Booking another cruise on board.

We just booked a cruise on the Refection sailing this October. We also plan to book the Mardi Gras Cruise sailing next March 1st while we are on The Reflection in October. Can anyone tell me about the advantage of or bonus for booking this upcoming cruise onboard? If they give you OBC or something else, is it usually for your upcoming trip or can it be used on the sailing you are on when you book it?

Is there any different perks than OBC that they might useto entice you to book?

You will only need to pay a reduced deposit of $100 pp, not $450 pp.

You will get some OBC, the amount depends on the length of the cruise you are booking and the class of stateroom you are booking.

The OBC can be applied to the cruise you are currently on, or the cruise you are booking.

Otherwise, the price and perks are the same as if you were at home doing the booking.

The reduced deposit is only for sky suites and lower. Above sky suites you'll have to pay full deposit when booking on board.

Currently on the Eclipse and booked a cruise we got:

Reduced deposit of -$100 pp

A 2nd perk- if booking on line only 1 perk (we took Beverage package + OBC as it is a 7 night cruise)

Additional $150 OBC

We will transfer the booking to a TA for, best guess $200-250 obc or prepaid gratuities.

Booked our November 2018 Silhouette cruise while onboard our September 2017 Infinity cruise. Got the same 2 perks (we chose Classic Beverage and $300 OBC), plus reduced downpayment. They saw our travel agent when booking, and even transferred automatically...

We generally book a cruise while on-board in order to get the extra OBC - and the occasional 2nd perk at no additional charge. We have done that now a few times without automatically assigning the cruise to a TA. Once home, I can decide which TA I want to use in order to maximize the additional perk. There is a form on the Celebrity website that you can complete and send to Celebrity. You do this within 60 days of booking the cruise. I would take care of the transfer within 45-50 days just to be safe as it can take a few days or more for the transfer to be completed.

I have settled on using the big box vendor that sells $1.50 hot dogs as their offer is a cash back card that amounts to approximately 8% of the cruise fare. I have yet to find another TA that offers more - and doesn't charge change or cancellation fees.

You are given the option of using the OBC on your future cruise or the cruise you are currently enjoying. Bear in mind that, if you use the OBC on your current cruise - and decide to cancel the future cruise, your deposit will be forfeited. If you take the OBC for the future cruise, the deposit is refundable (at least it is for the future cruise when we booked).

The second perk at no charge was definitely an additional incentive to book the cruise. And the reduced deposit ($100 pp) is much better than the standard deposit ($450 pp) when a cruise is more than a year away.

Enjoy your cruise! We've sailed on Reflection twice and loved it. If you decide to indulge in a specialty dining experience, be sure to put Lawn Club Grill at the top of your list. The food is excellent - and plentiful. And make sure you order the warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

We just booked a cruise on the Refection sailing this October. We also plan to book the Mardi Gras Cruise sailing next March 1st while we are on The Reflection in October. Can anyone tell me about the advantage of or bonus for booking this upcoming cruise onboard? If they give you OBC or something else, is it usually for your upcoming trip or can it be used on the sailing you are on when you book it?

Is there any different perks than OBC that they might useto entice you to book?

As others have mentioned you will get reduced deposit and OBC. OBC dollar amount will be determined by the length of the cruise and cabin category. Currently Celebrity is offering all three perk packages (Go Big, Go Better and Go Best) for your sailing to choose from. We have always been offered and have received as perks exactly what is on the website. Just have to decide which of the three perk packages you prefer.

We generally book a cruise while on-board in order to get the extra OBC - and the occasional 2nd perk at no additional charge. We have done that now a few times without automatically assigning the cruise to a TA. Once home' date=' I can decide which TA I want to use in order to maximize the additional perk. [/quote']

You are wise to do it this way. We cruised with a couple who forgot to ask the future cruise agent onboard to put the new booking in their names only, so their new booking reverted to their previous TA.

 

Then when a much better deal showed up from another TA a couple of weeks later, they were unable to take advantage of it as their booking already belonged to the previous TA.

 

Once you give a booking to a TA, it is very hard to get it back.

 

Celebrity's old transfer policy used to be much better as they used to give us until final payment date to transfer the booking to a TA.

That is, the old policy was much better for us, the customers, not better for the cruise line.

