Do non-refundable deposits disappear along with promotions?

[Tampa Girl]

I tried to book a September 19, 2020 Jewels of the Baltic  Iberian Adventure.  It currently has a promotion including the Signature Beverage Package and a reduced deposit.  The deposit is non-refundable.  Once the promotion drops, does the non-refundability of the deposit also disappear?  Or can I require a price for a refundable deposit, including the promotion?  I have no intention of tying up a lot of non-refundable money for 18 months.  Further, according to one TA, there are only three NS's available.  Is that possible at this early date?  Is it possible that there is a large group on it and, if so, how do I find out about it.  Thanks for any insight.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL has been doing those non-refundable deposits even before promotions on many cruises.

 

You or your TA have to ask what the price of the cruise will be with a refundable deposit and if there are any promotions available with that refundable deposit.

 

It does sound strange that there are only a few Neptune Suites left.  I checked and no charter or large groups scheduled to be on board.

[Overhead Fred]

26 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

It currently has a promotion including the Signature Beverage Package and a reduced deposit.

 

If it is the "early booking bonus" promotion, then I think the deposits should be refundable. 

[FlorenceItaly]

22 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

If it is the "early booking bonus" promotion, then I think the deposits should be refundable. 

This is what my booking confirmation confirms with the early booking bonus promotion.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

TampaGirl -

 

I took a look at the sailing you referenced. If I am correct in my assumption, you are talking about the 28 day collectors cruise from Rotterdam to Barcelona. If that is the case it is actually 2 separate 14 day voyages being sold and marketed also as one long voyage. When HAL does this they only make a portion of the total inventory available for the collectors cruise. The remaining inventory is held for the individual segments. HAL determines which categories, number of rooms and individual room #s will be offered for the collectors cruise vs the segments. That is why your agent is seeing limited inventory. They should know and understand this, especially if they book a fair amount of cruises with HAL. 

 

As far as deposit refundability, the Early Booking Bonus promotion has a reduced, fully refundable deposit, along with the Signature Beverage Pakage, 1nt Pinnacle Grill and some onboard credit (suites only). There is is a separate non-refundable deposit option that does not combine with the Early Booking Bonus offer. Again, a good agent should know how to determine the difference in fare options.

 

If the suite #(s)that HAL is offering for the collectors cruise are not to your liking your agent can see if a particular suite # is unbooked for both of the individual segments then call HAL and see if they will swap that suite # for the one(s) they pre-allocated. The reservations agents have to reach out to their inventory control department to have this done.  Their hours are limited to M-F 9am-5pm Pacific Time. 

 

I hope this this helps you to some degree or another without being confusing!

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Overhead Fred]

AtlantaCruiser72 is absolutely right about cabin availability on collector cruises. You really need to look at the individual segments to see what might be available. A good TA will be able to request that the ship inventory department (?) release a cabin for the collectors cruise if it is available for all the individual segments. Our PCC has done this a few time for us. 

 

Just for fun, and because I had a lovely cocktail to sip, I did a dummy booking for your collectors cruise and the two individual segments. On the HAL site, I was coming up with very few available Neptunes no matter how I tried to book it. The HAL site was behaving rather oddly however. I know, I was absolutely shocked by this! 

 

I went to the Voldemort big box site (he who cannot be named but lives in the Pacific Northwest) and saw that there were around 8 Neptunes available for each segment, and several seemed available for both. It looked like the Pinnacles were also open for both segments. 

 

You could think about going for a Neptune Guarantee (if such exist, I have never booked above a Vista Suite) and maybe end up in a Pinnacle!

[notladjr]

I had to jump the gun and book a May 2020 RCCL much sooner than I wanted to because 15 months out there were only 5 junior suites left and only one in a good location. I asked my travel agent if perhaps some large travel agencies were holding blocks of rooms that might be released later and she said no. Then when I found a FB group for that cruise I discovered from a member that a large church group has booked a lot of rooms on the cruise so that explains why it is almost sold out so far in advance. The same could happen to your cruise but then again it might not!

[Tampa Girl]

15 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

 

 

It does sound strange that there are only a few Neptune Suites left.  I checked and no charter or large groups scheduled to be on board.

 

Thanks so much for checking for me.  And, Atlanta Cruiser72 and OverheadFred, thank you for discovering that it is a B2B cruise.  I should have picked up on it because it looked like two separate cruises.  Not sure that I want that.  Part of the charm of longer cruises (even 28 days) is that you get to know your fellow cruisers better.)  However, that first two weeks in the Baltic does sound enticing.  I appreciate all your efforts.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Tampa Girl - if you do traditional dining HAL maitre d's do try and seat consecutive cruisers together whenever possible.  There often develops a nice camaraderie amongst this subset of cruisers.  I would not hesitate to book it just because of the two shorter segments.  Would be tantamount to not booking a Grand Voyage because they also sell it in segments :)  That's my opinion at least!

[Tampa Girl]

13 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Tampa Girl - if you do traditional dining HAL maitre d's do try and seat consecutive cruisers together whenever possible.  There often develops a nice camaraderie amongst this subset of cruisers.  I would not hesitate to book it just because of the two shorter segments.  Would be tantamount to not booking a Grand Voyage because they also sell it in segments :)  That's my opinion at least!

 

Good point.  I have a call into my TA to see if there are refundable fares.  If not, I will wait until there are.  OTOH, it might be a good idea to ask what the non-refundable deposit actually is!