Holland America territory. Older, smaller ships with no new build schedule

 

Now is the time to start a new program with all the cruise lines.  They have been out of business for months and now is the time to reshuffle the deck(s).  

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58 minutes ago, tfred said:

hotels don't really make money off of a room for rent.  They money comes from add on events - sales meetings, weddings, groups.  That is the same as a cruise line   Selling only cabins would put you in , well, Holland America territory. Older, smaller ships with no new build schedule

 

Now is the time to start a new program with all the cruise lines.  They have been out of business for months and now is the time to reshuffle the deck(s).  

Could not agree more!!  Celebrity of course wants to remain viable, they recognize, even after all they have heard from us older cruisers (both positive and negative), the market is changing and they plan to be on the cutting edge of it.  I do believe their amazing new class and open modern design of these ships, introducing AI will appeal to the demographic intended and keep a few of us old timers (speaking for myself) cruising with them for many years to come.  No more velvet curtains and crushed velvet seats for me!  IMO, good on them.

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5 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:


They will also need to pull back on the constant, and intrusive, hard sell for ancillary items like specialty dining and spa treatments. It was so bad on my last two Celebrity cruises that I switched to Holland for my Alaska trip in 2019 and didn’t even consider them in my 2020/21/22 planning.

I agree!  I have been on over 60

cruises and I was shocked by the hard sell on both Celebrity and RCL this

past year. RCL was the worst!  Every evening in the MDR no fewer that 7 people stopped at our table to sell something..it was awful!

A friend that works for RCL gave us a private behind the scenes tour of the galley and realized why we were getting such a hard sell. They had list on the wall tallying every employees goals for

each week!   I asked

what happened If employees did not achieve these goals and was told “you weren’t supposed to see that “  Eventually i

was told that the severs had to reach goals

for up selling or they face disciplinary actions. Our servers told us they try to help

each other reach goals. 

 

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2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Could not agree more!!  Celebrity of course wants to remain viable, they recognize, even after all they have heard from us older cruisers (both positive and negative), the market is changing and they plan to be on the cutting edge of it.  I do believe their amazing new class and open modern design of these ships, introducing AI will appeal to the demographic intended and keep a few of us old timers (speaking for myself) cruising with them for many years to come.  No more velvet curtains and crushed velvet seats for me!  IMO, good on them.

I was raised by middle class professional parents that grew up during the depression and taught me to work hard, earn and save, but especially not to waste and seek value when purchasing anything.

 

I can afford to stay in five star hotels and fly first class, but rarely do that.  I prefer driving a 12 year old Ford, stay in B&Bs and fly tourist.  

Regarding cruising, I started cruising on NCL and loved it.  However, after a couple of NCL cruises, I discovered Celebrity.  Celebrity was special, very little hard sell, well designed ships, great service and better dining.   In the last 10 years, Celebrity has dropped from a rating (1-10) from a 9 to a 8.5.   However, I still prefer Celebrity.   Royal Caribbean is my next favorite and I give them a 7.5 and NCL a 7.  Still, we cruise for the itinerary and price is a significant factor.

 

NCL has gone to price bundling that has made it less competitive, but Celebrity and Royal are still willing to sell without perks and high prices.   If Celebrity goes with mandatory bundling, I will consider them, but if the don't have the value, screw them.

 

I see posts on these boards that demonstrate many people want the beverage packages (not because they drink 12 drinks a day), but because they don't want deal with paying for individual drinks.   Sure, some drink expensive drinks and drink more than we do, but what is wrong about checking your alcohol costs on a cruise and then checking against the cost of a beverage package.   It is easy to do.   Prior to becoming elite, we would normally spend $500-600 on booze for a two week cruise.  Now, we spend about $300-350 since we have the free happy hour.   No way I want a drink package that raises the price by $70-90 a day.

 

Perhaps I am cheap, but we did a cruise from Chile to San Diego and Celebrity had an excursion to Cusco and Machu Picchu for over $3000 per person.  I found a private tour for us prior to that cruise for $799 each that was better than what Celebrity offered (also, airfare from Lima to Cusco and return was less than $200 each).  

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