Book on Board or use FCC? Early Saver ?? too

[CRUZN-IS-FUN]

So, we will be on the Elation in a few weeks and are already thinking about a 2014 cruise. We do have a FCC we can use. I am wondering, what are the benefits to booking on board instead. Some of our group does not have FCC and I want to have information for them as well. Are we better off to book on board and do the early saver or just wait for an internet sale. Also, Never booked on board before and never done the early saver. We usually book on line and book under the past cruiser rate. Any help or tips are greatly appreciated.

[arpie05]

I haven't sailed since they quit selling the FCC. I was just wondering what they were doing instead. I hadn't heard. I wondered if they still had the sales person's onboard or if all them lost their jobs.

 

If you have a FCC - you don't have to book onboard. I don't know the advantages of booking onboard. I just booked last week Early Saver. I also submitted a FCC for the trip. I did the same thing for my cruise last year. Just know that they will divide the certificate between the 1st and 2nd passanger in the room and it is not applied all to the person's name on the certificate. I'm not sure why - it's supposed to be $100 and it's applied to the cabin and they divided it between 1st and 2nd. Well, I traveled with a friend and my son and they divided it between her and myself instead of giving me my $100 OBC. I was so mad! And they wouldn't switch it. They said the computer automatically does it this way and they couldn't change it. I tried for several days onboard. Fortuantely my friend finally was nice enough to write me a check for $50 but it was awkward but she knew I was trying to get my OBC. She realized she had it on her account and as a true friend she admitted it. She wasn't happy about being more in the hole than she thought on her S&S but she knew it was my $50.

 

So if you are traveling with friends - be sure to only use the FCC on a room where your family is the 1st and 2nd passanger. It did not matter that I had the 1 & 3rd passanger. They wouldn't not fix. And you can use with Early saver.

[Litewait]

You have an FCC still good in 2014? You must have bought it right before they quit selling them! Lucky you~ I have one left and it has to be used by Sept 3rd.;)

[Sparky2]

Yes, they still have someone onboard to book your next cruise. The advantage (if you longer have any FCC's -boo-hoo) is that you'd receive OBC. In your case if you book onboard, I think you'd also receive a couple of certificates for OBC that your friends can use, if they book the same cruise within a short period of time.

 

We love Early Saver and have received a lot of OBC for both of our upcoming cruises. However, since we are retired, the only thing that would stop us from cruising is a big health issue, and we have insurance for that.

[CRUZN-IS-FUN]

Great. Thanks. I think we will do some research and be prepared to book while on board. Hopefully the staff on board can advise us what our best bet is. That way, if those of us with FCC wait, we can book later and our friends who dont have FCC can book on board. We bought the FCC in Feb. of 2012 and have til 2014 to book. Our plan when we bought the FCC was to use them in conjuction with this 2013 cruise. However the TA we had, didn't code them right, wont change the code and Carnival wouldn't honor them. Very frustrating and Carnival can't help with the TA problem. We wont TA again.

[crusinpsychRN]

They also give you 2 coupons for other parties to use to get OBC.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We booked our Hawaii trip onboard and it was extremely easy. I had researched the deck and rooms I wanted first so not to slow any one up in case there was a line. The booking guy was really knowledgable and very helpful. By the time I went to book on the second leg of our b2b the cabins I had chosen were booked. I knew it was close as only a couple were available when we were ready to travel. I was surprised as I realized most of the 8B and 8C cabins were taken, but it is what it is! We chose Easly Saver as it was over a year out. We received 200.00 OBC because it is a 15 day cruise and it was transferred to a PVP.

Good luck.