Rebooking cruise onboard

[sandancer]

Although we are from the UK we sometimes book with a US based agency. So my question will apply to a booking made in the US so with US T&Cs. I would like to know if anyone has ever booked a cruise for a future date and then when onboard a current cruise, rebooked with Future Cruises to get a better deal. (Hope that makes sense). The booking would then be passed over to the TA we used for the original cruise. 

[cruisestitch]

If you have turned the cruise over to a travel agent, the on-board future cruise office can’t alter it.

 

(reading your post, I’m not sure that’s the scenario you are posing.)

 

[sandancer]

Yes it is the scenario. I was thinking along the lines of booking onboard to get the perks and cancelling the original reservation. We definitely can’t do that with UK bookings without losing the deposit. But in the US?

[cruisestitch]

If it’s  before Final Payment, in the US we can cancel with no penalty

[ChuckL]

19 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

If it’s  before Final Payment, in the US we can cancel with no penalty

Not necessarily true anymore. When Celebrity was running its $25 deposit promotion a couple of weeks ago, I booked a 2021 cruise. I was offered the $25 deposit cruise for one price and full non-refundable deposit with a lower cruise cost. I don’t know if this is new for US Celebrity bookings across the board now that the low deposit promo has ended, or whether they will still give you multiple options. 

[Jim_Iain]

I've tried something similar before so not sure if it is applicable.    I was in my room and on my PC during a cruise and  I found the cruise and cabin I wanted.   I put a hold on it.    I went to future curies and wanted to purchase it.   They said they couldn't do it.   I had to release my hold and they could then make a new booking with their perks and was able to grab the cabin I wanted. 

[jagoffee]

56 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Yes it is the scenario. I was thinking along the lines of booking onboard to get the perks and cancelling the original reservation. We definitely can’t do that with UK bookings without losing the deposit. But in the US?

Yes, I have previously done exactly what your are proposing.  Celebrity will allow you to have two bookings on the same cruise.

I worked with my TA after returning home to cancel my original booking and reclaim the cabin that I had originally selected.  

Both deposits were refundable.

[Ken the cruiser]

We just finished doing that in fact. We have a 2020 cruise booked through our US Celebrity PCC in cabin “a” on the Infinity. While on the cruise we are on right now, we went to the future cruise desk and booked cabin “b” on the same cruise and not only got a better perk deal than we got with the original cabin “a” booking, we also got additional OBC for booking onboard. We then contacted our X PCC via email and had him change the room on the new cabin “b” booking to our original cabin on cabin “a” booking before he canceled the original cabin “a” booking.

 

This resulted in a new booking (with only a $200 deposit) with 3 perks, as we opted for the nonrefundable deal, plus an additional $250 for booking a veranda onboard.

 

Once our PCC canceled our old booking (after transferring our original cabin number to the new booking), the old deposit was refunded back to our CC. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[ghstudio]

Not sure everyone is aware that you can place a free phone call from the ship to your travel agent from guest services.  They will establish the call and hand you the phone.  You can call and see if they will match the current price, etc.  

[sandancer]

Thanks everyone for the advice. 

[39august]

Glad to know we can actually have two bookings for the same cruise. I will be looking at all the promotions while on board and if better than what I already have, I will be doing this. That is if the price is not higher!