Why is a "reduced deposit" considered a benefit?

[Ma Bell]

I suspect many people have investments that perform well. But those type of investments can also lose money. Last years performance is no indication of how well a stock or mutual fund will perform this year.

Most people would not put that $500 reduced deposit savings in an account that fluctuates. They would put it in an account that is highly liquid. Checking, Savings, Money Market, CD.

 

There are other investments besides stocks, bonds and money market investments. Many people run businesses of all kinds that have nothing to do with any of these.

[xmarksx]

Wouldn't the reduced deposit also reduce your loss exposure if you need to cancel for some reason? Assuming you do not have insurance.

[lobster129]

Wouldn't the reduced deposit also reduce your loss exposure if you need to cancel for some reason? Assuming you do not have insurance.

 

As long as you book through Celebrity (US) or TA (Again US)...you get your deposit back if you cancel before final pymt. Of course, the rules vary for UK passengers.

 

Becky

[Cruizen Susan]

If you have a number of cruises booked for the future it can amount to quite a bit. I can use the money in my business ventures and get a great return during the period that Celebrity would be holding my money.

 

I agree. We currently have 4 cruises booked, all with $900 deposits. That's $3600 tied up well before we set sail. I consider reduced deposits a nice perk, and perhaps if I found a couple more with that benefit, I would do some more booking!! :)

[Honeybearhollow]

I book cruises when they come out, so I may end up with 6 or so cruises booked ahead. The amount tied up in deposits can add up.

[jim1reed]

I'm almost always a last min booker. Myself, the reduced deposits are not much of a perk.

[pinkrosesdeb]

It would allow you to hold several cruises at a time which is what we usually do to get the special deals. So if I am holding 4 cruises without having thousands of dollars in limbo that is a huge benefit to us. I get to tie into the offered promo and not have to lose the use of more of my money. We pay our cruise just before final payment is due.

[Iamthesea]

I, too , thought there was little benefit to the reduced deposit other than the psychological one .

But this is a whole new concept to me.

In the past when I've inquired about insurance I've been asked the price of the trip.

If you don't mind telling, what insurance allows you to just start out insuring the deposit and then raising the coverage?

 

I would also like to know this. We always wait until Final payment to buy our insurance to make sure we are going to take the cruise. Because we wait, we have to buy expensive insurance to cover pre-existing conditions. I am purchasing insurance today for an October cruise. The insurance is going to cost us $980! :eek:

 

I agree. We currently have 4 cruises booked' date=' all with $900 deposits. That's $3600 tied up well before we set sail. I consider reduced deposits a nice perk, and perhaps if I found a couple more with that benefit, I would do some more booking!! :)[/quote']

 

BINGO!!! That's why we like the reduced deposits and normally book our cruises while onboard to get the lowest deposit amount. ;)

 

Another reason that some may like the reduced deposit is that they simply don't have the extra money to spend at one time. Some cruisers save 1-2 years for a vacation of a lifetime and I'm sure they appreciate being able to put down a small deposit.

[Turtles06]

I, too , thought there was little benefit to the reduced deposit other than the psychological one .

But this is a whole new concept to me.

In the past when I've inquired about insurance I've been asked the price of the trip.

If you don't mind telling, what insurance allows you to just start out insuring the deposit and then raising the coverage?

 

I would also like to know this. We always wait until Final payment to buy our insurance to make sure we are going to take the cruise. Because we wait, we have to buy expensive insurance to cover pre-existing conditions. I am purchasing insurance today for an October cruise. The insurance is going to cost us $980! :eek

 

 

We have used Travel Guard for many years, and once you book your trip and have paid a deposit, you just insure the amount of the deposit. E.g, if the deposit is $450 per person, the "trip cost" at that point is considered to be exactly that, $450 per person. (Be sure to buy the insurance within the 14-21 days specified so that pre-existing conditions are waived.)*

 

Then, as you go along and add to the trip cost (whether it's non-fundable air fare, or final payment, etc.), you simply increase the amount of your insurance (again, doing so within 14-21 days of making that payment, so as to preserve your pre-existing conditions waiver.) Travel Guard's web site is actually set up so you can easily modify things like trip cost, travel dates, etc. as you go along.

 

I really think this is how most of the travel insurance companies work, but anyone interested should call and talk to the company.

 

Also, there have been occasions when we've bought travel insurance for Trip A and then changed our travel plans to take Trip B instead; we merely go on line and change the dates of travel (and anything else that changed), and the insurance is then applied to Trip B. A Travel Guard rep even told me that if our plans for Trip A fell through and we had no Trip B, to just change the travel dates for(the now cancelled) Trip A to some time in the future and preserve the insurance for a later trip.

