When is a refundable deposit not worth it

[NancyIL]

Before COVID - I wouldn’t pay more than $100 pp for a refundable fare. I was thinking only of that immediate out-of-pocket loss, and not the total loss if I cancelled and couldn’t use the FCC before it expired.

 

 Now, with so much uncertainty about when we’ll cruise again - I wish my b2b fall cruises in Europe were refundable.  I’d rather not pay off the more expensive one with the lower deposit - in hopes that it will be cancelled and we’ll get a refund. My concern is that it might sail, and I don’t want to get stuck with an even larger FCC when we cancel.

[denatravels]

23 hours ago, Canadianmama3 said:

So normally I always book a refundable deposit.  It’s usually around $200-$300 more (total) then the non refundable.  I’m looking at a cruise for Summer 2022.  And this particular cruise is giving me the  refundable rate as $575 higher (for 3 people) then the non refundable.  
 

At what point do people feel the premium for a refundable fee isn’t worth it? 
 

Right now I’m leaning towards just going with the refundable since it’s the same deposit amount and switching to non refundable closer fo the date if it’s cheaper.  But I could end up paying $575 more for the cruise if prices go up.  

Post covid, refundable is ALWAYS worth it. 

[AF-1]

23 hours ago, lovescats5 said:

I put a refundable hold on the Royal Loft on Quantum for Alaska and when I finally booked the difference in cost between refundable and non-refundable was almost $3000 for 4 people.  For us it was not much of a choice which one we chose.  

So the difference was 3,000 more for a refundable deposit?

[erinsmom03]

A couple days ago, I called in to reprice my Indy December 2021 cruise (again). I found that I could reprice and save a little more money. The kicker was, I ended up switching from a refundable deposit to a non-refundable deposit. Our deposits were $300 total. The new refundable deposit fee was more than $500, so it made no sense to go that route. I owed $479 on the cruise before I repriced. After I repriced, I was supposed to be getting about $90 back in a refund. Again, it made no sense to pay almost $500 for the current price we had to get $300 back.

 

Here's the kicker... not sure how or why, when I was done waiting on hold and they came back with the total price and sent me the new invoice... somehow the cruise price was way lower than what I saw online. No clue what they did in the accounting department. Instead of a $90 refund, I'm getting back about $950. Everything else stayed the same...trust me, I triple checked everything!

 

Lesson learned... being willing to give up the refundable deposit on this cruise saved me over $1000!

[Tree_skier]

On 2/18/2021 at 3:49 PM, marci22 said:

That's a lot of money for changing your mind.

But it is less than the premium the OP would be paying for a refundable deposit.

[mugtech]

Found the best time to book a cruise is while cruising,using such a small deposit which is NRD, the refundable deposit is never an issue.  Of couse we haven't cruised since May 2019,currently quite difficult to book a cruise while on a cruise.

[OZ.]

On 2/18/2021 at 9:45 AM, lovescats5 said:

I put a refundable hold on the Royal Loft on Quantum for Alaska and when I finally booked the difference in cost between refundable and non-refundable was almost $3000 for 4 people.  For us it was not much of a choice which one we chose.  

That’s a huge difference. I would have also gone with non-refundable in that case.

[mcatmcat]

I 99.99% of the time book refundable not because Im not sure about royal but because vacations plans can change and I might go somewhere else or doing soemthing else. The only time I book refundable is because Im going in the next 2-4 weeks ina 3 days short cruise. 

[Coralc]

2 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

I 99.99% of the time book refundable not because Im not sure about royal but because vacations plans can change and I might go somewhere else or doing soemthing else. The only time I book non-refundable is because Im going in the next 2-4 weeks ina 3 days short cruise. 

Fixed it.