Changes to Booking with Next Cruise??

[gaylemh]

Did I read somewhere that there was a change to the OBC for booking on board?  I booked on my October 27th cruise and everything was the same as it had been. I want to book another one on my cruise at the end of the month.  Has there been a change in the OBC that is given?

[Biker19]

Follow John's Enchantment (sailing today) live thread - he mentioned he'll ask about this issue.

[Merion_Mom]

The new rules went into effect on November 1, 2018.

 

 

[Husky1987]

Just booked two on Adventure today.  No more $100 for over six months out but everything else ($100 OBC/discount, $100pp deposit) was the same.

[John Reid]

I boarded Grandeur on November 1 and made a Next Cruise appointment for the next morning. I was going to book Anthem for the fall and one Grandeur for next year. The OBC promotion at the time available to everyone (online) included $100 for balcony bookings. What I encountered:

No bonus for booking more than six months out.

No OBC beyond what everyone could get online.

$100 per person deposits.

This is my favorite - The $100 could be taken as OBC or a $100 reduction in cruise price (lowering the odds of ever getting a price drop). 

I found the process and printed promotional material very deceptive. 

At a Next Cruise seminar held in the Centrum on a sea day, someone asked "So what is the advantage of booking onboard?" The primary part of the answer was that you could make your choices in a more relaxed atmosphere." The other part of the answer was "Our agents have been on many of these ships and can give you insider information about what they are like."

I gagged.

More fallout from a stockholder driven economy versus a consumer driven economy.

 

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, John Reid said:

 The primary part of the answer was that you could make your choices in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Because the alternative is being stressed out over the fact that you have to fight with the RCI web site to book?

[Biker19]

11 minutes ago, John Reid said:

This is my favorite - The $100 could be taken as OBC or a $100 reduction in cruise price (lowering the odds of ever getting a price drop). 

Confused by this one - why would you not get a price drop? The $100 is off the price - what ever it is. Say the price is $1500 when you book so you get it for $1400. The price the following week drops to $1300, your price would drop to $1200.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Biker19

[John Reid]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Because the alternative is being stressed out over the fact that you have to fight with the RCI web site to book?

The ironically funny thing is that they were experiencing all the same problems accessing the choices I made. It took so long that they had to send a printout of the results to my cabin. No relief on that front.

[HicksRA]

Next Cruise has no advantage at all as far as I’m concerned. If you follow your booking, you can almost always find a better price later which, when you reprice, negates their “deals” anyway and the Next Cruise staff seem to always be the least friendly people on the ship. 

[iuki]

4 hours ago, John Reid said:

I boarded Grandeur on November 1 and made a Next Cruise appointment for the next morning. I was going to book Anthem for the fall and one Grandeur for next year. The OBC promotion at the time available to everyone (online) included $100 for balcony bookings. What I encountered:

No bonus for booking more than six months out.

No OBC beyond what everyone could get online.

$100 per person deposits.

This is my favorite - The $100 could be taken as OBC or a $100 reduction in cruise price (lowering the odds of ever getting a price drop). 

I found the process and printed promotional material very deceptive. 

At a Next Cruise seminar held in the Centrum on a sea day, someone asked "So what is the advantage of booking onboard?" The primary part of the answer was that you could make your choices in a more relaxed atmosphere." The other part of the answer was "Our agents have been on many of these ships and can give you insider information about what they are like."

I gagged.

More fallout from a stockholder driven economy versus a consumer driven economy.

 

Thanks for the info.  We’re leaving Dec 2 for a B2B cruise.  Good to know.

 

Judy

 

 

 

4 hours ago, John Reid said:

 

 

[svillager]

Gayle - also effective today any cruise that you apply a Club Royale certificate against - they will reprice AND drop any next cruise obc that you have.

i got hit by it.

[gaylemh]

4 minutes ago, svillager said:

Gayle - also effective today any cruise that you apply a Club Royale certificate against - they will reprice AND drop any next cruise obc that you have.

i got hit by it.

