Next Cruise/Open Bookings while on Board

[knittinggirl]

Does HAL still offer bookings on board w/ no specific itinerary? Do they give you printouts, or just email them? We'll have to pay for internet, so it's unlikely we'll be able download our emails while onboard.

[RuthC]

I'm not sure I understand your question, but I think you're asking if HAL still sells Future Cruise Deposits, and give you a confirmation. Is that it?

 

If so, yes, you can buy a deposit on a future cruise, to be determined later, by putting down a $100 deposit. If, when you do decide what cruise you want it needs a larger deposit (due to it being a longer cruise), you can just "top off" by paying the higher amount. You still are not paying as much as you would on a full deposit.

 

The Future Cruise Consultant will give you a written confirmation before the current cruise is over, and have the deposit recorded on your HAL record.

That's all that is needed when you do decide to book a cruise.

 

If that wasn't your question, please clarify so someone can address it better.

[knittinggirl]

Thanks, Ruth. We bought a Future Cruise Deposit on Princess, and they didn't give us a hard copy on board. They expected us to use our internet minutes (which we would have had to pay extra for) to download whatever they emailed to us.

 

Would we need to purchase future cruise deposits (w/o itinerary) for both myself and my dh to be applied to the same booking?

 

Each cruise line does it differently. On Royal Caribbean, we each bought three bookings, thinking it would be good for three cruises, but learned they wanted another $100 when booking each cruise, and it ended up being six actual cruise bookings.

Edited March 10, 2016 by knittinggirl

[RuthC]

Would we need to purchase future cruise deposits (w/o itinerary) for both myself and my dh to be applied to the same booking?

Each person needs their own Future Cruise Deposit in order to book at the reduced deposit rate, and get the on-board credits for using a FCD.

 

If you somehow come up short on a FCD sometime, the other person can still book the cruise, but must do so at the full deposit rate. They won't get the on-board credit that goes with the FCD, either.

[Overhead Fred]

Each person needs their own Future Cruise Deposit in order to book at the reduced deposit rate, and get the on-board credits for using a FCD.

 

If you somehow come up short on a FCD sometime, the other person can still book the cruise, but must do so at the full deposit rate. They won't get the on-board credit that goes with the FCD, either.

 

We had a different experience recently. On our Nov 2015 NA Caribbean cruise, I purchased FCDs for MLW and myself assuming we would both need them for our next HAL cruise.

 

When my TA booked an April 2017 Panama Canal cruise for us, she was able to use MLW's $100 FCD and I only had to pay a $100 deposit. We got MLW's OBC. Recently, we booked another NA Caribbean cruise (Nov 2016) using my FCD and a $100 deposit for MLW (and got my OBC). I had no idea that this was possible until our TA suggested it. She did not seem to have to jump through any special hoops with HAL to do this.

 

I was also unaware of the "ZPM" promotion (maybe I need to cruise more!) and do not recall any communication from HAL about it. Maybe it got caught in spam filters......

[rkacruiser]

Ruth's explanations are exactly what my traveling companion and I experienced one week ago in booking two new cruises. I had made the future cruise depost in October and she did not. The deposit for each of us was $300. I had to pay only $200, but she had to pay the full $300. (I received $150 onboard credit; she did not.)

Edited March 10, 2016 by rkacruiser

[islandwoman]

Each person needs their own Future Cruise Deposit in order to book at the reduced deposit rate, and get the on-board credits for using a FCD.

Can someone please tell me whether it's possible to buy Future Cruise Deposits on all HAL cruises?

And how much on-board credit comes along with them?

And whether the reduced deposits apply to long cruises (like transpacific)

Edited February 2, 2017 by islandwoman

[rkacruiser]

Can someone please tell me whether it's possible to buy Future Cruise Deposits on all HAL cruises?

And how much on-board credit comes along with them?

And whether the reduced deposits apply to long cruises (like transpacific)

 

I would be surprised if a Future Cruise Consultant would not be a member of the staff on all HAL cruises. Thus, yes, such a future cruise deposit could be arranged.

 

The amount of on-board credit is determined by the initial deposit paid for that future cruise. Most recently, I was considering a 22 day cruise that would require a larger deposit, but more on-board credit. My Future Cruise Consultant suggested paying the smaller deposit for a shorter cruise with less on-board credit. But, if I did book the longer cruise, my on-board credit would increase but my required deposit for the cruise would not do so.

[Platoon Leader]

The only thing I would add to Ruth's excellent explanation is we received written confirmation of our FCD in our mailbox the last night of our cruise.

 

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[Scrapnana]

Here is a copy of my future cruise deposit. You could use the FCD on long cruises provided they are not part of a World Cruise or a Grand Voyage (See T&C #7).

 

[islandwoman]

Thank you rkacruiser and Scrapnana :) That's just what I needed to know.

[Krazy Kruizers]

As the to ZPM or ZPN offers -- they come as a "Thank You for sailing with us" e-mail.

We have only gotten one -- used it and did get some shipboard credit. But unfortunately we had to cancel that cruise and could not transfer it to another cruise.

Some people get these "thank you" e-mails all the time and get to use them quite a lot.

[islandwoman]

What are ZPM and ZPN?

[geoherb]

Thanks, Ruth. We bought a Future Cruise Deposit on Princess, and they didn't give us a hard copy on board. They expected us to use our internet minutes (which we would have had to pay extra for) to download whatever they emailed to us.

 

Would we need to purchase future cruise deposits (w/o itinerary) for both myself and my dh to be applied to the same booking?

On Princess ships, you can sign into the Princess website without having to purchase internet minutes. It's free. Once you've signed in, you can see if the purchase shows up by clicking on My Account, Profile Information, then Circle Savings.

