Cruise Bookings on board a Princess ship

[highriding]

We are about to do our first Princess cruise. We have found several itineraries that we like and I am aware that if you book a cruise while on board a Princess Cruise you get additional OBC (On Board Credit).  Can someone tell me can we book two new cruises while on board our first cruise?   and if so, do you receive the additional OBC for the two?

Are there any other benefits that you would not get by just going to a travel agent?

[Colo Cruiser]

10 minutes ago, highriding said:

We are about to do our first Princess cruise. We have found several itineraries that we like and I am aware that if you book a cruise while on board a Princess Cruise you get additional OBC (On Board Credit).  Can someone tell me can we book two new cruises while on board our first cruise?   and if so, do you receive the additional OBC for the two?

Are there any other benefits that you would not get by just going to a travel agent?

We never book onboard. Have not seen any deals. We just buy FCD's and book when we get home.

You can book as many as you want while onboard, does not matter if it is your 1st Princess cruise or 70th Princess cruise like me.

Like I said I have not seen any extra OBC for booking onboard.

My TA will usually beat the Princess price by 8% to 14%.

[johnmik1]

You can just buy the future cruise credits and pick your cruise later to get your onboard credit.I have been on over 40 Princess cruises and have never gone past the future cruise consultants office and not seen a crowd of people waiting to talk to the consultant.I fill out a paper request and the credits show up in my account.

[OCruisers]

We buy our FCD's on the ship and book with our TA at home when we wish. 

[satxdiver]

I have booked a cruise while on board with the usual $100 deposit/pax and received the normal OBC because I had found a cruise I wanted to take not long before the current cruise.   Normally however I keep some FCD on file so that I can quickly book a cruise from home.  I book almost as soon as the cruise is announced and then keep checking the price for a better deal.  

[Retired_Army]

The additional OBC is available as part of buying a Future Cruise Deposit (FCD).  Booking onboard you are really just combining the two steps; buying the FCD and then applying it to your cruise. You can, and should, buy several if you can afford the outlay.  Think of the FCD as a savings account, where else will you get a 25-50% return on your money?

 

I recommend you at least stop by the Future Cruise desk to see if there is a special on an itinerary you really like.  We leave in 76-days on a transatlantic booked onboard last fall with an additional $750 OBC.  The only benefit from booking onboard is talking to someone who should have good knowledge about the ships and ports of call.  You will probably get lots of comments from people who say they had to wait to see someone and were rushed when they finally got into the office.  Recently Princess has added some help in the area to help you find the right brochure etc., but once you get into the office take charge.  It is your meeting, ask all the questions you have to get the answers you need before spending your money. Don't be shy!

 

Once you get home, you can transfer the booking to the agent/agency of your choosing.  Just be aware that Princess changed their policy last year; transfers now must be initiated within 60-days of booking and the request has to be in writing.

[TravelingEA]

We just booked on board a couple of weeks ago. We normally do not book on board, however, we will be doing a family cruise in 2020. Since the rest of the family was not with us, we were able to buy FCD for them, as long as we did the booking then. So we got $100 deposits for all 8 of us, and everyone was able to get OBC. No need to transfer to an agent, because the agent for this cruise was named and they received the notification that we booked. 

[JF - retired RRT]

14 hours ago, highriding said:

Are there any other benefits that you would not get by just going to a travel agent?

If you can afford it...buy 100 shares of Carnival Cruise Corporation stock. Send proof of ownership before each cruise. More OBC!!

If anyone is a veteran or active military, send the required documentation to Princess and get OBC for every cruise without having to send in the information for every cruise.

 

Shareholder benefit & military benefit will give you up to $250 per benefit for each cruise. Plus the stock pays quarterly dividends.

[AF-1]

Like most people mentioned;  we fill out future cruise form and submit it while on board

[highriding]

15 hours ago, Retired_Army said:

The additional OBC is available as part of buying a Future Cruise Deposit (FCD).  Booking onboard you are really just combining the two steps; buying the FCD and then applying it to your cruise. You can, and should, buy several if you can afford the outlay.  Think of the FCD as a savings account, where else will you get a 25-50% return on your money?

 

I recommend you at least stop by the Future Cruise desk to see if there is a special on an itinerary you really like.  We leave in 76-days on a transatlantic booked onboard last fall with an additional $750 OBC.  The only benefit from booking onboard is talking to someone who should have good knowledge about the ships and ports of call.  You will probably get lots of comments from people who say they had to wait to see someone and were rushed when they finally got into the office.  Recently Princess has added some help in the area to help you find the right brochure etc., but once you get into the office take charge.  It is your meeting, ask all the questions you have to get the answers you need before spending your money. Don't be shy!

 

Once you get home, you can transfer the booking to the agent/agency of your choosing.  Just be aware that Princess changed their policy last year; transfers now must be initiated within 60-days of booking and the request has to be in writing.

Thank you Retired Army your comments have been most helpful.  Do I understand you correctly I can fill in more than one form (say 2) when I am on the cruise and pay for 2 Future Cruise Deposits?

[highriding]

13 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

If you can afford it...buy 100 shares of Carnival Cruise Corporation stock. Send proof of ownership before each cruise. More OBC!!

If anyone is a veteran or active military, send the required documentation to Princess and get OBC for every cruise without having to send in the information for every cruise.

 

Shareholder benefit & military benefit will give you up to $250 per benefit for each cruise. Plus the stock pays quarterly dividends.

Nice thought JF - unfortunately our Australian Dollar is not good against the US$ at the moment so I wont be considering buying shares.

[rdsqrl]

1 hour ago, highriding said:

Thank you Retired Army your comments have been most helpful.  Do I understand you correctly I can fill in more than one form (say 2) when I am on the cruise and pay for 2 Future Cruise Deposits?

Yes, you can purchase as many FCDs as you wish -- you only need to fill out one form.  You simply indicate the number you wish to buy and sign indicating that you okay them to charge the credit card you put down for your cabin account (although the charge is processed separately and won't show up on your on-board statement).  It's very easy. 

[tahoe782]

We have never booked on board before, just the FCDs.  But we talked to the future cruise person and got a great price on a B2B.  It is now selling for Twice what we are paying.  It is for 2020.  

Aleeta

[hokiefans]

On 2/16/2019 at 11:14 PM, rdsqrl said:

Yes, you can purchase as many FCDs as you wish -- you only need to fill out one form.  You simply indicate the number you wish to buy and sign indicating that you okay them to charge the credit card you put down for your cabin account (although the charge is processed separately and won't show up on your on-board statement).  It's very easy. 

 

This is an important point.  For the last few years, we have been paying for our cruises in Canadian dollars but we have a US credit card for our onboard account.  As a result, I have to see the Consultant to pay for the FCDs on my Canadian dollar credit card.  

[highriding]

Thank you everyone for your comments, most helpful.

[LeeW]

The FCD costs $100 per person and for that you can book any cruise (except some world cruise segments) using that as a full deposit.  Plus you get onboard credit on that booked cruise based on length of cruise.  If not used in two years they refund the $100.  Probably have special rules in the Australian market - I believe that if a US certificate is used there the onboard credit is in AUD instead of USD.  Still free money, though.  Most folks like us who cruise regularly with Princess have two or three on file.

 

You can either fill out the form onboard, talk to the Future Cruise Consultant, or use a button in the lower right corner of the ship website to buy.  NOT charged to room account, separate charge to credit card you have on file for the room.  You can see these when you log into your Princess account.  There is no advantage to booking an actual future cruise onboard unless you happen to like the sale they are currently running and it will expire before you get home.