Refundable Deposit Cost is now Excessive

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

Just doing some mock bookings today and was very surprised to see the following add-on cost for a Refundable booking.  In the past, I've only ever payed between $100 or $200 more.

 

REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT

If you cancel prior to the final payment date, your full deposit will be refunded.

$2,159.00 USD/room 

This adjustment will be reflected in your total.

 

This brought my $2700 cruise fare to $4850.  Guess, they are relying on you to to choose to forfeit a $450 deposit now, more than ever.

 

 

Anybody else still seeing reasonable refundable rates?  This was a TP, so maybe somewhat different due to the itinerary.

 

 

[pcur]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't forfeit the whole deposit, but a $100 per person change/cancel fee, and the remainder is an FCC.  

 

To answer your question, I have seen the add-on for a refundable deposit as low as $67 for the cabin, but this was on a short 4-5 night cruise.  

[molly361]

AND if you book before 8/1 and need to cancel you can cancel under Cruise with Confidence and won't lose anything.  Your entire deposit will be issued to you in a Future Cruise Certificate

[pcur]

4 minutes ago, molly361 said:

AND if you book before 8/1 and need to cancel you can cancel under Cruise with Confidence and won't lose anything.  Your entire deposit will be issued to you in a Future Cruise Certificate

 

I forgot about this!  I doubt if it will still be in effect for my 3/2022 cruises, but if I change my mind in the meantime, I am covered by this. 

 

I booked a b2b yesterday, but got NR deposits:  as the OP said, the mark-up was more than I wanted to pay.  The first cruise was over $200 for the cabin.  I didn't even check the second one.

[molly361]

11 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

I forgot about this!  I doubt if it will still be in effect for my 3/2022 cruises, but if I change my mind in the meantime, I am covered by this. 

 

I booked a b2b yesterday, but got NR deposits:  as the OP said, the mark-up was more than I wanted to pay.  The first cruise was over $200 for the cabin.  I didn't even check the second one.

I believe that CWC covers all cruises booked before 8/1 and is good thru 4/22

[pcur]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

I believe that CWC covers all cruises booked before 8/1 and is good thru 4/22

 

Yay!!

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

15 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

I forgot about this!  I doubt if it will still be in effect for my 3/2022 cruises, but if I change my mind in the meantime, I am covered by this. 

 

I booked a b2b yesterday, but got NR deposits:  as the OP said, the mark-up was more than I wanted to pay.  The first cruise was over $200 for the cabin.  I didn't even check the second one.

 

$200 mark-up is what I am used to seeing, not $2159.  

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

Thanks to those that responded mentioning CWC.  Worth considering.  I just usually take a refundable rate, avoiding the whole FCC refund, and so that's what I was looking for again, though not at these costs.

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Steeler Nation At Sea

[pcur]

15 minutes ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

 

$200 mark-up is what I am used to seeing, not $2159.  

To quote my youngest son:  iCheap when it comes to the refundable add-on for a deposit.

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

Just doing some mock bookings today and was very surprised to see the following add-on cost for a Refundable booking.  In the past, I've only ever payed between $100 or $200 more.

 

REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT

If you cancel prior to the final payment date, your full deposit will be refunded.

$2,159.00 USD/room 

This adjustment will be reflected in your total.

 

This brought my $2700 cruise fare to $4850.  Guess, they are relying on you to to choose to forfeit a $450 deposit now, more than ever.

 

 

Anybody else still seeing reasonable refundable rates?  This was a TP, so maybe somewhat different due to the itinerary.

 

 

Nothing new, over last yr seen $1000 on a $1600 Cruise myself with most High and some even Lower for Refundable... Only loose $100 on non-refundable rest is FCC. 

Edited July 6, 2020 by ONECRUISER

[not-enough-cruising]

Given the current state of cancellations and refund delays, I will be booking around final payment time for the foreseeable future; won’t worry about refundable at that point. 

[Wine-O]

I just booked the 2022 TP on Radiance.  My stateroom for two category w/C&A discount came to $4140.  I asked about the fully refundable cost, thinking on a few hundred more, was told it was $4714.  🍷

Edited July 6, 2020 by Wine-O

[BecAus]

I booked a NZ cruise for Jan '22.  3 pax - $600 NRD

To make it a refundable deposit it was $5000 more for the booking.😳

Decided to take my chances with the NRD!!

[Merion_Mom]

I paid an additional $11 recently.

