OBB Placeholder Question

[Jennifer777]

For our next cruise one of the options we're considering in lieu of a 7 night caribbean is a 3 & 4 night B2B Bahamian cruise on the Dream, since that's the only ship we haven't been on yet and also so we could go to Castaway Cay twice. We booked a placeholder while on board since the dates we're looking at haven't been released yet but that will only cover one of the B2B cruises. They wouldn't let us buy two placeholders so we could get the OBB discount/credit for all 7 nights of our trip but I swear I've seen posts from others who have had more than one placeholder at a time. Has anyone done this and if so, how?

 

[princessmommyx3]

We have 2 placeholders right now but we booked them on separate cruises.

 

[CM Dad]

For our next cruise one of the options we're considering in lieu of a 7 night caribbean is a 3 & 4 night B2B Bahamian cruise on the Dream, since that's the only ship we haven't been on yet and also so we could go to Castaway Cay twice. We booked a placeholder while on board since the dates we're looking at haven't been released yet but that will only cover one of the B2B cruises. They wouldn't let us buy two placeholders so we could get the OBB discount/credit for all 7 nights of our trip but I swear I've seen posts from others who have had more than one placeholder at a time. Has anyone done this and if so, how?

The one B2B we booked was back when they allowed you to use the OBB to book one stateroom for both legs of a B2B cruise instead of 2 reservation of two staterooms on the same cruise. I think that they changed this policy in the last year or so.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

For our next cruise one of the options we're considering in lieu of a 7 night caribbean is a 3 & 4 night B2B Bahamian cruise on the Dream, since that's the only ship we haven't been on yet and also so we could go to Castaway Cay twice. We booked a placeholder while on board since the dates we're looking at haven't been released yet but that will only cover one of the B2B cruises. They wouldn't let us buy two placeholders so we could get the OBB discount/credit for all 7 nights of our trip but I swear I've seen posts from others who have had more than one placeholder at a time. Has anyone done this and if so, how?

As noted, the only way now is to book a placeholder while on two separate cruises.

 

[Jennifer777]

Thanks for the info. I was told that I could book two staterooms on the same cruise with my one placeholder but not the same stateroom for two consecutive cruises. It didn't make much sense to me so thanks for the clarification. Back to the drawing board I guess.

 

[Hundredacre]

Thanks for the info. I was told that I could book two staterooms on the same cruise with my one placeholder but not the same stateroom for two consecutive cruises. It didn't make much sense to me so thanks for the clarification. Back to the drawing board I guess.

Just curious- were you in two rooms on your last cruise and they gave you one placeholder? We have never booked placeholders just specific cruises. I am wondering if since we travel in two rooms we can get two placeholders and then use those two placeholders for two separate cruises. I thought that we could only book one room per placeholder and would need two placeholders for one trip since we need two rooms. Sorry this is very confusing.

 

[wilma-bride]

Just curious- were you in two rooms on your last cruise and they gave you one placeholder? We have never booked placeholders just specific cruises. I am wondering if since we travel in two rooms we can get two placeholders and then use those two placeholders for two separate cruises. I thought that we could only book one room per placeholder and would need two placeholders for one trip since we need two rooms. Sorry this is very confusing.

You can book more than one stateroom but both must be for the same future cruise in order to retain the OBB benefits. There have been reports from people who say they have booked placeholders for two staterooms and then split them onto two separate cruises at a later date, but this is against policy. If you want two staterooms on a future cruise, you will need to book two placeholders - one per stateroom.

 

[Jennifer777]

Just curious- were you in two rooms on your last cruise and they gave you one placeholder? We have never booked placeholders just specific cruises. I am wondering if since we travel in two rooms we can get two placeholders and then use those two placeholders for two separate cruises. I thought that we could only book one room per placeholder and would need two placeholders for one trip since we need two rooms. Sorry this is very confusing.

