Help with Non Refundable Deposit

[tonit964]

Ok, so it’s been a minute or two since I’ve sailed with Carnival. I really miss them and want to book the Panorama,  I have a decent Cheers offer. I used to always book the Past Guest rates but those are gone.

I’ll be sailing solo and looking at an October 2023 cruise, the deposit is $500 and non refundable. That’s a long time from now and things can happen. 
 I guess my question is how do you all handle the non refundable deposits? 
Thanks and appreciation for any insight or info.

Toni

[maxandmolly]

You handle it by paying it. What else would you do?

[n6uqqq]

Wait for a half off deposit, they have them often.

[starstruck05]

35 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

Ok, so it’s been a minute or two since I’ve sailed with Carnival. I really miss them and want to book the Panorama,  I have a decent Cheers offer. I used to always book the Past Guest rates but those are gone.

I’ll be sailing solo and looking at an October 2023 cruise, the deposit is $500 and non refundable. That’s a long time from now and things can happen. 
 I guess my question is how do you all handle the non refundable deposits? 
Thanks and appreciation for any insight or info.

Toni

Your best bet is to get either insurance through Carnival or Private trip insurance. Depending on the reason you can't cruise you may be able to recoup something. Carnival SOMETIMES can move the deposit from.one ship to another but you won't ever get that cash back directly from Carnival.

[pinklucky61]

If there's the possibility you may rebook a different cruise after booking, they will usually transfer the deposit to the new cruise. Otherwise, it's gone.

[urbanhawk]

5 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

I appreciate you responding. I understand what a non refundable deposit means, that’s why I said things can happen. October is 10 months away, not sure if I should wait or book now.

Just wanted to know how others handle it, that’s all. 

In Dec. I had to cancel my non-refundable deposit cruise on the Panorama. (It was a casino offer). .I knew the consequences and called Carnival to cancel-the rep transferred me to the casino dept. I explained that I wanted to move the cruise back a month, and not actually cancel..The casino rep/host was able to do a transfer-with penalties. I didn't actually lose any money, as the cruise was less expensive, after the holidays. I guess I lucked out!

[tonit964]

6 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Wait for a half off deposit, they have them often.

Thank you! That’s helpful.

[tonit964]

6 minutes ago, starstruck05 said:

Your best bet is to get either insurance through Carnival or Private trip insurance. Depending on the reason you can't cruise you may be able to recoup something. Carnival SOMETIMES can move the deposit from.one ship to another but you won't ever get that cash back directly from Carnival.

Thank you, I appreciate your response. If I do book it, I’ll get the insurance which I always do anyway but that’s at final payment, it’ll just be sooner this time.

[tonit964]

3 minutes ago, urbanhawk said:

In Dec. I had to cancel my non-refundable deposit cruise on the Panorama. (It was a casino offer). .I knew the consequences and called Carnival to cancel-the rep transferred me to the casino dept. I explained that I wanted to move the cruise back a month, and not actually cancel..The casino rep/host was able to do a transfer-with penalties. I didn't actually lose any money, as the cruise was less expensive, after the holidays. I guess I lucked out!

That’s awesome they transferred it for you! 

[n6uqqq]

5 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

Thank you! That’s helpful.

No problem. And if you get a cruise for 250 deposit and then have to cancel it, the penalty is usually 50 dollars and you would have 200 left to be used on a cruise that is booked within 12 months of cancellation date. So it is not the end of the world. 

[tonit964]

7 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

No problem. And if you get a cruise for 250 deposit and then have to cancel it, the penalty is usually 50 dollars and you would have 200 left to be used on a cruise that is booked within 12 months of cancellation date. So it is not the end of the world. 

Oh, that’s good to know. Yeah, a 250 deposit would be better. Thank you!

[CajunOyster]

Good question.  I'm about to lose $400 deposit on one of the Greenland cruises.

[13cheermom]

12 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

No problem. And if you get a cruise for 250 deposit and then have to cancel it, the penalty is usually 50 dollars and you would have 200 left to be used on a cruise that is booked within 12 months of cancellation date. So it is not the end of the world. 

This 👆, we actually had to do this when we wanted to change our room location.  They charged $50/person for the penalty, which was fine for us since we already had so much OBC to use.  I also miss those past guest cruise rates, it's so hard to decipher their rates now online. 😂

[StephPS79]

I'm most likely only booking an offer with a $50-$100pp deposit.  I've cancelled one or two, the smaller deposit doesn't hurt as much.  I'd have to be really, really sure before I booked a $500 deposit, and probably would do like 3-4 months out at the most.  That's just me, though.

[LatinaInTexas]

I think all the cheers offers have a $500 deposit, everytime I have been offered one the deposit was $500. If you want something with a cheaper deposit you will have to use a different offer.

[CruizinSusan70]

23 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

I think all the cheers offers have a $500 deposit, everytime I have been offered one the deposit was $500. If you want something with a cheaper deposit you will have to use a different offer.

If we ever got a Cheers offer such as RU1, RU2 or RU3 I would put down whatever deposit they wanted.  Since we never get one of their target marketed codes it's a moot point.

If you have a 500 deposit because of a solo situation and you need to cancel, the penalty should be 100 and the remaining 400 would be issued as a one year to use FCC. The other option would be to book through a travel agent that has refundable deposits.

[sparks1093]

16 hours ago, urbanhawk said:

In Dec. I had to cancel my non-refundable deposit cruise on the Panorama. (It was a casino offer). .I knew the consequences and called Carnival to cancel-the rep transferred me to the casino dept. I explained that I wanted to move the cruise back a month, and not actually cancel..The casino rep/host was able to do a transfer-with penalties. I didn't actually lose any money, as the cruise was less expensive, after the holidays. I guess I lucked out!

So with a casino booking it's a...gamble?😁

[urbanhawk]

7 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

So with a casino booking it's a...gamble?😁

Yes, it's a gamble!😂😂 But I like to call them games of chance!😉