Better to book onboard or online

[JMMM2323]

We always book our cruises online, on our own, but will be on a cruise next month and are wondering if you get any better deal by booking a future cruise while on board a ship.  We've never even looked into and were just wondering.  Thanks for any insight anyone has

[n4w]

A small deal.  You can get free cabin upgrade within the same category.  For instance, a base balcony might be $XYZ, the same cabin in a better location or higher floor, or perhaps an angled balcony might be +$30/pp.  You'd get that upgrade for free. You would not get upgraded from a regular balcony to a family or club or spa balcony, as those are higher categories.

Edited November 8, 2023 by n4w

[SoshiFluff]

Don’t want to hijack thread but thinking same thing.  We are on Caribbean 7 day cruise on Encore in February and looking at late summer Alaskan Cruise.  Wondering if we could snag deals while on board. 
 

Remember on Disney Cruise many years ago there were specials by booking on board at the time. 

[graphicguy]

Ya know, I’ve taken quite a few NCL cruises.  Cruise Next Desk is where you’d buy Cruise Next certs!

 

Every time I do, I can sit there on my phone and I’m seeing the same fares and cabins available as they can on their computers on their end.

 

To date, they’ve never offered better fares booking on board and availability!

 

I guess you can ask.  But, have your iPad/iPhone/Android with you to check what they’re seeing compared to what you can see!

 

[julig22]

Onboard gives you an upgraded stateroom  within inside, ov or balcony. 

And of course they will sell you CruiseNext certificates and apply them. They haven't had any other onboard deals for over a year - not needed since ships are sailing at near capacity.

As with any service, some CN reps are better/more knowledgeable than others.

If you do book onboard, the sale credit goes to the person that booked the cruise you are on, not your current PCC if you have one.

In the past, if you had something booked, they would work with you to apply any onboard promos but I've also run into teams that wouldn't touch an existing reservation unless you bought CNs and/or there was a price change.

[JustAllie]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Onboard gives you an upgraded stateroom  within inside, ov or balcony. 

And of course they will sell you CruiseNext certificates and apply them. They haven't had any other onboard deals for over a year - not needed since ships are sailing at near capacity.

As with any service, some CN reps are better/more knowledgeable than others.

If you do book onboard, the sale credit goes to the person that booked the cruise you are on, not your current PCC if you have one.

In the past, if you had something booked, they would work with you to apply any onboard promos but I've also run into teams that wouldn't touch an existing reservation unless you bought CNs and/or there was a price change.

I just talked to my PCC yesterday, and he said that if we booked a future cruise onboard, he would in fact get credit for it. He was actually encouraging us to book onboard our next cruise (which is in a few weeks). Yes, he did also mention the within-category upgrade we'd get onboard as well. 

[julig22]

2 hours ago, JustAllie said:

I just talked to my PCC yesterday, and he said that if we booked a future cruise onboard, he would in fact get credit for it. He was actually encouraging us to book onboard our next cruise (which is in a few weeks). Yes, he did also mention the within-category upgrade we'd get onboard as well. 

Yes, that is correct, your PCC gets credit IF they also booked the cruise you are on. I've had several over the years, some moved on, one got promoted, and I fired one. Just off of a cruise I had booked long ago and booked another cruise. My PCC did NOT get credit for the new booking.

[macewank]

As others mentioned you'll get a "better" cabin within your stateroom category by doing this. Up to you if that's incentive or not. 

 

The real hookup onboard is CruiseNext certificates. There will be deals that give you OBC for buying a certain dollar amount, and you can spend that OBC on, you guessed it, more CN certs. 

 

I walked off the Prima in April with 4 $250 certs and only paid $500 for it (and about half of that came from OBC we got as compensation for having to leave Bermuda early

 

Of course, again, up to you if that's an incentive or not. 

[Asawi]

9 minutes ago, macewank said:

I walked off the Prima in April with 4 $250 certs and only paid $500 for it (and about half of that came from OBC we got as compensation for having to leave Bermuda early

 

Well that is hoaw it always is with CN. Buy 4, get 500 OBC. 

Edit: I think I misunderstood the first time I read it. I guess you say that apart from those 500 you had more from the early departure

Edited November 9, 2023 by Asawi

[macewank]

1 hour ago, Asawi said:

Well that is hoaw it always is with CN. Buy 4, get 500 OBC. 

Edit: I think I misunderstood the first time I read it. I guess you say that apart from those 500 you had more from the early departure

 

No I was saying I paid like $280 out of pocket for the certs. They gave us quite a refund for leaving port a couple hours early.