Celebrity "refundable" deposits

[fnar]

I was astounded to realize Celebrity charges $1,500 (!!) to make its $900 deposit "refundable" on 10+ day cruises ($900 for $500 deposit on 7 days)--so if you cancel you get your deposit back but if you don't you're paying an additional $1,500 for your cruise. How is that not "excessive? Who determines if that is excessive? Almost makes me want to put deposits on a whole bunch of cruises and cancel all of them!

[Jeremiah1212]

23 minutes ago, fnar said:

Who determines if that is excessive? 

 

....the amount of people who continue to book refundable fares. They either have no real intent on taking the cruise, think they may need to cancel on or around final payment, or hope they can reprice as a NRD rate closer to the sail date. It has mostly solved the issue where people book multiple cruises, many times in mid/upper suites, then settle on the best deal at final payment and cancel all of their backups.

[C-Dragons]

2 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

....the amount of people who continue to book refundable fares. They either have no real intent on taking the cruise, think they may need to cancel on or around final payment, or hope they can reprice as a NRD rate closer to the sail date. It has mostly solved the issue where people book multiple cruises, many times in mid/upper suites, then settle on the best deal at final payment and cancel all of their backups.

You nailed it. 😉

[leaveitallbehind]

Excessive or not is in the eyes of those making their bookings.  Call it what you wish but it is the increase in fare base to provide for a refundable deposit.  It's been that way to some degree since the inception of the non-refundable deposit.  If you want the unlimited flexibility provided by a refundable deposit you are going to pay a premium for it.

 

It also is a choice.  You don't have to book it if the math doesn't work for you.  Nothing to complain about.

Edited June 18 by leaveitallbehind

[mahasamatman]

You can choose to pay the extra or not. They're not forcing you to do anything. It's no different than airlines charging a ridiculous premium for a refundable fare.

[Lastdance]

You can always go NRD, pay $900 and insure that amount, thus keeping intact the pre-existing waiver; however, you only have a certain amount of days to get insurance after you put down your deposit, 10-15 days in many cases. This is what I do because my plan is always to take the cruise unless one of us is ill or has an accident.  I pay for the rest of my cruise at 90 days or so, but only after I have added the cost(minus taxes, port fees and (anything else that does not need to be covered like gratuities etc).  

 

Unfortunately, we have all been governed by those who made lots of bookings just in case they decided to go, tying up many cabins/suites for extended periods of time. These people never realize, or for that matter care how they hurt the rest of us and never will.  Of course, you can decide to book another cruise line where the fee for canceling is not so great.  I did this with Oceania when I could still receive a full refund months before the cruise.  However, you can still become ill after the 90 days, so frame this with total understanding of what can happen.  Like everything, read the fine print.

Edited June 18 by Lastdance

[cruisestitch]

48 minutes ago, fnar said:

I was astounded to realize Celebrity charges $1,500 (!!) to make its $900 deposit "refundable" on 10+ day cruises ($900 for $500 deposit on 7 days)--so if you cancel you get your deposit back but if you don't you're paying an additional $1,500 for your cruise. How is that not "excessive? Who determines if that is excessive? Almost makes me want to put deposits on a whole bunch of cruises and cancel all of them!

Not all cruises have a difference in the refundable and nonrefundable rates.  I just booked two where the price was the same for refundable and nonrefundable deposits.

[PTC DAWG]

7 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

 

 

Unfortunately, we have all been governed by those who made lots of bookings just in case they decided to go.  These people never realize how they hurt the rest of us and never will. 

Those people don’t care..

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, fnar said:

 Who determines if that is excessive?

You do.

[DaisyRose]

I find the fee for a refundable deposit on Celebrity extremely excessive.  I have never booked a cruise I didn't intend to take, but I like refundable deposits because I like to book far in advance to get the stateroom we love (sunset veranda).  Being seniors, health issues turn up, and we occasionally need to cancel; also an occasional family issue, like a wedding when booking two years in advance, or a very sick furbaby that we wouldn't want to leave with a pet sitter.  I recently found an unusual Celebrity cruise that I don't think anyone else does, so I reluctantly booked it with a non refundable deposit and just hope nothing turns up that will require me to cancel.  But I really feel that the high fees for refundable deposits will stop me from booking any more Celebrity cruises.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, DaisyRose said:

I find the fee for a refundable deposit on Celebrity extremely excessive.  I have never booked a cruise I didn't intend to take, but I like refundable deposits because I like to book far in advance to get the stateroom we love (sunset veranda).  Being seniors, health issues turn up, and we occasionally need to cancel; also an occasional family issue, like a wedding when booking two years in advance, or a very sick furbaby that we wouldn't want to leave with a pet sitter.  I recently found an unusual Celebrity cruise that I don't think anyone else does, so I reluctantly booked it with a non refundable deposit and just hope nothing turns up that will require me to cancel.  But I really feel that the high fees for refundable deposits will stop me from booking any more Celebrity cruises.

