BOOK NOW or in APRIL ONBOARD

[sandc4e]

I am going to book the Greece/Italy cruise for June 2018, it will be hubby's 50th birthday.

 

I wanted to ask if we should book now or wait until we are onboard Silhouette in April. If I book now can I still take advantage of onboard booking (I'm thinking no.)

 

Help!

[easyboy]

Unless you want to lock your preferred cabin now, and with still about 14 months from April 2017 to June 2018, I don't see a reason why you can not wait for an April 2017 booking.

 

 

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Edited November 29, 2016 by easyboy

[karena1]

I agree, you with get the OBC for booking onboard and possibly some other perks that they might be offering at the time

[bertrande]

I am going to book the Greece/Italy cruise for June 2018, it will be hubby's 50th birthday.

 

I wanted to ask if we should book now or wait until we are onboard Silhouette in April. If I book now can I still take advantage of onboard booking (I'm thinking no.)

 

Help!

 

I would choose to book early - I was going to book the Ireland/Iceland cruise for May 2018 and the cabins I wanted (S1 on Deck 11) were no longer available (this was mid-day EST). My TA sent me a list of available cabins and there were plenty but not all in good locations (only Deck 11 had sold out, other sought after decks had one left etc). Not sure if you book now whether you can cancel and rebook onboard though.

[Beanb41]

WE will be booking our 2018 cruise when we join the Constellation in May 2017. There maybe a new range of perks available and current prices may have moved up or down ( a risk) and there will be benefits for booking on board. We are more price conscious rather than preferred cabins so I see no benefit booking now. With current pricing I cant see any issues waiting 5 months

Edited November 30, 2016 by Beanb41

[jelayne]

If you are in the US you can book now with a TA getting more OBC and then when you get on board if the price hasn't increased you can always cancel your TA booking & book on board. Get the onboard booking perks and then when you get home you can transfer the booking to a TA & get more OBC.

 

This has worked for us in the past, but on 2 occasions the price increase by the time we got on the ship was more than we would have gained by cancelling & booking onboard.

 

Just make sure the TA on the initial booking doesn't charge a cancellation fee.

[riclop]

I am going to book the Greece/Italy cruise for June 2018, it will be hubby's 50th birthday.

 

I wanted to ask if we should book now or wait until we are onboard Silhouette in April. If I book now can I still take advantage of onboard booking (I'm thinking no.)

 

Help!

 

You may not get the cabin you want in April.

[sandc4e]

All great advice! I think we will wait and book onboard for additional perks.

 

As long as I have a decent Veranda I'm happy. We're sailing AFT in April for the first time and that's because I wanted to try it. We don't have a specific cabin in mind, at this time.

 

Thanks for all the guidance. Much appreciated.

[bphman]

I would book now and grab a cabin. There can be a BIG difference in cabins within the same category. For example, an A2 can be under suites or under the pool area. You may also wind up with being located near a late venue. I have made that mistake with Guarantee cabins. If your desired cabin is gone, it's gone. If the price goes down, you can get a reduction in your fare. If it goes up, too bad. I was never blown away with what they offer booking on board. Reduced deposit? No big deal. The OBC is never major. My TA will often have blocks of cabins that beat the cruise lines anyway. It's up to you but I never wait. A lot can happen in 6 months.

[Sonoma fans]

Booked the Dublin and Iceland 5/10/18 trip yesterday. I require an accessible so booked early. During our upcoming BSB in January on Reflection, we will see what the current price and offers are and they will revise the reservation to reflect on board booking with the perks being offered. This is if you booked directly with Celebrity (which we did for this trip purposely). If you went through a TA, they can not touch the reservation and you would need to cancel if you booked and wanted the OB deal.

[Lastdance]

I am going to book the Greece/Italy cruise for June 2018, it will be hubby's 50th birthday.

 

 

 

I wanted to ask if we should book now or wait until we are onboard Silhouette in April. If I book now can I still take advantage of onboard booking (I'm thinking no.)

 

 

 

Help!

 

 

Yesterday, I booked the Italy and Greece cruise for a great price and got all four perks and the premium pkg. it may be gone after today, I was told by my TA....

Oops...you said S and we booked the Reflection....

 

 

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Edited November 30, 2016 by Lastdance

[leehal]

We wanted a particular cabin and although there are no perks at the moment if you book direct they will upgrade your cabin, we booked an A1 cabin for the price of an A2.

 

We now have until December 2017 to choose our offer and lock the perks and price in.

[conquesodor]

I've been wondering the same thing as the OP, but I'm still curious about a number of things.

 

Are the on-board booking perks really not that good as compared to what you can get from a TA? When I was on Summit in April, they were offering $500 OBC, $25 down, and the Good-Better-Best perks. Seemed like a good deal to me, but I wasn't prepared to book a cruise at that point.

