Price Adjust After Paying in Full but Before Pay-in-Full Date

[PeeDeeEX]

I know that the price adjust topic has been covered here numerous times but I haven't found this particular situation covered. If it has, feel free to point me to the right direction.

 

Here is my situation:

 

1. I booked a 7-night Alaska cruise on the Encore sailing August 21 through the travel service of (almost) everybody's favorite warehouse club. When I booked in February, the pricing on the warehouse travel service website and NCL was the same. I decided to go them since the $330 or so cash card perk would come in handy for my family.

 

2. My pay-in-full date with them was April 8 but it seems that the pay-in-full date with the cruise line is April 23. Having using the travel service before, I was fully aware that they ask you to pay in full a little earlier than the actual deadline set by the cruise line to make sure that they are able to process the payment in time.

 

3. Today, I check the prices on the NCL website and it is over $1000 lower than what I paid. I tried to do a dummy booking and it still allows me to put a deposit down with a final payment date of April 23.

 

4. I am not using NCL Air (I live in Portland, OR so we are driving up to Seattle) and as far as I can tell, the current promos (Free At Sea packages) are the same as when we booked in February.

 

Questions:

 

Can I still price adjust my cruise to today's rates given that I already have paid in full?

 

If I can, is it a straight price adjust or do I have to cancel and rebook?

 

I also already purchased the PPBP, SDP promo (two dinners for a little over $70), and shore excursions. If I have to cancel and rebook, would it be possible to transfer these purchases over to the new booking?

 

Thanks in advance!

[ama123]

I dont have an answer for you, but I'm curious as well - very similar situation with the same cruise (August 21 Encore). We paid our cruise in full but like you said, are still in advance of the official final payment date. 

[bonvoyagie]

Because you are working with a travel agent, you must deal through them. NCL will not talk to you directly about the booking. I suspect that your TA will do nothing for you at this point but you never know.

[MeHeartCruising]

I agree with the above.  It will depend on your travel agent’s policies and willingness to help you.  NCL rules would permit it, but the agent may have had different terms in your sale agreement.  If you are still entitled to cancel it with a full refund from them, then they may do it.  That is essentially why NCL would do it themselves - because you would be free to cancel and rebook if you wanted. 

[PeeDeeEX]

23 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 NCL rules would permit it, but the agent may have had different terms in your sale agreement.  If you are still entitled to cancel it with a full refund from them, then they may do it.

 

You made an interesting point here. 

 

So, I checked the TAs FAQs and it seems like the travel service passes through the cancellation policies of the cruise line and NCL's policies are enforced.

 

The cancellation fees relevant to your specific reservation can be found on your invoice under the terms and conditions. <Travel Service> will not charge any additional cancellation fees beyond those specified by the cruise line.

 

Looks like I just have to call (and wait 1 - 2 hours) to see what can be done. 

 

Anyone have insights on the extras I already purchased if I end up having to do the cancel and rebooking route? Do those get refunded or can they be transferred to the new reservation?

Edited April 19, 2022 by PeeDeeEX

[deladypilot]

Since you are working with an agent, I agree you will have to go through them.  That said.  Many times I have had price adjustments after I made final payment and before "final payment date".  It is considered a re booking though so make sure you get to keep the perks you had or you get better ones.  I never had an issue but I have heard of others that say they lost some

[ama123]

4 hours ago, ama123 said:

I dont have an answer for you, but I'm curious as well - very similar situation with the same cruise (August 21 Encore). We paid our cruise in full but like you said, are still in advance of the official final payment date. 

 

Just to follow up on my prior comment - we are booked directly through NCL, I called my PCC and it was definitely worth it. No problem at all to make the change. We ended up upgrading from a balcony to club balcony and still getting nice amount refunded. Without a doubt worth a shot, hope you are successful through the TA! 

Edited April 19, 2022 by ama123

[MeHeartCruising]

4 hours ago, PeeDeeEX said:

 

You made an interesting point here. 

 

So, I checked the TAs FAQs and it seems like the travel service passes through the cancellation policies of the cruise line and NCL's policies are enforced.

 

The cancellation fees relevant to your specific reservation can be found on your invoice under the terms and conditions. <Travel Service> will not charge any additional cancellation fees beyond those specified by the cruise line.

 

Looks like I just have to call (and wait 1 - 2 hours) to see what can be done. 

