Is booking your next cruise while you're on board a bargain?

[cnmiranda]

Another great thing while booking onboard is getting the "share the wealth" coupons. We just used ours to tranfer a $200 ship credit to the inlaws on our upcoming sailing. So we got a $200 future booking credit and the parents "shared the wealth" with us. With those coupons our 10 night sailing ended up costing the same as the 7 night sailing we had previously booked.

 

Royal Caribbean's booking onboard incentive is not as good as you must pick an exact ship and date while onboard. Figuring out sailing dates is nearly impossible to predict too far in advance because of my spouse's schedule. And I'm still ticked off about the no ta discounting thing :(

[suziehmkr]

Other questions about doing an open booking while onboard...

 

If I wanted to do this without DH knowing since I am planning an anniversary cruise for 2007 as a surprise... is there any way that he would find out while onboard?

 

What I mean is, if I go to the desk and do the future booking, will that be it and nothing else will be delivered to the cabin during the cruise, etc. And I can give them a different credit card to pay for the deposit? I like the idea of the reduced deposit and onboard credit, but I don't want him finding out about this until I am ready to surprise him.

 

And if I am reading this right, I could do the booking for $100 and when I am ready to book, I would just pay the additional $100 deposit at the time of booking. Is this correct? Would this still work if I ended up booking a triple? I would just pay the additional $200 at the time of booking?

 

I am new to Princess, but I like the idea of this onboard booking thing for future open cruises... but only if it won't spoil the surprise. ;)

 

Thanks!

[dsl laber]

Hubby and I are booked on the Golden Jan 2006. We promised our 14yr old that we'd take her on the next cruise. If we do the "future sailing booking", will we need to book 3 of them? Also, we usually take one of her friends on vacations with us...am I understanding correctly that we would not need a name or anything yet (heh...you know teenagers...!)

 

Out of curiosity, do you recommend letting teenagers have their own inside cabin?? Thanks!

[magnumcoog]

Another perk is that the most that the deposit will be for a cabin is $200. If there are 3 or 4 passengers in the cabin, deposit is total $200 and each person in the cabin will also receive the onboard credit. If you book 4 persons in an outside or higher category cabin that is $200 on board credit for a 7 day sailing. Inside is $25 per person 7 day sailing.

 

I booked onboard recently and when I got home I faxed Princess to move booking to my TA and got the same perks but at a much lower price.

[Commodore Suzy]

Let me summerize things for you guys:

 

1) The future cruise deposit gets "banked" onto your captain's circle number when you make an un-named future cruise deposit. It no longer makes any difference whether you specify you want the deposit with Princess or with your current TA. The fact is under the newer version of the program that came out in 12/03, all that matters is that you did the deposit. Once you book your next cruise and give your captain's circle number, your TA can have the deposit sitting on the captain's circle account applied. The little confirmation number is irrelevent EXCEPT if they lose your deposit and they need to track it down. (The only time I've seen one "lost" is when two single travelers were going together and they stuck it onto the wrong person in the cabin's CC #.)

 

2) Once the future cruise deposit "code" gets stuck onto your booking, then the first two booked in the cabin will get the shipboard credits. Period. Only one person in the cabin needs to have $100 future cruise deposit to book the cruise. You don't even have to give the second $100 to be quite honest, but Princess won't even tell you that and most TAs don't understand that one either. I book cruises for my husband and I repeatedly with only my $100 and we have no problems. The REALLY smart, high-level people at Princess understand this concept, most will tell you it's $200 minimum until they're blue in the face.

 

3) Someone else already said this, but I'm going to reiterate it: Don't even bother with trying to book an actual cruise on the ship with the future cruise sales person. Just go up to near their desk and find the little 5x8 pieces of paper that say "FUTURE CRUISE DEPOSIT FORM" that will be sitting next to a little box that looks like a suggestion box. Complete it at any hour on any day of the cruise and drop it in the box. It saves you time and then you can actually make your booking when you get home with your usual agent, or whatever. As everyone has said, you'll have a full four years before you need to use your "banked" future cruise deposit.

 

I personally always have two "in the bank", and always just $100 each even though I usually cruise with my husband. I use one for that far far off, really want to plan ahead and look forward to it cruise, and keep one banked for a last minute special. I don't ever want to sail Princess without Shipboard credits! I tell my clients, don't pass up the "free money" they're throwing at you on the ship! :D

 

4) I think the shipboard credits are the best thing about future cruise bookings, but I just want to be sure it's clear for the newbies that this future cruise deposit is ALL that is required when you make that cruise booking in the future. Say you sail in May and then in July of this year you're ready to book that 2006 European cruise of your dreams that costs $600 per person deposit to book normally. All you have to do is contact your agent and tell them you want to book, have them book you with your captain's circle number noted, and tell them to transfer your future cruise deposit onto your new Europe booking. You've now booked yourself on your European dream vacation with only that $100 you put down on the May cruise. This saves you $1000 in "up front" deposit, in addtion to the free shipboard credits they're going to give you on that Europe sailing!

 

5) Lastly, folks have mentioned the "share the wealth" in passing, but I want to be sure everyone understands that also. While on the ship, you should ask the future cruise person for a "share the wealth" letter. For each $100 you put down as a future cruise deposit, the future cruise person should give you one letter. I consider these like gold. What they are is an invitation for you to invite someone else to go on your future cruise with you and they also get to do the $100 per person deposit and they get the free shipboard credits. I tell my clients to be sure to get those and just keep them handy for the future. They don't expire, and you never know when you're going to want to invite a friend along, or even a new friend you met online! The "KEY" to share the wealth though is that you can only "share" with someone sailing on the same sailing with you, and that sailing has to be one where YOU have used the future cruise booking.

