No Refund Policy with Celebrity

[mahdnc]

16 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Agree, I initially started this post to inform people in respect to restrictions on Celebrity Deposits.

By the way, my travel agent is refunding the deposit to us. 

 

Nice!

[Oceangoer2]

11 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Like I said, my comments stand, there is no problem in scrolling past the page in which they mention that there are two classes of deposits, and you can indeed put down a deposit and not learn it is non-refundable until "AFTER" you commit. 

If booking online, the final 'pay page' says whether the deposit is fully refundable  or there will be a 'NR' against the price of the cruise. 

 

Trip Total                         $5,342.10 CAD

Refundable Deposit       $960.00 CAD

 

Also, the option for refundable is evident (to me).  When booking with  a TA trusting them to inform you the deposit is non-refundable is very chancy.

 

[stevenr597]

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

If booking online, the final 'pay page' says whether the deposit is fully refundable  or there will be a 'NR' against the price of the cruise. 

 

Trip Total                         $5,342.10 CAD

Refundable Deposit       $960.00 CAD

 

Also, the option for refundable is evident (to me).  When booking with  a TA trusting them to inform you the deposit is non-refundable is very chancy.

 

Our invoice listed the deposit as non-refundable only after we made it.  

[stevenr597]

I did not place this post to start a debate about Celebrity.  We are Elite Cruisers with this line and generally have had positive experiences in the past with both the Millenium and Solstice Classes.  

The posting's function was  for the cruiser to be cautious in respect to restrictions on deposits with Celebrity.  

I do hope and believe that I achieved this purpose.

In respect to my case, my travel agent has refunded the deposit for this cruise. We did make a new reservation with Sun Princess.  

So in the end it did turn out well.  

[chisoxfan]

40 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Agree, I initially started this post to inform people in respect to restrictions on Celebrity Deposits.

By the way, my travel agent is refunding the deposit to us. 

Glad you received your deposit back and was amazed at the pro/cons ie. whose at fault arguments resulting from your post. What struck me was that a T/A (hopefully a valued player for X) could not negotiate ANY resolution regarding a deposit accommodation for an Elite passenger? I mean a transfer costs them nothing and just seems a reasonable resolution.... okay maybe they can tack on a small fee . To me this goes beyond who is reading the fine print or was uncommunicative but signals  X  has concerning, diminished interest in being responsive to 'loyal' customers. JMHO

[awhcruiser]

Its up to the customer to research deposit options,

[chisoxfan]

58 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Celebrity and Princess offer fairly similar products.  But the way they handle deposits is a major advantage of Princess.  

We did not rebook Celebrity, instead we booked Sun Princess.  

Hey...... let's not talk about this Sun Princess 'thing' so much. We saw MSC YC explode from  unknown to hard to get. Wait, I heard the Sun Princess uses paper napkins and maybe you want to rethink. 

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, stevenr597 said:

Only if you scroll down the page.  When you are ready to put down a deposit, there is no warning that your deposit might not be non-refundable.

Remember...competitors do not have such restrictions on their deposits. 

Yes, they do.

 

It can be based on the category of cabin booked, the time left before the start of the cruise, condition of a promotional offer  or an offer of a general nonrefundable rate for all cabin categories.

 

And then there are the cruise lines where full payment is due at time of booking (although it is refundable within a  certain time period before the cruise date).

 

It is a big cruise world out there and one needs to do their homework and read the fine print.

[tschwa2]

56 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Our invoice listed the deposit as non-refundable only after we made it.  

Did you get the invoice immediately after booking and did you look at it then or not until after you cancelled a week later?  

 

If we are booking a year out, we don't like non refundable deposits that are more than $50 or $100 tops per person.  Most of our cruises have a $450 deposit each, so I check the details on the invoice and if anything is different than the details as described when booking, I am immediately on the phone to call or message to get it straightened out.  

[chisoxfan]

The cruise Industry already has always had the most punitive 'non refundable' deposit system in place.

I would never consider paying in full 90 days in advance for a hotel or all inclusive resort with drastic penalties for cancelling. I booked 10k a week all inclusives with two day cancellation policy and even a two week cancellation raised an eye. Am I to believe that a cruise line is more impacted when a passenger cancels 90 days out versus an AI visitor who cancels a week before in peak vacation time?

So we (us frequent cruisers) have blindly accepted the way things have always been but I really have trouble accepting this new wave of non refundable deposits. A cancellation penalty should be a fair compensation for lost revenue not a new punitive profit center.  JMHO

[zitsky]

Anyone can claim anything about how Celebrity works but it should be accurate.  I just did a mock booking.  I agree that at the end it’s not clear which deposit you have but there is very clearly a section of a page that asks about deposit.  If OP is sure it isn’t there then document that for everyone.

 

This is about poor communication between travel agent and client.  Both ways.

