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Celebrity now offering "Perk Packages"


JLMoran

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@monorailmedic put up a new tidbit on cruisehabit.com -- https://www.cruisehabit.com/celebrity-cruises-perks-packages

Looks interesting, especially since I've gotten the impression that Celebrity doesn't really do big discounts on things like the wifi options. Some actual savings to be had, as long as you see yourself using all of the items provided by the package.

Not sure if these would be a decent option for my Iceland & Greenland sailing; I'm looking mainly at the "Perks Ultra" option since that includes:

  • Two bags of laundry per purchaser
    • It's a fact that we'll all need to do laundry on this 14-night sailing with close to a week after in Dublin
    • Two bags per person should let us all do a week's worth of laundry without breaking the bank
  • Two specialty dining reservations
    • I was already planning on booking two of the restaurants for this trip, so check!
  • $300 shore excursion credit each
    • For sure going to have to purchase excursions through X for Sydney and Akureyri due to tendering and port times, respectively
    • With what I've seen of X's excursion pricing so far, especially for Akureyri, $300 per person should cover both ports; maybe with one more partly covered

Still some cons about that particular package, especially the two-device unlimited internet per package; we'd only need one device per person. And my wife isn't big on getting the cruise photos, so the digital photo pass could potentially be a waste (although if we had it for the rest of the package, then my wife might go with the flow). But I'm definitely thinking hard about this. Will have to see if it's being offered in my Cruise Planner and what the pricing is like.

Time for a new spreadsheet! ?

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Finally had a chance to check my Cruise Planner. While the Perks Ultra and other packages are all there (under Internet & More), there was a very important "How to Redeem" PDF that spells out how to claim all the perks. Key among them:

Quote

$300 shore excursion credit

A voucher will be provided in your cabin on embarkation day, that can be used towards purchase of a Shore Excursion. To redeem it, visit the Destination Concierge.

So I have to wait until I'm on board, when a lot of the better options will have likely sold out, and then I also have to pay the full on-board price. Sorry, Celebrity, but that's a deal-breaker. Your system has it on record that I've purchased the package, why can't that credit be applied immediately in the Cruise Planner and restricted only to shore excursion purchases?

Oh, right. This is still Royal IT we're talking about. Of course they can't have something sensible like that implemented.

Seriously, I was ready to plunk down my credit card and buy one of these per month until I had the family covered, then start reserving our shore excursions as the options opened up to more than the handful currently on offer. That one line in the terms has unfortunately guaranteed that I won't be buying any package for anyone.

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1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Finally had a chance to check my Cruise Planner. While the Perks Ultra and other packages are all there (under Internet & More), there was a very important "How to Redeem" PDF that spells out how to claim all the perks. Key among them:

So I have to wait until I'm on board, when a lot of the better options will have likely sold out, and then I also have to pay the full on-board price. Sorry, Celebrity, but that's a deal-breaker. Your system has it on record that I've purchased the package, why can't that credit be applied immediately in the Cruise Planner and restricted only to shore excursion purchases?

Oh, right. This is still Royal IT we're talking about. Of course they can't have something sensible like that implemented.

Seriously, I was ready to plunk down my credit card and buy one of these per month until I had the family covered, then start reserving our shore excursions as the options opened up to more than the handful currently on offer. That one line in the terms has unfortunately guaranteed that I won't be buying any package for anyone.

Guess that's the trade-off..makes the $300 Shore Excursion credit potentially worth less because of the lost opportunity to reserve and receive discounted excursion prices.  Effectively it's like the dining packages--you are unable to make reservations ahead of time.

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1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

Effectively it's like the dining packages--you are unable to make reservations ahead of time.

In essence, yes. But at least with the dining package I have the ability to dine at my preferred venue even if it's not on my first date of choice or first time of choice. If an excursion I want to do sells out ahead of embarkation, I'm SOL because there are no other dates or times it will be offered. I have to hope there's a decent option B that I'll still find interesting and enjoyable.

Kind of a big difference, in my book.

 

John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked! 

Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.

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10 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Maybe because it’s a true repo with few port days they felt the excursion credit wouldn’t be as much of a rake for them.

It only has two ports and is six nights total, so possibly.  It's not something I'd pay for anyway.   We're in Aquaclass so have specialty dining every night.  LOL 

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We have also seen the Premier Pass package listed, which seems to be for couples. None of these packages seem to be of value when priced per person. I called and the CS rep said that the Pass package was per couple or room and the others are per person. Can anyone else confirm this? I just do not see the value.

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5 minutes ago, bjstrand said:

We have also seen the Premier Pass package listed, which seems to be for couples. None of these packages seem to be of value when priced per person. I called and the CS rep said that the Pass package was per couple or room and the others are per person. Can anyone else confirm this? I just do not see the value.

Based on the original post about this from @monorailmedic, what the rep told you is correct. The Premier Pass is intended to be used by two people on a single purchase, kind of like getting a 2-device wifi package so each person can connect with one device. The other packages are for individuals, and I agree that when you get to the Plus or Ultra, where a photo package is included and the package only applies to one person in the cabin, the value of getting two of the same package becomes questionable for elements like that.

I still see some value in even the Ultra-level package as long as you were planning for everyone in the room or your group to be taking advantage of all the parts offered. But that Excursion Credit is still the deal-killer for me, since it's not usable ahead of boarding. I'd rather that the perks package just provided flat-out OBC that was usable on anything in the Cruise Planner.

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