Non-Refundable Woes

We love cruising with some very close friends who live 8 hours away. This year we booked a cruise that coincided with our daughter’s spring break so she could be with us. Our friends were going to go with us but she could not get those dates off. She just got back from her cruise and we are about to go on ours. We did a lot of instant messaging while she was cruising [emoji4]. Sometimes things just don’t work out. I would not pay $1,200 to make the change. But that’s just me. Especially, you live near them.

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Are the friends in the other cabin, or are the two cabins for your family?

If the friends committed to this date and changed their mind, they should eat the cost of the change fees.

If you booked this cruise for just your family, and later your friends want to add on to your vacation and move it to a different date, then you need to decide if it's worth the extra cost to you.

But in NO circumstance is any of this the fault of RCI.

And it's not a "net loss of $1200" -- it's not RCI's fault that the week you want to change to costs more, that's just simple supply and demand. If you had booked that week in the first place, it still would have cost you extra.

The ONLY actual loss here is the $400 in change fees, which you agreed to in the first place when you booked a non-refundable fare. If you weren't positive that you were going to go on that particular cruise, you shouldn't have booked at the non-refundable fare price.

And you certainly shouldn't be calling this a "non-refundable woe" -- you knew when you booked it that it was non-refundable, so this is on YOU, not on RCI.

I have 2 adjoining ocean view balconies on the Dec 9th 2018 Allure Sailing with the infamous non-refundable fare. Some close friends want to go with us but can only go the Jan 6th 2019 sailing. RCCL is charging us $100 per cabin (or person?) for a total of $400. The Jan 6th sailing is another $800 more so it's a net loss of $1200. We got the 30% off 3rd and 4th guests deal. I am hesitant to make the change given the $1,200 is just thrown away. Any guesses on whether or not it's worth waiting it out for a better sale to offset the $1,200? My TA said RCCL won't budge on any change fees. Blah.

Your friends need to accommodate your plans, not the other way around

Cancel the RCCL cruise, lose your $400 deposit and then take your money and go book a ship on another cruiseline. Other ships in the sea !!

 

Jimbo:)

They didn't say if the $100 was their deposit.

The penalty for rebooking on another RCI ship or date is $100pp. If you cancel the cruise and don't rebook within a certain period you lose the ENTIRE deposit for each cabin. Probably $1,800.