Booking on board...

[seaworthy1]

Our first HAL cruise is coming up on Mar 30th, we are looking at several HAL cruises next year.  My question, "is there an advantage to booking on board". reduced deposits, refundable deposits, obc, anything?  

[pirate cruiser]

We booked our next cruise on board last sept. The consultant was very helpful and we were able to get the aft veranda we wanted plus the HIA (including elite bev package & crew grats) and we only had to put a fully refundable deposit down. If you are interested in a room that usually sells out fast I would book as long as the deposit is refundable.

[Btimmer]

I would add that any cruise booked on board can be transferred later to your favorite travel agent and you don't loose the benefits gained by booking on board plus you get whatever benefits your travel agent adds.  We've done this many times.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, seaworthy1 said:

Our first HAL cruise is coming up on Mar 30th, we are looking at several HAL cruises next year.  My question, "is there an advantage to booking on board". reduced deposits, refundable deposits, obc, anything?  

Yes to all of those things.

[LAX]

No discount or additional OBC for booking a future cruise onboard?

 

LAX

 

[oakridger]

8 minutes ago, LAX said:

No discount or additional OBC for booking a future cruise onboard?

 

LAX

 

Edited March 23 by oakridger

[POA1]

You get more OBC if you book onboard than if you book after you get home.

 

If you aren't sure which cruise you want, your next best bet is to purchase a future cruise deposit (FCD) and take advantage of the Welcome Home bonus (ZPM.)

 

If you tell the onboard cruise consultant the name of your TA or PCC, they can get everything routed correctly. That goes for both the FCDs and the onboard bookings. Your current booking will already have the TA or PCC noted.

[jinpasco]

We booked onboard. First put down a FCD and used it right away towards the cruise we wanted to book. There will be a paper explaining extra bonus $ you will receive (depending on how much your deposit is for the length of the cruise.) Picked our room . Done ! 

[POA1]

We were never able to take advantage of booking on the ship. It was a combination of scheduling time off and basic indecision.

 

Because we're still working age, the longest we can usually go is 14 days. On short cruises, the booking on board is not as much of an advantage. The FCD + Welcome Back comes pretty close. So, we kept a stock of FCDs, typically 2 for each of us.

 

Once you are looking at longer voyages, the onboard booking bonus is much greater.

 

I'm turning 61 next month, dragging my child bride ever closer to 60. We are looking forward to being able to do some longer itineraries - which we will definitely try to book on board.

[*Miss G*]

6 hours ago, LAX said:

No discount or additional OBC for booking a future cruise onboard?

 

LAX

 

 

Here is the last future cruise flyer I received.  (The other side of this page is the future cruise deposit form.)  I have not purchased a cruise onboard so I can’t recall if there are additional benefits tied to a specific cruise.

 

[POA1]

The fire and ice, Alaska to Hawaii cruise, whose name I am forgetting, launched when we were on the NS in December. It had the usual launch perks of Have It All Plus, bonus OBC, etc.

 

The difference for booking on the ship was the OBC like the grid above from @*Miss G*

 

That's a decent amount of OBC because it's a long trip, but that was the only additional onboard benefit.

[FlaMariner]

Our experience with "booking onboard"....I almost always take a recent price quote or two with me...and try to get in front of the lady at the desk during our cruise.

 

• the price (adding in the OBC or other offers) has never been as good as our big, online TA...but I keep trying for the fun of it.
• the lady at the desk is always very busy...sometimes they allow appointments/sign ups so I would do that or otherwise there will be an older gentlemen at her desk who will be discussing every single cruise he has ever been on....and the lady usually looks very bored.  LOL. 
• The "Future Cruise Deposits"....FCD's as we call them....are, what we always purchase onboard (sometimes several) and we think they are a "no brainer" and a "must have"....You fill out a form that the lady has at her desk (or the nearby brochure rack) and drop the completed form in the big box next to her desk.  HAL will charge you $100 and you use that as your deposit w/your TA to book your next cruise later and it comes with a few bucks of OBC.  (that's on the flyer posted above)
• The cruise lady will also have a presentation or two about future cruises.  We've gone sometimes and I always seem to learn/find out about a cruise or two that is appealing and somehow was not familiar from simply surfing the listings on the web

 

Welcome to Holland America Line and enjoy the journey...

 

 

[jinpasco]

When thinking of putting down a FCD here is something we learned. It was not just 100.00 for all. We booked a 25 day and the FCD was 300.00 per person. I was hesitant but its refundable up to final payment. I am not sure what the rule would have been if we put down a 100.00 future cruise deposit and after getting home booked the longer cruise. Only gain was getting an extra 75.00 PP added to the perk for booking onboard.   We did not do the HIA and I believe being more than a year away we may have gotten  free gratuities. Maybe Miss G can post the backside. 

[FlaMariner]

23 minutes ago, jinpasco said:

I am not sure what the rule would have been if we put down a 100.00 future cruise deposit and after getting home booked the longer cruise.

 

We've done that before....when we booked a longer cruise, we were able to pay $200 to add to our $100 FCD.

 

 

[Nodakboiler]

The $300 pp deposit with the FCD is at lot better than the $1750 pp deposit required for long cruises!