[stevenr597]

8 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Anyone can claim anything about how Celebrity works but it should be accurate.  I just did a mock booking.  I agree that at the end it’s not clear which deposit you have but there is very clearly a section of a page that asks about deposit.  If OP is sure it isn’t there then document that for everyone.

 

This is about poor communication between travel agent and client.  Both ways.

There has been poor communication between the Travel Agent & "Client" Not at liberty on a public forum to discuss why this occurred.    However, when the T.A. was clearly informed of the problem, he did the correct thing and refunded our deposit. 

Note that we had offered with Celebrity to take the $300.00 penalty and actually book another cruise.  However Celebrity declined stating that since we booked with a T.A. it is there responsibility to handle the problem. 

[Jeremiah1212]

6 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

Am I to believe that a cruise line is more impacted when a passenger cancels 90 days out versus an AI visitor who cancels a week before in peak vacation time?

 

 

Ultimately, yes. While most resorts and All Inclusives still give you a nonrefundable option at a lower cost, the cruise line is trying to avoid that cabin sailing empty. If it's empty, it's guaranteed to be empty and producing no revenue for the duration of the cruise, Sunday to Sunday for instance. The resort on the other hand could have the room cancelled but then has the added flexibility to fill it with a guest arriving any day for any combination of days between Sunday to Sunday. 

 

People booking multiple 'back up cruises' to decide on later and filling the high price suites at deployment then canceling at day 91 are the root of the cause for Celebrity's more stringent deposit price and refund options. 

[stevenr597]

38 minutes ago, tschwa2 said:

Did you get the invoice immediately after booking and did you look at it then or not until after you cancelled a week later?  

 

If we are booking a year out, we don't like non refundable deposits that are more than $50 or $100 tops per person.  Most of our cruises have a $450 deposit each, so I check the details on the invoice and if anything is different than the details as described when booking, I am immediately on the phone to call or message to get it straightened out.  

We received the notice of booking within 1-2 days after we requested our T.A. to book this cruise, as well as a E-Mail from Celebrity welcoming us back. 

In the bottom of the E-Mail of the notice from our agent that he made the reservation, there was a PDF box with the actual invoice.  Once you clicked that I believe that there was a small notice that the booking was non-refundable. 

In any case, I am pleased to note that the problem has been rectified. 

[stevenr597]

1 hour ago, chisoxfan said:

Hey...... let's not talk about this Sun Princess 'thing' so much. We saw MSC YC explode from  unknown to hard to get. Wait, I heard the Sun Princess uses paper napkins and maybe you want to rethink. 

Why???

[Joanne G.]

27 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

The cruise Industry already has always had the most punitive 'non refundable' deposit system in place.

I would never consider paying in full 90 days in advance for a hotel or all inclusive resort with drastic penalties for cancelling. I booked 10k a week all inclusives with two day cancellation policy and even a two week cancellation raised an eye. Am I to believe that a cruise line is more impacted when a passenger cancels 90 days out versus an AI visitor who cancels a week before in peak vacation time?

So we (us frequent cruisers) have blindly accepted the way things have always been but I really have trouble accepting this new wave of non refundable deposits. A cancellation penalty should be a fair compensation for lost revenue not a new punitive profit center.  JMHO

I guess yes, I have blindly accepted the cruise lines payment and cancelation policies because I want to cruise, and the mainstream lines all require payment in full several months in advance.   I don't go to all-inclusives because they don't interest me, even with their more generous cancelation policies.   I do not pay in full in advance for hotels, as the price savings for doing so isn't worth it to me.   I have to pay in full in advance for flights because all airlines require that, so I guess I blindly accept that, too.   Sometimes a refundable air fare is worth it, sometimes not.   We all have lots of choices.  

 

I do have a problem with Celebrity's and Royal Caribbean's current policies of paying a huge premium in the cruise fare for a refundable deposit.  I booked non-refundable on both and accepted the risk, as the itineraries were particularly appealing.    For my currently booked Carnival cruise, the rate for refundable deposit is also much higher than non-refundable, but at least the deposit can be transferred or turned into a FCC, net of a fee.   I also have cruises booked on NCL and Princess, with fully refundable deposits and no premium on the fare.    All things considered, I will probably not look at Royal and Celebrity again, specifically because of their deposit policies.   Again, we all have choices.

 

To the OP, there's no substitute for your own research, but I agree your TA should have explained the policies both when you booked and when you called to cancel.   My travel agent does that, and I appreciate her efforts, especially when policies have changed post-covid and continue to change.  I am glad your TA reimbursed you.   Enjoy your Sun Princess cruise.

Edited March 1 by Joanne G.

[At Sea At Peace]

1 hour ago, chisoxfan said:

Hey...... let's not talk about this Sun Princess 'thing' so much. We saw MSC YC explode from  unknown to hard to get. Wait, I heard the Sun Princess uses paper napkins and maybe you want to rethink. 

 

You certainly have that right!

