Confused about Non Refundable Deposit When Making Changes

[Katems75]

I hope this makes sense.  I'm not familiar with how Royal does things.  Please note final payment is due in two weeks so it has NOT been paid yet.

 

Okay, we had two connecting rooms with two adults in room A and two adults and a baby in room B, both ocean view balconies.  One adult can't go now so we consolidated to ONE room, Room C-- which is another ocean view balcony except it's a quad (Rooms A and B were not quads so we couldn't use either), and Royal said we'd lose $500 due to having a non refundable deposit.

 

Originally we paid $250 deposit on ALL FIVE PEOPLE (baby included) so that was $1250, and as I said now one adult is not coming.  

 

So...are we out $500 instead of just $250 for the one adult ***because it's an entire room we cancelled***?  If we had simply removed one adult but still kept both original rooms would we have just lost $250 for that one adult?  Trying to figure out why they are keeping $500 instead of just $250 since we only took off one adult.

 

After making this change no money was needed (except the final payment being due soon, but no additional deposits or anything were needed).

 

When I look at the latest invoice it shows a paid deposit of $250 for the three remaining adults and the one baby, PLUS it shows an additional $500 deposit for one of the remaining adults (so basically it shows one adult as having been charged a total of $750 in deposits).  I'm wondering if that additional $500 is actually the non refundable deposit we lost and they've just worded it poorly by showing it as a deposit on one of the adults.

 

I'm a little confused on how we could have lost $500 by consolidating to one room, yet they didn't ask for more money.  In fact our bill shows we have ALREADY PAID $1500 in deposits on the now four people, but originally we had only paid $1250 on the original five people!  Also baby got kids sail free applied to her sometime AFTER initial deposits and BEFORE consolidating got one room.

 

Can anyone make sense of this?  I tried really hard with Royal yesterday to make sense of things but couldn't, and I was on hold for two hours before I even got someone on the line so the thought of calling back is not fun.

[firefly333]

You cancelled one cabin that was nonrefundable already? You could have moved it for $100 pp but cant cancel it totally. 

 

Idk if you just asked or already did it. 

 

@Ourusualbeachmight be able to tell you though I'm confused if you already cancelled or not. 

[Ourusualbeach]

13 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

I hope this makes sense.  I'm not familiar with how Royal does things.  Please note final payment is due in two weeks so it has NOT been paid yet.

 

Okay, we had two connecting rooms with two adults in room A and two adults and a baby in room B, both ocean view balconies.  One adult can't go now so we consolidated to ONE room, Room C-- which is another ocean view balcony except it's a quad (Rooms A and B were not quads so we couldn't use either), and Royal said we'd lose $500 due to having a non refundable deposit.

 

Originally we paid $250 deposit on ALL FIVE PEOPLE (baby included) so that was $1250, and as I said now one adult is not coming.  

 

So...are we out $500 instead of just $250 for the one adult ***because it's an entire room we cancelled***?  If we had simply removed one adult but still kept both original rooms would we have just lost $250 for that one adult?  Trying to figure out why they are keeping $500 instead of just $250 since we only took off one adult.

 

After making this change no money was needed (except the final payment being due soon, but no additional deposits or anything were needed).

 

When I look at the latest invoice it shows a paid deposit of $250 for the three remaining adults and the one baby, PLUS it shows an additional $500 deposit for one of the remaining adults (so basically it shows one adult as having been charged a total of $750 in deposits).  I'm wondering if that additional $500 is actually the non refundable deposit we lost and they've just worded it poorly by showing it as a deposit on one of the adults.

 

I'm a little confused on how we could have lost $500 by consolidating to one room, yet they didn't ask for more money.  In fact our bill shows we have ALREADY PAID $1500 in deposits on the now four people, but originally we had only paid $1250 on the original five people!  Also baby got kids sail free applied to her sometime AFTER initial deposits and BEFORE consolidating got one room.

