Booking Another Cruise on "Next Cruise" While on Ship

[tj_shopper]

We will be cruising on Radiance of the Seas on May 24th.  I have two cruises picked out that I'm currently thinking about booking - one 7 day cruise on Harmony in December 2024 and a 12 night cruise in January 2026 on Celebrity Soltice.  I've been reading some advantages of booking on Next Cruise - lower deposits and maybe perks like additional OBC.  We normally book a balcony for my husband and me and oceanview for my daughters.  Can anyone tell me if we should book while on our cruise or just do it at home?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

[smokeybandit]

The only downside to waiting is risking that the price increase of a cruise could negate NextCruise perks.

 

But a week shouldn't be risky. Just pay attention to the RC website (you can access the RC website without any Voom package) so you know the going rate of the cruise since they can have "sales" that increase the price at times.

[mets123]

Keep in mind you can always reprice your next cruise reservations.

[tj_shopper]

Thanks @smokeybandit and @mets123.  I do have a very good travel agent.  She always gets back to me via email within a couple of hours, if not faster any day of the week.  I've been emailing with her on the prices so I do know it's pretty current.  I'll probably email her again when I get on the ship to see how the prices have change; however, like @mets123mentioned, I can always reprice if the prices go down.  The question is, if I reprice, do I get to keep my OBC?

 

I also don't know whether to book refundable or non-refundable.  I normally book refundable but the price difference on these two cruises, especially the 12 days to Asia is vastly higher on the refundable.  I always get travel insurance so I think there is no need to get refundable unless I think there is a chance that I might want to change the dates of travel.

 

Decisions, decisions.  

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, tj_shopper said:

The question is, if I reprice, do I get to keep my OBC?

Depends if it's there's promotional OBC -those may go away if you reprice. You keep the on board booking OBC if you reprice.

Ask your TA if she offers group rates - those are refundable and could be lower than the regular price.

Edited May 19 by Biker19

[tj_shopper]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Ask your TA if she offers group rates - those are refundable and could be lower than the regular price.

Yep we normally do get group rates that are refundable.  I think the two cruises I am looking at she does not have group rates for.  That's a shame because there will probably be a bunch of us going to Asia.  We did the Mediterranean cruise last May with 34 people and we're going on the Alaskan cruise next week with 33 people.

[smokeybandit]

NextCruise OBC stays with the reservation across reprices.