No Refund Policy with Celebrity

[NMTraveller]

8 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Even the Chase Sapphire insurance has horribly low medical coverage and doesn't cover pre-existing conditions.  While I depend on it and self insure for cancellation/interruption I carry a separate annual travel medical policy.  There is an entire board here on Cruise Critic on travel insurance.

I think that they are also missing medical evac...

[Jeremiah1212]

33 minutes ago, Reel Love said:

Curious.....can you choose a specific cabin (such as on the hump/angle) if able to be put into a group rate or are you limited to choosing within a specific "block" of staterooms that the TA has for this rate?

You can choose any cabin in the category that is available. TA’s do not hold specific cabins. For example if the TA has 5 C1’s in their group they can sell any 5 C1 cabins at the group rate they secured. However they won’t have group space available in all cabin categories.

[Reel Love]

10 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

You can choose any cabin in the category that is available. TA’s do not hold specific cabins. For example if the TA has 5 C1’s in their group they can sell any 5 C1 cabins at the group rate they secured. However they won’t have group space available in all cabin categories.

Thank you so much!  This is good information to know and will certainly keep in mind for future bookings.  

[the penguins]

10 hours ago, upwarduk said:

A deposit never has been refundable in UK.

We once moved our booking date for free,  as we are Elite.

It has been since Covid - you/we now get the choice of refundable or non refundable.

[Bo1953]

15 hours ago, weregoingcruising said:

In Chicago LSD stands for Lake Shore Drive.

In Delaware it is known as Slower Lower Delaware and it is!!! LOL

 

bon voyage

[chisoxfan]

10 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I think that they are also missing medical evac...

Chase Sapphire Reserve has 100k medical evac, Sapphire Reserve does not. They have trip cancellation coverage due to cause (10k pp) also that I feel comfortable with. Third party evac insurance is cheap and often includes some small medical benefit (current med insurance covers out of country). Just purchased an evac policy (250k) for 1 week Caribbean for 17 bucks ( well known insurance company). So this is all the insurance we need.

 

Just a comment on group rates and insurance. In one instance, after purchase from major T/A I discovered this group rate would not allow insurance purchase from the cruise line. Even though I was not that interested in this I was miffed it was not disclosed. I have no idea if this is typical but might need to be considered for some.

[Joanne G.]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:46 PM, wrk2cruise said:

You can book refundable and later change to a non refundable deposit rate.  Once a reservation is non refundable deposit it can never be changed back to refundable.

 

When I booked my September Equinox cruise about a year ago, the total cruise fare with the refundable deposit was much higher than the total cruise fare with a nonrefundable deposit.  I chose the nonrefundable, accepting the risk in exchange for a lower total cruise fare.

 

My question about the above statement in bold is this - If I had originally booked the refundable, higher fare rate and was allowed to later change it to the nonrefundable lower fare rate, would that mean I could have the benefit of a refundable deposit when booking far in advance but then make the switch to the lower fare nonrefundable rate when closer to final payment date?   That does not seem to be in Celebrity's interest.    Am I missing something?  

[stevenr597]

19 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

I don't see how this completely TA's fault. If OP is Elite, that means they cruises with X a lot. NRD vs RD have been around for awhile. So, they should know better to look at their invoice/confirmation and check if what they have booked is agreed to what they want.

 

 

We got the invoice after we put down the deposit and noticed that it was non-refundable.  In addition, I tried by myself to book a cruise through the celebrity website on the same ship, at the same time, with the same cruise.  Up until committing to book, I did not see any discussion about refundable or non-refundable deposits. 

[stevenr597]

1 hour ago, Joanne G. said:

When I booked my September Equinox cruise about a year ago, the total cruise fare with the refundable deposit was much higher than the total cruise fare with a nonrefundable deposit.  I chose the nonrefundable, accepting the risk in exchange for a lower total cruise fare.

 

My question about the above statement in bold is this - If I had originally booked the refundable, higher fare rate and was allowed to later change it to the nonrefundable lower fare rate, would that mean I could have the benefit of a refundable deposit when booking far in advance but then make the switch to the lower fare nonrefundable rate when closer to final payment date?   That does not seem to be in Celebrity's interest.    Am I missing something?  

Seem like the system by Celebrity is much more complicated than it should be.  

[Lastdance]

13 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Seem like the system by Celebrity is much more complicated than it should be.  

