So who doesn't book another while on board?

[flagger]

Is there anyone who does not book another cruise while on board? We have another cruise booked for 2007 with our cruise after that a planned December 2007 cruise on Disney. I am thinking of not tying up $750 this time and just waiting until our RCCL cruise to book something else for 2008 (maybe 18 months later). It was hard enough trying up $1500 for this upcoming cruise and our Freedom cruise. I know I can always moving the booking around and keep the shipboard credit. What do ya'll do?

[Brucemcdou]

Hi, Flagger - On our last cruise we booked three future cruises:eek:. If you're pretty sure you're going to do them it's hard to pass up the on-board credit. We've since cancelled one of them to replace it with a RCCL cruise, due to scheduling conflicts. The $100/pp discount for reciprocal status in the Crown & Anchor society kind of softened the blow of giving up the on-board credit on the Celebrity cruise. I'm hoping that Celebrity's fall/winter 2007 cruises will be out by the time we take our next cruise in three weeks so we can book some more!

[MAXII]

Hi Flagger: Folks I met on cruise critic and then onboard have done this many times and swear by it. We did this for the first time this year on Celebrity's Summit and booked a cruise for Jan 2007.

 

Personally, me and dh figured we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. So, we now have a $200 cabin credit wating for us and, using our captains club status, we paid the price of one category lower than we actually booked and also received a further discount for being club members to boot. Before booking, we double checked what we could get the cruise for on-line about a half hour before we went to see the cruise coordinator - so we knew what the max was we should pay.

 

Upon our return, we went to see our T/A who confirmed everything for us and now has the booking. We are free to transfer the booking to anyother itinerary without losing our cabin credit and the deposit is 100% refundable if we need to cancel before full payment is due. Kicker is, my T/A tried to get the same price for himself (not with the cabin credit of course) and cannot get this good a price! Don't think we will ever book a cruise another way now unless we go to another cruise line. Hope this helps.

[hajekfam]

We have not been able to book our cruise while on a cruise because they usually don't have bookings that far out. We usually book on the day booking open when prices are now at their lowest. At the time we take that cruise, we usually have one booked for the following year and the one two years out is not available yet.

 

Bruce - Based on past performance, Celeb's fall/winter 2007 cruise will not be out until May/June of 2006.

[Lois R]

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I just returned from SUMMIT

and didn't book anything else.

I have 2 already down the road. I know people say book it for the credit.

I never took the time to visit with the Cruise Consultant this trip.

[flagger]

I really cannot decide. We really can only do one cruise a year so 2007 will be pushing it. It is even harder for us not knowing where we will even be living next year much less in 2007 or even 2008. I guess we will just have to look at finances. We dropped the cash on the final payment this month, I had to book tickets to NC for my sister's wedding the week before our cruise, my car needs $1000 worth of work, annnnnnd we head to SoCal this week for a four park in four day tour of Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and Disney/CA Adventure. So needless to say another $750 only to move it to another cruise later will be tough. Then again I would love to take a two or three day cruise to no where on either line so we could bump up to the next level in Captain's Club.

[sablecheyenne]

Never mind where you might be living in 2007 let alone 2008. Some of us wonder it we even will be alive.

So with all your money already tied up, why are you even asking?

 

sable

[flagger]

Because some of us like that $100 shipboard credit and the ability to move quickly to get a cabin we like.

[jukeboxy]

Most of the advantages have already been mentioned but here is another.

Once you book a cruise and make your deposit you have the on board credit linked to that booking number. If you change your mind later and switch to another cruise you keep the credit as long as you keep the booking number.

So when talking to your TA make sure they keep that number or they will cost you money.

If you have the deposit money sitting in a savings account your making more money by getting the on board credit. Since most savings are only paying under 5% your ahead of the game and you can always cancel and get the money back.

So in my feble mind booking on board is the only way to fly.

[masterbaker]

We booked onboard for an April 07 cruise recently, but when another deal came up we switched ships (keeping the same booking number for our OBC). We will be booking the April 07 cruise again when we get onboard again in January. Switching ships was so easy, all our information was already on file so just the ship and date were changed, it took just a couple of minutes.

[seagulls]

We booked the Summit January 6, 2007 Panama Canal sailing while we were on board. It seems a long time to have $900 tied up, but what the heck! As it was we sat with the TA and chose one of the sercret cabins with an extra large veranda. We really wanted an aft but would you believe they are already taken or in the hands of some TA just waiting for a client.

[Leela]

I don't book another cruise while on board. Why? Here are a few reasons:

 

1) Every time Mom & I try to see the onboard sales consultant, she is busy. And we get busy doing other things on board, so we forget to get back to her.

