Non-Refundable Deposits...Is This New?

[ceilidh1]

Has anyone else noticed that Princess seems to be throwing in non-refundable deposits without making it clear that they are non-refundable? I noticed a price drop on Royal Sept 14th 3 days out of Vancouver down to LA. I booked and placed a courtesy hold and the confirmation stated that deposit of 10% was non-refundable. I went back and looked at the booking page and couldn't see any "offer" associated with the pricing or any mention of non-refundable deposit. I called Princess and was told that this was a "Princess Saver" fare so the deposit was non-refundable. I don't have a problem with this if it is a term attached to the promo, but why isn't it listed somewhere prior to booking? Thankfully, I only placed a hold so won't lose anything but if I had put down a deposit then decided not to go, I would have lost my deposit....am I missing something? Now I'm worried about booking in case this is the case with other sailings, too - how do you know it's non-refundable if it doesn't tell you until after you have placed the deposit?

[KNJScorpio]

That is not new at all. Princess has had Non-Refundable deposits for a long time now. However, it should state on the offer it is non-refundable, usually in the tiny fine print, you have to really look at all that info to find it. And if the agent didn't mention it to you, they were not doing their jobs! 

[ceilidh1]

3 minutes ago, KNJScorpio said:

That is not new at all. Princess has had Non-Refundable deposits for a long time now. However, it should state on the offer it is non-refundable, usually in the tiny fine print, you have to really look at all that info to find it. And if the agent didn't mention it to you, they were not doing their jobs! 

I've looked everywhere - can't see anything other than on the confirmation that is emailed after booking! I didn't use an agent - I did it on the website, as I always do. I called Princess to ask about the non-refundable reference in the confirmation, and that agent told me it was tied to the promotion that isn't mentioned at all on the booking page.....

[KNJScorpio]

Just now, ceilidh1 said:

I've looked everywhere - can't see anything other than on the confirmation that is emailed after booking! I didn't use an agent - I did it on the website, as I always do. I called Princess to ask about the non-refundable reference in the confirmation, and that agent told me it was tied to the promotion that isn't mentioned at all on the booking page.....

 

Looking at it, you are right. That is very odd that it isn't mentioned. That's disappointing that the website is not more transparent! It should give details about the promotion, that is something Princess needs to fix so there are no surprises for the guests. 

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, KNJScorpio said:

 

Looking at it, you are right. That is very odd that it isn't mentioned. That's disappointing that the website is not more transparent! It should give details about the promotion, that is something Princess needs to fix so there are no surprises for the guests. 

The promotion the rep said it falls under isn't even listed on the site - "Princess Saver"? Never heard of it and it certainly isn't advertised as this. It's just the price that comes up when I search for a cruise. Now I'm concerned that this might be the case for other cruises, too.....I know the site has been glitchy the past few days, so maybe it has something to do with that.....

[Thrak]

Princess IT is horrible. Info on the web site can often be wrong. I've seen promotions offered online that had absolutely no restriction on cabin type but, when I called and asked, I was told it was for balcony or higher. The next day the site "magically" included the restrictions. I think it would be embarrassing to be a member of the Princess IT team.

[CaboWabo62]

Would Princess allow a non refundable deposit to be transferred to an alternate new booking if plans had to be changed?

[caribill]

1 hour ago, CaboWabo62 said:

Would Princess allow a non refundable deposit to be transferred to an alternate new booking if plans had to be changed?

 

Sometimes.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Princess IT is horrible. Info on the web site can often be wrong. I've seen promotions offered online that had absolutely no restriction on cabin type but, when I called and asked, I was told it was for balcony or higher. The next day the site "magically" included the restrictions. I think it would be embarrassing to be a member of the Princess IT team.

 

That reminds me of a "team building" exercise at work one time. Everyone on the team had to tell of an embarrassing experience in their life. For example, one person who grew up in a small town in east Texas where Friday night high school football is almost a religion told how after many months of pleading his mother allowed him to be on the football team. In the first play during his first game, he was tackled and knocked to the ground. His mother ran onto the field to carry him off. Being it was a small town, even many years later everyone in town knows about it.

