Rebook a cruise onboard - any good benefits?

[Ken the cruiser]

I've tried searching the Princess forum, but can't seem to easily find an answer to my question. Can we rebook a Princess cruise onboard (we currently have 4 booked besides the one we're getting ready to go on) and get any extra perks by doing so? I saw a lot of threads regarding FCDs, but nothing associated with rebooking an existing booking onboard. Can you even do it?

[skynight]

Prices and promos seen on the Princess web site are the same ones that you will see on board. Occasionally there could be some additional OBC, or maybe some other benefit if certain cruises are booked on board. I have seen it, but it isn't the norm.

[weedpindle]

Yes you can . Have done it. Sometimes there is something offered onboard that makes it worthwile.

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, skynight said:

Prices and promos seen on the Princess web site are the same ones that you will see on board. Occasionally there could be some additional OBC, or maybe some other benefit if certain cruises are booked on board. I have seen it, but it isn't the norm.

Sounds good. I know on Celebrity you get $300 OBC if you book a new cruise or rebook an exiting cruise onboard (if the price hasn't gone up yet). However, you don't if you rebook a HAL cruise onboard. Then again you usually do if you rebook an existing cruise on Oceania or Crystal. I realize every cruise line is different, but wanted to ask.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[Colo Cruiser]

We never book onboard or rebook onboard.

We buy FCD's and book when we get home.

My TA offers a discount of 8% to 12% off the cruise fare.

The TA does not play all the OBC games. Which I appreciate.

We get the full discount right off the top.

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

We never book onboard or rebook onboard.

We buy FCD's and book when we get home.

My TA offers a discount of 8% to 12% off the cruise fare.

The TA does not play all the OBC games. Which I appreciate.

We get the full discount right off the top.

I hear you. We automatically get 10% off the base price of the cruise from our TA. We are also both retired from the military and have Carnival stock which qualifies us for the military and shareholder benefits OBC, which makes cruising with Princess a definite plus.

 

However, I'm the kind of guy that doesn't want to leave any money on the table. With regards to our future Princess cruise bookings, we have already refared each of them at least 2-3 times as Princess like many of the other mass market lines like to frequently change prices and/or add promotions based on supply and demand.

 

I just wanted to see if there are benefits from rebooking a cruise onboard if it makes sense to do so, and from what weedpindle said, it may be worth asking the question. We've looked at the FCDs and may purchase some of those while onboard as well.

[Colo Cruiser]

8 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I hear you. We automatically get 10% off the base price of the cruise from our TA. We are also both retired from the military and have Carnival stock which qualifies us for the military and shareholder benefits OBC, which makes cruising with Princess a definite plus.

 

However, I'm the kind of guy that doesn't want to leave any money on the table. With regards to our future Princess cruise bookings, we have already refared each of them at least 2-3 times as Princess like many of the other mass market lines like to frequently change prices and/or add promotions based on supply and demand.

 

I just wanted to see if there are benefits from rebooking a cruise onboard if it makes sense to do so, and from what weedpindle said, it may be worth asking the question. We've looked at the FCDs and may purchase some of those while onboard as well.

I have the military and stock as well. With my $100 loyalty credit it is a nice start in addition to any promo OBC. We also get the FCD OBC and usually a group OBC usually around $85.

I watch the prices as well and have it adjusted accordingly if possible.

The way I look at is the Future Cruise person onboard has no more power then a PVP or a regular Princess phone rep.

[kywildcatfanone]

No additional benefits

[Ken the cruiser]

59 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I have the military and stock as well. With my $100 loyalty credit it is a nice start in addition to any promo OBC. We also get the FCD OBC and usually a group OBC usually around $85.

I watch the prices as well and have it adjusted accordingly if possible.

The way I look at is the Future Cruise person onboard has no more power then a PVP or a regular Princess phone rep.

It sounds like from your description Princess does not give any additional perks for booking/rebooking a cruise on board. So buying a FCD is our only option with regards to getting any additional "onboard booking" perks from Princess.

