Book Cruise on Board that you Previously had Booked at Home?

[eel]

I booked a number of cruises in the last week or so when the Europe sailings for 2018 went on sale. Even though I am cruising next week, I did not want to wait until then to book because I was afraid I would have limited cabin availability and the pricing might go up. The pricing for these cruises seems to have held so far. Here is what I am thinking:

 

1) Book these cruises again (same cabin category) while I am on board next week assuming pricing is the same or better.

2) When I get home, call Royal Caribbean, cancel the original bookings, and ask them to move my new bookings to the cabin I had.

 

Will this work? This would get me the on board booking bonus and reduced deposits. I was wondering if anyone had ever tried this before. I don't want to waste time if it won't work! Thanks in advance.

[Clarea]

Yes, that should work fine.

[molly361]

Yes that it the way I have done it- works fine

[eel]

Thanks! Should I be open with the Next Cruise person and tell them what I am doing or just say nothing?

 

Now I just have to hope the pricing does not change by next week!

[cruzgryphon]

Since you're not dealing with a travel agent, I would just get next cruise to cancel the bookings that you have when you make the new bookings. They'll do that no problem and saves you time later.

[molly361]

Thanks! Should I be open with the Next Cruise person and tell them what I am doing or just say nothing?

 

Now I just have to hope the pricing does not change by next week!

 

Don't say anything. I did that once and the agent wanted me to go cancel my existing reservation BEFORE he booked me. He told me that you could not have 2 bookings for the same date and ship.

[tinkertwo]

We took our reservation information with us on our last cruise in hopes of rebooking while on the ship. When I presented it the agent barley looked at it and pretty much told us to go away. I felt looked down on, they made me feel like I was wasting their time.

I would not let them know about the first bookings, just do what you said and call RCL once you get home.

[nelblu]

I tried doing the same on the Navigator this past Feb., however, the on board agent told me that I would have to cancel the original reserve with the on land CVP first. And then he would rebook me without any guarantees that the desired room was still available. As a matter of fact he could not touch the original booking.

[cruiselvr04]

I tried to book 2 sailings last week on board for the same week, one with Celebrity and one with RCCL so I could decide later and they would not let me. I would say nothing, book on board what you want and then cancel when you get home. ( I should have made 2 different appointments in hind sight and they would never have known.

Normally I would not do this as I know it ties up rooms but we wanted to wait a couple of months only and think about it. We only book 2 or 3 a year not one a month and do not hold a lot of cabins. We rarely cancel.

[nelblu]

I tried to book 2 sailings last week on board for the same week, one with Celebrity and one with RCCL so I could decide later and they would not let me. I would say nothing, book on board what you want and then cancel when you get home. ( I should have made 2 different appointments in hind sight and they would never have known.

Normally I would not do this as I know it ties up rooms but we wanted to wait a couple of months only and think about it. We only book 2 or 3 a year not one a month and do not hold a lot of cabins. We rarely cancel.

 

 

What was the reason given. Would the same have applied if you booked multiple cruises with RCL.

[jamesr3939]

I wouldn't say anything. I did almost exactly what you want to do, except I had my previously booked with my TA. The only real advantage to booking on board was the OBC.

 

I had two connecting cabins on Oasis, which are hard to come by as there aren't many. They couldn't cancel my TA reservation and put me in the same two (not sure why). But they could book me about six cabins away in the next two connecting cabins, which I did. But I had to sign a form canceling my TA made reservation.

 

It wasn't a bad thing since they just linked my new on board reservation to my TA so she could handle everything once I got back home anyway. It was the first time I had booked with Next Cruise and it wasn't a real big deal.

 

At the same time I went ahead and booked an OS for DW and I on the same cruise as I got the lower deposit and OBC. Again, once I got home my TA took over that OS booking also. She was able to transfer the two connecting cabins into an agency group booking, lower my fare, and get additional OBC.

 

However, the OS she couldn't get me a lower fare. So no additional OBC, but fare from Next Cruise was much better than what she could get. In fact when she called her RCCL rep he said, "wow, that's a really good fare for an OS."