Grace period for paying off cruise

[steve4031]

My final payment is due May 8th.  I would be able to pay  the balance of final payment on may 8th.  But am curious as to what the grace period is.  Is it a few days, or a couple of weeks?  I understand that if I wanted extra time I would need to contact HAL.  

[FlaMariner]

Interesting.

 

I thought the final payment date meant that.

 

If it does not, I'd be curious as to what the final payment date really is?

 

(We've got a trans-Pacific cruise heading to Japan this fall and from what I read,  Japan is still not allowing tourists so would like to stall on the final payment as long as I can)

[CruiserBruce]

Agree @FlaMariner, I thought payment was due that day. Seems I have heard a case or two where a booking disappeared within 24 hours when payment got delayed in transit. I know many travel agents, including ours, collect the money from the pax 10-20 days in advance to avoid any in transit delays.

 

If an extension is needed, I would hope it is requested and approved several days prior to due date.

[ontheweb]

19 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Agree @FlaMariner, I thought payment was due that day. Seems I have heard a case or two where a booking disappeared within 24 hours when payment got delayed in transit. I know many travel agents, including ours, collect the money from the pax 10-20 days in advance to avoid any in transit delays.

 

If an extension is needed, I would hope it is requested and approved several days prior to due date.

IIRC, our TA puts final payment about a week earlier than the cruise line so if you miss it with him at that point, you can still get it done in time.

[steve4031]

Thank you for your answers.  I booked directly with HAL so there is no grace period.  In the past I used travel agents and they had the built in grace period.  Your information was very helpful.  

[ChinaShrek]

Is the final payment date for the plane ticket different?

[FlaMariner]

21 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

Is the final payment date for the plane ticket different?

 

Final payment date is the final payment date.

 

So if you added air, bus transfers or whatever thru the cruise line then final payment date would be the final payment date.

 

If you added air (thru cruise line) or bus transfers after the final payment date, then the final payment date would be when you purchase them. 

 

(If you booked air directly thru the airline, with a another 3rd party or thru the TA with a separate invoice, that's obviously not related to your cruise invoice and it's final payment date....but those are (in most cases) due when you purchase.)

 

 

[MISTER 67]

Never heard of a grace period.

[kwb101]

Might you be thinking of Grand and World Voyages, where, if you pay by a certain date (about six months), you get a 3% discount, but otherwise the final payment is due on the usual schedule (with no discount)? I've not heard of a grace period. We book through a big box TA, and their final payment date is two weeks earlier than HAL's, but it's not a grace period, just their way of making sure they have your money in time to pay HAL.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

My understanding is that the grace period is the time between the day you book and the day final payment is due. On final payment date, the grace period is over and the clock has run out.

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

My understanding is that the grace period is the time between the day you book and the day final payment is due. On final payment date, the grace period is over and the clock has run out.

Agreed.    Why even question this?  Even if someone at HAL told me otherwise (not in writing) I would not trust that anyway - too much at risk IMO.

[iancal]

The only grace period as such that we have ever experienced (not on HAL though) is when booking inside the final payment window.

 

Our TA at the time managed to get the cruise line to hold our booking for several hours until we confirmed our air arrangements.  Once at Christmastime.  Twice for Europe.

 

This happened on several bookings but the clock was ticking.  We had  make good by end of business day.  Gave us a chance to ensure that the air prices we were following were the air fares that we were able to obtain.

Edited April 22, 2022 by iancal

[ChinaShrek]

21 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Final payment date is the final payment date.

 

So if you added air, bus transfers or whatever thru the cruise line then final payment date would be the final payment date.

 

If you added air (thru cruise line) or bus transfers after the final payment date, then the final payment date would be when you purchase them. 

 

(If you booked air directly thru the airline, with a another 3rd party or thru the TA with a separate invoice, that's obviously not related to your cruise invoice and it's final payment date....but those are (in most cases) due when you purchase.)

 

 

Well, my TA wants final payment for the cruise by May 12 but I just booked a flight through HAL and their website says June 12 to pay for the flight and June 15 to cancel without penalties. It seems to me that the flight has nothing to do with my TA. 

[zgscl]

I think I have seen people report on here something to the effect of they forgot their final payment and were able to pay a couple days after and keep their booking. I would absolutely not count on this. HAL has every right to cancel the booking at any time after final payment and keep any funds paid already as cancellation damages. I would never risk this on the word or a phone rep or rumor on cruise critic. We always make our final payment well in advance, at least a week if not more. We go through a TA who helps us track and make sure we are paid in advance. (My personal preference is to spread the payments out and make several deposits along the way rather than a single large payment at final so usually our final payment is a small fraction of what we owe for the booking). 
 

I am not sure what their back end process is for cancelling reservations that missed final payment. My assumption would be that there is a batch process that runs and cancels delinquent reservations and applies the cancellation penalty. It wouldn’t surprise me if it allowed a day or two before it actually considered a payment delinquent. Is it possible that calling before the process runs would allow you to pay and keep the booking? Maybe. But I don’t think I will be testing this theory with any of my future bookings. 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Each cruise line is a bit different with final payment. With Holland America the final that is stated is actually the date that penalties start. It actually should be paid prior to that date or must be canceled prior to that date.  You cannot add insurance or cancel on that date without losing your deposit. Although with HAL if you do not pay it off in full they will not immediately cancel the cruise. Usually about 5 days to a week after that final due date if not paid they notify you or your Travel Agent that payment was not received. So yes, you could say there is a bit of a grace period but know there is no refund at that point. But in all honesty I do not suggest doing that.

Other cruise lines such as Princess will in fact cancel the cruise at midnight (normally Eastern time) the day it states final is due.