booking future cruises on board

[ehogan]

Does anyone have experience with prebooking a cruise on board? We prebooked an open ended cruise (no defined cruise, to be determined later,our choice) onboard the Diamond Princess. When we reserve a cruise, we will only have to apply the $100 deposit rather than the regular $250 or $500 to hold the cruise. We also will receive an onboard ship credit.

 

My question is, are they completely flexible? We generally wait until we get a great deal to book our cruises and I would hate to have them tell us there are restrictions on using the prebooking on an exceptional deal.

 

Your experiences?

[chrysalis]

yes...have done this a number of times....they are flexible....but you have to use them within 4 years (I think that is the time limit)..and your onboard credit will be based on what you book.

[SharC]

We had prebooked on a cruise and now we just booked our cruise on the Grand. No problem at all. We have a TA and they had sent her all the info when we prebooked and when we booked this one everyone had the same information. No problem at all.

[bjkTX]

with the other comments. We prebooked on our cruise this spring, and when I talked to our TA about the cruise we're taking later this month - he already had all the info on the pre-booking (from Princess I guess) is his quote :-)

[ehogan]

Thanks all! Now I can wait to pounce on a great deal for Princess.

[Host Caroline]

This is just a great perk.. I know I have friends who book onboard with RCI and get onboard credit but they have to pay FULL deposit... when you look at the big deposits for longer cruises and special itineraries you realize what a bargain $100 a person is!

They are NOT transferable however.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Unless you get on your first Princess cruise and abhor the whole concept of cruising, definitely book at least one, if not more future cruises while on board, even if you book them as future cruise credits (FCCs) instead of specific cruises. We feel comfortable doing it because 1.) the money involved is relatively small, 2.) we know it is fully refundable and 3.) we love those on board credits. As we have painfully learned today, you can't have too many FCCs floating about to be used.

 

Today we put an option on back to back cruises on the Tahitian Princess for Feb 08, and are getting caught with just one FCC, and are debating waiting until our January cruise to book the second cruise (likely to lose the same cabin for both cruises) or just booking it outright and paying the higher deposit and forgoing the OBC, which is very painful. I've learned my lesson, and don't think I'll leave my next cruise without at least 3 FCCs on hand.

[Colo Cruiser]

I try to do at least 1 or 2 on my cruises. :D

[cactusrose]

We do this all the time. Always have at least two FCC going just in case we find that perfect itinerary, great deal or just can't wait for the next cruise we already have booked. The only restriction I have ever heard of is for the World cruise. They won't just let you use the $100 as the deposit you have to add more, like $3900 more.