booking onboard not worth the hassle

[Galleon1234]

So it does sound like they still are worth purchasing?? It would combine with stock holders credit, etc.? 7 day you get $100 obc per cabin? so even if you are cruising solo in a cabin you still get the $100 obc per cabin??

[sfaaa]

So it does sound like they still are worth purchasing??

 

Book under Past Guest, get the $100 OBC and full option to cancel without penalty prior to final payment. What have you got to lose?

[jacksmycat]

I booked a future cruise while on the Dream in September. I already knew exactly which cruise I wanted to go on and my cabin. I went to the future cruise desk the first day at sea about 30 minutes before they opened. No one else was there and no one was waiting after me. He spent a good amount of time with me and actually found me a better cabin. I had a good experience.

[Galleon1234]

Excellent! I plan to buy 4! Nothing to lose!

[SadieN]

............

 

 

 

4- $100 OBC for booking onboard? Also nowhere to be seen. I had to make the argument that the cruise was originally booked on a day that I was onboard, so I should have the credit.

 

 

 

It was eventually resolved, but what a PITA, from someone who is supposed to be the "specialist".

 

 

 

Please bring back the future cruise certificates!!

 

 

 

The OBC shows up in your booking info when you 'print' your documents.

[LoriSan]

The OBC shows up in your booking info when you 'print' your documents.

 

 

It wasn't there. Even the woman on the phone had no record of it. That's when I had to make the argument that they could tell by my cruise history and the date that it had been booked that I was onboard.

[vwrestler171]

I had great luck when I booked onboard Miracle last month. Told him exactly what I wanted and it was booked and I had confirmation in my hand before I left. Including my F&F vouchers.

 

Yes, I would prefer the FCC's back, but I don't think that will happen.

[jks336]

So, are you saying not to book onboard... Just posted on another thread and now I am totally confused;0!! Hoping the rep on the Triumph is knowledgeable and helpful... Can you make an appt?? I hate the long lines and they are never open when I am available... HELP!!!!

 

The best thing to do is be prepared. Look prior to your cruise where and when you want to cruise as well as cabin location/type ect. Then go to the future cruise desk. compare prices.

 

When i look online i do have to laugh as depending on special the price of the cruise goes up some to "offset" that special. but getting something extra NEVER hurts! lol..

[Denisomo]

We too have booked future cruise onboard and I agree the wait is longgggg. I miss the certificate. We did get onboard credit and a special credit but had to go online and talk to someone to get the extra credit because it wouldn't show up. We didn't leave until we got a copy of our cruise.

[poison7fl]

I always book onboard. Sounds like you had a bad onboard agent.

 

I always get the printouts and 2 F&F certificates.

 

I always have to sign the paperwork acknowledging my booking and room/cost.

 

I walk away with everything reviewed, and $100 obc listed.. folded neatly in an envelope.

 

I wouldn't leave the desk until he reviews everything with me, why would you? doesn't make sense.

 

And, i always wait until the lines are short or no one around... plenty of opportunties except last day.

[JohnSpo]

Yes, I agree you need to go early in the cruise to avoid the lines and so you get the booking papers and the certificates. You also need to know your exact ship, date and cabins. Doing this will make for a quick transaction so do your homework while you are still at home.

 

Make sure you book the Past Guest rate instead of Early Saver so you do not have to pay the $50 pp change fee if you need to make a change. You can always change the booking to Early Saver once you confirm your new ship/dates. The OBC will go to the ES rate as long as you retain the original booking #.

 

I agree the Future Cruise Certificates were better but the new process works as long as you know how to work around it.:cool:

[SadieN]

So it does sound like they still are worth purchasing?? It would combine with stock holders credit, etc.? 7 day you get $100 obc per cabin? so even if you are cruising solo in a cabin you still get the $100 obc per cabin??

 

 

Stackable with most other OBC. For HI we had book onboard, shareholder's and milestone OBC.

[RecoveryDude]

Booked my upcoming (59 days and counting!) Pride cruise while on the Paradise last september. I had a GREAT experience! Plus there was a sale that I got to take advantage of and only needed 50% deposit.

 

As others stated ... I had done my research beforehand and knew exactly what ship/deck/cabin I wanted ... although I did ask her opinion of cabins before committing ... but she suggested the same one I had picked.

 

I didn't ever have to wait in line, however, I went day #1 of the cruise and then finalized everything day #2 because she said there would be a sale (not sure how she knew that in advance, but she did!). I never saw any lines but then again this was only a 4 day cruise I was on.

 

I didn't get to take advantage of the F&F certs but I did get them with all the paperwork, neatly folded in a carnival envelope before I left the desk.

 

I plan on booking my next two cruises while on the cruise in 59 days. One with ES since I'm positive who is going and the later on PG since I'm not positive who I am taking with me....

 

Cheers!

:)Recovery Dude

[CCLCruiser4321]

I agree the agent never knows anything about cruising everytime I've booked on board something goes wrong, trip got canceled name spelled wrong on future cruise credit, etc. Worst experience ever I guess they don't want to give out the OBC cause booking is easy for everyone except the "specialist"

[wendyp247]

We found the agent on board the Sunshine to be arrogant and didn't want to make much effort to help us. The people at carnival when you call have to look up the most basic information and provide no confidence they are providing the correct answer I found q great T A and will rely on her questions and booking

Edited December 22, 2015 by wendyp247

[riclop]

I usually specifically wait to book onboard, so I can get the OBC for my next trip. I booked while onboard the Sunshine last Aug for a sailing on the Pride for this July.

