Booking while on board - future cruises

[BuyReallyLow]

From my readings of various threads, I understand that one receives a room credit for booking on board, and it varies by the number of nights on board.

 

A couple of additional questions:

 

• How much down does RC normally ask?
  
• How flexible are the reservations? A group of 12+ couples is considering Freedom for next year (Feb) and the date may change. We have also a few that are concerned that Freedom may fill in before everyone books, so small chance of ship change.
  
• While on board, do they have the ability to see what has already been given to TA, and does one get beneficial room choices since it is being booked on board?
  
• Any comments on the overall experience?
  
• Were you able to link your reservation to others who made it from a TA for dining, group credits, etc?

Your answers may prompt more questions!:) Thanks in advance to the fantastic posters on cruisecritic!

[superjerryw]

From my readings of various threads, I understand that one receives a room credit for booking on board, and it varies by the number of nights on board.

 

A couple of additional questions:

 

• How much down does RC normally ask? - 7 n
  
• How flexible are the reservations? A group of 12+ couples is considering Freedom for next year (Feb) and the date may change. We have also a few that are concerned that Freedom may fill in before everyone books, so small chance of ship change.
  
• While on board, do they have the ability to see what has already been given to TA, and does one get beneficial room choices since it is being booked on board?
  
• Any comments on the overall experience?
  
• Were you able to link your reservation to others who made it from a TA for dining, group credits, etc?

Your answers may prompt more questions!:) Thanks in advance to the fantastic posters on cruisecritic!

 

The deposit for 7 night cruises is $250 per person and $500 per person for cruises 10 days or longer.

 

The reservation can be changed to any other ship or date later on. Make sure your agent keeps the same booking number as the on board credit is attached to the booking number.

 

If you book on board you can get any cabin that is available, the same as booking with your agent.

[BuyReallyLow]

Thanks Superjerryw.

 

Do you receive a booking number with your deposit?

[Lou_70]

From what I understand you do not recieve a crown and anchor room credit if you book on board.

[PappaSiera]

Thanks Superjerryw.

 

Do you receive a booking number with your deposit?

 

Yes you do receive a booking number with your bookings. We just returned from the Brilliance where we made two cruise bookings while on board. One of which we will likely change cabins, the other we will either change ship & itinerary & date, or just cancell. We made this second booking just to get the booking number and the on board credit for the second cruise next year.

[bob278]

BuyReallyLow,

 

Once you book on board, you can link your booking to those of others for dining purposes. But as long as you keep your reservation with the cruise line, you will not be eligible to be part of a group.

 

You can always transfer your booking to a travel agent later if you like. If you transfer it to one that has a group cruise formed up, you and the agent need to discuss the merits of giving up your on-board booking credit for whatever benefits the group might have. If you have 12+ couples now and think you might get as many as 16, it may well be a good idea for all of you to use a single TA and form a group. With 16 cabins, you should be able to get one cabin for free and splitting that 16 ways may be better than the on-board booking. But that's something you and the TA can discuss and calculate.

 

As Jerry said, you can change dates and/or ship. What he didn't say was that you can also change between RCL and Celebrity.

 

My experience has been good in every case where I booked on board. I also always ask for a deferral on paying the deposit until about a week after we get home from the cruise. I was refused that only once out of about 5 times. When you are booking, if you don't say anything about it, your reservation will be transferred to the travel agent that booked the cruise you are on at the time (if there was one). If you want to "shop around" for another agent, simply be sure you tell whoever you are working with NOT to assign the booking to an agent now.

 

Lou_70, I'm not sure what you mean, but we got our Platinum discount for booking on board (I think it was $200 for our D1 balcony cabin) and the cruise we took counted for C & A credits and took us to the Diamond level. Could you be thinking about the irritating habit RCL has of putting coupons in the C & A magazines that are for new bookings only? That bugs me because I booked early and they are offering new passengers a bonus to book that they tell me I can't have. If I wait until the magazine comes out and then book on board, I get all the benefits, so I feel that there is a bit of a penalty for booking early.

 

Before anyone goes to a lot of trouble to explain the economics to me, I know that the coupons are to beef up bookings on cruises that are not filling up as fast as RCL would like. It still feels like a missed discount to me.

[Sheffie]

From what I understand you do not recieve a crown and anchor room credit if you book on board.

 

Not true. You DO get a room credit after your cruise is over. If you didn't, people wouldn't book onboard!

[dougp26364]

We've always receive both the onboard credit for booking while on a cruise, the balcony discount for being Platinum members and the C&A cruise credit once the cruise was completed.

 

The deposit for a 10 night or longer cruise has been $450 pp each time we've booked one. Including the Transatlantic cruise we just booked.

 

What I'm not sure of is the number of times you can change a reservation and keep the same booking number. I've been told you can make a change only once and keep the same booking number. If the booking number changes, then it's my understanding that you will lose your onboard cabin credit that you were given for booking onboard.

[Radiomark]

I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but what's an on board credit?

 

Mark

[Sheffie]

I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but what's an on board credit?

 

Mark

 

Good question. You don't sound like an idiot.

 

An onboard credit is "ship money" that you can use while on board your next cruise. You can use it for anything: excursions, tips, beer, :D clothing from the ship's shops, etc.

 

Hope this helps clarify it for you.:)

[cruisinfanatic]

From what I understand you do not recieve a crown and anchor room credit if you book on board.

What? Where does this stuff come from? Of course you get credit.

