Current promo or book onboard?

[Cruise Junky]

Help me with my math. We're thinking of a 7 day Caribbean cruise next spring. I think under the current 5 day promo I would get two perks plus an extra $100 obc so basically a drink package plus $400 obc. I'd i wait until we're in Connie in April. I would only get one perk and $150 obc for booking a standard balcony on a 7 day cruise. The only benefit to booking onboard is I don't have to pay the full deposit at this point. Am I right?

[az_tchr]

Help me with my math. We're thinking of a 7 day Caribbean cruise next spring. I think under the current 5 day promo I would get two perks plus an extra $100 obc so basically a drink package plus $400 obc. I'd i wait until we're in Connie in April. I would only get one perk and $150 obc for booking a standard balcony on a 7 day cruise. The only benefit to booking onboard is I don't have to pay the full deposit at this point. Am I right?

 

booking on board gets you additional OBC that varies with the type of cabin and length of cruise from $100 to $500. there is likely to be a new promo so your guess is as good as mine. the big question is can you cancell w/o cost? if yes then book now. do not know rules there.

Edited February 18, 2016 by az_tchr

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, Canada has the same booking rules as the US

[jbuch02]

Figuring out the best approach to optimize value is hard. When we first started cruising with Celebrity in 2001, for years, I booked on board and the results were usually good in that it seemed that the cabin price never went below what I paid for it.

 

No longer true and that started with the use of the confusing array of Perks and the systems that are now used across the travel industry that price an airplane seat, a hotel room or a cabin based on demand. You'll see prices go up and down and all over the place. For cabins, the price differentials over the period that the cruise is offered can be substantial.

 

Here are some of the principals I use when booking: Repositioning cruises sell out fast and early (OV and Inside cabins) because when they first hit the schedule they are cheap and for Celebrity you can be looking at prices around $110- $125/d pp for an Inside/OV; around $145-165 for Verandas. Can't speak for Aqua, Concierge or Suites.

 

There are no Perks for the repositioning cruises so it's easy to compare apples to apples. If you are retired, you can usually go anytime, any where on your bucket list. If you're still working, that introduces an important variable - dates.

 

I'm assuming you know and understand about what are called shoulder periods in the cruise shopping parlance. These are low demand periods. We book these, you may not be able to do that because of your work schedule. You'll always pay more for in demand periods (kids out of school, holidays).

 

Regarding booking the more popular European Routes and Repositioning cruises: On our last cruise in January on Millennium in Asia, We booked three future cruises in 16 (Europe), 17 (Baltics), 18 (Repositioning) in OV cabins. The 18 repositioning cruise is in April on Solstice to Vancouver via the French Polynesians and Hawaii. Hawaii to Vancouver is actually not a repositioning cruise but it is priced like one and still offers onboard Perks. It's a 31n B2B cruise. Pricing was exceptional and the 2017 trip exactly like the 18 trip was booked in all the OV categories.

 

Planning for booking on board: I go on line to the Celebrity web site to shop cruises while I'm on board (it does not cost you to do that and if you do your shopping at low peak times for internet use it works pretty fast). That way, I get a good idea of where and when I want to go and what it is going to cost before I go to the Future Cruise Desk.

 

Then I bring my shopping list to Future Cruises. The biggest advantage to booking on board is the credit you get for doing so as well as smaller deposits. The credit you get is an on-board one. You can either apply it to new cruise you're booking or the one you are currently on.

 

The amount of the credit depends on your booking class and so does the deposit. They are planned that way because if you cancel the cruise, you loose your deposit. For example, we got a $150 OBCn (non-refundable) to be applied as we liked, the deposit for the cabin class we booked was $200. So, you can see Celebrity doesn't loose any money and in fact gains $50 from us if we cancel and that is outside of 90d. All the other penalties apply inside 90d.

 

We booked two B2Bs and were told we will get a $200 reduction in the cost of each of those cruises in 4-6 weeks. I believe that was a special at the time. You must ask about these specials when you book on board and they vary. The onboard agent will tell you. They're not hiding anything and will give it to you as an incentive to book. They work on commission.

 

It is always possible to cancel an onboard booked cruise and rebook at a lower fare but this too is getting very complicated and I'm almost certain Celebrity has made it so to discourage cruisers from doing it. First, you may or may not be able to keep your deposit and apply it to your new booking. I've heard it told both ways and I think it depends on who you talk to and perhaps under what conditions your onboard booking was made. Even Celebrity agents in Miami don't always know current booking rules, Perks and schemes. I've been pretty impressed with the onboard agents.

 

Second, the lower price you might have found probably does not have the same Perks so, you might lose these as well and it will end up costing you more on the bottom line. It's hard these days.

 

While I will definitely watch cabin prices on my current bookings and should something come up that is an upgrade to a Veranda at under the typical $200 price differential between OV and Veranda, for example, and I can keep my Perks, I'd consider it.

 

Given the dynamic pricing environment in use now, you can always defer booking aboard, pass up the benefits and wait to see what happens on your target cruise. This is especially true if you are looking at a cruise that doesn't have a lot of sold cabins. Caribbean itineraries are good for this approach. (onboard agents will tell you what the demand looks like if you ask).

 

It's a roll of the dice though and in my view isn't going to net you a huge savings on popular itineraries. I have seen some 30d out sales on Caribbean itineraries that are pretty eye opening though and that is because there are a lot of empty cabins floating around out there in that region when you consider all cruise lines. So, there is that.

 

My current strategy in retirement is to book one big cruise of 14 or more days each year checking off bucket list destinations. From there, I'll fill in with deals that look good usually on shorter cruises and not necessarily on Celebrity. I'm eyeballing NCL's and Carnival's new ships for that sort of thing.

 

The bottom line for me, is that booking on board, returning to this modus-operandi, appears to produce the most value in my circumstances. Your mileage might vary. We'll see how that view actually pans out for us. One more thing: I have several different booking agents that I turn my advance bookings over to once booked on board with Celebrity. You have 60d to do that. The benefit here is that you collect the onboard booking benefits then can collect what ever the other booking agent is offering for taking your booking. I get miles with one, OBCs with others. My most recent foray in this game is with Costco Travel. Check them out.