Topic: Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises re-launch 'wave' season

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises have announced plans to re-launch their 'wave' peak season marketing campaigns.

Marketing was previously suspended during the traditionally busy period as a mark for respect for those who died aboard the Costa Concordia earlier this month.

From today and throughout February, Royal Caribbean Cruises, will offer 10,000 free flights for summer cruise holidays scheduled for 2012 across the Royal Caribbean's European itineraries programme.

Flights will be available from a range of regional airports in the UK, while those on Southampton sailings will be able to access coach transfers and car parking.

Those booking Celebrity cruses will also be provided with an opportunity to win free flights for a number of their European cruises.

Commenting on the changes, Royal Caribbean Cruises UK general manager Jo Rzymowska said: “We needed to be sensitive about what happened and the immediate decision to stop all activity was not a difficult one.

"We feel that February 1st is the right time to go out with our own activity.”

Do you think this is too soon? Were they right to call of campaign?

"Were they right to call of campaign?"

I suspect they called off their camaign not for 'sensitivity' but becuse it would have been totally ineffective agaianst the bad press generated by the Concordia disaster.

"Do you think this is too soon?"

Well I don't blame them for trying to sell their cruises, but I bet bookings will be slower and possibly down.

The free flights offer is a con, I booked a week on Splendour of the Seas in September a week before this campaign started. I initially was annoyed that had I waited a week I could have saved some money--wrong---the cost of my cruise was quoted by a number of agents as actually more than I had paid and was also a couple of weeks later which should have been cheaper. RCI have obviousely increased their cabin prices to make up for the 'free flights'!

Why oh why do I keep booking early only to find that the fluid prices with Celebrity cruise always come down. I have to keep watching the prices so that I can get the reduced price matched by Celebrity if you tell them about it. But I have found a problem when I book a cruise to Europe with them. They don't seem to reduce the cabin prices to Europe but tend to offer cheaper prices by luring customers into booking a balcony cabin on guarantee. These customers will then get a better class balcony cabin that I have paid hundreds of pounds more for. It just doesn't seem fair to penalise people who have already booked their cruise. Why not can they stick to one price for all?
They only seem to reduce the price in the Caribbean for their American market.
The problem is I love to cruise with Celebrity, I just wish they were fairer with there prices.
Has anyone received a free upgrade and if so how?