advantages of booking future cruises while onboard?

[LMUMegan]

We're cruising to Alaska this summer, but already have our sights on our 2009 vacation. Are there benefits to booking future cruises while onboard? I'm sorry if this has been answered already - I'm having trouble with the search feature. Thanks in advance!

[Krazy Kruizers]

For Starters -- you pay only $100 per person for a deposit on future cruises (not the World Cruise or some of its segments). And you have 4 years to use this deposit.

Second -- you will get ship board credit on that future cruise. The amount of shipboard credit that you get depends on the length of cruise you book and the cabin category you choose.

We have booked quite a few "future" cruises this way.

Also the shipboard credit that you receive can be combined with AMEX Plat shipboard credit and Carnival shipboard credit. That is really great!!

[serendipity1499]

Would appreciate it if someone could answer a few questions: :confused:

1. Can the $100 booking be combined with any other Shipboard credits...ie. T.A."s Shipboard Credits ?

2. Are we obligated to specify the type of cabin, or can that be decided later?

3. Can we specify that no TA be named & request that HAL handle the deposit until we decide later which TA we will use?

4.How is Insurance Handled? We do not use Cruise Lines insurance... According to most companies we are required to purchase Insurance within a certain time after initial deposit is made in order to have pre-existing medical covered...

5. Are Cruise Consultants on 7 Day HAL cruises (ie Alaska), & if not, how do you book & charge this deposit..

Thanks..:) Betty

[O2B@C]

Would appreciate it if someone could answer a few questions: :confused:

 

1. Can the $100 booking be combined with any other Shipboard credits...ie. T.A."s Shipboard Credits ?

 

Yes, I believe so, but there may possibly be exceptions. We got both the onboard booking credit and a special deal Mariner credit on our upcoming cruise.

 

 

2. Are we obligated to specify the type of cabin, or can that be decided later?

 

No need to specify anything. All of those decisions can be postponed until you are ready to actually book your next cruise.

 

 

3. Can we specify that no TA be named & request that HAL handle the deposit until we decide later which TA we will use?

 

Yes, definitely. That's exactly what we did. When we decided to book, we told our TA that we had the deposit down, and gave her the info from the receipt HAL had given us, and the TA was able to take it from there - no hassles.

 

 

4.How is Insurance Handled? We do not use Cruise Lines insurance... According to most companies we are required to purchase Insurance within a certain time after initial deposit is made in order to have pre-existing medical covered...

 

I think that may be a certain time after initial booking. We did not have a problem getting third-party insurance, with a pre-existing condition waiver, when we bought the insurance right after we actually booked the cruise, even though we had put down the deposit about a month earlier. We did it through the TA; just told her what coverage we wanted, and she got the policy for us.

 

 

5. Are Cruise Consultants on 7 Day HAL cruises (ie Alaska), & if not, how do you book & charge this deposit..

 

I can't tell you about Alaska specifically, but there was a Future Cruise Consultant on our 7-day Caribbean cruise, and it's such a good marketing tool for HAL that I'm pretty sure they have them on all the cruises, or as many as they can.

 

 

Thanks..:) Betty

 

You're most welcome. Enjoy your cruise(s)!

[pms4104]

Would appreciate it if someone could answer a few questions: :confused:

 

1. Can the $100 booking be combined with any other Shipboard credits...ie. T.A."s Shipboard Credits ?I understand them to be combinable ... we have the onboard booking OBC as well as another thru our T/A.

 

2. Are we obligated to specify the type of cabin, or can that be decided later?You may decide later ... the FCC will give you a letter documenting your deposit and outlining the OBC's available per cabin category and length of sailing.

