Crazy 2 tier pricing system

How do you handle this 2 tier pricing ,the one with the lower cruise price ;but ,with a non refundable deposit vs the higher cruise price & with the refundable deposit ?

How do you handle this 2 tier pricing ,the one with the lower cruise price ;but ,with a non refundable deposit vs the higher cruise price & with the refundable deposit ?

there is nothing to "handle", it is decision you have to make. I have a cruise booked for winter2019 and I chose a refundable deposit fare, as there may be some promotion, anniversary or private mariner sale pricings from now to final payment late 2018.

I chose a NON refundable deposit fare for my summer 2018 cruise as the savings was quite substantial. I do not intend to change my mind, or shop around for a different cruise - I would only cancel under emergency circumstances, in which case my travel insurance will cover and reimburse.

Actually for my upcoming winter 2018 cruise I have had 4 different quotes over the term I have been holding the reservation :

1- refundable deposit rate

2- non refundable deposit rate

3- quote with Explore 4 package and without Explore 4 package

4- Private Mariner fare pricing - BTW this was the BEST rate .

I believe you can turn your refundable deposit fare over to NON refundable deposit fare at any time, BUT the quote changes, Before final payment I asked my TA for the NON refundable deposit fare, and it was still higher than what I am paying on a Private Mariner sale pricing (which was a mailing, but also appears on the website in green, once you log in).

I feel all these different offerings wear most people down, and it becomes too much of a bother to compare, keep checking, etc. That is what the cruiselines are counting on.

I believe I read on the Celebrity forum that they are starting to offer non refundable deposit fares. Carnival has had this system for a few years, at least.

I'd treat it like air fares which have had refundable and non refundable fare codes for years. Although with flights, you're paying for the whole thing, not just a deposit.

there is nothing to "handle", it is decision you have to make. I have a cruise booked for winter2019 and I chose a refundable deposit fare, as there may be some promotion, anniversary or private mariner sale pricings from now to final payment late 2018.

 

I chose a NON refundable deposit fare for my summer 2018 cruise as the savings was quite substantial. I do not intend to change my mind, or shop around for a different cruise - I would only cancel under emergency circumstances, in which case my travel insurance will cover and reimburse.

 

Actually for my upcoming winter 2018 cruise I have had 4 different quotes over the term I have been holding the reservation :

1- refundable deposit rate

2- non refundable deposit rate

3- quote with Explore 4 package and without Explore 4 package

4- Private Mariner fare pricing - BTW this was the BEST rate .

 

I believe you can turn your refundable deposit fare over to NON refundable deposit fare at any time, BUT the quote changes, Before final payment I asked my TA for the NON refundable deposit fare, and it was still higher than what I am paying on a Private Mariner sale pricing (which was a mailing, but also appears on the website in green, once you log in).

 

I feel all these different offerings wear most people down, and it becomes too much of a bother to compare, keep checking, etc. That is what the cruiselines are counting on.

 

I believe I read on the Celebrity forum that they are starting to offer non refundable deposit fares. Carnival has had this system for a few years, at least.

Thanks for the excellent Post! (y)(y)(y)

Smooth sailing :ship::ship::ship:

Actually for my upcoming winter 2018 cruise I have had 4 different quotes over the term I have been holding the reservation :

1- refundable deposit rate

2- non refundable deposit rate

3- quote with Explore 4 package and without Explore 4 package

4- Private Mariner fare pricing - BTW this was the BEST rate .

 

I believe you can turn your refundable deposit fare over to NON refundable deposit fare at any time, BUT the quote changes, Before final payment I asked my TA for the NON refundable deposit fare, and it was still higher than what I am paying on a Private Mariner sale pricing (which was a mailing, but also appears on the website in green, once you log in).

 

I feel all these different offerings wear most people down, and it becomes too much of a bother to compare, keep checking, etc. That is what the cruiselines are counting on.

Just a thought, but that is about 50 less offerings than we were presented when purchasing our last car. It took us a while but we figured it out ;p

I recently booked a non-refundable fare as it was 10% less than the refundable one, plus I have cruise insurance. Normally I would not do this, but the fare was low and I really doubted that it would go any lower. I just received a "private sale" mailing that covered my cruise and the sale was high than what I paid.

What really concerns me about HAL's website is how difficult it is to get pricing on the higher level cabins in each category. It used to be so nice and easy, but no longer!

