Royal introduces non refundable booking option.

[Ourusualbeach]

Meh- the OBC amounts suck. $50-$100 for a non refundable deposit? And if you make changes it costs you $100, meaning you'll already lose money if you're in an interior room, even if your plans change by just a week. I guess I'd have to see how much cheaper the rate would be before i get too negative about it. If it made the cruise fare several hundred dollars cheaper then maybe it would be worth it...maybe. I wonder if they allow you to get price drops and make other changes to those bookings.

 

I don't see myself limiting my options for a measly $50-$100.

 

 

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I agree. Whether the fares are low enough to make me want to fully commit to a particular ship and sail date that remains to be seen. It's certainly not worth the $50 OBC for a week long cruise in a balcony.

[Ashland]

I agree. Whether the fares are low enough to make me want to fully commit to a particular ship and sail date that remains to be seen.

Regardless...RCI will always be the winner in any situation :rolleyes:

[destiny217]

Just a side note:

 

Last month we received a survey from Carnival on something similar.

[The_Big_M]

Meh- the OBC amounts suck. $50-$100 for a non refundable deposit? And if you make changes it costs you $100, meaning you'll already lose money if you're in an interior room, even if your plans change by just a week. I guess I'd have to see how much cheaper the rate would be before i get too negative about it. If it made the cruise fare several hundred dollars cheaper then maybe it would be worth it...maybe. I wonder if they allow you to get price drops and make other changes to those bookings.

 

I don't see myself limiting my options for a measly $50-$100.

 

 

I get the impression there is no fare change.

 

I suspect it's more about discouraging speculative suite holds, plus making guarantee sales more profitable. And then it's offered as an option on other categories as a trade-off for the OBC (just like Next cruise bookings have a similar trade-off).

[awestover89]

I get the impression there is no fare change.

 

I suspect it's more about discouraging speculative suite holds, plus making guarantee sales more profitable. And then it's offered as an option on other categories as a trade-off for the OBC (just like Next cruise bookings have a similar trade-off).

 

From the flyer:

 

• The Non-Refundable Deposit fare will default at the Best Rate whenever available, as it will always be priced lower than the Regular Brand Promotion.

 

So the non-refundable rate will have OBC if booked more than 6 months in advance, and will be a lower price (or at least never higher) than the current regular price

[ColoradoGurl]

I guess the price probably won't be very much lower than regular price, since they are requiring the non-refundable deposits on the guarantee rooms as well, so the price will likely be somewhere between guarantee and regular.

 

 

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Edited May 10, 2017 by ColoradoGurl

[like2cruise99]

For my family this doesn't sound like a very good thing. It may force me to start trying other cruise lines. I am a suite booker and I have never cancelled or changed a cruise from when I originally booked it other than to rebook for a cheaper rate. I spend from $6000-10,000 for a cruise for 4 people and they are going to force me to book non-refundable and give me $100 for doing that and if I do make a change it will cost me $400. It will have to be a much better rate for me to go to the non-refundable option. I can see myself either booking other than suites or RCI doesn't care about me and wants me to go find another cruise line. I don't think I am going to like this.

[hapster85]

This ought to be good for 1 -2K posts in the next week.

 

Here is some more info:

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/LTYA_News/17056800_Nonrefundable_FAQ_News.pdf

 

Particularly interesting is the non-refundable deposits are the only open for GS and above.

 

mac_tlc

According to this, there's no change in current deposit structure, so cancelling after booking this way could become quite expensive. I'll reserve judgement for now, but that certainly makes it less appealing for early bookings.

[Clarea]

... So the non-refundable rate will have OBC if booked more than 6 months in advance, and will be a lower price (or at least never higher) than the current regular price

We will have to see what this actually means. If "regular" price means the price without the fake sale discount applied, this means nothing.

[molly361]

We will have to see what this actually means. If "regular" price means the price without the fake sale discount applied, this means nothing.

 

The price will have to be considerably lower for me to commit to a non-refundable deposit- and I don't forsee that happening time will tell

[Milwaukee Eight]

How will this work if you book onboard and need a place-holder cruise because itinerary hasn't been released yet.

 

 

Explain "place-holder cruise".

 

 

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[Milwaukee Eight]

Yes...they are but not worth the paper they are printed on any more as far as OBC goes.....and why it was necessary for me to book 3 place holder cruises on HOTS last month.

 

 

Place-holder cruises?

 

 

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[molly361]

Explain "place-holder cruise".

 

 

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That is a cruise that you book that you are not going to take. For example if someone is cruising before the new sailings are released they will just book any cruise on board in order to get the lower deposit and the OBC. Then once the new sailings get released they call and switch that booking that was made on board to a different ship and date

[Mass2Cruise]

I agree with the sentiments about rebooking out of need or due to the fact that an itinerary isn't out yet. We normally book a JS onboard with the last itinerary available to move to the new itinerary once they are released. Gives us the 100 deposit and 100 OBC (since they eliminated the Next Cruise cert in any good capacity). Now if we do this, we are locked into a cruise we don't want. Guess we'll be booking the day they come out and forgoing the onboard booking.