 

In my personal experience, Travel Guard has been easy to deal with, on line and by phone. (Unfortunately, we've had to make a few claims over the years, and they were all handled well.)

 

There's a separate forum on here for Travel Insurance discussions for those who want more info.

 

*Edited to add: I just went on Travel Guard's web site, and here's their definition of "trip cost":

 

Trip Cost refers to the total prepaid and non-refundable expenses already submitted toward the trip regardless of who booked the arrangements. This does not include estimated or anticipated costs that have not yet been paid.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Turtles06

[PoppyandNana]

I agree. We currently have 4 cruises booked' date=' all with $900 deposits. That's $3600 tied up well before we set sail. I consider reduced deposits a nice perk, and perhaps if I found a couple more with that benefit, I would do some more booking!! :)[/quote']

 

I confused. I've seen some things that say captains club members enjoy a reduced deposit benefit. Yet whenever we book a cruise other than onboard we have to pay $450.

[lobster129]

We have used Travel Guard for many years, and once you book your trip and have paid a deposit, you just insure the amount of the deposit. E.g, if the deposit is $450 per person, the "trip cost" at that point is considered to be exactly that, $450 per person. (Be sure to buy the insurance within the 14-21 days specified so that pre-existing conditions are waived.)*

 

Then, as you go along and add to the trip cost (whether it's non-fundable air fare, or final payment, etc.), you simply increase the amount of your insurance (again, doing so within 14-21 days of making that payment, so as to preserve your pre-existing conditions waiver.) Travel Guard's web site is actually set up so you can easily modify things like trip cost, travel dates, etc. as you go along.

 

I really think this is how most of the travel insurance companies work, but anyone interested should call and talk to the company.

 

Also, there have been occasions when we've bought travel insurance for Trip A and then changed our travel plans to take Trip B instead; we merely go on line and change the dates of travel (and anything else that changed), and the insurance is then applied to Trip B. A Travel Guard rep even told me that if our plans for Trip A fell through and we had no Trip B, to just change the travel dates for(the now cancelled) Trip A to some time in the future and preserve the insurance for a later trip.

 

In my personal experience, Travel Guard has been easy to deal with, on line and by phone. (Unfortunately, we've had to make a few claims over the years, and they were all handled well.)

 

There's a separate forum on here for Travel Insurance discussions for those who want more info.

 

*Edited to add: I just went on Travel Guard's web site, and here's their definition of "trip cost":

 

Excellent description of our Travel Guard experience. We also book insurance within first two weeks of making reservation and deposit. Then later, as I add air transportation, hotels and tours....I increase my amount insured. As long as I am CAREFUL to increase insurance within 14 days of adding air, tours etc.....they are also covered with the "pre-existing medical conditions waiver". When I book cruise final pymt...I add my last layer of travel insurance.

 

We have also had to make claims twice against our travel plans being cancelled for unexpected medical issues. We were reimbursed everything except for the actual price of the insurance (significant detailed paperwork required)

 

Becky

[chamima]

We have used Travel Guard for many years, and once you book your trip and have paid a deposit, you just insure the amount of the deposit. E.g, if the deposit is $450 per person, the "trip cost" at that point is considered to be exactly that, $450 per person. (Be sure to buy the insurance within the 14-21 days specified so that pre-existing conditions are waived.)*

 

Then, as you go along and add to the trip cost (whether it's non-fundable air fare, or final payment, etc.), you simply increase the amount of your insurance (again, doing so within 14-21 days of making that payment, so as to preserve your pre-existing conditions waiver.) Travel Guard's web site is actually set up so you can easily modify things like trip cost, travel dates, etc. as you go along.

 

I really think this is how most of the travel insurance companies work, but anyone interested should call and talk to the company.

 

Also, there have been occasions when we've bought travel insurance for Trip A and then changed our travel plans to take Trip B instead; we merely go on line and change the dates of travel (and anything else that changed), and the insurance is then applied to Trip B. A Travel Guard rep even told me that if our plans for Trip A fell through and we had no Trip B, to just change the travel dates for(the now cancelled) Trip A to some time in the future and preserve the insurance for a later trip.

 

In my personal experience, Travel Guard has been easy to deal with, on line and by phone. (Unfortunately, we've had to make a few claims over the years, and they were all handled well.)

 

There's a separate forum on here for Travel Insurance discussions for those who want more info.