 

Can anyone make sense of this?  I tried really hard with Royal yesterday to make sense of things but couldn't, and I was on hold for two hours before I even got someone on the line so the thought of calling back is not fun.

Had you kept both rooms you would not have lost a thing.

 

If you booked after June 1 2022 then yes if you cancel a room you lose your entire deposit.  They come to cancel yje room with 2 guests and movevtje other room which can be fine.  Had they cancrlled the room with 3 guests then you would have lost $750.  

[Katems75]

I"m not sure how to answer the questions, the terminology may be off.  As I said, we had two rooms, and then we consolidated to one room, and also removed one adult from the reservation.

 

They told us this would incur losing a $500 deposit.

 

This has already been done.  If this was done stupidly on our part, is there any fixing it?

 

P.S. The two original rooms together were $5800 and the new one room is $4300 so we didn't want to keep the two original rooms since just one was cheaper.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Katems75

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

I"m not sure how to answer the questions, the terminology may be off.  As I said, we had two rooms, and then we consolidated to one room, and also removed one adult from the reservation.

 

They told us this would incur losing a $500 deposit.

 

This has already been done.  If this was done stupidly on our part, is there any fixing it?

You could call and ask if they could give you yourv2 rooms back and reinstate the $500. 

 

Thst is the only way thst might work.

 

Has nothing to do with only one guest cancelling.  Technically you cancelled a room and that had 2 people in it so you lose the $500.

[Katems75]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You could call and ask if they could give you yourv2 rooms back and reinstate the $500. 

 

Thst is the only way thst might work.

 

Has nothing to do with only one guest cancelling.  Technically you cancelled a room and that had 2 people in it so you lose the $500.

 

Okay, so no matter what, if you cancel or eliminate one room you lose at least $500 since every room requires at least a $500 deposit on it, even if there is only one person in it?

 

I had trouble understanding the man, but he did say it was best to cancel the reservation with the two adults with a deposit of $500, rather than cancelling the reservation with the two adults and baby with a $750 deposit.  I guess if he had cancelled that room we'd have lost $750?

 

Although if that's the case it sounds like you lose deposits per PERSON and not per ROOM.

 

It's so confusing.  We just wanted to go down to one room to save money overall, which I think we did, since the original two rooms were $5800 (four adults, one baby) and now just the one room is $4300 (three adults, one baby).  On paper that saves $1500, and in actuality it saves $1000 due to losing the $500 non refundable deposit.

Was there any way of minimizing that loss and still saving money?  I mean we definitely wanted to remove the one adult and in doing so we were able to consolidate to one room so that seemed our only course of action, but we are new at this and the man was hard to understand and our final payment is due soon so we didn't know how to handle it.

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

 

Okay, so no matter what, if you cancel or eliminate one room you lose at least $500 since every room requires at least a $500 deposit on it, even if there is only one person in it?

 

I had trouble understanding the man, but he did say it was best to cancel the reservation with the two adults with a deposit of $500, rather than cancelling the reservation with the two adults and baby with a $750 deposit.  I guess if he had cancelled that room we'd have lost $750?

 

Although if that's the case it sounds like you lose deposits per PERSON and not per ROOM.

 

It's so confusing.  We just wanted to go down to one room to save money overall, which I think we did, since the original two rooms were $5800 (four adults, one baby) and now just the one room is $4300 (three adults, one baby).  On paper that saves $1500, and in actuality it saves $1000 due to losing the $500 non refundable deposit.

Was there any way of minimizing that loss and still saving money?  I mean we definitely wanted to remove the one adult and in doing so we were able to consolidate to one room so that seemed our only course of action, but we are new at this and the man was hard to understand and our final payment is due soon so we didn't know how to handle it.

Correct.  They look at it by room, not person. 

 

Yes, had you cancelled the other room you would have lost $750. 

 

If your overall goal was to save money then you did it the most effective way.  Look at it as you saved $1000 as opposed to losing $500.

