Future booked cruises with All Included? Tips no longer included.

[mnocket]

31 minutes ago, the penguins said:

You will note that X does not promote this as "All Inclusive" and indeed has never done so. X's heading is correct the offering is "All Included drinks and WiFi"

Now if only X would make the tips part of the basic cost (exactly as they do in Australia/New Zealand) it would all be even simpler.

The new system will make it easier for X to offer discounts as it totally controls drinks and WiFI whereas the tips were a fixed element.

The speculation that X will not reduce "All included"  prices by the cost of the tips is just that "speculation" and if they don't they will rightly face total condemnation.

 

Nice try, but it doesn't really include all drinks does it?

Edited August 29, 2023 by mnocket

[georgiaguy]

Also there is another thread that was starting right around the time of your post addressing this.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by georgiaguy

[Jim_Iain]

18 hours ago, neverlaysup said:

I hope the AI pricing is reduced by at least $15 a day to compensate for this.....we all know it won't!!!!

 

My personal opinion is that it would be impossible to see or even track, with all of the fake sales.   It might be interesting to check prices and re-price without the tips it if proves to be a lower rate.

[poffles]

32 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

More people will be booking cruise only.  No way new perks worth $150/pp per day.

 

Agree 100% .. many like me do not want wifi so AI becomes just the drinks so the math becomes much clearer.  Even if a person might consume that in a given day, everyday a person would be unlikely to drink enough coffee, water and alcohol to cover the cost paid.  Unless the cost is going to go down ... HAHAHAHAHAHA

[neverlaysup]

Just now, Jim_Iain said:

 

My personal opinion is that it would be impossible to see or even track, with all of the fake sales.   It might be interesting to check prices and re-price without the tips it if proves to be a lower rate.

I was going to mock book a few different ships and cabin categories to see the initial differences. It's not perfectly scientific given supply and demand pricing changes but if I look on the 2nd and the 5th and compare pricing for identical amenities, we should see the initial changes. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Expect no price breaks.  This is a back door price increase pure and simple.  Removing Gratuity and the onboard credit from the retreat package is really a poor look for Celebrity and devalues the product even further compared to true luxury products like Seabourn, Silversea and Regent

Edited August 29, 2023 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Random Cruizer]

Celebrity already annoyed me this summer by lowering the Classic package to $10 drinks and making me sign slips etc. for Pina Coladas.  With grats out of AI--I now see no reason for the package.  I'll just pay for my cans of coke zero and glasses of wine as a I go and the grats at the end.  No real need for internet at sea when I can use it in ports.  I'm not sure how much I'll be cruising with Celebrity going forward.  I liked the convenience of AI more than anything related to cost, and they've just made it all a more inconvenient.  Add that to a dining experience on Beyond last month that did not equal either of my cruises last summer, and I'm saying "meh" to Celebrity.

[dlh015]

I think Celebrity actually believes that they *can* squeeze blood from a stone...

[kywildcatfanone]

Just now, dlh015 said:

I think Celebrity actually believes that they *can* squeeze blood from a stone...

They can as long as people just shrug and pay it anyway.  The only thing that will get anyone's attention is lower bookings and at least for now, that isn't happening, so make weekly changes and cuts.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

19 hours ago, weregoingcruising said:

Where is this on the Celebrity web site?

Here's the flier about it. Not sure if it's on the website 

[jelayne]

6 minutes ago, Random Cruizer said:

Celebrity already annoyed me this summer by lowering the Classic package to $10 drinks and making me sign slips etc. for Pina Coladas.  With grats out of AI--I now see no reason for the package.  I'll just pay for my cans of coke zero and glasses of wine as a I go and the grats at the end.  No real need for internet at sea when I can use it in ports.  I'm not sure how much I'll be cruising with Celebrity going forward.  I liked the convenience of AI more than anything related to cost, and they've just made it all a more inconvenient.  Add that to a dining experience on Beyond last month that did not equal either of my cruises last summer, and I'm saying "meh" to Celebrity.

The limit was raised from $9 - 10.  I have been drinking Pina Coladas without signing a slips.  Unless you are asking for it to be made with a liquor from the premium package or ordering the Sunset Pina Colada which is made with Barcardi 8 then there should be no charge.  Order a Pina Colada and remind them you have the Classic package.