 

👀  🤫 We've done many MSC YC B2B's from 2017 to 2019 before the 'word got out.'  Even booking future B2B's with a 'same price guarantee' at the time.  Imagine, $3,457.04, including all taxes and port fees, for 2!

 

We're going again B2B at end of this month. Almost that 'per' now, and it was hard to find a B2B with a stateroom that we preferred!

[chisoxfan]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Ultimately, yes. While most resorts and All Inclusives still give you a nonrefundable option at a lower cost, the cruise line is trying to avoid that cabin sailing empty. If it's empty, it's guaranteed to be empty and producing no revenue for the duration of the cruise, Sunday to Sunday for instance. The resort on the other hand could have the room cancelled but then has the added flexibility to fill it with a guest arriving any day for any combination of days between Sunday to Sunday. 

 

People booking multiple 'back up cruises' to decide on later and filling the high price suites at deployment then canceling at day 91 are the root of the cause for Celebrity's more stringent deposit price and refund options. 

So the NR deposit is necessary because people are booking cruises and cancelling 91 days in advance but cancellation two days in advance can be handled seamlessly by AI's  because they can pick up other days (even though average stay is 4-7 days) and international travel is required... doesn't make sense to me. Most hotels and tour operators (Viator) allow 24hr. cancellations and somehow I do not believe they come up with instant customers to fill a cancellation void. Traditionally for rental cars you just don't show up and no problem. I am sure this is not ideal for operators but it is good for consumers and that is their issue to resolve to maximize customers and profits.  Would you defend and buy from Amazon if they decided that offering free returns was not convenient so everything was final sale?  You are welcome to support X (and we have for many years) but in the travel marketplace we are free to gravitate to suppliers who meet our respective needs. I don't blame X for blowing up prices, restricting deposit refunds, etc., good for them if the market follows and rewards them. It's not a right or wrong question just one of preferences and sensibilities that each traveler needs to determine.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Is Celebrity pricing any different than airline price , which also has multiple pricing for the same plane 😉

[kirtihk]

On 2/27/2024 at 10:56 AM, RTShaker said:

As of some time last year they made their non-refundable just that, non-refundable. Had you just changed the sail date/ship (keeping your original booking number) instead of canceling you most likely would only have had a $100pp fee to do so.

"Celebrity Cruises will retain the full amount of the required deposit paid on Non-refundable rate codes (NRD) that are cancelled outside of final payment.  Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) will no longer be issued if booking is cancelled, or the ship/ail date is changed on an NRD rate code".

Edited March 1 by kirtihk

[kirtihk]

On 2/28/2024 at 8:54 AM, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

The only time you completely forfeit the deposit is if you cancel. You can move the sail date with a $100 per person change fee. 

See my post # 123.

[PH2]

Does anyone know how quickly a canceled cabin becomes available again? Just curious if holding a cabin as a refundable deposit for months and then canceling/rebooking as nonrefundable when your plans are set is a viable strategy - understanding the risk that rebooking might be at a worse price point, or someone could grab your specific cabin once it's released (which is the reason for my question about how quickly a canceled cabin is free to be booked again).

[Jeremiah1212]

12 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

"Celebrity Cruises will retain the full amount of the required deposit paid on Non-refundable rate codes (NRD) that are cancelled outside of final payment.  Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) will no longer be issued if booking is cancelled, or the ship/ail date is changed on an NRD rate code".

 

Right. That part is speaking to Future Cruise Credits which are no longer issued. You can still book a NRD, change the sail date or ship and only be penalized $100 per person. Previous to this change that went into place March 2, 2023, if you cancelled a NRD you could get a FCC to use within a year. They no longer offer that. 

[kirtihk]

6 hours ago, PH2 said:

I absolutely hate that Celebrity charges more for refundable. I don't see many other mainstream lines use this practice (although maybe a couple do? I don't price out tons of cruises on every line).

 

So, question... has anyone booked a cruise speculatively on a refundable deposit, and then when they are sure they are going to go, been able to cancel and rebook the same the cabin as nonrefundable? Does the cabin come open quickly to rebook? I realize there is an element of chance in this, but can someone be successful in doing this?

You may do that.  The potential issues are you might 1. have to pay a prevailing price at the time or cancelling and rebooking, 2. lose OBC (either from a. Celebrity if they don't have it anymore or if the current OBC is less than from the original booking or b. your TA if TA's OBC was linked to an agency's own promotion, for example, and it doesn't exist anymore), and 3. current tax might be higher, too.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

44 minutes ago, PH2 said:

Does anyone know how quickly a canceled cabin becomes available again? Just curious if holding a cabin as a refundable deposit for months and then canceling/rebooking as nonrefundable when your plans are set is a viable strategy - understanding the risk that rebooking might be at a worse price point, or someone could grab your specific cabin once it's released (which is the reason for my question about how quickly a canceled cabin is free to be booked again).

Almost right away , I have moved cabins before and since the cabin change refresh the screen