Another cancellation question

[Maryscooking]

I have a cruise booked for the beginning of January.  It is a month past the final payment date, and I have only [aid a $100 deposit.  I fully expected that Celebrity would have cancelled our reservation by now.  So these are my questions for anyone who has experience with the same situation:

 

- If I cancel now, will Celebrity attempt to collect the 75% penalty that the website says I would owe?  Like trying to bill the credit card that the deposit was paid with (I'm not sure they have authorization to actually do that) or send a bill for balance due?

- And if I don't cancel, will they just let the balance stay unpaid for any certain amount of time?  Or will they cancel it on their own?  

 

I should say that I am aware of what the official policy is - but since Celebrity is already not following their written policy, I'm looking for what others have experienced with them.

 

Thank you!

[ShawninFL]

I would imagine at this point they have cancelled the reservation and kept the $100.00 deposit as the cancellation penalty.  I don't see how they can collect anything more than the deposit you paid.  I'm guessing that you booked directly with Celebrity since a TA would have tracked you down regarding final payment.  I say just call Celebrity and find out for sure.

[Purplsmurf]

1 hour ago, Maryscooking said:

I have a cruise booked for the beginning of January.  It is a month past the final payment date, and I have only [aid a $100 deposit.  I fully expected that Celebrity would have cancelled our reservation by now.  So these are my questions for anyone who has experience with the same situation:

 

- If I cancel now, will Celebrity attempt to collect the 75% penalty that the website says I would owe?  Like trying to bill the credit card that the deposit was paid with (I'm not sure they have authorization to actually do that) or send a bill for balance due?

- And if I don't cancel, will they just let the balance stay unpaid for any certain amount of time?  Or will they cancel it on their own?  

 

I should say that I am aware of what the official policy is - but since Celebrity is already not following their written policy, I'm looking for what others have experienced with them.

 

Thank you!

Kind of confused......do you not want to take the cruise? If not, then why didn’t you cancel before final payment was due to get your deposit back (if it wasn’t a NRD) and if you do want to take it why didn’t you pay for it?

[Maryscooking]

22 minutes ago, ShawninFL said:

I would imagine at this point they have cancelled the reservation and kept the $100.00 deposit as the cancellation penalty.  I don't see how they can collect anything more than the deposit you paid.  I'm guessing that you booked directly with Celebrity since a TA would have tracked you down regarding final payment.  I say just call Celebrity and find out for sure.

 

Well the cruise is still in my profile on the Celebrity website, showing the balance due. I was surprised to see that it wasn't cancelled. And yes, I stopped using travel agents long ago. I do expect that I'll lose the $100 deposit if we don't pay the reservation. I'm not very concerned about that. But I don't want to cancel and get a bill for the cost of the cruise next month.  Although I don't really see them doing that, I figured I'd better ask if it had happened to anyone, just in case.

[Maryscooking]

10 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Kind of confused......do you not want to take the cruise? If not, then why didn’t you cancel before final payment was due to get your deposit back (if it wasn’t a NRD) and if you do want to take it why didn’t you pay for it?

 

I wouldn't mind taking the cruise.  I guess I'm ambivalent. I have three or so other (non-cruise) trips that we could take the same week, and I haven't been able to pick one.  We are definitely going on a cruise in March, and I'm kind of wanting something different for this trip.  So when final payment came around for this cruise, I didn't want to commit to it quite yet, but I wasn't ready to cancel either.  I thought about cancelling and then re-booking later if we did decide to cruise, but didn't want to give up the fare and perks we had.  The due date came and went and Celebrity hasn't sent any notices or called, and I just realized that over a month has gone by since the final payment due date.  So I logged onto the website, and (kind of surprisingly) there it is, still sitting in my list of booked cruises.

[Iamthesea]

It's a strange situation.  Did you ever get any type of reminder that your cruise deposit was due?  Check your SPAM folder!