 

3. Can we specify that no TA be named & request that HAL handle the deposit until we decide later which TA we will use?You may leave the future booking with HAL until you are ready to book ... just call HAL about the transfer and take the FCC letter to your T/A to book a definite sailing. Or you can later book a definite sailing with HAL and then transfer it to a T/A

 

4.How is Insurance Handled? We do not use Cruise Lines insurance... According to most companies we are required to purchase Insurance within a certain time after initial deposit is made in order to have pre-existing medical covered...Don't know about HAL insurance, but the fine people at Travel Guard assured me that until we select a specific sailing, our $100 is considered an option, and the countdown clock for pre-exisiting starts when we book the specific intended cruise.

 

5. Are Cruise Consultants on 7 Day HAL cruises (ie Alaska), & if not, how do you book & charge this deposit..Sorry, not sure. But in the "Know Before You Go" it states that if a FCC is not on board, you may call HAL via ship to shore phone M-F 5am til 7pm and S-S 7am til 3:30pm, PST. No mention who pays for the call.

 

Thanks..:) Betty

My answers above are in red.

[JimVrhovac]

The main reason it shuts my wife up and I do not have to hear her nag about another cruise for at least 6 months

 

Jim (without Ruth)

[RuthC]

5. Are Cruise Consultants on 7 Day HAL cruises (ie Alaska), & if not, how do you book & charge this deposit..

 

It was on an Alaska cruise two years ago that I learned Future Cruise Consultants were to be on all cruises from then on out.

Until then they had only been on longer cruises.

[catl331]

5. Are Cruise Consultants on 7 Day HAL cruises (ie Alaska), & if not, how do you book & charge this deposit..

 

Thanks..:) Betty

There was one on our Statendam 7-day last Sep, and that's where we booked our Panama Cruise.

[serendipity1499]

Thank you all...Sounds good ..We might do that on our Alaska Cruise in Aug..Take care..& thanks again...Betty

[rhsjr]

If you purchase FCC's while on a Princess cruise, can you use them on a HAL cruise?

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you purchase FCC's while on a Princess cruise, can you use them on a HAL cruise?

 

 

Soory to tell you that it can't be done.

HAL for HAL and Princess for Princess, etc.

[haligonian37]

There was a FCC on our Oosterdam cruise to Alaska a couple of weeks ago and she was great! My friend and I were just going to take advantage of the $100 deposit and not book a specific cruise but as we waited for Lezli (the FCC) to show up, we decided on a 10 day Roman Empire cruise next September. All of the pertinent paperwork was delivered to our cabins within a day and a half, which I thought was very prompt.

 

One thing she told us that surprised me was that if the fare decreases before final payment, we can take advantage of the drop in price without having to cancel and rebook. I don't know if this is something new or I was just unaware of the fact.

[schoolinmy3]

There was a FCC on our Oosterdam cruise to Alaska a couple of weeks ago and she was great! My friend and I were just going to take advantage of the $100 deposit and not book a specific cruise but as we waited for Lezli (the FCC) to show up, we decided on a 10 day Roman Empire cruise next September. All of the pertinent paperwork was delivered to our cabins within a day and a half, which I thought was very prompt.

 

One thing she told us that surprised me was that if the fare decreases before final payment, we can take advantage of the drop in price without having to cancel and rebook. I don't know if this is something new or I was just unaware of the fact.

 

I recently upgraded my VC to a suite (I could have gone with a fare decrease instead) and my booking number did not change and I did not have to rebook the excursions. This is my first cruise but it seems that since I booked directly with HAL they could make the change wihtout cancelling the original booking.

diane

[Lucyt1207]

"3. Can we specify that no TA be named & request that HAL handle the deposit until we decide later which TA we will use? "

 

Be very specific when you do this on the ship...we just booked a cruise for 2009 while on the Volendam. we and our friends (who made a different booking with the on board person at a different time altogehter) both were very specific that we wanted the booking to go to our HAL consultant, not the dotcom agency that we later transferred to...unfortunately, we only got the cruise confirmation the last nigt...with the dotcom agency on it and no onboard person to help us. We had one heck of a time fixing it once we got back...basically, we had to cancel the booking with the dotcom and rebook with HAL...but, we are told the POLICYis that whoever had your last booking automatically gets the new booking.