For us -- it is an easy decision.

Refundable deposits.

I am confused about the non-refundable fares. When I look at the cancellation information on the HAL website, it shows that the deposit is non-refundable starting at 120 days out. Does that mean that I could cancel without penalty 5 months before the cruise date?

We are currently looking at a cruise in July 2019, but there is no way that we would accept a completely non-refundable fare for a cruise that far out.

I am confused about the non-refundable fares. When I look at the cancellation information on the HAL website, it shows that the deposit is non-refundable starting at 120 days out. Does that mean that I could cancel without penalty 5 months before the cruise date?

 

We are currently looking at a cruise in July 2019, but there is no way that we would accept a completely non-refundable fare for a cruise that far out.[/quo

 

I looked at my reservation and it does state that you would lose your deposit from 120-91 days prior to departure. Now this is for a 28 day cruise. From 90-75 you would lose 60%. Of course with the non refundable deposit pricing, you don't get this back. My cruise is to Alaska, so my deposit would be lost if I cancel 75-57 days before departure.

The only time we go non refundable is when we book inside the final payment window...which is just about always.

We have not seen a discount that is significant enough for us to go non refundable-deposit or otherwise. No saying we would no do it because we sometimes do this for hotel/resort stays. But the price has to be right...really right.

I looked at my reservation and it does state that you would lose your deposit from 120-91 days prior to departure. Now this is for a 28 day cruise. From 90-75 you would lose 60%. Of course with the non refundable deposit pricing, you don't get this back. My cruise is to Alaska, so my deposit would be lost if I cancel 75-57 days before departure.

Does that mean that the deposit is refundable up to 120 days prior to departure, even though it is called a non-refundable deposit?

Not sure. We booked non-refundable eight months out and we were told non-refundable started from the day we booked.

We can often take advantage of the lower non-refundable fares because we have/take out travel insurance. Because of issues DH has we feel most comfortable buying "pre-existing condition" insurance from an outside vendor. It often offers deposit insurance as part of the package.

I’m looking at a non refundable in June 2019 for a NB Alaska Cruise. It’s $1049 pp for gty VH (balcony). The deposit is $350. Very tempting as I don’t think I’ve seen a balcony room that inexpensive in June for Alaska. But it’s sooo far away. I also wonder how all the bigger ships doing Alaska in 2019 will affect prices.

I looked at my reservation and it does state that you would lose your deposit from 120-91 days prior to departure. Now this is for a 28 day cruise. From 90-75 you would lose 60%. Of course with the non refundable deposit pricing, you don't get this back. My cruise is to Alaska, so my deposit would be lost if I cancel 75-57 days before departure.

Does that mean that the deposit is refundable up to 120 days prior to departure, even though it is called a non-refundable deposit?

I have a few cruises booked, one with NON refundable deposit.

All the other booked cruises (with refundable deposits) have this new pricing schedule stating percentage of deposit lost if cancelled within the ranges of days stated

It appears that HAL has put in a new cancellation system - even on refundable deposits.

Not sure. We booked non-refundable eight months out and we were told non-refundable started from the day we booked.

You are talking about a non-refundable price for a particular cruise. The 90 - 120 days out refers to a refundable deposit on a cruise which must be cancelled no later than the 90 - 120 days from sailing to be fully refundable. As a previous poster has noted, the amount of the deposit refunded goes down the closer to departure.

You are talking about a non-refundable price for a particular cruise. The 90 - 120 days out refers to a refundable deposit on a cruise which must be cancelled no later than the 90 - 120 days from sailing to be fully refundable. As a previous poster has noted, the amount of the deposit refunded goes down the closer to departure.

You are absolutely correct. I learned this the hard way. I did not realize that there were fares that were non-refundable, with the exception of fares booked very close to sailing.

I made the reservation for our Alaska cruise (next June) with the well-known big box store. I read the Ts and Cs carefully (standard cancellation policy), and did not realize that I had booked a "snap" fare that was entirely non-refundable and not mentioned in their Ts and Cs or anywhere else on their booking page. When I called to take advantage of a sale with included drink package a couple of months after booking, I was told that I could not change to that since I had a non-refundable fare. I would lose my deposit, which would negate any savings.

Lessons learned. 1) Be careful to not book non-refundable fares. 2) Do not book cruises with the Big Box store.