Onboard booking is it really worth it?

A year ago I booked while on board Celebrity for a future next cruise. We paid a deposit of $200 for the open end booking. When I booked my cruise this year, it gave me a reduced deposit and $200 ship board credit. I just don't see the advantage to booking on board. The reduced deposit is not that big of a deal to me because you still have to pay it now or later. I'm confused that I paid a deposit of $200 while booking on board to get $200 shipboard credit on my next cruise. So I'm just paying for my own shipboard credit, right? Can someone tell me the advantage of booking on board.

A year ago I booked while on board Celebrity for a future next cruise. We paid a deposit of $200 for the open end booking. When I booked my cruise this year, it gave me a reduced deposit and $200 ship board credit. I just don't see the advantage to booking on board. The reduced deposit is not that big of a deal to me because you still have to pay it now or later. I'm confused that I paid a deposit of $200 while booking on board to get $200 shipboard credit on my next cruise. So I'm just paying for my own shipboard credit, right? Can someone tell me the advantage of booking on board.

You are getting the $200 OBC in addition to a $200 reduction in the cost of the cruise balance because of the effect of the $200 deposit.

A year ago I booked while on board Celebrity for a future next cruise. We paid a deposit of $200 for the open end booking. When I booked my cruise this year, it gave me a reduced deposit and $200 ship board credit. I just don't see the advantage to booking on board. The reduced deposit is not that big of a deal to me because you still have to pay it now or later. I'm confused that I paid a deposit of $200 while booking on board to get $200 shipboard credit on my next cruise. So I'm just paying for my own shipboard credit, right? Can someone tell me the advantage of booking on board.

I'm a bit confused by your question. When you booked your cruise last year while on board, did you not get any OBC for booking your future cruise? An offer of OBC is typically a perk offered by the cruise line for booking your future cruise while on board, although I'm not sure if all cruise lines have this offer. The on board credit is offered at no cost to you. Normally, that bonus is not available if you were to call the cruise line when you are at home to book your next cruise.

We take an annual cruise with several friends. Some do the onboard future booking, some don't. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but those who don't, seem to end up getting the same "deal" as those who did. And as an above posted noted, there's not great advantage of a reduced deposit. If a cruise costs $1,000 and and you put down a $200 deposit, you owe $800 at final payment time. If you only had to put down a $50 deposit, you'd owe $950 at final payment time. Savings??????????? Seems the only advantage is to the cruise line as it increases their cash flow with lots of folks putting down money upfront and maybe not applying towards a cruise for a year or longer.

I'm a bit confused by your question. When you booked your cruise last year while on board, did you not get any OBC for booking your future cruise? An offer of OBC is typically a perk offered by the cruise line for booking your future cruise while on board, although I'm not sure if all cruise lines have this offer. The on board credit is offered at no cost to you. Normally, that bonus is not available if you were to call the cruise line when you are at home to book your next cruise.

But there are lots of bonus opportunities if you deal with decent cruise agencies...and some of these deals are not available if you have already booked the cruise (and possibly transferred it to an agency). We have found that its advantageous to always do a future cruise booking (where we do not specify a cruise) on Princess because that gets us additional OBC (and usually a reduced deposit) on our next booked cruise . Unlike Celebrity (and RCI), Princess has no problem with "stacking on board credits" so there is no trade off. With Celebrity, everything becomes a trade off and often does not really benefit the cruise. For example, if we get any kind of promotion (including booking onboard) from Celebrity we cannot use our Stockholder credit. And some of the best deals we get from our various cruise agencies (we shop around among several of our favorite cruise agencies) will only happen if it is a new booking. The only time we have done an onboard booking with Celebrity was when we wanted a specific cabin (it was a perfectly located hump cabin) which was available while we were onboard another cruise.

As to booking directly with Celebrity versus shopping around among decent cruise agencies.....we find that there are usually savings of 7-10% by using cruise agencies (often in the form of additional OBCs, pre paid gratuities, etc).

Hank

A year ago I booked while on board Celebrity for a future next cruise. We paid a deposit of $200 for the open end booking. When I booked my cruise this year, it gave me a reduced deposit and $200 ship board credit. I just don't see the advantage to booking on board. The reduced deposit is not that big of a deal to me because you still have to pay it now or later. I'm confused that I paid a deposit of $200 while booking on board to get $200 shipboard credit on my next cruise. So I'm just paying for my own shipboard credit, right? Can someone tell me the advantage of booking on board.

