First timer -- a few questions

Hello to all.

First of all, I've been lurking here for a few months and have gotten
invaluable information already. My thanks to you all.

My wife and I will be going on our first cruise. We are going to
Alaska in early Sept. After extensive research, we have decided on
the Celebrity Summit, and since this cruise will be a belated birthday
present for my wife, we have decided to go with a suite, the Sky
Suite, enough luxury to make it special but not crazy extravagance.

Here are a few questions I still have.

Price: I have seen in many places that one should not pay "rack
rates." However, after searching multiple web travel sites and
talking with a few TA's, the quoted prices I got were within a few
dollars of each other, nothing significant. Have I been looking in
the wrong places, or are the comments I've seen about discounts a bit
exaggerated? (Maybe a moot point at this time, but I'm still curious.)

Credit Card: Is it true that whatever bank card one uses to secure
the ship's on board credit card will be "locked" by the cruise line
and therefore not available for use during shore excursions, etc.?

Guarantee: We have friends, a couple, who may or may not be able to
make the cruise at this time. They are researching rooms at his time.
On the travel web sites presently there are listings for a Family
Veranda (FV) room at a guarantee. I think I'm missing something here,
because this type of room is listed under the category of Veranda, and
is the highest price room type in that category. If one takes the
Guarantee rate for this room, could one end up something in the same
category (which looks to me like you would then be paying a higher
price for what would have been a lesser priced room in that category)?
From what I've read, it is not likely that one would be bumped up to
suite category, right?

Aurora: We will be traveling Seward to Vancouver Sept2-7. Can any
seasoned travelers tell us if we'll have a reasonable chance to see
the Aurora?

TIA




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the quoted prices I got were within a few
dollars of each other, nothing significant. Have I been looking in
the wrong places, or are the comments I've seen about discounts a bit
exaggerated? (Maybe a moot point at this time, but I'm still curious.)

The pricing you see is set by the cruise line. Any TA who advertises lower
rates risks losing their ability to sell cruises by that line. Think back
to the days of 'fair trade' laws. "Group" rates can make a difference, but
you have to be part of the group to take advantage of them.

Credit Card: Is it true that whatever bank card one uses to secure
the ship's on board credit card will be "locked" by the cruise line
and therefore not available for use during shore excursions, etc.?

No, this is not true. But they may put up to a $400.00 hold on it (to cover
your charges on the ship for incidentals). So if you are close to your
limit on that card, it would effectively be locked.

Guarantee: If one takes the
Guarantee rate for this room, could one end up something in the same
category (which looks to me like you would then be paying a higher
price for what would have been a lesser priced room in that category)?
From what I've read, it is not likely that one would be bumped up to
suite category, right?

Guarantees can be a great way of getting an upgrade. You will never get a
room that would have cost less than the guarantee price. Many people book
for a particular room...so they are locked into their choice. If a suite
was not sold for a cruise and the verandas were all sold, it could happen
that an upgrade to a suite would happen. But don't buy a guarantee and then
expect an upgrade.

Ex: We bought an inside guarantee on our first cruise. It wasn't long after
9/11, so the cruise industry was in a slump. Our inside guarantee turned
into an obstructed balcony. OK...it was obstructed, but it was still a
balcony....we loved it.

Remember, cruises are sailing with higher occupancy rates than they have in
several years. So chances for a big upgrade are slimmer than they have been
in the past.

Aurora: We will be traveling Seward to Vancouver Sept2-7. Can any
seasoned travelers tell us if we'll have a reasonable chance to see

Someone else will have to comment here.

Take warm clothes. Have a great time!

Leo K wrote in
:

Hello to all.

First of all, I've been lurking here for a few months and have gotten
invaluable information already. My thanks to you all.

My wife and I will be going on our first cruise. We are going to
Alaska in early Sept. After extensive research, we have decided on
the Celebrity Summit, and since this cruise will be a belated birthday
present for my wife, we have decided to go with a suite, the Sky
Suite, enough luxury to make it special but not crazy extravagance.

