All inclusive

[jelayne]

3 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

I wonder if they have data on the gelato

No profit on gelato, those who get it for free are the primary consumer 😂  I have never seen a line for gelato, now the ice cream in the OV is another story 

Edited November 25, 2020 by jelayne

[basenji56]

4 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

I wonder if they have data on the gelato

They realized that they were wasting space on the gelato stand on the S class ships. So they incorporated the paid gelato into the free ice cream stand on the Edge class ships.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

They realized that they were wasting space on the gelato stand on the S class ships. So they incorporated the paid gelato into the free ice cream stand on the Edge class ships.

Dude, LOVE your sense of humor...T for Texas, T for Tennessee!!!

[LGW59]

So we made the switch.  Had a suite booked PRE AI, it was a very good deal, with the 4 perks etc.  We decided today to upgrade to a higher level suite.  The cost obviously increased, which we totally expected as going from one level suite to another.  We are Ok with it, if we were not, would not had made the switch under the new AI program.  Only other change is now we have $800 OBC rather than $300.  Missed my 60th bday cruise due to pandemic, and now rolling on 61 yo, by the time we get on board in Aug 2021 I will be rolling on 62...YOLO!!!

[MarinerBoy]

I am still not quite sure to see why people ever book "suites" when you have a lot of time you want to maximize your dollar and your cruising frequency. That means each cruise cabin needs to be economical, your primary spending needs to be strategic. If you see a ocean view or balcony room for 2000/pp for a nice 12 day voyage why would you ever ever pay 3500/pp for a suite? Suites are never worth their value, for people seeking to maximize their cruising experience year after year your number one concern should be how to save money, and that means not booking a suite ever. I mean I never stayed in a suite on a cruise and I been on over 20+ cruises i would never be so careless or fruitless with my money because i understand the industry and room fares well.

[Oville]

27 minutes ago, MarinerBoy said:

I am still not quite sure to see why people ever book "suites" when you have a lot of time you want to maximize your dollar and your cruising frequency. That means each cruise cabin needs to be economical, your primary spending needs to be strategic. If you see a ocean view or balcony room for 2000/pp for a nice 12 day voyage why would you ever ever pay 3500/pp for a suite? Suites are never worth their value, for people seeking to maximize their cruising experience year after year your number one concern should be how to save money, and that means not booking a suite ever. I mean I never stayed in a suite on a cruise and I been on over 20+ cruises i would never be so careless or fruitless with my money because i understand the industry and room fares well.

Because you can, it is as easy as that.

[Oville]

2 minutes ago, Oville said:

Because we can afford to, it is as easy as that.

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Oville

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, Oville said:

 

Bring on the suite life!

[Oville]

Just now, LGW59 said:

Bring on the suite life!

Yes we can, no reason to question our choice,

[MarinerBoy]

1 hour ago, Oville said:

Because you can, it is as easy as that.

 So can everyone else except they choose not to  because they are smarter with their money. I just said that your goal is to maximize cruising yearly  when you go on a cruise in a suite you limit your self to one or two cruises a year, where someone who is not in a suite can go on 2x or double as many cruises on the very same boat and the very same trip as you except they are doing it twice as often and exploring the world at double the rate and living double the life while you are blowing money on a suite that is widely accepted in the cruise industry as the single biggest waste after the casino.

[Gracie115]

5 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

 So can everyone else except they choose not to  because they are smarter with their money. I just said that your goal is to maximize cruising yearly  when you go on a cruise in a suite you limit your self to one or two cruises a year, where someone who is not in a suite can go on 2x or double as many cruises on the very same boat and the very same trip as you except they are doing it twice as often and exploring the world at double the rate and living double the life while you are blowing money on a suite that is widely accepted in the cruise industry as the single biggest waste after the casino.

 

Most everything you say is true.....EXCEPT some of us have no desire to cruise more than a couple times a year...we book suites because it makes the experience more special...and the space is valued much more than the ability to cruise multiple times in an inside/oceanview/balcony.  Michael's Club(Retreat) and Luminae are wonderful perks not attainable if not in a suite.

 

Cruising once or twice a year makes the experience much more special, after all, as Mom used to say "Half the fun is in the planning"  So it's all in what you want out of your vacation.

[leck57]

5 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

 So can everyone else except they choose not to  because they are smarter with their money. I just said that your goal is to maximize cruising yearly  when you go on a cruise in a suite you limit your self to one or two cruises a year, where someone who is not in a suite can go on 2x or double as many cruises on the very same boat and the very same trip as you except they are doing it twice as often and exploring the world at double the rate and living double the life while you are blowing money on a suite that is widely accepted in the cruise industry as the single biggest waste after the casino.

