Future Cruise Booking Onboard

[penzance30]

Never booked onboard with Celebrity before, always booked through TA in UK when they have offers. I am on Beyond in September and wondering if there are any advantages ? TIA

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, penzance30 said:

Never booked onboard with Celebrity before, always booked through TA in UK when they have offers. I am on Beyond in September and wondering if there are any advantages ? TIA

Reduced deposit. We always book our future cruise on embarkation day and have always receive a bottle of wine for each cruise we book. Received other small gifts and a raffle tickets. Never won anything on the raffles. 

[jelayne]

Reduced deposit and OBC based on length of cruise and cabin category.

[rj59]

I yielded to temptation on Solstice, but it wasn't a good experience and felt like car buying. First, they input a lot of numbers and came out with double what I found on their own website. I showed it to them and they said 'we can match that' and they input codes and finagled numbers to come out with what I had. Then the brochure clearly says '$100 credit per cabin' for booking onboard, but they told me I was only eligible for $50 as a solo cruiser, but they would 'send in a request to a supervisor' to see if the $100 could be approved, the equivalent of 'let me talk to my manager' for a car salesman. Then my other surprise was that I couldn't use OBC towards a new cruise, which was my reason for doing it in the first place. Finally, as soon as I got home I saw the price had dropped even more, so I would have been much better off booking at home or through a TA after the cruise, instead of yielding to enthusiasm on the cruise.  That's especially true on Celebrity/RC, because their pricing and promotions change so constantly and are so complicated with various codes and discounts that it's best to have patience and get an idea for pricing trends, or to have a TA to get a good deal and negotiate a reduction if the price drops. 

[davekathy]

24 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Reduced deposit. We always book our future cruise on embarkation day and have always receive a bottle of wine for each cruise we book. Received other small gifts and a raffle tickets. Never won anything on the raffles. 

How the hell did I forget about the OBC! 

[geneandjoe14]

We booked a cruise on Apex next summer while onboard Millenium in May. I checked Celebrity’s website before we went to the future cruise desk to compare. The fare was the same, but the deposit was $200 instead of $900, and the OBC was $1500 instead of $600 on the website. Definitely worth it to book onboard!

[emmas gran]

Not sure if this is current but we were told the on board booking would go to the travel agent we made to be on the cruise

[39august]

Yes, that is correct. If you do not like the TA you had for your current cruise, you have to sign some papers to remove that TA from your on board booking. Or if you just want to try another TA or leave the booking with Celebrity. 

[Denny01]

We’ve booked a number of cruises on board and all have been in the pricing I’d seen on the website. Got the lower deposit, the OBC, the wine and transferred it to my TA. All done just fine.

 

My TA in a couple of cases had Group Rates which were better and took them, But you pay the standard deposit then. But well worth it. 

 

And just booked a NZ cruise and my TA had a price a bit higher than the website pricing, but then realized it was AI. But the website didnt show how to add AI, so I called my TA just to understand it. She said they can add AI type goodies when the call into the Celebrity booking agents. She also said the onboard Agents are able to do that too. Not done that, but apparently you are working exactly as if you are calling  X booking agent and they have a bit more flexibility on such things. 

 

Den

[Virginia100]

Always book out on board. Reduced deposit from $900 to $200 for my 10 day cruises snd much more OBC. I always a week or so before boarding look at all the cruises I’m interested in (usually 3 and ranked) have it all priced out by Aqua and Suite. Sit down and see what’s available. Very price and OBC and done. Pretty easy.

[jelayne]

Den, I’m surprised you didn’t get a option to choose cruise only or AI.  It is the screen after you select a cabin and before dining, insurance. I’ve been tracking prices on a few cruises and always get that option unless pricing AQ or a Suite which are always (now) AI. 

[MarinerAlex]

I think with the ability to book a future cruise at home and still get the OBC credit / reduced deposits, I think maybe I'll just wait until after the cruise. At least that's what the flyer in my cruise document says, maybe I'm missing something?

 

On the topic of transferring it to your TA if you booked on board - with respect to the TA of the platinum variety, has anyone had experience booking onboard and then having it transferred to this TA? If so, I would imagine you would still get the CPP benefits?

