Whats the advantage of booking another cruise while onboard current cruise.

[fstuff1]

1st time i sailed Celebrity was on the Edge last month.

 

still have no idea what the advantage is of using the Future Cruise dept?

[cruisestitch]

Extra on board credit, lower deposit (usually)

[emairs]

The future cruise deposit is $100.00 pp and the perks were as follows during our Feb. Edge cruise. There is always a new similar offer.

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by emairs
Additional comment as looks like this one expired a few days ago.

[Luvcrusn]

If you do book on board, you then have 60 days to shop around with various TAs and see what additional perks they will give you, then have the booking switched the TA that give you the best added value. If you booked the cruise you're currently on with a TA, when making the on board booking, be sure to tell them not to automatically transfer to that TA, but keep the booking with X until you decide. Also make sure you sign a form to that effect. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Luvcrusn

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, emairs said:

The future cruise deposit is $100.00 pp and the perks were as follows during our Feb. Edge cruise. There is always a new similar offer.

 

 

interesting.. looks live OV is the best value?

obc, $100 off your booking, and 4 free perks.

the other higher cabin types dont scale up that well.

 

hm.. or does EVERYONE get 4 free perks on OV and above even if you dont book while on board?

 

[NantahalaCruiser]

8 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

interesting.. looks live OV is the best value?

obc, $100 off your booking, and 4 free perks.

the other higher cabin types dont scale up that well.

 

hm.. or does EVERYONE get 4 free perks on OV and above even if you dont book while on board?

 

The info in Emairs's posting was specific to Edge only cruises and the 4 included perks is atypical. 2 included perks for OV through Aqua is more typical.

 

Also, do not be fooled by the $100 "savings per person" - this is just a marketing gimmick stating that the regular fares (also available shoreside) are supposedly $100 less than what they would have been without the current "sale." Since the fares are the same onboard and shoreside these "savings" are not an onboard booking benefit.

[Luvcrusn]

15 minutes ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

The info in Emairs's posting was specific to Edge only cruises and the 4 included perks is atypical. 2 included perks for OV through Aqua is more typical.

 

Also, do not be fooled by the $100 "savings per person" - this is just a marketing gimmick stating that the regular fares (also available shoreside) are supposedly $100 less than what they would have been without the current "sale." Since the fares are the same onboard and shoreside these "savings" are not an onboard booking benefit.

So true! We booked a cruise about a month ago during a one week promotion (on Reflection, not Edge). At the time of booking, it included PBP, grats, OBC, and unlimited WIFI and our TA gave another 10% of the cruise fare in OBC. One month later there is another sale. The same cabin is $250 pp more, and includes choice of 2 perks (CBP, grats, OBC, WIFI). The banner above the sale says save $300 on the cruise fare! I sharpened my pencil, took out my calculator and even dusted off my old slide rule (for those of you old enough to remember them) but I can't for the life of me figure the math on that one! 

[Knolmom]

Wow, you got the deal on the Reflection. We booked onboard the Reflection with the sale that ended March 6. We booked an an OV with 3 perks which included $450 OBC. We had a $100 pp non refundable deposit..I thought that was a great deal. .

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

If you do a future cruise booking, do you have to do it for a specific date or do they have a future cruise certificate where you pay a certain amount and then convert that into an actual reservation later? If so, how long are those valid?

[Luvcrusn]

4 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

If you do a future cruise booking, do you have to do it for a specific date or do they have a future cruise certificate where you pay a certain amount and then convert that into an actual reservation later? If so, how long are those valid?

If you're not sure, book something and then transfer it later when you figure it out, but NEVER buy a Future Cruise certificate!  While they don't expire, it was our experience that in 5 years it was never combinable with the current promotion and they refused to even apply the money  we spent to the booking even foregoing any additional benefit. I've read of many others with the same experience. They held our dollars for that 5 years and wouldn't let us use it every time we tried a new booking. We were fortunate to have used a large, online, high volume TA with enough influence to get X to refund the cost to us, but many folks I've spoken with have not been that lucky.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

21 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

If you're not sure, book something and then transfer it later when you figure it out, but NEVER buy a Future Cruise certificate!  While they don't expire, it was our experience that in 5 years it was never combinable with the current promotion and they refused to even apply the money  we spent to the booking even foregoing any additional benefit. I've read of many others with the same experience. They held our dollars for that 5 years and wouldn't let us use it every time we tried a new booking. We were fortunate to have used a large, online, high volume TA with enough influence to get X to refund the cost to us, but many folks I've spoken with have not been that lucky.