Here are a few questions I still have.

Price: I have seen in many places that one should not pay "rack
rates." However, after searching multiple web travel sites and
talking with a few TA's, the quoted prices I got were within a few
dollars of each other, nothing significant. Have I been looking in
the wrong places, or are the comments I've seen about discounts a bit
exaggerated? (Maybe a moot point at this time, but I'm still curious.)


The rack rate that you don't want to pay is the puboished fare which is
almost always discounted by the cruise line and its agents. Some times
rack is actually asked for and sometimes it is actually recieved, but
you should almost always get a discount for an early booking.




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--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Answered in line

"Leo K" wrote in message
...
Hello to all.

First of all, I've been lurking here for a few months and have gotten
invaluable information already. My thanks to you all.

Price: I have seen in many places that one should not pay "rack
rates." However, after searching multiple web travel sites and
talking with a few TA's, the quoted prices I got were within a few
dollars of each other, nothing significant. Have I been looking in
the wrong places, or are the comments I've seen about discounts a bit
exaggerated? (Maybe a moot point at this time, but I'm still curious.)

Rack rate is that which is in their brochures... it's rarely what a cruise
really costs and it's not that uncommon for different TAs to quote similar
prices.

Credit Card: Is it true that whatever bank card one uses to secure
the ship's on board credit card will be "locked" by the cruise line
and therefore not available for use during shore excursions, etc.?

Only if you have a VERY low amount of credit available. I've never had that
problem and no one I know has said that they had it either.

Guarantee: We have friends, a couple, who may or may not be able to
make the cruise at this time. They are researching rooms at his time.
On the travel web sites presently there are listings for a Family
Veranda (FV) room at a guarantee. I think I'm missing something here,
because this type of room is listed under the category of Veranda, and
is the highest price room type in that category. If one takes the
Guarantee rate for this room, could one end up something in the same
category (which looks to me like you would then be paying a higher
price for what would have been a lesser priced room in that category)?
From what I've read, it is not likely that one would be bumped up to
suite category, right?

It is conceivable.

Aurora: We will be traveling Seward to Vancouver Sept2-7. Can any
seasoned travelers tell us if we'll have a reasonable chance to see
the Aurora?

TIA

"Leo K" wrote in message
...


Guarantee: We have friends, a couple, who may or may not be able to
make the cruise at this time. They are researching rooms at his time.
On the travel web sites presently there are listings for a Family
Veranda (FV) room at a guarantee. I think I'm missing something here,
because this type of room is listed under the category of Veranda, and
is the highest price room type in that category. If one takes the
Guarantee rate for this room, could one end up something in the same
category (which looks to me like you would then be paying a higher
price for what would have been a lesser priced room in that category)?
From what I've read, it is not likely that one would be bumped up to
suite category, right?


Some cruise lines tend to attract a clientele that want the inexpensive
cabins, while others tend to attract a clientele that wants the more
expensive cabins. On lines that have a larger demand for cheaper cabins,
they move people up to create more space in the lower categories. Celebrity
tends to sell out the best cabins first based on what I've experienced. As
a result, there tends to be much less need to move people upward... because
those upper levels are already sold. The clientele can afford those cabins,
and grab them when they first come out.

I would say the chances of an upgrade to a Suite on Celebrity are very
slim... if there is any chance at all. Might happen... but don't count on
it. On 13 Celebrity bookings, I've never been upgraded.

--Tom

Leo K :

Price: I have seen in many places that one should not pay "rack
rates." However, after searching multiple web travel sites and
talking with a few TA's, the quoted prices I got were within a few
dollars of each other, nothing significant. Have I been looking in
the wrong places, or are the comments I've seen about discounts a bit
exaggerated? (Maybe a moot point at this time, but I'm still curious.)

