Celebrity Cruises is set to roll out a permanent change to its pricing structure, starting July 6.
As part of the new program, called Go!Big, Go!Better, Go!Best, all oceanview, balcony and suite accommodations will be priced with the choice of one perquisite built in: a Classic beverage package, gratuities, unlimited internet or a $150 per-person spending credit.
In effect, unbundled pricing at Celebrity will go away, except for inside cabins.
By bundling the noncommissionable items into the standard fare, Celebrity is effectively raising the commissions that travel agents can earn selling most Celebrity cabin categories.
The line said the structure is also good for consumers because, it said, it would cost more for guests to buy the perquisites included in the promotion on a standalone basis.
The system builds on Celebrity's popular 123Go! promotion, which offers a menu of perquisites such as included gratuities, beverage packages or an onboard spending credit.
The new structure adopts the rhythm and language of the 123Go! promotion, but Celebrity emphasized that it is not a temporary campaign.
"It's a brand-new pricing strategy for Celebrity," said Dondra Ritzthenthaler, senior vice president of sales and trade support and services.
The Go!Big, Go!Better, Go!Best structure will be applied to nearly all inventory from Oct. 1 through April 2017, the most distant announced deployments.
A Go!Big price includes a choice of one option, while the Go!Better includes a choice of two. Go!Best provides all four, and substitutes a Premium beverage package for the Classic package.
Ritzenthaler said fares on Go!Better packages would be about $15 a day more than Go!Big fares, while Go!Best fares would be about $45 a day above the single-perk included fare.
Celebrity said that with the introduction of the new price structure, the 123Go! promotion launched in 2013 will be retired.
As with 123Go!, a buyer of one of the new fares, who has a third or fourth guest in the cabin will receive nonalcoholic drink packages and 90 minutes of free Internet for those guests, Celebrity said.
Ritzenthaler said not even half of all Celebrity passengers are currently traveling on a 123Go! fare, so the new pricing will touch a lot more Celebrity customers.
Celebrity tested the waters with the concept by giving a sneak peek of the strategy to large accounts early last month. World Travel Holdings co-president Brad Tolkin said he liked the "crisp and clean" simplicity of it.
Vacations To Go president Emerson Hankamer said he felt it was "a very strong, proactive thing for the trade."
"If you load up with amenities, but the price is high, you'll get a higher quality customer who spends more," he said.
Arnie Weissmann contributed to thisreport.