What is Offered when Booking Onboard….any Changes?

[Denny01]

I know this has been answered in the past, but I haven’t seen anything new about what Celebrity is offering when you book on board since cruising reopening. I looked through (recent) threads but couldn’t see any definitive info. I bet someone recently onboard who has an active thread has provided the info, so sorry if this has been covered. 

 

We are going on board the Apex this Nov for a Thanksgiving cruise and I want to book one of the newly released 2023 cruises - looking at out of Amsterdam to Norway Fjords and then out of Amsterdam to Iceland/Ireland….a B2B! 

 

Thanks in advance. Will book then move it to my TA.

 

den

[kokopelli-az]

This is from our Equinox sailing in August 2021.  

[PinkSandGirl]

Hi!  Here are pictures of the form.  I was on the Oct 8th Equinox and took advantage of the offer.  It was $100/person for a cabin NOT $100/per person then x 2 for a cabin.   It was recently changed to this.  

 

Each passenger is able to purchase 3 Future Cruise Certificates.  You have 90 days to choose your ship & sail date and you still get the extra onboard credit as if you booked onboard. You also get to take advantage of any current promotions.  This can be done with Celebrity or your own travel agent.  

 

After the 90 days passes and up to 1 year, you can still take advantage of the reduced deposit you paid ($100.00) but you won't get the onboard credit.   

 

After 1 year, if you don't book anything,  then the $100 per certificate gets refunded back to you. 

 

It creates Booking #'s.  In my Celebrity account it shows the 3 bookings but no cruises yet since we didn't choose the cruises onboard. 

 

You can also buy them and 'give' them to family or friends.  Unlimited name changes are allowed up until you pick your ship & sail date.  

 

Hope this helps. 😉

 

🍹

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by PinkSandGirl

[morpheusofthesea]

We booked on board and were immediately e-mail a copy of the new booking in a CS. Please notice that we fully expected the advertised $100 booking deposit, which turned into $1000 for a suite. Besides the $300 pp OBC the advantage gained on board booking was an additional $350.

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by morpheusofthesea

[Denny01]

What great response. Thank you. I will be booking at least 3 or even getting 3 FCC!

 

den

[Josie201]

We are planning on taking our extended family in a cruise.  We will need six or maybe seven cabins.  I know my husband and I can each buy three.  Would I also be able to buy another one (different trip) on a specific sailing in addition to the three each TBD ?  

[wrk2cruise]

24 minutes ago, Josie201 said:

We are planning on taking our extended family in a cruise.  We will need six or maybe seven cabins.  I know my husband and I can each buy three.  Would I also be able to buy another one (different trip) on a specific sailing in addition to the three each TBD ?  

You might be better off forming a group, you should talk to the Future Cruises person about that to see what the benefit is.

[PinkSandGirl]

48 minutes ago, Josie201 said:

We are planning on taking our extended family in a cruise.  We will need six or maybe seven cabins.  I know my husband and I can each buy three.  Would I also be able to buy another one (different trip) on a specific sailing in addition to the three each TBD ?  

That I don't know.  We were told 3 per passenger so we didn't ask if we could purchase additional ones.  We thought we could only do 1 so we were pleasantly surprised about 3, so we did that. 😉

 

If 6 cabins are what you need, then you and your husband getting 3 each would cover that.  If you need a 7th cabin, then I'm not sure.    

 

As another poster mentioned, a group booking is an option. You need 8 or more cabins to make a group and then you get additional benefits with that.  

 

🍹

Edited October 23, 2021 by PinkSandGirl

[marienbad]

4 hours ago, kokopelli-az said:

This is from our Equinox sailing in August 2021.  

We are on the Summit now. Went to book a.Royal Suite on the Equinox for me and my wife at the Future cruise consultant. Was told the deposit would be $1800 for the two of us. I thought this was wrong, told her so and left.

Checked the deposit on the Celebrity website and it was $900 for the cabin.

Went back to the onboard booking agent.

she checked the website and agreed, but said the Miami office required a double deposit for these  “premier suites”.

I will check further with Celebrity when we get home but wonder if anyone on these boards has heard of this.