I think that’s the point with bookings, especially if, in my case, you transferred a reservation to a higher category(cabin to suite)even though you possess the hard copies.  Some cannot understand the math even though they are on the payroll.  If you also have FBC, that complicates it even more for those trying to understand what, as a customer, you are talking about…proving that you are still owed money; in my case over 1,780.  I have two pages of notes taken by me and given to me by my TA.  Neither one of us understands how Celebrity can keep people as employees if they can’t do simple math, not to mention share all types of excuses, blaming other departments.  

[stevenr597]

2 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

I think that’s the point with bookings, especially if, in my case, you transferred a reservation to a higher category(cabin to suite)even though you possess the hard copies.  Some cannot understand the math even though they are on the payroll.  If you also have FBC, that complicates it even more for those trying to understand what, as a customer, you are talking about…proving that you are still owed money; in my case over 1,780.  I have two pages of notes taken by me and given to me by my TA.  Neither one of us understands how Celebrity can keep people as employees if they can’t do simple math, not to mention share all types of excuses, blaming other departments.  

Never transferred to a higher booking.  Booked a room, paid the deposit, then within several days, noticed a conflict in my schedule.  Notified my travel agent who cancelled, then was informed several days later that it was booked with a non-refundable deposit.

Many other cruise lines such as Princess do refund the deposit. 

I do feel that Celebrity as well as many other lines have made the system overly complicated. 

[Jeremiah1212]

1 hour ago, Joanne G. said:

When I booked my September Equinox cruise about a year ago, the total cruise fare with the refundable deposit was much higher than the total cruise fare with a nonrefundable deposit.  I chose the nonrefundable, accepting the risk in exchange for a lower total cruise fare.

 

My question about the above statement in bold is this - If I had originally booked the refundable, higher fare rate and was allowed to later change it to the nonrefundable lower fare rate, would that mean I could have the benefit of a refundable deposit when booking far in advance but then make the switch to the lower fare nonrefundable rate when closer to final payment date?   That does not seem to be in Celebrity's interest.    Am I missing something?  

You would be repricing your cruise at prevailing rates. Since the rates typically increase as you get closer to the sail date, your gamble is if the NRD fare is actually lower than your previously booked Refundable fare. The easy solution to avoiding the extra cost is what was previously mentioned by finding a TA with group rates. 

[Joanne G.]

38 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

You would be repricing your cruise at prevailing rates. Since the rates typically increase as you get closer to the sail date, your gamble is if the NRD fare is actually lower than your previously booked Refundable fare. The easy solution to avoiding the extra cost is what was previously mentioned by finding a TA with group rates. 

Thanks, that makes sense.  I got some OBC with my booking, so I figure that could be lost, too, if I made any major changes.   Thankfully, my booking with the nonrefundable deposit was made before the March 2023 change, so if I have to cancel, I can request the deposit to be converted to a FCC.  

 

My long time (since 1998) travel agent has never mentioned group rates.  I can always ask.  Or search for a new travel agent.   But first, for future cruises, I am going to take a good look at Princess and NCL, which currently have refundable deposits without the associated increased total fare.   I like to book far in advance, but things can always happen.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, stevenr597 said:

We got the invoice after we put down the deposit and noticed that it was non-refundable.  In addition, I tried by myself to book a cruise through the celebrity website on the same ship, at the same time, with the same cruise.  Up until committing to book, I did not see any discussion about refundable or non-refundable deposits. 

This page when you pick dinner / tips , you also pick if you want to make refundable 

it been there for a couple of year 

[stevenr597]

48 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

This page when you pick dinner / tips , you also pick if you want to make refundable 

it been there for a couple of year 

We booked the cruise through a travel agent and only receivedt the invoice after we included a deposit.  There was no warning that the deposit was non-refundable.

In addition, if you decide to book directly with Celebrity, when you get to the page you listed above, unless you decide to customize your cruise and scroll down, you will never see the option for a refundable compared to a non-refundable deposit.  

In addition when you get to the final page and are about to commit, Celebrity does give the option to look at cancellation penalties but says nothing about the option between the two types of deposits.

Misleading at best. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

27 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

We booked the cruise through a travel agent and only receivedt the invoice after we included a deposit.  There was no warning that the deposit was non-refundable.

In addition, if you decide to book directly with Celebrity, when you get to the page you listed above, unless you decide to customize your cruise and scroll down, you will never see the option for a refundable compared to a non-refundable deposit.  

In addition when you get to the final page and are about to commit, Celebrity does give the option to look at cancellation penalties but says nothing about the option between the two types of deposits.

Misleading at best. 

