Non refundable Deposits

[kertyz]

Is it legal for a travel agency registered in Florida to issue non-refundable deposits? This policy is in place even when the cruise line cancels the cruise. According to the agency it is perfectly legal for them to keep your deposit. You have 6 months from the date of cancellation to book another cruise with them, otherwise you lose your money.

[1025cruise]

I wouldn't book with that TA.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, kertyz said:

Is it legal for a travel agency registered in Florida to issue non-refundable deposits? This policy is in place even when the cruise line cancels the cruise. According to the agency it is perfectly legal for them to keep your deposit. You have 6 months from the date of cancellation to book another cruise with them, otherwise you lose your money.

Well that would depend...

You call it a “deposit.” Would that be a down payment on the actual cruise fare that was charged to your credit card by the cruise line and showed on the cruise line’s invoice as a “deposit?” If so, that “deposit” is governed by the T&Cs and Ticket Contract of the cruise line. Did you read them (usually found on the cruise line’s website under “legal”) before you agreed to anything?

 

And, if it is the cruise line that charged your card (the norm in the US - TA gets your CC# and calls it in the the cruise line), do they have administrative fees/penalties levied for your decision to cancel at certain times? If it’s in their legal docs, you are most likely S.O.L.

 

On the other hand, if the TA charged your card directly in the US, that’s a major red flag for future trouble. Even then, what were the terms of your booking with that TA? Administrative fees, cancellation fees, booking charge, etc. Is what you call a “deposit” actually one of those items or, by making a deposit, did you agree to their “fee(s)”? Again, didn’t you ask for a copy or web link for their T&Cs before paying???

 

In any case, if your comment about TA “registered” in Florida means registered “seller of travel,” you can always contact whoever controls them (check with the Secretary of State). BTW, if registered in Florida, the TA will most likely also be registered as a “seller of travel” in California where complaints like you are considering are taken very seriously. 
 

Finally, you mentioned that your “deposit” can be “reused.” Bottom line (if all else fails) may be to book a replacement cruise, apply the deposit, lick your wounds and learn the lesson of reading the fine print before pulling out the CC.

[Mary229]

Many TAs have this deposit which is really a non-refundable service fee to cover any work they do.  I would shop elsewhere 

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Many TAs have this deposit which is really a non-refundable service fee to cover any work they do.  I would shop elsewhere 

And if they do, it is a red flag; find another TA.

 

Is it really many, or just a few with a great majority not doing this?

[Mary229]

16 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Is it really many, or just a few with a great majority not doing this?

With the pandemic many started using this as their agents were not being paid commissions.  You will see and hear more and more of this in the coming years

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

With the pandemic many started using this as their agents were not being paid commissions.  You will see and hear more and more of this in the coming years

Do you have a source for this, or is it just speculation? What if the cruise line, not the TA's client, cancels the cruise, would the deposit to the TA still not be refunded?

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Do you have a source for this, or is it just speculation? What if the cruise line, not the TA's client, cancels the cruise, would the deposit to the TA still not be refunded?

My sister owns a travel agency.   She is thinking about having a similar policy based on her discussions with other industry professionals and guidance given at professional seminars.  

Edited February 8, 2022 by Mary229

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

My sister owns a travel agency.   She is thinking about having a similar policy based on her discussions with other industry professionals and guidance given at professional seminars.  

Since most customers for TAs are I would guess repeat customers, I wonder how prominently they will make their customers aware of these changes. You read of more and more cruise customers who are avoiding non-refundable deposits and have to wonder if a TA would risk losing the potential customer to another TA or even booking directly with the cruise line.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

if a TA would risk losing the potential customer to another TA or even booking directly with the cruise line.

That was exactly my advise to her. 

[ontheweb]

Just now, Mary229 said:

That was exactly my advise to her. 

Great minds think alike. 😉

[kertyz]

In this case the cruise line cancelled the cruise to the Amazon. I was trapped by this non refundable deposit issue in 2020  when I put a deposit of $199 on an earlier cruise. This was cancelled by the cruise line.  I used this deposit along with a further deposit of $298 for the Amazon cruise which brings the  total deposit to close to $500, too much of a loss to take. 

 

I can understand service charges to cover administrative costs if a client cancels a cruise for personal reasons. However, I don't see this happening if the cruise line cancels the cruise.

 

I was told by the Sales Manager at the cruise line that this practice is totally legal and that they have check with their lawyers and the Attorney Generals Office. I  always thought that Florida would have strong consumer protection laws.  It also makes me wonder about the quality of the TA, if they have check legal issues before instituting a policy which at the very least unethical. 

 

As to booking with the same agency again after this mess ends. Never.....

 

[sanger727]

Did they provide you any disclosures ahead of time? 
 

Are you sure of what the cruise line’s policy is? It seems odd to me that they would give you a FCC for the cruise of the cruise line’s deposit was refundable. Or is it a credit with the TA that could be used for any future trip?

