Booking in Segments vs. End to End

I’m considering a longer cruise and I can’t see why it wouldn’t be much more advantageous to book it in segments (balcony cabin, U.S. terms and conditions). The fare is about $10000 and it can be taken in three segments of less than 25 days each.

If I use FCDs, booking as a single cruise gives me a fare savings of $300 and $300 in OBC, with a total down payment of $1270 ($300 + $970). Booking as 3 segments gives me $900 in OBC, with a total down payment of $900. In addition, the latter permits me to slightly defer the final payments for the last two legs.

It seems too obvious. What am I overlooking?

Thanks.

Sometimes added together the segments are more than the cost of the whole trip. But if you have worked out the figures and together with the OBC it works for you, I’d say go for it.

You will get three lots of World Club perks, and if you are a shareholder, three lots of shareholder OBC too. Of course you may not get the same cabin for all three segments but we have changed mid trip and it really isn’t an issue, in fact we are doing just that again in Dubai next year. You will also be expected to settle your on board account each time, but I seem to remember doing that at the end of each sector anyway.

I’d say go for it!

If the 3 total fares do add up to less than the one long one ,

Go for it .

The 3 OBC’s for the current promo plus possible 3 more for Shareholder , 3 more for Military and 3 heavy upfront discounts or OBC from a Good TA , WOW!

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Sometimes added together the segments are more than the cost of the whole trip.

 

Although in my case the fare difference is negligible, its a good point: never assume. Sometimes booking in segments can be more attractive even without using FCDs; sometimes not. Do the math.

 

One disadvantage has occurred to me. Sometimes cabin availability is more limited for segments. Do a mock booking to see if the cabin you want is available end to end and a good TA may be able to finesse it for you.

 

Thanks for the responses.

We've just been through the same scenario.

In our case for some grades the segments were cheaper than the whole (negligibly). Other grades were 'sold out' for the whole voyage but available for each of the segments. We've also changed cabin mid-voyage before and it's not a problem but this time we managed to get the same cabin for each sector (unless the upgrade fairy smiles on only one sector, or upgrades on each to different cabins:D).

The only point that isn't clear is "do you have three FCDs", one for each segment? Or are able to make them before booking. If so then I think it's clear that's the way to go.

Enjoy your extended trip. Colin.