Suites prices have gone wild

[Doubt It]

19 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You haven’t cruise Celebrity in 7 years and don’t plan to return ,

so why are you in the Celebrity section ?

All your information about Celebrity is useless to someone cruising today 

 

My are we not defensive, hummm.

FYI, I can patronize whatever boards I wish and will continue to do so.

My information is available to be used by anyone and many long time cruisers of Celebrity post and analyze the variances from the past as occurs on all the boards.

You will simply have to cope.

 

[Doubt It]

18 hours ago, basenji56 said:

What are some special itineraries in Caribbean? They often seem to be the same islands. 

A suggestion is the ABC's, the most southern of the island chain that is frequented by cruise lines. They take a while to get to, so often the cruises end up being a bit longer. And the Panama Canal is amazing.

Generally though the mass cruise lines do the same Caribbean islands over and over.

[basenji56]

42 minutes ago, Doubt It said:

A suggestion is the ABC's, the most southern of the island chain that is frequented by cruise lines. They take a while to get to, so often the cruises end up being a bit longer. And the Panama Canal is amazing.

Generally though the mass cruise lines do the same Caribbean islands over and over.

The islands of the West Indies south of St. Maarten are also nice.  But take a long time to get to unless you sail out of San Juan.  

[indy406]

We book Aqua class. We fly business/first class. We're not wealthy but take to heart the sign in our travel agent's office; "Fly first class, if you don't your kids will."

[tomcruiser1234]

Cost of Suites

 

Looked out 18 months and still cant find a reasonably priced suite. $2000 per day for 2 is just ridiculous 

 

We somehow got a Celebrity Suite for 10 nights at $6800 total on the April 26 2023, Summit. That’s $680 per day (total) and they gave $1200 onboard credit. We booked it in early January. 2023. Granted ship is only 2/3 full but suites are gone.   That’s a great price for us with all those perks. 

 

Suites have got to come down in price or verandas here we come.  

 

MSC Yacht Club may even try. Hate to even say that.  We have sailed Celebrity forever. 

[kirtihk]

On 4/19/2023 at 11:04 AM, tomcruiser1234 said:

Cost of Suites

 

Looked out 18 months and still cant find a reasonably priced suite. $2000 per day for 2 is just ridiculous 

 

We somehow got a Celebrity Suite for 10 nights at $6800 total on the April 26 2023, Summit. That’s $680 per day (total) and they gave $1200 onboard credit. We booked it in early January. 2023. Granted ship is only 2/3 full but suites are gone.   That’s a great price for us with all those perks. 

 

Suites have got to come down in price or verandas here we come.  

 

MSC Yacht Club may even try. Hate to even say that.  We have sailed Celebrity forever. 

For this price (or less) you may get a Regent, Ponant, Scenic, Seabourn, and other luxury cruise lines' cruise, and the entire ship will all luxury accommodations (not just some area like a Retreat in Celebrity) will be at your dispose.

Edited April 20, 2023 by kirtihk

[basenji56]

5 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

For this price (or less) you may get a Regent, Ponant, Scenic, Seabourn, and other luxury cruise lines' cruise, and the entire ship will all luxury accommodations (not just some area like a Retreat in Celebrity) will be at your dispose.

It's easier not to change and take a possible risk.  That's what Celebrity is counting on.  

[kirtihk]

15 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

It's easier not to change and take a possible risk.  That's what Celebrity is counting on.  

I'm not sure I understand: change what? a risk of what?

[basenji56]

10 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

I'm not sure I understand: change what? a risk of what?

Change to a different cruise line.  What if it wasn't as good as the Retreat?  Money wasted.  

[Guest 4-2-N-8]

Some will always pay the price for exclusivity.

 

However, I wouldn't call it a class system. I call it a business model.

 

Go with what brings happiness and choose for the memories.

 

If an inside cabin will get you what you want, right on.

 

If a foot stool on your balcony is important, great. Go for that stateroom type.

 

If an exclusive area of a ship is available that is associated with a premium stateroom, wonderful.

 

Just be respectful of others and don't chair hog.

 

🦖

[cangelmd]

40 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

It's easier not to change and take a possible risk.  That's what Celebrity is counting on.  

That’s an interesting perspective, and one that I may ponder. We are considering other lines, mostly because itinerary, and partly price and value - maybe reluctance to take a risk is what holds us back?

[basenji56]

13 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

That’s an interesting perspective, and one that I may ponder. We are considering other lines, mostly because itinerary, and partly price and value - maybe reluctance to take a risk is what holds us back?

Avoiding risk is a basic human characteristic.  I wouldn't risk trying Carnival.  I would risk trying Oceania.  But I might be missing out on the far superior Carnival experience? I'll take that risk.

[kirtihk]

4 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Change to a different cruise line.  What if it wasn't as good as the Retreat?  Money wasted.  

