Non refundable deposits

[Love 2 Travel]

New to Holland America and was wondering if you book with a non refundable deposit and you need to change a cruise sailing or cancel, do you lose the whole deposit amount? Or can you apply the deposit to a different sailing in ways of a Future cruise credit.

thank you for any information. we appreciate it very much.

[Nodakboiler]

You lose the entire deposit.

 

[Sea42]

We were told you are allowed to change it once and we did.

[lissie]

We were told we'd lose it - but as it ws a completely trivial amount ( about US$40) - we didn't care 

[Crew News]

3 hours ago, Love 2 Travel said:

New to Holland America and was wondering if you book with a non refundable deposit and you need to change a cruise sailing or cancel, do you lose the whole deposit amount? Or can you apply the deposit to a different sailing in ways of a Future cruise credit.

thank you for any information. we appreciate it very much.

You will lose the entire deposit BUT if you change to a new cruise at the same time, you will just transfer your deposit to that cruise. My HAL PCC has done that twice for me in the last year and the booking numbers remained the same.  The destination, ship, and cruise information changed.

 

The magic word is "change" and not "cancel".

[FrankieSue]

We cancelled a “no refund deposit” cruise in 2022… the deposit was applied to our Mariners’ account as future cruise credit which we used for a later cruise. 

[Torquer]

We have transferred non-refundable deposits to a different cruise a couple times in the last year.  Legally I don't think this is guaranteed but it is our experience.  HAL would much rather have a happy customer paying for a future cruise than an unhappy customer that thinks HAL just kept their money. 

 

We also cancelled two cruises with non-refundable deposits that were booked pre-covid and got our deposits completely refunded due to the covid stoppage.  But that is less certain now, but you never know.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

There is another price category which isn't shown when you look at the HAL website. It's an Advantage fare which has a refundable deposit. The price is usually a bit more than the non-refundable fare but less than the HIA. You need to ask for it from your TA or HAL. 

[Crew News]

4 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

There is another price category which isn't shown when you look at the HAL website. It's an Advantage fare which has a refundable deposit. The price is usually a bit more than the non-refundable fare but less than the HIA. You need to ask for it from your TA or HAL. 

It is my experience that the difference in the lowest and the Advantage fare is about an extra $300 but the latter secures your deposit refund. 

 

On the other hand, If you book with Future Cruise Deposits you risk only losing a $100 deposit and can just book with the lowest fare.

[Banditswife]

Wondering if buying the insurance would get a full refund.

[TAW1963]

I just had to exchange one cruise booking for another two weeks ago with a HAL agent.   I had a nonrefundable deposit which they allowed me to transfer to another booking.  However , the total fare price had to be equal to, or greater than, the total fare from my original booking.  

[TAW1963]

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

It is my experience that the difference in the lowest and the Advantage fare is about an extra $300 but the latter secures your deposit refund. 

 

On the other hand, If you book with Future Cruise Deposits you risk only losing a $100 deposit and can just book with the lowest fare.

This was my recent experience as well. I think I am going to book future cruises with the Advantage fare and book them early.  I can then secure the cabin of my choice without risk of losing a deposit. This allows me to book at a lower promotional fare, if they become available,  nearer to the time when the full fare is to be paid.  With the great suggestion from Crews News, I booked a corner-aft Neptune suite for a 2024 Alaska Inside Passage on the NA under the Advantage fare and a refundable deposit.  

[Judy Reano]

I booked a non-refundable, 7-day cruise on Holland America’ Noordam from Anchorage to Vancouver for which we paid a deposit of $464. Four days later, we tried to switch to a different, more expensive, 10-day tour/cruise but we were told we would lose our deposit. We aren’t willing to lose that money so will stick with what we booked. We were hoping our loyalty to the Holland America Line (4-star Mariners) would make a difference but it didn’t. 

[Crew News]

33 minutes ago, Judy Reano said:

I booked a non-refundable, 7-day cruise on Holland America’ Noordam from Anchorage to Vancouver for which we paid a deposit of $464. Four days later, we tried to switch to a different, more expensive, 10-day tour/cruise but we were told we would lose our deposit. We aren’t willing to lose that money so will stick with what we booked. We were hoping our loyalty to the Holland America Line (4-star Mariners) would make a difference but it didn’t. 

Welcome to CC.

 

Any change to a non-refundable fared cruise causes forfeit of the deposit.

 

I cancelled a person traveling with me and lost not only my deposit but also all OBC even though I remained on the cruise.  On a subsequent cruise, my traveling partner was just a "no show" and I saved all of my OBC.

 

If I use Future Cruise deposits with a $200 deposit, I book non-refundable fares.  For cruises with higher deposits (Club Orange),  I pay the higher refundable fare.  Note that HIA fares and refundable fares permit changes without loss of deposits.

Edited February 8 by Crew News

[Taters]

23 hours ago, Judy Reano said:

I booked a non-refundable, 7-day cruise on Holland America’ Noordam from Anchorage to Vancouver for which we paid a deposit of $464. Four days later, we tried to switch to a different, more expensive, 10-day tour/cruise but we were told we would lose our deposit. We aren’t willing to lose that money so will stick with what we booked. We were hoping our loyalty to the Holland America Line (4-star Mariners) would make a difference but it didn’t. 

You can easily create you own tour of Alaska prior to the cruise. 🙂 Rent a car and book your hotels.  You can't get lost, as our road system is minimal.