On board back 2 back booking

[AlyxAugustine]

Hey all! My family and I are booked on a summer 22 cruise, and some of us are considering booking another as a back to back. My question is whether or not we can make an onboard booking for the cruise immediately after?
We know there’s a risk of there not being any rooms available if we wait that long to book.
Thanks!

 

[TestingH2O]

I believe new bookings close 3 days before the ship sails. So, depending on how long that first leg is, you might not have time. At the very least, you would need to do it early in the cruise.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hey all! My family and I are booked on a summer 22 cruise, and some of us are considering booking another as a back to back. My question is whether or not we can make an onboard booking for the cruise immediately after?
We know there’s a risk of there not being any rooms available if we wait that long to book.
Thanks!

Yes, if there is room onboard, you usually can book the next cruise. Now, that may change due to COVID protocols (and any necessary testing that may be required). Under the current protocols only cruises shorter than 7 nights are allowed, so I'm not sure about booking the "next" cruise if it would put you over the 7 night restriction.

 

[bcwife76]

We are booked next summer on a b2b, but it's on the Magic in Europe so doesn't fall under the current CDC restrictions.

 

[AgentMama]

Depending on how popular the cruise is, the 10% discount may not beat the current posted cruise price. If cruising truly does restart successfully, I think there is a lot of pent up travel demand, if the second cruise is truly something some of you want to do, I think you might be better off booking earlier.

 

[I_love_Cruising]

I have been thinking about doing this too. I'm wondering if the next cruise will be GTY rooms only, if that would prevent me from getting the 10% off?

If I remember correctly GTY were released at least a month or 2 in advance. So if we can't get the 10% with the GTY rate, than booking when they release the GTY rate may be a better option.

 

[mevelandry]

Hey all! My family and I are booked on a summer 22 cruise, and some of us are considering booking another as a back to back. My question is whether or not we can make an onboard booking for the cruise immediately after?
We know there’s a risk of there not being any rooms available if we wait that long to book.
Thanks!

If it’s a cruise longer than 4 nights and you do it at the very beginning of the cruise it should be fine. However, the last minutes prices could be very high and you have very little control over the type of room you’ll get because it will depend on availability.

I believe you would save more money by booking early than booking on board.

 

[fredandkell]

I would have some sort of a back up plan in case it doesn’t work. Because in Europe, there is going to be a crazy demand for travel next summer so it might be difficult to even get hotel rooms if the cruise doesn’t work out. Sadly I think that next summer is not the summer to try to be spontaneous. Even now a lot of things are sold out. My family just got back from a week at the Utah national parks and every single hotel we stayed at was sold out.

 

[lanejudy]

My question is whether or not we can make an onboard booking for the cruise immediately after?

It has been allowed in the past; it's been possible to book a cruise up to the day prior to embarkation so no worries about timing other than whether there are staterooms/capacity available. Whether it may be allowed in the future remains to be seen. PPs bring up good points that the following cruise could well be much more expensive if you wait to book it onboard rather than booking now -- if you really want to do the B2B I would consider booking now. For summer 2022, you still have quite a bit of time to decide to cancel with full refund.

I'm wondering if the next cruise will be GTY rooms only, if that would prevent me from getting the 10% off?

GTY is allowed with an Onboard Booking discount. Such as 4A GTY or 8B GTY. The *GT rates would not be an option for booking onboard with the 10% discount though may be an option if a better deal.

 

[Intr3pid]

Whether you get a better or worse price that late in the game, you will most certainly not get the same room. Consider that from a logistical standpoint if you are traveling as a family.

 

[Quellman]

Whether you get a better or worse price that late in the game, you will most certainly not get the same room. Consider that from a logistical standpoint if you are traveling as a family.

This was my thought. Summer 22 is going to be full. The OBB rate reduction probably will NOT make up for the cost difference in the fare increase from now until summer 22. Doesn't seem to be a cost savings strategy and unless they are local, they'll need to find accommodations. Probably not the hardest thing in the world in FLorida, but still.

 

[jenmiller114]

To me, the biggest advantage to booking in advance is being able to stay in the same room for both sailings. As many have noted, if there were a savings, I would assume it will be minimal compared to the price increase you will see over the course of the next year. And unless it was several hundreds of dollars, I would prefer to pay more to stay in the same room and not have to pack, move and unpack.

Personally, I would put a deposit down for both cruises and watch prices. When you get close to PIF, you will have an idea of availability and the price difference to decide if it's worth keeping the booking or rolling the dice on an OBB discount being the better deal.

FWIW- We booked the Magic the day before it sailed last year. They had to call shoreside to let them know we were coming and we didn't have a room assigned to us until we arrived at the ship but it can be done.

 

[MickeySwirl]

It is definitely a plus to have the same room on a B2B. We did it once where we had to move rooms and it was inconvenient to have to pack up (however haphazardly) and unpack again.

 

[kathi]

We did this back in 2008, but after 9/11 you were not able to due to some homeland security thing. I didn't realize it was possible (pre-covid but post 9/11). That's great news for the future.

 

[FWRR3]

About three years ago on the third day of a 4-night Dream cruise I was able to book a concierge one bedroom for the next cruise at a really good price, due to a last minute cancellation.