Scenic cruise lines cancellation policy -- full deposit if >90 days?

I have been getting a lot of Scenic Cruise Lines brochures, including for 2017 river cruises. Most of them do not say anything about cancellation policy, but elsewhere online I read that you pay 20% deposit and forfeit the whole thing even if you cancel more than 90 days pre-cruise. Other places say "it depends."

Can anyone confirm that this is the policy, i.e., you the entire deposit, which appears to be 20%, at 90 days and more before the cruise if you cancel? (I am ignoring the issue of trip cancellation insurance coverage, and just thinking about changing one's mind for other reasons beyond illness etc)

Have been on two Scenic cruises, both times had to put down a non-refundable deposit of $500. I can live with that as opposed to Viking where they want full payment right away!

Just looked at my current Terms and Conditions for my upcoming May 2017 cruise.

"Booking deposit" is defined "as the amount We have notified You before You make Your Booking."

A percent is not listed.

The Cancellation policy per person:

90 days and over Loss of deposit.

89 to 60 days 35% of Tour Price.

59-30 days 50% of Tour Price.

Less thay 30 days out 100% of Tour Price.

Carefully read Terms and Conditions.

Pretty strict. Oceania has no penalty for cancellation at 120 days.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I just note the difference in the size of the ships. Cancelling 5 cabins on an ocean cruise is nothing; cancelling 5 on a river cruise is a much larger percentage.

I think that this also has something to do with the differing booking horizons. People generally book river cruises very early; the best (and also the cheapest) cabins are gone very early. I'm wondering whether the glut of new river cruise ships will change the balance somewhat, since I think that the companies have begun to saturate the market and will probably lead to people not bothering to book so far in advance because there is too much inventory.

We were also a tad uncomfortable with Scenics deposit cancellation policy, but the river cruise companies all had similar policies when we booked our cruise. Well explained above and understandable.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums