Celebrity gotten expensive.

[FeelingCruisy]

Is it just me or does anyone else here think celebrity cruises prices have gone up substantially recently? We booked a repositioning cruise and paid about $2,000

with all inclusive and refundable deposit only about a month and a half ago. I notice now that is almost the price before all inclusive added in.  This is true for most other cruises that we have been tracking. It seems like the price remain the same but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

Edited May 23, 2022 by FeelingCruisy
Typo

[Arizona Wildcat]

Cruises are priced according to demand.  They might have raised the price because of tons of bookings already or a myriad of reasons.  The price is also likely to fluctuate over time; especially with covid and lots of FCCs.

We booked a 14 day Mediterranean cruise that started at $3200, went to $6500 and finally to $1700.  You never know.

My only advice is book at a price you are satisfied and be happy if it goes down.

[jagoffee]

Even prior to the Pandemic, it was clear to me that Celebrity was driving customers to non refundable rates.  ($100 pp lost with a balance to be applied to. Future cruise).  Given the typical price difference, I am surprised that so many people still book with the refundable rate.

 

Repositioning cruises used to be a bargain, but not any longer.  

[ymncruise]

The cost of fuel has tripled in a short time so I expect the cost will increase. They won’t be able to operate at a loss forever. 

[upwarduk]

43 minutes ago, FeelingCruisy said:

but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

There’s no free lunch.😱

[jelayne]

Prices have been fluctuating a lot in the past 6 - 7 months.  A booking we made last May started at $13K then dropped to  in September $9.9K now it is $22K. 

 

 A more recent booking started at $7.1K and within 10 days 2 price drops took it to $5.7k, now it is up to $7.8k .

[Lastdance]

2 hours ago, FeelingCruisy said:

Is it just me or does anyone else here think celebrity cruises prices have gone up substantially recently? We booked a repositioning cruise and paid about $2,000

with all inclusive and refundable deposit only about a month and a half ago. I notice now that is almost the price before all inclusive added in.  This is true for most other cruises that we have been tracking. It seems like the price remain the same but now you have to pay a lot more to get the all-inclusive. Or is this all in my head?   

It seems like you got a fantstic price for everything included, not to mention a RFD deposit.  I have a b2b/TA for next year on Beyond.  My second cruise for a RFD deposit was on $60 more, so it was a no-brainer to book.  I have never seen that small of a different between both ways to book, but I jumped on it; now it is several hundred!  No, I do not believe that it is all in your mind, as prices can change by the minute!

 

 

[Dolebludger]

It is impossible to find the best cruise “bang for the buck” these days, unless you know the overall quality of the line in the class of rooms you would like, and what you want included (or not) in the fare. It has never been a better time to have a TA who is working for YOU!  Celebrity’s fare structure is confusing, according to what I have read here. We have had two great Celebrity cruises in suites, that included everything like open bar all over the ship, WiFi, priority boarding and disembarking, vallet laundry, etc. but now I read that this does not apply to a suite guarantee, and that there are other exclusions depending on the class of suite. And we realize that some want the lowest cost, even though it doesn’t include much. In our younger days, we took many cruises like that.  The only thing I can figure out on this board is that if you book “cruise only” all you get is a cabin, meals in the MDR and buffet, and nothing else. Dependent on the choice of accommodations chosen on X, This can be quite affordable. But going upmarket from that, we are confused. 
 

Because of the ever changing Covid problems, we are not ready to book just yet. When we are, I’ll just call out TA and tell him where and what we want included. We will let him advise us as to which line and which ship we should book to get us what we want at the best price. The whole thing has become too confusing for me!

Edited May 24, 2022 by Dolebludger

[Whinenowine]

I posted a few days ago that X pricing in certain areas is too high--almost as high as Silversea (both in Baltic and the Med).  Totally different vibe, but I don't think anyone will argue that at the same price X is a better value than Silversea (sky suite vs deluxe veranda suite). I love the E-class but not over Silver Moon!

[FeelingCruisy]

Great to hear all the interesting POVs.   But one thing I did notice is when you go ahead and book, it's much clearer (BJ, crucon, celebrity site) when it's all included or not.  In the past the price is pretty vague as far as I found, what is included or not when booking.  Perhaps that's the new price structure they're talking about.  

[jelayne]

43 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

I posted a few days ago that X pricing in certain areas is too high--almost as high as Silversea (both in Baltic and the Med).  Totally different vibe, but I don't think anyone will argue that at the same price X is a better value than Silversea (sky suite vs deluxe veranda suite). I love the E-class but not over Silver Moon!

