*NEW?* All Guarantee Cabins Non-Refundable?

[startedwithamouse]

Well, what have we here?

 

What if an FCD is used?

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Well, what have we here?

 

What if an FCD is used?

 

This appears to be a new play with Princess.  I don't have info on full scope of this, but played around with a couple of searches and saw it happen what you saw and saw it working as it has been.  I have not seen PCL use Non-Ref deposits for a long time.  Have not even seen them as an option on most voyages I have looked at.  It also seems odd to me that a guest choosing to risk their cabin selection also puts their deposit at risk.

 

As for FCD versus cash, AFAIK it is the fare type code that drives a Ref/Non-Ref and not what form of payment is used to cover the deposit.

 

Finally, IDK why anyone would take a Non-Ref deposit other than those $1 deposit deals they run from time-to-time.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Princess has been sticking it to casino booking cancellations for awhile.

They USED to let you Move your reservation to another date/booking if you

cancelled at the same time and booked a new offer.

They stopped doing that.

If you cancel, no matter how far in advance you cancel?

Your $200 pp deposit (we don't get $1 deposits EVER) is GONE.

 

Another reason I Don't book far in advance anymore.

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[Astro Flyer]

In this example they charge an extra $100 to select a cabin & to make the deposit refundable…I’ve never seen Princess charge more to select a cabin.

 

[startedwithamouse]

33 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

This appears to be a new play with Princess.  I don't have info on full scope of this, but played around with a couple of searches and saw it happen what you saw and saw it working as it has been.  I have not seen PCL use Non-Ref deposits for a long time.  Have not even seen them as an option on most voyages I have looked at.  It also seems odd to me that a guest choosing to risk their cabin selection also puts their deposit at risk.

 

As for FCD versus cash, AFAIK it is the fare type code that drives a Ref/Non-Ref and not what form of payment is used to cover the deposit.

 

Finally, IDK why anyone would take a Non-Ref deposit other than those $1 deposit deals they run from time-to-time.

 

Does the FCD pay the higher fare?

[Steelers36]

7 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

Does the FCD pay the higher fare?

I don't understand. A guest can apply a FCD as deposit for any type of booking.  Note that if the voyage is a world cruise or a long voyage of something like > 40 days (forget the number or if changed), the FCD is not applied as $100 cash. Instead, the FCD is cancelled and replaced with a 3% fare discount.

[startedwithamouse]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

I don't understand. A guest can apply a FCD as deposit for any type of booking.  Note that if the voyage is a world cruise or a long voyage of something like > 40 days (forget the number or if changed), the FCD is not applied as $100 cash. Instead, the FCD is cancelled and replaced with a 3% fare discount.

Say the voyage using a FCD would have to be canceled before any other payment is made, would it be reinstated for use again, or forfeited?   Looking at the above, if the guest chooses the Princess chooses your stateroom lower fare, deposit is non-refundable.  All deposits, including applied FCD or only cash?

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Say the voyage using a FCD would have to be canceled before any other payment is made, would it be reinstated for use again, or forfeited?   Looking at the above, if the guest chooses the Princess chooses your stateroom lower fare, deposit is non-refundable.  All deposits, including applied FCD or only cash?

FCD's used for deposits will be returned as FCD's - unless they have expired at the time the cruise booking is cancelled in which case the guest is refunded the $100 to original credit card payment. 

 

This is something for any guest to be aware of if doing a cancel/re-book to get a better promotion or lower fare.  You need to get Princess to extend the expiry date of the FCD prior to doing the cancel/re-book so that the FCD is still available to be used for the new booking. 

 

AFAIK, the FCD used to book a non-ref cruise fare would be forfeited the same as if the deposit was $100 cash.

[SCX22]

This change is probably being done as a deterrent.  Non-refundable deposits would make people booking guarantee cabins think twice.

 

With the new bid to upgrade program, Princess wants passengers to pay for their upgrades.  If less guarantee bookings are made, Princess will get a more realistic view of of what cabins are available are usable for upgrade purposes--passengers already picked their cabins, therefore it's a safer assumption for them that the leftover cabins can be used for upgrades.  From a profit standpoint, Princess would rather grant paid upgrades through bidding rather than free upgrades from guaranteed bookings. 

 

Also remember that Princess is desperate for money right now because of their pandemic debts.  Things add up. If 100 people made $250 non-refundable deposits and cancelled, in total, those 100 people made an aggregate $25,000 donation to Princess.

 

If this is the case for sailings going forward, I would only book a guarantee if it was already past final payment.

 

With Royal Caribbean/Celebrity, refundable deposits cost more, but for the most part the non- refundable portion is credited back as a future cruise credit.

