Royal Caribbean New Onboard Booking Strategy

[brl]

I'm not normally one to post on these boards, as there are many cruisers much more experienced than I am, but we are currently onboard the Allure of the Seas on a Transatlantic crossing...our 5th with RCCL. Royal Caribbean has a new program for booking a future cruise while onboard one of their ships. If you put down a deposit on the future cruise, immediately (well, within 24 hours) they credit that amount toward your ship account for the cruise that you are currently on. This amount also counts as a deposit for the future cruise.

 

Now, experienced cruisers will say that in the end, this almost matches their past policy, as you don't get the onboard credit for the next cruise, but you get it today.

 

I would normally put my tips of $12/day plus internet on my shipboard account, then settle it with a credit card. I just put $200 down as deposits on each of two future cruises, for a total of $400. They put $400 on my current account which I will use against my expenses.

 

Assuming that I take the future cruises, when I get to the final payment date, I will pay the price less the $200 deposit. They can be moved to another cruise as long as this is done before the final payment date. If I cancel, and never take another RCCL cruise, I still haven't lost anything, as I would have paid my onboard account anyway.

 

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I see no reason to pay any onboard account directly, this should be paid through the future booking department.

 

I welcome feedback if there is anything wrong with this strategy. The booking can also be transferred to a travel agency if you prefer to deal with them or you get additional freebies from your agent. I have gone that route before, but find it a lot easier to make changes, etc. directly with the cruise line, knowing that I may be giving up a free dinner upgrade or an additional onboard credit.

[moswinner1]

We paid for a future Cruise certificate on P&O. The £100 we paid meant that when we finally booked our next cruise the £100 was taken off the deposit required plus we got an extra £100 OBS.

On the down side it wasn't valid for last minute cruises where the price was discounted, you could only use it on "Select fares" and "Early Saver" fares, which are usually several hundred £s more than what you would pay if you wait for a late deal. On the basis of this we feel that the Future cruise certificates are a bit of a "Con" as you can't use them for all cruise purchases.

We also had one with Celebrity that stated we would get $300 OBS for a 14 night cruise, but when it came to it we couldn't use it because the cruise we booked already had a $500 OBS included in it's price and they wouldn't combine the two.

Conclusion: - "There is no such thing as a free lunch"

[sfaaa]

On the down side it wasn't valid for last minute cruises where the price was discounted, you could only use it on "Select fares" and "Early Saver" fares, which are usually several hundred £s more than what you would pay if you wait for a late deal. On the basis of this we feel that the Future cruise certificates are a bit of a "Con" as you can't use them for all cruise purchases.

We also had one with Celebrity that stated we would get $300 OBS for a 14 night cruise, but when it came to it we couldn't use it because the cruise we booked already had a $500 OBS included in it's price and they wouldn't combine the two.

Conclusion: - "There is no such thing as a free lunch"

 

The catch is always in the fine prints, isn't it? That's why I like NCL $100 cruise reward. Always buy one on board. Very little restrictions and you have 4years to book. Works for me.

[Suzyrn89]

I'm not normally one to post on these boards, as there are many cruisers much more experienced than I am, but we are currently onboard the Allure of the Seas on a Transatlantic crossing...our 5th with RCCL. Royal Caribbean has a new program for booking a future cruise while onboard one of their ships. If you put down a deposit on the future cruise, immediately (well, within 24 hours) they credit that amount toward your ship account for the cruise that you are currently on. This amount also counts as a deposit for the future cruise.

 

Now, experienced cruisers will say that in the end, this almost matches their past policy, as you don't get the onboard credit for the next cruise, but you get it today.

 

I would normally put my tips of $12/day plus internet on my shipboard account, then settle it with a credit card. I just put $200 down as deposits on each of two future cruises, for a total of $400. They put $400 on my current account which I will use against my expenses.

 

Assuming that I take the future cruises, when I get to the final payment date, I will pay the price less the $200 deposit. They can be moved to another cruise as long as this is done before the final payment date. If I cancel, and never take another RCCL cruise, I still haven't lost anything, as I would have paid my onboard account anyway.

 

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I see no reason to pay any onboard account directly, this should be paid through the future booking department.

 

I welcome feedback if there is anything wrong with this strategy. The booking can also be transferred to a travel agency if you prefer to deal with them or you get additional freebies from your agent. I have gone that route before, but find it a lot easier to make changes, etc. directly with the cruise line, knowing that I may be giving up a free dinner upgrade or an additional onboard credit.

 

Totally agree with this line of thinking, we did the same on our last cruise.

[1stime88]

So they let you use that credit towards your gratuity for the current cruise?

[Hawaiifrank]

So they let you use that credit towards your gratuity for the current cruise?

 

Yes. Or drinks or whatever. I'm not sure if it's refundable though if you don't use it up.

 

I haven't personally done this yet, but I do always book a cruise when I'm onboard. I've read a few posts about this here on CC and they say you are supposed to have an option to apply the credit towards the current cruise or the one you are booking. If you select the current cruise for the OBC, the deposit becomes non-refundable. If you apply the OBC to the future cruise, then you can still get a refund if you cancel. The OBC amount is the same as the deposit amount.

 

Early in the new policy, I read that some LAs on some ships were forcing pax to choose current cruise credit. They all seem to know the correct policy now, as I haven't read any recent complaints about not getting a choice.

[mammajamma2013]

Princess' program allows you to purchase future cruise deposits for $100 per deposit. They are good for two years and you don't have to book the cruise while on board. The deposits are good on any cruise and give you some on-board credit. The amount depends on the length of your cruise.

 

Princess also allows you to combine OBC. They also give OBC (the amount again depending on the lengh of your cruise) to honorably discharged military people. And of course if you don't use the FCD, you get your money back. Since I've never requested that money back (because I used it for deposit/OBC), I don't know how that actually works.

 

Princess has a very good program!