Ah, Shipboard Credit!

That wad of money burning a hole in our cargo shorts’ pocket! How do you get some? And what do you do with it once you get it? Oh, the possibilities!

Let’s start with:

How can you get some

Watch the cruise line promotions. These come via email if you sign up on their websites. Don’t feel like filling up your inbox? Stop by their site from time to time—the sales are often blazoned across their homepage (Princess) or can be found under a menu category such as Deals (Royal Caribbean).

Be a member of the military. Princess will thank you by giving you credit for current or past service. You’ll need to send proof of eligibility, such as a military verification certificate. (Retired military requirement is a minimum of 20 years of service.)

Become an owner. Royal Caribbean (RCI) will give you credit for being a shareholder (you need at least 100 shares). Note there’s a form you need to send along with proof of ownership (proxy card or broker statement).

Ask your travel agent. They’re often willing to give you onboard credit, but you usually have to ask. My line goes like this: “Is there any shipboard credit available with this cruise?”

Booking onboard. If you book a cruise while you’re already on one, its’ more than likely shipboard credit will be thrown in as an extra inducement for your commitment.

Get credit two ways. Sign up for a RCI Visa® credit card and they throw in onboard credit of $100.

Refer a friend. Royal Caribbean will give Crown & Anchor loyalty club members $25 onboard credit for each stateroom your friends book on your cruise. They have to be first-time cruisers to qualify. Register for the credit by logging into Crown & Anchor on RCI’s website and selecting Bring a Friend.

How much is it?

The amounts usually vary by the length of your trip; generally $25-75 per person during promotions for a seven-day cruise.

The fun part

How are you going to spend it? Practically any way you choose! Consider:

Getting slathered and soothed in the ship’s spa…

Dining à la deux with a specialty meal…

Keeping up with the scores with Internet service…

Having someone else do your laundry (boring!)…

Getting Labadoozied at RCI’s Haitian Labadee…

Enjoying your java with something a bit stronger…

Posing in your finest and having it framed… 

Getting the DVD that’s way better than what you did with your smartphone…

Learning to shake not stir or steer the ship…

Parasailing over the sea or scuba diving underneath it…

Drinking when the sun comes up and when it goes down…

Ordering a celebration package to do up your stateroom in style…

Buying some trinkets in the ship store for the folks you left behind…

Or bringing some home just for you!

The best part

You have to use it—or you lose it!

Cruising with a Travel Agent

The cruise industry wants you to use a travel agent. In fact, some cruise lines turn finding their phone numbers into a treasure hunt.
 
But don’t despair, there are really many good reasons for using a travel agent when you cruise. I recapped these in an earlier blog post.
 
Finding an agent is like finding a doctor or hair stylist—you might have to go through a few before you find the right one. Here’s my take on the right one:
 
Cruise-wise. Cruising is a special kind of travel and unless a travel agent has done a fair amount, it’s going to be hard to give advice. You’ll want one who’s cruised, books a lot and knows the lines.
 
Willing to share. When a travel agent won’t tell you what’s right or wrong about a ship, find someone else. While the agent gets paid by the cruise line, it won’t do you any good if you get steered to a ship or trip that’s wrong for you.
 
Shows they care. You want the agent to care if you had a good time, be interested about your experience so he or she can learn from it and be more useful to others. One travel agent called us after every trip to find out how it went.
 
Available when you are. Work during the week? It’s not too useful when the agent has no weekend hours. Trip planning takes time and if you’re like me, the only time that works is the weekend.
 
Doesn’t procrastinate. After all the planning and you’ve finally booked, it can be pretty frustrating to then have to wait weeks for the confirmation/booking number. The best agents will turnaround the paperwork quickly.

Tells you what you need to know. Like you’re going to need a passport, even if you’re just going to the Caribbean. When you need to be at the pier. That you’ll give up your luggage way before you get on board.

Doesn’t make a cancellation worse. It’s painful enough when a trip has to be cancelled. You don’t need that pain deepened when the travel agent socks you with a fee. Some agents do, indeed, charge for cancellations, and this fact can be hidden in small print on their documents. Be sure to ask upfront to prevent unpleasant surprises.
 
Find out how you benefit. With the competition for business, most travel agents will offer bennies to book with them. Don’t be shy—ask. We’ve received a wide range of extras—from free drink packages to free travel insurance to shipboard credits.
 
Where to look. So, how do you find a travel agent? The usual ways, like asking friends and family. If your community hosts a cruise travel show, that’s a good way to way to hook up with an agent—that’s how we found ours.
 
Or, visit the website of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the cruise lines’ trade association, to find an agent near you who specializes in cruising. Their agents have the designation “Certified Cruise Counselor,” which they earn both through coursework and putting in time at sea. CLIA offers agents levels of certification—up to a “PhD” in cruising. To use the search tool on CLIA’s website, on the homepage, select “Vacations” and from “CLIA’s Cruise Tools” in the middle of the screen and select “Cruise Expert Finder.”
 
Do take the time to find a good agent—it will pay off by making sure you get the vacation you want and your hard-earned dollars go the furthest.
 
Musing’s Top Tip: For more on the benefits of using a CLIA-certified travel agent, see this brief video put together by the association.

Cruising’s Biggest Secret

You can find plenty of advice on the web on how to get the best price for your cruise. And some of it is on my own blog.

But what I recently uncovered is cruising’s biggest secret. The key to saving bucks—big bucks— is to hold off final payment and keep a watchful eye on the pricing. Here’s my story: 

December 2013: Booked a nine-day trip on Celebrity’s Constellation for December 2014. Put down a deposit (reduced deposit during promotion) and delayed full payment.

September 2014: Brought up same trip in travelocity.com; found there were still a lot of empty cabins. Did as if we were booking a new cruise, selecting the same room type and category. A senior discount (55 and over) is suddenly available where there previously was none.

Celebrity—like other cruise lines—will match the new lower price if it’s not in the penalty period. We call our travel agent, who calls Celebrity.
 
Result? A savings of $500!
 
Now this won’t always work. The Constellation is an older ship, the itinerary is longer than usual (nine days) and the trip sits right smack in the middle of the Christmas season, coming back just shy of the holiday, which is not too desirable for many people.
 
Another caveat: the cruise lines may not allow you to use more than one promotion. So if you booked with promotion, you may have to choose between the new discount or the old one.
 
But here are my suggestions on how to get a really great deal:
 
Book early to get the initial best price and best cabin (middle of the deck always goes first). You can always get your deposit back if you cancel before the penalty phase.
 
Put off final payment until just before the penalty period begins (this varies by cruise line and can sometimes be different over a holiday, so check its website).
 
As you near the penalty period, check out the pricing. Go to a website like travelocity.com or the cruise line’s site. Simulate booking a new cruise, pick a room with the same category and deck location as your current booking and check out the pricing.

If the prices have gone down, call your travel agent to have her/him match the price.

Consider checking other room categories as well. The prices might go down in some categories and not others. And you might even be able to upgrade for the same price or even less than your original booking.

 
Important note: you must do all this before the penalty period begins. If you try it during the penalty period, your travel agent will have to cancel your trip and rebook it, which means you may lose the cabin you selected. You’ll also have to pay a penalty, but you may still come out ahead.
 
So, with a bit of luck and a little extra work on your part, you may see some steep savings. And in the process, dig up the deposit for your next trip!
 
Musing’s Top Tip: Herein lies one of the values of a travel agent: someone who knows how to make these cost savings happen for you. But you must be proactive; most travel agents won’t be watching the ups and downs of your cruise pricing once you’ve laid down the deposit.