Cancel Cruise? How Long to get Deposit Back?

[Victory Bound]

Has anyone cancelled their cruise after deposit, but before final payment? How long did it take to get your deposit back and how did Carnival refund your money? Back to the same credit card that you put the deposit on?

 

We are in the process of booking our next cruise, but I am one of those advance planners and the sailing is not until 2006. My always cautious DH isn't trilled with the $1000 deposit for the 4 of us to be tied up that long and he questions me on how long it would take to get that money back in case the unexpected happened and we would have to cancel.

 

I don't plan on cancelling, but I would like to reassure my hubby that, yes, we would get our deposit back if the unexpected happened and we had to cancel.

[imlulu]

It is credited to the original credit card. It shows up right away once TA notifies cruiseline. If you booked through Carnival I would assume it shows up right away.

 

The initial deposit is hard for 4. However I was just looking at my confirmation and my final payment isn't bad. :D

[steveaaaa]

If you booked thru CCL, it is right away.If you used a TA, it all depends on the TA.The TA for an upcoming CC group cruise we cancelled took almost 7 weeks to refund the monies.

Steve

[Victory Bound]

Thanks for the responses. This is what I tried to tell my husband, but since I have never cancelled a cruise before, I wanted to be sure.

 

Not sure yet if we will book directly through Carnival or with a TA. If we use a TA, it will be the same one we used on our last cruise. She was great and I'm sure if we had to cancel, she wouldn't drag out the process.

[steveaaaa]

Book thru CCL directly.This way if you have any questions you can talk to them otherwise you are relying on a TA to act as middle man and the TA's are basically becoming more trouble than they are worth.When you have a problem do you want to deal with CCL who can fix it or a TA who is more worried about their commision.

Steve

[serene56]

A suggestion- book for two and add another one when you come up with 250 and then add the next one with another 250. (its kinda like a savings account) Where are you getting prices for a 2006 cruise?

[helicopter]

I was told by Carnival you can no longer do this. Since Carnival no longer has rollaway beds (except maybe on older shiips) you must book a quad for 4, triple for 3, etc.

[Victory Bound]

Serene56 - I don't have prices yet for the time that we want to go. (June 25th - Mexican Riviera on the Pride) So far, I believe pricing goes up to the 1st part of April.

 

As I mentioned previously, I like to book early. Very early. This is going to be a multi-family cruise with 4 or 5 cabins and we all like to pick our exact cabins. It's also difficult for all of us to coordinate our schedules.

 

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

[akeka]

I would ignore Steve's advice to not use a TA. No sense in paying more than you need to because of this issue.

 

I've cancelled 3 cruises over the year before final payment and have always had my credit card credited within a few days. These have all been through TAs.

 

I would also not book only two people if you really have four. You have to book what you want when you book. My father-in-law tried to join our cabin for a cruise three months before sailing. We couldn't add him to our cabin even though it was a quad cabin because the ship was at maximum occupancy.

[serene56]

Helicopter: you can call carnival 5 times and ask the same question and get 5 different answers every time.

Especially if booking a gaurantee...you can book two then add the two later. You just cant pick a set cabin when booking for 2 and have 4 going along.

 

But since the poster isnt going to book until APril.. booking all 4 is not a problem.

[Victory Bound]

Actually, I meant that the pricing for 2006 is up through the 1st part of April. As soon as the pricing is out for June, I will start my research and then book. Hopefully, this will be before the end of the year.

 

I have both a TA and a Carnival PVP on the alert to inform me as soon as pricing for my dates comes out. Let's see who gets back to me first!

[Cactuscruise]

I booked through Carnival once and vowed never to do it again. Their customer service is very spotty and I've always gotten a better deal and service through outside agents or the warehouse club. I ususally call Carnival just to see what their rate is and go from there. If you plan to take four people on your cruise, you should book for 4. These cruises fill up very quickly and once they get near capacity it doesn't matter whether or not your cabin will hold 4, they won't allow you to add anyone. Twice I had to upgrade to a "better" cabin, at a higher rate, in order to accommodate 4 people when I originally booked for two. I learned my lesson, it's better to book for four and take someone off if the person decides not to go. And remember when you start changing the cabin arrangements it can also change the price of your cruise. They even charge you to make a name change.