Benefits of booking while onboard?

[MartinsCruise]

What does Celebrity give you if you book another cruise while you are onboard? We are looking at something for next year and would like to know whether it's worth waiting until our October cruise to do so.

[patseacruiser]

I would think you could book now and use your platinum balcony discount because if you use that you can't use the future cruise credit anyway.

[MartinsCruise]

I would think you could book now and use your platinum balcony discount because if you use that you can't use the future cruise credit anyway.

 

What is the platinum balcony discout?

[Eliger]

What is the platinum balcony discout?

Must be referring to the Platinum balcony discount available on Royal Caribbean. ;) No balcony discount available on Celebrity, as far as I know. :(

 

Gerry

[JAKE3337]

What is the platinum balcony discout?

 

Hello,

 

You are on our repro cruise with us in Oct. Being that we are sailing in just over a month, I would wait to book when you are on the ship. We completed a 14 night TransAtlantic May 2009 and purchased 2 "Celebrity Passages" which give you OBC for future cruises and you don't even have to book the actual trip while on board. The OBC are combinable with TA OBC's as well. We have $200 OBC from the "Celebrity Passage certificate for our 10 day cruise" plus $200 OBC from our TA = $400 OBC for this cruise. If you can hold out, I would. It will give you extra OBC for your future cruise.

 

Angela

[Andy]

Must be referring to the Platinum balcony discount available on Royal Caribbean. ;) No balcony discount available on Celebrity, as far as I know. :(

 

Gerry

 

Hi Eliger !

 

You are correct. There is a balcony discount for Royal Caribbean passengers, but this benefit is not offered on Celebrity. There is a 1 Category upgrade on Celebrity for Captain's Club Members, but it's only for inside to inside, and outside to outside.... i.e. paying for Category 8, and getting a Category 7 cabin. It does not apply to Balconies or Suites.

[hajekfam]

Sometimes waiting to book onboard for an onboard credit can actually end up costing you more in the end. Once we decided to book another cruise but decided to wait the two months until we were on a cruise to get the onboard booking credit. We were a little upset when the cruise price rose more in those two months than we were getting in onboard booking credit. So we no longer wait to book a cruise - when we decide to take a cruise, we book it immediately.

[JAKE3337]

Sometimes waiting to book onboard for an onboard credit can actually end up costing you more in the end. Once we decided to book another cruise but decided to wait the two months until we were on a cruise to get the onboard booking credit. We were a little upset when the cruise price rose more in those two months than we were getting in onboard booking credit. So we no longer wait to book a cruise - when we decide to take a cruise, we book it immediately.

 

You do have a point there but there are many times where the prices drop as well.....it's all a gamble. I just wanted to point out an example of the OBC that you would get if you waited. Obviously if a really good deal comes up, better to book now but if they were going going to book at the regular rates, I would hold off for now until I was on board.

[Orator]

I believe that depending when you book on board there are three advantages. (1) Choice of cabin; (2) possibly a lower price; (3) On Board Booking credit. There are also some disadvantages: (1) If you are a stockholder you lose the stockholder credit by no longer being able to combine with On Board Booking credit; (2) Making a deposit far in advance of your cruise. I'm certain that others will add to the list or disagree with some of the items. I usually compare the amount of OBC with stockholder credit. If stockholder credit is higher, I don't book on board. You need to consider what works best for you, it might vary from cruise to cruise. It would be easy if Celebrity returned to their former policy on combining credits.

[sunlovermtl]

I believe that depending when you book on board there are three advantages. (1) Choice of cabin; (2) possibly a lower price; (3) On Board Booking credit. There are also some disadvantages: (1) If you are a stockholder you lose the stockholder credit by no longer being able to combine with On Board Booking credit; (2) Making a deposit far in advance of your cruise. I'm certain that others will add to the list or disagree with some of the items. I usually compare the amount of OBC with stockholder credit. If stockholder credit is higher, I don't book on board. You need to consider what works best for you, it might vary from cruise to cruise. It would be easy if Celebrity returned to their former policy on combining credits.

 

Don't forget that Celebrity will honor price drops. So if you book in advance you may get a nice surprise by the time you are ready to sail. Our upcoming cruise came down by $720.00 the month after we booked.

I always book what we like and if need be cancel before final payment if we see something better of if for some reason (medical or family) we cannot go.

[Orator]

It has been my experience that if you book as soon as bookings open you get the lowest price. You are correct, you can request, and usually get, a lower price if the cost decreases. You need to request the adjustment, Celebrity won't do it automatically. The biggest difference for me is the stockholder vs onboard booking credit.

[cruisingram1]

For our extended family of 6, the reduced deposit ($100 per person) combined with the choice of our favorite cabins made us book while we were on the Infinity this summer. We actually booked a cruise on RCCL and were told it was totally refundable or we could move it to a Celebrity sailing or any other RCCL sailing. If prices went down, we'd benefit as well with price guarantee. We also got an OBC. It's possible that the WOW sale might have better OBCs with a little higher reduced deposit (125?), but our favorite cabin combinations are few and far between and they were available then.. and might not be available when the next sale came around. It's a win-win situation for the most part.

 

The downside is if there are deals for new reservations only.. we can't price match. It's the chance we take for getting the cabins we want.

[MartinsCruise]

Thank you for all the replies. Do they usually give more OBC's than what we get with the stockholder OBC's? We are considering booking a B2B so whatever we get should be doubled.

[Orator]

I guarantee that someone will correct me if I'm wrong but... B2B should be treated as separate cruises. believe the Booking credit and shareholder credit for a 7 day cruise will be the same $100.00. If your cruise is 10, but less than 14days the Share holder credit is $200.00.

[hajekfam]

I believe that depending when you book on board there are three advantages. (1) Choice of cabin; (2) possibly a lower price; (3) On Board Booking credit. There are also some disadvantages: (1) If you are a stockholder you lose the stockholder credit by no longer being able to combine with On Board Booking credit; (2) Making a deposit far in advance of your cruise. I'm certain that others will add to the list or disagree with some of the items. I usually compare the amount of OBC with stockholder credit. If stockholder credit is higher, I don't book on board. You need to consider what works best for you, it might vary from cruise to cruise. It would be easy if Celebrity returned to their former policy on combining credits.

Actually out of the three advantages that you list, there is only one advantage to booking a Celebrity cruise onboard - and that is the onboard booking credit. The best choice of cabin is to book when bookings open for that cruise - by the time you do a cruise & book onboard, all the better cabins may be gone. The price of a Celebrity cruise is the same no matter where you book it (through Celebrity direct, through a travel agent, or booking onboard) on the same day. The price may fluctuate from the day bookings opened - but no matter where you book, you will pay the price listed on Celebrity's website that day (unless you get in on travel agent's group booking where they reserved a lot of cabins at the beginning low price).

As far as qualifying for the shareholder credit and booking onboard, you get whichever credit is higher.

[MartinsCruise]

Are the credits for booking on board usually greater than the shareholder credits?