booking next cruise on board

[DAWNIE626]

what is the benefit of booking your next cruise while still on board?

should you know what you want in advance & how much it is?

 

thanks!

[Orion1325]

The biggest advantage to booking your next cruise while onboard is that you get $100 credit per cabin for the next cruise. Once you've booked it onboard, you have at least a couple of weeks to make a deposit, and you can have the booking transferred to the travel agent of your choice. Your final price will then be determined by the travel agent, not Royal Caribbean. If you even *think* you want to take another cruise, it's worth it to go ahead and book it while onboard. When you get home, if you decide you don't really want to go, you can always cancel it before you pay your deposit. Or if something comes up later, you can always cancel before the final payment is due and get your deposit back. To me, it's a win-win situation...

[DAWNIE626]

thanks orion!

[camreesmom]

How long do you have to make your deposit? I just assumed that you had to deposit while you were on board. We were on the Splendour with some folks in March. They booked a cruise for September on the Rhapsody. Now they have talked us into joining them and they got a shipboard credit and we didn't! That is one lesson that we learned the hard way. :rolleyes:

Julie

[joyceyw]

How long do you have to make your deposit? I just assumed that you had to deposit while you were on board. We were on the Splendour with some folks in March. They booked a cruise for September on the Rhapsody. Now they have talked us into joining them and they got a shipboard credit and we didn't! That is one lesson that we learned the hard way

 

No, you do not have to pay your deposit while onboard. They can give you up to 14 days to pay your deposit. We booked the Mariner while on the Radiance in Jan. As soon as she put our info in, she asked us if we wanted to use the same travel agent, we said yes, we then told her we only had cash, she didn't take cash, she told us she would give us 10 days and to pay out TA. We still received the onboard credit of $100.00. The day after we returned we went to see our TA to take care of our deposit, she already had our reservation as it had been faxed over from Royal, she was even able to beat Royals price that was quoted to us while on ship. We had our choice of a D1 corner aft or a JS Aft. I don't think our TA would have been able to get us access to those rooms.

[Robinob]

We booked on board last summer for a cruise that we are taking next month. We got a great price, that was reduced even more by our TA, choice of cabin and $100.00 credit. Our deposit was put on our credit card but our TA said that we didn't have to do it that way. We chose to anyway. You do have a few days to give your deposit.

[Magicat]

We plan on booking for a group of people...do they all get the same ship board credit or just us?

[Robinob]

I am sure that it goes according to the number of cabins that are booked, not people. You should get credit for each cabin.

[Orion1325]

I am sure that it goes according to the number of cabins that are booked, not people. You should get credit for each cabin.

 

I don't think so...

 

When we (family of 4) were on the Legend in December, we booked 4 cabins for an Alaskan cruise on the Radiance (there are 12 of us that will leave in 2 weeks). In order to get four $100 credits, we had to book each of us into a different cabin. The Loyalty Ambassador (the person who handles future bookings) told us this was the only way to get a $100 credit per cabin. She told us the $100 credit per cabin was only good for travelers who were currently on board. That's why we had to book that way. She told us that when we check in on the Radiance, we can get the names switched around to the correct cabins.

 

I know we have the four $100 credits right now. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how hard (or easy) it was to switch the names around...

[CathyG]

The onboard credit per stateroom is as follows:

$50 for 5 nights or less

$100 for 6 to 8 nights

$200 for 9 to 13 nights

$250 for 14 or more nights

 

Now, if you also owned 100 shares of stock, you'd get the above as well. We booked the 11 day Empress, have stock, so we're getting a $400 onboard credit. Not too shabby.

[boingy300]

We booked on our cruise, and they let us book a cabin for our parents as well. (W/ $100 each cabin). Then we had to move the dates- no problems. We moved and ship board credit moved with us (& our parents). The freakiest thing is that the ice skater from the show the night before was our RCCL booking agent. We took up 30 min. of the time deciding which cruise. NOW we know how inconsiderate this was! IF you plan on doing this please have an idea of what itinerary you want and what date! It lets others get in as well! Sounds weird to be thinking about your "next cruise" but it's a good idea!

Karen

[joyceyw]

We plan on booking for a group of people...do they all get the same ship board credit or just us?

 

It depends on if the whole group is booking on board. Booking a group the group can get incentives, I'm not sure who determines what, except that for every 8th berth, you get a free birth.

 

For our Mariner cruise we booked onboard, our family and some friends decided to go too. We used my TA, she booked the group and transferred our booking number to the group. We still keep our on board ship credit.

[boingy300]

Sorry I should have clarified! My parents were not on board. We booked for them and got the credit for them!

Karen

[Majesty Fan]

I too like to book onboard. That $100 buys us several things that first day on board like the coke card and some fufu drinks. LAst Oct we booked the navigator for our cruise in Oct and we have deck 10 corner aft. To me it's worth it to book what you want and get the $100 credit. Later in the year I also used a $150 C&A coupon plus the $200 dimond discount.

Lexi

[cruzn buckeye]

If you book onboard and the price drops do you get to keep your onboard credit and get the price drop adjustment also?

 

Thanks!

[mamahugs]

Yes, you get to keep the onboard credit and also on the full reductin in price if you book direct with RCI..if with a TA, it depends on their policies. Happy Sailing!!!

[cruzntori]

We booked a 12 day cruise while on board mariner and got a $200 shipboard credit. Also once we got back we transfered it to another travel agent. When we transfered we kept same rate (it had gone up $300) and we also got another $100 shipboard credit. But you have to make sure travel agent keeps same booking number.

We were required to pay the $900 deposit ($450 each) at time of booking on Mariner.

Happy Sailing!

[Travelitis]

Fantastic info! We already know we want to go on RCCL next year, so we'll try this on our upcoming cruise. Very helpful - Thanks!

[Magicat]

Thank you for all the info, we now have five couples.

[kc320]

We also had to pay our deposit last Dec. when we booked our cruise for Oct. I see where other's have been able to wait till they got home, guess it just depends on the Loyalty Amb. We will be booking all our RCl c

ruises that way from now on, $100 goes a long way towards fru-fru drinks.:p

[just4kixx]

We just got off the Rhapsody yesterday. While onboard, we booked next year's family vacation on the Navigator. 5 cabins in total, each getting $100. stateroom credit. What we were told by the loyalty ambassador--- her full time position while on ship---, however, was that if we switched our booking number to a TA who put us in a "group booking" we would lose our $100. stateroom credit generated from the onboard booking. I guess if the deal is that good, it would be worth it anyway.

 

Still looking for the best price/company to switch the bookings to... will let you know how we fare

 

A

[VaCruzers]

In case anyone is wondering, if you do not use the full amount of your onboard credit while on your cruise, the remainder is credited back to your credit card. We had $400 credit for 2 cabins on a recent sailing, but did not use it all. The balance was credited on my card 2 days after we returned.