Oh, I see. Of, course, everyone is different.  I don't think it's a risk; it's more like a preference of multiple items to be considered: a ship's size (some like bigger/some like smaller), a number of activities and their type, food variety (Seabourn, for example, offers unlimited 24-hour black caviar) and quality, itinerary (small ship typically offer unique ones unreachable by bigger ships), passenger "category" (smaller ship typically have quieter cruisers so to speak (no children)).

[basenji56]

7 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Oh, I see. Of, course, everyone is different.  I don't think it's a risk; it's more like a preference of multiple items to be considered: a ship's size (some like bigger/some like smaller), a number of activities and their type, food variety (Seabourn, for example, offers unlimited 24-hour black caviar) and quality, itinerary (small ship typically offer unique ones unreachable by bigger ships), passenger "category" (smaller ship typically have quieter cruisers so to speak (no children)).

Why then are people reluctant to try a far superior experience even if they read about it?  

[ISABELLA]

We will be trying NCL Haven for the first time next month. $320/ pp per day.  Will see how Haven will compares to Retreat.

[kirtihk]

2 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Why then are people reluctant to try a far superior experience even if they read about it?  

No idea.  It makes sense to try something new for the same or similar price especially if it offers a potentially overall better experience.  There is nothing to lose.  How much "worse" it might be?!  Sticking with the "routine" limits one's horizon, mind, and vision.

[basenji56]

7 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

No idea.  It makes sense to try something new for the same or similar price especially if it offers a potentially overall better experience.  There is nothing to lose.  How much "worse" it might be?!  Sticking with the "routine" limits one's horizon, mind, and vision.

Because I don't drink (or enjoy caviar), I generally avoid cruise lines that include unlimited high dollar alcohol in the price.  I like smaller ships sometimes.  For the right itinerary, I might be willing to pay for what I won't use.

[kirtihk]

7 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Because I don't drink (or enjoy caviar), I generally avoid cruise lines that include unlimited high dollar alcohol in the price.  I like smaller ships sometimes.  For the right itinerary, I might be willing to pay for what I won't use.

It doesn't matter whether you use or not!  That's my point: - say, you pay the same $600 per person per day on Celebrity (which, by the way, also includes unlimited drink that you pay for being included in that $600) vs Seabourn - as I originally wrote - if a price is very similar, what's difference whether you drink or not and what you don't eat.

[RichYak]

41 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Why then are people reluctant to try a far superior experience even if they read about it?  

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this premise. There seem to be many of us "Celebrity Refugees" branching out to the likes of Azamara, Oceania, and MSC Yacht Club. Even some Zeniths are seeing the light. Even Jim and Iain were planning a Ponant cruise IIRC.

[basenji56]

27 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

It doesn't matter whether you use or not!  That's my point: - say, you pay the same $600 per person per day on Celebrity (which, by the way, also includes unlimited drink that you pay for being included in that $600) vs Seabourn - as I originally wrote - if a price is very similar, what's difference whether you drink or not and what you don't eat.

Yes, true. But I only cruise Celebrity in regular verandas without the drink package. No where near the $600 pp per day. 

[kirtihk]

15 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this premise. There seem to be many of us "Celebrity Refugees" branching out to the likes of Azamara, Oceania, and MSC Yacht Club. Even some Zeniths are seeing the light. Even Jim and Iain were planning a Ponant cruise IIRC.

Ponant is nice!  We've been on 2 cruises with them - Le Soleal (the sistership class) - 12-day Easter Island to Tahiti (March 2020 - it became a Pandemic cruise with no stops after Easter Island) and Le Bougainville (the explorer class - the smallest ship we've cruised with - 184 people only) - 13 day France/Italy/Greece/Turkey.  A special French touch everywhere on the ship...

[kirtihk]

10 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Yes, true. But I only cruise Celebrity in regular verandas without the drink package. No where near the $600 pp per day. 

My original reply was to tomcruiser1234 who stated - "We somehow got a Celebrity Suite for 10 nights at $6,800 total".

[Stockjock]

The market will dictate pricing.  If folks pay those prices, they'll maintain them.  If not, they will be lowered.

 

I wouldn't pay those prices, but that's just me.

[danceswithphones]

Paid $2,400 a day for our EV on the Beyond and that was a bargain compared to today's price! A lot of money to sit around and watch decades old reruns of Keeping Up Appearances. Booked in November of 2021. 

[tomcruiser1234]

What excited us about the Celebrity Suite was it was $6800 including Drinks, gratuities   Plus they gave $1200 on board credit.   So real cost was only $560 per day on the 10 day cruise. Also separate bedroom which is really nice if 1 likes to sleep later in the morning 

 

Aqua class was $4500. Can’t remember how much onboard credit. It was all inclusive $450/day 

 

Veranda Guarantee was $2000 but nothing included. $200/day 

 

These are numbers above we have seen before and depending the occasion we might choose anyone but the point i was trying to make is that the recent increase in cost for a suites has made it not even thinkable for us to consider.  Yes if the prices dont come down we will certainly consider other cruise lines.   

 

I hate to say but $$$ does count. LOL😊