Why book on board?

Have you ever whilst on board your cruise visited the Future Cruise desk? or wondered why there is always a queue of people at the desks? Or have you felt you had better not enquire with as you don’t want to be disloyal to your travel agent who you book all your cruises through and will wait until you get home to book another cruise? You might be surprised to know that the team on board do work with agents and don’t keep the bookings direct.

When we call to wish you Bon Voyage off on your forthcoming cruise, we will always tell you about booking another cruise whilst on board – why? Booking on board often gives you extra benefits for being a returning passenger. For example I had a couple last week, who had a cruise in mind so we priced it up before they departed on their cruise which was 2 days later – I gave them our price and advised them P&O currently were giving them £150 total on board credit. When they went to speak to the loyalty team on board they were given a price and for booking on board they would get £300 on board credit – so double the amount then if they had booked it a few days previous, so it was a no brainer for them to book on board, pay a deposit and then have the booking sent back to me to continue to look after. P&O emailed us instantly the confirmation and their confirmation from us was sitting in their inbox waiting for them when they returned.

Other benefits can be extra money off, more on board credit, the option to amend your cruise at a later date to an alternative one. 

But what happens if you don’t know which cruise you want to do next? Majority of the cruise lines such as P&O, Cunard, Princess, NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity offer a pay a deposit now, book the cruise later scheme. So this means you pay a deposit of approx £50 – £100 per person but you don’t specify a particular cruise. Then when you have decided whether it be one month or 8 months later, your agent will check the cruise with your loyalty numbers and the deposit will pull through on your booking (and come off the price) and you will then receive the relevant benefits such as additional on board credit. Some cruise lines do have a limit of when they need to be used by (normally about 2 years)

So If you have a cruise in mind before you go, then let us know and we will happily price it up for you with any relevant benefits, then if you price it up on board and you are offered a better deal then book it there and send it back to your cruise agent who will happily take over the rest for you.

Have a great couple of weeks

Kerry

xx