 

1- the lines to speak with the Future Cruise Specialist are always soooo long

 

2- I got NO paperwork that the trip had been booked. Nothing. No Friends and Family Certificates, nothing. It was supposed to be delivered to my cabin, and I got nothing. The only way I knew it had been booked was that I could see that the deposit had been charged to my card.

 

3- The "specialist" and I had talked about the fact that ultimately, the trip would be for me, hubby and my son, but that I was going to just book hubby and myself now, and I'd add my son later, so I didn't have to pay a huge deposit. We talked about this for a while. We agreed that he would choose my cabin for me, since he knew what I wanted.

 

When I finally went to add my son to the booking yesterday, it turns out that he booked us in a cabin that is limit 2 occupants! Grrrrr. So, I had to choose another cabin. Thank God I didn't wait any longer to add my son, as the cruise is pretty full already.

 

4- $100 OBC for booking onboard? Also nowhere to be seen. I had to make the argument that the cruise was originally booked on a day that I was onboard, so I should have the credit.

 

It was eventually resolved, but what a PITA, from someone who is supposed to be the "specialist".

 

Please bring back the future cruise certificates!!

 

You probably booked on the last day of the cruise.

[LoriSan]

You probably booked on the last day of the cruise.

 

No, actually I booked on that Tuesday. The cruise was 8 days, Sat-Sun.

[Kentucky816]

We never book a Carnival cruise on board always seems to be a mess. On Celebrity they make it a 1st class experience as well as incentive to do so.

($200.00 OBC for current, $200.00 deposit, free drink pkg, $300.00 OBC for the future cruise). We are going on the Breeze in 3 weeks, see what it like then.

[crooooze]

I also had a bad experience with booking onboard. We needed a cruise that was further out than they had published itineraries for. So we booked a random cruise with the understanding that when the later itineraries were published, we would be able to call and change it *without any fees*.

 

When the time came, Carnival said we booked through a TA and refused to talk further with us. Apparently, they transferred the onboard booking to the TA we used for the original cruise, without telling us. Ok, so no big deal. We called the original TA to have it changed. Problem fixed.... So we thought. They also had no record that we booked the cruise onboard and no record of the OBC.

 

Lots of aggregation to get that cleared up. Like other postings, we had no paperwork. Just a booking number that was made on a date we were on another ship.

 

Anyways, too much aggrevation. I'll never book onboard again.

[Californian]

What is the futurest date out that you can book? One year? Two years? Three years?

[Honolulu Blue]

What is the futurest date out that you can book? One year? Two years? Three years?

 

You can book as far out as there are cruises available to book. I currently see some available for April 2018.

[cruzeluver]

We booked a future cruise recently while on Sunshine. While ultimately it worked out fine, the "specialist" knew almost nothing about the ship we were booking and if I was not an educated cruiser could have wound up very disappointed. She did not disclose she was booking us at Early Saver, insisted that Magic has a Jiji's Asian Kitchen (it does not) and nearly booked us the wrong sailing date. Fortunately I caught her error in time. She was nice enough but very ill prepared for the job she was doing.

[rlkubi]

We just booked on the Vista and not long lines at all. I loved the FCC but I have had no problem with booking onboard. We booked a short cruise onboard and will move it to one we want after deciding. As long as the booking number is the same the OBC will change to the length of the cruise. We booked for April, 2018. The only time the lines were very long was after the Vista sailings were announced and we were booking that cruise. Everyone wanted to book those :).

[Davey Wavey]

Just wait until the future cruise desk is waiting to book someone and not a line.

 

On the Splendor, I went to book 2 cruises at the future cruise desk. The line was 15 deep running at over 3 hours. There was a single agent, Angel, to handle everything. I came back at the end of the time and there was still the same long line. After she had to close the line at 10pm and tell people to come back tomorrow, I talked with her. She said she was adding an extra 4 hours tomorrow and to come right at opening or right at the back on board time for the port tomorrow as there would be no line. I showed up at opening time to be about 10th in line. I came back after port and there was still a huge line. I came back again at closing and she again turned away a dozen people with promise to open for extended period tomorrow. Next day I was there 30 minutes before opening and she arrived escorted by a few people who had tracked her down. I eventually came back during her slow time the next day and was 5th in line. Since the line was next to the casino band and the photographer on formal night, I waited for an hour then grabbed a chair and sat in the line. After waiting 2.5 hours, the captain walked by and stopped to ask if I was okay (I guess seeing a person sit in a chair in middle of the hallway will do that). I told him the only place on this ship that shouldn't have a line was from people trying to book a future cruise. This poor girl was obviously overworked and desperately needed some help. Angel piped right up that the long wait was the result of a slow computer and she didn't need any help. So, the captain ambled away. I later learned that she wanted to be solo as it is commission based. Any extra help would be lost commissions for her. I thought that sucked to make potential customers miserable and how many never booked for her own selfish reasons. Still, she was a pleasant person overall.

 

So, I eventually made it through the line and got booked. I didn't receive any confirmation of anything because the "printer was broken." Probably the worst thing was I saw people wait in that long line and then she tell them she was not allowed to look up sailings. You HAD to already know an exact ship and date that you wanted to book or she couldn't help you. She did have big posters of the floorplans from every ship to help you pick a cabin.

 

Were it not for wanting to watch the live band, I would have never waited in that long line for hours to get a $200 credit. Maybe this was a fluke from that sailing, but I would not plan to do it again.

 

The biggest advice is use the free computers to look up ships and dates that you are interested in and write then down before you go visit the future cruise desk.

[Publius1787]

We are on the Legend at the moment and booked 3 additional cruises on board without any issues. I printed out all the information beforehand for the FCS and she looked it over to make sure I had everything she needed and told me she would have the paperwork in my cabin the next morning. Everything was done perfectly!