[seapad]

11 minutes ago, MarinerAlex said:

I think with the ability to book a future cruise at home and still get the OBC credit / reduced deposits, I think maybe I'll just wait until after the cruise. At least that's what the flyer in my cruise document says, maybe I'm missing something?

 

On the topic of transferring it to your TA if you booked on board - with respect to the TA of the platinum variety, has anyone had experience booking onboard and then having it transferred to this TA? If so, I would imagine you would still get the CPP benefits?

By default, your booking o board is automatically transferred to the TA who booked your current Celebrity cruise that you are sailing on. However, you can always request to NOT transfer it to the TA (albeit signing a paper just like someone has mentioned above). Then the booking will belong to Celebrity. When you get home, you can still contact another TA that you like, and have this booking be transferred to them. As long as they do not change the booking number (which they don't), you will still get all of the OBC and whatever goodies promised when you  made that booking, plus probably additional goodies from this new TA. 

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, emmas gran said:

Not sure if this is current but we were told the on board booking would go to the travel agent we made to be on the cruise

I always tell the Celebrity agents (onboard or over the phone bookings) not to let my bookings go to the TA on record. I contact the TA myself and see if they can sweeten the deal (group rate, OBC, specialty dining vouchers, etc).

[luv2cruisemore]

4 hours ago, rj59 said:

I yielded to temptation on Solstice, but it wasn't a good experience and felt like car buying. First, they input a lot of numbers and came out with double what I found on their own website. I showed it to them and they said 'we can match that' and they input codes and finagled numbers to come out with what I had. Then the brochure clearly says '$100 credit per cabin' for booking onboard, but they told me I was only eligible for $50 as a solo cruiser, but they would 'send in a request to a supervisor' to see if the $100 could be approved, the equivalent of 'let me talk to my manager' for a car salesman. Then my other surprise was that I couldn't use OBC towards a new cruise, which was my reason for doing it in the first place. Finally, as soon as I got home I saw the price had dropped even more, so I would have been much better off booking at home or through a TA after the cruise, instead of yielding to enthusiasm on the cruise.  That's especially true on Celebrity/RC, because their pricing and promotions change so constantly and are so complicated with various codes and discounts that it's best to have patience and get an idea for pricing trends, or to have a TA to get a good deal and negotiate a reduction if the price drops. 

You can always watch the pricing and have your TA or X change your booking. I recently did that with our next cruise (about 6 weeks before boarding) after final payment. They gave me the difference as an OBC. In one instance, after booking on board, I had them transfer my booking to a different TA but be careful, there may be a time limit in completing that.

[TraderSam]

@penzance30 hi!👋🏻 I am also in the U.K. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

 

We booked whilst onboard  and got the standard pricing for a Baltic Cruise. (I’d done my homework beforehand) We did get a lower deposit and some OBC. We were asked at the time, whether we wanted the booking transferred to our existing TA and we agreed to that. Upon our return home, I telephoned our TA and mentioned the transfer of the onboard booking and they gave us an additional $100 OBC.

 

Fast forward to 2022, when we called the same TA to book another Alaskan cruise. The “group rate”? they could secure was WAY better than Celebrity online, like £600 cheaper. No OBC from Celebrity nor the TA but still£££ saved.

In summary, my hubby will not be convinced to book a future cruise onboard again!😂

[penzance30]

Thanks for all your excellent experiences. Seems a bit like Russian roulette! I will start doing my homework.

[alpal1993]

20 hours ago, seapad said:

By default, your booking o board is automatically transferred to the TA who booked your current Celebrity cruise that you are sailing on. However, you can always request to NOT transfer it to the TA (albeit signing a paper just like someone has mentioned above). Then the booking will belong to Celebrity. When you get home, you can still contact another TA that you like, and have this booking be transferred to them. As long as they do not change the booking number (which they don't), you will still get all of the OBC and whatever goodies promised when you  made that booking, plus probably additional goodies from this new TA. 

Thanks for the info. My T/A is changing companies so I will request the paper to book through Celebrity at booking time and then transfer to T/A of my choice

[scouseronline]

On 8/19/2022 at 12:52 PM, 39august said:

Yes, that is correct. If you do not like the TA you had for your current cruise, you have to sign some papers to remove that TA from your on board booking. Or if you just want to try another TA or leave the booking with Celebrity. 

We requested they not send our booking to the TA we had previously used, they allowed us 30 days to notify them which new TA we would like to use