Planning another cruise while on ship.

I've only been on 2 cruises & have never checked out booking another cruise while on the ship. Is this a good idea & why? I'm always interested in lowest price & always thought that waiting until a month or so before a cruise gives me the best deal. I'll be on Holland America Amsterdam in less than a month & wonder if I should be prepared. Are these bookings fully refundable?

Thank you.

Depends on the type of cruise and how fussy you are about cabin selection. It also looks like you seek value like I do.

Some say that their cruise fares (for comparable cabins) have gone nowhere but up since they booked. Or they're happy to pay what they pay and don't look back Personally I've never found a cruise priced onboard that I was willing to pay for.

For some cruises that are not so popular (e.g.,repositionings with limited tops) or where there are numerous ships plying the same market (e.g., Caribbean out of Miami), you'll probably get a better deal after the final payment date.

I've only done repos cruises (4 in all) and have always gotten good deals after the final payment window.

On HAL, the deposits are refundable, or at least transferable..

Do your research or where you want to cruise and the deposit T&Cs. If you have the float and you can get your money back, it is an option.

On HAL you can get a lower deposit and some OBC by booking onboard.

Since you are asking about HAL I would post on that board to ask about the pros and cons of booking on board.

Keith

I often book cruises on board. The benefits are a cheaper deposit plus on board credit. Once home I transfer the reservation to my travel agent who gets me additional obc plus another perk or two.

Jonathan

When you consider the value of the on board credit given for an advance deposit, it really makes sense. You are not committed to a particular ship or itinerary so, as long as you are fairly certain you will want a future cruise, it is a great way of "saving up" for it. My last time, I put up $400, which went towards the fare when I did book (a year later) the on board credit of $100 amounted to a 25% return on my deposit - a whole lot more than I would have received if I had let the $400 sit in a savings account.

As others have said, it depends on the promotion. Onboard deposits are minimal, and you can get onboard credit, but often the cruise price is higher to make up for it. This is true across several lines, we have found. You can switch the cruise after you get home without penalty or move it to your TA for additional credits, and the benefits are also that your booking agent onboard can sometimes give additional advice about ships if they've sailed them. Do your homework before boarding to give yourself a better sense of prices. Sometimes online sales beat the onboard promos, but you are at the mercy of whatever is left for cabin choice, if that matters to you.

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Thanks for all the advice. The way I shop for low prices it seems like I'm best off finding my deals online. I'll still check out the deals on the ship, though.

Cruising Cockroach, you are my inspiration. I checked the cruise you mentioned & that's a great deal. Do you a bit-or a lot-of time in the port city areas before & after your cruises? I'd love to hear how you plan one of your trips.

Be careful when booking on-board. RCCL will tell you this is the absolute lowest price available.....at this time. Most people don't hear, "At this time", and think they are getting the lowest price forever. I tried again and again to get the booking agent to confirm prices would never be lower. He continued to avoid the question. Go with an agent who will he happy to search for the best deals.

Cruising Cockroach, you are my inspiration. I checked the cruise you mentioned & that's a great deal. Do you a bit-or a lot-of time in the port city areas before & after your cruises? I'd love to hear how you plan one of your trips.

I won't go into the 1st cruise (repo) as there were various circumstances that didn't make it matter.

2nd one, HAL Prinsendam Rome to Ft Lauderdale ran $1,250 p.p. exc taxes/fees for a GTY balcony ($250 off the lowest rate for the private sale offered). We flew to Austria to attend to my wife's family matters, then took a train to Italy, drove around a few day (Siena, Montalcino to load up on Brunellos) before boarding the ship. Drove around southern FL for a few days after disembarkation.

3rd was home (Vancouver) to Valparaiso (sp?). HAL Zaandam. Not so good rate (almost the same as the Prinsendam cruise - Inside GTY yielded a nice bilge deck window cabin.

4th cruise, well it was a well-timed and cheap 4-nt repo on the Star Princess up the coast. Blow out rate of $179 (which filled up the ship) on all categories from inside to balcony ~4-5 weeks before cruise date. Cheaper than flying! That nicely closed the loop as we had sailed across the Pacific on a container ship the week before sailing (6 month RTW trip).

We flew to Easter Island after a couple of nights in Valparaiso and Santiago, then onto Cusco to do Machu Piccu, back to Lima and then home.

We do have a Celebrity cruise (HAL's Volendam cruise was too late for our purpose - though it would have included a free Alaska cruise which my wife and I have never done despite living in the primary gateway) to Yokohama. ~ USD 600 each inc taxes and fees was hard to pass up! Need to get to SE Asia for my mum's 80th birthday. We'll probably head to Malaysia after that and then head home via Honolulu on our way home. Length of stay depends on whether we buy a house or not!

Thank you CC. This gives me ideas!

For a comparison, just look at the prices of some cruises you're interested just before you get on whatever, and then see what the pricing is before and after.

For an expensive cruise, a competitive agent can give you a lot in the way of rebates.