X's new motto should be "give a little, take a little"

[goofysmom99]

After booking four cruises elsewhere because I'd lost patience with X's management moves, they finally instituted a cruise-only option for zeniths, so I upgraded an Eclipse cruise (A2 to S1) for next year which I was going to let go.  The new invoice came through from my TA and instead of the usual suite $200 OBC for a repo cruise, it's only $125.  She asked about it:  "I questioned the onboard credit for booking onboard and he said 'this is for a single rate'." I'm still trying to determine how to compute a single rate for OBC.  Oh, and they didn't honor the military discount with the zenith discount.  Don't know if that's because I'm solo, zenith, or it was just simply arbitrary.  I'm very cranky about this on principal.  Haven't decided if I'll switch back to A2 or cancel.  Grumble, grumble, grumble.

 

BTW, my Eclipse (2010 build) S1 Z-discounted price w/gratuities is $380 more than an identical cruise I've booked on Silversea (2024 build).  I'd like to do both, but for sure, not in the S1 now.

[NMTraveller]

I find high inflation to be nibbling away at everything that I purchase these days.  My DW reminds me 😁

 

Now that I am looking at other lines I am seeing similar complaints on other boards.  I will have to try them out to see for myself.

 

For my last cruise it was the charging for room service and elevated wine pricing that changed right before the cruise...

Edited May 5 by NMTraveller

[goofysmom99]

Military discount and onboard booking OBC are still available in current form to all but zenith and/or solos.  It's X staying under the radar while chiseling away at formerly standard discounts/OBCs.  Chip, chip, chip.

[jelayne]

I also noticed that the military discount was not applied when I did mock bookings with the Zenith cruise only pricing.  

[wrk2cruise]

43 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I also noticed that the military discount was not applied when I did mock bookings with the Zenith cruise only pricing.  

 

This policy should really be questioned with a query to the executive office.  I don't believe there is any restriction on military discount on any other cruise only booking in other categories.  It really doesn't seem right.

 

The reduced OBC doesn't sound right either if the single is paying the 200%.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The solo pricing hit is still alive and well in addition to items reported above.  Example:  Prime Concierge cabin for 2 on Summit November 10, 2025 is $4,121.74.  For a solo on the same cruise it is $5,742.87.  And they wonder why people are looking at other cruiselines.  Or maybe they don't care.

[Lena11033]

28 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

The solo pricing hit is still alive and well in addition to items reported above.  Example:  Prime Concierge cabin for 2 on Summit November 10, 2025 is $4,121.74.  For a solo on the same cruise it is $5,742.87.  And they wonder why people are looking at other cruiselines.  Or maybe they don't care.

 

Yep and its making it limiting on routes/ships because of it. I also noticed even the move up program seems skewed, I could be wrong but myself and another solo traveler recently for different ships had what seemed like really high starting point for cost for bidding compared to a couple - even though the bid we'd put in would be doubled anyway.

So yeah its' find a deal and stick with it.

 

[NMTraveller]

We have one person sailing on our river cruise solo.  The pricing is rather good.

[goofysmom99]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

I also noticed that the military discount was not applied when I did mock bookings with the Zenith cruise only pricing.  

I think I remember reading you were able to reprice a cruise or two with the zenith discount?  If so, did they adjust/remove the military discount you already had?  On the Eclipse cruise I upgraded, instead of keeping the same onboard booking number, they issued a new number altogether and new booking codes.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, goofysmom99 said:

I think I remember reading you were able to reprice a cruise or two with the zenith discount?  If so, did they adjust/remove the military discount you already had?  On the Eclipse cruise I upgraded, instead of keeping the same onboard booking number, they issued a new number altogether and new booking codes.

Ruth, I was so happy to be able to upgrade after final payment with the Cruise Only Z rate ($1600 less than regular).  This was just a few days before we left that I didn’t look at the invoice.

I just looked and the Military discount was no longer there.

 

I booked with a TA and  the reservation number did not change.

Edited May 5 by jelayne

[quicklabs]

2 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

The solo pricing hit is still alive and well in addition to items reported above.  Example:  Prime Concierge cabin for 2 on Summit November 10, 2025 is $4,121.74.  For a solo on the same cruise it is $5,742.87.  And they wonder why people are looking at other cruiselines.  Or maybe they don't care.

That practice is just obscene.  

[NMTraveller]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

The solo pricing hit is still alive and well in addition to items reported above.  Example:  Prime Concierge cabin for 2 on Summit November 10, 2025 is $4,121.74.  For a solo on the same cruise it is $5,742.87.  And they wonder why people are looking at other cruiselines.  Or maybe they don't care.

Other places the solo is a fair amount less than 2 not more...  Very surprising...

[twincheryl]

4 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

The solo pricing hit is still alive and well in addition to items reported above.  Example:  Prime Concierge cabin for 2 on Summit November 10, 2025 is $4,121.74.  For a solo on the same cruise it is $5,742.87.  And they wonder why people are looking at other cruiselines.  Or maybe they don't care.

Yes it is totally garbage.  In the next two years we have 7 cruises booked and 4 of them are on other lines, which makes me sad.  We are on the Summit now and hope Celebrity gets their act together and puts solo prices back to the way they always were.  
 

Several months ago I wrote a long email to executive office and got a phone response saying that 75% of cruises are back to the old pricing structure… I’m calling BS on that unless maybe that is only inside cabins or something that I don’t price.

[jelayne]

Hmmm. Seems we have moved from the loss of the military discount when booking suites using the Zenith cruise only rate to the solo supplement😂

[NMTraveller]

So what happens when you book a room for 2 and 1 of the guests does not show up?

 

Asking for a friend 😉

Edited May 6 by NMTraveller