[Waihekean]

My US TA explained it this way: because cruise was discounted, Deposit is not refundable.

I did not query this further, but I would expect the deposit to be refundable if the cruise line would cancel the cruise.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, Waihekean said:

My US TA explained it this way: because cruise was discounted, Deposit is not refundable.

I did not query this further, but I would expect the deposit to be refundable if the cruise line would cancel the cruise.

We once had a cruise that was so discounted that the deposit was the same as the final payment. We did buy insurance to cover if we had some illness or emergency and had to cancel.

[KirkNC]

I won’t do a non-refundable deposit, especially in these times.

[KirkNC]

On 2/23/2022 at 8:30 PM, Waihekean said:

My US TA explained it this way: because cruise was discounted, Deposit is not refundable.

I did not query this further, but I would expect the deposit to be refundable if the cruise line would cancel the cruise.

We visited your beautiful island from Auckland several years ago.  Quite nice!

[John Bull]

We Brits are used to non-refundable deposits, we only book when we know we want that particular  cruise, and insure against being unable to take it.

 

The Covid situation meant we didn't want to travel because of the restrictions & uncertainties, but insurance would have covered us for having to cancel - even because of a requirement to quarantne.

 

JB 🙂

[mlbcruiser]

We booked a cruise to Australia with royal Caribbean about a year ago. We booked with a nonrefundable deposit because the refundable deposit rates were so high it would be better to use the difference between the two types of deposits to purchase insurance rather than take the refundable deposit cruise price. Since cruising was stopped in Australia, the cruise was canceled by Royal Caribbean, not by us. Even though our deposit was considered nonrefundable (and on Royal Caribbean they will let you roll the money you have paid already over if you pay a $100 per person rebooking fee), RC what allow you a future cruise credit worth a bit more than the money you had already paid if you did not request a refund of your initial deposit payment. In other words, it was a bit of a perk for not totally canceling and agreeing to except a future cruise credit so they would not have to refund you any money. However you also had the choice of excepting a refund in the original form of payment. While it did Take a few months for the refunds to be issued, they were issued. 

[mlbcruiser]

Too many minutes have passes to edit my post above but wanted to mention our Ausralian/NZ cruise was booked through a regular TA. Not RCI. 
 

On another note, we canceled a river cruise by choice last summer due to a sudden flurry of changes in requirements with the Covid situation in the country we would have been sailing in. In that case our only option was to accept a fitirr cruise credit for the amount we had paid for that cruise. Since we did not buy cancel for any reason insurance, canceling was not an option as it was our choice.

 

Seems like most cruise lines and TAs have been trying to work with people on these types of things. Some agencies will charge a $50 or so fee per booking to keep people from canceling frivolously. However, if you need to cancel but choose to rebook something right away, some will wave this fee for a client. Yet some will not.  

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

Too many minutes have passes to edit my post above but wanted to mention our Ausralian/NZ cruise was booked through a regular TA. Not RCI. 
 

On another note, we canceled a river cruise by choice last summer due to a sudden flurry of changes in requirements with the Covid situation in the country we would have been sailing in. In that case our only option was to accept a fitirr cruise credit for the amount we had paid for that cruise. Since we did not buy cancel for any reason insurance, canceling was not an option as it was our choice.

 

Seems like most cruise lines and TAs have been trying to work with people on these types of things. Some agencies will charge a $50 or so fee per booking to keep people from canceling frivolously. However, if you need to cancel but choose to rebook something right away, some will wave this fee for a client. Yet some will not.  

And some TAs do not charge a cancellation fee. If yours did, I hope you were informed of it in advance before you booked.

[mlbcruiser]

Personally I have never paid a fee for a travel booking. There are very top-notch travel agents, like the ones you sometimes see mentioned in Conde Nast or Travel & Leisure magazines that do remarkable things. Go way above and beyond, and do very complicated trips with special access to events, venues, experiences, and even people sometimes! Very customized (and usually fairly expensive) stuff. I can see paying a fee for service like that as long as I know about it up front. Not that I would be able to afford service like that anyways, lol!

[Hlitner]

I think there are two different issues being discussed.  Some cruise lines offer booking deals that include non-refundable deposits for which the customer gets a lower price for the cruise (similar to a non-refundable airline fare).  You ca these through cruise/travel agents and also directly with the cruise line.  If the cruise line ultimately cancels the cruise they are obligated to refund that non-refundable deposit (or payment) of the customer (at least in North America) could simply request a credit card charge-back (in compliance with Federal Law and Regulations) since the cruise line did not deliver the product that was promised.   

 

But there are also some cruise/travel agencies that have their own non refundable deals and fees and that is a different situation.  My suggestion is to avoid agencies that have these kind of deals.  In the USA the decent cruise/travel agencies use a system that has the payments flow directly to the cruise line systems (the charge is actually made through the cruise line....not the agency) and that is what folks should seek.  Do not ever deal with an agency that processes the payment through their own agency.

 

Hank