 

2) We usually only take one cruise per year, and twice now when we've picked up the onboard booking information, they don't have the date range we're interested in available yet.

 

3) It's just so easy and convenient for me to go through Celebrity's web site. I can use it to check which cabins are available on various different ships at different times, compare all the pricing information, look at pictures of the various ships and cabin types, check out what shore excursions might be available, and make my decision that way. The one time we knew exactly what ship and cabin class we wanted, they weren't taking bookings yet. She told us we could book any cruise and move the booking around, but that just seemed like too much trouble and confusion for me, because we had an alternate plan to sail on another line if we couldn't end up getting exactly what we wanted from Celebrity.

 

One of these days I'd like to do an onboard booking, but it just hasn't fit into my plans yet.

[jjbko]

Having never booked onboard, my question is where do you get the information on which cruises are available. I like to loooooook at what is available before I go and haggle with a rep.

[seagulls]

You can haggle all you like but no TA is allowed to discount a cruise anymore. All prices are set. You can book onboard and get an onboard credit then have the booking transferred to the TA of your choice who may offer you a perk. For example my TA gives me free cruise insurance.

[Eliger]

Having never booked onboard, my question is where do you get the information on which cruises are available. I like to loooooook at what is available before I go and haggle with a rep.

I would suggest that you study the options before your sailing, and then you can book the cruise you want. That way, you get the onboard credit.

[catmand]

We did while on a Princess cruise, two "open" bookings. Princess is different. Only 100 p/p, you can book an "open" which gives you four years to decide where to apply it, it can always be canceled. For two hundred bucks, silly not to, think I.

We did NOT while on Mercury in March of 2004. Since we have now sailed Infinity, May 2005 and will sail Summit in March of '06 and booked those 9 months and 19 months out, I figure Celebrity is going to have our dough tied up one way or the other, may as well get the credits, we will book something when on Summit next year.

 

PS: I THINK you can make an appointment with the on-board booking agent?

[Randyk47]

We haven't in the past but might in the future as we can no longer get discounted Celebrity fares so might as well get the ship credits. Having said that, it was on the Galaxy last March we found out Celebrity was pulling out of Galveston after this season. Unfortunately, as much as we liked our Galaxy cruise, we were unable to find a Celebrity cruise that had the right mix of itinerary and timing for us for our 2006 cruise. Oh well....maybe 2007.

[Lois R]

Hi Cat:)

 

Yes, you are correct about making an appointment. The Cruise Consultant

has regular hours (as opposed to irregular;) ) and they do take

appointments as well.

 

And Seagulls is correct too. No haggling for prices anymore. What you

see is what you get.

 

And there is a list (there was on SUMMIT) of all upcoming cruises

through the spring of 2007.

 

Hellloooooo Randy! Good to see you again:)

[Randyk47]

Hi Lois!!! Just because we've gone back to HAL for our next cruise doesn't mean we don't like our Celebrity friends. :) We'll be back!!!:D

[devora]

Thank you for the information regarding the onboard cruise credit. We had booked while onboard the Navigator, a 2 week B to B for March, which we received 2 $100.00 on board credits. We changed the booking to a 2 week Hawaii on the Summit, but the credits did not follow through. After reading the posts I called CC and she said since they did not use the same booking number, that's why it didn't transfer. We are Elite members and I explained that it was not our fault that they didn't keep the same number. She spoke with a supervisor, and they will transfer the $200 credit to this new booking.

[MelindaF]

We have never booked a cruise while on a cruise, but I guess there is always a first time.

[jjbko]

You can haggle all you like but no TA is allowed to discount a cruise anymore. All prices are set. You can book onboard and get an onboard credit then have the booking transferred to the TA of your choice who may offer you a perk. For example my TA gives me free cruise insurance.

 

What I was thinking about was, my TA can usually get me group rates , which have always been lower than Celebrity has offered. But I suppose I can book and then if my TA can beat the price with a group rate, I ca always cancel and re-book using the same booking numbers.

[Marobarb]

Long story short - Booked onboard Horizon in March 2004 for Summit March 2005, but then had to postpone until 2006 (kept original booking number and so onboard credit retained)- closest itinerary to what we postponed was Century 9 day. This July, Celebrity redid Century itineraries for March 2006 and none (nor anything else from Celebrity for that time) worked for us. (They gave us a whole week to decide what to do.) So we canceled. Now, over two months later, I am still waiting for refund of our $900 deposit. (Got check for insurance refund within 30 days)