Strange, but Great Pricing Fluctuations?

[At Sea At Peace]

I have no idea what went on over the weekend, but we regularly check on prices just to see if there has been any significant movement.

 

For our 4/20/25 Fort Lauderdale to Rome 15N we were able to change from an E2 Deck 8 Veranda very close to under the bridge FWD (with what we believe would be a partial obstruction notation) to a C1 Concierge Deck 11 Midship for less!  Then, we changed our same stateroom E2 Deck 8 Veranda Rome-Greece-Turkey subsequent 11N, to the same C1 Concierge also for less!

 

No idea what's up, haven't even gone to the Captains Club yet to the one-level stateroom credit.  A $3,400 savings to move up quite bit?

 

Checked today for the same approach to try the Aqua Class.  Big change from yesterday, little availability and very much more that the deal we struck.  So, 'fluctuations"

 

Edited March 20 by At Sea At Peace

[At Sea At Peace]

So, to continue, we looked at our B2B 12/1 and 12/8 on the Ascent.  Low and behold, we were able to change our similar E2 Deck 8 Veranda FWD for a 'right behind Prime Aqua Class' (regular Aqua Class) location of our choice for < $200? 😜  In total. 💸

 

Really weird, but very happy. 😉

[mahdnc]

Congratulations.  That's why it pays to monitor pricing.

[At Sea At Peace]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Congratulations.  That's why it pays to monitor pricing.

 

Thanks.  The Celebrity customer service was impressed.  She said she usually only sees such changes when compared to the best prices of Black Friday and Memorial Day weekend / 1st of June.

 

I will say that the 4/20/25 Fort Lauderdale to Rome "filled up fast" over the weekend under the 2nd passenger 75% off promo "and the lower prices."  I wonder it TA's get a 'heads up?'

 

We plan on visiting a couple of the regions on the west coast of Italy at the end of the 2nd cruise to enjoy 2-3 days immersed versus off-the-ship-and-back.

 

We find AIR back from various source airports to the US a bit of mess!  Looked at the 'return by cruise option' and not much there at that time of year going against the seasonal flow.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

28 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

I will say that the 4/20/25 Fort Lauderdale to Rome "filled up fast" over the weekend under the 2nd passenger 75% off promo "and the lower prices."  I wonder it TA's get a 'heads up?'

that promo has been around for a loooong time.

[At Sea At Peace]

12 minutes ago, Itchy&amp;Scratchy said:

that promo has been around for a loooong time.

 

Yep, you're right, I know, but IMO the pricing was dropped (i.e., "and the lower prices").

[Jeremiah1212]

Celebrity does publish what is basically a weekly base fare that TA’s can see. A significant portion of rates did decrease this week compared to last week. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

20 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Yep, you're right, I know, but IMO the pricing was dropped (i.e., "and the lower prices").

it was! I just checked my 2025 cruise and it's $300 cheaper. So, I can call and reprice, even with a NR deposit, right? They are not going to cancel and rebook (charging $100 pp to change), are they?

Edited March 20 by Itchy&Scratchy

[At Sea At Peace]

1 minute ago, Itchy&amp;Scratchy said:

it was! I just checked my 2025 cruise and it's $300 cheaper. So, I can call and reprice, even with a NR deposit, right? They are not going to cancel and rebook, are they?

 

Well, for added input that we learned (yikes we been on so many cruise, fee stupid), re-pricing our current stateroom class was of small value 'but we saw the prices of the other classes' significantly different.  So, we either went from an FWD, E2 to Aqua (selected cabin) or to Midship Concierge (for big savings)?

 

Seriously, strange.

 

What we did was ~

 

1.  Went online and selected the same cruise.  Found the much better Class that we wanted B2B stateroom, looked at the current price (changes daily we're told) and compared the price quote to what we had already booked for the lower Class.

 

2.  Then we put a HOLD on the quote.

 

3.  Then we had both our existing bookings and our holds in front of us and called the main number and selected for assistance for "current booking" asked to make a change to the room, and they made the change via pulling up the data via reservation #'s.  A couple of minutes.

 

4.  We haven't yet, but we'll now call Captains Club for the one-class upgrade credit for each of the B2Bs.

 

👍

[kiwichick62]

11 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

it was! I just checked my 2025 cruise and it's $300 cheaper. So, I can call and reprice, even with a NR deposit, right? They are not going to cancel and rebook, are they?

I saved thousands repricing my cruise twice before final payment. All it took was phoning them, they did not cancel and re-book my cruise.  Kept my AI package, extras I had paid for and state room but lost my $50 OBC.  This was with a NR deposit.

Edited March 20 by kiwichick62

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Just now, kiwichick62 said:

I saved thousands repricing my cruise twice before final payment. All it took was phoning them, they did not cancel and re-book my cruise.  Kept my AI package, extras I had paid for and state room but lost my $50 OBC.

thank you! There is no OBC on the 2 cruises I have booked in 2025, so nothing to lose if I call to reprice. I just wanted to make sure they don't charge for repricing as if it were a "cancellation and rebooking".

