Prepaying RCCL cruise before final payment

We generally have booked far out in advance on our cruises as you seem to get the best deal and if price goes down RCCL will drop. We also make payments as we go along kind of a savings plan. You basically get nothing in interest in accounts now so no major loss that way. However with the down turn and so many threads and articles talking about the travel industry suffering I wonder if our money is safe.

Our trip cost $5200 and we have paid down $3200 and wanted to put down another $1000.

Views and opinions please.

If you are worrying that RCL will go under with your money, I think your money is safe, even if there is a downturn in the economy.

I wouldnt want to give it directly to some TAs though.

If you are worrying that RCL will go under with your money, I think your money is safe, even if there is a downturn in the economy.

 

I wouldnt want to give it directly to some TAs though.

Couldn't agree with you more. I still wouldn't give the cruise line my money before it is due.... however low the interest rate is it's still earning pennies towards the drink of the day ;)

We agree and always book direct with RCCL. We started doing this prepaying about 4 cruises ago it just seemed easy when we put down a few hundred dollars every few months.

I see articles all the time about problems then you read they just started Allure in January so things can not be that bad or they would have cancelled the contract I would think.

We tend to pay off early on our cruises. One less thing to think about and it is not like you are getting any type of return in interest from the bank on the amount.

I would not pay off early if we were financing the cruise with a credit card. That is some killer interest to pay.

So the decision is up to how the trip is being paid for, and watching how the ship is booking. RCL is going to be in business for a good while even if things really go bad for them. That at this point in time is not a concern for me.

Pay the $1000 on a credit card, then pay the credit card off, the chances of you having any problems with RCI are very very slim, butin the unlikely eventthat you do, you still have the CC to fall back on

We opened up a separete savings account at our bank, just for our cruise. So every month we deposit money, sure we do not get any interest to speak of, but I am in control of my money, and if I need to cancel the cruise there is no question or waiting time to get my money back from the cruise line. Plus we can budget that way our on board spending and have all that saved ahead of time.

I would never ever give someone else a penny of my money before it is due. Seriously, while the risk is low of RCI going bankrupt and shutting down (I assume the risk is very close to zero), but it is not zero therefore why risk it? If you like the idea of paying it off, start a savings account for cruise. Pay the money you were thinking of sending to RCI into the account and earn a small amount of interest. Heck they may give you a free toaster or something. If you have any thing on which you are paying interest, especially a credit card pay that off before you do anything else.

Good luck. It is your money, and you really can do whatever you want.

jc

Pay the $1000 on a credit card, then pay the credit card off, the chances of you having any problems with RCI are very very slim, butin the unlikely eventthat you do, you still have the CC to fall back on

I do this for a few reasons. One, I like the guarantee that the credit card provides me. Two, I get frequent flyer miles for using the card.

I would never ever give someone else a penny of my money before it is due. Seriously, while the risk is low of RCI going bankrupt and shutting down (I assume the risk is very close to zero), but it is not zero therefore why risk it? If you like the idea of paying it off, start a savings account for cruise. Pay the money you were thinking of sending to RCI into the account and earn a small amount of interest. Heck they may give you a free toaster or something. If you have any thing on which you are paying interest, especially a credit card pay that off before you do anything else.

 

Good luck. It is your money, and you really can do whatever you want.

 

jc

Putting aside the risk of RCCL going bankrupt, which is why I might pay far ahead right now, I have been making payments ahead of time.

With the ever changing exchange rate it was sometimes well worth for me to pay ahead to get a better exchange rate and that has very well outdone any interest I could have earned on the money in my account.

However this is a special situation for me and I´m probably in the minority there.:)

We generally have booked far out in advance on our cruises as you seem to get the best deal and if price goes down RCCL will drop. We also make payments as we go along kind of a savings plan. You basically get nothing in interest in accounts now so no major loss that way. However with the down turn and so many threads and articles talking about the travel industry suffering I wonder if our money is safe.

 

Our trip cost $5200 and we have paid down $3200 and wanted to put down another $1000.

 

Views and opinions please.

For me I would never make an early payment to Royal Caribbean for the following reasons:

1) A tiny bit of interest is better than no interest.

2) Keeping my money in an FDIC insured bank account is safer than with Royal Caribbean during these troubled economic times.

3) In the event I or my wife lose our job, we would cancel any crusie(s) we have deposited and therefore would have immediate access to the money rather than need to wait for a refund from the cruise line.

Putting aside the risk of RCCL going bankrupt, which is why I might pay far ahead right now, I have been making payments ahead of time.