[Mingus]

I noticed the non-refundable deposits back on March 4th, in my posting.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2921106-non-refundable-deposits/#comment-64946775

At that time, the non-refundable deposit only applied if the customer chose the lowest fare guarantee cabin. Now it seems that has changed to 2 types of fare options....refundable & non-refundable deposits.

 

[cr8tiv1]

I recently booked a cruise.  I asked my TA to reserve the lowest inside possible.  She "protects" me and told me that the lowest fare (forward) would be booked as a non-refundable deposit (even with my FCD).  "But" if I chose a cabin aft (slightly higher bottom price), then it would be booked as a refundable FCD.  I trust my TA to look after me.

[wowzz]

Welcome to the real world !

Deposits in the UK have always been non-refundable.

[Familycruzer11]

What happens if the cabin type you want isn’t available to choose your own?  Do you have to pick a different one or risk losing deposit? 

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

In this example they charge an extra $100 to select a cabin & to make the deposit refundable…I’ve never seen Princess charge more to select a cabin.

 

 

Quietly making it cost $100 more to select a cabin. Very sneaky.

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Quietly making it cost $100 more to select a cabin. Very sneaky.

Other cruise companies do it. In the case of P&O,  it is the difference between a saver and a select fare, and the difference is considerably more than $100 !

[caribill]

Just now, wowzz said:

Other cruise companies do it. In the case of P&O,  it is the difference between a saver and a select fare, and the difference is considerably more than $100 !

 

Meaning Princess is again becoming more and more like the competition and customers having less incentive to book a Princess cruise.

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Meaning Princess is again becoming more and more like the competition and customers having less incentive to book a Princess cruise.

Calculated risk. Obviously Princess management have access to the P&O figures, and feel that the extra revenue will offset lost passengers.

We need to remember that we are in a bit of a cruise bubble here, with many highly experienced cruisers.

However the majority of passengers are occasional cruisers who will either pay up, thinking it part of the overall cruise cost, or will select a cabin grade and location, and will not have to pay any extra.

[CaptainPedantic]

52 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Quietly making it cost $100 more to select a cabin. Very sneaky.

 

I noticed this for the UK site too this morning... for the summer cruise I'm watching it was only £21 more to choose a cabin now rather than let Princess do it, but still it's a new surcharge. Sneaky! And as wowzz said above, there's no refundable/non-refundable deposit difference here in the UK - all our deposits are non-refundable...

[CaptainPedantic]

Actually on reflection... I checked back at the pricing and maybe I'm reading this the wrong way around - the price for choosing our cabin is the same as it was earlier in the week, so in effect, there is a discount of £21 to allow Princess to choose the cabin later. 

[Coral]

I ran into this in December. I wanted the lowest category in mini suites. My TA explained that the lowest lead in category (for each category of cabins such as insides, outsides, balconies and miniuistes) are now non-refundable even if you choose a refundable rate code.

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Coral

[Coral]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I recently booked a cruise.  I asked my TA to reserve the lowest inside possible.  She "protects" me and told me that the lowest fare (forward) would be booked as a non-refundable deposit (even with my FCD).  "But" if I chose a cabin aft (slightly higher bottom price), then it would be booked as a refundable FCD.  I trust my TA to look after me.

Same here - she let me know that this was new in December when I was booking.

[startedwithamouse]

A lot of cabins may become available from the $1 deposits a few months ago since the payment in full date for cruises this summer is here. 

With hints of a banking crisis and unstable markets, and interest rates, travelers may be exercising more caution, i.e., less discretionary spending, and Princess would rather keep $100 than $1 in the future.

Edited March 16, 2023 by startedwithamouse

[Ken the cruiser]

If I might ask, what's the benefit of booking a guaranteed cabin category if there are plenty of cabins in a particular category to choose from? Is it because someone hopes they're going to be upgraded to the next meta category if the category they originally chose gets sold out?

Edited March 16, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[caribill]

4 hours ago, CaptainPedantic said:

Actually on reflection... I checked back at the pricing and maybe I'm reading this the wrong way around - the price for choosing our cabin is the same as it was earlier in the week, so in effect, there is a discount of £21 to allow Princess to choose the cabin later. 

 

As indicated, in the UK all deposits are non-refundable, so your analysis is correct for UK residents.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Coral said:

I ran into this in December. I wanted the lowest category in mini suites. My TA explained that the lowest lead in category (for each category of cabins such as insides, outsides, balconies and miniuistes) are now non-refundable even if you choose a refundable rate code.

 

 

 

As I understand your post, if not the lead in category, the deposits are refundable for choosing to allow Princess to select the cabin.

 

Are the prices the same if not the lead in category for selecting a cabin or allowing Princess to select?