 

If I might ask, what perks actually come along with purchasing a FCD and will Princess automatically return the cost of the FCD if it expires before we find an itinerary to use it on? Also, what is a group OBC?

[Colo Cruiser]

37 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

It sounds like from your description Princess does not give any additional perks for booking/rebooking a cruise on board. So buying a FCD is our only option with regards to getting any additional "onboard booking" perks from Princess.

 

If I might ask, what perks actually come along with purchasing a FCD and will Princess automatically return the cost of the FCD if it expires before we find an itinerary to use it on? Also, what is a group OBC?

The FCD OBC is based on the cabin type/cat and length of the cruise. Maybe someone will post the amounts.

Yes the FCD is fully refundable. 

If it expires then it will either be credited back to the original CC it was charged too or they will send you a check back. Most of the time its a check.

The group OBC is through my TA. Most of the time when I book the cruise will be associated with a group through the TA. Not a group that I ever see or know anything about. I just get the OBC associated with the group booking. Usually $42.50 pp or $85 for both of us.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

The FCD OBC is based on the cabin type/cat and length of the cruise. Maybe someone will post the amounts.

Yes the FCD is fully refundable. 

If it expires then it will either be credited back to the original CC it was charged too or they will send you a check back. Most of the time its a check.

The group OBC is through my TA. Most of the time when I book the cruise will be associated with a group through the TA. Not a group that I ever see or know anything about. I just get the OBC associated with the group booking. Usually $42.50 pp or $85 for both of us.

Thanks! That is great news to hear regarding an expiring FCD. With Oceania if you don't use theirs to book a cruise within 2 years, you lose the deposit. This definitely motivates us to look closer at the FCDs while we're on the Crown next week!

[Colo Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! That is great news to hear regarding an expiring FCD. With Oceania if you don't use theirs to book a cruise within 2 years, you lose the deposit. This definitely motivates us to look closer at the FCDs while we're on the Crown next week!

I call it a no brainer.

We keep 6 to 10 each on hand at all times.  😎

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I call it a no brainer.

We keep 6 to 10 each on hand at all times.  😎

We're sold! We just printed the FCD form and, you're right, it's a no brainer! We plan on getting 4 while we're on the Crown. Thanks again for all your help answering our questions!

[kate59]

We have been cruising with Princess for about 8 years, at least one cruise a year - longest 46 days so far. We get the future cruise credits before getting off the ship and they can save you heaps.

I looked at booking a cruise onboard last November and the quote gave me 3% off the advertised price at the time, as well as the FCC onboard credits, once home I could have changed it over to our TA if I could get greater benefits. I decided I needed more time to think about though so didn't book it. Since then spoke with our TA and yes I would have benefited from booking onboard and transferring booking to TA - so will book in future.

 

We are booked on the Grand Adventure next year - 56 nights, shame I didn't see it when I was on board in Nov.

[caribill]

10 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I've tried searching the Princess forum, but can't seem to easily find an answer to my question. Can we rebook a Princess cruise onboard (we currently have 4 booked besides the one we're getting ready to go on) and get any extra perks by doing so? I saw a lot of threads regarding FCDs, but nothing associated with rebooking an existing booking onboard. Can you even do it?

 

The OBC from booking onboard is for new bookings only and cannot be applied to existing bookings.

 

So you would have to cancel your existing bookings and make new ones. When you do this, it will be at current pricing (which of course your TA can apply his/her normal discounts) and with current booking perks. In other words, if you had booked originally under a promotion with free gratuities or a free beverage package, you would lose that unless the same amenity is available with current pricing.

[Scorpio41]

 

How does a FCD on Princess work? Cost, how long does it last, how much is it worth in OBC and can you transfer it to your cruise booking agent?