 

At the time I worked is a part of the company's IT was was truly a good part, delivering value and working systems. However, much of the business computing side of the IT area came under new leadership that was implementing policies and projects that were ineffective and expensive and disliked by almost everyone else in the company. So when it came to my turn in this exercise, I simply said that I worked in IT and that was embarrassing enough. The rest of the team agreed with me.

[MJSailors]

Princess has had non-refundable deposits for awhile. Sometimes,it is noted in the fine details of a promotion near the end of the page. When booking a cruise, that information should always be there for the customer to read. 

Asking the Princess rep at booking should work as well.

However, the information about non- refundable deposits may not be as forthcoming as it should because people may think twice about booking under such a policy.

10% of a cruise for two passengers results in hundreds of dollars for a deposit.

We will not book a cruise with a non- refundable deposit. Being Princess customers for over fifteen years, we are used to lower amounts of refundable deposits.

For our next cruise in the Sky in March 2020,we took advantage of the $1.00 deposit.

Under that promotion, our $2.00 is fully refundable!

[jasbo49]

9 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Has anyone else noticed that Princess seems to be throwing in non-refundable deposits without making it clear that they are non-refundable? I noticed a price drop on Royal Sept 14th 3 days out of Vancouver down to LA. I booked and placed a courtesy hold and the confirmation stated that deposit of 10% was non-refundable. I went back and looked at the booking page and couldn't see any "offer" associated with the pricing or any mention of non-refundable deposit. I called Princess and was told that this was a "Princess Saver" fare so the deposit was non-refundable. I don't have a problem with this if it is a term attached to the promo, but why isn't it listed somewhere prior to booking? Thankfully, I only placed a hold so won't lose anything but if I had put down a deposit then decided not to go, I would have lost my deposit....am I missing something? Now I'm worried about booking in case this is the case with other sailings, too - how do you know it's non-refundable if it doesn't tell you until after you have placed the deposit?

You're absolutely right and this, if intentional, is a pretty shady practice at best. Let's hope somebody makes this right on the site.

 

I've also been disturbed lately that whenever I get to the final stages of the booking process the default setting seems to be "pay in full" rather than using our FCDs as a deposit.

 

Jim

[ceilidh1]

40 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Princess has had non-refundable deposits for awhile. Sometimes,it is noted in the fine details of a promotion near the end of the page. When booking a cruise, that information should always be there for the customer to read. 

Asking the Princess rep at booking should work as well.

However, the information about non- refundable deposits may not be as forthcoming as it should because people may think twice about booking under such a policy.

10% of a cruise for two passengers results in hundreds of dollars for a deposit.

We will not book a cruise with a non- refundable deposit. Being Princess customers for over fifteen years, we are used to lower amounts of refundable deposits.

For our next cruise in the Sky in March 2020,we took advantage of the $1.00 deposit.

Under that promotion, our $2.00 is fully refundable!

I also don’t book with non- refundable deposits, which is why I am alarmed that it doesn’t mention being non-refundable until AFTER you have paid the deposit. I guess the way around it is to put a courtesy hold and check the confirmation before putting down the deposit!

[voljeep]

17 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I also don’t book with non- refundable deposits, which is why I am alarmed that it doesn’t mention being non-refundable until AFTER you have paid the deposit. I guess the way around it is to put a courtesy hold and check the confirmation before putting down the deposit!

we normally don't either, but did this time on our little 4 day CB.. the price was way too high - $ 557 pp when it first came out

with a Refundable deposit .. there was a very significant price drop ... then another and we decided to book ...

just before making a deposit - there was a 'warning' that popped up stating that booking at that price, the deposit was

NON-refundable for ANY reason, so I closed out the window ...

 

thought about it and went back in - 'risking' $ 26 pp for our balcony room ...

[Diver2014]

I chuckle when I look at our Sept 2020 booking that shows a fully refundable $2 deposit.  But then again, I don't think I would have made the booking if it weren't for the $1 per person deposit promo back on Feb 14 which Princess was counting on.

