Putting down a deposit for 2024 cruise. Bad idea?

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

while the deposit might be non refundable, I am pretty sure you can move the money to another cruise if you decide against this one.

Might get charged $100 fee unless you can sweet talk them out of it.

That is exactly what we did for our 2024 NZ Edge cruise, we originally booked it for April 2024 with NRD and then moved it to an Early February Great Barrier reef cruise Celebrity moved our NRD to the new cruise and even waived the $100 penalty, so we lost nothing. The most you can lose with a NRD is maybe the $100 fee, but Celebrity will waive it in many cases.

[Lastdance]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Did you get any discount for booking the B2B? We got a $100 discount on the 2nd leg but had to ask for it twice.

We booked two cruises for AUS and NZ, also receiving the b2b $100 discount.  However, I am waiting for the TA to be released, so I can book that too.  I booked RFD for both, but that is not always the case, depending on many different factors, but mostly the difference in price.  For one of my Beyond cruises next year, the difference between RFD and NRD was only $60...now it is nowhere close to that price, so may have been an error.  

Edited May 31, 2022 by Lastdance

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

That is exactly what we did for our 2024 NZ Edge cruise, we originally booked it for April 2024 with NRD and then moved it to an Early February Great Barrier reef cruise Celebrity moved our NRD to the new cruise and even waived the $100 penalty, so we lost nothing. The most you can lose with a NRD is maybe the $100 fee, but Celebrity will waive it in many cases.

Good to hear.   They have been a bit flexible with the $100 NRD pp fee as of late maybe because of low booking.   I cancelled a NRD recently due to an error I made (I thought I was booking a cheaper rate but ended up being the next cruise) and they waived it and refunded the complete $900 deposit.  I hadn't even asked but was very pleased.

 

My justification on the NRD deposit was even if I lost the complete amount it was cheaper than the cost of the RD but if the only risk is $100 pp to me I'll continue to book NRD's

 

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Good to hear.   They have been a bit flexible with the $100 NRD pp fee as of late maybe because of low booking.   I cancelled a NRD recently due to an error I made (I thought I was booking a cheaper rate but ended up being the next cruise) and they waived it and refunded the complete $900 deposit.  I hadn't even asked but was very pleased.

 

My justification on the NRD deposit was even if I lost the complete amount it was cheaper than the cost of the RD but if the only risk is $100 pp to me I'll continue to book NRD's

 

 

When booking suites on longer cruises the difference between the RD and the NRD can be very significant, so I agree the $100 risk is well worth the potential savings. My TA told me that Celebrity is more willing to transfer the complete NRD to another cruise without penalty if you book the new cruise at the same time you canceled the old one. They would rather keep customers happy who are just moving from one booking to a new one over those who just cancel without having a replacement cruise to book.

[calicakes]

On 5/31/2022 at 2:35 PM, terrydtx said:

That is exactly what we did for our 2024 NZ Edge cruise, we originally booked it for April 2024 with NRD and then moved it to an Early February Great Barrier reef cruise Celebrity moved our NRD to the new cruise and even waived the $100 penalty, so we lost nothing. The most you can lose with a NRD is maybe the $100 fee, but Celebrity will waive it in many cases.

Once again, we'll be following you like we did on Reflection.  We booked Feb 25th, 24 Great Barrier Reef. 

[terrydtx]

18 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Once again, we'll be following you like we did on Reflection.  We booked Feb 25th, 24 Great Barrier Reef. 

I hope you do follow my live thread. February will be a little cooler than January. A couple of Auzzies we met on the Reflection warned about how hot it will be in January. Oh well it was hot on the Reflection last August. 

[calicakes]

 

48 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I hope you do follow my live thread. February will be a little cooler than January. A couple of Auzzies we met on the Reflection warned about how hot it will be in January. Oh well it was hot on the Reflection last August. 

Of course I will follow.  It seems like such a long way off, I was surprised to find a roll call started so soon.  We have one more cruise booked, Sept 2023 on Oceania.  Bermuda Bliss.  NY to Bermuda. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Agree cancelling a future cruise is cheap at a real cost of only $100.  However, booking with my TA at a group rate ( usually OV, Verandas and Aqua only) offers fully refundable with perks at usually a cruise only rate.

 

[calicakes]

16 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Agree cancelling a future cruise is cheap at a real cost of only $100.  However, booking with my TA at a group rate ( usually OV, Verandas and Aqua only) offers fully refundable with perks at usually a cruise only rate.

 

We had to put down 900 with the TA. They said it was fully refundable up until final payment date.

[carolina_yankee]

We have a non-refundable $1000 deposit on another line for 2024. I simply took out trip insurance for the $1000 cost and will up the value when we get close to the cruise.  We have enough control over our schedules that any cancellation would either be refunded because the cruise company canceled or our trip insurance would cover do to illness/injury/work demands.  I wanted to wait to book but my desired cabins were disappearing. (Small river cruise.)