Future Cruises - UK and Ireland

[AidenL]

Hi all,

 

I know there are lots of benefits, lower deposits and transferrable deposits etc for US based passengers, so it makes sense to book on board.

 

What about UK and Ireland passengers - we lose deposits when paid if we cancel, and if we transfer to a different cruise theres a 75 per head transfer cost also.

 

So, if we book on board, you can get say, two perks, and thats good, I see there are drinks packages available currently on Celebritys website.

 

My questions are:

 

1. What currency are Future Cruises paid in? Dollar or Euro if booked on a European cruise?

 

2. I assume prices are the same as in our local currencies, but this would be exchange rate dependent.

 

Im sure I'll think of other queries in due course !

[orange-sox]

I booked a future cruise onboard for March 2019 on my most recent cruise out of Southampton (Oct 17).

 

We paid a reduced deposit of £118 total for the two of us. All booked in GBP, transferred out to my travel agent for some additional OBC as well.

 

Deposit transferable, when transferring you either pay the rate the cruise would’ve been to book when you booked the original cruise and retain the perks chosen or book at the prevailing rate and take a hit on the perks (highly unlikely you’ll get a better deal though).

 

At the time we booked, we were offered two perks out of the four, (obc, grats, Classic drinks package or WiFi) plus an additional $200 obc to spend on the cruise we we’re on, or to have on the future cruise.

 

 

Levels of OBC are of course length of cruise and stateroom dependent.

[AidenL]

Do you use a UK or a US based travel agent?

I booked a future cruise onboard for March 2019 on my most recent cruise out of Southampton (Oct 17).

 

We paid a reduced deposit of £118 total for the two of us. All booked in GBP, transferred out to my travel agent for some additional OBC as well.

 

Deposit transferable, when transferring you either pay the rate the cruise would’ve been to book when you booked the original cruise and retain the perks chosen or book at the prevailing rate and take a hit on the perks (highly unlikely you’ll get a better deal though).

 

At the time we booked, we were offered two perks out of the four, (obc, grats, Classic drinks package or WiFi) plus an additional $200 obc to spend on the cruise we we’re on, or to have on the future cruise.

 

 

Levels of OBC are of course length of cruise and stateroom dependent.

[villauk]

Can’t speak for Ireland as I’ve never booked in Euros onboard, however, I have booked in both sterling and US$. The onboard rep will automatically cost your future cruise in the currency you have booked the cruise you are sailing on and will want to transfer to that TA too, unless you tell them differently. It is possible to change, you may have to be a little persistent. You will need to complete a form stating where you want to place the new booking.

 

Price up both side of the pond, prior to cruising, and see which offers the better deals, taking everything into account i.e. all perks from X and the TA you intend to use. It’s always good to know exactly what you want as sometimes the onboard reps do not have all the correct knowledge.

 

The U.K. onboard booking does not get reduced deposits, unless there is a special promo (usually if sailing out of U.K.). Ask for a copy of the T&C to go with your booking as I have previously had to argue with shoreside X when they informed me I couldn’t move my reservation to another sailing without being charged (this was incorrect information and I had a hard copy to prove it). Remember, you won’t get any price drops, and will have to usually pay for changes, should you have a U.K. onboard reservation - unlike US bookings.

 

It’s all swings and roundabouts, so it pays to be pro active and know exactly what you want. The only thing that you can guarantee to transfer and maintain to another sailing with an onboard booking is the OBC for reserving onboard (you may lose some or all of the perks as the new cruise may not qualify). Many factors come into play e.g. type of sailing etc. and so those that state it’s definitely 2 perks plus OBC for booking onboard, may be wrong as it’s not applicable to the sailing you want (if it’s a TA or repositioning cruise for example ;) - and some cruises can be repositioning even though it’s a route X do several times during a season). Cabin type also may be a factor as to how many perks you can receive.

[villauk]

Do you use a UK or a US based travel agent?

 

 

You can’t use a US TA and book in sterling (which I presume Orange did (booked in the U.K.) as they quoted £) ;).

[orange-sox]

UK Cruise Specialist TA for us (y)

[AidenL]

I need to find a good travel agent then, seems that’s a missing link for me.

 

So based on the current website deals, the gain on board would be one more perk, plus OBC. Around 400ish euros worth for me, worthwhile in any case.

[mickey89]

...........The U.K. onboard booking does not get reduced deposits, unless there is a special promo (usually if sailing out of U.K.). Ask for a copy of the T&C to go with your booking as I have previously had to argue with shoreside X when they informed me I couldn’t move my reservation to another sailing without being charged (this was incorrect information and I had a hard copy to prove it). Remember, you won’t get any price drops, and will have to usually pay for changes, should you have a U.K. onboard reservation - unlike US bookings.

 

As a UK resident when booking onboard you get :-

Reduced deposit e.g. we paid £148 deposit for 14night balcony cabin, land based deposit for the same cruise was £300.

Received an immediate onboard CREDIT equal to the deposit paid i.e. $250 obc which we already spent onboard.

Note - the deposit is calculated at an exchange rate of $1.69=1GBP which means you also gain an additional £30

(Current (ATM rate $1.39=1GBP)

Any additional perks are the same as if you booked ashore in the UK.

An onboard booking also allows you to change cruise and sail date as many times as you wish with NO additional fee.

[AidenL]

It seems to make great sense to book onboard then !

 

And if infinitely transferable, I could book two up perhaps, as wed like to do Alaska next year and maybe Australia and NZ in 2020.

[villauk]

An onboard booking also allows you to change cruise and sail date as many times as you wish with NO additional fee.

 

And we had to pay the usual £150pp deposit, so as I said, it’s not always the same. Itinerary, cabin, length of cruise and when you book it can all adjust what you get when booking onboard ;).

 

 

It’s a pity that X U.K. shoreside does not know about the policy of changing an onboard booking as many times as you wish because I had to email a copy of my T&C when they said it wasn’t possible to my U.K. TA. Which again is why I ask for a copy of the U.K. T&C that relate to the onboard booking I am making at that time. A U.K. booking onboard does still not allow for infinite price drops before final payment on the same cruise like is possible in the US (which is why you have to be very vigilant if you are booking way in advance, or possibly by-pass the system if it pays to move the booking to an alternative cruise and rebook should the price drops be huge - which has happened to several pax on CC and you can possibly recall quite a few posts alongside these lines over many years).

[villauk]

Aiden,

 

Oh, and you don’t have to take the OBC for the cruise you are currently taking (like Mickey above stated he’d done), you can take it on the future cruises booked - which may be more beneficial to you, especially if you are considering Alaska and Oz (both great itineraries, we’re going back to Alaska this year after visiting when our kids were younger ;)).

[mickey89]

It seems to make great sense to book onboard then !

 

And if infinitely transferable, I could book two up perhaps, as wed like to do Alaska next year and maybe Australia and NZ in 2020.

There is no reason why you can't book two separate cruises (Onboard Bookings only) and if a price drop occurs on one booking you can use the other booking to get the reduced fare as it is totally within the UK Terms & Conditions. We did that last year without any problem saving £800.

[AidenL]

Thanks all, much appreciated!