 

*Edited to add: I just went on Travel Guard's web site, and here's their definition of "trip cost":

 

Excellent description of our Travel Guard experience. We also book insurance within first two weeks of making reservation and deposit. Then later, as I add air transportation, hotels and tours....I increase my amount insured. As long as I am CAREFUL to increase insurance within 14 days of adding air, tours etc.....they are also covered with the "pre-existing medical conditions waiver". When I book cruise final pymt...I add my last layer of travel insurance.

 

We have also had to make claims twice against our travel plans being cancelled for unexpected medical issues. We were reimbursed everything except for the actual price of the insurance (significant detailed paperwork required)

 

Becky

 

 

Thank you both!

[Iamthesea]

Excellent description of our Travel Guard experience. We also book insurance within first two weeks of making reservation and deposit. Then later, as I add air transportation, hotels and tours....I increase my amount insured. As long as I am CAREFUL to increase insurance within 14 days of adding air, tours etc.....they are also covered with the "pre-existing medical conditions waiver". When I book cruise final pymt...I add my last layer of travel insurance.

 

We have also had to make claims twice against our travel plans being cancelled for unexpected medical issues. We were reimbursed everything except for the actual price of the insurance (significant detailed paperwork required)

 

Becky

 

But do you actually save money buying insurance this way versus waiting to cover it all at cruise final payment? I buy CSA Luxe. If bought prior to, or up to 24 hours after final payment, pre-existing conditions are waivered.

 

Then, as you go along and add to the trip cost (whether it's non-fundable air fare, or final payment, etc.), you simply increase the amount of your insurance

 

Turtles - I have asked the following question before on the boards, and most recently on the Cruise Insurance board, but have never received a definite answer. Since you travel overseas, I wonder what your experience is. ;)

 

Do you insure the total cost of your overseas airfare, or just the non-refundable part which would be a change fee of probably $250pp?

[Turtles06]

Turtles - I have asked the following question before on the boards, and most recently on the Cruise Insurance board, but have never received a definite answer. Since you travel overseas, I wonder what your experience is. ;)

 

Do you insure the total cost of your overseas airfare, or just the non-refundable part which would be a change fee of probably $250pp?

 

I once had a very helpful phone conversation with a supervisor at Travel Guard who explained that the only things you should insure -- the only things that insurance would compensate you for if you had to cancel for a covered reason -- are those things that you have paid for that would NOT be reimbursed to you if you had to cancel the trip on the day of departure, before you'd left home.

 

This makes sense: if you can cancel day of departure and get a refund, let's say, on a pre-paid tour or hotel room, then you'll get that money refunded from the business you paid it to. The travel insurance company won't let you double dip by sending you the money too.

 

With a non-refundable plane ticket, I'd take the position that the ticket is exactly what the airline says it is -- non-refundable; I would be out the money for the ticket if I had to cancel last minute, even if I could pay some huge sum to re-book the flight. (The ability to pay to rebook, besides being expensive, may be of no use to me at that time.) In that situation, you really aren't getting reimbursed for what you paid out. But I would call the insurance company directly and ask them about this. Most recently, we've been fortunate to be able to use frequent flyer miles for our overseas travel, and then what I insure is the cost of restoring those miles to our FF accounts if we have to cancel.

 

Nice "talking" to you again. :)

[Iamthesea]

Thank you. I had planned to cover the cost of the airline tickets until a read a disturbing post (see below). I know that our hotel is non-refundable because we paid in advanced. I looked up two of our 3 booked excursions. They both say that cancellation must be made 1 month ahead of time, so those will also be covered. :)

 

Mr. Click Also realize that in many cases you are really only insuring the airline change fees. I learned that last May when we had to cancel a cruise and flights last minute. The airline allowed us to cancel and use that money within a year as long as we paid the change fee for each ticket. That meant, as far as the insurance company was concerned that our loss was just the change fee, not the entire fare. It was a reasonable deal but I wish I had thought of it when I bought my policy, I would have saved some money on the premiums/

 

Yes, nice taking to you again, too. I don't think I ever got back to that thread to tell you that my son did get married in Virginia. ;) Long story!

[MisterBill99]

I once had a very helpful phone conversation with a supervisor at Travel Guard who explained that the only things you should insure -- the only things that insurance would compensate you for if you had to cancel for a covered reason -- are those things that you have paid for that would NOT be reimbursed to you if you had to cancel the trip on the day of departure, before you'd left home.

That's an interesting approach that I've never seen discussed. How late can you increase the amount? Will they cover the full amount under the existing conditions waiver if you didn't fully insure it within the required amount of time after booking?

 

Or maybe I'm misinterpreting it. Do you show the full cost of the cruise in your initial purchase? Or just the deposit and then increase it later when you make final payment? The latter is what I thought you were saying but I could be wrong.

