are we seeing non refundable deposits slowly being integrated

[Richst48]

I have a cruise booked for August 2018. Today I decided to upgrade because of the current sale. I went from a junior suite to a grand suite. When I called the D+ desk the agent told me that going to a GS would mean a non-refundable deposit. I argued with her because I was doing a ghost booking and it plainly told me the deposit was fully refundable up until April 28, 2018. She tried to tell me that the refundable and non-refundable options were for junior suites and lower, that for GS and higher there was not any option, it was non-refundable. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was on hold for over 10 minutes. She finally came back on and said that her supervisor had to ask their supervisor and they finally realized the new policy does not go in to effect until July 1st. So, mine is still refundable.

 

I guess we will have to wait until after July 1st to see if she was correct about GS and above always having non-refundable deposits.

[nelblu]

Sure the price automatically adjusts in their system, but not on your booking - there's no way they would do that.

 

 

That's why I asked the question, as I could not see how they would accomplish it. It would be welcomed, rather than do mock bookings to see if any reductions every time I get one of their promos.

[iuki]

My RCI TA told me that the non-refundable cheaper price becomes effective, I believe, July 1, 2017. She said that cruisers will have a choice between the non-refundable cheaper price and the Standard Price which is what we are currently using. This will apply to all categories.

 

So your memory serves you well, Bob. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

Judy

 

Note: I tried to delete this post but was unable to do so. Please disregard. This is just duplicate info. Mea culpa.

[Derek78216]

I was pleasantly surprised to see the non-refundable price listed today. Compared to the price listed yesterday we saved $400 on the total booking plus each received $100 onboard credit for a Balcony sailing to Alaska next May. I'm more than willing to bet that we don't have to cancel and pay the $200 fee for $600 cheaper cruise fare. :D

[Beachammo]

Out of my 12 upcoming cruises only one offered me a Non-Refundable Rate. It was $15 cheaper than the refundable rate with a $100 OBC.

 

The refundable rate was $84 more than yesterday and $410 more than my original purchase price. I believe Royal raised the price (at least on this cruise) and stuck in a non-refundable fare at the old price.

 

Sneeky.....

 

 

 

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[Biker19]

I guess the fish site will only show the non refundable rate from now on.

[NJ&Ozzie]

Yes, the savings was $100 per person PLUS the $100 OBC for booking on-board PLUS the $100 for NRD outside 6 months. This is a Balcony 7N Cruise. So total savings $200 plus total OBC $200.

 

Hi,

We booked five cruises on May 1st onboard the Brilliance. Two are for Oct/Nov. 2017, one for May 2018, two for Oct/Nov. 2018. Just catching up on all this. So our cruises do not fall under the new rules?

 

Does this mean, if we contacted our TA could we make all or some of them NRD?

If we made the Oct/Nov. 2017 cruises non-refundable would we could receive $100 savings for switching & $100 for booking outside 6 months? The final payment date on these two is July 21 & Aug. 4.

Thanks a lot.

NJ

[js]

According to the announcement the cruise line made, there will be a new fare code that offers a better rate, but will have a non-refundable deposit. They are still supposed to be offering fares with refundable deposits like they do now.

 

 

 

I didnt read all the responses but this is somewhat like CCL Early Saver Rate.

 

 

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[DebJ14]

What does automatic mean. Does it mean that if a price drop, RCL will automatically adjust your cruise fare to a lower amount.

 

That would certainly be nice, but I would not hold my breath that they will automatically refare every booking every time there is a price drop.

 

Carnival has had a fare called Early Saver for at least 6 or 7 years that is supposed to be the lowest fare they offer. It has a non-refundable deposit. If one cancels, they retain $50.00 per person as an "administrative fee." The balance of the deposit is in the form of a future cruise credit that has to be used within a certain time frame.

 

If the price drops, the passenger, or TA( if they use one) has to submit a price protection form describing exactly where they saw the lower price. It is important to take screen shots because they sometimes take so long to approve the reduction, that the prices have gone back up.

If the drop occurs before final payment, then the final price is reduced and the passenger pays less at final payment.

If the fare drops after final payment the passenger gets the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

It is a royal pain for travel agents. Carnival pays commission immediately after final payment is made, which is 75-90 days out generally. Once an after final payment price protection form is approved, the client gets the OBC and the travel agent gets a commission recall notice, because they dock the commission because the fare is lower. They are given a certain number of days to return the commission. If they don't they can get in big trouble, and often this is over $5.00 or less. My TA refuses to sell the Early Saver fares on Carnival because she just is too busy to check every fare every day, which is what some customers expect.

 

She knows that she has no worries in our case, because I would gladly pay more for a refundable deposit. We also never book non-refundable hotel rooms. I would rather pay $10 or $20 more for a hotel room and know I could cancel it than get zapped for the entire cost if plans have to be changed.

 

I haven't looked at the non-refundable RCCL fares vs the refundable fares, but on Carnival the non-refundable is always $20.00 cheaper than the past guest rate. It is worth it to me to pay the extra money and get my full deposit back.

 

Azamara has had an immediate cancellation fee for years. We got burned by it last year when we had to cancel because DH got laid off. I never expected to cancel, but life got in the way. Now, when we look at cruises, Azamara is no longer in the mix. DH is still stewing about the money lost on that one!

[jessandtwo]

My understanding from the original notice of the non-refundable deposit is all grand suites and above and all guarantee cabins only have non-refundable deposits starting on July 1.

