Suites prices have gone wild

[miched]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I agree.  As long as folks are willing to pay those prices, they will remain the same.  I've enjoyed several stays in the PH and royal suites, but at prices I considered reasonable.  That appears to be in my past.  I booked a concierge class cabin on my last sailing in January and everything was fine.

Many say once you do a suite it is hard to go back.   NOT TRUE for us.  We have been in suites and went back to a veranda.   Dined in the MDR for breakfast, lunch when available and dinner.  Food was just as good if not better.  The last time in a suite we ordered off of the MDR or Blu menu most nights as the menu for Luminae  didn’t have anything appealing.    I think it is  mostly perceived value, if you pay more it has to be better.  The extra cabin space is nice but a veranda on the slant gives a larger balcony.  

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[D C]

1 hour ago, danceswithphones said:

We are sneakers, jeans, and t-shirts cruisers. I would be uncomfortable on Silversea/Oceania/Regent. Upper level suites on X are my comfort zone. I don't bring any dress clothing whatsoever. Don't even own a belt. Elite after 22 days at sea with X. 

 

Are the others that snooty? 

[danceswithphones]

43 minutes ago, D C said:

Are the others that snooty? 

I don't want to feel out of place. My version of dressing up for dinner is a collared shirt. Even if it is from the Sky Princess. 

 

[tfred]

3 hours ago, D C said:

Why are people sailing in suites on X when actual luxury lines are comparable, or less $ per night?

pretty easy to get to FLL or MIA with a direct , inexpensive flight from almost anywhere in the USA.  Flying to Barbados is an expensive multi stop flight.  San Juan is better but no much in the way of direct flights

 

add all of that together then X looks like an easier deal

[Georgia_Peaches]

4 hours ago, miched said:

Dined in the MDR for breakfast, lunch when available and dinner.  Food was just as good if not better.  The last time in a suite we ordered off of the MDR or Blu menu most nights as the menu for Luminae  didn’t have anything appealing.  

Crazy as it is, one of the reasons I like to book a suite is for the embarkation lunch in Luminae (or any MDR for that matter) vs the OVC. I know if you book concierge class you can dine in the MDR for lunch on embarkation day. On E class concierge rooms all have that virtual balcony bologna so that’s a no go. Bottom line, all I want is a sit down lunch where I am waited on for embarkation day. And I have to agree with you on the Luminae dinner offerings of late… many seem to have lost their luster.  
We are in a porthole balcony soon on the new Ascent. I’m not worried a bit about not being in a suite. But if Celebrity adopts Royals new gig where they have eliminated turn down service outside suites, I’ll have to reconsider. 
 

please pardon my ramblings..

[D C]

4 hours ago, tfred said:

pretty easy to get to FLL or MIA with a direct , inexpensive flight from almost anywhere in the USA.  Flying to Barbados is an expensive multi stop flight.  San Juan is better but no much in the way of direct flights

 

add all of that together then X looks like an easier deal

Splurge on the cruise but skimp on the flight? 

[George C]

Cruise prices are supply and demand, if prices are to high don’t book. We will continue to book suites and fly first class as long as we can but will not necessarily cruise celebrity, worse comes to worse we will spend more time in our backyard pool. Cheers 

[danceswithphones]

8 hours ago, D C said:

Splurge on the cruise but skimp on the flight? 

Just priced Business/First DFW to FLL round trip on AA for two at $2,500. That's the money I hate to spend but what are you going to do? Forward lavatory was out of service on our last flight and I had to make the trek back through Economy. All those sad faces...

[WonderMan3]

On 4/14/2023 at 1:35 PM, binro01 said:

The food in the YC restaurant is quite good. On par with Luminae, now if you go to a MSC specialty restaurant, they are not on par with Celebrity's specialty restaurants. Like I said, the whole ship experience on MSC does not compare with Celebrity.

100% disagree with this. Took two MSC cruises pretty much back to back in 2019 and the Yacht Club restaurant food was mediocre at best. Celebrity MDR was better. MSC’s specialties were better and while not quite as good as Celebrity’s specialties were a welcome option after the disappointing Yacht Club food.