[twangster]

The delta between refundable and NRD has always been highly variable and can depend on itinerary or cabin type.  For 2F studio balconies the refundable rate is often double the NRD rate.  Certain Star Class cabins are available refundable such as the UP and the delta between refundable and NRD was over $3k for a $4k booking I made.  

 

I've made website refundable bookings using these mega sized refundable rates just to secure a cabin I want then when Next cruise or my agent is on shift the next day I shop them for price and go with the winner at NRD, cancelling my refundable to free up my cabin.  

 

For the Odyssey inaugural a 2F studio balcony refundable was just over $1,200 more than NRD and that was a 4 day cruise.  I booked the first four on her in the same 2F cabin and went with NRD on them all because the refundable rate was mega sized on all of them (all over $1,200 difference).  I usually book refundable.  Turns it didn't matter on those cruises.  

 

At the same time the mega sized refundable rates were occurring above Next offered me a rate on Vision where refundable was the same price as NRD but with half the OBC.  

 

Unlike transatlantics, the transpacifics tend to be priced much higher so it doesn't surprise me refundable was more.  That's just the way it goes on some bookings.  I think I saw that on Hawaii too a few years back.

[mek]

17 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Given the current state of cancellations and refund delays, I will be booking around final payment time for the foreseeable future; won’t worry about refundable at that point. 

Same for me, but honestly won't be booking anything until cruises are up and running for several months.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Certain Star Class cabins are available refundable such as the UP and the delta between refundable and NRD was over $3k for a $4k booking I made.  

I thought all suites GS and up are NRD only?

[bouhunter]

59 minutes ago, mek said:

Same for me, but honestly won't be booking anything until cruises are up and running for several months.

Yep.  I'm amazed at how many people seem to be sending them money.

[cruisemeister8]

20 hours ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

Just doing some mock bookings today and was very surprised to see the following add-on cost for a Refundable booking.  In the past, I've only ever payed between $100 or $200 more.

 

 

Where on the website do you go to see Refundable rates?  All I've ever seen on mock bookings is the Non-Refundable.   I was even told by customer service that there are no Refundable rates online; you have to call them to get the Refundable option.

 

 I asked, "what is the premium for this option," so I would know if adding that premium to what I see online was a better rate and worth a call for a price drop.   I was told there is no set premium. It always varies and that's why you have to call to get today's rate.  

 

I've always hated the pricing games they play, but after reading some of the premiums noted here, it's beyond ridiculous.  That's why I'd love to be able to see it online and track it myself, and not have to call for today's price off the dartboard.

 

(Incidentally, off topic, that's my theory on how they're issuing refunds.  They have a HUGE wall in the accounting office.  Posted are all the deck plans for all the ships.  Alongside are calendar pages posted.  Someone is blindfolded and the dart game begins. Hit a date; hit a ship; and then hit a cabin number.  Whomever was booked into that cabin on that date gets the next refund.)

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

7 minutes ago, cruisemeister8 said:

Where on the website do you go to see Refundable rates?  All I've ever seen on mock bookings is the Non-Refundable.   I was even told by customer service that there are no Refundable rates online; you have to call them to get the Refundable option.

 

 

 

You have to go deep into the mock booking, to the point you are providing name, address DOB and selecting whether to prepay your grats or not.  The option for refundable shows up as an add on just below the grats.

 

Incidentally, after I posted, I found an 11 day refundable option for just $46.  No rhyme or reason.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

I thought all suites GS and up are NRD only?

 

We both know not to state absolutes with Royal 🙂

 

Certain Suites are known to be available refundable.  Few and far between.

 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Certain Star Class cabins are available refundable such as the UP and the delta between refundable and NRD was over $3k for a $4k booking I made.  

 

I thought all Suite deposits were NRD. At least that's been my experience. 

 

[cruisemeister8]

12 hours ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

You have to go deep into the mock booking, to the point you are providing name, address DOB and selecting whether to prepay your grats or not.  The option for refundable shows up as an add on just below the grats.

Thanks, I'll have to try that.  I usually stop at the price screen and never went further to fill out any information.  I'll be sure to stop short of "charge my card."  LOL!  

[Merion_Mom]

$8 difference for an OV on a Grandeur January cruise.

[fla gang]

18 hours ago, bouhunter said:

Yep.  I'm amazed at how many people seem to be sending them money.

Me too. I'm not spending a penny until I see them up and running, and things getting better!