 

My guess is that Celebrity will reach out to you by phone eventually.   If you don't want to go, I'd leave it, and the deposit.  If you want to take the cruise, you had better get in touch with Celebrity before your stateroom is given away.

[Maryscooking]

11 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

It's a strange situation.  Did you ever get any type of reminder that your cruise deposit was due?  Check your SPAM folder!

 

My guess is that Celebrity will reach out to you by phone eventually.   If you don't want to go, I'd leave it, and the deposit.  If you want to take the cruise, you had better get in touch with Celebrity before your stateroom is given away.

 

They sent email reminders prior to the final payment due date, but nothing after the due date.  They don't go to my spam folder.  It is strange that they haven't pursued payment or cancelled it.  To be honest, if they do give my stateroom away, at this point, it would be ok.  If we decide to do the cruise, booking a new trip now would be better rates (even accounting for the $100 forfeited deposit) and the good veterans day sale perks.  I would never be this cavalier about a reservation if I was very attached to the trip or if I had a large down payment at stake.

 

(Just for the curious - I can't decide between some very different things: a Celebrity cruise (a known quantity that we always enjoy), a winter trip to Yellowstone (on my husband's bucket list, but very pricey to do it right), a Canada skiing/snowshoeing/winter hot springs spa trip combined with a couple days in Ontario (this one is the most tempting to me honestly), or various adventures in Costa Rica (expensive to book now but sounds really fun).  My husband is always up for anything and will go along with whatever I pick.  I'm being picky because we only go away by ourselves (without child) about every five years.)

[hiccups]

9 minutes ago, Maryscooking said:

(Just for the curious - I can't decide between some very different things: a Celebrity cruise (a known quantity that we always enjoy), a winter trip to Yellowstone (on my husband's bucket list, but very pricey to do it right), a Canada skiing/snowshoeing/winter hot springs spa trip combined with a couple days in Ontario (this one is the most tempting to me honestly), or various adventures in Costa Rica (expensive to book now but sounds really fun).  My husband is always up for anything and will go along with whatever I pick.  I'm being picky because we only go away by ourselves (without child) about every five years.)

I'd be leaning towards the Canada or Yellowstone trips and save the cruise for when you have your child with you.  Those sounds like great trips!

[Iamthesea]

Since we have snow today in TN, and temps dipping to 13 F tonight, I would pick the warm cruise. 🌞   In fact, the Reflection cruise in January looks pretty tempting to me!

 

Have fun with whatever you pick! 😉 

[TeeRick]

If you are worried just call them.  Tell them you did not make final payment and you forgot to cancel the cruise.  This probably happens quite a lot.  Maybe they will refund your money ($100) but probably not.  They certainly cannot charge you additional money.  Even if they did that you could dispute it with your credit card company.  If you might cruise Celebrity again in the near future they might agree to apply the $100 to another cruise.

[Fouremco]

In my experience, the longer you wait to resolve things the less happy you'll be with the outcome. If I were in your shoes, I'd call Celebrity now and determine exactly what the situation is. Once you know, you can go ahead with your planning.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We were suppose to sail with friends a few years ago, their 1st cruise. They told us they cancelled the cruise at the last minute. I found out from the CVP after final payment was due that they did not make payment and did not cancel with Celebrity, who sent them several emails and phone calls. They had a $1000 deposit.  I don't know what happened to the deposit as we drifted apart but I'm sure they lost it.  Their cabin was booked by someone else.

[Maryscooking]

2 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

We were suppose to sail with friends a few years ago, their 1st cruise. They told us they cancelled the cruise at the last minute. I found out from the CVP after final payment was due that they did not make payment and did not cancel with Celebrity, who sent them several emails and phone calls. They had a $1000 deposit.  I don't know what happened to the deposit as we drifted apart but I'm sure they lost it.  Their cabin was booked by someone else.

 

Ouch! That's a big chunk of change to lose.

