Am I allowed to do this........

[sarahandgreg]

Booked on a 7 day cruise - paid deposit and a bit more but the balance is due in may.
Can I book the same cruise onboard ( i go in a couple of weeks on a 3 day) pay the deposit and then cancel my original one and get a refund of the amount paid? Or will on board future cruise desk sort this for me.

Has anyone done this or does everyone do this after they realise they could have saved tons????

[VAgal76]

That will depend. You get a 10% discount on all sailings when you book onboard with an onboard credit offer. You are booking at current pricing levels. Check the price of your 7 nighter at today's pricing online. Would it make sense to give up your current sailing for it? I think onboard credit is $200. IMO, usually unless there is a cool promo deal going for your sailing the pricing would be up so much over original booking that it probably wouldn't make sense.

HTH!

[clten]

You can certainly check with the onboard booking agent. On the disboards, this is called re-shopping a cruise and many people do it. Depending on how the original cruise is booked, there is only so much the onboard people can do for you. If you booked originally through a travel agent, you'll have to coordinate the cancelling on the first booking and have the TA transfer that money to the new booking or have it refunded. If booked directly with DCL, the onboard people can do more (that may depend on their level of experience and how busy things are). They may be able to move the money from one booking to the new one.

But do check the price before leaving. The cost of your cruise is going to be at the prices that the onboard booking people are working on it, not the prices when you originally made the booking. If your price hasn't gone up (or hasn't gone up more than the 10% discount will earn you), go ahead and reshop. But if the price has risen significantly, you might be best just to stick with the booking you already made!

[MagicMe]

Check with your agent on board. I did this in 2011 for a 2012 fantasy cruise. Price had only gone up slightly so definitely made out with the 10% off and OBB!! My cruise was in Sept - not prime summertime so pricing did not raise significantly.

[tweis]

Not trying to highjack the thread but I would love to hear more about this from experienced cruisers. How exactly does this work if you are booked with a TA? Could you cancel and rebook the same room? Details please....

[super mike b]

Originally Posted by tweis

Not trying to highjack the thread but I would love to hear more about this from experienced cruisers. How exactly does this work if you are booked with a TA? Could you cancel and rebook the same room? Details please....

We do that. Especially if we want to make sure that we have a room on a particular cruise. We don't always get the exact room, but always very close. We always use the same travel agent and always link them to our onboard bookings. They are more than happy with the way that we do things, but they do get a pretty good volume of business from us.

[tweis]

Originally Posted by super mike b

We do that. Especially if we want to make sure that we have a room on a particular cruise. We don't always get the exact room, but always very close. We always use the same travel agent and always link them to our onboard bookings. They are more than happy with the way that we do things, but they do get a pretty good volume of business from us.

We are booked with DU for a 7 night cruise on the Fantasy in 2014 but we are doing a short cruise on the Dream in May and if the price hasn't gone up significantly I would like to cancel and rebook onboard. Exactly what would I need to do? I of course will check prices before my cruise in May to see if the price has changed, if it hasn't ( or not much) what would I do?

[Four Swampers]

Originally Posted by sarahandgreg

Booked on a 7 day cruise - paid deposit and a bit more but the balance is due in may.
Can I book the same cruise onboard ( i go in a couple of weeks on a 3 day) pay the deposit and then cancel my original one and get a refund of the amount paid? Or will on board future cruise desk sort this for me.

Has anyone done this or does everyone do this after they realise they could have saved tons????

We have done this a lot. If you know your room and its price, the on board booking (OBB) agent can compare prices and categories and let you know exactly what you will pay to rebook.

Usually, we have then gone home with both the original and OBB reservations, as the OBB agent has typically told us that s/he can't cancel the previous reservation on board. Something about computer blah blah bandwidth blah. Anyhow, we go home with both reservations. Then I call DCL and they cancel the first, then immediately switch our room from the OBB to the original room. In theory, someone could snag that room in the 30 seconds it takes to switch, but it has not happened to me yet. Any money you have towards the original cruise can be refunded or applied to the OBB cruise.

One time, the OBB agent was able to cancel our original booking and apply the money to the OBB reservation, but only once. We liked him.

[Jblever]

How much is the OBC for a 3 night when booked onward?

[kcashner]

Take a copy of your existing reservation with you so you are sure you are comparing correctly--it is easy to get confused.

The only time this works is if the price of your cruise has increased very little or not at all. Yes, you can do it if you have a TA. This is what to do--book the new cruise (yes, you'll pay a new deposit). Name the same TA. Then, when you get home, call the TA and ask her to "reconcile" the reservations. She'll be able to call DCL and move the cabin you want to the less expensive reservation and cancel the other one. She can also keep your same dinner time.

If your reservation is directly with DCL (no TA involved), the on board agent can handle the whole thing while you are there but he has to cancel the old reservation first. There is a hypothetical chance that you could lose your cabin in that 10 seconds between canceling one and booking the new one . Sometimes the onboard agent will not do it for you--you go home with 2 reservations and call DCL as soon as you are home.

[tweis]

Originally Posted by kcashner

Take a copy of your existing reservation with you so you are sure you are comparing correctly--it is easy to get confused.

The only time this works is if the price of your cruise has increased very little or not at all. Yes, you can do it if you have a TA. This is what to do--book the new cruise (yes, you'll pay a new deposit). Name the same TA. Then, when you get home, call the TA and ask her to "reconcile" the reservations. She'll be able to call DCL and move the cabin you want to the less expensive reservation and cancel the other one. She can also keep your same dinner time.

If your reservation is directly with DCL (no TA involved), the on board agent can handle the whole thing while you are there but he has to cancel the old reservation first. There is a hypothetical chance that you could lose your cabin in that 10 seconds between canceling one and booking the new one . Sometimes the onboard agent will not do it for you--you go home with 2 reservations and call DCL as soon as you are home.

I was not the OP but this was very helpful to me. Thanks.

[super mike b]

Originally Posted by kcashner

Take a copy of your existing reservation with you so you are sure you are comparing correctly--it is easy to get confused.

The only time this works is if the price of your cruise has increased very little or not at all. Yes, you can do it if you have a TA. This is what to do--book the new cruise (yes, you'll pay a new deposit). Name the same TA. Then, when you get home, call the TA and ask her to "reconcile" the reservations. She'll be able to call DCL and move the cabin you want to the less expensive reservation and cancel the other one. She can also keep your same dinner time.

If your reservation is directly with DCL (no TA involved), the on board agent can handle the whole thing while you are there but he has to cancel the old reservation first. There is a hypothetical chance that you could lose your cabin in that 10 seconds between canceling one and booking the new one . Sometimes the onboard agent will not do it for you--you go home with 2 reservations and call DCL as soon as you are home.

Well stated.

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Originally Posted by Jblever

How much is the OBC for a 3 night when booked onward?

They told me anything up to a 7 night is $100 and anything over 7 is $200. I rebooked to get the $100 and then I have them my DU TA info and I will get another $100 by using DU. It will be my first time using DU so I'm not trying to advertise but I will see how they do.