Carnival Doubles Solo Deposits

[CtheW0rld]

another blow to solo travelers: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4931

 

always nice to know when a business appreciates my patronage. :mad:

[jtl513]

another blow to solo travelers: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4931

 

always nice to know when a business appreciates my patronage. :mad:

With today's interest rates being so ludicrous, does it really matter much when you have to pay more up front? ;)

[CtheW0rld]

With today's interest rates being so ludicrous, does it really matter much when you have to pay more up front? ;)

 

interest rates don't matter to me at all. i pay cash for everything. zero debt = zero interest. not everyone is like me, however.

[jtl513]

interest rates don't matter to me at all. i pay cash for everything. zero debt = zero interest. not everyone is like me, however.

I'm talking about the interest lost by not having the extra deposit in an interest-bearing account for a while. I use credit cards extensively, but pay the bills in full each month ... ergo also zero interest paid out.

[cruz chic]

Who wants to part with cash any sooner then they have to? Would couples like to part with double the deposit?

[jtl513]

Who wants to part with cash any sooner then they have to? Would couples like to part with double the deposit?

I wouldn't get all upset about it. My Credit Union is currently paying 0.65% interest on ordinary savings ... $6.50/$1000/year ... the price of one drink on board. Big whoop!

[HamOp]

Would couples like to part with double the deposit?

 

I think you are missing the point here.

 

Let's say a cruise is selling for $1000 per person, with 10 percent required down payment. We know that Carnival is now charging a solo cruiser double the the per person rate because the cabin is only occupied by one person.

 

So if I and my wife were to book a Carnival cruise the down payment would be $200.00. With a balance due of $1,800 at final payment.

 

If a solo booked the same cruise under the old rules, only a $100 down payment would have been required with $1,900 due at final payment.

 

It's still $2,000 for each cabin in the end.

 

As jt513 pointed out, at today's interest rates it doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the extra is payed up front. Heck, at that rate you might just as well pay the whole 2K when booking the cruise.

 

I just don't see it as a problem.

[sail7seas]

I see two obvious benefits to a company upping the deposit. Cash flow doubles without waiting months for final payments to be made and it might discourage whimsy bookings. If someone only has to put down $100 at time of booking, they may go willy nilly with their bookings and perhaps hold 4 cabins on four different ships or sailings. If they have to place double the deposit, it might result in a higher percentage of serious bookings. Carnival may be seeing far more cancellations than they want as they have to resell and resell that cabin sometimes 3 or 4 times if people put down a 'hey, why not' deposit knowing it is refundable.

 

 

As stated above, no one is losing any earnings on that cash by not being able to keep it in the bank. Many people learned lessons during the recent economic nightmare. Many more than ever before carry little or no debt. They stopped living off their credit cards if they could possibly do so. I would guess lots of folks here pay off their Visa/AmEx/MC each month and pay no interest. (Not that it is any of my business or truthfully interest.) ;)

 

[HamOp]

I see two obvious benefits to a company upping the deposit. Cash flow doubles without waiting months for final payments to be made and it might discourage whimsy bookings. If someone only has to put down $100 at time of booking, they may go willy nilly with their bookings and perhaps hold 4 cabins on four different ships or sailings. If they have to place double the deposit, it might result in a higher percentage of serious bookings. Carnival may be seeing far more cancellations than they want as they have to resell and resell that cabin sometimes 3 or 4 times if people put down a 'hey, why not' deposit knowing it is refundable.

 

 

As stated above, no one is losing any earnings on that cash by not being able to keep it in the bank. Many people learned lessons during the recent economic nightmare. Many more than ever before carry little or no debt. They stopped living off their credit cards if they could possibly do so. I would guess lots of folks here pay off their Visa/AmEx/MC each month and pay no interest. (Not that it is any of my business or truthfully interest.) ;)

 

 

Good points, Sail. I didn't think about those things.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I think you are missing the point here.

 

Let's say a cruise is selling for $1000 per person, with 10 percent required down payment. We know that Carnival is now charging a solo cruiser double the the per person rate because the cabin is only occupied by one person.

 

So if I and my wife were to book a Carnival cruise the down payment would be $200.00. With a balance due of $1,800 at final payment.

 

If a solo booked the same cruise under the old rules, only a $100 down payment would have been required with $1,900 due at final payment.

 

It's still $2,000 for each cabin in the end.

 

As jt513 pointed out, at today's interest rates it doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the extra is payed up front. Heck, at that rate you might just as well pay the whole 2K when booking the cruise.

