Booking a new cruise on a current cruise - worth it?

[WorkerBee74]

I'm currently looking at the May 2023 itineraries with overnights in Bermuda/Charleston out of New York.

 

We're doing our very first Celebrity cruise in October of this year (Mediterranean) and I'm already looking at another.... haha!

 

Do people recommend booking while on a cruise?  Do you think we'll get a good deal doing so?  Any tips?  Right now I'm looking at an Oceanview sitting around $4500 CDN for a 10 day cruise which looks like a good deal, should I reference that and see if they can beat it?  

[drakes2]

20 minutes ago, WorkerBee74 said:

I'm currently looking at the May 2023 itineraries with overnights in Bermuda/Charleston out of New York.

 

We're doing our very first Celebrity cruise in October of this year (Mediterranean) and I'm already looking at another.... haha!

 

Do people recommend booking while on a cruise?  Do you think we'll get a good deal doing so?  Any tips?  Right now I'm looking at an Oceanview sitting around $4500 CDN for a 10 day cruise which looks like a good deal, should I reference that and see if they can beat it?  

I've never booked a future cruise on-board as I always find better deals with OBC once back home. Also I think there is a time-frame when you have to finalize a booking. 

[DCPIV]

The advantage to booking on board is a reduced deposit and some OBC. The risk is that the cost of the cruise will go up between now and you. cruise.

 

Personally, if I saw a price I wanted to book today, I'd book it today and not worry too much about the extra OBC. Bird in the hand and all that. If the price goes down, you can see what they'll do for you on board. 

 

One possible hedge would be to book with a refundable deposit and then see about canceling and rebooting while on board. You'll need to work the numbers to see if that's worth it. 

 

I might wait if I were getting on the ship next week, but a couple months is asking a lot.

[3boyz2keep]

We paid the $200 deposit and had 90 days to book. Within 2 weeks of getting home we chose a 10 night Southern Caribbean in a sky suite. We were able to book w/$200 deposit (normally $900 for a 10 night cruise in suite) and received an extra $300 OBC. The same room has gone up by $3,000. We’re so glad we opted to give on board booking a try!

[jelayne]

We have always found the price booking on board to be the same as on-line but the reduced $200 deposit and the extra OBC.  Then we transfer the booking to a TA and get additional OBC.

[MISTER 67]

It's been hit or miss for us.

We were on the Equinox last week and booked a cruise on the Reflection, it was the same price as when I looked it up online before the cruise but by booking on board we picked up an extra 100 dollars in OBC and a reduced deposit.

 

[garyl62]

We regularly book while onboard. Deposits are only $100PP for Sky Suite or less, extra OBC (last time it was double the usual amount so we ended up with $700) and then when we return home we also transfer to a TA and get additional OBC from him.  If the price drops you can get a price adjustment or OBC if after final payment.  We were only "burned" one time which was when the Edge first came out.  We waited to book until we were onboard and by that time the price had gone up significantly from when we first started looking.  So if you're tracking something and the price drops book it when you see it, otherwise booking onboard can be a good option.