Depends on what is important to you.  Silverseas isn’t the type of experience we want, not saying it isn’t great but not our thing,  Good thing there are options.

[miched]

We found last year doing a road trip that we get a better value on the road trip.   Drive to a nice location.   Pay $300 to $400 /night for a hotel.  Get the included breakfast or go out.   Find a nice place for lunch with their specials have some drinks.  In the evening go to a nice dinner and and a nice lounge for drinks where they know how to make a drink.   Could even have left overs from dinner for the next day.  
 

Have drinks available in your room if more required or wanted.    Overall it won’t cost the now avg price of $300/night pp that it will cost on a cruise.     There are also more choices of dining and drinks.    Not limited to what is on board.    Even if we factor in the cost of admission to the attractions it is still cheaper and we are on our own schedule and don’t to follow a lot of regulations, non refundable deposits, and final payments.   
 

It all depends on what you want.   Still like being on the waves.   The yardstick of life is getting shorter so who knows how many more cruises are in the future.   We have have 7 booked thru spring of 2024.  Who knows after that.

 

If we complete those cruises we would need 600 points to get to Zenith.    Will never reach that at our cruise rate and don’t plan on chasing it.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[George C]

Prices always go up and down, my beyond sky suite went up 1k per person shortly after booking it. Also have seen prices go down.

[Ommadawn]

7 hours ago, upwarduk said:

There’s no free lunch.😱

 

Tanstaafl. 🙂

[chemmo]

4 hours ago, miched said:

We found last year doing a road trip that we get a better value on the road trip.   Drive to a nice location.   Pay $300 to $400 /night for a hotel.  Get the included breakfast or go out.   Find a nice place for lunch with their specials have some drinks.  In the evening go to a nice dinner and and a nice lounge for drinks where they know how to make a drink.   Could even have left overs from dinner for the next day.  
 

Have drinks available in your room if more required or wanted.    Overall it won’t cost the now avg price of $300/night pp that it will cost on a cruise.     There are also more choices of dining and drinks.    Not limited to what is on board.    Even if we factor in the cost of admission to the attractions it is still cheaper and we are on our own schedule and don’t to follow a lot of regulations, non refundable deposits, and final payments.   
 

It all depends on what you want.   Still like being on the waves.   The yardstick of life is getting shorter so who knows how many more cruises are in the future.   We have have 7 booked thru spring of 2024.  Who knows after that.

 

If we complete those cruises we would need 600 points to get to Zenith.    Will never reach that at our cruise rate and don’t plan on chasing it.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Agree, much as we love cruising there are other holiday options too. We never have, and never will, see cruising as our only vacation option.

 

Our holiday costs really vary. We are off in a couple of weeks spending £30 per night (for both of us) to put our tourer on a hill with wonderful sea views over the Irish Sea…add on costs a couple of take out meals plus a supermarket shop at the same cost as at home.

 

Then there are villa stays in the Mediterranean. One of my favourite types of holiday, private pool, local restaurants. Choose your time of year and no way near as expensive as a cruise. You can often take several family members with you for very little more than their flight costs.

 

We wouldn’t enjoy a cruise as much as we do if we didn’t vary our holiday diet. It definitely is our most expensive holiday type but it is our decadence…We love the daily changing views, we love visiting new ports and much loved favourites….So nice having a great choice of restaurants without walking, driving or taxiing…

 

There are cruises at present I feel are not worth the price, particularly the newer ships in the Mediterranean at higher suite level so quite simply we will not be booking them. There is a point for all of us where prices are acceptable and the point at which we decide we could have an alternative experience for our £££.

 

We presently have two cruises booked on the same ship, same room, one night difference in length and a massive difference in price. Our Caribbean cruise being substantially cheaper than our Southampton one. In the next few weeks we will start looking for a vacation for October (ish) 2023.  No idea what we will go for. Historically we would have booked a second cruise but you never know, we might just take our tourer back up that Welsh mountain….

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by chemmo

[sgmn]

7 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

 The only thing I can figure out on this board is that if you book “cruise only” all you get is a cabin, meals in the MDR and buffet, and nothing else. Dependent on the choice of accommodations chosen on X, This can be quite affordable. But going upmarket from that, we are confused. 
 

