Any benfit to making fianl payment way in advance???

[Grandma7]

I have booked a TA cruise for October 2015. Haven't cruised in years so I was wondering if there any benefit to making final payment ahead of time? Does it affect my chances of being upgraded or getting chance in price of price drops later?? Also, if I pay for the premium beverage package now, if the price goes up later will I have to pay the difference?? I did go thru a travel agency, but did not want to ask them thinking I may get more suggestions or thoughts on it here. Thanks for any help.

[cruisead]

There's no advantage to paying for a cruise far in advance---if there's a price drop and it isn't part of a special promotion and it's not after final payment date, you can ask for the lower price---paying early doesn't mean anything for upgrades as those things rarely happen anymore. And once you purchase a beverage package, that's it, you've purchased it.

[wallie5446]

None from the cruise line, but you will get your credit card point's faster:D

[teecee60]

I was wondering if there any benefit to making final payment ahead of time?

 

Yes, for the cruise line. THEY get the use of YOUR money for a whole year.

[Andy]

I have booked a TA cruise for October 2015. Haven't cruised in years so I was wondering if there any benefit to making final payment ahead of time? Does it affect my chances of being upgraded or getting chance in price of price drops later?? Also, if I pay for the premium beverage package now, if the price goes up later will I have to pay the difference?? I did go thru a travel agency, but did not want to ask them thinking I may get more suggestions or thoughts on it here. Thanks for any help.

 

Hi Ledbetn,

 

There's no advantage to paying in full in advance. I'd skip that idea, and make your final payment a few days before it's due.

 

As for your beverage package question, odds are good that if you purchase it now, and the price goes up, that Celebrity probably would not increase your cost. Of course, you never know what the future holds, but in the past, Celebrity has been very fair about situations like this.

 

Hope this helps, and enjoy your cruise !

[MarkusToe]

if you book using a different currency - that's a possible reason to pay upfront final date...

[Banjo]

I have booked a TA cruise for October 2015. Haven't cruised in years so I was wondering if there any benefit to making final payment ahead of time? Does it affect my chances of being upgraded or getting chance in price of price drops later?? Also, if I pay for the premium beverage package now, if the price goes up later will I have to pay the difference?? I did go thru a travel agency, but did not want to ask them thinking I may get more suggestions or thoughts on it here. Thanks for any help.

 

Agree with Cruisead, if the price drops or they add perks you may not be able to take advantage of those actions. Suggest, wait till you absolutely have to pay.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Simple answer is NO. Keep your money. I know interest rates are non existent now, but there is no benefit at all to paying early.

[Smiles3usa]

If I were you I would DEFINITELY not pre-pay for the premium drink package. Celebrity reserves the right to raise drink prices at anytime. Accordingly you will have little idea what your premium package will cover. What's included today may not be included when you sail. Correspondingly if your drink of choice is no longer included you may prefer to just buy your drinks as you go. YMMV

 

 

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[deise17311]

We sometimes pay a few months before final payment just to get it out of the way and move on to something else...Amex was offering an extra 20% points so we took advantage of that and now can coast until our cruise...it's a personal preference but I do not like having bills hanging around...it does not affect price drops etc as long as it is outside of final payment dates...if there is a price drop, we would get a refund on our cc...

[bighairtexan]

One of my upcoming cruises is 15 days in a higher end suite. I have 3 others booked (shorter and in balconies or Sky Suite) which I won't pay until I have to. However, the 15 day cruise is a substantial chunk of change and I don't know as how I want to see that in one big credit card bill at final payment. I've debated about it, but I'm probably going to make a couple of payments in between now and final payment to kind of spread the sticker shock! :eek:

[Rogueperson]

One big advantage is not accidentally spending the money you've earmarked for your cruise. Its an advantage to some.

[Hlitner]

One big disadvantage, besides giving up the use of your money interest free, is that once you make a final payment for anything you have lost potential leverage if there are future issues.

 

Hank

[flag fan]

I am sure there is no economic advantage, but there might be some psychological advantage in terms of just getting the payment out of the way or if you have earmarked certain money (like a tax refund) for the cruise and are sure you won't be using it (and don't want to be tempted to use it) for any other purpose (like a lay-a-way plan). It also makes a good excuse for not changing vacation plans if family, friends, or your boss tries to get you to change our plans--"I'd love to, but we already paid for a cruise."

[ratacake]

:) Hi,

 

There is one other point to take into consideration - if you pay for the cruise earlier than when it is due, you'll also have to pay for travel insurance at the same time. So, that's another cost upfront.

 

I'd say wait till it's due.

 

Anyway, whatever you do about payment, have the most wonderful time. We can't wait for our cruises in October and next February! :D

[Kartgv]

Most of the time there's no advantage, but there can be in certain circumstances. Sometimes credit cards have certain promotions that may give extra points or incentives for charges during a certain period- it might be advantageous in that case.

 

We once did quite expensive B2B's and the full amount for both would have bumped pretty close to our credit limit on our charge cards, which we didn't want to happen. We paid for the 1st leg early to avoid this issue, and a week later the price dropped by a substantial amount. Since we were still before our final payment DUE DATE, one call to our TA and we got a refund applied to the cost of our second cruise, which we hadn't yet paid for.

[cruisestitch]

spreading out the payments over several credit card statements may be advantageous and if you have the Celebrity credit card where you get double points for purchases on Celebrity you may then have enough points to order OBC for that cruise or to reduce the cost of the cruise after the Final Payment date, which might be a nice plus.

[HTML5]

Once we'd crunched the numbers and decided we could afford to do so, we booked the cruise, insurance, air fare and hotel all in one throw. Sure, we could have stretched it out, but there was a certain satisfaction in leaving the TA office with our cruise done and done.

 

In the words of Tom Petty, "the waiting is the hardest part."

Holla! :D

[vtcruising]

:) Hi,

 

There is one other point to take into consideration - if you pay for the cruise earlier than when it is due, you'll also have to pay for travel insurance at the same time. So, that's another cost upfront.

 

I'd say wait till it's due.

 

Anyway, whatever you do about payment, have the most wonderful time. We can't wait for our cruises in October and next February! :D

 

Friends of ours always paid their total fare immediately, along with the CruiseCare so that the 60 day pre-existing condition clause would be met. That way they didn't worry that some new illness would crop up in the months they waited for the cruise that would not be covered if there happened to be a problem related to that condition onboard.

 

I just looked at the Celebrity website to try to verify this and it looks like you can just pay the deposit and the CruiseCare - I had always thought you needed to pay the total fare to be able to pay for CruiseCare in order to make the policy effective. Here is the language from the CruiseCare document (the latest one - also learned they have changed the coverage a bit for next year's cruises so there are 2 documents).

 

"Pre-Existing Condition means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60-day period immediately prior to your effective date for which you or your Traveling Companion, Business Partner or Immediate Family Member who is scheduled or booked to travel with you."

 

"The plan cost may be paid at any time from deposit up to and including final payment; however, the CruiseCare Cancellation and Interruption Penalty Waiver takes effect only upon payment of the plan cost in addition to any required cruise deposit."

 

Maybe those who have more experience reading insurance documents can verify this.

[Grandma7]

Thanks for the input. I will keep up with credit card points etc. I had also wondered, since I booked a guaranteed inside cabin, that I might be more likely to be upgraded if I paid early. Sounds more likely that there will be price drops and that I can't take advantage of that if I have prepaid???