[negc]

Lou_70, Could you be thinking about the irritating habit RCL has of putting coupons in the C & A magazines that are for new bookings only? That bugs me because I booked early and they are offering new passengers a bonus to book that they tell me I can't have. If I wait until the magazine comes out and then book on board, I get all the benefits, so I feel that there is a bit of a penalty for booking early.

 

Before anyone goes to a lot of trouble to explain the economics to me, I know that the coupons are to beef up bookings on cruises that are not filling up as fast as RCL would like. It still feels like a missed discount to me.

 

We have never had a problem using the magazine coupons on cruises that we booked while onboard. In fact we are using them for our C&A members cruise on Freedom of the Seas next October. (That's one coupon that I was very surprised to see, since they don't appear to be having any problems selling space on that ship.:)) While I could understand if RCI restricted the coupons to new bookings, that has not been our experience anytime we have found a coupon for a cruise that we have already booked. Between the balcony discount, the onboard credit for stockholders, and C&A magazine coupons, we think we do pretty well and having another cruise already booked makes it a bit easier to get off the ship when our cruise is over.:)

[Lou_70]

What? Where does this stuff come from? Of course you get credit.

 

If you look at the op's original post she said and extra c+a credit if you book on the ship.

 

I said that I do not believe you get an extra credit by booking on board. You still get the same c+a credit as if you book at home or with a ta.

 

Now that the op has explained further I can tell she was speaking of the money credit, not the c+a credit

[dougp26364]

Good question. You don't sound like an idiot.

 

An onboard credit is "ship money" that you can use while on board your next cruise. You can use it for anything: excursions, tips, beer, :D clothing from the ship's shops, etc.

 

Hope this helps clarify it for you.:)

 

Ours has always just shown up on our account as a negative entery. On our last cruise, the first entry on our statement was -$100.

 

Of course, we've always spent more than the credit while on a cruise. For that matter tips can take up most (or all) of that credit. So I've never actually left a ship with a negative balance to see if they would debit my credit card for that amount. I suspect that has very rarely (if ever) happened.

[WJ228]

How much credit do you get when you book a 4 day cruise?

[WJ228]

How much credit do you get when you book a 4 day cruise?

[superjerryw]

So I've never actually left a ship with a negative balance to see if they would debit my credit card for that amount. I suspect that has very rarely (if ever) happened.

 

They do issue a refund to the credit card you have on file with the Seapass account.

[cruisinfanatic]

If you look at the op's original post she said and extra c+a credit if you book on the ship.

 

I said that I do not believe you get an extra credit by booking on board. You still get the same c+a credit as if you book at home or with a ta.

 

Now that the op has explained further I can tell she was speaking of the money credit, not the c+a credit

You receive an onboard credit for booking while on the ship and also a C&A credit (if you are platinum or above) for booking a balcony.

[*erika*]

How much credit do you get when you book a 4 day cruise?

 

You'll get one credit for completing the cruise, and maybe another credit depending on what room you have.

[dougp26364]

How much credit do you get when you book a 4 day cruise?

 

I believe we were told $50 but a $100 credit was placed on our account for our 4 day cruise.

 

I think there may have been some confusion amongst the RCI employee's as we always seem to get a different answer depending on who we speak with.

 

For instance, I was told the the balcony discount for Platinum and higher members was always a flat $100. When I've actually had it applied, it's been between $50 and $200. The five night cruise it was applied to was $50, the 6 night cruise we've had it applied to was $100 and the 12 night cruise we've had it applied to was $200.

 

I've been told that the onboard room credit has also been anywhere from $50 for the shorter cruises to $200 for longer cruises. While onboard our last cruise, they were advertising specials which would give you an even larger onboard credit if you booked a cruise/excursion package.

 

At least with the Platinum and greater C&A discount, I can see the discount applied imeadiatly to our invoice. With the onboard credit, I just have to watch for it to show up on our account.

 

You can always call RCI and ask them but, I've found if you call and talk with 2 or more different people, you'll get that many different answers. RCI customer service off the ship leaves a lot to be desired in most instances.

[critterchick]

You receive an onboard credit for booking while on the ship and also a C&A credit (if you are platinum or above) for booking a balcony.

 

You don't get a credit, you get an actual discount on the price of your cruise in a balcony or higher category. The discount is $50-200 (or is it $250? I always get that confused) per cabin (not passenger) for Platinum, depending on the length of the cruise, and double that amount for Diamond. A very nice perk, indeed!

[cruisinfanatic]

You don't get a credit, you get an actual discount on the price of your cruise in a balcony or higher category. The discount is $50-200 (or is it $250? I always get that confused) per cabin (not passenger) for Platinum, depending on the length of the cruise, and double that amount for Diamond. A very nice perk, indeed!

You get a onboard credit for booking onboard. You get a discount if you book a balcony and are platinum or above status. On some length cruises, the C&A balcony discount is not double for being diamond. Example being 9 night, $200 platinum - $300 diamond.

[imatarb]

Do you get BOTH a discount on a suite AND shipboard credit if you book onboard?

[cruisinfanatic]

Do you get BOTH a discount on a suite AND shipboard credit if you book onboard?

if you are a platinum or diamond member, the answer is yes.

[critterchick]

That's what I meant re discount v obc, cruisinfanatic, just left out too many words. The Diamond discount was double on our shorter cruises. Haven't been on a longer one, but am looking forward to it!

 

Yes, RCI allows you to combine discounts and incentives, so you can apply the onboard booking credit, balcony (not suite) and higher discount and, if you own RCI stock, the OBC that comes with that.