[Jeremiah1212]

42 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

I'm not holding my breath that X is going to lower fares commensurate with the loss of gratuities and OBC.  Maybe they will for a few weeks initially to appease the faithful.  Long-term?  Not a chance.

 

Not a chance they lower prices. 

 

Using 2024 numbers as an example since it's all I have access to. I know this is imperfect since not all suites always sell out, MoveUp bids do not get OBC, TA bookings likely have a lot more OBC etc, but I cannot account for those variables.  

 

93,045 suites available to fill in 2024. 

That equates to $55.8 million in OBC if each suite received $600.

 

On the other hand concerning gratuities:

4,556

cruise nights in 2024 

Average of $19.80 per pax per night 

At 100% occupancy on every sailing, total gratuities for 2024 would be $15.3 million. 

 

I know I am over simplifying this, but they aren't going to tweak a promo to save $70+ million dollars then turn around and reduce prices. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Jeremiah1212

[terrydtx]

8 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

They can as long as people just shrug and pay it anyway.  The only thing that will get anyone's attention is lower bookings and at least for now, that isn't happening, so make weekly changes and cuts.

For many it makes the decision to jump ship and cruise elsewhere much easier.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Not a chance they lower prices. 

 

Using 2024 numbers as an example since it's all I have access to. I know this is imperfect since not all suites always sell out, MoveUp bids do not get OBC, TA bookings likely have a lot more OBC etc, but I cannot account for those variables.  

 

93,045 suites available to fill in 2024. 

That equates to $55.8 million in OBC if each suite received $600.

 

On the other hand concerning gratuities:

7,413 cruise nights in 2024 

Average of $19.80 per pax per night 

At 100% occupancy on every sailing, total gratuities for 2024 would be $24.8 million. 

 

I know I am over simplifying this, but they aren't going to tweak a promo to save $80+ million dollars then turn around and reduce prices. 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you.

[Random Cruizer]

11 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The limit was raised from $9 - 10.  I have been drinking Pina Coladas without signing a slips.  Unless you are asking for it to be made with a liquor from the premium package or ordering the Sunset Pina Colada which is made with Barcardi 8 then there should be no charge.  Order a Pina Colada and remind them you have the Classic package.

 

Interesting...I went to 2 or 3 bars that didn't make frozen drinks before going to the Sunset bar, thinking that was my only choice.  Guess I should have gone to the Mast Bar.  At any rate, none of the bartenders who told me they couldn't help me advised me on where to go instead or where I could find the drink I wanted.  I found the bartenders to be the only less than friendly staff on the whole ship.

 

The guys in sunset knew I had the classic package, they had my card--they didn't ask me anything, just made an expensive drink and made me pay for it.

[Random Cruizer]

15 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The limit was raised from $9 - 10.  I have been drinking Pina Coladas without signing a slips.  Unless you are asking for it to be made with a liquor from the premium package or ordering the Sunset Pina Colada which is made with Barcardi 8 then there should be no charge.  Order a Pina Colada and remind them you have the Classic package.

 

And all I know is that I was paying $1.20 for drinks that were free with Classic package one year ago.  two cruises last summer, no charge for a frozen drink including in the Sunset Bar.  This summer--they were charging me.  There have been changes--I've personally experienced them.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

6 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Why are they taking out tips?  Because tips don't benefit the passengers and that way they can keep the same pricing and hope people don't figure out that they in essence just raised the prices again and hope you don't think about it that way.  I am very concerned about the staff also.  It will be much easier for people to identify the tip amounts and try to eliminate or reduce them, especially perhaps people from other countries whose traditions do not include tipping.  I know experienced cruisers realize how the tip situation works, regardless of their own traditions, but I'm concerned that the brand new cruisers won't know much about how pricing and tipping works on cruises and will end up shorting the staff.  I hope I am not offending anyone, as I don't mean they would deliberately try to hurt the staff, but they may not take the time or make the effort to understand the cruising process enough to realize how much the staff depends on that money for income.

 

With cruisers now having to pay tips either on top of their cruise fare or on their account at the end of the cruise I'm wondering how many will tip "extra" like many do now. 

[burrma]

8 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

Just another move to become more "Royal" like.  Royal doesn't include gratuities except possibly on their very top suites, which are very few.  Every move that's been made just makes the 2 lines more and more alike.  Still waiting for the one that states "We are now proud to present our new company, Royal Celebrity, with all ships from both companies included" 

 

Celebrity is just SO disappointing, we have nothing booked with them for the first time in 25 years.  I keep sticking around here hoping to read about some positive changes but the opposite just keeps happening.......

