Booking your next cruise whilst on board

[oceana20]

Can anyone tell me what if any benifits there are to booking your next cruise whilst on board. We are on a cruise in June and would like to book for the Caribbean 2015, which went on sale this week. Are we better off waiting until we go on our June cruise to book or are there no benifits to doing this other than the FCD. Thank you.

[Brayman]

We did this in the past and received an extra chunk of OBC, but the price had gone up from the initial offering and I think there was a small fuel supplement in addition, so all in all there was no particular benefit to the bottom line, but it did "feel" good to have more OBC than our travelling companions!

[kersh]

The only benefit to booking on board is the extra OBC you get. You get the same OBC if you just book a future cruise deposit then book when you get home with your own TA. You used to be able to book on board and transfer the booking to the TA You booked your cruise with. This may still apply but don't know as now we just book Future Cruise Deposits at £50.00 pp.

 

The extra OBC you get depends on the length of the cruise you are booking.

 

Sue

[oceana20]

Thank you for your replies. Sue, can I just confirm then that as we book directly with P&O and know exactly which cruise we next wish to go on there is no benifit financally between booking whilst on board or doing what we have always done in the past which was to pay a FCD each. I only question this because although our deposit might only be approx £1000, I would rather that money stayed in my savings account until necessary. Hope you can understand what I am trying to say, x

[kersh]

Hi Oceana 20

 

I think you will need to confirm that with the future cruise/loyalty staff on board. As you book anyway with P &O I think you are correct and there willve no difference.

 

For us we use Cumbria Cruises now Thomas cook and as they are part of co op travel we get th co op divi and Free credit card use. This saves us approx 3 % which is Why we FCD rather than book on board.

 

Sue

[oceana20]

Many thanks Sue, I think we too will opt for the FCD as we have done in the past, many thanks again for your help.

Sharon

[ovccruiser]

Have the rules changed? Used to be cruises booked on board received future OBC if the cruise was taken in the following 12 months. Your 2015 cruise is beyond that of course. Worth checking our though as the deposit is usually quite low.

[ucanttaketheboy]

Have the rules changed? Used to be cruises booked on board received future OBC if the cruise was taken in the following 12 months. Your 2015 cruise is beyond that of course. Worth checking our though as the deposit is usually quite low.

For FDC it was that you book a cruise within 12 months of the date that you pay your FDC rather than the date of your cruise being within a year.

[Growler5010]

The last time we booked on board was in August 2011 & we got extra OBC and there was no credit card fee payable on the deposit. We also gave them our TA's details (Thomas Cook) & the booking was then managed by them.

[FLUFFY01]

Hi

With FCD it can only be used on the Vantage Fare, and not with the Getaway. Having said that I have read in the past that some people managed to use it on the Getaway, though many have not.

[BrianI]

You cannot book on board using a FCD. Booking on board gives you the same benefits as if you had a FCD. Hence you cannot claim the benfit twice. You can pay your deposit by credit card with no surcharge. I have just booked a cruise on board a couple of weeks ago and these were the rules then.

 

Something not known to many is that you can book a FCD on behalf of a friend. So if you are thinking of booking and you dont have an FCD, then if you know someone who is on board you can ask then to book a FCD for you. You can use the FCD as soon as it is on the system but it might be best to wait until the following day. I have just done this for some friends and it worked well.

 

Brian

[oceana20]

Many thanks for your replies, they have been most helpful, now I just need Kingfisher to allow Mike to have 5 wks off work, fingers crossed. :rolleyes: