Help, Please, Regarding Celebrity Future Cruise/Cruise Later

[CNSfromHI]

During our recent cruise aboard Silhouette, the cruise-bug bit us and we wanted more. Unable to decide on a specific next cruise to book, however, we opted late on the last full day to use Celebrity's "Cruise Later" deal. Thus, we plunked down the requisite C-note per person and received a slip of paper with a confirmation number.

 

My bride doesn't care about the 365-days-to-choose aspect and, less than a week off the ship, she wants to book our next cruise now. 🤣

 

Unfortunately, we can't seem to book it online, which we'd prefer to do. It shows up there under "future cruises" or something, but clicking the link delivers an error message of some sort. Do we really need to call Celebrity to use this thing? We didn't use a travel agent the first time, either, and don't wish to now.

 

Also, first-cruise euphoria subsiding, I now note the slip of paper we received onboard says: "IMPORTANT: To secure your exclusive offer, please remember to complete your booking within 90 DAYS by contacting..." What exclusive offer? Don't we have 365 days to take advantage of this deal? Is there some additional benefit to booking within the first few months?

 

Sorry for my caveat-emptor failing and so many questions. Any help/insights will be sincerely appreciated!

 

cjr

 

 

[wrk2cruise]

The 100 deposit is good for a year.  If you don't book within that time I believe it just gets cancelled and the $$ returned.

 

The 90 day part is you must select a sailing within 90 days to retain the bonus OBC for booking onboard like you would if you had selected a "sail now" onboard booking.

 

We are onboard Equinox right now and they are extending the 90 days to 1 year however I don't think that would affect your booking.

 

Celebrity IT is really bad.  Many experienced people here including myself would never complete a booking on-line.  Best to call Celebrity, review all the conditions verbally with the rep and get them to email you the guest invoice and review before you hang up the phone.  This is the best way to verify you are getting what you think you are when booking with Celebrity.

[gerelmx]

Yes you need to call to Celebrity to book your cruise with your confirmation number, do it before 90 days to get the OBC (remember this OBC depends of the cabin category and length of the cruise).

[CNSfromHI]

Thank you for your reply, @wrk2cruise. I knew about the reduced deposits being returned after a year of inaction, but we weren't told anything about the OBC offer only being valid with a <90-day booking.

 

Again, I don't blame Celebrity for that; it's my fault for not asking more questions at the time.

 

cjr

[CNSfromHI]

2 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

Yes you need to call to Celebrity to book your cruise with your confirmation number, do it before 90 days to get the OBC (remember this OBC depends of the cabin category and length of the cruise).

Thanks for your reply.

 

cjr

 

[omeinv]

@CNSfromHI

 

Since you don't want to use a travel agent (I also handle my own bookings, so I understand), I'd suggest rather than simply calling the main number, you call and get a Celebrity "Certified Vacation Planner".  That way you'll have  a personal point of contact for help, but you can still make any changes after hours or what not by calling Celebrity.

 

To do this, call Celebrity at 888-307-8413, then option 3.  leave a message, and they;ll get back to you. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by omeinv

[CNSfromHI]

Just now, omeinv said:

Since you don't want to use a travel agent (I also handle my own bookings, so I understand), I'd suggest rather than simply calling the main number, you call and get a Celebrity "Certified Vacation Planner".  That way you'll have  a personal point of contact for help, but you can still make any changes after hours or what not by calling Celebrity.

 

To do this, call Celebrity at 888-307-8413, then option 3.  leave a message, and they;ll get back to you. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Sincerely appreciate this suggestion!

 

cjr

[ymncruise]

I’ve done this before for a couple of cruises. I didn’t pick a cruise within the 90 days. I still received the on board credit and my deposits. But I don’t think I’ll do it in the future unless I know what cruise I want to book. In order to book some outside insurance, you need to do so within a certain number of days after the booking date. The day you pay your deposit is the booking date. You also can’t transfer the booking to a travel agent after 30 days. 

[CNSfromHI]

On 9/16/2022 at 3:46 PM, ymncruise said:

I’ve done this before for a couple of cruises. I didn’t pick a cruise within the 90 days. I still received the on board credit and my deposits. But I don’t think I’ll do it in the future unless I know what cruise I want to book. In order to book some outside insurance, you need to do so within a certain number of days after the booking date. The day you pay your deposit is the booking date. You also can’t transfer the booking to a travel agent after 30 days. 

Yeah, I'm now wondering if this "easy for us" concept isn't a bit flawed, unfortunately. Also, I don't feel we received any significant "benefits" by booking/committing while onboard our last cruise.