[WonderMan3]

Wow. Hope this thread is a wake up call to Celebrity. Seeing a lot of fellow suites cruisers here who feel like we do that the suite pricing has just gone beyond what they’re worth. I have to imagine there are a lot on non-CC cruisers feeling the same. Makes me wonder if Celebrity is playing games with their inventory and holding back suites cabins at times to make sailings appear to be in higher demand to get people nervous that something will sell out so they give in and book the high pricing? And then any suites they may get stuck with a few months out they start selling off through upgrades? There just seems to be a disconnect here between a number of people giving up on suites and them being full to capacity on every sailing (even when the rest of the ship is not).

[Doubt It]

Obedient consumers are the greatest gift to a business; the business can change key variables to benefit them but they know their beloved obedient consumers will still purchase.

Consumers need to be not obedient and focus only on what is good for them, many do not, get in a loop of repetitive purchasing and thinking points are important. 

Always look at all options and undertake a value for money analysis; financial and non financial considerations.

The price of X suites is ridiculous when you compare to Oceania, Azamara etc where the entire ship is a suite with far better food. 

[TeeRick]

30 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Wow. Hope this thread is a wake up call to Celebrity. Seeing a lot of fellow suites cruisers here who feel like we do that the suite pricing has just gone beyond what they’re worth. I have to imagine there are a lot on non-CC cruisers feeling the same. Makes me wonder if Celebrity is playing games with their inventory and holding back suites cabins at times to make sailings appear to be in higher demand to get people nervous that something will sell out so they give in and book the high pricing? And then any suites they may get stuck with a few months out they start selling off through upgrades? There just seems to be a disconnect here between a number of people giving up on suites and them being full to capacity on every sailing (even when the rest of the ship is not).

Cruising in suites on Celebrity has been a very nice vacation over the years for us.  These absurd suite prices now have made us seek other cruise lines.  Like a lot of Celebrity loyalists here.  I never imagined I would change but that is where we find ourselves.

[George C]

1 hour ago, danceswithphones said:

Just priced Business/First DFW to FLL round trip on AA for two at $2,500. That's the money I hate to spend but what are you going to do? Forward lavatory was out of service on our last flight and I had to make the trek back through Economy. All those sad faces...

That’s the reason we will cruise out of Galveston this November, our first class flight is half what it is to Florida and got a good deal on suite on rccl harmony.

[arealcheapskate]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

Makes me wonder if Celebrity is playing games with their inventory and holding back suites cabins at times to make sailings appear to be in higher demand to get people nervous that something will sell out so they give in and book the high pricing? And then any suites they may get stuck with a few months out they start selling off through upgrades?

 

I think quite honestly if this strategy works, then they should do it. They have an obligation to shareholders to maximise profit. 

 

The upgrade platform plusgrade is brilliant, especially because they get a slew of data along with the bidding that they can then use to gauge the value proposition and what people will pay. 

[binro01]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

Took two MSC cruises pretty much back to back in 2019 and the Yacht Club restaurant food was mediocre at best

The product has changed a lot since 4 years ago. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

100% disagree with this. Took two MSC cruises pretty much back to back in 2019 and the Yacht Club restaurant food was mediocre at best. Celebrity MDR was better. MSC’s specialties were better and while not quite as good as Celebrity’s specialties were a welcome option after the disappointing Yacht Club food.

While food is subjective and I haven't sailed in YC yet, I've found reviews of food on CruiseCritic and Facebook to be overwhelmingly positive. 

[tfred]

14 hours ago, D C said:

Splurge on the cruise but skimp on the flight? 

not always money, but one way flight to Barbados to board a ship are $300-400.  RT ORD FLL are 200-300. Plus the general complexity of flying to Barbados, hotel there etc.  Not difficult, but not as easy as FLL sailings with easy hotels, flights, transfers

[tfred]

4 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Cruising in suites on Celebrity has been a very nice vacation over the years for us.  These absurd suite prices now have made us seek other cruise lines.  Like a lot of Celebrity loyalists here.  I never imagined I would change but that is where we find ourselves.

we booked a 10 day Silversea Italian cruise (Rome-Venice) in f 2024 at the same price as X Suite. SS had smaller ports with excursions included.   SS isn't as casual on board as X but we can deal with that   SS also doesnt have the big nighttime shows but these cruise is more port intensive so I am sure that a full day off ship will put us to sleep earlier than normal. I can survive without Silent Disco this time 

