$1 Deposits and Non-Refundable Stategy

[Hlitner]

Just a heads up to watch for an occasional Princess promotion with $1 Deposits.   We had been looking at a Princess cruise and were debating whether to book with a non-refundable deposit which would save us several hundred dollars on the cruise fare, or use a refundable deposit (with a higher cruise price) to keep all of our future options open.   But this past Wednesday Princess had a one day promotion where just about every cruise could be booked for a $1 deposit.  We were able to book via one of our favored cruise agencies, only pay the $1 deposit, and still get the non-refundable pricing.   In the future if pricing were to substantially decrease we could always cancel (we would lose $2) and rebook at the lower fare....assuming that Princess would not simply allow us to refare our original booking.

 

Hank 

[SteelMagnolia9]

I, unfortunately, lost a $100 non-refundable AND non-transferable deposit due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict (Mexican Riviera cruise in May 2020). I did ask to transfer to the same cruise at later date, hoping Princess would waive the non-transferable condition since I wanted to rebook the same cruise and ship,  however, my request was denied. A lesson learned (for me) to not book with non-refundable deposits months out from the cruise.
 

The $1.00 deposits are a great incentive if the timing is right.

 

I did rebook a Mexican Riviera cruise at a later date, but with NCL with a $50 refundable deposit. 

[geoherb]

If you book with a $1 deposit, are you later able to add a FCD and receive the onboard credit?

[wallyj]

I believe you can use a FCD after you have booked with the $1 deposit. I have friends currently on the Emerald Panama Canal crossing to LA from FLL. They booked the Transpacific SYD to LA Golden April 2020 and were able to book with the $1 deposit and the TA they used said they will be able to apply FCD when they need to make final in 10 days.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

56 minutes ago, wallyj said:

I believe you can use a FCD after you have booked with the $1 deposit. I have friends currently on the Emerald Panama Canal crossing to LA from FLL. They booked the Transpacific SYD to LA Golden April 2020 and were able to book with the $1 deposit and the TA they used said they will be able to apply FCD when they need to make final in 10 days.

Would be interesting to see if that works as in the Princess an TA booking engine it specifically states FCD may not be applied.

[crystalspin]

Maybe the friends' TA meant FCC and they heard FCD?

[argenta01]

6 hours ago, geoherb said:

If you book with a $1 deposit, are you later able to add a FCD and receive the onboard credit?

One could add the FCD at final payment, but they are only going to get the $100 off the balance, not the OBC associated with it. FCD’s must be used at the time of the initial booking in order to receive the OBC.