Book early, or book onboard?

[Priya2]

We are taking the Panama Canal Cruise in November this year. We are looking to book the Iceland cruise from Southampton in May '16, and the India/Shri Lanka cruise from Abu Dhabi in January '17. Would it be best to book both on board our cruise in November or might the May '16 have better offers available now? I think I heard that the bonuses for booking on board increase for booking more than one cruise, but I'm not certain what the benefits are, and the new Celebrity webpage isn't as easy to find info on as it might be 😮

[miss dee]

you are better off booking at the last minute after final payment. the prices are reduced 50 per cent.

[Priya2]

you are better off booking at the last minute after final payment. the prices are reduced 50 per cent.

Really? When is final payment date? That would work for the Iceland cruise, but I'll be picky about the state room on the India/Shri Lanka.

[4774Papa]

you are better off booking at the last minute after final payment. the prices are reduced 50 per cent.

This may work for drving to the Caribbean, but a cruise from half way around the World in the UAE, I don't think so.

 

Also, some popular cruises sell out well before final payment. We have seen this on half or more of our Celebrity cruises.

 

We did a Century cruise from Singapore to Dubai and loved it. It required a lot of planning and I don't see booking that late as a viable option.

 

As for the cruise out of Southhamption, that may be a bit easier to wait for, but I know cruises to Iceland are few. We just did one on the NCL Star out of Copenhagen and I know that in 2014 there was only one NCL cruise that went to Iceland that year. I think Celebrity only had one as well, not sure. Those types of cruises sell out frequently.

 

We generally book early since we don't do the Caribbean and have to buy airline tickets for overseas, like our Japan and China cruise in October that sold out 8 months ago.

[chemmo]

It is always a gamble. Book now, better offers later......

The two cruises you are looking at are very limited sailing and some room categories will sell out very quickly. We are on the Singapore to Abu Dhabi cruise in Aprit 2017 and several room categories are already very tight.

 

If you are not fussy about what room you want, or if you check online and there are several rooms in the category you want well you can risk waiting.....

Personally when I am looking at this sort of destination I want everything to be perfect and I would rather book early and get exactly what I want, even if it does cost a little more.

 

Check on line at availability of the rooms you want and keep looking! There is no easy response to this. Booking on board can save, the last time we looked at booking on board it gave us no real incentive....

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Just off the Infinity. As far as I'm concerned, there is no longer an incentive to book on board as they require you to take the on board OBC on your current cruise. It used to be that you could take it on the current cruise or the one you were booking. We were halfway through the cruise at this point and I already had plenty of OBC for the cruise I was on.

 

Also, used to book cruises on board and move them around and keep the benefits attached to the on board booking. Now they won't let me move a cruise I booked on board and keep the benefits. They say it's considered a new booking if I move it. Really? When you keep the same booking number? What planet are they on???

 

Sorry, Celebrity, but if you're going to be that way, I'm cancelling that cruise.

[WestLakeGirl]

They don't require that, you were misinformed. You can still book using the old way

[leehal]

We booked last month while cruising and transferred our credit onto our next cruise. Shame that they've stopped that.

[cruisestitch]

I don't think that they have stopped it. Last month I was able to book on board, taking advantage of the on-board credit offer being applied to the cruise I was booking, not to the one I was on at the time. With that program, the deposit was only $100 per person, and is still refundable, a major advantage of booking on board.

 

The program where they offer you on-board credit for your current cruise is also available, and in that program the deposit is not refundable.

 

I had the choice of which one I wanted.

[Lois R]

Just off the Infinity. As far as I'm concerned, there is no longer an incentive to book on board as they require you to take the on board OBC on your current cruise. It used to be that you could take it on the current cruise or the one you were booking. We were halfway through the cruise at this point and I already had plenty of OBC for the cruise I was on.

 

Also, used to book cruises on board and move them around and keep the benefits attached to the on board booking. Now they won't let me move a cruise I booked on board and keep the benefits. They say it's considered a new booking if I move it. Really? When you keep the same booking number? What planet are they on???

 

Sorry, Celebrity, but if you're going to be that way, I'm cancelling that cruise.

 

Hi Linda, omg...seriously I have never heard of this before:eek: they

made you use your credit while you were on Infinity?:confused:....

Something doesn't sound right......and you couldn't transfer your

cruise to something else?:(...wow....Are you sure that the person

knew what they were doing?

[cruisestitch]

Lois, There is a program which has been in place for about a year, where you can book a new cruise while on board, and they will give you some on board credit for the cruise you are on, basically equal to the deposit you will pay. The deposit then becomes non-refundable. This has not replaced the previous Future Cruise option where you put down a reduced deposit which is refundable. It's an alternative.

[Lois R]

Lois, There is a program which has been in place for about a year, where you can book a new cruise while on board, and they will give you some on board credit for the cruise you are on, basically equal to the deposit you will pay. The deposit then becomes non-refundable. This has not replaced the previous Future Cruise option where you put down a reduced deposit which is refundable. It's an alternative.

 

Hi Cruisestich:)....I thought the credit was a choice....I always want

the credit for the future cruise..sounds like Linda said she was not

given a choice:eek:

[cruisestitch]

Yes, I would say that the Future Cruise staff "misled" her -- was it on purpose or because they didn't know any better, or were told to "push this program and discourage the other one". AFAIK since they instituted the new method it has never been required, but you might have to ask for the older program.

[caritsa]

We just got off the Solstice on Friday and booked another onboard. We were told we had choice to use the onboard credit on the cruise we were on or the later cruise. We chose to use later. We were also told it would be no problem changing the booking.

