cruise later cruise deposit

[carbon]

I purchased a cruise later certificate for two hundred dollars while on ship last november.  I believe that comes with $200 on board credit but it does not mention that on the confirmation.  Anyone have experience with this?

Edited August 25, 2023 by carbon

[jelayne]

We have only purchased one once and the OBC was determined when we selected the cruise.  OBC is based on length of cruise and cabin category. 

[carbon]

19 minutes ago, jelayne said:

We have only purchased one once and the OBC was determined when we selected the cruise.  OBC is based on length of cruise and cabin category. 

We booked an infinity balcony on Beyond.  Do you know what that translates to in OBC?

Edited August 25, 2023 by carbon

[Jeremiah1212]

You should have received an email with an attached PDF invoice with a Celebrity Cruise Later Confirmation. Since the OBC is dependent on the category you actually book, in the Remarks section it says you will receive an OBC of $50-$200. Make sure you aren't passed the booking deadline on page two. If that date has passed you won't get the OBC.

[carbon]

I did not receive a letter just a certificate on the ship.  I booked back to back and my cruise planner attached to first leg of cruise. She has two group cruises going.  First leg was 6 night and second leg was 7 nights.

Her group cruises had $250 on each cruise.  It looks like I have $450 OBC the first leg so maybe they applied $200.

[Jeremiah1212]

The TA should easily be able to provide a breakdown of the OBC to you. 

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, carbon said:

I purchased a cruise later certificate for two hundred dollars while on ship last november.  I believe that comes with $200 on board credit but it does not mention that on the confirmation.  Anyone have experience with this?

The last time we purchased one was many years ago. We book through a large online TA that offers way more OBC. Every time we tried using it, it wasn't combinable with their promos which were way better. After 2 years of repeatedly trying to use it (we were even willing to just have X apply the price paid for the certificate to our new booking with no added benefit) and being denied, our TA was able to get X to refund the price we paid for the certificate. We'll never again purchase this.

[Jeremiah1212]

15 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

The last time we purchased one was many years ago. We book through a large online TA that offers way more OBC. Every time we tried using it, it wasn't combinable with their promos which were way better. After 2 years of repeatedly trying to use it (we were even willing to just have X apply the price paid for the certificate to our new booking with no added benefit) and being denied, our TA was able to get X to refund the price we paid for the certificate. We'll never again purchase this.

Unless this was pre 2018(?) they automatically refund unused Cruise Later certificates at the date listed on the cert. You only have a few months to book and get the OBC benefit. That date is typically different than the expiration date. 

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Unless this was pre 2018(?) they automatically refund unused Cruise Later certificates at the date listed on the cert. You only have a few months to book and get the OBC benefit. That date is typically different than the expiration date. 

Yes, it was well before 2018. Ours was worthless since the added benefits combined with the reduced cost offered by our TA made it so. We now either ignore the Future Cruise department when on board, or book a specific cruise and transfer the booking to our TA for added benefits. Most often, we just pass it by.

[carbon]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Unless this was pre 2018(?) they automatically refund unused Cruise Later certificates at the date listed on the cert. You only have a few months to book and get the OBC benefit. That date is typically different than the expiration date. 

i booked in the time frame allowed

[carbon]

1 minute ago, Luvcrusn said:

Yes, it was well before 2018. Ours was worthless since the added benefits combined with the reduced cost offered by our TA made it so. We now either ignore the Future Cruise department when on board, or book a specific cruise and transfer the booking to our TA for added benefits. Most often, we just pass it by.

They didn't honor the certificate?

[Luvcrusn]

Just now, carbon said:

They didn't honor the certificate?

It wasn't a matter of not honoring the certificate. It was that by using the certificate we couldn't combine it with the better pricing (group) and benefits offered by our TA.  It would have cost us more to get less if we used the certificate.  They did after some arm twisting by my TA after 2 years refund the $$ paid for the certificate. So, no harm no foul, except it tied up some dollars for a while with no added benefit.

[carbon]

5 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

It wasn't a matter of not honoring the certificate. It was that by using the certificate we couldn't combine it with the better pricing (group) and benefits offered by our TA.  It would have cost us more to get less if we used the certificate.  They did after some arm twisting by my TA after 2 years refund the $$ paid for the certificate. So, no harm no foul, except it tied up some dollars for a while with no added benefit.

So my travel agent used the $200 future cruise credit but I guess I didn't get the $200 OBC that came with the certificate because the group rate is not combinable.  I am still trying to figure where I got the extra $200 OBC. 

[carbon]

Celebrity said if you book over 10 months out you get $200 OBC. First I heard of that.  

[Cruise till you drop]

We bought one in March on our Edge Panama Canal sailing for $200.  Below snapshot is the portion of the brochure that explained the OBC. We were told it needed to be used within 6 months of purchase so we used it to book a 10 day Ultimate Southern Caribbean on the Beyond in Jan 2025.

 

I kept the brochure just in case Celebrity had a memory loss on what was offered.

 

Overall we were very satisfied with this certificate 

 

PS - our total amount for this cruise booked directly with Celebrity turned out to be less than our TA, mainly from the OBC as well as they honored the cruise discounts offered back in March.  Also a big plus is the $200 certificate covered the entirety of the cruise deposit (usually $900).  
 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Cruise till you drop