No, we were in one stateroom but it wouldn't matter either way. If you use two staterooms, they allow you to use one placeholder to book both of those staterooms on the same cruise but they won't allow you to book more than one placeholder. I guess my gripe is because we are looking to book one stateroom on the same ship for 7 consecutive nights in a row but because it's a B2B and not a dedicated 7 night sailing, we can't use the placeholder for the whole thing. However, they would let me book 2 staterooms with that same placeholder on a 7 night sailing, which would be a much larger discount. I'm struggling to understand the rational.

 

[wilma-bride]

No, we were in one stateroom but it wouldn't matter either way. If you use two staterooms, they allow you to use one placeholder to book both of those staterooms on the same cruise but they won't allow you to book more than one placeholder. I guess my gripe is because we are looking to book one stateroom on the same ship for 7 consecutive nights in a row but because it's a B2B and not a dedicated 7 night sailing, we can't use the placeholder for the whole thing. However, they would let me book 2 staterooms with that same placeholder on a 7 night sailing, which would be a much larger discount. I'm struggling to understand the rational.

The rationale is that you are only allowed to get the benefits on one future sailing, be that a 3 night, 7 night or 14 night. The cost is irrelevant - some 14 night cruises are cheaper than 7 night cruises.

 

[Jennifer777]

The rationale is that you are only allowed to get the benefits on one future sailing, be that a 3 night, 7 night or 14 night. The cost is irrelevant - some 14 night cruises are cheaper than 7 night cruises.

I would understand that if we were attempting to book two completely separate cruises at different times. It's a little more difficult for me to understand when we would be on the same ship, same room, for 7 consecutive nights and our stuff would never even leave our room. To us, it is one sailing. The one positive I can see coming from it is if they are considering it two entirely separate cruises, they have no reason not to allow me to book two separate cruises or placeholders while on board if I book one during the four day and one during the 3 day.

 

[wilma-bride]

I would understand that if we were attempting to book two completely separate cruises at different times. It's a little more difficult for me to understand when we would be on the same ship, same room, for 7 consecutive nights and our stuff would never even leave our room. To us, it is one sailing. The one positive I can see coming from it is if they are considering it two entirely separate cruises, they have no reason not to allow me to book two separate cruises or placeholders while on board if I book one during the four day and one during the 3 day.

You will be allowed to do precisely that. I am in the exact same situation (although actually worse off since they were still allowing B2B cruises to be booked and both get the benefits when I booked ours, but having never considered a B2B I only booked one placeholder - and then promptly booked B2B cruises less than one month later).

But, yes, I plan to book a placeholder on both of those cruises. And that is exactly why the rationale above bears out, they are two separate cruises so you can book a placeholder on each and get the benefits.

 

[slykrab]

This is slightly different from your situation, but while on board the Fantasy my husband and I booked a b2b on the Dream. We got the discount and all other benefits for both cruises. I noticed one had his name as the primary and one had mine.

But we did not use a placeholder booking for this - we booked it directly. This was in late 2014 for a late 2015 sailing.

We then booked two place holders-one on each of the b2b cruises-when we were on the Dream in late 2015.

 

[wilma-bride]

This is slightly different from your situation, but while on board the Fantasy my husband and I booked a b2b on the Dream. We got the discount and all other benefits for both cruises. I noticed one had his name as the primary and one had mine.

But we did not use a placeholder booking for this - we booked it directly. This was in late 2014 for a late 2015 sailing.

We then booked two place holders-one on each of the b2b cruises-when we were on the Dream in late 2015.

The bolded bit was previous policy - this is no longer permitted as of last year. You can now only receive the OBB benefits on one future sailing (B2Bs are not considered one future sailing any more).

 

[slykrab]

The bolded bit was previous policy - this is no longer permitted as of last year. You can now only receive the OBB benefits on one future sailing (B2Bs are not considered one future sailing any more).

It didn't even occur to me until later that we had booked two cruises with the discount-I'd always seen the cruises as one in my mind! I was then surprised they let us do it, once I thought about it.

I guess I didn't know about their policy allowing b2b, but it's good to know of the change not allowing it going forward.

 

[CGrieger]

I have booked two rooms for a single future sailing and then later split the two reservations for separate cruises and maintained the benefits for both.