Changes to onboard booking bonus

[Bluekat74]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but noticed via facebook today RCI was "excited" to mention they have upgraded their onboard credit for future bookings. Now it would be exciting if I traveled in suites, and my next cruises I had been looking at just getting inside cabins so with them totally slashing the advantage you used to get having future cruise bookings I'm regretting having purchased 3 future credits because I'd probably be better off waiting for a half decent sale and get a better onboard credit. 10-14 night cruises have been slashed from $150 to spend down to $75, and 15+ nights $200 down to $100.

 

Kylie

[Croozin Soozin]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but noticed via facebook today RCI was "excited" to mention they have upgraded their onboard credit for future bookings. Now it would be exciting if I traveled in suites, and my next cruises I had been looking at just getting inside cabins so with them totally slashing the advantage you used to get having future cruise bookings I'm regretting having purchased 3 future credits because I'd probably be better off waiting for a half decent sale and get a better onboard credit. 10-14 night cruises have been slashed from $150 to spend down to $75, and 15+ nights $200 down to $100.

 

Kylie

 

I used a future cruise certificate that I bought in February to book a cruise yesterday, and because I bought it before the change my onboard credit was the old amount. So it depends on when you bought those future cruise certificates what your onboard credit will be.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Croozin Soozin

[Ourusualbeach]

The change was made March 15, 2014 so any purchased that date or prior will be honoured under the old terms and conditions.

[CruisesOnMyMind]

You only want to use the old certs on 6 or 7 days cruises to get the best value. I have 2 left so will watch what I use them on. I won't waist them on 3-5 nights.

 

7 days and over is best to book onboard now with the higher OBC and reduced deposit.

 

I won't be buying the new certificates anymore unless I want one for a very popular cruise coming out and don't want to put out the full deposit.

[BecciBoo]

The OBC is nice but the main advantage I like on the next cruises is that you don't have to tie up $500 on deposits at one time, it almost feels free when I book:p

 

Then the OBC is a forgotten surprise for Sailaway...that's the way I look at it....:D

 

OOPS just read Lynn's post, well great minds think alike....

Edited April 26, 2014 by BecciBoo

[A&L_Ont]

The change was made March 15, 2014 so any purchased that date or prior will be honoured under the old terms and conditions.

 

We got our last one on March 13th, so we came in just under the wire.

[Ourusualbeach]

We got our last one on March 13th, so we came in just under the wire.

 

Lucky you. I was on a cruise that ended the 15'th and didn't buy any because I had 4 which was enough to cover my bookings until the next time we were on a ship. Now wishing I had bought some. I have heard that they will honor the OBC from a specific cruise booking and allow you to change the date once.

 

I usually book the date the new itineraries are released and we all know that you can't schedule a cruise to coincide with all the changes that RCI makes to its release dates.

[Bluekat74]

Ok. I might have to email them and ask them about my one then, as my cruise was from 9-27 march, I booked after the apparent changes, however all the advertising onboard didn't reflect these new changes and I booked according to the brochures provided which I guess were officially "outdated" then.

[Cigar King]

FWIW, we had the same issue. Bought while we were on the Explorer on March 17th. There were no notices of the change. We just used them the other day. Called C&A, and they gave us the prior to March 1th terms on them because they had done nothing to publicize the change on board.

[Clarea]

FWIW, we had the same issue. Bought while we were on the Explorer on March 17th. There were no notices of the change. We just used them the other day. Called C&A, and they gave us the prior to March 1th terms on them because they had done nothing to publicize the change on board.

Nice that they are being reasonable about it. I'll bet some of the LA's didn't even know about the changes.

[shelbylook]

I think I need to make another call to C & A. Four of us purchased "Next Cruise Certificates" during our cruise on the Freedom, 3/9-16. All of them were left in the "drop box" in the C & A room.

 

On Tuesday following our cruise, I saw mention on here about the change in NCC's. When I called C & A, they informed me that my NCC was fine as I dropped it off on the 14th and it was processed at 11:54 p.m. I maintained my $100 obc. The other 3, dropped off on the morning of 3/15, were not processed until the 17th and they received just the $25 obc.

 

At no time was I looking for signs indicating there were changes being made so I can't even say if there were signs. The C & A gal I spoke to after the cruise told me she didn't even know about the changes until the week of the 10th. Anyway, I handed the forms to my cousins and aunt and said fill out this, this, this, and sign here and drop them in the box.

 

I didn't argue a lot about the timing because I truly didn't know whether or not there were signs posted or whether the literature was old or new. What I did argue was this. On the form it says something like "the credit card you are using for your on board expenses will be charged for the $100 NCC". That's not at all what happened. While all of us used regular credit cards for our on board expenses, all of our $100 charges were charged to the card we booked the current cruise deposit with which happened to be our debit cards. It wasn't a big deal, but it could have been. What if our checking accounts didn't have sufficient funds? Yeah, I know, everyone should have more than $100 in their checking account, but what if? All I asked the C & A rep was to give the girls their (assumed) $100 because RCI failed to charge the correct credit cards.

 

Now I'm thinking maybe I should try again. What do I have to lose but a bit of my time?

 

Cathy