 

If any Forum member can offer reasons while booking onboard is a smart idea, please share them!

 

Otherwise, @ymncruise, thanks for your reply!

 

cjr

[DCPIV]

On 9/18/2022 at 3:59 PM, CNSfromHI said:

If any Forum member can offer reasons while booking onboard is a smart idea, please share them!

 

The extra OBC is the big reason.  It's not a life-changing amount, but it's mighty nice to get it just for booking on board.  If you know what cruise you want while you're on board, there's no good reason NOT to book it while on board.

 

I don't much care for "booking" the non-specific "cruise later" deal, though.  If I cannot figure out what I want to book while I'm on board, then I don't know why I'll suddenly know what sailing I want when I get home.  While itineraries might change from time to time and new ones may appear, it's not common enough to have a "just in case" booking.

 

That said, there's really no risk to booking the "cruise later" since that deposit is refunded if you don't use it.  I suppose there also is an advantage of not taking up your cruise time to peruse the catalog.

[cruisestitch]

If the new deployment hasn’t yet been announced when you are on board, you can lock in the benefits while you wait for the new schedule to be released.

[CNSfromHI]

4 hours ago, DCPIV said:

...If I cannot figure out what I want to book while I'm on board, then I don't know why I'll suddenly know what sailing I want when I get home.

Thank you for your reply, @DCPIV. In our case, this was our first cruise and more than a year in the making. Onboard, smitten by the cruise bug, we soon knew we wanted to enjoy another one and studied the various brochures available -- listing stuff into early 2023 (April was the latest, I think) -- but we felt a bit overwhelmed about how the Future Cruise thing worked.

 

Plus, honestly, we researched/booked this entire cruise online by ourselves. We felt resistant to talking directly to someone onboard about our next one who might pressure/up-sell us into something.

 

Anyway, the main reason we couldn't commit to something onboard -- the reason the whole "pay now, book later" thing grabbed me -- was simply our uncertainty about our future commitments in 2023. We just didn't know if our schedules would allow it.

 

Thanks again,

 

cjr

[CNSfromHI]

4 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

If the new deployment hasn’t yet been announced when you are on board, you can lock in the benefits while you wait for the new schedule to be released.

A greater 2023 schedule (into Q3, at least), would have helped us decide.

 

Thanks!

 

cjr

[DCPIV]

13 minutes ago, CNSfromHI said:

We just didn't know if our schedules would allow it.

 

Frankly, that's also a pretty good reason!  Cheers!

[mandream]

We usually book onboard to take advantage of the reduced deposit and minimal OBC.  We then transfer to a TA to get additional OBC.

 

16 minutes ago, CNSfromHI said:

Plus, honestly, we researched/booked this entire cruise online by ourselves. We felt resistant to talking directly to someone onboard about our next one who might pressure/up-sell us into something.

 

In my experience we never get any pressure / upsell attempts from either the onboard FC desk or Celebrity phone reps.  We just tell them what we want and they book it.  Simple as that.

 

Mike

 

[DCPIV]

4 minutes ago, mandream said:

In my experience we never get any pressure / upsell attempts from either the onboard FC desk or Celebrity phone reps.  We just tell them what we want and they book it.  Simple as that.

 

I agree with that.  We've not booked very many cruises while on board, but I've never felt pressured to book or any upsell pressure.

[Jim_Iain]

On 9/16/2022 at 11:37 AM, CNSfromHI said:

During our recent cruise aboard Silhouette, the cruise-bug bit us and we wanted more. Unable to decide on a specific next cruise to book, however, we opted late on the last full day to use Celebrity's "Cruise Later" deal. Thus, we plunked down the requisite C-note per person and received a slip of paper with a confirmation number.

 

My bride doesn't care about the 365-days-to-choose aspect and, less than a week off the ship, she wants to book our next cruise now. 🤣

 

Unfortunately, we can't seem to book it online, which we'd prefer to do. It shows up there under "future cruises" or something, but clicking the link delivers an error message of some sort. Do we really need to call Celebrity to use this thing? We didn't use a travel agent the first time, either, and don't wish to now.

 

Also, first-cruise euphoria subsiding, I now note the slip of paper we received onboard says: "IMPORTANT: To secure your exclusive offer, please remember to complete your booking within 90 DAYS by contacting..." What exclusive offer? Don't we have 365 days to take advantage of this deal? Is there some additional benefit to booking within the first few months?

 

Sorry for my caveat-emptor failing and so many questions. Any help/insights will be sincerely appreciated!