[*Miss G*]

41 minutes ago, jinpasco said:

When thinking of putting down a FCD here is something we learned. It was not just 100.00 for all. We booked a 25 day and the FCD was 300.00 per person. I was hesitant but its refundable up to final payment. I am not sure what the rule would have been if we put down a 100.00 future cruise deposit and after getting home booked the longer cruise. Only gain was getting an extra 75.00 PP added to the perk for booking onboard.   We did not do the HIA and I believe being more than a year away we may have gotten  free gratuities. Maybe Miss G can post the backside. 

 

Longer cruises require the larger deposit.  Here is the flip side of the form:

 

[jinpasco]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Longer cruises require the larger deposit.  Here is the flip side of the form:

 

When we went to put down a deposit on the 25 day  I hate to imagine my face when he said 600.00 , not 200.00 as I thought. I had not turned over the flyer. Thank you for posting the backside.

[kazu]

3 hours ago, jinpasco said:

When thinking of putting down a FCD here is something we learned. It was not just 100.00 for all. We booked a 25 day and the FCD was 300.00 per person. I was hesitant but its refundable up to final payment. I am not sure what the rule would have been if we put down a 100.00 future cruise deposit and after getting home booked the longer cruise. Only gain was getting an extra 75.00 PP added to the perk for booking onboard.   We did not do the HIA and I believe being more than a year away we may have gotten  free gratuities. Maybe Miss G can post the backside. 

 

I usually only buy $100 FCD’s.  If the cruise I booked required a $300 FCD, I have just had to pay the additional $200 and received the appropriate OBC.

 

I have only booked on board once and it was a wait list for Grand so no risk.  I have been in the area where the FCC’s are and while there are some good ones, I’ve heard a lot of misinformation given to passengers who were buying.  it took all my willpower to not interrupt and correct.  (Westerdam had a Happy Hour in the old days in the Atrium bar and the FCC desk was right next to it - she was quite loud and you couldn’t help but hear).  

 

I could have waited to book my 2025 cruises on the Volendam and saved the deposit but I feared the EBB may be gone and dislike having to wait in line to discuss a cruise as well as the lack of privacy in some locations.  so, I booked them with my trusted TA.  I’m glad I moved when I did.  The location of choice would probably have been gone by late April.  

 

 

[zgscl]

Future cruise deposits offer a minimal credit. If you know the cruise you want there is often much more obc offered depending on the length of the sailing and the cabin type. Pricing is usually the same though if I remember correctly I have once or twice saved a tiny bit booking onboard. 
 

If you know what you want to do there is no downside to booking onboard provided you book with a refundable deposit). And it does transfer to your travel agent if you use one (provided you transfer within 30 days and before final payment). 
 

Personally I do like to keep a few FCDs in my account to place things on hold. They are a lot easier to track than credit card deposits and refunds. 

[FlaMariner]

14 minutes ago, zgscl said:

If you know what you want to do there is no downside to booking onboard provided you book with a refundable deposit).

 

The downside that I have experienced when getting a price onboard (I usually bring quotes onboard)......

 

.......is that booking onboard is more expensive than booking with my TA.

 

But I do load up on FCD's and book w/my TA when back on land....and free money (OBC for the $100 FCD) works for me. 

 

[Blackduck59]

We have purchased future cruises on board. On Celebrity before the shut down, the future cruise consultant was very helpful pointing out how to get the most rewards for our booking. We didn't feel the consultant was as helpful as she could have been. Of course she knew the booking was going to our local TA so that may be part of it. In the end we booked onboard but perhaps didn't get the best value. After a few months we decided to extend the cruise in a big way and our local TA took care of the details. We did lose some OBC because of a cabin change and had to put forward a substantial deposit (refundable before final payment) to secure the new booking. Go prepared with the cruises you are interested in, where you want your cabin, what type of cabin and can you use Club Orange to your advantage (knowing you will have to pay the Club Orange fee at time of booking)

[LAX]

16 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Here is the last future cruise flyer I received.  (The other side of this page is the future cruise deposit form.)  I have not purchased a cruise onboard so I can’t recall if there are additional benefits tied to a specific cruise.

 

Thanks. While the offer for booking a future cruise is enticing, the offer for placing a deposit is underwhelming. $25USD? I guess it's better than nothing if you only need to put down $100 for that.

 

LAX

 

[Btimmer]

We were on the 2023 GSA and missed a couple of ports due to weather issues.  On the day that we missed the Falkland Islands stop, I had a HAL flyer offering a good price on a 3 week 2024 cruise from San Antonio to BA.  I took that info down to the FCC onboard the Zaandam and she beat that price by $400 plus we received the benefits of booking onboard (shipboard credit).  Yes, we made the ports that we missed on the first cruise.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We always do it.

[*Miss G*]

7 hours ago, LAX said:

Thanks. While the offer for booking a future cruise is enticing, the offer for placing a deposit is underwhelming. $25USD? I guess it's better than nothing if you only need to put down $100 for that.

 

LAX

 

 

The onboard credit bonus used to be a lot higher.  The real benefit of the future cruise deposit, now, is that you can use them to book cruises which require a larger deposit.

 

I had to scroll up to the flyer to see what $25 gets you.  If you’re taking shorter cruises then it’s not as beneficial as the longer itineraries where the deposits can be quite healthy.