Reflection Newbie has a few ?'s

[tizzylizz]

Hello Everyone,

I have been scanning these boards on & off since we booked our up coming E. Caribbean Cruise on the Reflection. And boy, has it been lots of help!

 

We haven't cruised since 12 years ago when we where on the Infinity. So, guess you could say we are kind of cruise newbies.

 

I am sure I will have some crazy questions until we leave for our cruise! My first one is....I have been reading how people prebook future cruises while on the cruise. I don't remember anything about that on our last cruise. Is it worth while to do? Do you get good deals?

 

Second question (completely nothing to do with first question :): It looks like lunch is served at the Lawn Club Grill on sea days...does anyone know the cost & is the menu a lot different then dinner?

 

Thank you for any help and have a great evening! lizzy

[miched]

The advantage of booking on board is the ship board credit and an upgrade. There are many restrictions on the upgrade. There may also be a reduced deposit advantage. Problem that I found was the help is not very helpful. You really need to do your homework first and basically have the cruise you want when you book. They are not really willing to help you search for the best deal. You will not get another perks that a TA may give such as extra SBC, prepaid gratuities and etc.

 

You can purchase a open passage certificate for $100 that becomes your deposit and will give you some OBC. Problem is once you use it it becomes a reservation and excludes you from canceling and rebooking to get a better deal that states for new reservations only.

 

Many people use it and are satisfied customers.

 

 

.

[tizzylizz]

Thank you for your reply Miched. I guess it is not as good as it sounded.

[UpcountryTravelers]

We liked our Celebrity Reflection cruise so much we did the open prebook. Onboard info made it sound like we BOTH had to put up a $100 deposit EACH. So we did. Now we have TWO future cruise deposits on record. (It's $100 per cabin, not per person, although the announcements and printed info makes it sound otherwise.)

[miched]

We liked our Celebrity Reflection cruise so much we did the open prebook. Onboard info made it sound like we BOTH had to put up a $100 deposit EACH. So we did. Now we have TWO future cruise deposits on record. (It's $100 per cabin, not per person, although the announcements and printed info makes it sound otherwise.)

 

If each person uses a certificate that becomes the deposit for both. If only one uses a certificate than the other has to pay the 25% as their deposit. And if you use 2 the OBC is per cabin and not per person.

 

The main thing to remember is that they are not refundable. If you use one to reserve a cruise you do not want to cancel it because you will lose the $100. You can transfer it to another cruise without losing the $100 but you will not get any perks for a new booking other than the OBC that comes with the ceritficate.

 

With the 1,2,3 promotion if you use a certificate you don't get the OBC that

comes with it.

 

.

[tizzylizz]

If each person uses a certificate that becomes the deposit for both. If only one uses a certificate than the other has to pay the 25% as their deposit. And if you use 2 the OBC is per cabin and not per person.

 

The main thing to remember is that they are not refundable. If you use one to reserve a cruise you do not want to cancel it because you will lose the $100. You can transfer it to another cruise without losing the $100 but you will not get any perks for a new booking other than the OBC that comes with the ceritficate.

 

With the 1,2,3 promotion if you use a certificate you don't get the OBC that

comes with it.

 

.

 

So if I get it right...If someone does buy a $100 cert. while on the cruise, that will apply toward a future cruise---which you can pick at another time (being able to research what cruise you want to take, best deal, etc...) OR do you have to pick the cruise/date/ship at the same time you buy the cert.?

[cruisestitch]

There are two kinds of certificates

 

Open Passage -- you do not have to pick the cruise at the time you buy it

 

Reserved Passage -- if you already know what ship, sail date, type of stateroom, and so forth, you book a Reserved Passage

 

Even with a Reserved Passage, you can change to a different ship or sail date as long as it is prior to final payment date, but be sure to keep the same booking number to keep the offers in force

[librarylady19]

I scanned a copy of the Passages from our recent cruise and will post it later today in my review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772373

[photomama]

I'm not sure if we were just lucky or this is a common policy, but last year we had used our open passages to book our Reflection cruise. A better deal came up a month later, and I called Celebrity because it was new bookings only. She said I could not transfer to this offer, but I could cancel and rebook. She canceled out passages certificates and by doing so Celebrity refunded our $200, yes, we had both bought one. Then she rebooked our same cruise and stateroom under the new offer. Only thing was we had to pay full deposit. Don't really see why this is a problem, you're going to pay it eventually anyway. Guess for those who have alot of cruises booked it ties up a good bit of money, unfortunately we're not in that catagory.

[tizzylizz]

There are two kinds of certificates

 

Open Passage -- you do not have to pick the cruise at the time you buy it

 

Reserved Passage -- if you already know what ship, sail date, type of stateroom, and so forth, you book a Reserved Passage

 

Even with a Reserved Passage, you can change to a different ship or sail date as long as it is prior to final payment date, but be sure to keep the same booking number to keep the offers in force

 

So, you may get better incentives on an Reserved Passaage?

 

I actually am only really interested in this because I would LOVE to encourage the hubby to cruise more then every 12 years...lol. I figured if he had some $$ down on a future cruise, we may go more likely then waiting to get home and book later. And he may be more likely to book a next cruise if he can save $$ :). Kind of just wondering how it worked--so thanks for all the help so far! :)

[tizzylizz]

I scanned a copy of the Passages from our recent cruise and will post it later today in my review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772373

 

Librarylady,

I have read your post the last several days & have enjoyed and have learned a lot! Thank you so much & will look for your next posts on it.

[firemanbobswife]

While the Open Passages is not refundable, it doesn't expire. So take as long as you want. We always get one of these when we're not sure which cruise we want to do next.