Edited July 22, 2015 by MisterBill99

[SheriffJoe]

Not sure if its been mentioned cause I am not going to read this entire thread but the BEST perk is that I can book MANY cruises when they go on special along with reduced deposits and then cancel the ones I don't end up liking if something else better comes along with only having a few hundred dollars invested versus thousands...

[PoppyandNana]

Not sure if its been mentioned cause I am not going to read this entire thread but the BEST perk is that I can book MANY cruises when they go on special along with reduced deposits and then cancel the ones I don't end up liking if something else better comes along with only having a few hundred dollars invested versus thousands...

 

I started this thread with a question on deposits but seems to have gone off track. My question dealt with captain club members and the required deposits.

 

My understanding was that as CC members we only had to pay $200 pp rather than $450. Yet when I book a cruise I'm required to pay the $450.

[Turtles06]

Thank you. I had planned to cover the cost of the airline tickets until a read a disturbing post (see below). I know that our hotel is non-refundable because we paid in advanced. I looked up two of our 3 booked excursions. They both say that cancellation must be made 1 month ahead of time, so those will also be covered. :)

 

The quote you posted is very interesting. Certainly worth checking out with the insurance company you are buying from. Hard to believe the insurance carrier could require you to pay a change fee; you certainly aren't getting the full use of your original purchase, as it's limited in time. At any rate, all policies are different. Personally, I'd insure the tickets unless it was outrageously expensive to do so. Or, at least I'd make a phone call.

 

Yes, nice taking to you again, too. I don't think I ever got back to that thread to tell you that my son did get married in Virginia. ;) Long story!

 

Huge congratulations!!! :) :) :)

[Turtles06]

That's an interesting approach that I've never seen discussed. How late can you increase the amount? Will they cover the full amount under the existing conditions waiver if you didn't fully insure it within the required amount of time after booking?

 

Or maybe I'm misinterpreting it. Do you show the full cost of the cruise in your initial purchase? Or just the deposit and then increase it later when you make final payment? The latter is what I thought you were saying but I could be wrong.

 

You're not wrong. You only insure the amount of the deposit, which is your initial trip cost. (Take a look again at Travel Guard's definition of trip cost in my post above.) Then you increase the trip cost (and thus make additional payments for the insurance) as you make additional payments on your trip, be they for air fare, tours, final payment, etc., as long as those are non-refundable expenses.

 

In terms of making sure that you are covered for pre-existing conditions, you MUST make the additional insurance payments within the time specified on the policy, usually within 14-21 days of whatever payment you just added to your trip.

[greydog]

I started this thread with a question on deposits but seems to have gone off track. My question dealt with captain club members and the required deposits.

 

My understanding was that as CC members we only had to pay $200 pp rather than $450. Yet when I book a cruise I'm required to pay the $450.

 

It might be your TA set deposit under their policy

 

If you book suites, deposit is higher

 

Deposit rules differ outside the US due to others' regulations

 

You may need to remind agent about C-Club benefit.

 

Good Luck

Edited July 22, 2015 by greydog

[Iamthesea]

The quote you posted is very interesting. Certainly worth checking out with the insurance company you are buying from. Hard to believe the insurance carrier could require you to pay a change fee; you certainly aren't getting the full use of your original purchase, as it's limited in time. At any rate, all policies are different. Personally, I'd insure the tickets unless it was outrageously expensive to do so. Or, at least I'd make a phone call.

 

Huge congratulations!!! :) :) :)

 

Actually, it sounds like the insurance company paid the change fees, only, and had the insured take the vouchers to use for another flight. They did not reimburse for the entire flight cost.

 

It may not be outrageously expensive to cover the full cost, but insuring overseas tickets worth almost $3000 is a heck of a lot more than insuring the change fees of $500.

 

I started this thread with a question on deposits but seems to have gone off track. My question dealt with captain club members and the required deposits.

 

I think you are on the wrong thread. :confused: TomBeckCruise started this thread about why reduced deposits are beneficial. ;)

[SheriffJoe]

Actually, it sounds like the insurance company paid the change fees, only, and had the insured take the vouchers to use for another flight. They did not reimburse for the entire flight cost.

 

It may not be outrageously expensive to cover the full cost, but insuring overseas tickets worth almost $3000 is a heck of a lot more than insuring the change fees of $500.

 

 

 

I think you are on the wrong thread. :confused: TomBeckCruise started this thread about why reduced deposits are beneficial. ;)

 

I agree...talk about confused! LMAO :eek:

[MisterBill99]

You may need to remind agent about C-Club benefit.

I've also found this to be the case. It does not appear to be automatic in their system.