 

I just don't see it as a problem.

 

I agree -- I don't see it as a problem either.

[Roz]

Here's why Carnival did this:

 

Apparently they were getting people who really weren't sailing solo booking a cabin for 1 and putting down a deposit for 1. Later they would add the person they knew they were going to be sailing with anyway, thus not tying up as much deposit money for a longer period of time.

 

I've sailed solo on both HAL and Carnival, and if HAL changes their policy, I'm just going to have to suck it up. But cruise lines have made solo sailing more difficult over the years since 2003, which is when I first begain to cruise by myself.

 

Interest rates are low now, but I'm old enough to remember rates over 10%. That would hurt to have to tie up a bunch of money and get nothing for it.

 

Roz

[rafinmd]

Depends on how this applies.

 

Option 1:

 

$1000 pp cruise

 

Flat deposit of $100 pp

Solo fare $2,000

 

Solo deposit of 200 is reasonable

 

Option 2:

 

$1000 pp cruise

 

10% down

 

Couple would pay 10% or 200 total

 

Solo 10% down would be $200, doubling to $400 would be unfair

 

Which way is Carnival doing this?

 

Roy

 

PS Hmmm

 

I actually just booked a Carnival cruise. Looks like I put $250 down out of something like $1070. Looks like option 1. A high deposit under option 1, but still option 1. I think though for many cruise lines (and I think also for HAL) it's a percentage of the final fare.

[HamOp]

Depends on how this applies.

 

Option 1:

 

$1000 pp cruise

 

Flat deposit of $100 pp

Solo fare $2,000

 

Solo deposit of 200 is reasonable

 

Option 2:

 

$1000 pp cruise

 

10% down

 

Couple would pay 10% or 200 total

 

Solo 10% down would be $200, doubling to $400 would be unfair

 

Which way is Carnival doing this?

 

Roy

 

Please understand that the 10 percent that I used in my example was just for simplification. I have no idea what the percentage is in fact.

 

Just as Carnival charges 200 percent for a solo cruiser in any given cabin, they will now charge a 200 percent deposit for that cabin. A cabin occupied by two persons would still pay one deposit for each of the two persons. Hope this answers your question.

[PathfinderEss]

At the interest rates we're getting on our money right now, I don't see where it makes much difference - pay now - pay later.

[solocanadian]

Who wants to part with cash any sooner then they have to? Would couples like to part with double the deposit?

Excellent point, Lorene. Not welcome news!

[cruz chic]

Ok, I'm not getting the logic of some folks here. I just don't want to part with money any sooner then I have to. I really don't care if I'm not earning interest or whatever. The cruiseline can't recognize the revenue before it's earned so whether the deposit is larger or smaller I can't see the diference. I have a life so I don't go around leaving deposits on 10 different cruises just for fun. I put a deposit down vecause I intend to go. Trust people on Carnival to find a way to "work" the system. If HAL starts doing this I will accept that or go elsewhere. Doesn't mean I have to like it. For those that don't mind putting more down why don't you make final payment when you book the cruise? You're not earning anything in the bank anyway.

[HamOp]

For those that don't mind putting more down why don't you make final payment when you book the cruise? You're not earning anything in the bank anyway.

 

I suspect some, if not many, of us do just that. One less thing to worry about.

 

To each his (or her) own.

[cruz chic]

I suspect some, if not many, of us do just that. One less thing to worry about.

 

To each his (or her) own.

I agree. What works well for one might not work at all for someone else.

[jtl513]

I'm not saying that I'd want to double my deposit ... just that it wouldn't bother me a great deal. Pay it now or pay it later.

[fann1sh]

I actively annoys me when I get cruise spam offering on board credit, prepaid gratuities, "come-on-in" low basic prices from those other lines.... while HAL's enticing offer is usually "reduced deposit!"

 

To quote jtl513: big whoop!

 

The fact HAL marketing has come up with this strategy means deposits MUST be a bigger issue for some people.

 

Just not for me.

[Roz]

Not all of us are in a position to pay everything up front. On more expensive cruises that I book 9-18 months out, I make the deposit and then divide the remaining amt. by the number of months until final payment, and then put that aside each month.

 

Roz

[Yodalicious]

So book your cruise at or near the last payment. Either HAL will blink because they dont get the float on the deposits, or the pax will blink because they maY not get the cabin they want. Either way, the free market reigns :)