That page has always show up to me 

I believe there was a big misunderstanding between you and your TA 

 

[stevenr597]

Just now, Ex-Airbalancer said:

That page has always show up to me 

I believe there was a big misunderstanding between you and your TA 

 

Like I said and will say again, we booked through a travel agent and never received notice that our deposit was non-refundable.  

In addition, my comments about booking through the Princess website stand.  You have to across down the entire page to find mention of two different types of deposits.  If you decide to bypass “additional options” for the cruise and go to putting down a deposit, no mention is made….before…between the different types of deposits.  In addition, a window, that can be opened on said page talks about cancellation penalties, but no mention of two types of deposit. 

Celebrity should have been more explicitly in respect to deposits

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 minute ago, stevenr597 said:

Like I said and will say again, we booked through a travel agent and never received notice that our deposit was non-refundable.  

In addition, my comments about booking through the Princess website stand.  You have to across down the entire page to find mention of two different types of deposits.  If you decide to bypass “additional options” for the cruise and go to putting down a deposit, no mention is made….before…between the different types of deposits.  In addition, a window, that can be opened on said page talks about cancellation penalties, but no mention of two types of deposit. 

Celebrity should have been more explicitly in respect to deposits

Most of the members don’t have the same problem as you had 🤔

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

[stevenr597]

9 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

That page has always show up to me 

I believe there was a big misunderstanding between you and your TA 

 

Celebrity Cruis

2 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Most of the members don’t have the same problem as you had 🤔

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

Yes....but you have to know that there is a difference between deposits before you can ask questions about them.  Typical "Catch 22"

[wrk2cruise]

And that's on your TA.   You should have a very serious conversation with them prior to finding a new one!

[Mangrove Snapper]

42 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

If you decide to bypass “additional options” for the cruise and go to putting down a deposit,

 

I guess everyone's experiences vary but I've always thought booking online was really easy and all the options were clear.  But I like to read everything and there's no way I would decide to skip an entire page of the booking process, especially one titled Customize Your Trip.  First of all it's just part of the booking process so it's not like it's out of your way to go there.  And secondly, why wouldn't I want to customize my trip?  Everyone likes options.   But that's just my experience with the site. 

[prmssk]

1 hour ago, stevenr597 said:

Yes....but you have to know that there is a difference between deposits before you can ask questions about them.  Typical "Catch 22"

I don’t ever put a deposit down on anything big like a trip without making sure I know the deposit and cancellation policy.  To me, that seems like a common sense thing to ask about (or look for the terms).

[zitsky]

I'm sorry for the OP but I think it's a big unfair to blame the travel agent for everything.  I've done maybe 5 cruises with my TA.  And every time I managed to know what deposit type I'm getting.  And the details.  And I ask questions.  Usually I pick non refundable and then buy trip insurance.  I understand that non refundable means non refundable.

 

And to say that booking directly with Celebrity DOES NOT show the option for a refundable deposit is ridiculous.  It's quite plainly shown every time you price out a cruise.

 

I do agree that the OP needs a new TA perhaps but the OP didn't even do the basic homework to make sure they knew what they were buying.

Edited February 29 by zitsky

[stevenr597]

1 hour ago, Mangrove Snapper said:

 

I guess everyone's experiences vary but I've always thought booking online was really easy and all the options were clear.  But I like to read everything and there's no way I would decide to skip an entire page of the booking process, especially one titled Customize Your Trip.  First of all it's just part of the booking process so it's not like it's out of your way to go there.  And secondly, why wouldn't I want to customize my trip?  Everyone likes options.   But that's just my experience with the site. 

Unless you decide not to customize your trip.  Individuals often wait to they board to take options such as a beverage package, and even when to dine. 

In any case, as I have said before, we were of the old school that used travel agents.  For a variety of reasons, which I do not wish to disclose, our travel agent failed us in respect to this booking.  However, when we discussed the problem, he did offer to reimburse us for the loss in deposit. 

[stevenr597]

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I'm sorry for the OP but I think it's a big unfair to blame the travel agent for everything.  I've done maybe 5 cruises with my TA.  And every time I managed to know what deposit type I'm getting.  And the details.  And I ask questions.  Usually I pick non refundable and then buy trip insurance.  I understand that non refundable means non refundable.

 

And to say that booking directly with Celebrity DOES NOT show the option for a refundable deposit is ridiculous.  It's quite plainly shown every time you price out a cruise.

 

I do agree that the OP needs a new TA perhaps but the OP didn't even do the basic homework to make sure they knew what they were buying.

Not blaming in for everything.  But if there is an option in respect to drink packages, time of dining, or even a deposit the travel agent should make his customer aware.  Otherwise, what is the value of an agent.