Do You Book Your Next Cruise While On Board, or Gamble and See What Fares Do?

[CactusGirly]

We will be on the Solstice next week and would like to take another Caribbean cruise this same time next year. The prices seem to have dropped tremendously in the last couple of weeks, with many suites still available on our sailing.

 

So my question is, should we pre-book our next year's cruise... or gamble and see what fares do to try and take advantage of last minute deals? What has been your experience?

[cruzeluver]

Speaking only from my own experience, we have booked while on board the last two cruises and it has worked out well. In fact, we sail next month on Silhouette which we booked while on Constellation. We got the usual booking on board perks: reduced deposit, one category upgrade and an OBC. Since booking last year the price dropped enough prior to final payment to upgrade to Aqua Class and still get a pretty significant price reduction. We also got an additional OBC for transferring the booking to our TA, so I really can't complain! :p

[jimzgoldfinch]

So my question is, should we pre-book our next year's cruise... or gamble and see what fares do to try and take advantage of last minute deals? What has been your experience?

 

Hi,

I would only book on board if I thought I was getting a very good deal.

 

I suppose it depends on where you are cruising. I booked the next cruise on board for Canada/ New England. The price has risen around 18/19% since booking - I don't expect the price to drop!!

 

Jim

[SusieV]

We book on board. We can't book too last minute anyway because of airfare, and we can get price drops up until final payment. Plus we get the onboard booking benefits and TA OBC.

[robtulipe]

You could do a Open Passage onboard booking where you don't specify an actual cruise but still have the reduced $100 deposit and the same OBC but don't get the up to 3 category upgrade within the same class of cabins that a specific onboard booking can receive.

If you are a member of the Capt's Club you can get a one category cabin upgrade as a benefit when you assign an actual cruise to your OP booking.

[4774Papa]

I had booked an Australian cruise for Feb 13 prior to our Infinity cruise, but after we discovered the great deal offered by onboard booking, we rebooked the cruise and saved a bundle.

Also, booked another cruise.

[robtulipe]

Here is the information sheet re onboard booking I got last month on Silhouette.

Also note that the Specific Booking deposit is refundable while the Open Passage is not but the latter never expires and receives 2 Friends & Family certificates so others that cruise with you get the same OBC as you do as long as they book within 60 days of the date you assign a cruise to your OP booking.

 

[Hawaiidan]

For example I am on a 28 day cruise around South America, and booked 5 months ago for $3350 per person. It is still 11 months to the cruise and the fare has jumped to $4795 per person !!!... $1445+ per person increase!

 

Also consider time of year such as holidays too.

 

Ther theory of wait to the last min only works wher there is competition and excess capacity such as in the carrib and med Not so much in Africa, South Pacific, South America

[RMSeadog]

We almost always book on board. We do the research and book well in advance. We have bookings out to March 2013. We book early to ensure we get the cabin we like and if a B2B we don't have to move. Most of the time we see price increases. When the price drops after final it is still more than we paid. Admittedly it is a crap shoot, but, if we have the right cabin and a price we like, we concider us golden, anything else is gravy. ~ Ric

 

[tispwisp]

We usually the book the week the bookings open in order to get specific cabins. There are times we change cruises during that time frame, but it is not uncommon for us to have a countdown clock of over 700 days! :o

[bighairtexan]

You should be aware that the OBC you get for booking onboard is usually not combinable w/ any other OBC's that CELEBRITY offers (you can still get travel agent OBC's).

[Sloop-JohnB]

Hi CactusGirl,

 

We went on our first cruise in January (Celebrity Solstice - 7 Nights - Eastern Caribbean)... and because I had hung out here on the CC CELEBRITY BOARD, I knew to come prepared incase we absolutely loved cruising and wanted to go again... which we did / do

 

So while onboard I booked for next January. We are going to do 7 Nights in the Southern Caribbean on the Summit.

 

We were Concierge Class on the Solstice, and quite pleased with that... so we knew we wanted to do that again.

 

By booking far in advance we got the pick of pretty much all the cabins on the ship.

 

In the end we booked a C1 Cabin at the back of the ship overlooking the wake.

 

We only had to put $ 100 US down each, and got our 2 Category Upgrade... so we paid the price of a C3 but got a C1 cabin.

 

That was a $ 800 savings on the cabin... don't think I'm too much at risk... truly doubtful that a cabin in my category would go down that much (and as of the other day, they were all pretty much sold out already... 11 months to sail-away)

 

Think I've made a good deal.

 

Now just "sniffing around" to see if I can't find some TA OBC to compliment it.

 

Cheers!

[City_Woman]

We also always book on board for when we think we can go next.

 

Likely, this upcoming trip, will see up book Bermuda on the Summit.

 

If for some reason we can't go, we will move that booking (keeping the booking number) to a cruise in 2013.

 

As long as you keep the booking number you're good.

 

I prefer booking on board for the on board credit.

 

Judy

[hassop]

Now just "sniffing around" to see if I can't find some TA OBC to compliment it.

 

:D Hi Sloop

 

Just love your posts..........would love to meet you and Larry on a table on a cruise somewhere ;)

 

Here in the UK ,usually when booking a future cruise on board, (ie P&0 etc) you have to name your T/A . Can I take it from your post that this is not the case with Celebrity?

Thanks for all your informative posts

 

Regards.....................H

[Sloop-JohnB]

:D Hi Sloop

 

Just love your posts..........would love to meet you and Larry on a table on a cruise somewhere ;)

 

Here in the UK ,usually when booking a future cruise on board, (ie P&0 etc) you have to name your T/A . Can I take it from your post that this is not the case with Celebrity?