[kiwichick62]

8 minutes ago, Itchy&amp;Scratchy said:

thank you! There is no OBC on the 2 cruises I have booked in 2025, so nothing to lose if I call to reprice. I just wanted to make sure they don't charge for repricing as if it were a "cancellation and rebooking".

No charge was involved.  I have learned that you need to keep an eye on prices yourself as Celebrity won't tell you if the price drops.  😂  I booked on their website so I was able to phone them.  I guess if someone uses a travel agent they need to get the agent to call.

[Broadwayfamily]

Hi, I booked with direct cruises and called my travel agent for a price adjustment.  I had mostly paid for the cruise and kept a small remaining balance that is due in May for our b2b cruises in Aug.  Netted a $850 savings even though I lost some OBC.  The agent put me on hold while they called the cruise line.  Yes, you do have to keep an eye on the price and call your agent when you find a better deal elsewhere to adjust the price.  I set a cruise watch on celebrity website when the price changes I get an email.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I am on the phone with them now, and while they had no problem with repricing, they "must" move me to a different cabin... What the heck. When I booked this cabin back in January, it was available for booking for 3 people (the cabin has a double sofa, so it can accommodate 4 people). So, X wants it back so it could sell it to a group of 4.

 

I don't want to move - all that's left for 3 people has obstructed views, and this one doesn't. And it's forward which is what I want.

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Well, for added input that we learned (yikes we been on so many cruise, fee stupid), re-pricing our current stateroom class was of small value 'but we saw the prices of the other classes' significantly different.  So, we either went from an FWD, E2 to Aqua (selected cabin) or to Midship Concierge (for big savings)?

 

Seriously, strange.

 

What we did was ~

 

1.  Went online and selected the same cruise.  Found the much better Class that we wanted B2B stateroom, looked at the current price (changes daily we're told) and compared the price quote to what we had already booked for the lower Class.

 

2.  Then we put a HOLD on the quote.

 

3.  Then we had both our existing bookings and our holds in front of us and called the main number and selected for assistance for "current booking" asked to make a change to the room, and they made the change via pulling up the data via reservation #'s.  A couple of minutes.

 

4.  We haven't yet, but we'll now call Captains Club for the one-class upgrade credit for each of the B2Bs.

 

👍

Why didn’t you ask for the on category up pricing when you were on the phone redoing the booking.  Any reservation person can do that it doesn’t require a separate call to the Captains Club.

[Mr. Click]

The whole cruise world has gotten crazy from what I see.  Our upcoming Iceland cruise has dropped dramaticly in price, likely due to the volcanic activity in Iceland.  A few weeks ago I had to change the cruise date so I had to pay $200 change fee but the cruise price went down $2000.  Nice.  Last week I checked the pricing again and it was down another thousand so I emailed my TA with an apology and asked for a repricing.  Within a few hours it was done. Total cost is now down over 50%.  Celebrity OBC is pretty much the same but the OBC from the TA went down because it is based on their commission that has gone way down.  All it all a big win for us so it does pay to price watch and ask, especially before final payment.

[Whinenowine]

Could this be an inflection point where the consumer has finally said 'Enough' about being charged more for less? I thought the current insane trend had more room to run, but maybe I'm wrong.  It still feels like the Retreat is being fully milked for all it's worth but maybe this is the beginning of the end.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

8 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Could this be an inflection point where the consumer has finally said 'Enough' about being charged more for less?

I don't think so. My other 2025 cruise costs more now than at the time of booking.

[At Sea At Peace]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

Why didn’t you ask for the on category up pricing when you were on the phone redoing the booking.  Any reservation person can do that it doesn’t require a separate call to the Captains Club.

 

Well, the reservation representative said that "they" could do the stateroom class and location change but couldn't do the free upgrade adjustment, AND, the Captains Club representative said "they" couldn't the stateroom class and location change but could do the free upgrade adjustment.

 

Just following orders. 😯

[At Sea At Peace]

1 hour ago, Mr. Click said:

The whole cruise world has gotten crazy from what I see.  Our upcoming Iceland cruise has dropped dramaticly in price, likely due to the volcanic activity in Iceland.  A few weeks ago I had to change the cruise date so I had to pay $200 change fee but the cruise price went down $2000.  Nice.  Last week I checked the pricing again and it was down another thousand so I emailed my TA with an apology and asked for a repricing.  Within a few hours it was done. Total cost is now down over 50%.  Celebrity OBC is pretty much the same but the OBC from the TA went down because it is based on their commission that has gone way down.  All it all a big win for us so it does pay to price watch and ask, especially before final payment.

 

Awesome.

[seeyouinthesun]

I checked the solo prices for 2026 and was shocked how low they were. A few weeks ago they were charging more than double. Now less than double.  

[Stem to Stern]

My future bookings are currently priced significantly higher than the prices I locked them in at.

[Mr. Click]

Stem to Stern, my current booking went up after we booked and now it is way down.  It is always a good idea to keep checking these things.  You just never know.

[Broadwayfamily]

Mr. Click, what cruise line for Iceland?  We took Azamara cruise and loved it.  We want to go back again.

[Arzeena]

Thanks for reporting this. Just saved $700.

Drops on 2025 cruises.... 2024 prices went up.

Thanks Op.