On board booking question

[momthecruisedirector]

I know, I know...it's been asked 100 times but I don't have the umph to look through all the posts.

 

If you are going to book on board for an open cruise... is it $100 per person for all three people you are booking for? Or is it $100 for the first two people only? Or what? I guess I'm asking how much am I taking out of this cruise budget to book a future cruise?!?!

 

Thanks in advance.

[spongerob]

My understanding is that future bookings can be made for lower berths only, and the cabin credits associated with those bookings are only for the first two people in the cabin. You would therefore have to put up $200 for an open booking or dedicated future cruise.

[momthecruisedirector]

Thank you. So I couldn't book, say, a mini suite?

[Pam in CA]

The future cruise booking is $100 per person, regardless of what you book. You can either book a specific cabin on a specific cruise or have an "open" booking without a particular cruise. You can make a $100 deposit in anyone's name. Also, the future cruise booking is charged directly to your credit card, not your onboard account.

 

One thing to know is that if you do the "open" booking, you only need to use one Future Cruise booking. If someone else is booked in the cabin with you, they put down only a $100 deposit. If there are two of you, you have the option of either using the one Future Cruise booking or both.

 

If you book a third person in the cabin, I don't know if you can book them for the $100 or not.

[land lover]

I was told and correct me if I am wrong that I could only make the future deposit in the exiting passagers names....for example my HD and I were crusing I made the deposit in his and my names.......I asked about doing it for my children put since they were not on the cruise they could not be included.:)

[custompcsys]

When we booked a 3-person cabin for part of our party on our Diamond cruise next month, Princess only wanted a $700 deposit - $350 for the first 2 people. They didn't request a deposit for the 3rd in the cabin. Not sure if this is a Princess policy or some deal the TA had worked out, but that's how it went.

 

Hope this helps :)

[momthecruisedirector]

Here is what I really want - to be able to book a b2b. However, I don't want to put down $400 while on board. Pam, can I book one person for one week and one person for the second week and pay only $200 while on board? Husband, son and I will be on this cruise and will be on the b2b.

[WeBeGone]

I just booked a b2b last week. We had 4 $100 future cruise letters. The deposit was $200 for each of the b2b cruises so I used all 4 future cruise credits for the deposits. My understanding is that if you have one $100 credit, you will need to pay $100 out of pocket for each segment of your b2b since the deposit is $200 per cruise. (Good thing we're cruising again in Sept so I can stock up on some more.)

[momthecruisedirector]

Where/how do you get a future cruise letter? So, with the letter did you pay the $400 or you DIDN'T have to pay anything? I am sure this is easier then I am making it out to be.

[spongerob]

A "future cruise letter" is just another name for an open booking. You could buy two open bookings while on board, and use one each to book a B2B cruise, but at the time of booking you would have to come up with another $100 for each leg of the B2B.

[momthecruisedirector]

That is what I wanted to hear! I can book myself on week 1, and husband on week 2 - and then when we get home I can call my travel agent and add myself to week 2 and husband to week 1 and pay $100 each then (after vacation). Right??

[MaryPoppinz]

If you *are* able to do that, is it a good idea? Wouldn't you be paying the 'normal' deposit (times two) when you get home, rather than just paying another $200 onboard?

[momthecruisedirector]

I guess so in the longterm - I want to be able to take advantage of getting on board credit but don't want to dip into this cruise's entertainment pot! I am sure I need to think about this more. I do want all the info I can get before I board so I don't waste half of a day at the desk figuring it out.

[WeBeGone]

Where/how do you get a future cruise letter? So, with the letter did you pay the $400 or you DIDN'T have to pay anything? I am sure this is easier then I am making it out to be.

 

We didn't have to pay anything last week on our b2b bookings because we had the 4 open bookings. Without the future bookings, our deposit would have been $900 for each cruise. By using our open bookings, the deposit was $200 and I didn't have to come up with any money now because I had already paid for it on board last year.

[WeBeGone]

If you *are* able to do that, is it a good idea? Wouldn't you be paying the 'normal' deposit (times two) when you get home, rather than just paying another $200 onboard?

 

On a 10 day cruise, the deposit would have been $900. Because I had purchased the open bookings on previous cruises, the deposit was $200 and I could use 2 open bookings per cruise and pay no money now. Plus we each will have on board credit when we take the b2b cruises. We normally purchase 4 open bookings on each cruise we take.

[Pam in CA]

That is what I wanted to hear! I can book myself on week 1, and husband on week 2 - and then when we get home I can call my travel agent and add myself to week 2 and husband to week 1 and pay $100 each then (after vacation). Right??

This is correct. The person booking with the one with the future cruise credit pays a $100 deposit.

[custompcsys]

If I book a specific future cruise and cabin while on board instead of buying 2 open bookings, can I still assign that to my TA, or is doing them as an open booking and having the TA use them for a specific cruise the only way to give the TA credit? I would assume the other drawback is that I would be doing it at Princess, rather than TA, pricing as well?

[spongerob]

You can give your TA's information to the FCC on board, and have the booking assigned to your TA right then and there. Or, you can transfer it to a TA when you get home. Either way works.

[Pam in CA]

To "transfer" it to your own TA, if that's the route you take, just call your TA and give them the booking numbers. They'll handle everything for you so don't worry about that part of it. The default when you book onboard is that the booking goes to the TA who booked you on the cruise you're on. So if you don't want it to go to the TA you booked your cruise with, make it a Princess booking. You can then transfer it to any TA you want. Ditto the open future cruise booking.

[NorcalGuy]

To "transfer" it to your own TA, if that's the route you take, just call your TA and give them the booking numbers. They'll handle everything for you so don't worry about that part of it. The default when you book onboard is that the booking goes to the TA who booked you on the cruise you're on. So if you don't want it to go to the TA you booked your cruise with, make it a Princess booking. You can then transfer it to any TA you want. Ditto the open future cruise booking.

This is important as you may not want to use the same TA next time...Indicate a Princess booking deposit on board ship and just give your TA the deposit#s (also on Captains Circle web page) when you actually book a cruise. They will take it from there.

[momthecruisedirector]

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I appreciate your clear answers.