No refundable deposits for Cyber Monday sale?

[Mama24]

Has Royal Caribbean done away with refundable deposits?  I just tried to book a cruise on Harmony, and no option for a refundable deposit.

[molly361]

You have to go thru the entire booking process and after entering all passenger info on the next page will be a box with the refundable amount in it

[bouhunter]

9 minutes ago, molly361 said:

You have to go thru the entire booking process and after entering all passenger info on the next page will be a box with the refundable amount in it

Yeah refundable prices haven't been showing up early in the pricing process.  They were for a while but not now.

[Lady Chew]

We looked at booking Symphony, but saw that we'd lose our deposit if we had to cancel before final payment.  No sale.

[Ourusualbeach]

6 minutes ago, Lady Chew said:

We looked at booking Symphony, but saw that we'd lose our deposit if we had to cancel before final payment.  No sale.

 

As was stated there still are refundable deposits available, you just need to go through the booking process.

[nelblu]

23 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

As was stated there still are refundable deposits available, you just need to go through the booking process.

 

So you need to almost complete the booking before you see refundable pricing--ridiculous!

[Lady Chew]

And you have to PAY  EXTRA up front  ($270 in our case for this booking) in order to get your deposit refunded if you cancel.  If you don't cancel, great, but you've paid another $270/whatever for your cruise.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Lady Chew

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, Lady Chew said:

And you have to PAY  EXTRA up front  ($270 in our case for this booking) in order to get your deposit refunded if you cancel.  If you don't cancel, great, but you've paid another $270/whatever for your cruise.

 

You are not paying any extra up front, just the regular deposit.  Paying more for a refundable fare has been that way ever since the non refundable deposits came into play.

 

Search out a travel agent with group space.  Groups are refundable fares.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Ourusualbeach

[molly361]

37 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

You are not paying any extra up front, just the regular deposit.  Paying more for a refundable fare has been that way ever since the non refundable deposits came into play.

 

Search out a travel agent with group space.  Groups are refundable fares.

😇🎅

[Mama24]

21 hours ago, molly361 said:

You have to go thru the entire booking process and after entering all passenger info on the next page will be a box with the refundable amount in it

 

Thanks. Good information to know.  I didn't stick with the booking process long enough.  Since there's a chance we'll have to cancel, I didn't want non-refundable.

[Biker19]

22 hours ago, molly361 said:

You have to go thru the entire booking process and after entering all passenger info on the next page will be a box with the refundable amount in it

The Aussie version of the RCI booking process has the refundable option like it used to be on the US site - first page of choosing the cabin.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Biker19

[secret1122]

Ever so slightly off topic, but doesn't the idea of refundable deposits defeat the purpose of what a deposit is designed for? This isn't just about Royal Caribbean, but any business in the world today where this seems to be becoming more and more popular. It's great for the consumer, but from the business side it seems useless. The whole point of a deposit is to hold something, whether a product or a reservation. The business is willing to save that thing for you knowing you most likely won't back out, for fear of losing money. With a refundable deposit, it seems there's no incentive for the person to not want to cancel, so again, from the business side, they might as well just agree to hold whatever it is on good faith, rather than ask for money. Anyway, just something that I've thought about over the years.