Celebrity Cruises has announced a number of changes to its all-included cruise packages, which, in theory, should offer guests more flexibility.
Currently, when guests book a Celebrity cruise, they have the option of either booking a cruise-only package or paying extra to go all-inclusive, which includes a Classic Drinks Package and Basic WiFi, along with gratuities.
Guests in Aqua Class or The Retreat weren’t given the choice and got more premium drinks and WiFi access.
Now, for all bookings made after 3rd October 2023, gratuities will no longer be included in the all-included fare. And guests in Aqua Class will have the option to go for a cruise-only package and tailor their inclusions from there.
Celebrity has said that prices should reflect the removal of gratuities and so guests shouldn’t be worse off – instead, they can choose to still pre-pay their gratuities or pay them on the ship if they prefer.
It’s also a beneficial move for travel agents, who may now be able to run special offers that include free gratuities on top of a cruise-only fare.
Guests can still opt for either package, and if they want to upgrade from the Classic to the Premium drinks package, there’s a flat fee of $20 per person, per day.
And another overdue move is for single passengers, who previously had to pay a single supplement for the upgrade too. Now, they’ll only pay the rate of one person if they go all-included.
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This will be beneficial for Celebrity because they can charge the same fare and the traveler will have to pay the gratuity separately. I don’t think they will reduce the all-inclusive fare by the cost of the gratuity that was included.
We’ve gone on 35 cruises and it seems difficult to really ascertain when it’s REALLY a great discount as it seems that they’re all great. Your thoughts?
Mmm, Not sure if that’s a good idea. IMHO this has been done to make the initial price appear lower. Most holiday brochures that I receive don’t even make any reference to gratuities ( or Service Charges as I like to call them) unless it’s to tell you they are included but never tell you if they aren’t, so there’s that.