 

Thanks!

[Hlitner]

We have been completely underwhelmed by the advantages of booking an X cruise while aboard.  Sure, one can shop around after returning home and transfer the booking to a cruise agency that offers more (at a lower price) then you get by booking direct with X.   But this strategy is often made difficult by the policy of X not to allow "stacking" of onboard credits.  And by already having a booking you lose some of your leverage with various cruise agencies that might normally "enhance" a booking with extra OBCs (for new bookings only).    We have previously done an onboard X booking, but our primary motivation was that we could book a specific hump cabin that might have not been available at a later time.  To be very honest, if our ship (Silhouette) had offered a decent WiFi signal (it was awful on that particular cruise) we would have simply booked that same cruise/cabin online with one of our favorite cruise agencies.

 

Hank

[Newbury newbie]

In the UK we have different terms and offers given to say US pax. But we’ve booked all our cruises onboard (after our first) and seem to be doing alright. The last few we’ve had a lower deposit, perks plus OBC, but also some OBC on the current cruise. In fact the instant OBC tends to cover the the deposit paid, so even if you change your mind and walk away you don’t technically lose out. 

Our last cruise in Hawaii was booked on the previous and we had like 10 months to wait. In hindsight we paid a lot for A2 Aqua with free drinks and $300 OBC. I kept tracking this at home and it went down significantly, to the point where it was worth walking away from that booking and re-booking. We lost our small deposit and $300 OBC, but re-booked an upgraded A1 Aqua for considerably less. Even accounting for losing the $300 we were still better off by $1,000!!

 

So I think booking onboard is still a good thing but you need to track the prices. 

[Jim_Iain]

10 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

If you do a future cruise booking, do you have to do it for a specific date or do they have a future cruise certificate where you pay a certain amount and then convert that into an actual reservation later? If so, how long are those valid?

They often sell you a Future Cruise Certificate but it has to be used by a certain amount of time.    They called me to tell me mine was only valid until 12/31 for a booking I made in October.   She told me the best thing to do is book a dummy booking and transfer it to what I want when it is released next year.

 

Might be easiest to just make a dummy booking and then transfer the reservation to a cruise you may wish in the future.

[Threedrones]

I have found that the on board offerings are matched by any reputable TA. They are not exclusive to bookings made on board. The only real advantage is the lower deposit, which is not actually a savings. I have also found the lowest price on board to be higher than that offered by TA’s.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

They often sell you a Future Cruise Certificate but it has to be used by a certain amount of time.    They called me to tell me mine was only valid until 12/31 for a booking I made in October.   She told me the best thing to do is book a dummy booking and transfer it to what I want when it is released next year.

 

Might be easiest to just make a dummy booking and then transfer the reservation to a cruise you may wish in the future.

 

Gotcha. Thanks!

[Luvcrusn]

2 hours ago, Threedrones said:

I have found that the on board offerings are matched by any reputable TA. They are not exclusive to bookings made on board. The only real advantage is the lower deposit, which is not actually a savings. I have also found the lowest price on board to be higher than that offered by TA’s.

Very true. I just checked a TA website and it is currently showing the fare for an Aqua Class sailing on an upcoming cruise we booked at $450 per person less than the X website shows for the same cabin with more perks. 

Although the TA requires a $450 per person deposit vs the $100 on board deposit, I don't care since we've got to pay for the cruise eventually anyway. I'd prefer to pay the deposit required by the TA and save over $900 on the cruise fare and get more perks.

Edited March 21, 2019 by Luvcrusn
Addition

[fstuff1]

1 hour ago, Luvcrusn said:

Very true. I just checked a TA website and it is currently showing the fare for an Aqua Class sailing on an upcoming cruise we booked at $450 per person less than the X website shows for the same cabin with more perks. 

Although the TA requires a $450 per person deposit vs the $100 on board deposit, I don't care since we've got to pay for the cruise eventually anyway. I'd prefer to pay the deposit required by the TA and save over $900 on the cruise fare and get more perks.

 

if the casino/blue chip is giving me $100 off per night, i have to go through them?

i cant transfer it to a TA after i get my $100/night discount?

[Luvcrusn]

8 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

if the casino/blue chip is giving me $100 off per night, i have to go through them?

i cant transfer it to a TA after i get my $100/night discount?

Since I'm not enough of a gambler to get any discount perhaps others can shed some light on that one! Sorry.