[Rewind]

Place holder - Say you want to sail in 2019 but RCI doesn't have the schedules released yet. But you are onboard a ship now and they are giving $20,000 bonus if you book a cruise while on board. You would be crazy not to book that cruise, but the cruise you want doesn't exist yet.

 

What you do is book a random cruise in 2018 that you have no plans on taking. Then when the 2019 schedules open up, you transfer your 2018 placeholder cruise to the 2019 cruise you want and your $20,000 comes with you.

 

*actual amounts may vary, subject to terms and conditions, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[Clarea]

The price will have to be considerably lower for me to commit to a non-refundable deposit- and I don't forsee that happening time will tell

What I'm concerned about is that this new deposit policy is an option now, but at some point will be the only deposit policy.

[molly361]

What I'm concerned about is that this new deposit policy is an option now, but at some point will be the only deposit policy.

 

That would not surprise me -things seem to be moving in that direction

[Chrissit]

Place-holder cruises?

 

 

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I did this in 2015. There is a cruise that Celebrity Solstice does twice a year and at the time we were on a sailing, it hadn't been released for 2018 but that's when we were looking to take it. So, we booked a random cruise as the benefits for booking on board were better than just getting the next cruise certificate. We waited until deployment and the cruise we wanted was available and slid the booking over. At least that's what we called a place holder.

[Milwaukee Eight]

That is a cruise that you book that you are not going to take. For example if someone is cruising before the new sailings are released they will just book any cruise on board in order to get the lower deposit and the OBC. Then once the new sailings get released they call and switch that booking that was made on board to a different ship and date

 

 

Isn't this exactly what Royal is trying to eliminate? I've seen Suites be totally booked up for 3 night cruises, on MJ specifically, only to be released after final payment. This is a problem to some of us.

 

Are these place holder cruises??

 

 

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[Milwaukee Eight]

Place holder - Say you want to sail in 2019 but RCI doesn't have the schedules released yet. But you are onboard a ship now and they are giving $20,000 bonus if you book a cruise while on board. You would be crazy not to book that cruise, but the cruise you want doesn't exist yet.

 

What you do is book a random cruise in 2018 that you have no plans on taking. Then when the 2019 schedules open up, you transfer your 2018 placeholder cruise to the 2019 cruise you want and your $20,000 comes with you.

 

*actual amounts may vary, subject to terms and conditions, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

 

That makes some sense to me. But why reserve a suite? Is it because the bonuses are higher??

 

 

 

 

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[molly361]

Isn't this exactly what Royal is trying to eliminate? I've seen Suites be totally booked up for 3 night cruises, on MJ specifically, only to be released after final payment. This is a problem to some of us.

 

Are these place holder cruises??

 

 

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Yes and Yes- The Next Cruise people actually encourage you to do so. RCL created the need to do this when they decimated the Open cruise certificates. In the past you could purchase an open booking certificate which gave you OBC and you could later pick the ship and date. Now I believe the most OBC you can get if you use that option is $25. If they offered the same OBC you would get for picking a ship and date people would not have the need to book phantom placeholder cruises

[Milwaukee Eight]

I did this in 2015. There is a cruise that Celebrity Solstice does twice a year and at the time we were on a sailing, it hadn't been released for 2018 but that's when we were looking to take it. So, we booked a random cruise as the benefits for booking on board were better than just getting the next cruise certificate. We waited until deployment and the cruise we wanted was available and slid the booking over. At least that's what we called a place holder.

 

 

Well, this is a bit different than booking many 3 nighters only to cherry pick the ones you want.

 

 

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[Milwaukee Eight]

Yes and Yes- The Next Cruise people actually encourage you to do so. RCL created the need to do this when they decimated the Open cruise certificates. In the past you could purchase an open booking certificate which gave you OBC and you could later pick the ship and date. Now I believe the most OBC you can get if you use that option is $25. If they offered the same OBC you would get for picking a ship and date people would not have the need to book phantom placeholder cruises

 

 

I wasn't aware that OBC was all that important to those booking GS and above. We have always lost our OBC from NC as we convert our booking using Club Royale rates after we get off the ship.

 

 

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[The_Big_M]

From the flyer:

 

 

 

So the non-refundable rate will have OBC if booked more than 6 months in advance, and will be a lower price (or at least never higher) than the current regular price

 

Yes, that doesn't contradict what I said. It's saying that the apply this 'offer' to that specific rate - but that rate already exists. So it doesn't actually mean a lower fare than already available, which was the point.

[A&L_Ont]

For my family this doesn't sound like a very good thing. It may force me to start trying other cruise lines. I am a suite booker and I have never cancelled or changed a cruise from when I originally booked it other than to rebook for a cheaper rate. I spend from $6000-10,000 for a cruise for 4 people and they are going to force me to book non-refundable and give me $100 for doing that and if I do make a change it will cost me $400. It will have to be a much better rate for me to go to the non-refundable option. I can see myself either booking other than suites or RCI doesn't care about me and wants me to go find another cruise line. I don't think I am going to like this.

 

If I read it properly GS and above guests who cancel prior to final payment give up their $100 per person "fee" and only get the remainder back in a FCC not a cash refund as previously done. It has to be applied in the next year other wise it expires.

 

It's hard to use it up especially when you already have multiple bookings within that year.