Make sure you read that fine print before putting down a 10% deposit though -- read and reread before hitting that on line payment tab.  I actually go so far as to taking a screen shot of each page before booking a cruise just so I can be sure. Overkill maybe but I don't want any surprises.

 

[tonit964]

59 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I also don’t book with non- refundable deposits, which is why I am alarmed that it doesn’t mention being non-refundable until AFTER you have paid the deposit. I guess the way around it is to put a courtesy hold and check the confirmation before putting down the deposit!

There is a pop up window that states that the deposit is non refundable BEFORE you enter your CC info.

 

I never book non refundable so I have gone through the booking process a few times and when the window pops up, I close out of it and then continue on my search for a different cruise.

[MJSailors]

Question is... many posting here do not book with non- refundable deposits.

if this is indicative of past Princess customers across the board,who is taking non- refundable deposit offers ?

Perhaps new customers ?

 

[ceilidh1]

8 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

There is a pop up window that states that the deposit is non refundable BEFORE you enter your CC info.

 

I never book non refundable so I have gone through the booking process a few times and when the window pops up, I close out of it and then continue on my search for a different cruise.

I'm fine with this as that makes it my choice whether or not to proceed with non-refundable deposit. What I am saying is that for THIS sailing (Royal, Sept 14th) there was NO pop up/warning/fine print. NOTHING to indicate the non-refundable deposit until the confirmation came through. Try booking and see if you get the pop-up....

[bemis12]

14 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Question is... many posting here do not book with non- refundable deposits.

if this is indicative of past Princess customers across the board,who is taking non- refundable deposit offers ?

Perhaps new customers ?

 

 

Not I.  I don't book cruises that I don't expect to take.  Weird, I know.

Edited April 15, 2019 by bemis12

[tonit964]

53 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I'm fine with this as that makes it my choice whether or not to proceed with non-refundable deposit. What I am saying is that for THIS sailing (Royal, Sept 14th) there was NO pop up/warning/fine print. NOTHING to indicate the non-refundable deposit until the confirmation came through. Try booking and see if you get the pop-up....

I did the mock booking and it didn't indicate the deposit of $54 was NOT refundable so that means it is refundable.

Are you saying you completed the booking and your confirmation confirmed the deposit is NON refundable? 

[ceilidh1]

8 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

I did the mock booking and it didn't indicate the deposit of $54 was NOT refundable so that means it is refundable.

Are you saying you completed the booking and your confirmation confirmed the deposit is NON refundable? 

Yes - the confirmation they sent AFTER booking states that the deposit of 10% was non-refundable (my deposit was listed at $79 as it's CAD$)

[tonit964]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yes - the confirmation they sent AFTER booking states that the deposit of 10% was non-refundable (my deposit was listed at $79 as it's CAD$)

I would call Princess and find out why you didn't get notice it was non refundable. Ask to speak to a supervisor.

[ceilidh1]

3 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

I would call Princess and find out why you didn't get notice it was non refundable. Ask to speak to a supervisor.

I did that - the supervisor was the one who told me it was non-refundable due to it being the Princess Saver promotion. It's a little worrisome - losing $79 as a deposit is one thing, but most times we are talking a couple of hundred!

[EllieinNJ]

Princess has two promotions going on now.  Spring into Savings is non refundable.  Come back new is refundable.  My booked cruise falls into the former.  My cruise is now $300 less pp but I would lose my perks from 3 for free.  I'm waiting until this promo is over April 30th and hoping the price stays down so I can re fare .

 

[ceilidh1]

37 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Princess has two promotions going on now.  Spring into Savings is non refundable.  Come back new is refundable.  My booked cruise falls into the former.  My cruise is now $300 less pp but I would lose my perks from 3 for free.  I'm waiting until this promo is over April 30th and hoping the price stays down so I can re fare .

 

Yes, but both those promos are listed when you pull up the booking (if they qualify). The booking I am referring to does not fall into either promo....

[majortom10]

Not a confusion for us in the UK as all deposits are non-refundable whatever type of booking or however far in advance we book.