Difficulty understanding deposit/refund policy.

[guitargal168]

Hi all!

I know many of you have probably answered this already but I'm in, sort of, a unique position here and I'd love some help/opinions! I am a Girl Scout leader getting ready to book a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral for May of 2013. So far, we have 3 cabins with 3 girls and 1 adult in each cabin. Of course, we are looking for our best possible price which is the super saver. However, the deposit/refund information seems to be different everytime I try to look up the answer. Our biggest worry is that our school system runs the risk of tacking on days at the end of the school year (due to weather issues) which would impact our ability to make the May 23rd sailing. A later sailing of May 30th is available but we start getting into scheduling difficulties with our girls (camps, swim teams, vacations etc). So...here are the questions!

1. Is the deposit 50% of the price? I get varying information here and it's very confusing!

2. If we know more than 60 days prior to sailing that we CANNOT make the sail date due to a change in the school schedule, would we get a refund? If so, does it come back to us as a credit card refund OR does Carnival keep it under the names of the passengers for use on a future cruise?

3. Would cruise insurance help us out if something happened? (specifically related to the school date issue?)

4. Does it make a difference if we booked a slightly higher fare (instead of the Super Saver). In other words, would the refund not be an issue if we spent a few extra dollars?

 

Obviously....the answer I'd LOVE is that as long as we know WELL in advance (probably as early as 90 days) that there would be an issue, we'd get our entire deposit back in our bank account! OK...so I live in a fantasy world!:o

Thanks for any help! I DO plan on meeting with a TA but I like to have as much information in advance as possible.

[ramrax4]

Via carnival policy, hope this helps:

 

6. CANCELLATION BY GUEST, REFUNDS

 

Reservations will be held until 30 minutes prior to departure. No refunds will be made in the event of "no shows", unused tickets, lost tickets, interruptions, partially used tickets, or cancellations received late or after the start of the cruise, or for Pack & Go program purchases. Carnival strongly recommends the purchase of trip cancellation insurance from your travel agent. Cancellation charges for individual bookings will be assessed as listed below. For cancellation charges related to group bookings, partial ship charters or full ship charters refer to your charter contract or group booking agreement for terms and conditions.

2, 3, 4 & 5 cancellation penalty

day cruises

 

Up to 61 days no penalty

 

60 to 46 days deposit

 

45 to 30 days 50% of fare

 

 

29 to 15 days 75% of toatal fare

 

14 days or less 100% of total fare

[big_duck]

For 2, 3, 4 & 5 day cruises Carnival keeps (days before cruise):

 

• Up to 61 days Nothing(except Early Saver Fares*)
  
• 60 to 46 days Deposit**
  
• 45 to 30 days Deposit or 50% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
  
• 29 to 15 days Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
  
• 14 days or less 100% of Total Fare
  

[k2excursion]

To add onto the great info already given: If you book with the Early Saver rate and cancel at 61+ days prior to sailing, there will be a $50 penalty per person. The rest of the deposit will be held by Carnival as a future cruise credit, to be applied to the final payment (not the deposit) of a future cruise. So if the deposit is $200, $150pp will be held, and must be used within a certain timeframe. It may be up to 2 years. If you book any other rate and cancel at 61+ days prior to sailing, you'll get the whole deposit back, refunded within a couple weeks. After that 60 day mark, all the penalties are the same, which you see in big duck's post.

 

Cruise insurance terms & conditions vary, depending on what insurance company you're choosing, and what they offer. An independent insurance company would be cheaper and give you better coverage. Look to insuremytrip dot com. They'll give you tons of options, and you may find something that would include this. I have never looked for that when researching, so I don't know.

[Ken076]

Hi all!

I know many of you have probably answered this already but I'm in, sort of, a unique position here and I'd love some help/opinions! I am a Girl Scout leader getting ready to book a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral for May of 2013. So far, we have 3 cabins with 3 girls and 1 adult in each cabin. Of course, we are looking for our best possible price which is the super saver. However, the deposit/refund information seems to be different everytime I try to look up the answer. Our biggest worry is that our school system runs the risk of tacking on days at the end of the school year (due to weather issues) which would impact our ability to make the May 23rd sailing. A later sailing of May 30th is available but we start getting into scheduling difficulties with our girls (camps, swim teams, vacations etc). So...here are the questions!