Thanks for all your informative posts

 

Regards.....................H

 

HI HASSOP,

 

Thanks for your kind words.

 

Lol... I'd like to meet Larry & Sue (LSIMON) too...

 

Along with TLCOHIO, FRANKINPA, THE BIG BOOPER and HAPPY CRUISER6143, those folks were invaluable to me when I was where you are at now...

 

Can't believe the time flew by so fast... joined CC back in June... and our one week cruise zipped on by... BUT it truly was an INCREDIBLE Vacation.

 

As they say, the antidote to having the Cruise Blues is to book another one, so that is what we did... (lol, they told me I'd get hooked)

 

I am Canadian, and we didn't have to name our TA right away... when we did the booking onboard they told us we had 60 Days to move it to a Travel Agent.

 

Not sure how it would work for someone not from the USA or Canada though.

 

And I note that someone earlier said that it can be a hassle if us Canadians want to move our reservation to a Canadian TA (not sure how that all plays out though... do know when we booked aboard we had to choose if we were going to do our booking in Canadian or US Dollars... maybe the two things are related).

 

We booked in US Dollars because we have a US Currency Credit Card for when we travel (business or pleasure) ... makes everything a whole lot easier.

 

And if I was looking for a TA, chances are good it'll be someone in the USA. So should work out for me if I go that route.

 

Hope this is (somewhat) helpful,

 

Cheers!

[hassop]

Hope this is (somewhat) helpful,

 

 

:D As always Sloop ..........As always

 

Thanks ............H

[phoenix_dream]

It's always a crap shoot, but generally speaking we book onboard and then monitor for price drops prior to final payment. If there is a good OBC offer from a TA, then we may move the reservation there if it is within the timeframe. This is somewhat of a risk as you would then miss out on any future 'new bookings only' deals, but in the end we find this process usually works out to our advantage. We also like to pick the cabins in the best locations and lock that in. For us, the cruises we book are usually ones that are very popular and likely will sell out or close to it. If you are looking at cruises that historically may not have been quite as popular, you may want to wait and take a chance at a special offer.

[hancock]

I book late and go for the deals. I avoid the Tuesday deals as we own stock in the company. I do find good prices right before the Tuesday deals that I can use with the stockholder OBC. I really don't care about my cabin. I don't look out my bedroom window at home so I can do without an oceanview cabin. I did get a great deal for a veranda on an upcoming TA. So I jumped on it.

[Brerpossum]

We do our research before boarding and have several future cruises picked out. As others have pointed out the category upgrades and lower deposit are a bargain. We have also had to transfer the booking number to another cruise due to various conflicts that have come up. (No Problem & you keep the upgraded cabin and OBC)

 

One hint – try to visit the future cruise desk early in the cruise as we have found later in the cruise the appointments are hard to come by.

 

Happy cruising--Jerry

[CruisingChick]

Gamble.

 

Actually most of the time we are having so much fun the last thing we want to do is sit there and book another cruise. I want to enjoy the one I'm on. We only did this one time - booking on board and it was before you got any perks. So the joke is on us I guess.

 

Right now we are tight on money, so we try and wait to see if prices come down, especially after final payment.

[robtulipe]

Gamble.

 

Actually most of the time we are having so much fun the last thing we want to do is sit there and book another cruise. I want to enjoy the one I'm on. We only did this one time - booking on board and it was before you got any perks. So the joke is on us I guess.

 

Right now we are tight on money, so we try and wait to see if prices come down, especially after final payment.

 

That's the nice thing about the Open Passage booking as there is no need to sit down with the cruise consultant as you aren't booking an actual cruise. You just fill out the back side of the form I posted above, drop it off in a box at the future cruise office, they set it up and send the confirmation to your cabin, if time allows or email to you if done at the end of the cruise.

The Open Passage booking can be used at any time even after the final payment date as long as the pricing isn't a For New Booking Only special.

[CactusGirly]

A little more info about us / what we are interested in...

 

We are stockholders, and we also like to book through (or transfer to) a certain TA for the significant OBC they give if possible. We are in a Sky Suite this cruise, but are considering Aqua Class for future cruises. The Caribbean cruise we are on, and the week we are going, is historicaly one that drops in price and is not booked fully.

 

Is there any downside to buying the Open Passage certificate?

[CruisingChick]

That's the nice thing about the Open Passage booking as there is no need to sit down with the cruise consultant as you aren't booking an actual cruise. You just fill out the back side of the form I posted above, drop it off in a box at the future cruise office, they set it up and send the confirmation to your cabin, if time allows or email to you if done at the end of the cruise.

The Open Passage booking can be used at any time even after the final payment date as long as the pricing isn't a For New Booking Only special.

 

Bob, Thanks. Do the Open Passage bookings have an expiration date?

 

Anne Maria

[cruise kitty]

A little more info about us / what we are interested in...

 

We are stockholders, and we also like to book through (or transfer to) a certain TA for the significant OBC they give if possible. We are in a Sky Suite this cruise, but are considering Aqua Class for future cruises. The Caribbean cruise we are on, and the week we are going, is historicaly one that drops in price and is not booked fully.

 

Is there any downside to buying the Open Passage certificate?

 

You mentioned that you're stockholders, so you won't get both OBC's, honestly, the open passage won't really benefit you, unless the reduced deposit is necessary for you.

[CruisingChick]

You mentioned that you're stockholders, so you won't get both OBC's, honestly, the open passage won't really benefit you, unless the reduced deposit is necessary for you.

 

We are stockholders, but the reduced deposit of $100 and getting $300 OBC for a 14 night cruise as opposed to $250 Shareholder OBC would make it worth our while since we usually do the 14 night New England/Canada cruise.

 

Hey $50 more in martini money!!