Because of the ever changing Covid problems, we are not ready to book just yet. When we are, I’ll just call out TA and tell him where and what we want included. We will let him advise us as to which line and which ship we should book to get us what we want at the best price. The whole thing has become too confusing for me!

Plus teas, coffee,hot chocolate, iced water flavoured water, 

Plus if Elite or above free alcoholic drinks between 5-7

Plus you can bring two bottles of wine on board per cabin

Plus free bottle of bubbles in concierge class

Plus included entertainment 

If we're in the Med I'm happy with WiFi on land during the long port days with only maybe one or two sea days

Always prepay our gratuities 

Personally I can't drink as much now as when I was younger and happy to just pay as we go for a couple of drinks in the evening 

[B x]

Prices seem very fluid, last week I checked available cabins with a view to upgrading from our booked Sky suite, both a celebrity and royal were showing available, rang our TA who in turn had to ring Celebrity, that took two days, when he came back the prices for both were more than £1,000 per person more than the when I checked the previous day. I went back to check for myself and that was indeed the case. As of yesterday both were still showing as available at the higher price and Sky's almost 2K more than we paid.

[prmssk]

10 hours ago, miched said:

We found last year doing a road trip that we get a better value on the road trip.   Drive to a nice location.   Pay $300 to $400 /night for a hotel.  Get the included breakfast or go out.   Find a nice place for lunch with their specials have some drinks.  In the evening go to a nice dinner and and a nice lounge for drinks where they know how to make a drink.   Could even have left overs from dinner for the next day.  
 

Have drinks available in your room if more required or wanted.    Overall it won’t cost the now avg price of $300/night pp that it will cost on a cruise.     There are also more choices of dining and drinks.    Not limited to what is on board.    Even if we factor in the cost of admission to the attractions it is still cheaper and we are on our own schedule and don’t to follow a lot of regulations, non refundable deposits, and final payments.   
 

It all depends on what you want.   Still like being on the waves.   The yardstick of life is getting shorter so who knows how many more cruises are in the future.   We have have 7 booked thru spring of 2024.  Who knows after that.

 

If we complete those cruises we would need 600 points to get to Zenith.    Will never reach that at our cruise rate and don’t plan on chasing it.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

Have you checked the prices of hotels lately?  We also did a number of land vacations the last two years that were pretty affordable.  Wanting to add a short land vacation to our trips this year, I started looking at hotels in several different areas and had sticker shock.  What was affordable last year is out of my budget this year.

 

I think prices are going up everywhere now that more and more travel is happening.  It's all about supply and demand.

[deliver42]

The prices on just about all the cruise lines seem to have gotten out of hand. I'm glad I booked our 2023 cruises when they first came out. I've saved a lot of money.

[Harrylinden]

EVERYTHING is more expensive now!!!

[TeeRick]

4 hours ago, Harrylinden said:

EVERYTHING is more expensive now!!!

Yes this is the absolute truth.  In the USA inflation is at a 40+ year high.  

[Orator]

As said by others, inflation is with us and prices of travel have risen more than most items. I just wonder if Celebrity's lessening the importance of loyalty and changing their demographics will work in the long run. I'm certain that the Miami bean counters will recommend changes in approach if their current strategy isn't working. Whether formerly loyal cruisers will return to me is questionable.

[Whinenowine]

Agreed--all travel companies will have to redefine their strategy of profit vs loyalty in these crazy times (flying or staying in any hotel these days is a challenge).  My comment above was more about X in relation to other upscale cruise lines. Pricing wise they seem to be lining up more with Oceania/Viking and sometimes even the ultra luxury Silversea-type lines.  I totally agree that price is only one decision point--and for some lucky folks, not even the most important point--but in my opinion X may lose a profitable chunk of their loyal revenue (Retreat guests) if this continues.  Happy to be wrong, but that's the way I see it.

[Orator]

The prices have with AI are now comparable to some cruises on other lines. For example, I'm paying less per day for a TA on Viking in a PV2 than a TA in Aqua Class on Celebrity. Viking includes excursions and Specialty Dinng. The cabin is about 1/3 larger than AQ Class.

[jelayne]

6 minutes ago, Orator said:

The prices have with AI are now comparable to some cruises on other lines. For example, I'm paying less per day for a TA on Viking in a PV2 than a TA in Aqua Class on Celebrity. Viking includes excursions and Specialty Dinng. The cabin is about 1/3 larger than AQ Class.

That’s great if you enjoy Viking.  It’s a different experience and not for everyone.