1. Is the deposit 50% of the price? I get varying information here and it's very confusing!

With Carnival the deposit amount is based on number of days of the cruise:

CTN Cruises $50 non-refundable

3 Day Cruises $100 pp

4 Day Cruises $150 pp

5 Day Cruises $200 pp

6,7 Day Cruises $250 pp

2. If we know more than 60 days prior to sailing that we CANNOT make the sail date due to a change in the school schedule, would we get a refund? If so, does it come back to us as a credit card refund OR does Carnival keep it under the names of the passengers for use on a future cruise?

If you book Early Saver the deposit is non-refundable, meaning that if you cancel before the Final Payment Deadline (60 or so days out) then Carnival holds your deposit (less $50pp penalty) toward a cruise w/in next two years.

If you book other than Early save you can cancel up to Final Payment deadline with no penalty - I believe the refund goes to the Credit Card used to Book the cruise.

For any booking, if you cancel adfter the Final Payment deadline then the penalties increase from loss of Deposit to 100% of Cruisefare, the later you cancel the stiffer the penalty. This is defined in the Cruise Contract, accessible via the Carnival Home page, I think under "Legal".

 

3. Would cruise insurance help us out if something happened? (specifically related to the school date issue?)

Possibly. There are several Policies that specifically cover "(unexpected) extension of School year" - Look at CSA and TravelInsured Polcies including TravelInsred Lite for this (if someone in the group is "military qualified" you can purchase thru USAA and save a few extra dollars and get some slightly higher coverages). Look at those policies and make sure they cover your situation. Also, several Policies (TravelInsured and TravelEx and...) insure kids free with insured adults - so if parents are traveling with kids they could get a break.

 

4. Does it make a difference if we booked a slightly higher fare (instead of the Super Saver). In other words, would the refund not be an issue if we spent a few extra dollars?

 

If you book other than Early save you can cancel up to Final Payment deadline with no penalty - I believe the refund goes to the Credit Card used to Book the cruise.

For any booking, if you cancel adfter the Final Payment deadline then the penalties increase from loss of Deposit to 100% of Cruisefare, the later you cancel the stiffer the penalty.

 

Also, only one person in the cabin has to qualify for special rates like Past Guest, your state Resident, Senior, Military - so maybe try to take advantage of this for one or more cabins. If you have 3 (or 4) in the cabin, usually the PAX 3 and PAX 4 rates are quite a bit less than the PAX 1 and 2 rates.

 

Obviously....the answer I'd LOVE is that as long as we know WELL in advance (probably as early as 90 days) that there would be an issue, we'd get our entire deposit back in our bank account! OK...so I live in a fantasy world!:o

Thanks for any help! I DO plan on meeting with a TA but I like to have as much information in advance as possible.

 

ken

[RuthlessBoss]

For 2, 3, 4 & 5 day cruises Carnival keeps (days before cruise):

 

• Up to 61 days Nothing(except Early Saver Fares*)
  
• 60 to 46 days Deposit**
  
• 45 to 30 days Deposit or 50% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
  
• 29 to 15 days Deposit or 75% of Total Fare, whichever is greater
  
• 14 days or less 100% of Total Fare
  

I avoided ES on purpose, paid a little more for the priveledge of full refund if needed. I would not like the $50 penalty to cancel, nor would I want the rest for a future cruise credit which quite possibly might never be taken and lose it all.

[guitargal168]

Thank you ALL!! I can't tell you how much this has helped me! Loving these message boards.....I knew I could count on your help!:D

[KrystalWaters]

Another benefit of booking a non-es rate is that you can change sailing date after final payment date for only $50pp.:D

 

But if the cruise rate goes down after final payment date-no price match.:(