While I don't know how to get the discounts others have reported getting,
there is one sure way to get deep discounts - Book far into the future. Go
to the internet sites you have used in the past, find a cruise you would
like, check the price for next month, the following month, the end of the
year, next year and further as some cruises can be booked as far as 18 months
in advance. I have seen a few cruises discounted as much as 75% that way.
With those savings if you don't need expensive flights you can book two,
maybe three for the price of one.

Also check the weeks of the month carefully, again going thru the internet
sites there seem to be a few weeks of the year which are considered slow(?)
and have discounts compared to the weeks before and after them. Example:

http://e532.carnivalcruise.ca/Itiner...ode=CS&air=000 Looking at Interior only the high is
$1225 and the low of $713 for a diffirence of $512.

More interesting look at the price drops of 8/11/2006 - 9/1/2006 - 9/8/2006
(I think this is caused by hurricane season), but 11/17/2006 - 11/24/2006 -
12/1/2006 shows a $121 dollar diffirence in price for no reason that I know.

Ofcourse the price diffirences for Balcony for month of December clearly
matches the Christmas market.

Timing seem very important to me.

Earl Colby Pottinger

PS. Okay, I am ready for flames.

--
Cruising, building a Catamaran, Rebuilding Cabin, New Peroxide Still Design,
Writting SF, Programming FOSS - What happened to the time?

Earl Colby Pottinger :


http://e532.carnivalcruise.ca/Itiner...ode=CS&air=000
Looking at Interior only the high is
$1225 and the low of $713 for a diffirence of $512.

Well I just happened to look at:
http://e532.carnivalcruise.ca/Itiner...ode=CS&air=000

Where the high for the same cruise is $1046 but the lowest is $511 for a
diffirence of $535.

So not only when you leave but also where seems to matter. Ofcourse airfare
and season of the year matters but if you were not looking around the highest
fare of $1225 is a far cry from the lowest of $511. The more you shop the
better your results.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
Cruising, building a Catamaran, Rebuilding Cabin, New Peroxide Still Design,
Writting SF, Programming FOSS - What happened to the time?

My thanks to those who replied.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my first post, but regarding cruise
pricing, I did see that prices differed based on travel date, prime
season being higher than the shoulder seasons for Alaska. But, as
example, I know that not everyone on a given flight payed the same
rate for their seats and the same for a given hotel on any given
night, though one is not going to get the presidential suite at the sa
me rate as a basic room, and maybe the suite never goes at much of a
discount ever.

The prices I saw in Celebrity's brochure, their web site, the on line
travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc) and TA's were all essentially the
same (differing by things like a small cruise credit or orbitz' free
Ipod) . Since I had seen many comments various places about not
paying brochure rates, I thought maybe I was missing something.
Changing travel dates isn't an option for various reasons, all of
which are simply personal choice options.

One last question. Since I have never cruised before, can anyone give
me a point of reference re room size. All cruise lines post their
room sizes in square feet, but most hotels do not. How does 250 square
feet compare to the average hotel room?

Thank you. I'll let you all know how the trip went.




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Leo K wrote:
My thanks to those who replied.



The prices I saw in Celebrity's brochure, their web site, the on line
travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc) and TA's were all essentially the
same (differing by things like a small cruise credit or orbitz' free
Ipod) . Since I had seen many comments various places about not
paying brochure rates, I thought maybe I was missing something.
Changing travel dates isn't an option for various reasons, all of
which are simply personal choice options.

RCI/Celebrity does not allow any discounts to be given. That's why all
the prices are the same. I believe you can get a cheaper price if a
specific agency has group space.



Thank you. I'll let you all know how the trip went.




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Visit my Caribbean Princess website:
www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com

Leo K wrote in
:




One last question. Since I have never cruised before, can anyone give
me a point of reference re room size. All cruise lines post their
room sizes in square feet, but most hotels do not. How does 250 square
feet compare to the average hotel room?

Thank you. I'll let you all know how the trip went.

It is small. Imagine a space 25 by 10 then put in the bed, the bathroom and
all other furnishings, that is a big stateroom on a cruise ship.
--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/