Refundable Cruise Deposits in Oz?

[SinbadThePorter]

I notice our American cousins on CC are complaining about non-refundable deposits. A refundable deposit would seem contradict the purpose of a deposit, but what do I know.

 

Personally I have never seen or booked a cruise here with a refundable deposit. Without going into the gory details of TAs etc, have I been remiss in my internet cruise searches, do they even exist outside of the USA?

[NSWP]

Booking direct with Princess deposits are refundable, according to their cancellation schedule.  Booking Princess through an agent, deposits are refundable according to cancellation schedule but normally a cancellation fee is applicable, generally $100 per pax.

 

I do a few cruises with P&O UK and their deposits are not refundable at all.

[RadioBoy]

23 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Personally I have never seen or booked a cruise here with a refundable deposit. Without going into the gory details of TAs etc, have I been remiss in my internet cruise searches, do they even exist outside of the USA?

 

On our booking with Royal Caribbean (via their AU website), we had a choice:

1) Fully refundable deposit until final payment date (but the cruise cost $200 extra).

2) A non refundable deposit with a cheaper cruise cost.

So it exists... i think it just depends on the cruise line.

[NSWP]

9 minutes ago, RadioBoy said:

 

On our booking with Royal Caribbean (via their AU website), we had a choice:

1) Fully refundable deposit until final payment date (but the cruise cost $200 extra).

2) A non refundable deposit with a cheaper cruise cost.

So it exists... i think it just depends on the cruise line.

So in essence that $200 is a cancellation fee really.

[GUT2407]

Many times it will be refundable up to the time you wouldn’t get a refund if you cancel, varies by line and length of cruise. 

[RadioBoy]

3 minutes ago, NSWP said:

So in essence that $200 is a cancellation fee really.

 

yeah... thats how i looked at it.  Spend $200 to potentially save $200.

[Aus Traveller]

30 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Booking direct with Princess deposits are refundable, according to their cancellation schedule.  Booking Princess through an agent, deposits are refundable according to cancellation schedule but normally a cancellation fee is applicable, generally $100 per pax.

 

I do a few cruises with P&O UK and their deposits are not refundable at all.

Some TAs charge a cancellation fee and some don't. A few years ago we were considering booking two reasonably B2B cruises with a TA in the West. They weren't the Best. On reading the small print on their company website, I saw that if we cancelled, they could charge us the total cost of the cruise as a cancellation fee. In addition, their service was really bad (they wouldn't ever phone back) so we booked with a TA in Brisbane who used to be at Portside. Their service is excellent.

[NSWP]

22 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Some TAs charge a cancellation fee and some don't. A few years ago we were considering booking two reasonably B2B cruises with a TA in the West. They weren't the Best. On reading the small print on their company website, I saw that if we cancelled, they could charge us the total cost of the cruise as a cancellation fee. In addition, their service was really bad (they wouldn't ever phone back) so we booked with a TA in Brisbane who used to be at Portside. Their service is excellent.

That mob in Perth were certainly not the Best, back then, we booked a few with them.  Closed up.

Edited August 13, 2019 by NSWP

[SinbadThePorter]

I just looked at the Terms and Conditions of what I think are three of the biggest online TAs, and they all say deposits are non-refundable.

 

I guess I'll just have to look harder or book direct.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Princess has refundable deposits including when using a Future Cruise Deposit however the cancallation penalty period now starts earlier than the it used to. 

 

Celebrity deposits used to be refundable even with perks. Now they offer two options: a cheaper fare with one of the perk and a non-refundable deposit, or a much dearer fare with more perks and a refundable deposit.

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, NSWP said:

That mob in Perth were certainly not the Best, back then, we booked a few with them.  Closed up.

Good. I am glad they closed up.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Cunard's current sale has non-refundable deposits.

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I just looked at the Terms and Conditions of what I think are three of the biggest online TAs, and they all say deposits are non-refundable.

 

I guess I'll just have to look harder or book direct.

After I encountered the hefty cancellation policy from the TA in the West, I quizzed the next couple of TA's I got a quote from. They each mentioned the cruise line's cancellation penalty, but I had to specify that I was asking about an additional penalty imposed by the TA. They each said they only charged the cruise line's cancellation penalty.

 

I have to confess that I haven't asked the TAs we have our current bookings with. On all except one of these, we would lose the deposit because of the cruise line's policy.  I must remember to ask this question in future if the booking is far enough in the future. I think it is six months with both Princess and P&O Aust.

[Russell21]

I do the booking for our group of 6 direct with the cruise lines. On a Princess cruise booked before last Xmas, with a final payment due on the 25th of this month, I had to, just 2 weeks ago, substitute a passenger due to unfortunately a fatal illness of a close friend in our group.  The deposit was a Future Cruise Deposit and it was refunded to her account. The substitute passenger was allowed to pay the $100.00 as full deposit even though she did not have a FCD. Very obliging people I must say.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Russell21

[NSWP]

The big TA I deal with for like P&O UK as we cannot book direct with them, will waive the $100 cancellation fee if you deposit it on another cruise with them. Fair I reckon.

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, Russell21 said:

I do the booking for our group of 6 direct with the cruise lines. On a Princess cruise booked before last Xmas, with a final payment due on the 25th of this month, I had to, just 2 weeks ago, substitute a passenger due to unfortunately a fatal illness of a close friend in our group.  The deposit was a Future Cruise Deposit and it was refunded to her account. The substitute passenger was allowed to pay the $100.00 as full deposit even though she did not have a FCD. Very obliging people I must say.

That is excellent service indeed.