First time Celebrity cruiser - newbie questions.

[mkkao924]

We will cruise Celebrity for the first time in 2024, and got some newbie questions on various cruise packages:

 

1. For the photo packages, all I see in cruise planner are studio sessions. By browsing through the forum, looks like from time to time Celebrity offers $50 package for the ad hoc pictures taken around the ship. Is that still going on that I should pay attention in my cruise planner once a while?

2. For the WiFi package, I only see premium package right now, is the basic package not offered in cruise planner?

3. For excursions offered by Celebrity, are they refundable (up to a few days before embarkation), or they are non-refundable? In other way, for the excursion that I like, but not 100% certain, can I book now to secure the spots, but have a chance to back out?

4. For dining (not package), looks like it's non-refundable. It also has some small percentage off, like 7% ~ 8%. Do these percentage change from time to time, i.e. should I wait and observe to book when they have a sale, or it doesn't change at all? 

5. Lastly, with Black Friday and holiday season on the horizon, does Celebrity have some kind of holiday sale on the items in the cruise planner?

 

Any help is really appreciated!

[SbbquilterUT]

From my current knowledge - your excursions and dining can be cancelled for refund within any time limits.  The money will be refunded to your credit card.  There are fewer photographers than in the past but there were opportunities for photos at least on chic evenings and a couple other, and these were available to review and purchase on board.  How far out is your cruise?  Things will change as you get nearer.  

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, mkkao924 said:

We will cruise Celebrity for the first time in 2024, and got some newbie questions on various cruise packages:

 

1. For the photo packages, all I see in cruise planner are studio sessions. By browsing through the forum, looks like from time to time Celebrity offers $50 package for the ad hoc pictures taken around the ship. Is that still going on that I should pay attention in my cruise planner once a while?

2. For the WiFi package, I only see premium package right now, is the basic package not offered in cruise planner?

3. For excursions offered by Celebrity, are they refundable (up to a few days before embarkation), or they are non-refundable? In other way, for the excursion that I like, but not 100% certain, can I book now to secure the spots, but have a chance to back out?

4. For dining (not package), looks like it's non-refundable. It also has some small percentage off, like 7% ~ 8%. Do these percentage change from time to time, i.e. should I wait and observe to book when they have a sale, or it doesn't change at all? 

5. Lastly, with Black Friday and holiday season on the horizon, does Celebrity have some kind of holiday sale on the items in the cruise planner?

 

Any help is really appreciated!

 

1) Not sure about this one

2) Basic wifi is only available if you book Always Included.  If you book cruise only then the only choice is premium.

3) Excursions are refundable up to I think 24 hrs prior to the excursion.  We do exactly what you propose to book early to secure our spot and cancel later if I change my mind.

4) Specialty dining is the same.  I think you can cancel up to 24-48 hrs prior.

5) With 3&4 above they have been doing "Flash Sales" on the last couple of holidays (July 4th, and Labor Day).  The Labor Day one was especially good with up to 45% off excursions.  I was able to cancel/rebook 2 for next summer and save about $150.   I believe the specialty dining was on sale as well, maybe 20%.   I'd keep an eye out around black friday as well as other holidays.

[mkkao924]

Thank you for the quick response! My cruise is July 2024, and the one excursion I am particularly interested in is the Hubbard Glacier excursion as it sells out fast. I think my strategy will be book now, and if there is a flash sale on Black Friday, then I can cancel and rebook?

[jelayne]

13 minutes ago, mkkao924 said:

Thank you for the quick response! My cruise is July 2024, and the one excursion I am particularly interested in is the Hubbard Glacier excursion as it sells out fast. I think my strategy will be book now, and if there is a flash sale on Black Friday, then I can cancel and rebook?

That works for many excursions.  You have to cancel and rebook to get the lower price.  If the excursion is very popular you may find it is sold out before you can rebook.  

[mkkao924]

I wonder how does the system work? Let's say if an excursion is sold out, when someone cancels it, does it go back to inventory that's immediately available for rebook, or it takes some time to reflect the inventory?