 

[Micahs Grandad]

We got pricing on an Asian cruise from the onboard consultant and it was higher than what our TA quoted. Showed it to him and he immediately told us he had no authority in terms of pricing

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Scorpio41 said:

 

How does a FCD on Princess work? Cost, how long does it last, how much is it worth in OBC and can you transfer it to your cruise booking agent?

 

Here's the link to the FCD form on the Princess web site. It tells you everything - https://book.princess.com/html/personalizer/downloads/pdf/FutureCruiseDepositForm.pdf

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The OBC from booking onboard is for new bookings only and cannot be applied to existing bookings.

 

So you would have to cancel your existing bookings and make new ones. When you do this, it will be at current pricing (which of course your TA can apply his/her normal discounts) and with current booking perks. In other words, if you had booked originally under a promotion with free gratuities or a free beverage package, you would lose that unless the same amenity is available with current pricing.

So if I'm reading you right, the next time it's economically feasible for us to "refare" one of our existing bookings, we should instead ask our TA about canceling/rebooking it and have the FCDs applied to the "new" booking. Since our TA does not charge a cancellation fee and it's before the final payment due date, it should be doable.

 

However, I imagine we would have to rebook any pre-booked excursions and/or the EZAIR flight since the booking number will change. If that were to be the case, we may want to focus on the 2 legs we have booked in Nov 2020 as we haven't pre-booked anything for those 2 yet. Have I got this right?

[Coral]

54 minutes ago, Micah's Grandad said:

We got pricing on an Asian cruise from the onboard consultant and it was higher than what our TA quoted. Showed it to him and he immediately told us he had no authority in terms of pricing

There is still an OBC benefit by booking it onboard (or buying a FCD) and then having your TA be assigned the cruise. Many travel agents sell cruises a lot cheaper than Princess. Princess will never undercut a TA.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Coral

[caribill]

18 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So if I'm reading you right, the next time it's economically feasible for us to "refare" one of our existing bookings, we should instead ask our TA about canceling/rebooking it and have the FCDs applied to the "new" booking. Since our TA does not charge a cancellation fee and it's before the final payment due date, it should be doable.

 

However, I imagine we would have to rebook any pre-booked excursions and/or the EZAIR flight since the booking number will change. If that were to be the case, we may want to focus on the 2 legs we have booked in Nov 2020 as we haven't pre-booked anything for those 2 yet. Have I got this right?

 

As I understand it, yes.

 

There have been some instances posted where someone was able to get a new FCD applied to an existing booking, but that has been rare. It costs nothing to ask.

[caribill]

19 hours ago, Micah's Grandad said:

We got pricing on an Asian cruise from the onboard consultant and it was higher than what our TA quoted. Showed it to him and he immediately told us he had no authority in terms of pricing

 

Princess allows TAs to discount, but Princess will never try to match a TA's price.

 

However, you can book on board at the Princess price and turn the booking over to your TA (immediately or within 60 days) to get your TA's price.

[mrell345]

one of the biggest advantages for FCCs i can see is only paying $100 US$ per person to reserve your cruise instead of 10% of the value and the deposit is fully refundable.

Edited July 7, 2019 by mrell345

[Micahs Grandad]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Princess allows TAs to discount, but Princess will never try to match a TA's price.

 

However, you can book on board at the Princess price and turn the booking over to your TA (immediately or within 60 days) to get your TA's price.

I figure if I just transfer booking to TA, the TA may not give us a good price when he did not originate the booking and wants to be sure he is competitive

[Lynzchat]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Princess allows TAs to discount, but Princess will never try to match a TA's price.

 

However, you can book on board at the Princess price and turn the booking over to your TA (immediately or within 60 days) to get your TA's price.

Thanks for this thread. I was actually just about to post the same question. If I book a new cruise with FCD, then I discover a TA has a large on board credit(Costco Travel), could I transfer it to TA and get the on board credit?   Guess I should ask TA.  But I thought I’d check to see if anyone knew the answer.  I originally started with a Princess Travel planner who said she would check with her supervisors on whether they could also match that OBC.  But I doubt it.