Onboard booking

If I do an onboard booking how long do they allow a friend who wasn't on the cruise to book the same cruise and get all the same perks?

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Your friend would not be able to get all the same perks.... The incentive is for guests to book on board. When they do, Celebrity will give you an On Board Credit to be used on your current cruise or the booked cruise- your choice. Depending on the room booked you would also get the 123Go Promotion or the Spring into Savings.

You may be able to book their room on board for them but the deposit must be made and your friend would need to reimburse you the deposit. When the reservation transfers to your/their travel agent then the update of guests would be noted. Your on board booking incentive for the additional room would apply to their room provided it is just a guest name change.

Something to discuss when you get on board with On Board Booking.

~Steve

I have booked on board several times. I have also booked off the ship many times. Which is better? That changes with each booking. If the cruise is far into the future( 2 years), you may get a great location if you book either on/off the ship. Paying $100pp deposit to hold a great cabin works for me. It is fully refundable. Prices can change many times between that booking and the sailing. If there is less than a year, you may get a better price from a TA off the ship. If the desired cruise is within the final payment period, prices can vary. Often Celebrity will have lower prices to persuade you to book. I always check before sailing for prices for any cruises that I am thinking of booking. I also send emails to my TA while I am on the ship. He usually adds extra OBC. In one case, he got me a better price on one cruise out of a pair of b2b cruises. I was able to keep my cabin location. I had to pay a larger deposit. In booking a cruises, there are a lot of variables...price, cabin size, cabin location, ports, etc. Know before you sail if there are any possible cruises that you might book. If you are not in the final payment period, you can book on board and then compare prices when you get home. Most times, the on board prices are good. The added benefits are usually a good deal.

Don't believe the "fully refundable" part. The on-board deposit can be transferred to another cruise but you do not get it returned. I just went through this: my excellent, experienced travel agent spent some time trying to get my on-board deposit back when we cancelled this cruise. We can transfer to a different trip more than once, but that's it. So we picked one way out and figured we'll use it at some point.

Celebrity has changed the on board booking a bit. The deposit you place on board on a specific ship's sailing is fully refundable unless you chose to have the OBC associated with the on board booking given to you on the current cruise you were on. If you take the OBC for the current cruise then you are spending your deposit. If you chose instead to have the OBC assigned to the future cruise then your deposit is fully refundable.

Now, an Open Passage certificate that is not assigned to a specific ship's sailing is not refundable. Hence I see no benefit to ever buying one.

Unless Celebrity has changed the rules again since my February cruise, always a possibility....

Now, an Open Passage certificate that is not assigned to a specific ship's sailing is not refundable. Hence I see no benefit to ever buying one.

Question: if you take the "open passage" option - i.e., no specific cruise booked - are you still limited to 60 days to transfer that to travel agent? Or can you hold an Open Passage for a year or more before transferring to a TA? If so, that would be one benefit of this option, as I wouldn't have to rush to choose a TA.

I had experience a year or so ago, that they allowed up to 7 days post-cruise to add a friend and cabin and get the perks for book-on board. At that point, they even allowed me to book a future cruise post-cruise and get BOB perks, this was via X's TA reservations agents (can't recall what they call them), but I don't use them anymore, instead my own TA.

Not sure of they still do this or not. But you did have to call one of the Specialized Celebrity TA"s, not just the normal reservations number.

With the current BOB perk being OBC for current cruise, you can ASK and they will instead divert that OBC to the future cruise just as well, as would be the case for adding a cabin. However this entailed paying a normal deposit, not the reduced one (at least for me in a suite).

Also on board, you CAN book up to 3 extra cabins for friends not on your cruise, even give the sales desk all their details, and payment for deposit (you don't have to pay this yourself and seek friend's reimbusrsement, you can provide your friends specific credit card information). I've done this a few times from friends while sailing. If you need MORE than 3 cabins, they need to seek approval first, though I doubt it's ever an issue, but I've only booked 1 extra, so have no experience in adding more than 3.

If at Future Crusie sales on ship, and booking for friends not on the cruise, they will even allow you to call the friend to get details if you are missing them.