 

I have a cruise booked for August 2018. Today I decided to upgrade because of the current sale. I went from a junior suite to a grand suite. When I called the D+ desk the agent told me that going to a GS would mean a non-refundable deposit. I argued with her because I was doing a ghost booking and it plainly told me the deposit was fully refundable up until April 28, 2018. She tried to tell me that the refundable and non-refundable options were for junior suites and lower, that for GS and higher there was not any option, it was non-refundable. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was on hold for over 10 minutes. She finally came back on and said that her supervisor had to ask their supervisor and they finally realized the new policy does not go in to effect until July 1st. So, mine is still refundable.

 

I guess we will have to wait until after July 1st to see if she was correct about GS and above always having non-refundable deposits.

[SherriZ366]

Out of my 12 upcoming cruises only one offered me a Non-Refundable Rate. It was $15 cheaper than the refundable rate with a $100 OBC.

 

The refundable rate was $84 more than yesterday and $410 more than my original purchase price. I believe Royal raised the price (at least on this cruise) and stuck in a non-refundable fare at the old price.

 

Sneeky.....

 

 

 

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

That doesn't seem like a big difference $15 between Flexible and non-refundable but I think the difference will become wider.

[shipshape sam]

I am okay with non refundable deposits as long as they are reasonable. I have hated the fact that I book early and then after final payment prices drop many times and I believe it is due in large part to canceled bookings before there is a penalty and lost of deposit. Thus, everyone is playing by the rules. Just now the rules are changing again.

 

It may change my booking pattern till much closer to sailing and if prices have risen too much then I won't book. I have not had to cancel a cruise yet, but that would be my next question, if there is a lost of deposit, would cruise insurance cover that lost?

[Richst48]

My understanding from the original notice of the non-refundable deposit is all grand suites and above and all guarantee cabins only have non-refundable deposits starting on July 1.

 

Where was this original notice you mentioned? I never knew anything about it until I saw it here!

[bob brown]

Looks like they are going towards the airline model. Which I can understand. Secures people on boat. Let's just hope we don't see a family knocked out and dragged off a ship! :)

I shudder to think of what other pricing opportunities the cruiselines emulate from the airlines....:(

[LisaAtlCruiser]

I am okay with non refundable deposits as long as they are reasonable. I have hated the fact that I book early and then after final payment prices drop many times and I believe it is due in large part to canceled bookings before there is a penalty and lost of deposit. Thus, everyone is playing by the rules. Just now the rules are changing again.

 

It may change my booking pattern till much closer to sailing and if prices have risen too much then I won't book. I have not had to cancel a cruise yet, but that would be my next question, if there is a lost of deposit, would cruise insurance cover that lost?

 

I have always found booking at itinerary release pretty much gives the best price. On occasion there is a later price drop - but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I am hoping this new change will firm that up even more as very very few will book early and then just cancel later. All in all, I think this may be a positive change for those of us that book cruises we actually want to go on. :-)

[jessandtwo]

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/LTYA_News/17056800_Nonrefundable_FAQ_News.pdf

 

Where was this original notice you mentioned? I never knew anything about it until I saw it here!

[jessandtwo]

There was a thread about it here a month or so ago, and then cruise critic had a story about it. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7808

 

Where was this original notice you mentioned? I never knew anything about it until I saw it here!

[molly361]

The FAQ does not seem to address the issue of price drops that I can see

[Lady Hudson]

Wonder how all of this will affect those who, like me, often book through Casino Royale?

[shipshape sam]

I have always found booking at itinerary release pretty much gives the best price. On occasion there is a later price drop - but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I am hoping this new change will firm that up even more as very very few will book early and then just cancel later. All in all, I think this may be a positive change for those of us that book cruises we actually want to go on. :-)

 

I think you are right on price at initial itinerary release. Many itineraries, if not all, are released 18 to 24 months out from sailing. Not many can book them with full certainty that far out.

 

What I have seen is initial price of $2k ( just an example) then a gradual rise to say $2.8k, then final payment due and specials announced in range of $2k to $2.3k. Thus if you booked real early no issue, but most others book later at a higher price and then see, IMHO, prices drop because of all the pre final payment canceling. It has to be a pain for many to see cabin selection limited, in my example, in the $2.6k to $2.8 range and then see that Celebrity and others discount the canceled cabins to get them sold again at a lower price and typically the more popular cabin locations.

 

I like that passengers will have some 'skin' in the game if they cancel. It should be this way and then those passengers canceling should be able to recoup their forfeited deposit via the trip insurance coverage they purchased. If no insurance purchased, then they self insured I guess. I am assuming they can recover this lost deposit via insurance companies as passengers are canceling due to reasons covered under policy AND not just holding cabins just in case they want to sail.

 

If I were Celebrity, I would offer via insurance, that Celebrity's trip insurance policy did cover the deposit. It would ensure that when initially booked that they really wanted to sail on that itinerary and as partial proof, besides making the deposit, purchased trip insurance for that itinerary. It might also be a way to generate more income to Celebrity till non cruise line policies catch up if they do not already provide for this.

[Clarea]

The FAQ does not seem to address the issue of price drops that I can see

Not surprising.

[WeatherFx]

The FAQ does not seem to address the issue of price drops that I can see

See post #27 and #29 from TA overview pdf.

[WeatherFx]

It looks like they removed all the NRD options for the WOW sale that started today on RCL's site.

[davidb1950]

Sure!:D

 

 

 

I booked an air ticket with Princess for end of November- interestingly we don't need to pay until 56 days before, it was a flexible (which was cheaper than non flexible) and can be cancelled without penalty until payment is due.

[Biker19]

I am assuming they can recover this lost deposit via insurance companies as passengers are canceling due to reasons covered under policy AND not just holding cabins just in case they want to sail.

Why would anyone get insurance to insure against a $100 pp event? The cost would probably not make financial sense.