Advantage to booking cruise while onboard??

[beachnative]

Is there an advantage to booking another Celebrity cruise while on board a Celebrity ship?

 

We usually sail on RCCL who offers an OBC for booking another cruise while on board. Because we are "Diamond" on RCCL we qualify for "Elite" on Celebrity and understand that it does not create an advantage while booking Celebrity.

 

We are new to Celebrity and will be on the Solstice in July. There are two other Celebrity cruises we would like to book and are willing to wait until July to do so if there is a monetary reason.

[cruzeluver]

We just returned from the Mercury and booked the Constellation on board for next year. This was only our second Celebrity cruise.

 

We received a 3 category upgrade and a $300 on board credit. The amount of credit is based on the length of the cruise you are booking. We also paid a reduced deposit, only $100 per person instead of the usual $450. Pretty good deal.

[redcupr]

I would think a big advantage to booking on board is that the day you get off the ship, you can immediately look forward to your next cruise.:D

[jd1966]

OBC's, upgrades and small deposits!! Normal cancellation policies apply!!

[cruie4ever]

When you are on the Celebrity cruise go to the future booking desk & take out 2 "open booking #s " at $200 each ;which you can keep until you decide what cruise you want to take . right now it is best to wait until 1-2 months before the cruise date as in general prices are adjudting down .(sign up on Celebrity's web site http://www.celebrity.com for the Tuesday Specials e-mail --the company will e-mail specials at considerable savings) .If you have the flexibility you can save a lot of money . BTW you will also get the OBCs from Celebrity .

 

Now here is the trick . Let us say you decide on a 14 night cruise . You will place the open booking # at the $200 --that is your deposit .Celebrity will give you a $300 OBC. Now before final payment you switch your booking to a good travel agency (do your home work in advance & find one or 2 that will work with you ) .We found a travel agency that will give us an additional OBC + free travel insurance . Example : We booked a C1 cat. on the 4/23/11 Constelation Caribbean cruise for 14 nights .We get the $300 OBC from Celebrity +a $200 OBC from our travel agent plus free travel ins from our travel agent . (we are not allowed to give TA web addresses on cruise critic--sorry) & our deposit remains $200 until final payment date. Also ,we got a very good rate for the C1 stern balcony cabin .

[beachnative]

Wow, thank you all for the great information. I'll print this page and use it as my guide.

 

We currently have 6 cruises booked (we will be celebrating our concurrent retirements) and are flexible thus able to take advantage of Tuesday Sales. With the information you've provided we can now be even more selective, look for good deals, and if wanting something specific book while on board or use the "open booking" system. You all have provided very helpful options.

 

We are excited about our first cruise with Celebrity. The posters on the Celebrity CC site are the icing on the cake!:):)

 

Again, thank you.

[TommyD3]

The $100 pp advance onboard bookings w/o picking a particular sailing are called Passages. They are not really useful with the Tuesday special since all of the Tuesday specials are short notice (1 week to about a month before the actual sailing) and are within the immediate final payment deadline.

 

They would be very beneficial now while Celebrity drags out their roll out of 2011/2012 sailings. A $100 pp deposit on a cruise 18-24 months away is WONDERFUL !!!