On-Board Bookings help - transferable?

[marciemi]

My mom and I are going on the Diamond in December. I've never done an on board booking before and have a few questions about them.

 

1. What is the benefit? Smaller deposit ($100) and some onboard credit ($100 per cabin) I think I read somewhere but could have been on RCCL!

 

2. How long is it held/good for?

 

3. What if you change your mind - can you cancel if necessary?

 

4. My main question. My mom and I are unlikely to cruise together again any time in the near future - this was a once in a lifetime type thing. However, we've both cruised Princess in the past and it's conceivable that she & my dad or DH & I would cruise (not at the same time since there's those 3 kids to worry about ;) ) If we booked it in her and my name, could we at a later date change it to include either of us and our husbands? Or do you book it in one name only? Or is it limited to the people on board - ie she and I would HAVE to cruise together to use it?

 

Thanks for any help!

[catmand]

1. Yes the 100 buck deposit is great and the credit is dependent on what type of a cabin and how long the cruise, sorry I just can't remember all the detais.

 

2. it is good for 4 years.

 

3. Totally refundable

 

4. Duh?.sorry

[skarletohara]

Well,

I cruised two weeks ago on the Diamond with my mom also, and wanted to

do a future booking for my husband and I, as I'm not sure when I'm going

again with my mom. I filled out the little slip for $200 (100 each) on the very

last day of the cruise, and when the slip was delivered to my room for confirmation, only one of us was confirmed (i.e., myself, not for my husband)

 

I was bummed as I had previously read on this board that it WAS indeed possible to do it that way. Perhaps I should have talked to the rep on board instead of just filling out the slip. But on the slip it did state very clearly,

just for persons currently on board the ship, so maybe the rules have changed.

I look at it this way, so what if my deposit is $100 and my husband;s will be $250, because it's still cheaper than $500 for the two of us, and at least one

of us will get some shipboard credit.

 

In retrospect, I'm wondering if maybe I should have picked a specific future sailing for he and I. I just left the form completely blank, didn't fill in a travel agent or a sailing date. Maybe that's where I erred.

[Coral]

The onboard bookings are not transferrable but it doesn't sound like a big deal in your situation since you will both cruise with Princess.

 

If you cruise with your husband in the future - use your $100 deposit. At least right now, if you apply your deposit - both of you will receive the shipboard credit. I know this is not what Princess says but it seems to work with all of my cruises. I have the onboard booking and whoever I travel with also gets an equal amount of shipboard credit.

[BJS]

4. My main question. My mom and I are unlikely to cruise together again any time in the near future - this was a once in a lifetime type thing. However, we've both cruised Princess in the past and it's conceivable that she & my dad or DH & I would cruise (not at the same time since there's those 3 kids to worry about ;) ) If we booked it in her and my name, could we at a later date change it to include either of us and our husbands? Or do you book it in one name only? Or is it limited to the people on board - ie she and I would HAVE to cruise together to use it?

Thanks for any help!

Will try to answer #4 since the others were answered. You would book in your name and $100 charge would be put on your credit card and your mother in her name and charge on her credit card. It sounds like you do not have a specific cruise in mind so it would be a "future cruise deposit" credit. Make sure to ask for a "share the wealth" coupon which can be used by someone not on board for a reduced deposit of $100 plus a shipboard credit. (Without this coupon they would have to pay the full deposit and not be able to get the shipboard credit.)When you decide who you will be traveling with, and the cruise you want, you would book the cruise using your "future cruise deposit credit" for your name and the "share the wealth coupon" plus $100 for their name. You and your mother are not linked in any way for this book on board program and do not have to cruise together to use it.

 

Some TAs extend all sorts of shipboard credit to the person who did not book on board and have heard they also only charge $100 deposit. This is not how the program works but rather what a particular TA did for a client.

[skarletohara]

BJS,

 

That clears it up for me, as I was sure I'd read on these boards that there

was a way to get around it, but I didn't remember the Share the Wealth.

 

wouldn't it have been nice of Princess to figure that one out and forward me a share the wealth coupon when I did an open booking????

 

It kind of irritates me that this is the 3rd cruise with them in 18 months

and that's the thanks we get. I like Coral's idea of the shipboard credit for

each party, because when I do go to book my 4th cruise in two years, if they reject my reqest for shipboard credit for two, then I'll pull my reservation off the table, ask for a refund of my $100 open booking deposit

and cruise Celebrity this time.

 

I don't think we should be put in a position where we have to ask for a share the wealth coupon. That should have been automatically extended, especially when I listed my husband and he is a past passenger.

[Coral]

I did try to use "Share the Wealth coupons" for the 2nd person in my cabin and they told me it wasn't needed. It is needed for additional cabins that go with you on the same cruise.

 

Though, I would still ask for them in case you need them.

[Pam in CA]

Re: #4, you can book an "Open" booking which means that the cruise ship and date are not specified. When you decide which cruise to book, just give your TA the booking number and you're all set. You have four years to decide which cruise and you can cancel it and get your money back at any time.

 

If you book a cabin with the future cruise booking and add your husband (or friend) to the cabin, they pay just the $100 deposit.

 

The onboard credit for the future cruise booking is applied to the cabin. If you decide to sail with a friend, for instance, you'd split the onboard credit.

 

This is based on an onboard booking I'd done while on the Regal Princess last spring. I decided to go with my sister and BIL on the Royal Princess in April as a single. The booking was done and I was all set. Then, some friends decided to join us and a friend of theirs wanted (with my permission) to share the cabin. So, I was able to change the booking and she would have had to put a deposit of only $100 down. The onboard credit would have been split 50/50. As it turned out, she backed out so I'm back to my original but that's the way it was set up for a couple of weeks.

[katisdale]

My husband and I did an open booking back in May while on the Royal Princess. We did not get the "share the wealth" coupons. When we were ready to reserve a cruise our daughter and her family decided they wanted to go with us. To reserve the cabin at the lower cost our agent put me in one room and my husband in the other. We get the credit, the lower deposit and after final payment (or when we board) we will rearrange who is in which room.

[marciemi]

Thanks everyone for all the help. Sounds like I want to ask for a share the wealth card, and if they won't give me one, we'd end up with one lower deposit (for either me or my mom) and one higher one and one shipboard credit. This is all far more confusing than I'd realized!