Booking cruise shortly after returning home...

[Lady of Leisure]

Can anyone advise me what the discount from Regent is if you book shortly after arriving home, ( I think it may be within 30/40 days). Thankyou.

[Portolan]

You can get the "book on-board" savings from 30 days before until 30 days after your cruise.  The discounts vary with the length of the new cruise and the suite level, but it'll be the same as if you booked on-board.

[flossie009]

Full "Book on Board" benefits, including reduced deposit, are only available from 30 days prior to a cruise .............. unless you have purchased a "Return with Regent Credit"  (Future Cruise Certificate)

You might receive a "Welcome Home" discount after the cruise, but not sure if that applies to all cruises.

 

Best that you or your TA telephone the Regent Southampton office to check.

 

 

Edited August 16 by flossie009

[Lady of Leisure]

Thankyou! We have found that the price quoted on board is more than what we can get from our Travel Agent!

[RELS]

2 hours ago, Portolan said:

You can get the "book on-board" savings from 30 days before until 30 days after your cruise.  The discounts vary with the length of the new cruise and the suite level, but it'll be the same as if you booked on-board.

 

They took away the "30 days after" savings a while ago, according to my TA. I was hoping for that low deposit when I booked a couple weeks after a cruise last June, but no go. "30 days before" and on board still get the savings.

[Portolan]

Thanks for letting me (and those reading this thread) of that change.  It worked the last time we tried.  It's unfortunate because we've done it post-cruise on occasion rather than fighting the crowd to get into talk to the cruise consultant.  In a cruise we have the end of next month, we'll be booking it in advance for a change (for the same reason).

[flossie009]

2 hours ago, Lady of Leisure said:

Thankyou! We have found that the price quoted on board is more than what we can get from our Travel Agent!

If you book on board (or within the 30 days prior) the booking can be transferred to your TA so that you will benefit from the on-board booking benefits plus the discount offered by your TA.

So you end up with the TA best price less the on-board booking discount ............. plus the other on-board booking benefits (lower deposit, ship board credit, price guarantee & ability to move the cruise without penalty) 

 

 

Edited August 16 by flossie009

[Brownie54]

On our last cruise, they had 2 cruise consultants assigned to the sailing to get passengers booked more quickly.

[GMIAC]

On our July Iceland cruise on Splendor, we found out that Future Cruise Credits could be had for $500 each, which would take care of the deposit requirement for the future cruise. We bought two, and have already booked two more sailings. The $500 was all that was required as a deposit. Our next payment will be the balance, on the day the balance would have been due (is it four months prior?).

[chamima]

22 hours ago, GMIAC said:

On our July Iceland cruise on Splendor, we found out that Future Cruise Credits could be had for $500 each, which would take care of the deposit requirement for the future cruise. We bought two, and have already booked two more sailings. The $500 was all that was required as a deposit. Our next payment will be the balance, on the day the balance would have been due (is it four months prior?).

 

On 8/16/2024 at 1:48 PM, flossie009 said:

If you book on board (or within the 30 days prior) the booking can be transferred to your TA so that you will benefit from the on-board booking benefits plus the discount offered by your TA.

So you end up with the TA best price less the on-board booking discount ............. plus the other on-board booking benefits (lower deposit, ship board credit, price guarantee & ability to move the cruise without penalty) 

 

 

 

 

Just clarifying that purchasing Future Cruise Credits on the ship will receive the same benefits as actually booking a cruise.

Also, on other cruiselines you can just fill out the FCC form without having to wait in line to see a consultant. Is this possible on Regent?

[Brownie54]

I think you mean a Future Cruise Certificate.

[GMIAC]

4 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

Also, on other cruiselines you can just fill out the FCC form without having to wait in line to see a consultant. Is this possible on Regent?

It is. They leave the forms in the cabins. All you have to do is drop it off to the Consultant - and leave your payment!

[flossie009]

1 hour ago, Brownie54 said:

I think you mean a Future Cruise Certificate.

 

Now known as a Return with Regent Credit (RRC)

 

[chamima]

48 minutes ago, GMIAC said:

It is. They leave the forms in the cabins. All you have to do is drop it off to the Consultant - and leave your payment!

 

36 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

 

Now known as a Return with Regent Credit (RRC)

 

 

So does  purchasing the Return With Regent Credit on the ship  receive the same benefits as actually booking a cruise? 

 

[papaflamingo]

14 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

So does  purchasing the Return With Regent Credit on the ship  receive the same benefits as actually booking a cruise? 

 

Here is a link to the Return With Regent Credit program.  It should answer all your questions. 

https://www.rssc.com/legal/cruise-credit-terms-conditions#:~:text=Return With Regent Credit Terms And Conditions&text=Return with Regent Credits (each,future Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

[chamima]

23 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Here is a link to the Return With Regent Credit program.  It should answer all your questions. 

https://www.rssc.com/legal/cruise-credit-terms-conditions#:~:text=Return With Regent Credit Terms And Conditions&text=Return with Regent Credits (each,future Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

 

@papaflamingo - Thanks.