[saffy12]

5 hours ago, mkkao924 said:

I wonder how does the system work? Let's say if an excursion is sold out, when someone cancels it, does it go back to inventory that's immediately available for rebook, or it takes some time to reflect the inventory?

I don't know enough to be able to tell you the timing, and am not sure you would want to  take the risk if that was a "must do" excursion for you.  But, I can tell you my friend and I were eyeing the Iguazu Falls excursion for our upcoming Antartica cruise.  We are both traveling together, but as singles in our own cabins, so we needed to book the "single" excursion.  The "single" was  sold out but there were still "double" openings available, so we were trying to work with our TA to get us to be booked as a double (we could share the room for the few nights of the excursion, but wanted our own bathrooms in case of seasickness for the Drake Channel passage).  

 

While we were trying to get that figured out, the Labor Day sale came so the excursion was half the price!  Even better, there were suddenly 2 single spots open for it, so we snatched them up!   

 

I have no idea what happened to make them available, but presumably someone canceled.  I also have no idea on the timing between them canceling and the spots opening up to rebook, so again, not sure you would want to rely on that.  But, I can tell you from my experience, a sold out excursion did open up during the sale and they gave us the sale price for it

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, mkkao924 said:

I wonder how does the system work? Let's say if an excursion is sold out, when someone cancels it, does it go back to inventory that's immediately available for rebook, or it takes some time to reflect the inventory?

 

During the last "Flash Sale" the three shore excursions we had previously purchased were discounted 45% vs the 14% we originally booked.  When I went to rebook at the lower price, all three were sold out.  I canceled them one at a time and within about 5-10 minutes after me cancelling each they showed up again as available and I was able to rebook at the discounted price.  

 

[wrk2cruise]

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

During the last "Flash Sale" the three shore excursions we had previously purchased were discounted 45% vs the 14% we originally booked.  When I went to rebook at the lower price, all three were sold out.  I canceled them one at a time and within about 5-10 minutes after me cancelling each they showed up again as available and I was able to rebook at the discounted price.  

 

 

Same for me.  I think if you are diligent with refreshing and trying to rebook for 10-15 minutes you will see the inventory re-appear.

[Erekosse]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

During the last "Flash Sale" the three shore excursions we had previously purchased were discounted 45% vs the 14% we originally booked.  When I went to rebook at the lower price, all three were sold out.  I canceled them one at a time and within about 5-10 minutes after me cancelling each they showed up again as available and I was able to rebook at the discounted price.  

 

Your approach was likely quicker, but I was feeling a little concerned and called about our sold-out excursion. The agent I got (after about 40 minutes on hold) was able to credit the difference back to my OBC account without having us cancel and rebook.

[DaKahuna]

53 minutes ago, Erekosse said:

Your approach was likely quicker, but I was feeling a little concerned and called about our sold-out excursion. The agent I got (after about 40 minutes on hold) was able to credit the difference back to my OBC account without having us cancel and rebook.

 

 I am not confident in getting a capable agent when contacting Celebrity directly.  If I had encountered any issues doing it myself on-line, I'd would have contact my TA.  Fortunately I did not run into any issues.  Everything worked out perfectly and the funds moved in and out of my OBC account seamlessly. 

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, mkkao924 said:

I wonder how does the system work? Let's say if an excursion is sold out, when someone cancels it, does it go back to inventory that's immediately available for rebook, or it takes some time to reflect the inventory?

 

Yes.   I recently cancelled an excursion for repricing.   It was sold out.   After I cancelled it took about 5 minutes to come back into inventory and I then rebooked it at the sale price.     The OBC was back in my account within a minute.

[SmilingOctopus]

For the speciality dining, you can indeed cancel up to 24hr prior to the booking for a full refund. 

Also, with the Labour day flash sale I managed to book Eden for $44.90 instead of the original $65 I believe. So they do some good sales once in a while. 

If your cruise is still a while from now, I'd keep checking the cruise planner once in a while to look out for some good sales 🙂