Just recently booked an Oceania cruise onboard the day the 2019 itineraries were announced. Got my favorite veranda cabin (with the usual O Life perks and airfare credit), a $450/person fare discount, $100 OBC on the current cruise and, perhaps most importantly, a price drop match guarantee right up to the date of sailing. And I have 30 days to transfer to a TA for additional TA OBC.

We try to do two extended cruises per year and most often book them onboard.

As for reduced deposit, it's a wash since you're eventually paying the fare.

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A year ago I booked while on board Celebrity for a future next cruise. We paid a deposit of $200 for the open end booking. When I booked my cruise this year, it gave me a reduced deposit and $200 ship board credit. I just don't see the advantage to booking on board. The reduced deposit is not that big of a deal to me because you still have to pay it now or later. I'm confused that I paid a deposit of $200 while booking on board to get $200 shipboard credit on my next cruise. So I'm just paying for my own shipboard credit, right? Can someone tell me the advantage of booking on board.

You seem to be making a very simple concept overly complex :)

The amount of the reduced deposit is unrelated to the amount of OBC offered; and it's really not much of a benefit since the final payment is increased by the same amount that the deposit is decreased and your total cash payment remains the same. So forget about the reduced deposit, which we all agree has minimal value.

Having forgotten about that other stuff, you are now down to the simple concept that:

- you receive OBC to use on your next cruise

- this "on-board-booking" OBC is generally in addition to any cruiseline perks that will come with your booking whether the booking is made on board or on land

- you can generally still use this "on-board-booking" OBC, even if you later transfer your reservation to an entirely different cruise on the same cruiseline, although the magnitude of this OBC may go up or down in accordance with changes in the duration of the cruise or cabin level.

And although, as Hank (Hlitner) says, there are sometimes circumstances where this OBC is incompatible with other sources of benefits like stockholder benefits or TA group rates; there is absolute no downside if you are making the booking under US rules since you can always cancel and get your full deposit back anytime before final payment. Just make sure that if you have it transferred to a TA that the TA has no cancellation fees.

Maybe for some the reduced deposit 'has no value'...but for me, it IS a big deal.

I'd much rather have to only put down a $200 deposit (in the form of the future cruise deposit) when a cruise is 18 months in advance than $1000-1200. Why give the cruise line 18 months use of my money?

For our Zuiderdam cruise, we deposited using a future cruise cert when I found a great price on a suite. All it took was one call to my PCC and the stateroom was reserved...no more $$ to pay.

You are getting the $200 OBC in addition to a $200 reduction in the cost of the cruise balance because of the effect of the $200 deposit.

We did this with P&O, it was £150 and yes we did get £150 OBS but we couldn't combine it with any other offers and had to pay their "select" fare not their "Early saver" fare. In the end we used it on a three night mini cruise, We have done 22 cruises with several different companies and not once have we found a "good deal" on board.

We did this with P&O, it was £150 and yes we did get £150 OBS but we couldn't combine it with any other offers and had to pay their "select" fare not their "Early saver" fare. In the end we used it on a three night mini cruise, We have done 22 cruises with several different companies and not once have we found a "good deal" on board.

Sounds like time to consider a different cruise line.

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Sounds like time to consider a different cruise line.

 

 

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I did say "several different Companies" We've done RCCL, P&O, NCL, Celebrity and Princess, always look to see what's on offer and as I said not found a "good deal" yet by booking on board. Off again in a couple of weeks so will look again.

I did say "several different Companies" We've done RCCL, P&O, NCL, Celebrity and Princess, always look to see what's on offer and as I said not found a "good deal" yet by booking on board. Off again in a couple of weeks so will look again.

We did our first onboard booking last month on Celebrity. We were told that the $250 OBC and 1 free perk would be stacked with any promotion offered by our TA and transferable to other cruises. I don't know if this would work or not, but since it fully refundable, we just try it.

You are getting the $200 OBC in addition to a $200 reduction in the cost of the cruise balance because of the effect of the $200 deposit.

Again, to clarify

The additional OBC is totally unrelated to the magnitude of the deposit. On Celebrity, the deposit is generally reduced to only $200, but the OBC varies depending on the cruise duration and location and the level of cabin booked - the OBC can be significantly lower or higher than $200.