(I read the whole thing and actually came away with more questions than I had before I read it. 😂)

I'm hoping the terms of the RRCs will be clearer once we're on board.

I'm still unsure of whether the benefits of booking a cruise with one are the same as booking a cruise while still on board.

Also, we're long time Princess cruisers and Princess Future Cruise Deposits refund automatically after a period of time - it looks like Regent RRCs are good forever but only refundable for 30 days after purchase - is that correct?

 

****

Edited August 19 by chamima

[flossie009]

1 hour ago, chamima said:

it looks like Regent RRCs are good forever

Although the credit does not expire, you only receive the on-board booking benefits if the credit is used within the first twelve months after purchase.

[jeb_bud]

17 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

So does  purchasing the Return With Regent Credit on the ship  receive the same benefits as actually booking a cruise? 

 

The main difference I am aware of is that the deposit is $1,000 per person with the certificate instead of $500 when booking onboard, if booking Penthouse or lower. The rules are a little different for higher level suites or long cruises but since that never applied to me I don’t know the specifics. 

[chamima]

9 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

The main difference I am aware of is that the deposit is $1,000 per person with the certificate instead of $500 when booking onboard, if booking Penthouse or lower. The rules are a little different for higher level suites or long cruises but since that never applied to me I don’t know the specifics. 

 

$1000 non- refundable! 😲😳

And per person!!!!

 

***

Edited August 19 by chamima

[flossie009]

3 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

the deposit is $1,000 per person with the certificate

I believe it is per certificate not per person. Each certificate covers one cruise booking.

(£800GBP for us based in the UK)

Edited August 19 by flossie009

[flossie009]

Although an FCC/RRC can be useful, I believe it has some drawbacks compared to making an immediate booking on board:

  1. You are not locking in todays prices

  2. The money spent on the certificate is not earning interest

  3. It is unlikely that you would have charge-back rights with your credit card for the value of the certificate; and there might be issues with a travel insurance cancellation claim for a deposit where a certificate had been used.

 

We found it interesting to see that the company that issues the "Return with Regent Credit" is  Goodwill Credit Ltd, rather than Regent or NCLH.

A Google search for Goodwill Credit Ltd comes up with a Hong Kong based moneylender - https://goodwillcredit-hk.com/

 

[chamima]

6 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Although an FCC/RRC can be useful, I believe it has some drawbacks compared to making an immediate booking on board:

 

 

We found it interesting to see that the company that issues the "Return with Regent Credit" is  Goodwill Credit Ltd, rather than Regent or NCLH.

A Google search for Goodwill Credit Ltd comes up with a Hong Kong based moneylender - https://goodwillcredit-hk.com/

 

 

FWIW - When we get a refund from Princess it comes , not from Princess, but from Bottomline Technologies, (which causes , unfortunately, lots of people to not open the envelopes with the checks in them but to just toss them out) and  I assume is like Goodwill Credit.

 

Anyways, it looks like we'll be making the time to sit down with the consultants on board to make future cruise plans.

 

 

 

[loriva]

38 minutes ago, chamima said:

Anyways, it looks like we'll be making the time to sit down with the consultants on board to make future cruise plans.

 

 

 

 

Hi Karen.  We're Elite on Princess who made the escape to Regent in 2021.  (Although we do have a booking in December on the CB just to see what it's like sailing from a port a 30-minute drive from our home.)  I hope you'll have as wonderful an experience as we have found on Regent.

 

Since making the switch, we have tended to do our research some months before we cruise.  Then we are ready to contact our Regent TA at the 30-day mark before our cruise.  We receive the full booking onboard benefits from him and then transfer the booking to our big box TA.  Based on advice from these boards we take the booking onboard OBC for the CURRENT cruise rather than have it be applied to the newly booked one.  As others have said, this uses the value at current prices not future, where it may be devalued.  (The wine lunches are our favorite way to spend it.  Or you could try the Culinary Arts Kitchen.)

[papaflamingo]

22 hours ago, chamima said:

I'm still unsure of whether the benefits of booking a cruise with one are the same as booking a cruise while still on board.

Section 4 seems to state that the perks are the same.  And I would think they are, otherwise why would anyone purchase one?  We did an open Future Cruise booking (this was last year) and received all the perks.  Seems this program simply "renames" that purchase. 

Edited August 20 by papaflamingo

[chamima]

33 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Section 4 seems to state that the perks are the same.  And I would think they are, otherwise why would anyone purchase one?  We did an open Future Cruise booking (this was last year) and received all the perks.  Seems this program simply "renames" that purchase. 

 

On Princess the perks are the same (unless they're having a special  on board only sale of certain cruises).

But on Celebrity there are many more restrictions (and fewer perks) when purchasing whatever they call their future cruise certificates rather than an actual cruise.

Hence my question.