Full Payment Due.. 2 Questions.

[LocoLoco1]

What is HAL's 'Full Payment Due' policy when booking many months (or years) in advance vs booking mere weeks prior to departure date? Can one get 'Perks or Credits' by paying early in full??

[Alberta Quilter]

If one books in advance of final payment date, one can "re-fare" one's cruise (as long as a refundable rate was originally booked) as often as one wants to gain perks.  However, in doing so, one could lose prior perks.  The new perks are not just added to the old ones; you'll have to decide which is best for you.  If one books mere weeks prior to departure, one is booking after the regular final payment date (which is usually 75 days prior to departure).  Therefore, one is subject to cancellation penalties if one tries to re-fare.  Once final payment date passes, one is essentially locked into the price/perks.  Some have gotten some upgrades or OBC if price drops occur after final payment but not always.

[LocoLoco1]

Thanks Alberta..... that explains things. I rarely investigate such details, usually booking close to sailing date but after seeing a

$Price$ drop.

[Tom O.]

Booking after the final payment due date will sometimes get you a real bargain, if there are lots of empty cabins still available.

Booking really early gives you a much better choice on cabins, if that is important.

Choice of cabins is really important to me, so I usually book early, and if the price drops before final payment is due, my TA will rebook it for us and we will get the lower price. But once final payment is made, I cannot rebook, if there are even lower prices announced.

I have never booked a cruise after final payment is due, but I suspect that only "guarantees" are available - where you are guaranteed a certain cabin category, but cannot choose the exact cabin you want.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Tom O.

[kwb101]

We booked a Grand Voyage for next year, and were offered (and received) a 3% discount for paying about four months before the usual due date (May vs. Sept). I think this is only offered on Grand Voyages and World Cruises. 

[LocoLoco1]

38 minutes ago, kwb101 said:

We booked a Grand Voyage for next year, and were offered (and received) a 3% discount for paying about four months before the usual due date (May vs. Sept). I think this is only offered on Grand Voyages and World Cruises. 

A Thank-you to all. I casually note $Fares$ can in fact vary for reasons unknown to me, leaving me wondering if Payment in Full might affect one's cost. (I suspect nowadays Computer algorithms and Supply/Demand elves work feverishly on such things :)

[Oakman58]

I usually book well in advance of the final payment date.  I like to have a good selection of cabins.  I try to book when the cruise line is offering a good promotional deal.  I booked an Alaskan cruise for next year when the beverage package was being offered free.  Then during Black Friday week they offered the drink package and the paid hotel charge.  When I called Holland I was told the cabin we booked had gone up $50 per person ($100 total).  So I paid the extra $100 for the cabin and got both deals. The hotel charge for the 7 day cruise would be $203.

 

Booking this way doesn't always work out but more often than not it does.  I always wait until the final payment date to pay in full.

[adrift@sea]

1 hour ago, Tom O. said:

I have never booked a cruise after final payment is due, but I suspect that only "guarantees" are available - where you are guaranteed a certain cabin category, but cannot choose the exact cabin you want.

We have booked many cruises after final payment and were able to select a specific cabin at the time of booking, including Holiday Cruises.  

[Oakman58]

16 hours ago, adrift@sea said:

We have booked many cruises after final payment and were able to select a specific cabin at the time of booking, including Holiday Cruises.  

 

Waiting until after final payment is due is certainly a good option but I think that certain cruises would have limited cabin availability and would be an issue for someone with a specific deck or category in mind.  A full transit cruise of the Panama Canal comes to mind.  Those are very popular cruises and I would want to have a good choice of location and cabins on a PC cruise.

[Overhead Fred]

The final payment date is not the critical date for determining when you can no longer re-fare without penalty. They key date is when the cancellation penalties begin. For many cruises, these dates are the same. However, for some longer cruises, the cancellation penalty start date can be a month before the final payment date. 

 

I learned this lesson the "hard way". For an upcoming long cruise, I could have saved several hundred dollars by re-faring. I waited for the Cyber Sale since it would come out before our final payment was due (today!). The Cyber Sale would have been an even better deal for us. Unfortunately, the cancellation period started on 11/16 (we bought the Platinum CPP at that time) and I was out of luck for any re-faring.

 

If I had known this beforehand, I would have re-fared when I purchased the CPP rather than waiting for the Cyber Sale. Oops.

 

So be sure to check both the cancellation fee schedule and the final payment date when you are thinking of re-faring your cruise!

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Oakman58 said:

 

Waiting until after final payment is due is certainly a good option but I think that certain cruises would have limited cabin availability and would be an issue for someone with a specific deck or category in mind.  A full transit cruise of the Panama Canal comes to mind.  Those are very popular cruises and I would want to have a good choice of location and cabins on a PC cruise.

 

Not only that - some cruises sell out before final payment date - so, if it’s an itinerary you want IMO it’s best to book early 😉 

[Tom O.]

6 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

The final payment date is not the critical date for determining when you can no longer re-fare without penalty. They key date is when the cancellation penalties begin. For many cruises, these dates are the same. However, for some longer cruises, the cancellation penalty start date can be a month before the final payment date. 

Thanks, I did not know that. We aren't, financially, able to do long cruises, so we have never run into that. The longest cruise we have been on is 15 days. I assume you are talking about cruises that are over 20 days.

[kazu]

41 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

Thanks, I did not know that. We aren't, financially, able to do long cruises, so we have never run into that. The longest cruise we have been on is 15 days. I assume you are talking about cruises that are over 20 days.

 

Overhead Fred is correct.  Generally speaking - whatever the deadline is for purchasing of HAL's cancellation insurance is basically the deadline for re-faring without penalty.  It always has to be paid before the penalties start.

 

I'm not sure how long the cruises have to be for this to start but we have experienced it on several of our sailings and they were all over 20 days.

 

 

 

 

[Overhead Fred]

53 minutes ago, kazu said:

I'm not sure how long the cruises have to be for this to start but we have experienced it on several of our sailings and they were all over 20 days.

 

I am not sure either, but it is the case for our 32 day Hawaii, Tahiti, & Marquesas cruise in 2021.

[kazu]

39 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

I am not sure either, but it is the case for our 32 day Hawaii, Tahiti, & Marquesas cruise in 2021.

 

Same of our Hawaii, Tahiti and Marquesas cruise back when we went, our longer Panama Canal and our Black Sea Collectors’ cruise.

Strangely our 28 day Japan cruise doesn’t have an earlier cancellation period.  Maybe they have to be 30 days and more?  

 

The ones I recall having it were all 30 days or more.

[crystalspin]

We have the early Deposit Forfeit on our 28-day Hawaii-Tahiti (Marquesas) cruise currently -- and the deposit was almost half the cost of the cruise, so it's not an idle threat! Forfeit started Nov.21 and Final Payment this weekend, we'll pay on Friday.

 

This was the first I encountered or remember hearing of the early forfeit. Fortunately we have cancellation protection for any reason THAT WE WOULD NEED TO CANCEL -- not any reason, but our health, family health, residential disaster, etc -- through our credit card.

[Cruising Is Bliss]

On 12/16/2019 at 8:13 AM, Tom O. said:

Thanks, I did not know that. We aren't, financially, able to do long cruises, so we have never run into that. The longest cruise we have been on is 15 days. I assume you are talking about cruises that are over 20 days.

 

 

The 14 day Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam we did in July also had that before final payment cancellation penalty clause.