It's not just Celebrity that has this policy.  But regardless, what you are describing as a fee is an increase in base fare - there is one fare base with non-refundable deposits, and another fare base with refundable deposits. And that varies by ship and itinerary, but it is certainly a significant amount.  There are a number of documented reasons why cruise lines have adopted this policy, and we may not like or agree with it. But it is what it is.

 

But it remains a choice and maybe the cost of losing a deposit through a cancelation, or paying a fee for a change, with a non-refundable deposit is less than the cost differential in the fare with a refundable deposit.  That is the choice that needs to be made. 

 

Also, one advantage of a refundable deposit fare is that it can be changed to a non-refundable fare prior to final payment at the then prevailing fares.  That can mitigate the fare differential in many cases.

Edited June 18 by leaveitallbehind

[Ken the cruiser]

That 20% "refundable deposit" surcharge is one of the big reasons we seldom book cruises with Celebrity anymore. But that's cool. Every cruise line has their unique set of rules when it comes to booking a cruise with them.

 

What we do to accommodate this annoying issue is to book a couple of "placeholder" cruises while on a Celebrity cruise as far out as possible, as they only require a $100 per person refundable deposit to secure. Then when we later find a couple of itineraries that catch our fancy, we will have our TA transfer these more desirable itineraries to our existing "placeholder" bookings but with the nonrefundable deposit pricing.

 

This way we only tie up $100 per person in deposits for each booking AND are able to book our more desirable itineraries at the lower NRD fare with minimal impact if we later decide to cancel for some reason prior to final payment AND get the OBC that comes with booking a cruise while onboard.

 

But this is very important. Make sure you book the "placeholder" cruise onboard with a refundable deposit, as the default for the online future cruise staff is to book any itinerary with a nonrefundable deposit to "save you $$$".

 

Edited June 18 by Ken the cruiser

[LadyBerard]

My suggestion is to find an agency with group rates, which are refundable and include the Classic drink package and wifi.  If you book far enough out, they are about $400 - $500 more pp than the non-refundable rate which includes nothing.

 

[fnar]

4 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

You can choose to pay the extra or not. They're not forcing you to do anything. It's no different than airlines charging a ridiculous premium for a refundable fare.

Actually it's completely different, the airline fee makes the ENTIRE FARE refundable--and it's much less percentage wise. I know coz i recently had to cancel airline tickets--it was a couple hundred per ticket and we got entire $6000 back. Here you only get deposit back.

[fnar]

2 hours ago, DaisyRose said:

I find the fee for a refundable deposit on Celebrity extremely excessive.  I have never booked a cruise I didn't intend to take, but I like refundable deposits because I like to book far in advance to get the stateroom we love (sunset veranda).  Being seniors, health issues turn up, and we occasionally need to cancel; also an occasional family issue, like a wedding when booking two years in advance, or a very sick furbaby that we wouldn't want to leave with a pet sitter.  I recently found an unusual Celebrity cruise that I don't think anyone else does, so I reluctantly booked it with a non refundable deposit and just hope nothing turns up that will require me to cancel.  But I really feel that the high fees for refundable deposits will stop me from booking any more Celebrity cruises.

Completely agree--we were looking at a cruise in April 25 who knows what might come up before then!

[fnar]

4 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Not all cruises have a difference in the refundable and nonrefundable rates.  I just booked two where the price was the same for refundable and nonrefundable deposits.

Interesting--I just looked at one where "nonrefundable" penalty is over $1800! And it's only nonrefundable till midJuly!

[leaveitallbehind]

35 minutes ago, LadyBerard said:

My suggestion is to find an agency with group rates, which are refundable and include the Classic drink package and wifi.  If you book far enough out, they are about $400 - $500 more pp than the non-refundable rate which includes nothing.

