Charged full price instead of deposit

[surus]

This is the first time I have booked directly with a cruise line. I went to the Celebrity website two days ago and booked a June cruise to Bermuda. Put the $500 deposit on my AMEX card, final payment due March 18. Lo and behold they sent me an invoice confirming it has been paid in full!

 

Two calls to Captains Club later, I am told they will issue a credit but it will take a few days to process. So you know that full amount will be on my AMEX bill which comes out in a few days, which means phone calls to them too. And I can't transfer the booking to my TA until the invoice is corrected. What a hassle and they had no explanation as to why this happened. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

[Kartgv]

Sorry this happened, and 'no', it hasn't happened to us. But...why do you need to call American Express? If the credit hasn't been issued to your account before your bill is generated, just pay the $500; the balance due should be offset by the credit on the next billing cycle.

 

Edit: Sorry - as soon as I posted this, I remembered that some American Express cards (though not ours) must be paid in full monthly. If that's what yours is, then I see your problem. Hopefully it will be easy to straighten out.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Kartgv
See above

[ariawoman]

Why does it prevent you from transfering it to the TA, can you not be paid in full and transfer it?

[wrk2cruise]

I know you can't transfer to a TA if booked directly with Celebrity if past final payment so I guess it's the fact that it's paid in full that matters.

 

I guess they don't believe the TA deserves the commission if the reservation is paid in full already.

[keithm]

This is the first time I have booked directly with a cruise line. I went to the Celebrity website two days ago and booked a June cruise to Bermuda. Put the $500 deposit on my AMEX card, final payment due March 18. Lo and behold they sent me an invoice confirming it has been paid in full!

 

Two calls to Captains Club later, I am told they will issue a credit but it will take a few days to process. So you know that full amount will be on my AMEX bill which comes out in a few days, which means phone calls to them too. And I can't transfer the booking to my TA until the invoice is corrected. What a hassle and they had no explanation as to why this happened. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Not to me! all the reason to use a TA!

[surus]

Yes I have the AMEX card that requires payment in full each month. Keeps me honest. The fine print at the bottom of the Celebrity reservation page says you may not transfer a reservation if it has been paid in full. I also had a TA I used a few years ago tell me the same thing when I contacted him about transferring this reservation to him. Actually I was unaware I had been charged the full price until he told me that and I looked more closely at my reservation confirmation. Yikes! I contacted the TA who booked us on Celebrity next September and he seems to have straightened it out and was able to transfer the reservation. At least he emailed me an invoice showing a $500 deposit and a balance due in March. I guess when I get my AMEX bill I will know for sure.

[cherylroslyn]

This is the first time I have booked directly with a cruise line. I went to the Celebrity website two days ago and booked a June cruise to Bermuda. Put the $500 deposit on my AMEX card, final payment due March 18. Lo and behold they sent me an invoice confirming it has been paid in full!

 

Two calls to Captains Club later, I am told they will issue a credit but it will take a few days to process. So you know that full amount will be on my AMEX bill which comes out in a few days, which means phone calls to them too. And I can't transfer the booking to my TA until the invoice is corrected. What a hassle and they had no explanation as to why this happened. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

When the credit comes through on amex it will appear like a payment and it will reduce the amount due on your amex....I just had something similar happen on my amex.

[ghstudio]

I know you can't transfer to a TA if booked directly with Celebrity if past final payment so I guess it's the fact that it's paid in full that matters.

 

I guess they don't believe the TA deserves the commission if the reservation is paid in full already.

 

The amount you pay in advance of final payment has no bearing on anything...it is just considered a bigger deposit, even if you pay the full amount in advance. It is fully refundable (in the US at least) as long as you are before the final payment due date.

[RickT]

Any chance this is due to "user input error"? I've made many bookings on the X site and it would be easy enough to hit the wrong selection and pay the full amount due (just saying).

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yes I have the AMEX card that requires payment in full each month. Keeps me honest. The fine print at the bottom of the Celebrity reservation page says you may not transfer a reservation if it has been paid in full. I also had a TA I used a few years ago tell me the same thing when I contacted him about transferring this reservation to him. Actually I was unaware I had been charged the full price until he told me that and I looked more closely at my reservation confirmation. Yikes! I contacted the TA who booked us on Celebrity next September and he seems to have straightened it out and was able to transfer the reservation. At least he emailed me an invoice showing a $500 deposit and a balance due in March. I guess when I get my AMEX bill I will know for sure.

 

I would just look at your account on line. It should show the credit in a day to three usually.

[james'mommy]

I think the check box auto defaults to pay in full because the same thing happened to me. Quick call to X solved the problem.

[Calebo]

There is such a thing as a quick call to X? LOL. The hold times are horrendous lately.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[james'mommy]

There is such a thing as a quick call to X? LOL. The hold times are horrendous lately.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

This was months ago and the hold time wasn't bad. I just called the other day to make final payment and was on hold for 30 minutes. The stupid website kept telling me my credit card was invalid.

[vermonter16]

If this just happened a couple of days ago and you are receiving your bill - that billing statement was generated some time ago. The full amount shouldn't be on your bill until the next billing statement and at which time you'll have the credit to offset the bill. No harm, no foul but probably a bit of a pain in the butt.

[Hlitner]

Guess we have long been somewhat confused about the advantage of booking direct with X (or any other cruise line) and later playing the transfer game to a TA. The only time we think this makes a lot of sense is if you have a good reason to book, while onboard, with the Future Cruise Office in order to get some additional amenities like OBCs or an upgrade. But if we are just booking from home it is just as easy (and often easier) to check prices and amenities with the 4 large Cruise Agencies we utilize...and then book with whichever Agency has the best overall package (always better then what is offered by Celebrity). Actually, the Agencies software (and linkage to cruise line computer systems) gives them access to cabins that are not even visible on Celebrity's own website...which only lists a selected number of available cabins in each category.

 

Hank