[RuthC]

What are ZPM and ZPN?

Those are promos which bring you additional on board credit if you book a cruise within a certain amount of time after returning from a cruise. One is for any cruise, while the other is for Alaska cruise/tours.

If you book a cruise while on board, the promo credit is already incorporated in your booking, so no need to do anything else.

 

You don't need to get the e-mail to qualify for the credit. Just booking after returning (I think the time limit is about 60 days) is sufficient.

[shopperwhite]

I never book on board. You can always save money by booking later when sales are on

[DaveOKC]

Most of your questions seem to have been answered, but I wanted to add a few things as well.

 

The Future Cruise Deposit (FCD) is a great program IMO and we use it all the time. Your deposit is greatly reduced, but the best thing is the On Board Credit (OBC) you get (amount varies by length of cruise). About 1-3 weeks after our cruise we always get an email from HAL thanking us for sailing with them and offering to double the OBC from the FCD, if we book within a set time period (like 60 days?) - this is promo ZPM which you can use even if you did not receive the email, just tell your TA to use it.

 

Prior to a year ago it was better to book using the FCD instead of booking onboard, as you ended up getting double OBC (through ZPM) - in most cases. Then HAL got smart and now offers you the doubled OBC when you book onboard, so that things now are at least even (they now even put out flyers in your cabin saying that booking onboard is much better that getting a FCD, which really is not true if you know about ZPM).

 

At the same time HAL's onboard cruise consultants are not as accomidating as they used to be in issuing you a FCD and often I have had them tell me to wait until late in the cruise when they send a flyer to my cabin to fill out for a FCD (I do not like to do this as it leaves you little time to fix any errors (which do occur)). By the way, the flyer form has a box to check if you want an email or paper receipt form.

 

Confused yet?

 

Anyway, personally I like to just purchase the FCD and take my time at home selecting my next cruise.

[Tampa Girl]

I would be surprised if a Future Cruise Consultant would not be a member of the staff on all HAL cruises. Thus, yes, such a future cruise deposit could be arranged.

 

The amount of on-board credit is determined by the initial deposit paid for that future cruise. Most recently, I was considering a 22 day cruise that would require a larger deposit, but more on-board credit. My Future Cruise Consultant suggested paying the smaller deposit for a shorter cruise with less on-board credit. But, if I did book the longer cruise, my on-board credit would increase but my required deposit for the cruise would not do so.

 

It is my understanding that the onboard credit is determined by the length of the cruise, as is the deposit. Further, I believe that if you later book a longer cruise, you will have to pay the difference between the deposit for the shorter cruise and what would have been required, at the time of the FCC, for the longer cruise. That is what we were told, anyway, by the FCC when we purchased them last November aboard the Oosterdam. Was that info not correct?

[RuthC]

It is my understanding that the onboard credit is determined by the length of the cruise, as is the deposit. Further, I believe that if you later book a longer cruise, you will have to pay the difference between the deposit for the shorter cruise and what would have been required, at the time of the FCC, for the longer cruise. That is what we were told, anyway, by the FCC when we purchased them last November aboard the Oosterdam. Was that info not correct?

The on-board credit attached to a Future Cruise (whether Deposit or booked on board) varies both by type of cabin and length of cruise. It's a sliding scale on two fronts.

 

The amount of the FCD increases with longer cruises, that is true. What one can do when they don't know how long a cruise they might book is purchase the least expensive FCD, then "top off" if they book something longer. If they have more than one FCD, they may also just use the several to "top off" (I did that recently).

 

When the increasing deposits were first introduced there was no "topping off"; people had to make the full deposit as if they didn't have a FCD. That ended quickly, and the "topping off" method began.

[Tampa Girl]

The on-board credit attached to a Future Cruise (whether Deposit or booked on board) varies both by type of cabin and length of cruise. It's a sliding scale on two fronts.

 

The amount of the FCD increases with longer cruises, that is true. What one can do when they don't know how long a cruise they might book is purchase the least expensive FCD, then "top off" if they book something longer. If they have more than one FCD, they may also just use the several to "top off" (I did that recently).

 

When the increasing deposits were first introduced there was no "topping off"; people had to make the full deposit as if they didn't have a FCD. That ended quickly, and the "topping off" method began.

 

That was my understanding; that the difference in FCD's would have to be paid if the FCD originally purchased was for a shorter cruise. Thank you.

[Appalachian Mountain Mama]

Maybe I'm just being dense, some clarification please since we intend to do this. So each person must have their own FCD thus making the actual deposit on the cruise $200 and with the doubled OBC each person would receive $100 OBC for a total of $200 for the cabin? Even though the OBC line says "per person" I think they really mean "per FCD".

Now I'll admit I just started researching this so may be asking questions that have already been answered. Can you purchase FCD to be given as gifts? Not sure which way that one might go, are they strictly a "reward" for current cruisers or could they be considered a marketing action to get more cruisers onboard in the future? And what happens if you buy these and then die[emoji56], will your family be able to get the money back? Sorry, my family always tells me I pick too much at the details and that I should have been a lawyer🤢. No offense to any lawyers out there.

 

 

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[RuthC]

And what happens if you buy these and then die[emoji56],?

You won't be around to care. :D

 

Seriously, I have thought about that myself. Since the Future Cruise Deposit is refundable if it isn't used within four years, and since if you die before using it you aren't going to, the funds will be returned. The question is how long will it take for that to happen. Will the estate have to wait the remainder of the full four years, or will the obvious be acted on, and the funds returned as soon as it can be processed?

 

I don't know the answer, and as I said first off---I won't care. I purchase the FCD knowing I will either use them, have the funds returned to me in four years, or leave it as someone else's problem.