 

Not one of your brightest posts mate. For the record I am with you and I don't book suites but that is my choice. If people want the extra comfort and space of suites why question that? None of our business really.

You could have the same opinion in relation to flying Business Class where those fares are often 3/4 times the cost of Economy. If I had the money, for long flights, which are common from here, I would fly Business a lot but that would reduce the number of overseas trips I would take.

I am sure there are things you buy that many people would consider a waste of money but let's be grateful that everyone is not the same as me, or you.

[sgmn]

On 11/20/2020 at 1:53 PM, basenji56 said:

For fun, check out some equivalent itineraries on Celebrity and Royal.  The price difference will astound you.  If you are Elite and above and if you don't drink or need a Wifi package, you may find that Royal is a better value.

I sometimes use an airlines industry travel agent and their rates do not include these extras.  Looking at the cruise from Southampton with Silhouette  on 26th August.  The difference, once I factor in port fees and tips on the travel agt rate, is £80 per person per night.  So there is no such thing as a free lunch - I'm happy with free drinks - tea, iced water etc - during the day, a couple of Elite drinks in the early evening and then pay as I go for one or two drinks later in the evening.  I don't need WIFI on board as our cruises are usually very port intensive and I can use Wifi on land if needed.  

I am concerned the bars will be absolutely packed out with everyone on the 'always included' deal wanting to get their monies worth and it will be difficult to even get close to the bar.

[ChucktownSteve]

11 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

I hear people on the board calling marketing "over paid" yet I can't think of a service more valuable, more sought after and more impact full than a properly put marketing presentation that takes dozens sometimes even hundreds of hours to compose. In the 21st century business world marketing, data collection and trend research is absolute king. It's why mellenials like my self can afford to travel first class because we have jobs like these which pay so much more than people think.

 

The key is whether the marketing firm knows what they're doing or not.  A huge number of them question the client and just feed boiler plate garbage back to them based upon the client's input. Then they charge an exorbitant rate for that garbage.

 

Based upon your myriad of CC postings, I suspect you may fit in that category. 🤣

Edited November 25, 2020 by ChucktownSteve

[basenji56]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

I sometimes use an airlines industry travel agent and their rates do not include these extras.  Looking at the cruise from Southampton with Silhouette  on 26th August.  The difference, once I factor in port fees and tips on the travel agt rate, is £80 per person per night.  So there is no such thing as a free lunch - I'm happy with free drinks - tea, iced water etc - during the day, a couple of Elite drinks in the early evening and then pay as I go for one or two drinks later in the evening.  I don't need WIFI on board as our cruises are usually very port intensive and I can use Wifi on land if needed.  

I am concerned the bars will be absolutely packed out with everyone on the 'always included' deal wanting to get their monies worth and it will be difficult to even get close to the bar.

I was also able to compare the all included price with a bare bones price.  Same cruise, same day pricing. Even after adjusting for the gratuities, the all included price was $700 more for a seven day Alaska cruise.  Since I don't drink, this didn't appear to be a good value.  If I did drink, it is a bit of discount of the regular price for internet and a drink package.  I booked the bare bones price.  

[ChucktownSteve]

9 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

I am still not quite sure to see why people ever book "suites" when you have a lot of time you want to maximize your dollar and your cruising frequency. That means each cruise cabin needs to be economical, your primary spending needs to be strategic. If you see a ocean view or balcony room for 2000/pp for a nice 12 day voyage why would you ever ever pay 3500/pp for a suite? Suites are never worth their value, for people seeking to maximize their cruising experience year after year your number one concern should be how to save money, and that means not booking a suite ever. I mean I never stayed in a suite on a cruise and I been on over 20+ cruises i would never be so careless or fruitless with my money because i understand the industry and room fares well.

 

To use an analogy; people who have never tasted steak think hamburger is great and good enough

[basenji56]

6 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

 

To use an analogy; people who have never tasted steak think hamburger is great and good enough

That's part of the problem with cruising.  If you start out with a higher priced cruise line, it is very difficult to go to a lower priced cruise line.  If you start out on a fun ship, you can be happy on that ship for a long time. 

[Orator]

14 hours ago, tfred said:

$200K almost sounds low quite frankly with. project this size

 

X has so much data that they look at everyday that outlines who (in a bigger sense of the word) people are, what they spend and what they do onboard.  How much time in the room, out in a bar, excursions etc. They are not making this blindly.  My daughter works for a nationwide venue related company that knows everything about the guest experience - daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly.  They slice the data in 100 different ways

 

They are allowed to take perks away from "cheap elites"  drink free drinks forever and use that money for attracting new pax that will spend money.  They will probably look at annual spend for maintaining status and get away from conferring lifetime perks for only the very top (based revenue)

The pollsters during the last election period had loads of data based on historical voting patterns, interviews, questioners, and tons of research on voting behavior. How did that work out?

