How does booking On Board work?

[bandjwayne]

Hello all, we will be heading out on our cruise in 21 days!! We are going with another couple and have discussed going again with our children for the next one. So our thoughts are going in the winter of 2016. We need the time to save up for some airfare for the 4 in my family (they have 5). I have heard of some advantages to booking while on your current cruise. The problem that I have is that RCI is only out to May 2015 now, maybe June 2015 at time of our current sailing. I have checked out the RCI site, and have found nothing. Anyone have any info how this works and if it is worth it? Thank you all.

 

 

Bryan

[Clarea]

Hello all, we will be heading out on our cruise in 21 days!! We are going with another couple and have discussed going again with our children for the next one. So our thoughts are going in the winter of 2016. We need the time to save up for some airfare for the 4 in my family (they have 5). I have heard of some advantages to booking while on your current cruise. The problem that I have is that RCI is only out to May 2015 now, maybe June 2015 at time of our current sailing. I have checked out the RCI site, and have found nothing. Anyone have any info how this works and if it is worth it? Thank you all.

 

 

Bryan

What you need is called a Next Cruise Certificate:

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/NextCruise/13033003a_NextCruise_OpenBooking_Form_US.pdf

 

This gives you the benefits of booking onboard, without having to know what cruise you will be booking.

Edited January 16, 2014 by clarea

[rrraydon]

I haven't sailed RCI in a while so I am in need of a refresher. Where do you go on the ship to purchase the certificate? If you book while onboard, is the full deposit expected at that time?

[Clarea]

I haven't sailed RCI in a while so I am in need of a refresher. Where do you go on the ship to purchase the certificate? If you book while onboard, is the full deposit expected at that time?

You go to the Loyalty Ambassador & Future Cruise Consultant.

 

One of the benefits of booking on board is that you get a reduced deposit of $100 per person, for all staterooms below a Grand Suite.

[Familygoboston]

Its super easy to do, you don't even need to make an appointment with the future cruise sales staff (sometimes they are busy, and since you aren't booking a specific cruise, you just need a booking number you can use when the cruise you want comes out) The form is right in your cruise documents- look on the very last couple of pages, (mine is on page 18) you will see Next Cruise form. Fill this out and drop it off in the box for Next Cruise located at the Loyalty and Cruise sales office while you are in board.

 

The loyalty staff will bill your CC and send the receipt and NC paperwork to your cabin (if you drop the form off late in your cruise they may have to email you)

 

Hint- they will charge you 100 deposit per person, so to save yourself some cash now, just put one person who you know FOR SURE will be sailing, on the NextCruise paperwork (cross off the others if its pre printed) . Then when you book the actual cruise you want you can add the other folks and pay the deposits for them then.

 

I think and maybe someone can confirm, that you can book multiple cabins with a Next Cruise so long as you are all on the same cruise (ie, book a cabin for you and another for your kids) Ive done that in the past, but want to confirm its still possible now!

 

Anybody know for sure?

[bandjwayne]

Thanks guys, Great info. I like the idea of just booking one person. Any added benifet of having all 4 of us done on ship. Or would I not gain anything by doing that over just me( minus $400 of course :) )

[rrraydon]

Thanks for the info..good to know. :)

[Jt4428]

The next cruise certificate is non-refundable, however, they give you a long time to use it - 5 years. So it's definitely worth it if you think you're going to cruise within 5 years.

[Clarea]

The next cruise certificate is non-refundable, however, they give you a long time to use it - 5 years. So it's definitely worth it if you think you're going to cruise within 5 years.

There's no expiration on Royal's Next Cruise Certificate.

[Ashland]

The limit for purchasing NCC's onboard is 3 pp..We each fill out the form and deposit them into a secured box in the LA's office...very easy to do. You can use any credit card or cards you want, it doesn't have to be the one you have secured your SeaPass with. We received an e-mail confirmation, our LA was apparently too busy to provide a hard copy while we were onboard...RCI makes it very easy to make sure this is processed with no problems regardless of how you received confirmation once back home...they did for me when only one form was processed..no problem making sure I received the 3pp.

[Familygoboston]

One other thing to be aware of if you decide to use your "pre printed" Next Cruise", it will list the TA who booked your current cruise- if you DO NOT want to use that same agent, you'll need to cross that out too. Even if you think you might like to use that specific TA again, you have a certain amount of time after you book an actual sailing to assign the booking to your TA (any TA you want !). Bob probably knows the timing on that- I think it's 30 days, but I do my own bookings so I'm not certain of that.

[Clarea]

One other thing to be aware of if you decide to use your "pre printed" Next Cruise", it will list the TA who booked your current cruise- if you DO NOT want to use that same agent, you'll need to cross that out too. Even if you think you might like to use that specific TA again, you have a certain amount of time after you book an actual sailing to assign the booking to your TA (any TA you want !). Bob probably knows the timing on that- I think it's 30 days, but I do my own bookings so I'm not certain of that.

You have 60 days after the NC is first assigned to a cruise to transfer to a travel agent.