With the ever changing exchange rate it was sometimes well worth for me to pay ahead to get a better exchange rate and that has very well outdone any interest I could have earned on the money in my account.

However this is a special situation for me and I´m probably in the minority there.:)

Gunnar, yes, you have a further element that most of us don't have to worry about. You have the risk of foreign exchange added to the equation. I know the $ has been doing well against the euro, but that trend may be reversing itself(although I hope not since I will be in Europe this fall). With our current national money supply madness, I am not expecting the $ to remain strong for long. On the down side your economy is so tied to ours that your money may devalue too. The question is when and nobody knows that bazillion dollar questions answer. So, in your case I don't disagree with your plan. I probably wouldn't do it just because of my understanding that you can't pick the direction of a currency exchange in the short run any more than the price of a commodity product with enough accuracy to know the correct play.

jc

Thanks for all the great ideas!

We do make payments on our visa but only for the points and trip cancellation insurance. Every statement is paid off in full.

We both work in Banks and I guess opening another account is an idea it just seems sometimes a little easy for the funds to go elsewhere.

It sounds like you know the answer of self-restraint. You must be able to accomplish it to be in the good economic situation in which you exist.

So, trust yourself. You can do it. I believe in you! :D

jc

Pay the $1000 on a credit card, then pay the credit card off, the chances of you having any problems with RCI are very very slim, butin the unlikely eventthat you do, you still have the CC to fall back on

Plus if you have the right credit card, you get CASH BACK on all your purchases.

I just got another $250 cash back for using my Chase Freedom card. Yes, I do pay off the card every month.

Personally, I'd never prepay for the cruise just because if I had to cancel before final payment, it could take up to 2 months to get my money refunded. If I needed to cancel the cruise because I had a financial need for the money, I'd be out of luck.

I'd figure a way to set the money aside where you control it and at the last minute plug it all on a CC where you get a reward or cash back, then pay off that CC bill at the end of the month.

Thanks for everyones interesting points of view and ideas. Most I have considered. I have also called RCCL to ensure the refund policy on the cruise as well as cancelling the air.

FYI last time we cancelled we got our refund back to our credit card with in 48 hours.

When you charge something with RCL it shows up immediately on your credit card. When you cancel it takes two months. That's how it was on my RCL visa earlier this year. I personally wouldn't take any risk at all by paying early. You would be Floating RCL an interest free loan which multiplied by tens of thousands of people is a nice deal for RCL or any cruise line for that matter.

My final payment is due on Saturday, I had a call from RCI this afternoon asking if I'd like to pay today?

I know it's only 4 days away but I think the best place for my money is in my bank and it's going nowhere until it needs to!

NO CREDIT CARD !!!!!!!

Open a checking account, get a debt card only to use with it and make payments using RC web site. If you cancel for any reason the money comes right back to you. You can pay what your able to at any time.

SAVE FOR THE CRUISE OR OTHER VACATIONS.

I'm just coming out of a life of debt and Im telling you noone who loans you money cares one bit about you. It's the payment(interest) they want. If you use credit cards and pay your balance every month your fine. Otherwise you'll still be paying for your cruise 40 years from now.

I do this for a few reasons. One, I like the guarantee that the credit card provides me. Two, I get frequent flyer miles for using the card.

However I just want to caution people out there doing the opposite of this. Paying down a CC to make room to make a payment on a cruise.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell anyone not to pay down their credit cards. That would be stupid. But be aware many major cc companies are slashing your credit lines right after payments these days. so the room you think you may be opening by making a large payment to the card could disappear and then you're out your savings and your credit limit. This in itself may not be a bad thing as you'll be less in debt, but just stating things for people to make their own decisions.

Great point was not aware of credit card companies reducing credit line limits. However in this case I am not sure it would matter. If you make the payment or not the Bank could still reduce you limit.

We generally have booked far out in advance on our cruises as you seem to get the best deal and if price goes down RCCL will drop. We also make payments as we go along kind of a savings plan. You basically get nothing in interest in accounts now so no major loss that way. However with the down turn and so many threads and articles talking about the travel industry suffering I wonder if our money is safe.

 

Our trip cost $5200 and we have paid down $3200 and wanted to put down another $1000.

 

Views and opinions please.

DH & I usually pay in advance. However, with the downturn in the economy and the unceartinty of the travel industry, we requested to be refunded our money (other then the basic deposit) from RCL. They were happy to oblige and I now have the money in savings. DH & I are booked on the Oasis on 1.2.10, in an OS, which totals just about $7500. To think of RCL with $7000 of my money, and no garauntee from the credit card if RCL should indeed go bankrupt (which is very unlikely) I will have my $.