Is that also with just the dollar off certificates. They have always repriced mine, but I never lost any OBC.  I just applied 2 certificates on November 3rd and didn't lose any OBC.

[Debitoo]

5 hours ago, John Reid said:

I boarded Grandeur on November 1 and made a Next Cruise appointment for the next morning. I was going to book Anthem for the fall and one Grandeur for next year. The OBC promotion at the time available to everyone (online) included $100 for balcony bookings. What I encountered:

No bonus for booking more than six months out.

No OBC beyond what everyone could get online.

$100 per person deposits.

This is my favorite - The $100 could be taken as OBC or a $100 reduction in cruise price (lowering the odds of ever getting a price drop). 

I found the process and printed promotional material very deceptive. 

At a Next Cruise seminar held in the Centrum on a sea day, someone asked "So what is the advantage of booking onboard?" The primary part of the answer was that you could make your choices in a more relaxed atmosphere." The other part of the answer was "Our agents have been on many of these ships and can give you insider information about what they are like."

I gagged.

More fallout from a stockholder driven economy versus a consumer driven economy.

 

 

Thanks for the firsthand info. There's no incentive to book onboard, that's for sure. As for a more relaxed atmosphere, nothing is more relaxed than my living room easy chair with a cold beverage in my hand while I'm booking. It sure beats all of the masses staring at you while they are waiting for their turn to book. No thanks, I'm stearing clear of the next cruise desk. 

Edited November 17, 2018 by debitoo

[svillager]

I think it's only with the inside, ocean view, balcony and jr suite certificates when you use the dollars off for an existing booking. 

It started today - and I got hit by it.

[gaylemh]

1 minute ago, svillager said:

I think it's only with the inside, ocean view, balcony and jr suite certificates when you use the dollars off for an existing booking. 

It started today - and I got hit by it.

I decided I'm not gambling as much on my cruises anymore.  I'll probably just be getting $500 off certificates.  The cruises that are listed for insides on Anthem I already have booked with 150% solo rates, OBC and  a certificate on one so far, another one will be getting a certificate applied next week. I find it's not worth spending the extra money to get the free inside.  My November 2019 cruise is costing me $900 in a balcony solo, with $200 OBC, if I apply a $500 certificate, it's only $200 including tax and port charges.  Even if I didn't get the extra $100 OBC from booking onboard, it's still a lot cheaper than trying to get another 400 points for the free inside certificate and then paying to upgrade to a balcony.  I'll see what happens when I try to apply the next certificate.

[svillager]

I totally agree with you - there's no reason to play for large certificates.

[steveru621]

$100 OBC for booking onboard has not changed for 7-day balconies.

 

Here are the current offers.  Why you would throw away up to $600 OBC always amazes me.

 

http://www.royalonboardsales.com/

[Ourusualbeach]

47 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

$100 OBC for booking onboard has not changed for 7-day balconies.

 

Here are the current offers.  Why you would throw away up to $600 OBC always amazes me.

 

http://www.royalonboardsales.com/

 

Thise are the offers for booking a non refundable deposit.  A refundable deposit is substantially less.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Ourusualbeach

[Thorben-Hendrik]

 

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

Thise are the offers for booking a non refundable deposit.  A refundable deposit is substantially less.

 What happens if you  later change the refundable to a non-refundable booking?

I assume the offer will increase as it is always adjusted to the cabin type and length that you actually take the cruise rather than what you booked at the next cruise office? 🤔

Edited November 17, 2018 by Thorben-Hendrik

[twangster]

On a cruise at the moment.  Had one of my regular agencies price out a couple distant cruises for me, refundable.  Visited Next armed with pricing from my TA.  

 

My regular TA was ~$400 less with no OBC compared to ~$150 Next OBC for the same refundable 4D cabin.  Net cost to use Next would be ~$250.  I opted to pay the $450 deposit and get the cheaper price through my regular TA.  