 

If you knew you were going to sail again in the future and knew the date you could have moved that other reservation with a $100pp penalty instead of a $250pp penalty to cancel. 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[ARandomTraveler]

You saved $1000 but now you're stuck in a room with 3 adults and a baby... not worth saving $1000 if it was me. I'd have paid the extra $1000 and left it as-is with 2 rooms and one less person. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[Katems75]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Correct.  They look at it by room, not person. 

 

Yes, had you cancelled yhe other room you would have lost $750. 

 

If your overall goal was to save money then you did it tje most effective way.  Lol st is as you saved $1000 as opposed to losing $500.

 

If you knew you were going to sail again in the future and knew the date you could have moved that other reservation with a $100pp penalty instead of a $250pp penalty to cancel. 

 

 

Thank you so much!!  If it was the most effective way to save money then we can be content with that.  I appreciate your help untangling this!

[long4acruise]

8 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

Was there any way of minimizing that loss and still saving money?  

Is it possible to find a quick replacement for the one adult?

Unsure what ship you're on, but 3 adults and a baby in one standard cabin with one bath would be a little "too close for comfort" for me.

Edited January 30, 2023 by long4acruise

[Katems75]

1 minute ago, ARandomTraveler said:

You saved $1000 but now you're stuck in a room with 3 adults and a baby... not worth saving $1000 if it was me. I'd have paid the extra $1000 and left it as-is with 2 rooms and one less person. 

Well I guess that brings up another question...babies are unpredictable, as is the custody schedule for this little one...what if, when the time comes, the baby stays home?  She is on kids sail free, so would there be any losses there if she just doesn't show up?  And only the three adults sail?

[ARandomTraveler]

2 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

Well I guess that brings up another question...babies are unpredictable, as is the custody schedule for this little one...what if, when the time comes, the baby stays home?  She is on kids sail free, so would there be any losses there if she just doesn't show up?  And only the three adults sail?

I think if they're on the kids sail free, you can just leave them on the reservation and then have the baby be a "no show" if they can't come. 
 

 

[Sunshine3601]

If baby is a no go, then your best to do a no show at embarkment.  If baby had to pay port fees and taxes, they will be refunded.

IMO, baby and everything that goes with baby and 3 adults in a cabin will be extremely tight with insufficient storage.

[firefly333]

23 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

 

Okay, so no matter what, if you cancel or eliminate one room you lose at least $500 since every room requires at least a $500 deposit on it, even if there is only one person in it?

 

I had trouble understanding the man, but he did say it was best to cancel the reservation with the two adults with a deposit of $500, rather than cancelling the reservation with the two adults and baby with a $750 deposit.  I guess if he had cancelled that room we'd have lost $750?

 

Although if that's the case it sounds like you lose deposits per PERSON and not per ROOM.

 

It's so confusing.  We just wanted to go down to one room to save money overall, which I think we did, since the original two rooms were $5800 (four adults, one baby) and now just the one room is $4300 (three adults, one baby).  On paper that saves $1500, and in actuality it saves $1000 due to losing the $500 non refundable deposit.

Was there any way of minimizing that loss and still saving money?  I mean we definitely wanted to remove the one adult and in doing so we were able to consolidate to one room so that seemed our only course of action, but we are new at this and the man was hard to understand and our final payment is due soon so we didn't know how to handle it.

Well not every room requires $500 deposit. I'm solo and if I book direct I pay $250 deposit. If I book a group rate I pay the deposit for 2 people. $500. On a 7 day cruise.

 

I had a $900 deposit on a 11 day cruise, group rate, so it must be $450 pp. 

 

 

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, Katems75 said:

Well I guess that brings up another question...babies are unpredictable, as is the custody schedule for this little one...what if, when the time comes, the baby stays home?  She is on kids sail free, so would there be any losses there if she just doesn't show up?  And only the three adults sail?

No losses at all and you would get her port fees and taxes refunded.