Any advantages booking onboard?

Going on our first cruise in Feb and hubby has his eye on a couple more cruises to try - should I book them now or is there an advantage to booking when onboard

Advice gratefully received

thanks in advance

According to the paperwork for the Cruise Next deposit, if you book a specific cruise while on board (you buy the cruise next deposit, then use it immediately....which gives you on board credit for the cruise you are currently on) you will also get a "special" something. We booked a cruise on our last cruise, and to be honest, I don't even know what the "special" something was......I don't think we received anything. However, I did make use of the $500 OBC in the spa! And check to see if you can use 2 cruise next deposits on one cruise, sometimes that special is on, sometimes not. There is an advantage to buying 2 cruise next deposits over just one in terms of what you receive in OBC. The only caveat I would put with that is that sometimes there is a great deal going on that you might want for the time when you are NOT on your cruise and can book (like today's Pick 5 special for OV or higher staterooms). In that case, you might not want to pick a specific cruise while on board, but go ahead and book on line.

Going on our first cruise in Feb and hubby has his eye on a couple more cruises to try - should I book them now or is there an advantage to booking when onboard

 

Advice gratefully received

 

thanks in advance

I would just purchase one or two CruiseNext deposits while on board and get the extra onboard credit. The time frame you plan to book your next cruise(s) and the cabin type will help you determine how many deposits to purchase. I talked to the CruiseNext girl about an advantage in booking on board, fully expecting her to try and make a sale. Surprisingly, she admitted that there was no real advantage to booking on board and I would be better off booking once home through the travel agent of my choosing.:cool:

When you book on board, you get whatever promo is featured at the time. But, they occasionally give you something extra.

We booked our upcoming Bliss inaugural at the rate for a category BF balcony & were upgraded to a BA.

Thanks for the replies

not to seem a bit dim what is cruisenext?

depends on how flexible your schedule is. the less flexible you are, the less utility that deposit is b/c those credits can expire. buy at most 2.

Thanks for the replies

 

not to seem a bit dim what is cruisenext?

You are not dim. CruiseNext is a certificate you can use for your deposit on your next cruise of 6-days or more. Each certificate is $250 for regular cabins or as a partial deposit on Specialty Suites. They usually offer a special during the cruise. We purchased 4 certificates for $1000 and received a $500 onboard credit which paid for two of them. Like a buy one get one free. We used on both a balcony booking for my DH and his brother, My DD, DGD, and myself and for our suite booking. You have four years to use your certificate.

We booked onboard because they said they were offering 2 specials for OV instead of the usual 1. They said we can book anything as a placeholder and don't worry about the full retail price we are being charged since we can later on rebook on something we really want. Lost track of when '90' days to cruise was until I got an email for final payment. I called the TA, whom had a hard rebooking on a future cruise because pretty much pretty much all OV were drastically less than what we were initially charge, and they wanted us to book an room of equiv cost. I said no way, and they relented. Eventually I booked something way into the future on a cruise that I would not feel bad if I did have to go.

Turns out, the promo that were offered, all OV had 2 specials, so that special promo was nothing special(although at that time, we could have picked our gratuities being paid, which we cannot do now).