USD 100bon board credit

Just received the RSSC folder for our second ever cruise which will be Mariner on May the 15th. Is it just me or does the inclusion of a USD 100 credit voucher for your current trip if you book your next cruise while on board not seem totally off brand (code for cheap)?

I think it is good marketing. I always book whilst onboard; any little extra helps.

Marc

I think it is good marketing. I always book whilst onboard; any little extra helps.

 

Marc

I love it! I also always book on board. Very little down side and lots of benefits.

It is a welcome extra perk on top of the on-board booking discount and other advantages of booking while on a Regent ship.

It's a nice Thank You, nothing big--but nice way to do it.

Just received the RSSC folder for our second ever cruise which will be Mariner on May the 15th. Is it just me or does the inclusion of a USD 100 credit voucher for your current trip if you book your next cruise while on board not seem totally off brand (code for cheap)?

Hi Alan - good to see you back on the Regent board and happy that you will be cruising Regent again. While I'm not a fan of the $100 on board credit offer, the on board booking benefits are a draw for us (and we book almost all cruises while onboard). In addition to getting a credit on the cruise that you are booking, there is a price guarantee (not a strong one but it is better than nothing). The booking credit amount depends upon the cruise and the category of suite that you have booked. On our last cruise we received $500/person credit. In my opinion, this makes it worth it!

Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

Alan, we always book our next cruise onboard, and in addition to the benefits discussed in our opinion we found the extra $100 OBC a nice token of appreciation rather than "totally off brand". I look forward to hearing about your cruise.

A reminder that even if you've booked a particular cruise before you board, if the same category is still available, you get the "book on board" perks anyway. (Unless this way of going has changed.)

And I agree with what the rest have said.

A reminder that even if you've booked a particular cruise before you board, if the same category is still available, you get the "book on board" perks anyway. (Unless this way of going has changed.)

 

And I agree with what the rest have said.

My understanding is that the $100 OBC is the one perk you don't get if you've previously booked and are able to use the "book on board."

Do make sure that when you book on board that you get US T&C's.

If you are from the the UK you get a letter that points out that the terms when booked on board are different from normal UK terms but it also states that you can change the voyage one time only but what the don't tell you if in in fact you do change the voyage then you are then moved to normal UK terms, which is a 20% deposit (at the moment a special offer of 10% only if booked by 30th April).

In the UK if at any time in the future, no matter how far in advance the cruise is booked, you need to change for any reason at all you loose all the deposit. Not a small amount against a long cruise

I feel into this trap as I had booked a cruise 18 months in advance when on board the Explorer in December last. A problem came up and I needed to change the date of the cruise from Aug 14th to Jul 11th 2019 but Regent would only do it if I paid the full 20% deposit. My TA did manage to get that dropped to 10% I was not willing to pay the extra as I felt Regent had mislead me in the first instance

Jason O'Keefe, Graham Sadler and RSSC Guest Services UK just ignore e-mails that have been sent to them.

The cruise is now cancelled and I doubt that, at the moment, we would consider sailing with Regent again. We are not actually new to cruising being Platinum Level with Regent and have sailed over 750 days with Silversea but just be aware of our exoerience of booking on board

Another warning: should you cancel your booked cruise, Regent will want that $100 back.

 

So, if you bought $100 worth of crap you don't need (CYDN) just because you had an extra $100 OBC, then you effectively paid real dollars for CYDN!

 

So the moral of this story is don't spend the $100 for CYDN.

This is exactly why I'm not a fan of the $100 OBC! We just purchased a future cruise "thingie" (not sure what they are called). If we don't use it, I would rather get $2,000 back than $1,900 since the $100 went for something that we didn't need.

The whole idea of the pre-purchase cruise certificate is to use it--which is why Regent gives you the extra $100 OBC. It's Marketing the line. We purchase one on the last cruise (our first cruise on Regent) and we just used it for a nice savings. We plan on purchasing another one so we have it on hand. Seems like to get the suite we want we have to be ready to purchase it when it comes out, can't wait to be on the a ship or the suite is sold out.

The whole idea of the pre-purchase cruise certificate is to use it--which is why Regent gives you the extra $100 OBC. It's Marketing the line. We purchase one on the last cruise (our first cruise on Regent) and we just used it for a nice savings. We plan on purchasing another one so we have it on hand. Seems like to get the suite we want we have to be ready to purchase it when it comes out, can't wait to be on the a ship or the suite is sold out.

Good point and we do like to purchase the certificates. Just wish that they gave us $100 OBC instead of deducting it if you cash it in. One never knows when life's circumstances causes you to not cruise for a while in which case it would be cashed in. While $100 is not a lot of money, it could buy something that I could actually use if I were not on the ship.

The Future Cruise Certificate worked well for us. We got off the Voyager before Splendor bookings opened so we purchased a certificate that we applied to our Splendor booking days later. The $100 went towards our spa bill!

Interesting, I presumed incorrectly that many TAs offered credits/deals worth more than the USD 100 book on board credit from RSSC. As Marc says every bit helps

Interesting, I presumed incorrectly that many TAs offered credits/deals worth more than the USD 100 book on board credit from RSSC. As Marc says every bit helps

Your on-board booking is transferred to your TA so that you benefit from the on-board booking benefits plus any benefits offered by your TA.

The on-board booking benefits are not just the $100 OBC but also include a small percentage discount on the cruise price and a lower deposit.

Booking while on board is a no-brainer for us.

Thanks Flossie, I was weighing up a much larger OBC credit from my TA versus the USD 100 from RSSC. Could not work out the enthusiasm for the RSSC credit. Now I hear it’s cummaltive it makes sense

We enjoy our on board booking $100 SBC with dinner, usually in the form of a nice Caymus Cab or Pirate Treasured Red.

As a booking OBC off topic tangent; if you want to earn $500 SBC/Travel Credit apply for the Bank of America Premier Travel Card. After a $3k spend in 90 days, you will get about 54,000 points which can be redeemed for on board purchases or a statement credit (=$540). We both have these cards and will have $1000 Travel Credits for our Mariner October South Pacific Cruise and or other travel. There are no foreign transaction fees for spending overseas with this card and the first year fee $95 is waived. Thus, by paying your gas bill, electric bill, cable, part of your cruise fare, or estimate quarterly taxes to meet the minimum $3K spend, you can earn a healthy SBC.

Wes - what you posted is very true but the TS lives in Hong Kong. Not sure if our U.S. benefits are available there.

Thanks Flossie, I was weighing up a much larger OBC credit from my TA versus the USD 100 from RSSC. Could not work out the enthusiasm for the RSSC credit. Now I hear it’s cummaltive it makes sense

We've never had a problem finding something we need to use the $100 for (indeed, the $300 we had from a booking spree on our last cruise wasn't a problem).

A couple of thoughts about this for Regent first-timers:

Unless it has changed, you can substitute the OBC for excursion charges you may have incurred prior to boarding (not pre/post cruise additions, but the Regent Choice excursions).

(Some, maybe most) OBC's from TA's (unless a cooperative deal with Regent) can be cashed out. So if you have the $100 on-board booking credit and, say the $300 Virtouso credit, the former is "use or lose" while the latter can be redeemed for cash. To avoid any confusion, we always cash-out the TA credits immediately even if we end up with a balance at the end (which end up as extra points on our charge card). The pursar can tell you exactly what the nature of your OBC's are.