Beba Posted March 5, 2016 Report Share Posted March 5, 2016 Anthem of the Seas- 2/21/16-3/2/16- It was great of RCCL to give the 50% discount. If you left a deposit for your next cruise you would have received on board credit of up to $500. However you had to book a specific cruise and make that decision while on board. To take advantage of this offer many people had to wait on long lines for hours to meet a representative. This was unfair to people on vacation to wait on these lines. Finally, RCCL after a few days handed out forms. This allowed people to select a cruise and simply hand in these forms, avoiding standing in lines for hours. Other cruise lines like Princess and Norwegian allow you to leave a deposit, get the same onboard credit and allow you four years to book your cruise. I refused to wait on line and felt it was unfair to force me to make an immediate decision. Thus I elected to lose the on board credit. Poor policy by RCCL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd Posted March 5, 2016 Report Share Posted March 5, 2016 Each cruise line is free to develop and market services based upon the plan they put into place. Royal seems to be happy with the way they handle Nest Cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyalLaker Posted March 5, 2016 Report Share Posted March 5, 2016 Anthem of the Seas- 2/21/16-3/2/16- It was great of RCCL to give the 50% discount. If you left a deposit for your next cruise you would have received on board credit of up to $500. However you had to book a specific cruise and make that decision while on board. To take advantage of this offer many people had to wait on long lines for hours to meet a representative. This was unfair to people on vacation to wait on these lines. Finally, RCCL after a few days handed out forms. This allowed people to select a cruise and simply hand in these forms, avoiding standing in lines for hours. Other cruise lines like Princess and Norwegian allow you to leave a deposit, get the same onboard credit and allow you four years to book your cruise. I refused to wait on line and felt it was unfair to force me to make an immediate decision. Thus I elected to lose the on board credit. Poor policy by RCCL Last week on Allure of the seas I went down to the next cruise room and it was busy I just signed my name in the appointment book for the next day with a specific time. Very simple picked my sailing and rooms was in n out in less 20 minutes. I believe they still have open bookings but offer greater OBC for picking specific sail dates. I"ll pick a sailing for more free money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beba Posted March 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2016 All appointments were taken! Once the 50% discount was announced for the shorten cruise, everyone tried to take advantage of the onboard credit. RCCL was unable to accommodate all the passengers. I was also told there is no longer a opening booking policy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asphodel Posted March 6, 2016 Report Share Posted March 6, 2016 It's changed, I don't know if it's because I was on a different ship or if their policy changed in general. It appears it varies from ship to ship. I don't know how long I've been booking Next Cruises, 4 to 6 years at least. Originally, one had to reserve a slot with the Loyalty Ambassador and those filled up quickly. Doing that I could get a Next Cruise booking number and the accompanying OBC, tho usually I would just go ahead and book my cruise anyway. Because it was so difficult to get to see the LA, they started doing the forms. Fill out a form, you'd get your booking number. In that case I would book my cruise at home within a few months. This worked fine until about 3 years ago when I booked my farthest cruise out, over 2 years away. It was so far out I actually went on 2 cruises in between the time I booked and the time I actually cruised. When that cruise finally arrived, I did not get my OBC but it had been so long since I booked, I couldn't recall if I was due any or not. Fast forward to last week. Because of the missing OBC from my previous cruise, I took documentation on board my last cruise. Once again, I did not receive the OBC but I had proof in hand that I should have gotten it. Easy, yes? No. A Guest Relations person told me if I was due it I would have gotten it (wrong answer)! Now this was on Liberty. On Liberty the Loyalty Ambassador did not do the Next Cruise bookings but they had a Next Cruise store in the Promenade. I turned to the manager there who said yes, I should have the OBC, we went back to GR, got a different GR person who took my docs and said they'd have to fax them to RC onshore who would ultimately say if I was due the OBC. Turns out they said yes but it still took them until Day 6 to credit it to me. Grrrrr. On Liberty it turns out, they did things differently. They not only had a sign in book and a dedicated store, but they had at least 4 Next Cruise people to help with new bookings. The deal I got was reduced deposit ($100 for 2 people) plus an OBC that got credited to the *current* cruise. So no more "lost" OBC. I liked that setup much much better. From your experience and my experience, it looks like it varies from year to year and ship to ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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