HA Pre-paid Policy

[cruisinbulldog]

Question. If you call ship services and pre-book/pre-pay items like, shore excursions, Pinnacle Grill, room bar set-ups, salon treatments,tips.. Then for some reason had to cancel:( the cruise would all this be returned? With or without insurance?

[jhannah]

You can pre-pay as much as you want. When you book shore excursions online or on the phone, your credit card is charged immediately. It is refunded via a shipboard credit if you cancel late in the game, or it's credited back to your card if you cancel well in advance of the sailing. Anything extra you pay in advance you will get back.

However, if you cancel the cruise after final payment time then you will not get your money back. That's why it's important to get trip insurance, IMO.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes - you will get your money back - on your credit card statement. If you cancel 10 days before your cruise, it is done very simply. But after that you will have to send them proof of why you are canceling so late. Had our TA take care of everything when we had to cancel about a week before our cruise.

[kryos]

Yes, if you cancel, obviously you will not be able to use your shore excursions, etc. ... so yes, you will get the money back.

However, as a general rule, I don't book shore excursions that far out ... simply because a lot of them are not yet on the website and available for booking. I prefer to wait until the time of the cruise gets closer and then book them from a more comprehensive selection. And even then ... I only book in advance those things that I absolutely know I want to do, and that I know are popular and likely to get sold out if I wait until I am onboard to reserve them.

As for the other stuff ... Pinnacle Grill, spa treatments, etc. ... I wait until I am onboard to book that stuff ... simply because I like to be very flexible when on vacation. Maybe when I get onboard, I'll find that I love my dining room tablemates ... they don't care to eat at the Pinnacle ... and I don't care to miss a night in the dining room with them. Same with the other stuff. So, I just book that onboard and have never had any problems getting the stuff I wanted.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[cocobird]

My DH and I had to cancel the 35-day Boston to Boston cruise on the Maasdam in July 2005 4 days prior to leaving home, which I recall was less than 10 days prior to the sailing :(:(. Broke my heart!!! But....we got all the prepaid charges (bar set-up, shore excursions, Pinnacle Grill reservation, etc.) credited back to our charge card in full by HAL - no muss, no fuss. I think it took less than a week for the credits to appear on our online statement. The cost of the cruise itself, of course, was fortunately covered by travel insurance.

[cruisinbulldog]

Thank you all for your info.. It puts my mind at ease to let me go and book/pay for some of the cost that I will have on my cruise.. The main reason for me to do this is to be able to spread out the overall cost of the cruise..