Hope they see a huge decrease in bookings!

17 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Here's the flier about it. Not sure if it's on the website 

My travel agent sent me this...plus encourage me to write if I wasn't happen which I have done to  cec@celebrity.com

 

[burrma]

19 minutes ago, jelayne said:

The limit was raised from $9 - 10.  I have been drinking Pina Coladas without signing a slips.  Unless you are asking for it to be made with a liquor from the premium package or ordering the Sunset Pina Colada which is made with Barcardi 8 then there should be no charge.  Order a Pina Colada and remind them you have the Classic package.

Thanks

 

[abbydancer2003]

I have X cruises booked out to mid 2025, and am not planning to add any more in the short term.  I do have one that's a book on board holding, and I hope they honor the terms we booked under as we want to use it for a 2025 fall transatlantic, which probably won't be released before October 4.

 

Being a bit OCD, I'm going to price a sky suite on October 3.  Then I'll price same cruise, same category on October 10th.  I'll see what happens to the price.  

 

Also, I've been sailing X since 2007 - since then they've had "Go Big ..", " "All Included with Elevate and Indulge"  and "All Included without Elivate and Indulge".  We'll see how long this one lasts, especially, as one previous poster commented, their chief competition, Princess, still has tips in their packages.  But they really need to change the name to "some included".

[Older Sister]

Adios, Celebrity, it’s been nice knowing you.  We’re in a Sky Suite right now, never notified about any butler team and the services they could provide.  I thought that we were to be escorted to our cabin upon embarkation but that didn’t happen . . . we were just told which direction our cabin was in and that we’d find our room keys at the door.  I will say that our cabin is nice, and we’ve enjoyed both Luminae and Michael’s Club.  With all of these continuing changes/cutbacks (none of which  benefit the passenger), I will be taking my business/hard-earned dollar$$ elsewhere.  We’ve did couple of cruises on Viking last year, so I think we’ll be using them in the future.  

[jelayne]

2 minutes ago, Older Sister said:

Adios, Celebrity, it’s been nice knowing you.  We’re in a Sky Suite right now, never notified about any butler team and the services they could provide.  I thought that we were to be escorted to our cabin upon embarkation but that didn’t happen . . . we were just told which direction our cabin was in and that we’d find our room keys at the door.  I will say that our cabin is nice, and we’ve enjoyed both Luminae and Michael’s Club.  With all of these continuing changes/cutbacks (none of which  benefit the passenger), I will be taking my business/hard-earned dollar$$ elsewhere.  We’ve did couple of cruises on Viking last year, so I think we’ll be using them in the future.  

Aside from not being escorted on the ship, which was never a perk except for high end suites, how is the experience with the Retreat Butler and team?  We have some upcoming cruises in Sky Suites and would appreciate your perspective on the service from the team approach vs the butler.

Enjoy your cruise.

[wrk2cruise]

6 minutes ago, Older Sister said:

I thought that we were to be escorted to our cabin upon embarkation but that didn’t happen

 

This typically happens for upper suites only.   Lower suites may get escorted as a group onboard when boarding first starts.  But that's generally just to Retreat Lounge/Michaels Club.  

[Older Sister]

Aside from not being escorted on the ship, which was never a perk except for high end suites, how is the experience with the Retreat Butler and team? 
 

The only experience I’ve had with the butler/butler team is with the Retreat Concierge, who is stationed In Michaels Club and has been very helpful sorting out a few things.  As for the person who takes care of our cabin, I have no idea if he’s a Butler or part of a team or not.  He always says hello when I see him in the hall but he’s never asked if there’s anything we would like (like, ice or evening canapés).  We are enjoying our cruise but the service hasn’t lived up to our expectations.  

Edited August 29, 2023 by Older Sister

[AtlantaCruiser72]

26 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

For many it makes the decision to jump ship and cruise elsewhere much easier.

 

I jumped ship after my December 2018 cruise on the Summit and no longer even consider Celebrity when looking at cruises.  HAL and Princess have become my go to's as I feel their pricing, both for fares and ancillary items, is much more fair and consumer friendly, even with some of the recent changes.