[Basketball wife]

Unless Celebrity improves its WIFI capacity and adds servers to all bars including the coffee bar (or a second Café Al Bacio on every ship🤨), I’m not sure how this “Always Included” will work out.
 

We had a 14 day cruise on the Eclipse unexpectedly extended by another 14 days due to COVID during which they gave everyone free WIFI and complimentary drinks. Having purchased the four perks for the cruise, we noticed a huge deterioration in service and availability of premium wines/drinks.
 

Had no problems during the first half of the cruise but as soon as everything was available to everyone, Café Al Bacio was always a zoo, impossible to get served let alone find a seat, the selection of premium wines “disappeared”, martinis were limited, etc. As for the WIFI, I was streaming Netflix and downloading my daily newspapers, but could barely connect to my email afterwards...

[tfred]

24 minutes ago, Orator said:

The pollsters during the last election period had loads of data based on historical voting patterns, interviews, questioners, and tons of research on voting behavior. How did that work out?

not necessarily the same kind of data.  Political pollsters ask opinions ahead of time and then analyze demographics after the election.  

 

X (and all other companies) look for data trends from raw data as well.  They know everything about you (age, status. location) and what you do on board.  They sift all that 18 ways to Sunday looking for trends and preferences.  They then alter their business model based on that as well as focus groups

[Orator]

9 minutes ago, tfred said:

not necessarily the same kind of data.  Political pollsters ask opinions ahead of time and then analyze demographics after the election.  

 

X (and all other companies) look for data trends from raw data as well.  They know everything about you (age, status. location) and what you do on board.  They sift all that 18 ways to Sunday looking for trends and preferences.  They then alter their business model based on that as well as focus groups

Correct me if I'm wrong since I'm not an expert. The data they receive is based on past behavior patterns. They attempt to see how clients have behaved in the past and then project how they most likely will behave in the future and make decisions accordingly. However, if your plan alters one or more of the factors the influence behavior, such as AI or significantly altering price points that can influence conclusions. Or, as they say in stock market recommendations: "Past performance doesn't necessarily indicate future performance. Time will tell whose right and I'll be very happy to have been proved wrong.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

9 hours ago, MarinerBoy said:

 So can everyone else except they choose not to  because they are smarter with their money. I just said that your goal is to maximize cruising yearly  when you go on a cruise in a suite you limit your self to one or two cruises a year, where someone who is not in a suite can go on 2x or double as many cruises on the very same boat and the very same trip as you except they are doing it twice as often and exploring the world at double the rate and living double the life while you are blowing money on a suite that is widely accepted in the cruise industry as the single biggest waste after the casino.

 

How do you know what my goal is?

[Pinboy]

11 hours ago, basenji56 said:

They realized that they were wasting space on the gelato stand on the S class ships.

Agree-- we were there one day to get our " One complimentary scoop of gelato "  but, the young lady put two scoops into the cup. When we said we " graduated " to Elite and thought we were entitled to it complimentary , she took out one of the scoops. ( True story !!!!! ).

What they should do is bring back the crepes and sandwich ( ??? on Five ) where we always went for lunch as soon as we got on board to avoid the " Circus on 14 ".

If I may --- I was in Marketing in the Service Industry for many years ---- IMO, reading the many posts by xxx " claiming " to be in Marketing , I would bet he is not and never will be. His writing ,spelling , terminology, and negative " attitude " are not what I've experienced from others in the Industry.  

( I hope my last statement is within the Guidelines ).

[basenji56]

Regarding the brilliance of marketing people:  I would love to see the data about the very high end shops on the Edge class ships.  How much money do they bring in?  They always looked empty to me but it doesn't take many sales to bring in big bucks.

[TeeRick]

19 hours ago, Orator said:

Sorry to disagree with your position, but I see this move driving away those who have been their core passengers for many years as evidenced from much of the discussion on these boards. They could probably get away with given a few extra perks to suite passengers and substantially raising prices for suites. They have been in great demand before the  suspension of cruising and most likely would continue to be in demand. Those who want "the suite life" will pay almost anything to meet their wants. However the AI pricing, I believe will impact the non suite passenger's decision to cruise with Celebrity. Many of the posters have claimed that the new price structure would price them out of Celebrity. What I would suggest is that Celebrity develop a two tier pricing structure for non suites. On would give passengers an opportunity to purchase a AI cruise at a very good price; the other would be a cruise only option with addons available. Passengers feeling that they have a choice will increase business. I have said for years that Celebrity really lacks PR savvy and I think that the current marketing approach combined with the perception that they don't really care about loyal customers serves to prove what I've been saying. 

I like the suite life but will not pay almost anything for it.