future cruise certificate booking?

[island lady]

When you book using one of those "future cruise/why not" certificates, of which I purchased while on my last cruise, I am not sure I booked the correct way. I first went online, finding my desired date and cabin, then put it on curteousy hold. I then called C&A to have that booking deposit applied to that held reservation. She canceled the hold, and made a new booking with that same cabin number, and then applied my 100 deposit, balcony discount, and future OBC.

 

However, now I cannot make changes to my reservation online due to not actually booking online, as this is now considered an RCI TA booking. Is this a problem for anyone else. Did I do this first one wrong?? :eek:

[FLACRUISER99]

I also wish you could just book online. The problem is that when you hold a cruise it is assigned a booking number and you must use your next cruise booking number to get OBC.

[island lady]

I also wish you could just book online. The problem is that when you hold a cruise it is assigned a booking number and you must use your next cruise booking number to get OBC.

 

Thanks, though I would probably just show the front desk my original booking certificate to be sure my OBC was applied to sea pass?

 

I think I may have answered my own question, but would still like to know if this is correct:

 

I just tried to do a phantom booking, going all the way through to the payment page.

Scrolling to the bottom, there was a drop down window that you could click on and then type in the future cruise certificate number.

I think I will try to use that with the next booking certificate on my next cruise and see if that works. I do like booking online, especially to be able to make changes if needed, ei: MTD, shore excursions, reservations, etc.

 

Anyone think I am on the right track? Has anyone done this yet with postive results?

[emilygrace]

I think if you book by phone, or even through a TA, you can still make MTD reservations, purchase shore excursions and make other reservations (I guess for Oasis and Allure venues) online. I could be wrong. But I always book through a TA and can still do excursions online. I have never chosen MTD so can't help you there.

[island lady]

I think if you book by phone, or even through a TA, you can still make MTD reservations, purchase shore excursions and make other reservations (I guess for Oasis and Allure venues) online. I could be wrong. But I always book through a TA and can still do excursions online. I have never chosen MTD so can't help you there.

 

Thanks :)

 

However, when I pull up my reservation page for that cruise, it states in red at the top that I can fill out my set sail pass but "only reservations made on RCI.com can be modified online".

I was able to order luggage tags, and fill out set sail pass but that was it. Reservations can be made, but it flags me out telling me I need to select MTD and am not allowed to do that as it is a "modification" I guess.

 

I will just leave it as late dining, being only a 3 night cruise. We did like the MTD on our last cruise.

[thelion]

A Future Cruise Certificate is NOT the same thing as the Future Cruise (Next Cruise, Decide Now/Decide Later) Booking that you book onboard.

 

A Future Cruise Certificate (FCC) is issued as compensation for an incident. A Future Cruise Booking has the obc and reduced deposit.

 

As for modifying online, if you book over the phone, you need to add your cruise to your MyCruises account. When you do so, a pop up will display asking if you want to take ownership of your cruise. If you say no, you lose functionality. You only get one shot to say yes, so make it count :)

[island lady]

A Future Cruise Certificate is NOT the same thing as the Future Cruise (Next Cruise, Decide Now/Decide Later) Booking that you book onboard.

 

A Future Cruise Certificate (FCC) is issued as compensation for an incident. A Future Cruise Booking has the obc and reduced deposit.

 

As for modifying online, if you book over the phone, you need to add your cruise to your MyCruises account. When you do so, a pop up will display asking if you want to take ownership of your cruise. If you say no, you lose functionality. You only get one shot to say yes, so make it count :)

 

Thanks :)

 

I did not realize there was two "Future cruise" selections for that drop down. That must be what it is.

As to the pop up that asks if I want to take ownership of my cruise on "MyCruises" account, I did say yes. So yes, I had my shot and tried to make it count. But am still limited and cannot modify.

 

Still confused as to how to book totally online with a "Next cruise, Decide later" certificate.

[thelion]

Thanks :)

 

I did not realize there was two "Future cruise" selections for that drop down. That must be what it is.

As to the pop up that asks if I want to take ownership of my cruise on "MyCruises" account, I did say yes. So yes, I had my shot and tried to make it count. But am still limited and cannot modify.

 

Still confused as to how to book totally online with a "Next cruise, Decide later" certificate.

 

You cannot, unfortunately because of the way the Next Cruise, Decide later bookings work.

 

Insight: within RCI's system, a Next Cruise booking appears to be an actual booking. It has pricing, a booking number etc, but has a special code for the ship and a date of like 2019 or something. Because of this, when you call in and "convert" a Next cruise booking, all they are doing is changing the ship and sail date. This is why you cannot do it online, the system is not set up to do so. You will, unfortunately, have to call in.

 

Perhaps one day they will change this, but I doubt it. They are too busy toying with the website.

[island lady]

You cannot, unfortunately because of the way the Next Cruise, Decide later bookings work.

 

Insight: within RCI's system, a Next Cruise booking appears to be an actual booking. It has pricing, a booking number etc, but has a special code for the ship and a date of like 2019 or something. Because of this, when you call in and "convert" a Next cruise booking, all they are doing is changing the ship and sail date. This is why you cannot do it online, the system is not set up to do so. You will, unfortunately, have to call in.

 

Perhaps one day they will change this, but I doubt it. They are too busy toying with the website.

 

Thanks again! :)

 

And here I thought it was something I was doing wrong. :eek:

Not only playing with the website, but from what I hear, playing with our cruise credits too. Uggg..... :(

[thelion]

Thanks again! :)

 

And here I thought it was something I was doing wrong. :eek:

Not only playing with the website, but from what I hear, playing with our cruise credits too. Uggg..... :(

 

My pleasure. I wouldn't put too much stock in the "playing with our cruise credits" thing. Changes are afoot, but they are not what most people think.

[island lady]

My pleasure. I wouldn't put too much stock in the "playing with our cruise credits" thing. Changes are afoot, but they are not what most people think.

 

I hope not, I purposely jumped on another short cruise just days before my 10 night Jewel cruise, so that I would finally make Diamond when I disembark later next month.

 

Needed that level to obtain the better balcony discount for my planned 2012 Alaska cruise.

Just hope it is still at 10 points by that time, or I may have to suffer more cruises to get there. :eek: :eek: ;)