 

cjr

 

 

I purchased a couple of them myself and used in the past.  

 

I found that if the future booking credit was in my name I would have to call into celebrity and have them modify my booking..    Also tried to transfer it and had a problem as the 60 period to transfer was on the date you purchased the certificate.   

 

Once transferred to my agent I would just either call him and book what I wanted or place my choice on hold and have him pick up my hold and apply the booking against it.

 

If I'm not mistaken you only have 90 days to book in order to get the perks that came with the booking.   90 days to 1 year you only get to apply the amount you paid for the certificate and after 1 year they refund your money.    I of course could be wrong but going from memory when I read the fine print.

 

YOu can also book anything with a  non-refundable and then then transfer it to any cruise you wish up until final payment date. This method usually preserves the OBC.

[CNSfromHI]

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

If I'm not mistaken you only have 90 days to book in order to get the perks that came with the booking.   90 days to 1 year you only get to apply the amount you paid for the certificate and after 1 year they refund your money.    I of course could be wrong but going from memory when I read the fine print.

That was our understanding although, in hindsight, I realized we walked out of the future-cruise place with a single receipt showing the amount of our down payment, our names, and a confirmation number, and nothing else.

 

We didn't receive anything showing the fine print, details of what the special officer included or that it had to be activated within 90 days, etc.

 

I'm not complaining about Celebrity; very much our naivete as cruise noobs, the fact that it was the 11th hour of the last full day when we rushed in, etc. Next time, however... 😃

 

cjr

[Jim_Iain]

I just used mine today.    I called my agent and since I had booked my previous cruise with him the certificates automatically were assigned to him.     YOu might be able to read the fine print from the booking form.

 

BTW  if you don't want it assigned to your agent you have to specifically ask and sign a paper

 

[Willibobs1954]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I just used mine today.    I called my agent and since I had booked my previous cruise with him the certificates automatically were assigned to him.     YOu might be able to read the fine print from the booking form.

 

BTW  if you don't want it assigned to your agent you have to specifically ask and sign a paper

 

 

[Willibobs1954]

Just returned from a Celebrity cruise to France and Spain. Previously cruised with NCL and found their future cruise offering very confusing and a hard sell.I have to say we found the Celebrity approach much softer and more understandable. I asked for quotations for three cruises. They printed these off and highlighted prices and benefits such as OBC. Took these away, considered them and went back and booked. 
on booking they assigned us a stateroom on deck 12 rather than 9 as we were in Captains Club, a nice bonus. Another reason for booking now was the price, 60% off second guest. They also pointed out that it was price guaranteed. If I see a better price deal before sailing they will amend the price, however this is down to me to claim. Only slight concern here is this does not appear to be noted in the paperwork.

[HBDave]

It looks like they've made some changes since our last cruise in February 2022. We booked a Transatlantic for October 2022 though our Travel Agent. We only received a $100 OBC due to it being a Transatlantic and had to pay the full deposit $450 pp, due to it being a Group Booking.  

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by HBDave

[keepsakefl]

What gets me in the matter is that Celebrity does not print the obc benefit table ON THE CONTRACT you sign when you deposit.  This allows them to at-will change it on their website.  Some people boko with one additional offer, some don't  We don't even know at this juncture, what we are entitled to.

Bad business execution.

 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

On 9/20/2022 at 9:50 AM, DCPIV said:

I don't much care for "booking" the non-specific "cruise later" deal, though.  If I cannot figure out what I want to book while I'm on board, then I don't know why I'll suddenly know what sailing I want when I get home.  While itineraries might change from time to time and new ones may appear, it's not common enough to have a "just in case" booking.

 

The only reason I could possibly see is if they are close to releasing a new group of itineraries and you're pretty sure you want that but obviously can't book an exact cruise at the moment (like you want Europe 2025 which is not out yet but will be before the expiration date on the cruise later deposit).

 

Otherwise, nope - I'll either book a specific cruise or not book at all.

[CNSfromHI]

The Future Cruise benefit depends on the offer available, in my experience. While on our last cruise (March-April 2023), we plunked down $100 per person and have six months to book our next one. We figured there would be new Celebrity cruises available during that time, and the OBC offered -- combined with any other current offer -- makes this option worthwhile to us. Moreover, there's no downside if we don't book in time; Celebrity just refunds our deposit.

 

As long as you know you want to book another Celebrity cruise down the road, and the benefits remain advantageous vs. what's otherwise available, this seems like a great deal. What fluctuates, based on our past two cruises, is the OBC and the amount of time you have to book your next cruise. Definitely something to watch.

 

cjr