 

Are we comparing apples to apples? I can understand that some veteran cruisers know exactly which cabin they want, down to the cabin number, which would increase your incentive to book early. If you're looking for a particular suite or an aft cabin, they are in limited supply, so once again you have an incentive to book early. I'd think that those of us who will be happy with the majority of veranda cabin choices are probably okay with waiting.

 

Are cruises just released this week *really* selling out? Or is it just a very specific class of cabin? Or do the cruise lines play games like hotels and airlines do, and not put the whole ship up for sale at the same time?

 

My experience is limited, but I've usually gotten good deals and cabins waiting 3-6 months before the cruise to book. My upcoming (May 2017) 10-day Italy-Spain cruise was only booked last month and there were many cabins available.

 

On the other hand, prices seem harder to predict. On the above mentioned Italy-Spain cruise, the prices seemed quite good in October, but they've actually gone up since I booked. However, I'd think that =X= has little incentive to discount cabins for 2018 sailings, they have a lot of time to wait and see how many cabins sell at "full price." If you are flexible about cabin choice, I'd think that waiting a bit is the best option at this point?

 

Finally, my cruise shopping experience is limited to the Caribbean, where there is lots of competition for =X= to contend with. I'm not sure that's the case in the Mediterranean? If there are fewer alternatives, than there's less pressure to discount prices and greater odds if we wait that we'll not find the cabin we're looking for?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on these issues.

[bEwAbG]

I've been wondering the same thing as the OP, but I'm still curious about a number of things.

 

Are the on-board booking perks really not that good as compared to what you can get from a TA?

 

The advantage to booking on board is the extra OBC offered (above the $300 that's part of the Go Big-Better-Best offer) for doing so. That's the incentive to wait because you rarely get that as part of a public sale. Sometimes the deposit is reduced, too.

 

Savvy travelers will transfer that booking to their TA for more perks once they're home.

 

Reasons to not wait include cabin selection if you're particular, making sure you get a room on itineraries that have limited sailings, and hedging against future price increases. Lots of variables.

[conquesodor]

The advantage to booking on board is the extra OBC offered (above the $300 that's part of the Go Big-Better-Best offer) for doing so. That's the incentive to wait because you rarely get that as part of a public sale. Sometimes the deposit is reduced, too.

 

Savvy travelers will transfer that booking to their TA for more perks once they're home.

 

Reasons to not wait include cabin selection if you're particular, making sure you get a room on itineraries that have limited sailings, and hedging against future price increases. Lots of variables.

 

Thanks, your summation makes a lot of sense! :)

 

I also hear a lot of people mention making reservations to hold things and then cancel or transfer reservations much later on, prior to final payment. I've never done this, but wonder if it's worth it or not? Don't you loose your deposit? It also would seem to artificially distort the market and availability of cabins if you are looking at a cruise 12 months or more out.

 

I also need to get more "savvy" about taking advantage of one deal and transferring it to get even more. The few cruises I've booked, I did so through Costco Travel, which seemed to have some decent incentives on top of what I saw offered elsewhere. Now I'm wondering if that's the best strategy? (this is assuming NOT booking on board)

[karena1]

I always book our long cruises on a cruise. I don't care about the lower deposit so much, but lots of time there are really good perks. So worth it to me

[dodger1964]

..

Savvy travelers will transfer that booking to their TA for more perks once they're home...

 

I don't know if it is standard procedure (I have only booked one cruise while on a cruise), but when I booked that time, the future cruise I booked was automatically transferred to my TA. I didn't do anything.

 

(and best of all that "future booked cruise" is in 24 days!)

[Taylor D]

There is a cruise we want to book in Europe 2018 on the Reflection. We are already booked for July on the Equinox to the Caribbean so I was wondering if I waited and booked Europe on board i may get a better deal.

[gfkcruiser]

In the US you do not lose your deposit with Celebrity as long as it is not in the final patent window. Many travel agents do charge a cancellation fee. Very easy to cancel.

 

As for transferring a booking made with Celebrity, there is a time limitation to transfer to travel agent.

 

If you make an onboard booking and the price goes down you usually can get the reduced price as long as not in final payment window. May take a bit of doing but most times this can be done. My cruise went down a week after I returned from cruise where I booked the future cruise onboard.

[bEwAbG]

I don't know if it is standard procedure (I have only booked one cruise while on a cruise), but when I booked that time, the future cruise I booked was automatically transferred to my TA. I didn't do anything.

 

(and best of all that "future booked cruise" is in 24 days!)

 

Yes, they will assign it to the TA who booked your current cruise unless you tell them differently. Last cruise, I wanted to NOT use the same TA and just had the agent make it a Celebrity booking. Then I did the transfer to a new TA later. It has to be done within 60 days and must be done before final payment occurs.

Edited November 30, 2016 by bEwAbG

[sandc4e]

Great advice from many. thank you all.