 

Actually the refundable deposit option and the non-refundable deposit option both are available with Always to include wifi and beverage package, or Standard which is cruise only.

 

You are correct that a TA will have access to lower non-published group rates, but depending on the fare structure they can be with or without packages included.  They typically would be refundable deposits, however, but not necessarily exclusively.

Edited June 18 by leaveitallbehind

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That 20% "refundable deposit" surcharge is one of the big reasons we seldom book cruises with Celebrity anymore. But that's cool. Every cruise line has their unique set of rules when it comes to booking a cruise with them.

 

What we do to accommodate this annoying issue is to book a couple of "placeholder" cruises while on a Celebrity cruise as far out as possible, as they only require a $100 per person refundable deposit to secure. Then when we later find a couple of itineraries that catch our fancy, we will have our TA transfer these more desirable itineraries to our existing "placeholder" bookings but with the nonrefundable deposit pricing.

 

This way we only tie up $100 per person in deposits for each booking AND are able to book our more desirable itineraries at the lower NRD fare with minimal impact if we later decide to cancel for some reason prior to final payment AND get the OBC that comes with booking a cruise while onboard.

 

But this is very important. Make sure you book the "placeholder" cruise onboard with a refundable deposit, as the default for the online future cruise staff is to book any itinerary with a nonrefundable deposit to "save you $$$".

 

 

This is very interesting, I've actually printed your post so I can make sure I get this right.  We are on a short Equinox cruise later this year and I may give this a try.  By the time of our cruise most of the new itineraries will be out....might find one I want to do this with.  Does the "placeholder" work if booking a suite?  

[Gracie115]

Just more reason why we have been looking more & more at Princess, they don't charge excessive deposits and they are ALL refundable.  Pretty sure HAL is the same way.

[Liao]

47 minutes ago, fnar said:

Actually it's completely different, the airline fee makes the ENTIRE FARE refundable--and it's much less percentage wise. I know coz i recently had to cancel airline tickets--it was a couple hundred per ticket and we got entire $6000 back. Here you only get deposit back.

Did you purchase the air with the refundable option?  If so, the ticket cost more.

[cruisetonowhere10]

5 hours ago, Lastdance said:

You can always go NRD, pay $900 and insure that amount, thus keeping intact the pre-existing waiver; however, you only have a certain amount of days to get insurance after you put down your deposit, 10-15 days in many cases. This is what I do because my plan is always to take the cruise unless one of us is ill or has an accident.  I pay for the rest of my cruise at 90 days or so, but only after I have added the cost(minus taxes, port fees and (anything else that does not need to be covered like gratuities etc).  

 

Unfortunately, we have all been governed by those who made lots of bookings just in case they decided to go, tying up many cabins/suites for extended periods of time. These people never realize, or for that matter care how they hurt the rest of us and never will.  Of course, you can decide to book another cruise line where the fee for canceling is not so great.  I did this with Oceania when I could still receive a full refund months before the cruise.  However, you can still become ill after the 90 days, so frame this with total understanding of what can happen.  Like everything, read the fine print.

I tend to do cancel for any reason insurance and a non refundable deposit…haven’t ever had to use it but I have no idea if my theory would work in practice.  Lol

[Jeremiah1212]

Save your money, shop smart and book refundable group rates. 

[Stockjock]

6 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Save your money, shop smart and book refundable group rates. 

I booked a group rate from a travel agency.  Not only was the price considerably cheaper than Celebrity's direct price, but it was fully refundable up until final payment, for no extra cost.  Obviously, that's not the case when booking direct from Celebrity.

[Lastdance]

38 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

This is very interesting, I've actually printed your post so I can make sure I get this right.  We are on a short Equinox cruise later this year and I may give this a try.  By the time of our cruise most of the new itineraries will be out....might find one I want to do this with.  Does the "placeholder" work if booking a suite?  

No, it does not work for a suite!

[cruisetonowhere10]

1 minute ago, Stockjock said:

I booked a group rate from a travel agency.  Not only was the price considerably cheaper than Celebrity's direct price, but it was fully refundable up until final payment, for no extra cost.  Obviously, that's not the case when booking direct from Celebrity.

I have just started using a TA so it’ll be interesting to see if I get better rates.