Making Final Payment Before It's Due

[mickeycrz03]

We have the ability to go ahead and pay the final balance on our November cruise now even though it's not due until August. In doing so, will that make it more or less difficult to receive credit/refund if by chance the prices decrease?? We are pleased with the price that we paid and any sort of a reduction would just be extra spending money.

Looking for some advice here ...

Thanks,
Sarah

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11/7 RCCL Mariner <a href=

[superjerryw]

To be honest, I can't think of any reason to give them any money 4 months before it is due. If the price goes down it will be much easier for them to reduce the balance you owe them as opposed to sending you a refund because you paid in full. There are some tour companies that give you a small reduction in price if you pay the entire balance far in advance which they offset by having the use of your money for that timeframe. Since you are not being offered an early payment discount, why bother.

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[RACE20]

They could be paying early to receive Rccl Visa rewards before trip. Just a thought.

[cruisinfanatic]

no way I'd pay this far ahead. If the price does decrease or you need to cancel, you may be waiting a long time for the money back.

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[madforcruising]

I could think for another reason, OK it´s not a reason for the most of you, but could be one for me.
I´m having a close look at the Dollar exchange rate towards the Euro. At the moment it´s quite good for me although it has already been a lot better a few weeks ago. If the Dollar is going further up against the Euro it could be better for me to pay early.
That brings me to a question I have concerning this.
Is it possible to pay in some smaller parts of the total amount. So I could spread the risk of the Exchange rate a little bit.

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[sunlovey]

how often do cruise fares actually go down and how do you learn of the price decrease?

[pcur]

madforcruising:

I'm sure they'd be happy to take ANY money from you at ANY time in advance of final payment.... [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Peggy - RCI since 1973

[aqusis]

I often pay in advance, if I have the money, I'd rather go ahead and pay instead of risking not having it later. I've had no problem with price reductions (got refund 2x). I paid our Mariner cruise in full last month, have since had a C&A Coupon applied and a refund issued to our credit card. The difficulty/ease of getting refunds, price drops, etc will most likely depend on your TA. We've always used CruiseQuick.com and never had a problem.

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Mariner of the Seas

[mickeycrz03]

Thanks everyone for you insight. We had booked with buycruises and did go ahead and pay all but $200 today. It just feels good to know the vacation is paid off and still several months away. Now we can begin saving up for excursions and other stuff.

Sarah

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