Will I get a better deal on-board?

[ChrisW73]

Looking at booking a cruise next August for a group of 4.  Celebrity currently offering Free Gratuities, £200 BBC and complimentary drinks.  I am sailing in September so should I wait to see if I can get a better deal on-board or should I book now and if there is a better deal on-board see if they will match it.

 

My first cruise so I'm not sure if I would get a better deal on-board.  Advice would be gratefully received.

 

Chris

[wrk2cruise]

 

This is the typical onboard offer.  They don't discount the cruise price, you just get a reduced deposit and additional OBC.

[jelayne]

You will pay the price at the time you book.  If you have been watching prices & they are going up may want to book now.

[Mr Miserable]

I guess you are from the UK (£200 OBC).  There are some advantages for booking onboard - generally low deposits that can be shifted without penalty and the onboard credit offered as an incentive may (not always) be higher.  You have much better choice of cabin onboard than you can get with a travel agent.  I have seen whole blocks of cabins that aren't available to buy online or through a travel agent that are available to book onboard.  You can get some very good prices but these tend to be for bookings out of season, years ahead.  As always it pays to do your homework beforehand, know what you want to buy and how much you can get it for elsewhere.  At the end of the day however I think overall it's better to book onboard. 

[Steve H]

That looks like a good deal with 3 perks already you won't get that many booking onboard. You could book that with yourTA and see what the onboard price is when you get there.

[prish]

Suggest you book now and block the cabin you want. Then, once on board, check to see if you get a better price or extra perk/OBC. We have successfully cancelled the old booking and transferred to an onboard booking, keeping our cabin of choice. Future Cruises has handled this for us, most recently two weeks back when we were on the Millennium.

 

Onboard booking has a reduced deposit, currently $100, though we have paid as little as $25. In the past we have got an extra perk, but now it appears to be just the onboard booking OBC.

[PelicanLvr]

Shop around!

 

Best deals are not with booking directly with X, even onboard. 

 

Here in the USA we regularly get a better deal than you mentioned from the big-volume websites.  Community rules here prevent us from giving you names......but (as I said to start), shop around, you may be able to do better.

[varoo]

6 hours ago, ChrisW73 said:

Looking at booking a cruise next August for a group of 4.  Celebrity currently offering Free Gratuities, £200 BBC and complimentary drinks.  I am sailing in September so should I wait to see if I can get a better deal on-board or should I book now and if there is a better deal on-board see if they will match it.

 

My first cruise so I'm not sure if I would get a better deal on-board.  Advice would be gratefully received.

 

Are you currently able to book a refundable fare?

That is the key for us in such situations.  It allows us to secure the stateroom we want and lock in the current price.

Then if we find a better deal available when we are on board, it is easy to cancel the first booking without penalty.

 

But if you are in the UK, we understand that booking terms may be different than they are for us here in the USA.

 

Some UK residents do book through US travel agents.

  So that could be another possibility for you, if you are able to get a refundable fare by booking that way,

or else get an agreement from the TA not to charge you a cancellation fee if you later cancel the original booking and re-book onboard for the extra perks, as long as you agree to give the new booking back to the same TA.

 

Since you state that you are a first time cruiser, I just want to mention that when you book a cruise on board a ship, it is very easy to assign it to any travel agent of your choice.

 

                                 

Edited July 31, 2019 by varoo

[prish]

Yes, once you make the onboard booking shop around and transfer to a TA for extra OBC and/or perks. Note that this has to be done within 60 days.

[DENIE]

We have now booked 3 cruises while on board.  We find that when they print the paperwork for us in the Future Cruise desk, it already has our TA's name.  When we get back, we just call him, and sure enough, he checks and sees it in his inbox.

[wrk2cruise]

Yes if you book onboard and your current cruise was held by a TA when sailing they will automatically assign the new cruise to that TA unless you specify that you want it held by Celebrity.  Many times they don't tell you this and you have to remember to ask.  They will also make you sign a form.

 

Although I will almost always give the new booking to my regular TA I have it held by Celebrity.  Once I get home I communicate with my TA verifying that he will give me what he normally gives me as added perks then transfer it to him.  This also leaves me the option to look at a couple of other TAs I sometimes use for better group rates etc.

 

I just prefer to keep control until I can do a bit more research at home and not take time out of my vacation to do it.

[jimzgoldfinch]

On 7/30/2019 at 10:14 PM, ChrisW73 said:

Looking at booking a cruise next August for a group of 4.  Celebrity currently offering Free Gratuities, £200 BBC and complimentary drinks.  I am sailing in September so should I wait to see if I can get a better deal on-board or should I book now and if there is a better deal on-board see if they will match it.

 

My first cruise so I'm not sure if I would get a better deal on-board.  Advice would be gratefully received.

 

Chris

 

The main benefits of booking on board are low deposit and additional OBC based on number of days (see table already posted)

As you are from UK you will be offered the current deal i.e. Gratuities, OBC and Classic drinks package. This deal ends this month so you will be offered the new deal which may be similar to existing but is likely that the cost of cruise has changed. As you're from UK it is unlikely that there will be a price match. You can allocate your booking to your TA who are likely to offer you a discount. We booked on board , used our TA who've us a small discount.

 

[Marelaine]

When we booked on board, we received $50/pp deposit, $100/ea off the current booking price, classic alcohol beverage package + a total of $500 OBC. We booked a cruise that was over a year out. 

You could book your cabin now with a refundable deposit and if the Future Cruises deal is better, book on board and cancel your existing reservation when you return home. That is, if you're in the U.S. The rules for other countries vary.

[ChrisW73]

Thank you all for your help.