Are "Non-Refundable Deposit" fares gone?

[ghstudio]

Last week, when you went to the celebrity web site to look at a cruise, you were shown non-refundable deposit fares and then when you selected a cabin, one of the options was to select to make it a "fully refundable deposit" at a higher price (I think $300 pp).

 

Today, when you look at the same cruise, you are shown prices and when you select a cabin, you get a screen that summarizes the costs and the fare clearly includes a fully refundable deposit....and there is no option I can even find to reduce the fare by making it a non refundable deposit.

 

Note: the above looked at fall 2019 cruises

 

I'm certainly not complaining....I always though the non refundable option was just confusing (you never knew what price you were seeing when going to an internet TA)....in fact, when we booked additional cruises on board earlier this year, the Celebrity agent didn't even bother to quote us the non-refundable rate as he thought it was a poor option for most people.

 

But the question is....has celebrity now abandon the "non-refundable deposit" concept? Is the current web site even correct? Is the lack of the "non refundable deposit" showing part of some unannounced promotion? Will celebrity use the fare shown on the web site to reduce the price of current bookings (subject of course to the perks today vs the perks when you booked)?

 

Does anyone know what's going on???

[Cruise Junky]

We caught a sale on the weekend on a currently booked cruise and when doing a mock booking on Celebrity's site, there was no option for a non-refundable fare. Let's hope it stays that way.

[craftymom914]

For what it is worth - I asked my TA about this. She said you can still do a refundable deposit but the fare will be slightly higher.

[Algebralovr]

All I can see are the non-refundable deposits.

 

The difference seems to be $100 per person between the two. The issue is that if you choose the non-refundable deposit, and your cruise drops in price, they charge you $100 to change to the new price.

[Cruise Junky]

All I can see are the non-refundable deposits.

 

The difference seems to be $100 per person between the two. The issue is that if you choose the non-refundable deposit, and your cruise drops in price, they charge you $100 to change to the new price.

 

What the OP is saying is that the Non Refundable isn't even coming up as an option anymore. Only a refundable in big letters saying NO RISK DEPOSIT.

 

NO RISK DEPOSIT

Veranda Stateroom

First Guest

$1,149.00

 

Second Guest

$1,149.00

 

Discount

-$200.00

 

 

Packages

1 Perk Package

Complimentary

 

 

• Classic Beverage Package for 2
  

Dining

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner (Excludes Specialty Dining)

Complimentary

 

Main Dining Time - Anytime Dining

 

 

 

 

Taxes & Fees

Taxes, Fees, and Port Expenses

$197.94

 

 

 

 

Trip Total

$2,295.94 USD

 

Minimum Deposit

$500.00 USD

 

Remaining Balance due

September 27, 2019

 

$1,795.94 USD

 

Cancellation Fees

 

NO RISK DEPOSIT

$500.00 USD

 

Refundable Until

July 29, 2019

 

 

Cancellation Fees

 

 

CONTINUE TO GUEST INFO

[Algebralovr]

The only thing I can see are the non-refundable deposits. I can't see the refundable ones.

 

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[Cruise Junky]

The only thing I can see are the non-refundable deposits. I can't see the refundable ones.

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

So bizarre that I'm the exact opposite. I wonder if they now have different deposit rules depending on date and if it's selling

[Binbrooklady]

I booked a B2B cruise last week for Sept. 2019 to Hawaii and back with the on-line agency that was offering 3 perks. I paid an extra $300 for each of them to get a refundable fare. Now, as noted above, the price is the same but is refundable without the extra charge. I have contacted the TA and they have no knowledge of a policy change. I called X and I was told that they no longer have NON refundable fares but because I booked with a TA they could not offer any advise. I have emailed the TA.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I just checked using Cruisingpwer (their travel agent system) for several ships/dates at random for summer/fall/winter 2019/20 - none seem to have a non-refundable deposit fare anymore that I can see

[Cruise Junky]

I just checked using Cruisingpwer (their travel agent system) for several ships/dates at random for summer/fall/winter 2019/20 - none seem to have a non-refundable deposit fare anymore that I can see

 

Yippee! let's hope it was a bad experiment and it's gone for good.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Right! I would hate if all deposits became non-refundable. It would make a cruise line that did that a no-go for us.

[deliver42]

I just did a mock booking on the Equinox for 12/2019 and all that showed was refundable with the drink pkg as the perk

[Cruise Raider]

I just booked a cruise last week for Oct 2019. I requested the refundable deposit and saw it was $100 pp more than the non-refundable. The different prices between the refundable and non-refundable deposits were clearly shown on the TA website. I just checked again and sure enough, the non-refundable pricing is nonexistent. But, the price of the cruise still reflects the refundable deposit pricing that I paid.

[The_Big_M]

Ok, so in short:

1) pricing for refundable deposits is the same as before

2) the option of getting a small discount for a non-refundable deposit has gone

[Cruise Junky]

Ok, so in short:

1) pricing for refundable deposits is the same as before

2) the option of getting a small discount for a non-refundable deposit has gone

 

Not 100% my booking dropped $150 pp at the same time the non refundable went away. Probably dependent on sales.

[deliver42]

Regardless of the games they play, the price is still driven by demand.

[NantahalaCruiser]

Regardless of the games they play, the price is still driven by demand.

And perhaps the demand for non-refundable fares was too low to justify continuing to offer them. We shall see.

[maggie cruises]

I'm booking celebrity if this is true. Just decided tonight to look into X rather than rccl or ncl.

 

 

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[Ramona760]

Depending on the TA website you search, many only show 1 option, others will show 3 prices or more; refundable, non refundable, past guest discount, price with additional perks, "early bird". It can get quite mind boggling.

[ghstudio]

Not sure that all the internet cruise sites are up to date....it's not easy to be up to date with Celebrity :)

[leaveitallbehind]

]Ok' date=' so in short:[/b']

1) pricing for refundable deposits is the same as before

2) the option of getting a small discount for a non-refundable deposit has gone

 

I would be suspicious of that if in fact the two rate program cointinues. When RCI introduced this last year the non-refundable prices were at the level of the previous refundable rates, and the refundable rates were now higher. We had several RCI bookings at the time and a new mock booking of each verified this.

 

So if Celebrity follows suit (which as an RCI company they likely will) the non-refundable program is just a method to raise rates. The non-refundable "discount" would be to to the original refundable rate.

[leaveitallbehind]

The only thing I can see are the non-refundable deposits. I can't see the refundable ones.

 

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A call to your TA or the cruise line should have be able to have them quote you those rates.

 

As RCI has progressed with this program, they first showed both rates next to each other when doing a mock booking. Now they only show the one non-refundable rate and it isn't until you've completed the booking by entering your passenger data that the option for the refundable rate is shown. (They may also show a GTY rate).

 

Clearly their emphasis is with the non-refundable rates, which as mentioned in our experience with RCI is the old refundable rates. More restrictive to the customer and allows the cruise line to keep your deposit. Maybe a sign of things to come......:rolleyes:

Edited June 7, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[ghstudio]

It is possible that Celebrity offers an option to make the deposit non-refundable after you enter all the passenger information, but the price shown today on Celebrity's web site for the cruises I looked at is clearly refundable..no risk.

 

Of course, pricing and promotions change all the time, so who knows what Celebrity will do in the next hour...it's always a mystery. It's definitely not a web error since my TA already had the price of two (refundable deposit) cruises reduced to the current price shown on the Celebrity site (fall 2019).