Non-Refundable Fare

Hi All,

A couple of questions on booking a new cruise I was hoping you experts could help me with.

I am new to Royal Caribbean and am just starting to return to cruising after a 20-year hiatus.

I have a cruise booked with RC for June of this year. My next cruise which I am planning now is for April 2019 for my kids spring break.

1. Trying to stay within the rules of this board, I am using a website which you can use to list the cruise you want and then travel agents make offers to you. All of the offers are around the same price but the onboard credit offered does differ between agencies. My questions here are:

a. If the cruise is non-refundable that far out, I believe that means its just our deposit is non-refundable. If you had to cancel would you be able to use that deposit for a rescheduled cruise at another time?

b. I have been told that if RCCL drops the price of the room you booked, you can get the new lower rate by requesting it. Would that be available in the case of a non-refundable fare? If the answer is yes then it would be the travel agent that does this or could you call RCCL yourself and do it?

c. If the answer to b above is yes, is there any reason then not to just book the minute you decide to take the cruise and just keep an eye on the fare and hope it goes down?

d. There is a major difference in OBC between some of these agencies on a booking. Some are $200 and a few are in the area of $1000, is that a red flag or common for suite booking OBC credits?

2. My first RCCL cruise is in June of this year.

a. A friend told me that the best deals on cruises are booked while you are physically on the cruise. I assume this is not good information given the offers I have been getting from outside agencies but is there any truth to that?

b. After a couple of days on the June cruise, I think I would be eligible for a discount on a future booking. Can that be applied later and is it even worth chasing or is it minor?

Thanks so much,

J

I book a non-refundable fare and up until final payment, the deposit is the only thing that is not refundable. After FP, there are other penalties based upon when the cruise is cancelled.

I do mock bookings to see if the price has gone down and if it has, then I contact my TA to get the reduction in price. Keep in mind though, that if Royal Caribbean offers OBC when you book the cruise, that you may lose that if the price goes down and the new rate doesn't include the same OBC. In my case, as an example, for my Harmony cruise, I have $175 OBC from Royal Caribbean plus what the agency offers, so the price needs to go down to below what I paid as well as the $175 OBC as it would be reduced to what Royal Caribbean is now offering.

I no longer book when onboard as I use the same site you are looking at and most of the offers state they are for new bookings only--can't be booked with Royal Caribbean and then transferred to the agency. I find the offers from the agencies to be better all around than the small OBC I would get from booking onboard.

One other thing I'd like to mention is that if the price goes down, you may lose some of the "perks" the TA is giving. For example, the agency I use most of the time, takes off $10 per hundred the cruise goes down. To me though, it's worth paying $100 less and losing out of $10 from the agency.

Be sure you read the reviews of the agencies and check to be sure they don't charge any additional fees other than what the cruise line may charge. You won't be able to call Royal Caribbean to make any changes or questions when you book with an agency. For me, though, it's worth it.

1 a. Yes, within a year of cancellation.

b. You need to call your TA to get the price drop.

c. Sorta true - just book at what price you see value

d. is the OBC is more than 10% of the cruise fare, something might be amiss.

2a. The only bonus for booking on board is very minimal OBC - the price is that same.

b. You only move up in C&A tier after the end of the cruise - unlikely you can apply the new tier perk while on the cruise. Moving to D can yield sizable balcony discount.

If you book a non refundable fare and change ships and/or sail date it will cost you $100 pp of your deposit. If you cancel you will forfeit $100 pp of your deposit with the rest given as a future cruise certificate to be used within a year from the cancellation date

Hi All,

 

A couple of questions on booking a new cruise I was hoping you experts could help me with.

 

I am new to Royal Caribbean and am just starting to return to cruising after a 20-year hiatus.

 

I have a cruise booked with RC for June of this year. My next cruise which I am planning now is for April 2019 for my kids spring break.

 

1. Trying to stay within the rules of this board, I am using a website which you can use to list the cruise you want and then travel agents make offers to you. All of the offers are around the same price but the onboard credit offered does differ between agencies. My questions here are:

a. If the cruise is non-refundable that far out, I believe that means its just our deposit is non-refundable. If you had to cancel would you be able to use that deposit for a rescheduled cruise at another time?

b. I have been told that if RCCL drops the price of the room you booked, you can get the new lower rate by requesting it. Would that be available in the case of a non-refundable fare? If the answer is yes then it would be the travel agent that does this or could you call RCCL yourself and do it?

c. If the answer to b above is yes, is there any reason then not to just book the minute you decide to take the cruise and just keep an eye on the fare and hope it goes down?

d. There is a major difference in OBC between some of these agencies on a booking. Some are $200 and a few are in the area of $1000, is that a red flag or common for suite booking OBC credits?

 

2. My first RCCL cruise is in June of this year.

a. A friend told me that the best deals on cruises are booked while you are physically on the cruise. I assume this is not good information given the offers I have been getting from outside agencies but is there any truth to that?

b. After a couple of days on the June cruise, I think I would be eligible for a discount on a future booking. Can that be applied later and is it even worth chasing or is it minor?

 

Thanks so much,

 

J

Yes, you can request a reduction if the prices drops as long as it isn't after final payment date. I have a non-refundable Symphony cruise for Feb. '19 and noticed a $400 reduction with $175 in OBC. Called my TA and within a couple of days it was confirmed and received a revised invoice.

If any changes to the reserve or cancellations you would incur a $100 penalty per Pax. If cancel, the balance of your deposit would be in the form of a credit to a cruise that must be taken within a year.

If you book a suite it is always non-refundable!

If you book a suite it is always non-refundable!

No wonder! I kept getting confused why the availability on the RCCL website was so limited.

Thank you all! That's very helpful.

In this case, I was looking at a CL Suite and its about $9700 for the 4 of us at the moment on Harmony. The highest OBC offered is about $1,050.00. That's more than my warehouse shopping company's travel agency is offering but their's is a gift card for use in their store, not an OBC.

Be sure you read the reviews of the agencies and check to be sure they don't charge any additional fees other than what the cruise line may charge.

Is there a review thread here that I missed or do you mean reviews elsewhere?

If you book a suite it is always non-refundable!

Just to clarify for the OP, a Grand Suite or better is always non-refundable, but a Junior Suite can still (today) be a redundable deposit.

Just to clarify for the OP, a Grand Suite or better is always non-refundable, but a Junior Suite can still (today) be a redundable deposit.

Thanks.

Is there a review thread here that I missed or do you mean reviews elsewhere?

On the site you are using that cannot be named, you can look up a lot of those TAs and agencies on TripAdvisor. Or just google them and type "their name reviews" and stuff will come up.

So in your situation for 4 people it's likely a $1000 deposit. If you change it or cancel it, you will lose $400 and get back the remaining $600 ($150 in each person's name) in the form of a FCC. The FCC is passenger specific and must be used with a year from issue like a previous post said. And one last point with the FCC is that it cannot be applied to a child along with a kids sail free offer. The reason being that the child is not paying a fare. So I know you mentioned you had kids and not sure if they are 0-12 but good to keep in mind if they are.

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