 

 

There is a form on the Celebrity website that you can complete and send to Celebrity. You do this within 60 days of booking the cruise. I would take care of the transfer within 45-50 days just to be safe as it can take a few days or more for the transfer to be completed.

The form is very easy to use, and as long as you submit the transfer form within the 60 day transfer period, there is no problem.

The transfer process does not need to be completed within that period as the TA can get it extended.

 

We had that happen a couple of times when Celebrity was having problems with their website and the transfer did not complete immediately.

 

The TA got it extended each time, and there was no problem at all.

 

It is in the TA's own best interest to get the extension as they do not want to risk losing the booking, so they take care of it and assure us that it is nothing to be concerned about.

 

I have settled on using the big box vendor that sells $1.50 hot dogs as their offer is a cash back card that amounts to approximately 8% of the cruise fare. I have yet to find another TA that offers more - and doesn't charge change or cancellation fees.

Even if they have the biggest rebate offer for a cruise, they don't necessarily always have the best deal.

As people here are fond of saying: Do the math.

 

That is especially true if you qualify for any special affinity group pricing that is not available to the general public. At least the big box store will be honest and tell you when they can't match a better price.

 

On a Holland America cruise to Alaska, we got 50% off the best price the big box store was able to offer, so even though we did not get any cash rebate at all, that was still a much better deal for us.

 

 

You are given the option of using the OBC on your future cruise or the cruise you are currently enjoying. Bear in mind that, if you use the OBC on your current cruise - and decide to cancel the future cruise, your deposit will be forfeited. If you take the OBC for the future cruise, the deposit is refundable (at least it is for the future cruise when we booked).

Whenever we have booked a cruise on board, so far the OBC they offered us was exactly the same amount as the deposit each time. So in our situation it made no difference whether we took the OBC on the current cruise or the next one.

 

But if our deposit had been greater than the amount of the OBC, then the situation would be different of course.

Thanks for the reminder. That is something I need to remember to check each time.

You have raised some good points to consider as the booking situation can vary from one cruise to another. It becomes so easy for us to keep doing things the same way each time we book a cruise without giving it a second thought, regardless of the fact that circumstances may be different this time.

That is especially true if you qualify for any special affinity group pricing that is not available to the general public. At least the big box store will be honest and tell you when they can't match a better price.

I am not familiar with the term "affinity group pricing" - and would like to know more. I am guessing it would be groups that are put together by specific TA's but what does "affinity" mean?

We are cruising on Celebrity in July and was able to upgrade to AQ from a 2B cabin and add "go best" perks because the fare dropped 4 times in the space of a month shortly after I booked the cruise while onboard. I am pretty happy with that outcome.

There are 50 cabins on our cruise that are a group - wine tasting cruise organized by the big box TA. - my understanding is that their fares were locked in because they are in a group.

As you said - you have to do the math. And monitor the pricing on a regular basis.

Is there better days then others to book on board??

Is there better days then others to book on board??

After receiving our welcome aboard flute of sparkling wine we head to the future cruise office and book. We already know the cruise(s) we want to go on, category, perks and already priced out the cruise(s) so we aren't blindsided. We've received a bottle of wine and a few other small items for booking when first boarding.

Just to clarify, the only thing to watch out for is that they put it in your name when booking on board? It seems like a no brainer to plan ahead and know what you want and the current price.

The future cruise folks will default your booking to the TA you booked with and they should tell you about it. You need to tell them if you really want to do assign it then or if you want it to stay with Celebrity until you shop it. There is a form they have you fill out so it does not get assigned to your current TA. I use 3 different TAs and price with each of them to see who has the best deal before I make my transfer.

Now that Knolmom's question has been answered I have a question of my own and I want to ask here rather than starting a new thread. We have a milestone anniversary coming up in the summer of 2020 and are giving serious thought to taking our son, our daughter-in-law and the two grandchildren on an Alaska cruise. Needless to say I would love to book it all on board to reduce the initial outlay on deposits for 6 people and two cabins AND I want to get a FV cabin for the kids and grands. My immediate problem is we are going on cruises in July and in October but the 2020 Alaska itineraries are not likely to be out until sometime in November/December 2018. In the past we have booked place holders and then made changes, is it still possible to do that? Book two cabins on a far out date cruise and then transfer it all as soon as the Alaska 2020s come out? I know the FV cabins sell out quickly, especially on the Alaska trips so I want to sort this out before we head out in October or maybe even July.