Booking another Cruise while Onboard???

[twoatsea]

Does anyone know if anything "special" is given if one books a cruise while onboard? I've heard the price is about the same as one can get while not onboard, but thought maybe there is some incentive, such as, free soda cards, free pinnacle grille, etc.

 

Is there someone to book with onboard or do they just call Seattle?

 

We sail on 4/28 Maasdam & plan to book the 9/24 Westerdam. Have all the prices from several sources, so we will know what the right price is. Can't decide whether to get it booked before we leave or book onboard :confused:

 

Thanks in advance.

[bruceh4]

Booking on board generally has some special offers with it. The most common is to get a ship board credit to your ship board account for the cruise you booked. I have seen varying amounts but generally not less than $100. The travel consultants are not on 7 day cruise's. They are only on longer cruise's usually of 14 days or more.

[kryos]

Booking onboard generally gives you a shipboard credit on the future cruise of varying amounts depending upon the duration of the cruise booked and the accommodations selected.

 

On cruises of ten days or longer, a future cruise consultant is generally onboard. She has regular office hours, and you just book with her. On shorter cruises, you can call a number in Seattle (no charge, of course) right from your stateroom and book your cruise that way.

 

Booking onboard supposedly lets you have first pick of accommodations when the cruise has just appeared on HAL's website as available for booking. But, I don't know if this is true since a good travel agent will also have access to itineraries that are not technically available for booking yet. So, in essense, it would seem that all you are getting is the onboard credit, but that can be substantial if you are booking a high end cabin category, so I guess it's nothing to sneeze at.

 

By the way, you can have the booking credited to your own personal TA, and still get the onboard credits. So you don't have to worry that you're "cheating" your regular TA out of a booking by scheduling your next cruise while onboard your current one.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Copper10-8]

Generally speaking if you book and deposit your next cruise with a Future Cruise consultant on board, you receive the following benefits:

A shipboard credit on your future cruise (7-11 Days: $25pp for an Inside or Outside, $35pp for a Verandah and $50pp for a Suite - 12 Days+ $50pp for an Inside or Outside, $75pp for a Verandah and $100pp for a Suite)

HAL will extend the same offer to friends and family who will be travelling with you

 

You can still take advantage of applicable Mariner Society Savings

 

Your Travel Agent will get full credit for your new reservation and finalize details on your behalf when you return home

 

It's not a bad deal if you are thinking and/or planning to go anyways!

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our 10 day cruises on the Ryndam, there wasn't a cruise consultant.

 

In the past when there was one on board and you did book a future cruise, not only did you get the shipboard credit, but most of the cruise consultants sent a bottle of wine to your table.

[elmorejj]

We were on the Veendam last fall and I booked a 10 day cruise for this year while I was onboard. There was no cruise consultant even though I was on a 14 day cruise but I was able to use the free number to call Seattle. The flyer that was sent to the cabins listed the amounts posted above, but when I talked to the agent in Seattle she told me I would be getting $125pp for a 10 day cruise in an S category. So I guess it depends on who you talk to as to how much you receive in credit.........jean

 

BTW my TA at home had the booking before we got back!:cool:

[Dbedros]

Is there a reduced deposit similar to the one that Princess requires when booking on board?

[Randyk47]

No consultant on our 10-day Volendam cruise this past February. We could have used their free long distance to Seattle but since we were only researching our next cruise options we decided to wait until we got home. Concierge did offer that HAL is pulling back on cruise consultants and we'd be seeing fewer of them, particularly on the "shorter" cruises. Seems backwards to me as I would have thought there would be more potential bookings on shorter cruises but I'm sure they've done their cost-benefit analysis.

[kakalina]

We generally book on board and since our TA is a HAL cruise consultant they always call Seattle. We usually receive on board credit, dinner for 2 in the Pinnacle Grill, wine, and flowers in our cabin.

 

Our last cruise we received $150pp credit. As for prices, we have checked the internet and find our TA gets a better price for us.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Is there a reduced deposit similar to the one that Princess requires when booking on board?

 

Unfortunately No, the deposit is the same and you have to book the exact cruise not just any cruise in the future. Last year while we were on the Maasdam I knew I was going to book three cruises while on board so I printed out which cruise and cabin I planned to book in advance. I knew there would not be a cruise consultant on board so we called in to Seattle. The bad part was for about 3/4 the cruise the phone lines were down so we were having a hard time getting thru. On the last three cruises we have been on (all 7 day) not once did we see any fliers or annoucements that you could book a future cruise. I am not really sure HAL wants to promote this. My feeling is that HAL know they will sell their 7 or 10 day cruises with no problem and that cruisers on 7 and 10 day cruises will mostly likely book another with the same amount of days. The cruises that they want to sell are the much longer ones, there for that is why they put the Cruise Consultants on the longer cruises to sell other longer cruises. I would not be the least surprised to see them do away with ship board credit for cruises 10 days or less.