Deposits

[ellie424]

My last Royal Caribbean cruise was in 2009. I’m in the beginning stages of planning a family cruise. I noticed that deposits are not refundable. Is this how it always was?? I feel like I’ve cancelled cruises in the past and didn’t get penalized because I cancelled way before the sail date. Did that change at some point? Our booking would be for 5 people and I was told by RCCL that the deposit would be $250pp. $1250 is a lot of money to lose if we have to completely cancel the cruise (instead of changing the date). I’m surprised about this so I’m just curious if deposits were always non-refundable or not. Thank you!

[crzndeb]

There is a refundable choice (more expensive), but you have to go through the booking page, filling out traveler info, and the last page will offer things like prepaid gratuities, dining, refundable fare, etc. Suites are non refundable.

If you cancel on an NR fare, you lose $100pp, and the rest will be held for another booking. If you choose not to rebook another cruise, you lose full deposit.

Edited January 30 by crzndeb

[Cherful59]

Answered above, so deleting.

Edited January 30 by Cherful59

[firefly333]

15 minutes ago, ellie424 said:

My last Royal Caribbean cruise was in 2009. I’m in the beginning stages of planning a family cruise. I noticed that deposits are not refundable. Is this how it always was?? I feel like I’ve cancelled cruises in the past and didn’t get penalized because I cancelled way before the sail date. Did that change at some point? Our booking would be for 5 people and I was told by RCCL that the deposit would be $250pp. $1250 is a lot of money to lose if we have to completely cancel the cruise (instead of changing the date). I’m surprised about this so I’m just curious if deposits were always non-refundable or not. Thank you!

TAs have some great group rates that the deposits are refundable. 

[ellie424]

18 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

There is a refundable choice (more expensive), but you have to go through the booking page, filling out traveler info, and the last page will offer things like prepaid gratuities, dining, refundable fare, etc. Suites are non refundable.

If you cancel on an NR fare, you lose $100pp, and the rest will be held for another booking. If you choose not to rebook another cruise, you lose full deposit.

Thank you! Since I have 5 I can’t book on my own. Which is soooo frustrating because I usually like to price check and compare different itineraries like crazy on my own. It is very annoying that I can’t do this research on my own since I have 5 in my group. I spent so much time on the phone just before just exploring pricing for 2 cruises. 😕 Then they tried to get me to put a hold a room and I’m not even close to booking yet lol. I have barely researched!

[ellie424]

14 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

TAs have some great group rates that the deposits are refundable. 

Thank you!

[SG65CB]

58 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

There is a refundable choice (more expensive), but you have to go through the booking page, filling out traveler info, and the last page will offer things like prepaid gratuities, dining, refundable fare, etc. Suites are non refundable.

If you cancel on an NR fare, you lose $100pp, and the rest will be held for another booking. If you choose not to rebook another cruise, you lose full deposit.

 

 

When you say the refundable option is more expensive, do you mean the deposit is higher, or the cruise fare is higher?

[Another_Critic]

Just now, SG65CB said:

When you say the refundable option is more expensive, do you mean the deposit is higher, or the cruise fare is higher?

There's a surcharge for refundable.  Same deposit, but the final price will [usually] be higher.

[SG65CB]

35 minutes ago, ellie424 said:

Thank you! Since I have 5 I can’t book on my own. Which is soooo frustrating because I usually like to price check and compare different itineraries like crazy on my own. It is very annoying that I can’t do this research on my own since I have 5 in my group. I spent so much time on the phone just before just exploring pricing for 2 cruises. 😕 Then they tried to get me to put a hold a room and I’m not even close to booking yet lol. I have barely researched!

 

 

You can do all your research using 4 people. The price for the fifth person in a room is the same as the price for persons #3 and #4. There is an extra step you need to take to see the pricing per person. You need to select an actual cabin number, then on the left side where prices are displayed in the summary section a link is added that says "View pricing by guest".

 

If you don't want to take any chances losing your chosen cabin you can actually book the cabin yourself for four people then call and add the fifth. I know all this works because that's what I did for my upcoming cruise.

 

 

[SoloAlaska]

With RCI having non refundable deposits this is when a TA can be handy with access to refundable deposits. Our booking is for 12 people and the price was very slightly better per cabin than booking directly plus the deposits are refundable.

[ellie424]

On 1/30/2024 at 4:52 PM, SoloAlaska said:

With RCI having non refundable deposits this is when a TA can be handy with access to refundable deposits. Our booking is for 12 people and the price was very slightly better per cabin than booking directly plus the deposits are refundable.

 

Thank you! Are you able to share your TA with me? Or is that not allowed? I have contacted a few TAs already, and they only offer the higher cost refundable rates that are also available through Royal Caribbean. It would be great to find a TA with refundable rates because our deposit is going to be $1250 for 5 people, so it's a lot.

[Ourusualbeach]

On 1/30/2024 at 11:59 AM, crzndeb said:

If you cancel on an NR fare, you lose $100pp, and the rest will be held for another booking. If you choose not to rebook another cruise, you lose full deposit.

Just so the OP is clear, they have to change the ship and sail date immediately.  It is not like a while ago where you would get an FCC for everything but the penalty amount.  If you do not pick a new ship and sail date (basically move the reservation) you will forfeit the entire amount

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, ellie424 said:

Or is that not allowed?

I have contacted a few TAs already, and they only offer the higher cost refundable rates that are also available through Royal Caribbean. It would be great to find a TA with refundable rates because our deposit is going to be $1250 for 5 people, so it's a lot.

TA mention not allowed on CC.

A TA may have group rates which are refundable (and perhaps lower than the published regular refundable rates at RCI).

Edited February 7 by Biker19

[SoloAlaska]

1 hour ago, ellie424 said:

 

Thank you! Are you able to share your TA with me? Or is that not allowed? I have contacted a few TAs already, and they only offer the higher cost refundable rates that are also available through Royal Caribbean. It would be great to find a TA with refundable rates because our deposit is going to be $1250 for 5 people, so it's a lot.

Can’t share that in CC but we are on a group rate.

[ONECRUISER]

Was looking at Booking a 9niter this Fall Solo, Refundable on Royal site is $1350 more for this Cruise