Book new cruise while on cruise?

[lb0456]

We would like to do British Isles Cruise, England, Ireland, etc. We will be on a Mexican Riviera cruise in January. Would we get a better deal by booking a cruise while on a cruise versus booking online or using travel agent? Any ideas? 

[smplybcause]

The only thing you get on board is a free upgrade within a mega category. Ie you can get a higher category balcony for the price of a cheaper balcony. You can't upgrade from inside to ocean view for free. 

 

Depending on the cruise it could be a good amount of savings. Or it might not be that much. 

[waterjock]

If you plan on going on more Ncl cruises you can get $500 dollars in free money by buying a cruise next 4 $250 coupons for $500 dollars. Some times they allow you to use 2 coupons for a balcony cabin.

[julig22]

I tried to book a new cruise while onboard and the CruiseNext guy was more interested in watching what was going on in the Atrium than doing a booking.  I'd already done my research and knew what I wanted.  So I booked when I got home (no commission for him!).  Ended up using my NCL credit card points to do a mega upgrade to a balcony anyway.  But under the right circumstances, you can get a little upgrade.

[smplybcause]

16 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I tried to book a new cruise while onboard and the CruiseNext guy was more interested in watching what was going on in the Atrium than doing a booking.  I'd already done my research and knew what I wanted.  So I booked when I got home (no commission for him!).  Ended up using my NCL credit card points to do a mega upgrade to a balcony anyway.  But under the right circumstances, you can get a little upgrade.

 

I'm assuming their comp is tied, if at all, to cruise next. Never when I've bought has anyone asked me about booking. They rarely even mention the free upgrade in their cruise next speech. Though admittedly anymore I cut them off and go I've bought on my last several cruises I just need the form and a pen. 

 

I question whether they are commissions based as they've never given me the hard sell to buy more than 2. And when I told one I just wanted 3 he was like sure, instead of trying to sell me on 4.

Edited December 8, 2019 by smplybcause

[lb0456]

1 hour ago, waterjock said:

If you plan on going on more Ncl cruises you can get $500 dollars in free money by buying a cruise next 4 $250 coupons for $500 dollars. Some times they allow you to use 2 coupons for a balcony cabin.

Yes, we have done that a few times. We actually did this last year so we still have 3 cruises to do. 

[happytravellers2]

We took the 2 for 1 future cruise offer on our cruise last year - paying $250. We used it for the $500 deposit on our cruise next March - which I booked when one of the special sales were on (think it was labour day) with all the perks. 

The sales agent we dealt with was really good - and wanted to understand our circumstances in order to find what was best for us - and cautioned that at that time NCL had only guaranteed that you could use 2 vouchers on one cruise until the end of that year - they were likely to extend it, but it wasn’t guaranteed - so don’t know the current circumstances. 

We did book a balcony.

Edited December 8, 2019 by happytravellers2

[BirdTravels]

On the Thanksgiving week cruise on the Encore, the Cruise Next people really pushed that the 30% off "Black Friday Deal" was going to end on Saturday (the day before we got back to Miami)... which it didn't. Those who believed that the sale was going to end, sat in a 3-4 hour long line (pulling all of the Atrium furniture to block the entrance to Starbucks, to try and book a cruise. Now that the 30% off sale is still going, I bet they regret giving up their entire last sea day to wait in that long line. 

[blueslily]

41 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

On the Thanksgiving week cruise on the Encore, the Cruise Next people really pushed that the 30% off "Black Friday Deal" was going to end on Saturday (the day before we got back to Miami)... which it didn't. Those who believed that the sale was going to end, sat in a 3-4 hour long line (pulling all of the Atrium furniture to block the entrance to Starbucks, to try and book a cruise. Now that the 30% off sale is still going, I bet they regret giving up their entire last sea day to wait in that long line. 

 

Wooo, that's so sad. It will be even sadder (more sad, lol)  if they did not check prices online to see if a cruise they wanted was actually anywhere near "30% off". Standing or sitting in line for three hours like that is not how I would want to spend precious vacation time. So sad. 

