Is it better to cancel cruise planner items prior to canceling a cruise?

[ZoeyVictoria]

It looks like we are going to have to cancel a cruise.  Hate to do it, but it is for a good reason - selling a home, buying a home, moving. Should I cancel Chops and Hideaway Beach before canceling the cruise, or let it happen as part of the cruise cancellation?

 

[Ashland]

16 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

It looks like we are going to have to cancel a cruise.  Hate to do it, but it is for a good reason - selling a home, buying a home, moving. Should I cancel Chops and Hideaway Beach before canceling the cruise, or let it happen as part of the cruise cancellation?

 

I believe you should cancel any cruise planner items (which will be refunded to the credit card used) before you cancel your cruise.

[Sunshine3601]

I had cancelled cruise planners items before cancelling a cruise.   Doesn't have to be done this way just I thought it may help get refund quicker.

[Coralc]

YES. 

[pstone1]

I have found that Cruise Planner item refunds are almost immediate.  When we’ve had a sailing, and therefore CP items cancelled by Royal, the refunds can take much longer.

 

Congratulations on your new home, and for getting the current home sold!

[Sianli]

One more question. What if we have only made the then minimum deposit —- $100 pp onboard booking, but have prepaid gratuities. Can we call in and xxl grats to get them back and only lose that minimum deposit?

[Biker19]

21 minutes ago, Sianli said:

Can we call in and xxl grats to get them back and only lose that minimum deposit?

Yes, though you'd get that back if you canceled the cruise anyway.

[cruiselvr04]

I didn’t cancel the planner items first.  Royal refunded the planner items very quickly, with a few days.  I didn’t even mention it when calling into cancel the cruise.

[LB_NJ]

Yes cancel cruise planner before a cruise.  If it doesn’t put you into another penalty phase give it a couple of days between when you cancel cruise planner items and when you cancel the cruise.

[LB_NJ]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, though you'd get that back if you canceled the cruise anyway.

However prepaying gratuities gives Royal’s crack IT group another opportunity to screw up with your money.

 

FYI, start a spreadsheet to keep track of the refunds.  They don’t always come back in straightforward amounts.

[ZoeyVictoria]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I actually have to cancel two side-to-side cruises totaling eight nights. I am going to wait another week or so, just in case, but the two closings and a move will occur in exactly the middle of eight nights of cruising. The cruise planner items were Black Friday prices that I probably will never see again. But worth it in the long run.  

[Ourusualbeach]

8 hours ago, Sianli said:

One more question. What if we have only made the then minimum deposit —- $100 pp onboard booking, but have prepaid gratuities. Can we call in and xxl grats to get them back and only lose that minimum deposit?

Prepaid gratuities are only added to the reservation and not paid for until final.  there is nothing to refund if you have only paid the $100 next cruise deposit

[bajathree]

19 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

Yes cancel cruise planner before a cruise.  If it doesn’t put you into another penalty phase give it a couple of days between when you cancel cruise planner items and when you cancel the cruise.

This is very good advice. Don't just cancel your CP items and then the cruise right after...it can throw a wrench into Royal's system. Give your CP items a few days to update in the system to show they were cancelled and the refund in process before canceling the cruise itself.