 

One of my clients was all excited about her 2006 Europe booking and mentioned it here on CC and then made friends with someone here, and offered the "share the wealth" to her. She didn't even know this person the week prior, but because she had smartly picked up some share the wealth letters on her last sailing, she could make this offer to her new friend.

 

Here is a list of the shipboard credits you'll get on various future cruise bookings once you decide where to apply your deposit:

 

7-9 day cruise inside $25 per person, outside $50 per person

10-15 day cruise inside $75 per person, outside $100 per person

16+ days inside $125 per person, outside $150 per person

 

Outside means anything obstructed oceanview or higher.

 

And I TOTALLY agree that the Princess future cruise deposit program is a WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!!!!!!!!!! thing. Don't leave the ship without at least one! :)

 

Cheers!

[Commodore Suzy]

Suzie... Yes, you can do a secret one.

By default, the future cruise deposits are put onto whatever card you specify on the future cruise deposit form. They are not put onto your shipboard account, so you could walk up to the future cruise person and do one under whatever card you pick.

 

Nothing will be delivered later to your cabin if you make the future cruise deposit with the person instead of dropping the request in the box as the person will hand you the letter while you do it. You get confirmations delivered later when you use the handy drop box.

 

I'd advise you to do just $100 and have it applied to your captain's circle number only. (Tell the future crusie guy/gal you're going in the future by yourself or they'll insist on your doing two which isn't necessary.) By doing only one, under your own CC#, your husband won't see it. If you do one under his number also, then he could possibly see it if he learns how to check his balance in the "Circle Center" on princess.com.

 

 

I do suggest separate cabins for kids, as everyone is more comfortable when there are only two in the cabin. For legal reasons you'll have to book it with one adult in the cabin, but you can switch the keys once you get onboard with the Purser's desk.

[suziehmkr]

Suzy Cruisy!

 

Thank you so much for laying this all out for us newbies!!!! Perfect!!! I am keeping your post in my file for future reference because it is so darned informative! Thank You!

 

And I will most certainly be booking that SECRET future booking!! Woo Hoo!! He won't know what hit him!!

[Commodore Suzy]

You're welcome Suzie! Always glad to help!

:)

If you have any questions in the future, you can email me from my profile. I don't have time to visit CC too often any more, but one of my clients pointed to this post to me in an email and I was compelled to visit and hopefully I've helped clarify for some folks. I can be long-winded, but it's SUCH a complex program!

 

Cheers!

[D4]

Suzy Cruisy, thanks for all the great information! I'm booked for my 11th cruise, but it's the first one on Princess.

 

I have one question: You recommend getting at least one future cruise deposit while on board. How many can each person get? (I realize they expire within 4 years.)

 

Thanks!

[AliMar]

Suzy Cruisy--thanks for taking the time to post all that info. It sure helped clear up my confusion with these programs. As you know, I have done many on board bookings and used Share the Wealth coupons and I still seem to get a bit confused. By the way, we miss you around here! Thanks for stopping by!:)

[Commodore Suzy]

D4 - I am not aware of any limitation as to the number you can do onboard. I'm sure they'd be happy to take as much money as you'd like to deposit. :D However, I'd think TOO many would be pointless, as if you're going to cruise that much, you can always do fresh ones that have a new 4-year clock. Know what I mean?

 

I do have clients new to me do piles of them at once (4 is the max I've advised I think), because another trick to them is that you can have them applied to cruises ALREADY booked and held with full deposits.

 

Let's go back to my cruising in May example, but let's say you've already booked that 2006 Europe dream cruise with the full deposit because you wanted a specific cabin. OK, so you're on the May cruise and you're thinking you'd like to do some future cruise deposits because you want that free shipboard credit in the future. You're thinking, darn, I wish I could get the future cruise perks on that big 12-day Europe cruise. Well, you can. So, what you do is make some future cruise deposits for cruises you'll have beyond Europe, or maybe before Europe on a great deal or something. You should also do $100 with the thought that when you get home, you'll have it applied to your Europe booking. Of course, this is paying an extra $100 toward your cruise before it's required of you for final, but since you booked a balcony, you're going to get $100 per person shipboard credits by getting the future cruise "code" stuck onto your Europe booking. Pretty cool, huh?

 

Keep this in mind if you have multiple cruises lined up already and you didn't know about the future cruise deposit program before now.

 

Cheers!

[dsl laber]

Thanks so much for all the info! I think we will book a couple of future sailings for the first time. This will be our first Princess cruise. Been on RCI and CCL so far. Thanks!

[cmm80124]

let's say I do a future booking onboard in October, and I book a cabin and sailing that will get me $100 future credit per person. Then when I book that cruise through a TA, it is at a time when the TA is also offering Princess onboard credits (for example, $150 per person). Will I be able to get both credits and have $250 total per person?

 

Thanks!

 

Carla

[mommykim]

let's say I do a future booking onboard in October, and I book a cabin and sailing that will get me $100 future credit per person. Then when I book that cruise through a TA, it is at a time when the TA is also offering Princess onboard credits (for example, $150 per person). Will I be able to get both credits and have $250 total per person?

 

Thanks!

 

Carla

Yup! Isn't it wonderful! On our next cruise we got $100pp for signing up onboard plus another $200pp from the cruiseline/TA for a total of $300pp credit! Not bad for a 10 day cruise!