 

For a different cruise, the 2019 Snowbird Migration in an inside cabin the Next OBC was $76.  Next price for refundable was $500 more than my TA.  Net cost to use Next $424.  Booked it with my TA accepting the $450 deposit and used an FCC from a previous NRDB cancellation.  I will say that NRDB rate was about $50 more than the refundable rate my TA offered so with OBC of $76 I could have saved $26 by switching to NRDB through Next.  I'd rather be refundable nearly one year out.  

 

In all I've booked 3 cruises this week, all using Voom with two different land agents, the 3rd being a GGG rate in January.  In all 3 cases the numbers just didn't make sense using Next.  It seems to me Royal is artificially increasing refundable rates through Next to make them unattractive hoping people don't price check them.  With little margin to play with the Next NRDB rates with OBC are very close to refundable rates offered elsewhere. 

 

Bottom line - there is no free money to be had at Next.  At least not for the Hawaii, Canada/NE and Caribbean cruises I booked this week.  

[molly361]

Interesting that the above flyer doesn't even address what you get for booking a refundable deposit.  I thought I remembered they flyer having both OBC offers, one for non refundable and the lesser for refundable

[artvlay]

16 hours ago, John Reid said:

I boarded Grandeur on November 1 and made a Next Cruise appointment for the next morning. I was going to book Anthem for the fall and one Grandeur for next year. The OBC promotion at the time available to everyone (online) included $100 for balcony bookings. What I encountered:

No bonus for booking more than six months out.

No OBC beyond what everyone could get online.

$100 per person deposits.

This is my favorite - The $100 could be taken as OBC or a $100 reduction in cruise price (lowering the odds of ever getting a price drop). 

I found the process and printed promotional material very deceptive. 

At a Next Cruise seminar held in the Centrum on a sea day, someone asked "So what is the advantage of booking onboard?" The primary part of the answer was that you could make your choices in a more relaxed atmosphere." The other part of the answer was "Our agents have been on many of these ships and can give you insider information about what they are like."

I gagged.

More fallout from a stockholder driven economy versus a consumer driven economy.

 

The benefit is that you can deal with the PLEASANT agents. Most of them are miserable and act as if they are doing you a favor. I don't waste my time going over to their desks anymore.

[twangster]

The key are the words "up to". 

 

The OBC for refundable or NRDB isn't fixed or easily determined.  You need to ask Next for a specific sailing.  For one sailing the OBC difference for NRDB vs. refundable might be substantial.  For another not so much.  In most cases they can't be combined with a C&A balcony discount.  

 

Maybe other's are more lucky finding the cruises that truly achieve the maximum OBC available but every time I ask about a cruise at Next the OBC is no where near the "up to" figure.  The $150 OBC for a balcony was decent enough but their base fare wasn't.   It's like they just increased the base fare so they could 'give me' OBC.  

[MaiseyM]

16 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Confused by this one - why would you not get a price drop? The $100 is off the price - what ever it is. Say the price is $1500 when you book so you get it for $1400. The price the following week drops to $1300, your price would drop to $1200.

 

 

 

I was wondering about this too. It seems like Next Cruise is for the impulsive buyer or for those that don’t know how to price cruises well. I lean on the feedback of this forum to learn as I go. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one treated rudely by the Next Cruise agent. I left their office once a little flabbergasted at how little charisma they put into their sales.  Thanks for the feedback on everyone’s experiences. 

[steveru621]

I'm surprised, we have never run into any of these problems.  When we book we know exactly what cruises to book.  I've already printed prices out before we leave home. Then, before I go to NEXT I price out on RCI's computers and know exactly what prices to expect.

 

I always get additional OBC for booking onboard.  Plus we have won the $300 contest credit.

 

RCI automatically transfers our booking to our travel agent where we get all their additional perks.  Every time there is a price drop I call our TA, and we have never been denied, and never lost our OBC for booking at NEXT.

 

Our online guideline for prices is to book at NEXT at least a year out.  No downsides as far as I can see.