Again, to clarify

 

The additional OBC is totally unrelated to the magnitude of the deposit. On Celebrity, the deposit is generally reduced to only $200, but the OBC varies depending on the cruise duration and location and the level of cabin booked - the OBC can be significantly lower or higher than $200.

On Royal, the OBC initially equals the reduced deposit. If the booking is later changed, the OBC can go up or down depending on stateroom category and length of cruise.

On Royal, the OBC initially equals the reduced deposit. If the booking is later changed, the OBC can go up or down depending on stateroom category and length of cruise.

That's fine, but the OP is asking about a Celebrity booking :)

We did our first onboard booking last month on Celebrity. We were told that the $250 OBC and 1 free perk would be stacked with any promotion offered by our TA and transferable to other cruises. I don't know if this would work or not, but since it fully refundable, we just try it.

Yes, we were told that too but it was a different story when we tried to do it. In the end it was our word against theirs. Below are some of the T&Cs of P&O for us Brits. (Sorry if this is going off the original question about Celebrity OP, But I agree, I don't see the advantage of an open end booking)

They may only be used against new bookings

Future Cruise Deposits cannot be redeemed against Net Rate, Flat Rate, Late Saver or any other promotional fare:mad::mad::mad:

Must be used within 1 calendar year of the date of creation

P&O Cruises standard booking conditions will apply

On-board Spending Money cannot be redeemed for cash

Cannot be refunded or transferred if you cancel your booking

And I've just looked up the Celebrity T&Cs and they say:--

Cruise Later

1. A reservation is made & reservation number provided but the ship, sail date and stateroom type is decided by the guest & updated by their Travel Agent at a later date.
   
2. A £75/€80 non-refundable reduced deposit per person is required to enrol in the 'Cruise Later' programme; the remaining £75 / €85 deposit will be required at time of converting to a specific ship and sail date.
   

So unless, once again, it's us Brits only that suffer, it is not refundable as you have been led to believe.

John

My cousins from UK also did the onboard booking. They wanted to charge them the 80 pounds/pp non-refundable deposit but because we all booked originally from an US based TA, they get the same $100/pp fully refundable deposit.

Last December, we booked an open-ended cruise with Princess for $200.00. We had 2 years to book any cruise to any destination and/or length. We booked a few months back for Alaska in Sept. and automatically received $50.00 OBC. So, in essence - received $250.00 in value for $200.00. Reduced deposits don't really mean much for us, but to each his own. A few weeks back, Princess was advertising our same classification room for $110.00 less each - $220.00 total. And, with one phone call and a few minutes you guessed it - we saved $220.00! We have come across many other passengers on Princess that always book onboard. Good luck and safe travels!

once again, it's us Brits only that suffer

 

John

I would go along with that this sort of post makes me :mad: but if it is not fed back to the cruise lines by all Brits hit by these promotional preferences it will never improve.

" Princess cruise , we have already booked/rebooked it 3 times .

1st on the 1 day $1 Deposit Sale

2nd the Sip/Sale to gain more OBC

3rd replaced the Sip/Sale with 3 for Free for the Grat's/OBC and upgraded from Balcony to Mini for just a few $$ more .

And still retained the original 1 Deposit requirement.

Can't wait for all the Sales yet to come before Final"

Its not as though the basic fares seem any lower in the UK - ofter higher even for cruises from the UK!

(Yes I have add the fees and tax into the US prices)

Anyone know what legality/ruling stops us from ringing a cruise line to request a refare/reduction or is it just something the cruise lines have invented.

You are forgetting about the OBC. If you book a $1,500 cruise onboard and pay a $200 deposit, you will owe $1,300 when you go to pay. When you get onboard you'll have $200 OBC.

If you don't book onboard and book later you'll put $400 down, then pay $1,100 when you pay off the cruise. Difference is you won't receive the $200 OBC.

So they are 'giving' you $200 for booking on the ship.

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Unless their plan is unusual, the deposit is applied to the cruise fare you ultimately pay. The on board credit is in addition. When we did this on HAL, the $200 per person deposit counted towards the fare we later paid. The $100 per person credit reduced our on-board cost -because we made the deposit about a year in advance, that credit was the equivalent of a 50% annual return on the amount of the deposit --- better than any savings A/C and any but the riskiest equity investment.

te saving is on the cruise you book it on i got on my last cruise a 200$ deposit for effectually 100$ due to a 100$ credit on my room