[Priya2]

Are there any other perks to booking onboard and how much is the inboard credit please?

[WestLakeGirl]

Depends on length of cruise and class of stateroom

[Project_gal]

We are taking the Panama Canal Cruise in November this year. We are looking to book the Iceland cruise from Southampton in May '16, and the India/Shri Lanka cruise from Abu Dhabi in January '17. Would it be best to book both on board our cruise in November or might the May '16 have better offers available now? I think I heard that the bonuses for booking on board increase for booking more than one cruise, but I'm not certain what the benefits are, and the new Celebrity webpage isn't as easy to find info on as it might be

 

It really does depend on what stateroom/suite you want to book. Higher-end suites have always sold out quickly. Since the introduction of the new Suite Class, they have gone even more quickly. On the cruises we have booked [and I am watching every week], this has had an effect on other classes. Our cruise in January 2016 has been sold out for anything Concierge Class and above for a considerable time.

 

However, unlike another poster, I do think that the on board booking perks are worthwhile. So what, if you get the OBC for the current cruise and you may not make your booking until late in the cruise, you can still spend the money earlier in the cruise if you know that you are going to book at some point.

 

So you really need to think what works best for you - how particular are you about the accommodation you want to book.

 

To make the decision more difficult, I believe Celebrity must have been using a very good exchange rate for some of their UK prices. On our latest cruise, we had booked the PH as soon as the cruises were released. Our friends in the US did the same for the other PH but had to drop out not many months pre-cruise. Understandably, the PH was waitlisted and would only available on the website for a few days. This was long enough for me to see the UK price. It was close to the price we had paid [just a little more expensive]. We got to know the people who snapped up the room whilst on the cruise. They had paid almost £3,000 more than we had at the exchange rate prevailing at the time! I no longer check US prices but, perhaps, you should. If Celebrity are using a very good exchange rate for the cruise in which you are interested at present, perhaps now would be a good time to book. The good exchange rate may not last - if I am to believe what I read on Cruise Critic, it is not usually so good.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

They don't require that, you were misinformed. You can still book using the old way

 

Well my sister and I talked to two different FCCs on board and the both said the same thing. We could not apply the OBC to a future cruise. This was on the Infinity on a cruise in May. When was your experience?

 

[Priya2]

It really does depend on what stateroom/suite you want to book. Higher-end suites have always sold out quickly. Since the introduction of the new Suite Class, they have gone even more quickly. On the cruises we have booked [and I am watching every week], this has had an effect on other classes. Our cruise in January 2016 has been sold out for anything Concierge Class and above for a considerable time.

 

However, unlike another poster, I do think that the on board booking perks are worthwhile. So what, if you get the OBC for the current cruise and you may not make your booking until late in the cruise, you can still spend the money earlier in the cruise if you know that you are going to book at some point.

 

So you really need to think what works best for you - how particular are you about the accommodation you want to book.

 

To make the decision more difficult, I believe Celebrity must have been using a very good exchange rate for some of their UK prices. On our latest cruise, we had booked the PH as soon as the cruises were released. Our friends in the US did the same for the other PH but had to drop out not many months pre-cruise. Understandably, the PH was waitlisted and would only available on the website for a few days. This was long enough for me to see the UK price. It was close to the price we had paid [just a little more expensive]. We got to know the people who snapped up the room whilst on the cruise. They had paid almost £3,000 more than we had at the exchange rate prevailing at the time! I no longer check US prices but, perhaps, you should. If Celebrity are using a very good exchange rate for the cruise in which you are interested at present, perhaps now would be a good time to book. The good exchange rate may not last - if I am to believe what I read on Cruise Critic, it is not usually so good.

Its a bit of a mine field then! We go for a balcony stateroom, either aft or mid with one of the larger balconies (hump, sweet sixteen) on Vista deck. The cruises are 12 and 15 nights. What perks would we get booking on board for those? Is there a benefit to booking more than one at a time?

[WestLakeGirl]

We booked our upcoming cruise while on Millennium in Alaska in May and applied the on board credit to the cruise we booked. Chandru (former Captains Club host) did the paperwork for us

[leehal]

Well my sister and I talked to two different FCCs on board and the both said the same thing. We could not apply the OBC to a future cruise. This was on the Infinity on a cruise in May. When was your experience?

 

 

We booked around 12th May onboard The Eclipse, our credit could be applied to the cruise we were on at the time or the one we were booking for.

[AmberCascades]

We were on the Infinity in April. Among the other perks, we were given OBC to use on the future cruise and the same amount to be used on the current cruise.

 

The OBC for the current cruise was non-refundable. We were told that if we wanted to change to a different cruise (we were looking at 2 1/2 years in advance, after all) that we would keep all the perks. If we decided to cancel it, however, we would lose our deposit (which was equal to the current OBC they had just given us).

 

We decided we'd better spend that non-refundable OBC just in case, for some reason, we had to cancel that future cruise. Then we would lose the deposit. This way it would be a wash. We cancelled and re-booked a shorex and we also bought some gifts in the duty-free. No problem.

 

Anyway, that was our recent experience booking onboard the Infinity. Do they change the rules every cruise? I guess I won't know for sure unless I try to change that future cruise. But we were told it works like the future cruise credit thing they used to have.

[isnowman]

We will be on the Silhouette next February and thought we might book a future Galapagos cruise while onboard. I know that the Galapagos cruise is an all-inclusive style, so was wondering if we would be best to try and find a better deal on-line and book ourselves. The lower deposit of booking onboard is nice, but is that really the only perk. If anyone who has done this could provide some insight, it would be appreciated.

Thanks...