Refundable VS NRD

[momof3runners]

JIm you mentioned that you book refundable deposits and change over to NRD before sailing.

My questions are 1) When do change to NRD?

2) Do you keep your current prices or does it act as a new booking at the current price?

thank you

[wrk2cruise]

Not Jim but I've done the same thing.   I change to NRD at the time the sailing is close enough that I'm more confident that I won't cancel AND the pricing is attractive enough to make the change.

 

When changing from pricing at any time it's at the prevailing rates and promotions.   The only thing you would keep would be any OBC bonus from an onboard booking.   Even perks added by a TA can be adjusted due to the price difference.

[Jim_Iain]

17 minutes ago, momof3runners said:

JIm you mentioned that you book refundable deposits and change over to NRD before sailing.

My questions are 1) When do change to NRD?

2) Do you keep your current prices or does it act as a new booking at the current price?

thank you

For me I just called my agent and he removed the Refundable Deposit amount.  I kept my original price  all my existing perks and OBC's.    

 

His recommendation was to do it prior to Final Payment date.    He said it was possible with the various cruise with confidence programs to do after Final but he said was much more difficult and he would have to work with Celebrity to do while before final he can do it directly himself. 

 

For my reservation it was initially priced with Non-Refundable Deposit and I clicked the button to pay XXX amount for Refundable.   The invoice broke out that as a line items so may have been easier to just remove.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[jelayne]

If booking a Refundable deposit with the intent to change to a NRD keep a eye on.  Cabin availability.  We had a Refundable deposit and before we tried to switch the category sold out, at that the NRD price was just $2 less than Refundable.  The difference before the category sold out was $630.  Costly lesson.

[momof3runners]

Thank you everyone. I see the only advantage is if you are not sure you want to take the cruise. We normally book 6 to 9 months out to take advantage of the lower prices.

[Fishboy1947]

On 3/1/2022 at 7:07 PM, Jim_Iain said:

For me I just called my agent and he removed the Refundable Deposit amount.  I kept my original price  all my existing perks and OBC's.    

 

His recommendation was to do it prior to Final Payment date.    He said it was possible with the various cruise with confidence programs to do after Final but he said was much more difficult and he would have to work with Celebrity to do while before final he can do it directly himself. 

 

For my reservation it was initially priced with Non-Refundable Deposit and I clicked the button to pay XXX amount for Refundable.   The invoice broke out that as a line items so may have been easier to just remove.

I’m looking at my first Celebrity cruise. How do you add the Refundable option after initial booking?

[Oville]

On 3/1/2022 at 7:07 PM, Jim_Iain said:

For me I just called my agent and he removed the Refundable Deposit amount.  I kept my original price  all my existing perks and OBC's.    

 

His recommendation was to do it prior to Final Payment date.    He said it was possible with the various cruise with confidence programs to do after Final but he said was much more difficult and he would have to work with Celebrity to do while before final he can do it directly himself. 

 

For my reservation it was initially priced with Non-Refundable Deposit and I clicked the button to pay XXX amount for Refundable.   The invoice broke out that as a line items so may have been easier to just remove.

Jim, what is the advantage going from Refundable to Non-Refundable if the price remains the same?

[jelayne]

Normally the NRD  price can be hundreds cheaper, on our last booking $630.  Some of our booking it is closer to $1,000. If the price is the same for both refundable and NRD no reason to do a NRD.

[Jim_Iain]

59 minutes ago, Oville said:

Jim, what is the advantage going from Refundable to Non-Refundable if the price remains the same?

The price doesn't remain the same, at least for me.   The difference for my most recent change was about $650 per stateroom.   Now that we are certain we are going as well as the Cruise with Confidence I'm happy with the decision.

[wrk2cruise]

2 hours ago, Fishboy1947 said:

I’m looking at my first Celebrity cruise. How do you add the Refundable option after initial booking?

 

If the booking is non-refundable there is no way to add the refundable option.   Only option is to cancel and rebook which of course doesn't work as the cancel triggers the non refundable deposit!

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Interesting.  I almost always book a group fare with my TA.  It is always a bit less than a non-refundable rate.   The deposit changes to NRD at final payment date.  Since part of a group not all cabins available and since part of a group while canceling simple; changes are not always possible.  Usually need to cancel and rebook.

[wrk2cruise]

I can agree that all deposits are not refundable after final payment as you are in the penalty period.

 

Are you saying you cancel and rebook after final payment without a penalty??   I'm a bit lost.

 

I was referring to an initial NRD booking, or any booking which has been repriced to a NRD fare.  That cause the booking to be marked NRD and that booking can't get that attribute removed.  I learned this one time while doing a price drop on my refundable booking.  The Celebrity agent mistakenly changed it to the NRD fare which he then corrected before I got off the phone with him.  When I got the invoice (also before I got off the phone) it had the NRD designation and the penalty description.  I asked him to fix it.  He called supervisor and after a day they contacted me and said it couldn't be changed and since it was an onboard booking I didn't want them to give me a new booking number.   Long story but they noted on the reservation that it would be refundable and sent me a email documenting it for my records.

[terrydtx]

Interesting thread and we always book the NRD rate because of the large pricing difference when Booking a Suite. For example, for our Apex SS next year the NRD discount was $1234. If we cancel the cruise, we would lose only $100pp and the balance of our deposit could be moved to another cruise.  So, for us the possible $200 loss is not that big a risk. We had this happen recently when we canceled a RCL cruise to switch to one on Celebrity Equinox. Our deposit for the RCL cruise was $750 and we lost $200 but our TA got the RCL balance of $450 moved over to our Celebrity cruise.

[Oville]

13 hours ago, Oville said:

Jim, what is the advantage going from Refundable to Non-Refundable if the price remains the same?

Thanks, I was confused by your post 3 “I kept my original price all my existing perks and OBCs.”

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Oville said:

Thanks, I was confused by your post 3 “I kept my original price all my existing perks and OBCs.”

In my case,   I originally booked a cruise with a Refundable Deposit.    Last week I changed my booking from Refundable Deposit to Non-Refundable and maintained my original  base room price but was reduced by the line item I had for the NR.     I had the Premium drink Package, Premium Internet and Tips included and maintained all the perks as well as the $1,000 OBC I had from booking in onboard.

 

I guess the original price isn't the same as it is reduced by the Refundable add on charge.

[Oville]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

In my case,   I originally booked a cruise with a Refundable Deposit.    Last week I changed my booking from Refundable Deposit to Non-Refundable and maintained my original  base room price but was reduced by the line item I had for the NR.     I had the Premium drink Package, Premium Internet and Tips included and maintained all the perks as well as the $1,000 OBC I had from booking in onboard.

 

I guess the original price isn't the same as it is reduced by the Refundable add on charge.

Thanks Jim.