 

[morpheusofthesea]

21 minutes ago, marienbad said:

Was told the deposit would be $1800 for the two of us. I thought this was wrong, told her so and left.

Why don't you just book one of the $100 deposit open booking #.   You decide on the RS back home, with the Celebrity website. If it's $900 or $1800 you then decide, you can apply the $100 or as PSG states you can get $100 refunded. We paid the $1000, it is better than paying $23,000 in full a year in advance like required by Viking Ocean.

[canderson]

33 minutes ago, marienbad said:

... but said the Miami office required a double deposit for these  “premier suites”.

I will check further with Celebrity when we get home but wonder if anyone on these boards has heard of this.

 

Yes, but.  For a recent booking (in July) my TA thought our deposit for an M-class RS would be double as well, but was surprised when she found that it wasn't.  Definitely worked for me!

 

Makes me think that perhaps it only applies to some cruises and not others.  Wonder if it varies with bookings being high/low for a particular cruise?  Ours was a tad 'undersubscribed' at the time.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by canderson

[Ken the cruiser]

Can you use the Book Now option as a place holder? IAW can we book a (refundable) cruise say in April 2023 and then later change it to an itinerary we would rather cruise on and keep the OBC perks? That's what we used to do before this new program went into effect.

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, marienbad said:

We are on the Summit now. Went to book a.Royal Suite on the Equinox for me and my wife at the Future cruise consultant. Was told the deposit would be $1800 for the two of us. I thought this was wrong, told her so and left.

Checked the deposit on the Celebrity website and it was $900 for the cabin.

Went back to the onboard booking agent.

she checked the website and agreed, but said the Miami office required a double deposit for these  “premier suites”.

I will check further with Celebrity when we get home but wonder if anyone on these boards has heard of this.

 

 

The FC rep was correct.   The reduced deposit of $100 pp is only up through Sky Suite.  Celebrity also requires 200% deposit on CS and above suites.  The web site is too stupid to collect this and many times the booking agent forgets to do it.   Several times I've been able to book with just the 100% deposit.

 

Here is the text from the Celebrity Guest Invoice

[PinkSandGirl]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Can you use the Book Now option as a place holder? IAW can we book a (refundable) cruise say in April 2023 and then later change it to an itinerary we would rather cruise on and keep the OBC perks? That's what we used to do before this new program went into effect.

We were told you can change it as many times as you want. 

 

🍹

[canderson]

Don't know what to tell @marienbad  The policy seems to be enforced very irregularly.  Go figure.

 

Here's some more alternate reality - from my X invoice for a RS, booked through my TA, who was, as mentioned, surprised. 

I was only charged 1/2 of the "standard" deposit for two people for an 9+nt RS ($900 total for two of us).  The invoice also reads as follows:

 

Amount Paid 900.00

 

Deposit has been posted to your reservation. Final Payment is due by 14 AUG 2021, 5:00 PM EST
The balance due must be paid in full by the final payment date listed above to prevent your booking from cancelling. Balance and payments may not reflect recent transactions made within the past 48 hours.
Deposit amounts may vary by promotion. North American bookings will require a 200% deposit of standard deposit amount for deluxe suite categories. This amount is not reflected in the total deposit requirement listed above.
 

 

And here is X's schedule for deposits, with the applicable part in red:

 

Deposit and Final Payment

 

Cruise Length	Cabin Category	Deposit Amount	Final Payment Due Date
1 to 5 nights	Sky Suites or lower Celebrity Suites or higher	$100 per person $200 per person	75 days prior to sailing 75 days prior to sailing
6 to 8 nights	Sky Suites or lower Celebrity Suites or higher	$250 per person $500 per person	90 days prior to sailing 90 days prior to sailing
9+ nights	Sky Suites or lower Celebrity Suites or higher	$450 per person $900 per person	90 days prior to sailing 90 days prior to sailing
Galapagos Cruise Tours	Non-suite Staterooms on Xpedition and Xperience Non-suite Staterooms on Xploration Suites on Xpedition and Xploration Suites on Flora	$450 per person $450 per person $900 per person $900 per person	120 days prior to sailing 180 days prior to sailing  180 days prior to sailing 120 days prior to sailing