Paying in full before due date?

I'm considering charging/paying in full for my July Greek Isles cruise in advance of the due date because I need the FF miles in order to get my plane tickets. On the off chance that I have to cancel, 1) has anybody had any experience getting a full refund before the full payment date is due and 2) I took insurance since I have elderly parents and a special needs daughter - should I have to cancel at the last minute because of them, would I be able to get my $ back. I'm pretty sure/hoping the answer to 2 is yes.

TIA:)

You should certainly check with the cruise line, and if they promise you can get a refund for cancelling prior to the required final payment date it would be helpful to get this in an e-mail. Guarantees not in writing are very difficult to later enforce.

Personally, we avoid making a final payment until close to the due date since we prefer to keep the "leverage" afforded by not having made that payment.

Hank

As to your first question - that is something your TA should be able to answer.

Sorry, you'll have to read your own policy to answer your second question. Unless your policy covers 'cancel for any reason' you may have a problem with pre-existing conditions. A number of policies waive the pre-existing conditions clause if the policy was bought within a certain time period after initial booking.

Hope everything goes smoothly and you don't need to use your insurance.

I can't answer your question directly.

Our approach is to only make final payment when it is due and purchasing airline tickets on our own. We make sure airline tickets are either refundable or we can cancel and rebook at a later date for a reasonable fee (avoid non refundable tickets).

Hope someone else can answer your question directly.

As far any any cruise line penalty , the only date that matters is their Final Payment date no matter when you paid in advance.

We also do not pay off a cruise until the due date.

And we always book refundable air line tickets.

Weird things can happen. Just this past week HAL cancelled 4 cruises -- 2 of them were ours for October and November. Knowing we have so few flights to choose from, we but our air line tickets as soon as possible. And you can bet we were glad the tickets that we had bought for the cancelled cruises were refundable.

We also don't buy insurance until 1 day before final payment is made.

Thanks so much for all your help. Still weighing all my options. At $1200/ticket x 3 I'd really like to get those FF tickets!

I don't know of any main stream cruise line that will not give a refund if PIF before payment due date. Check the refund policy on the lines web site or give them or your TA a call.

Mary Lou

It is so easy to send an e-mail to your cruise line, ask your question and (presumably) when they answer, you will have it in writing. If you call and they agree to refund, ask them to send you a confirmatory e-mail.

If you used a TA, ask them to do the same and to provide your response in writing.

Check your policy. We had to cancel a few times before and after final payment and with our insurance we were covered for everything flight, hotel and cruise. The only thing you don't get back is the cost of the insurance. In either of your cases your insurance should be covering it, just check your policy.

The final due date is the date you need to watch out for...not the date you PAY.

Thanks so much for all your help. Still weighing all my options. At $1200/ticket x 3 I'd really like to get those FF tickets!

If they're still available when you're ready to buy.

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The cancellation penalty schedule will be in your cruise contract. The amount of refund is based on the date, not whether you have already paid in full. Even after final payment date the cruise fare isn't fully non-refundable. It starts at 25% penalty and increases to 50% and 75% penalty before becoming fully nonrefundable a couple of weeks or a month before sailing..

We almost always pay in full upon booking and have cancelled about 4 cruises without penalty before. I think it depends on the cruise line and when you cancel though so you'll need to check the fine print.

I know for a fact that RCI is the "date" final payment is due..."not" the "date" you decide to make final payment.

The OP did not list their residence, and I see that everyone has assumed that they are American.

In the UK, the rules are quite different. If Canadian, the exchange rate on a refund needs to be considered.

I tend to make my final payment "a few weeks" prior to the cruise line's final payment date. It all depends on when I get my pension payment, the first of the month, in relation to when the final payment date is.

OP,

There are several issues raised about your flight costs. Whether in cash or points rates are fluid and what may be true today may not be true by the time you make payment of your cruise and get the points from your credit card. Depending on your billing cycle and the point at which you decide to prepay there could be a lag time that would inflate the cash or point needed.

While $1,200 is many dinero it is also a reasonable cost for a US - Greece flight. July is the height of the tourist season and it is also the costliest time of the year to get there via air.

If your airline or credit card offers a pay with miles option then consider using this now to lock in tickets for the three in your party.

I would be very curious to know if air fares drop between now and July. I wouldn't think so.....good luck

Remember, too, that as far as the insurance is concerned, your FF miles have no value and cannot be insured. Some airlines charge penalties, either in cash or by keeping your miles, if you have to change a flight booked with FF miles. The cash penalty may or may not be covered, but your miles will not be.