 

Anyone have insights on the extras I already purchased if I end up having to do the cancel and rebooking route? Do those get refunded or can they be transferred to the new reservation?

When NCL does the process themselves, they actually just do a “reprice to current pricing”.  They don’t actually cancel/rebook the reservation.  The reservation number doesn’t change.  And any linked purchases remain in place.  If there are differences in any promo items/terms, they DO change to whatever is current.  
 

I would hope large TAs can do the same, but I do not know for certain. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by MeHeartCruising

[PeeDeeEX]

Wanted to circle back on this and relate my experience for those interested.

 

I called the travel service this morning and after waiting two hours on the phone (95% of which was waiting on hold and waiting for my agent while she waited on hold), I was able to get the price adjusted to current rates while keeping all the extras I had purchased to date no problem.

 

So looks like you can pay in full early and still do price adjusts as long as you are still more than 120 days from sailing.

[kona_wahine]

Lucky you. Who knew  the Alaska rates would be so low this year. We booked a year and a half ago for our 40th anniversary thru that same famous warehouse club. Paid in full Christmas Day, and when I finally figured out how much more we were paying then if we had waited and booked, like DOUBLE, kinda makes me sick to my stomach but nothing I can do about it. SAD FACE. Leave in just over 2 weeks, not gonna let it ruin our vacation. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by kona_wahine

[Liljo22]

1 hour ago, kona_wahine said:

Lucky you. Who knew  the Alaska rates would be so low this year. We booked a year and a half ago for our 40th anniversary thru that same famous warehouse club. Paid in full Christmas Day, and when I finally figured out how much more we were paying then if we had waited and booked, like DOUBLE, kinda makes me sick to my stomach but nothing I can do about it. SAD FACE. Leave in just over 2 weeks, not gonna let it ruin our vacation. 

 

Is NCL no longer giving a one time OBC for a 25% of the difference?  Or because you went through Costco you can't make a change?  

Edited April 21, 2022 by Liljo22

[kona_wahine]

2 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

 

Is NCL no longer giving a one time OBC for a % of the difference?  Or because you went through Costco you can't make a change?  

I didn’t even try because I knew it had been paid in full and I was sure Costco had paid NCL already. I really didn’t think anything could be done. 

[Liljo22]

Just now, kona_wahine said:

I didn’t even try because I knew it had been paid in full and I was sure Costco had paid NCL already. I really didn’t think anything could be done. 

Give Costco a call.  I see in another thread that it may now be 50% of the difference as a future cruise credit to be used in 12 months.  If its a significant difference as it seems from your OP, it could be worth it.  

[kona_wahine]

Just a PSA for anyone else, Costco says they can’t do anything after final payment with NCL. (After 1.5 hours on hold) which is what I figured. I even messaged NCL yesterday and they told me to call Costco. 2 weeks until our cruise, just paid about 3 times more than what it is right now.  😞 

[D&beach&J]

On 4/21/2022 at 5:10 PM, kona_wahine said:

Lucky you. Who knew  the Alaska rates would be so low this year. We booked a year and a half ago for our 40th anniversary thru that same famous warehouse club. Paid in full Christmas Day, and when I finally figured out how much more we were paying then if we had waited and booked, like DOUBLE, kinda makes me sick to my stomach but nothing I can do about it. SAD FACE. Leave in just over 2 weeks, not gonna let it ruin our vacation. 

Same situation here. I am so frustrated.

[RocketMan275]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:57 PM, PeeDeeEX said:

I called the travel service this morning and after waiting two hours on the phone (95% of which was waiting on hold and waiting for my agent while she waited on hold), I was able to get the price adjusted to current rates while keeping all the extras I had purchased to date no problem.

Minor point but that TA gives a 'cash card' in lieu of a discount.  That cash card is a percentage of the fare.  IIRC, it is 8% of the fare.  I suspect your cash card will be reduced in value.  Still, you came out way ahead but don't be surprised at the reduction.

[PeeDeeEX]

6 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Minor point but that TA gives a 'cash card' in lieu of a discount.  That cash card is a percentage of the fare.  IIRC, it is 8% of the fare.  I suspect your cash card will be reduced in value.  Still, you came out way ahead but don't be surprised at the reduction.

Yup. It did go down by roughly 10% of the amount I was refunded (from $330 to $190). I was prepared though that that would happen so no worries on my end. At the end of the day, math wins! The $1.4K refunded is still >>>> $140 cash card value lost.