[Maryscooking]

57 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

In my experience, the longer you wait to resolve things the less happy you'll be with the outcome. If I were in your shoes, I'd call Celebrity now and determine exactly what the situation is. Once you know, you can go ahead with your planning.

 

Yes, once i know what i want to do, I will be calling.

[Maryscooking]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

If you are worried just call them.  Tell them you did not make final payment and you forgot to cancel the cruise.  This probably happens quite a lot.  Maybe they will refund your money ($100) but probably not.  They certainly cannot charge you additional money.  Even if they did that you could dispute it with your credit card company.  If you might cruise Celebrity again in the near future they might agree to apply the $100 to another cruise.

 

That's an interesting idea - ask if they'd apply the $100 to our cruise booked for March.

[Maryscooking]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

Since we have snow today in TN, and temps dipping to 13 F tonight, I would pick the warm cruise. 🌞   In fact, the Reflection cruise in January looks pretty tempting to me!

 

Have fun with whatever you pick! 😉 

 

I am right there with you at this moment.  There's a reason we've taken so many cruises!

[sasset]

My experience. This was two tears ago.I had two cruises with $100 per person deposits on each. I had to cancel both shortly after final payment dates. Celebrity hit me with $900 on each cruise, which would have been the normal deposit amount, on both.

[Iamthesea]

Yikes!  That's right.   With those $100 "special" deposits, once final payment comes along, it turns into a full deposit amount when cancelled.

[sasset]

Yup. But, like I said, that was two years ago. Maybe someone has a more recent experience.

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, sasset said:

My experience. This was two tears ago.I had two cruises with $100 per person deposits on each. I had to cancel both shortly after final payment dates. Celebrity hit me with $900 on each cruise, which would have been the normal deposit amount, on both.

Wow that seems unfair.  But why would they hit you with the normal deposit amount ($450 per guest) if you had not made final payment even if after that date?  So all they had on your account at that time was $200?  If you paid by credit card I would challenge the $900 charge with the CC company and not pay.  Or was it another $700 since you already paid $200?  Did you try to hold or dispute the charge with your CC company? 

[Mark_T]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Wow that seems unfair.  But why would they hit you with the normal deposit amount ($450 per guest) if you had not made final payment even if after that date?  So all they had on your account at that time was $200?  If you paid by credit card I would challenge the $900 charge with the CC company and not pay.  Or was it another $700 since you already paid $200?  Did you try to hold or dispute the charge with your CC company? 

 

Usually because those are the terms for the offers with a low initial deposit...

 

Wording like this seems to be common... ' Full deposit must be paid by deposit payment required due date. Standard full deposit penalty is applied if booking is cancelled within final payment period; see Celebrity Cancellation Policy for details.'

 

It is a cashflow advantage, not a way to lock down a cruise and then not cancel or pay for it without having to pay the full deposit penalty...

[sasset]

3 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Wow that seems unfair.  But why would they hit you with the normal deposit amount ($450 per guest) if you had not made final payment even if after that date?  So all they had on your account at that time was $200?  If you paid by credit card I would challenge the $900 charge with the CC company and not pay.  Or was it another $700 since you already paid $200?  Did you try to hold or dispute the charge with your CC company? 

Maybe I wasn’t clear. I had made $200 deposits, then made payment in full at the due date but had to cancel several days later. I was refunded all but $900. I was expecting to lose my deposit which had only been $200.

Sorry for any confusion.

[Iamthesea]

In that case, you were very lucky to get anything back... unless you had the travel insurance.

[sasset]

It was only about 10 days after final payment under the old structure where you lose your deposit. I assumed it would only be the deposit, I paid, which was the $100 per person. They hit me with the standard deposit of $450 p/p.

[TeeRick]

8 hours ago, sasset said:

It was only about 10 days after final payment under the old structure where you lose your deposit. I assumed it would only be the deposit, I paid, which was the $100 per person. They hit me with the standard deposit of $450 p/p.

Yes 89-57 days prior to sailing cancellation $450 pp.