If you’re like me, it’s usually about the third day of a cruise when you think to yourself, “This vacation isn’t even half over, and I want to do it again!” If you’re also like me in that you know for a fact that you’ll be cruising again, march yourself straight over to the onboard sales desk and talk to the cruise sales staff about booking your next cruise.

Are you surprised to hear me recommend that you make reservations with someone other than your Covington trusted vacation advisor? The truth is that booking onboard doesn’t cut your advisor out of the next trip at all. The cruise line will communicate the booking back to your regular advisor automatically so they can handle all details of your reservation from then on. You’ll still enjoy your advisor’s personal service and attention to detail that makes every trip a seamless experience and your advisor gets credit for the booking. If your original advisor is a Virtuoso member like Covington Travel, you’ll also receive any Virtuoso amenities that apply to the new booking.

Many cruise lines offer guests extra perks for booking another sailing while onboard. Each line’s benefits vary, but onboard cruise bookings include incentives such as reduced deposits, onboard spending credits, and even percentage discounts off the future cruise fare.

Each line’s policy varies and your advisor can give you the details of the cruise line you’re sailing. Some lines request a non-refundable deposit but don’t require a ship or date selection. Others require guests to choose a sailing at time of onboard deposit, but the deposit is refundable. After deposit, guests are often able to change the ship, date or itinerary of their future cruise without penalty (within a certain timeframe).

Tips for Onboard Cruise Bookings:

• Ask your travel advisor what onboard cruise booking perks and rules to expect before you set sail on the initial cruise.
•  Visit the sales desk relatively early in the cruise to avoid waiting in lines and to get the best future cruise availability.
• Book “cruise only” onboard and leave the airfare to your trusted advisor back home. It’s likely you advisor will find better schedules and/or prices than cruise line air. If cruise line air is the best, they can add it in for you then.
• If a family or group cruise is in your future, inquire onboard to secure the cabins together in a location you want with attractive discounts and onboard credits.

Onboard cruise bookings are a win/win for guests, their advisor and the cruise line.