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

Suite prices up all over.  I am doing comparison shopping for a cruise that will hit Rome and Istanbul for later 2024.  After comparing what is included or adding those components in where I would have to buy them myself, I am finding that NCL's HAVEN is coming up best in terms of price, Regent's Seven Seas is running about $10k more (I have to add in for flight deviations, since we are not in a gateway area and want to fly in early/out late), and X for 2 Sky Suites is about $2K less than Regent's, but the Edge Villa is actually $10K MORE than RSSC.  What I am really having to weigh is the itinerary, stateroom and "feel" of the ship.  We have done RSSC and found it quite enjoyable, but it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the larger ships and has restricted dining times.  Dining was superb, but we like the flexibility we have experienced in HAVEN.  This is a graduation present (college, masters) for my son, so want it to be special.  I really like the look of the Edge Villa and the X itinerary is the best, but WOW!  those prices!  (I looked at MSC and RCCL, but they didn't have itinerary during the time I wanted).  O seems to have it, but waiting on pricing to finish my comparison.  (Full disclosure:  1 additional day with NCL and X over RSSC.)

I think there are several things driving the pricing:  the pent up demand from Covid lock downs, the fact that many people have more saved for cruising because they didn't spend it over the past couple of years, and the amount of credits on cruise lines because of cancellations.  I am really hoping that this will settle out over the next couple of years as DH has restricted time off and does not like crowds, so ship-within-ship concept works best for us.

[hcat]

we thought we might try NCL once b/c

it sails from NY and some friends here love it for being very casual.  After looking at some reviews,  we decided to stick with X..

 

We have had only 1  Celeb suite experience on Beyond using fcc. It was nice  but we did  not enjoy Luminae.  Glad we tried Retreat but it is certainly  not a must do for us.. best petk was early  arrival  time and  priority disembark .

 

We are back Aquaclass..those prices are way up too!  

[WonderMan3]

5 hours ago, binro01 said:

The product has changed a lot since 4 years ago. 

Seeing as decline in food quality since the pandemic has been a recurring complaint from pretty much every cruise line (based on posts I’ve seen here and other on forums for Celebrity, Royal, Princess, Holland and NCL) I’m going to have a massively raised eyebrow on that one. I think it’s not that the product has changed in 4 years it’s that customers’ expectations have, i.e. they have lowered.

[prmssk]

11 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Seeing as decline in food quality since the pandemic has been a recurring complaint from pretty much every cruise line (based on posts I’ve seen here and other on forums for Celebrity, Royal, Princess, Holland and NCL) I’m going to have a massively raised eyebrow on that one. I think it’s not that the product has changed in 4 years it’s that customers’ expectations have, i.e. they have lowered.

MSC is not publicly traded and is backed by a huge, very successful shipping company.  They are also aggressively looking to get a larger share of the North American market.  I don't think they are in quite the same situation as the other cruise lines.

 

I have not yet sailed MSC but have two upcoming cruises booked with them so I can't give you a first-hand information yet but there is a noticeable and significant upward trend in the reviews over the last few years.  Additionally, I've read quite a few reviews from people who tried MSC 3-5 years ago and sailed on them again recently who note the improvements.

[Kteacher]

Last suite experience for us was on the Summit last August in a RS. We were definitely underwhelmed. We have a RS booked on Royal Caribbean in a few weeks (lifted and shifted 4 times since 2020), and will be trying MSC YC this June. Open to trying new to us cruise lines.

[Lena11033]

I recently tried SC YC for 1 week it was less than what I paid last year for a solo veranda room on Celebrity for 10 days. I would say the food is hit and miss on YC - I will say avoid the French food, I had the escargot and tarte tartin and they were not the best. But the lobster was like 3 times the size of the one I had on Celebrity so it's a trade off. I found the best food in YC were the Italian style foods (obviously).

 

Anyway due to pricing I booked another YC cruise out of North America instead of Europe like my last one - by booking on board got the extra credit and double points (I was silver because it matched to Celebrity now I'm gold after 1 cruise). But nothing is perfect it's going to be a case of are you ok trading certain things for pricing.

 

 

[George C]

1 hour ago, Kteacher said:

Last suite experience for us was on the Summit last August in a RS. We were definitely underwhelmed. We have a RS booked on Royal Caribbean in a few weeks (lifted and shifted 4 times since 2020), and will be trying MSC YC this June. Open to trying new to us cruise lines.

We liked RS on summit last month it’s a older ship but nice perks and balcony. Rccl royal suite is more or less same size as celebrity penthouse . Edge class definitely has better perks and a great outdoor area that isn’t even offered on rccl.