[Megalyn]

10 hours ago, smplybcause said:

Never when I've bought has anyone asked me about booking. They rarely even mention the free upgrade in their cruise next speech.

For me, I hear about the upgrades by voicemail.  If I have unused Cruise Next certificates, I end up with multiple sales pitch voicemails to my cabin.

[fstuff1]

the advantage for me to booking next cruise while on board is picking my own room when selecting a GTY room.

downside:  i'm sacrificing a 20% discount from the casino since i'm not booking thru CAS

 

Why i did it:

- i saw that one of the coveted angled balconies was available on a Megaship (Breakaway? Escape?) and the GTY balcony pricing was cheap!

- booked a GTY balcony and got to pick my room, which was that angled balcony!

- the 20% discount (which in reality is only 10% because fees) i sacrificed would have only saved me about $80

- would gladly pay $80 to get the angled balcony for such a cheap price

 

Note: This was 2+ years ago.

Hopefully it is still in effect?

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by fstuff1

[smplybcause]

4 hours ago, Megalyn said:

For me, I hear about the upgrades by voicemail.  If I have unused Cruise Next certificates, I end up with multiple sales pitch voicemails to my cabin.

 

The second I hear cruise next I delete the voicemail so I honestly don't know what they say on it! 

 

I'd almost say them hounding me makes me not want to buy them, but free money. 

[dexddd]

20 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

The second I hear cruise next I delete the voicemail so I honestly don't know what they say on it! 

 

I'd almost say them hounding me makes me not want to buy them, but free money. 

Yeah, we had robocalls two trips ago.  You go on trip to get away and what does NCL do, they staff up their Cruisenext staff then call you in your cabin.  Classy.

[davencl]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

On the Thanksgiving week cruise on the Encore, the Cruise Next people really pushed that the 30% off "Black Friday Deal" was going to end on Saturday (the day before we got back to Miami)... which it didn't. Those who believed that the sale was going to end, sat in a 3-4 hour long line (pulling all of the Atrium furniture to block the entrance to Starbucks, to try and book a cruise. Now that the 30% off sale is still going, I bet they regret giving up their entire last sea day to wait in that long line. 

Plus it was the biggest non-sale I've seen in awhile.  They jacked prices up 40% on the Friday before to announce 30% off on Monday...

[lb0456]

Thanks everyone 👍🙂

[lb0456]

10 hours ago, dexddd said:

Yeah, we had robocalls two trips ago.  You go on trip to get away and what does NCL do, they staff up their Cruisenext staff then call you in your cabin.  Classy.

We almost always buy cruise next but have never been bothered by a phone call or anything. 🤔 

[Gizmosmum]

I booked a cruise to New England 2020 on my cruise. I was able to use two cruise next certificates for our inside cabin and received an upgrade which enabled us to receive a free at sea offer. The cruise booking was transferred to my TA and I received a further discount through them.

[JamieLogical]

Surprised to hear people get hounded by cruisenext so much on board. I almost always buy cruisenext (unless I already have some stockpiled), but usually not until the end of the trip. At most, what "hounding" I get is a letter/ad left on my bed along with my daily in the evening and one voicemail.

 

As for the benefit of booking on board, we have done it a few times and it does usually save us about $50-80 per person when we do, because we usually book BAs (for an angled balcony), but get them for the BF or BD price by booking on board.

 

I have found that booking on board well in advance (like 8-12 months out) for a ship that hasn't launched yet can save you a TON of money versus booking the same sailing after the ship has launched. We booked a February 2019 sailing on the Bliss while on the Escape in February 2018, before the Bliss launched that March. We paid $1079 per person for our BA. By the time we were to final payment, the price for that room had jumped to $1929 per person. Similarly, while on the Bliss in February 2019, we booked the Encore for December 2019. We ended up cancelling that booking, but again, by late summer, the price on that sailing had also jumped significantly.