Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

No longer reduced deposits when booking a new cruise on board.....

Paulette3028
 Share

Recommended Posts

Cruisegirl6

Cruisegirl6

Posted
Posted

Honestly, I cringe at hearing reduced deposits, I feel that RC is using a combination of psychology and marketing on us, they say reduced deposits, but you still remain to have to pay for the entire cruise, so I don't see any benefit or any perk for that matter that RC is giving to me in offering reduced deposits. I get the fact some people have to pay the $250 p/p when they book without the reduced deposit but its really not much money at all to be quite honest...another question,.....If you book with the reduced deposit and decide to cancel lets say many months before the cruise date, do you get back your deposit, or is this a way for RC to have the advantage if you cancel you loose your reduced deposit but if you pay the full deposit I assume you receive full deposit back when cancelling? I have never cancelled a RC cruise so like to know the rules for this, thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Paulette3028

Paulette3028

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Honestly, I cringe at hearing reduced deposits, I feel that RC is using a combination of psychology and marketing on us, they say reduced deposits, but you still remain to have to pay for the entire cruise, so I don't see any benefit or any perk for that matter that RC is giving to me in offering reduced deposits. I get the fact some people have to pay the $250 p/p when they book without the reduced deposit but its really not much money at all to be quite honest...another question,.....If you book with the reduced deposit and decide to cancel lets say many months before the cruise date, do you get back your deposit, or is this a way for RC to have the advantage if you cancel you loose your reduced deposit but if you pay the full deposit I assume you receive full deposit back when cancelling? I have never cancelled a RC cruise so like to know the rules for this, thank you.

 

Based on your reply, I may not have worded my OP clearly. In the past when you booked on board you only had to pay $100 per person as a deposit vs $250 per person. The reduced deposit had nothing to do with getting back your deposit should you cancel outside of the penalty cancellation periods. It was a good incentive for us to book a future cruise, minimizing cash flow while we are on a cruise.

 

There are promotions that give you an OBC equal to your deposit amount depending upon length of the cruise. If a cruiser booking a future cruise on board wants to take that OBC during their current cruise, rather than having it on the future cruise, then if they cancel the future cruise they will lose their deposit, because the size of the OBC was equal to the deposit made on the future cruise and basically ALREADY used. (I hope I explained this correctly).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
njmomof2

njmomof2

Posted
Posted

When we sailed in April, the reduced deposit was still available. Booked for Christmas, 8 night, put down $150/cabin and got $150 OBC for the booked cruise (I'm not taking it as current, took the future option).

 

Prices continued to rise, even though I thought my onboard booked price was still too high. FF to day before final. They put out a non-refundable rate, lower than what I booked on board with, and since I was paying final the next day, I paid the additional deposit amount, dropped my price and kept the $150 OBC from the on board booking.

 

Since my deposit was going to be in cancellation just a day later, it didn't hurt to take that rate. Otherwise, I'd never book NFD.

 

Price have gone back up, but I think as we get closer to the holidays, they will come down. I needed at least adjoining cabins since my kids are travelling with me and my mom, so waiting until prices dropped meant that we'd probably have to split up, or get cabins that were not well located for my somewhat mobility challenged mom. Of course, if something above us drops enough, I might think about upgrading.

 

Going forward, however, since I have 3 people to pay for, if they are not offering the reduced deposits, I'd forgo booking onboard again. No incentive any longer. Plus, as an agent, when we have group pricing, I have to pay full deposit anyway, so I don't see the onboard booking option as having any value to me in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cruzinlady1947

cruzinlady1947

Posted
Posted

The cruises we take require a deposit of $450 pp. That's a lot of money to put down for them to keep for over a year, which is the way we book. We book early, as soon as the itineraries come out and we usually book 12 night cruises. It was nice having the reduced deposit or Future Cruise Certificate. We book a couple cruises at a time sometimes. The high deposit can add up. Not that we can't afford it, but it does make it better to have the reduced deposit. Just my opinion. We will probably never book on board again. We will just wait until we see one we like and book it at that time. I don't like the non-refundable deposit either. Refundable deposit is more expensive, over a hundred $'s or more pp. Just another money making scheme for Royal. I hope they eventually change it back. It's not like they won't get the full price when final payment is due.

 

Gwen :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
junior8

junior8

Posted
Posted

Some, like myself, do not have 250$ readily available to plop down all at once. Wish I did but I don't. So for me a reduced deposit will entice me to book then take a year to pay in increments.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted

Is it me...or is RCI phasing out the next cruise department? Not sure what the advantage of booking on board is any longer?

 

I still dearly miss the old Next Cruise Certificates. Was great, just pick up a few, keep them on

hand and use to book on our own time. No appointments needed or waiting in line. Nice OBC with the old original ones also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
It's the same "Uh-oh" feeling I had when they split up the LA desk into

LA/Next Cruise different departments....and made the NCC pretty much

worthless.

Actually, I liked that split, because it made the LA available for C&A type issues. When they were the same person, it was near impossible to see the LA for anything other than booking a new cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
trev71

trev71

Posted
Posted

Doesn't bother me paying a bit more up front. its only a little not a lot. I have only booked once on board and I did not enjoy it. I like sitting down and looking at everything and book it that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
Actually, I liked that split, because it made the LA available for C&A type issues. When they were the same person, it was near impossible to see the LA for anything other than booking a new cruise.

 

That's true...it is indeed much easier to see the LA now. :)

 

I am guessing the NC department is going to be a tad bored now with these changes...why

book on board eh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
... why book on board eh?

Not much reason for us. If we happen to be on board when new cruises come out and we're really sure of ship/date, then we would probably be more likely to book on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DragonOfTheSeas "Live from...." Rare

DragonOfTheSeas

Posted
Posted

I do not care for the increased deposits, either.

 

We had one of the old Future Cruise certificates and used it for a cruise in March 2019. I only had to add $100 rather than another $800. We have never cancelled a cruise. . . . but, that is pretty far away.

 

We booked a cruise [TA for nov 2018] while onboard our cruise last month. The deposit was $900 for a cruise that was $1692 [all in] for a balcony cabin. I feel it is ridiculous to pay more than half of the price as a deposit. I feel it should be a percentage of the price.

 

We did get $300 OBC for booking onboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Husky1987

Husky1987

Posted
Posted
That's true...it is indeed much easier to see the LA now. :)

 

I am guessing the NC department is going to be a tad bored now with these changes...why

book on board eh?

 

Probably just a case-by-case deal.

 

We booked Freedom Jan 2019 on our Adventure sailing last month and got $200 off the price (took that instead of OBC).

 

I knew exactly which cruise I wanted and so it was a choice of getting the extra $200 off onboard or waiting until I got back home and not getting it.

 

Easy call for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruisegirl6

Cruisegirl6

Posted
Posted

I don't see how $500 is a lot of money for a deposit for the cruise, its around just 2%......I am booked for next year on a cruise, two weeks in Aruba along with two other land based vacations and when I get off the Oasis on November 5th this year, I be booking a second cruise for next year.....I rather pay now upfront it is just me, happens to be my other half always pays all bills earlier than when its due lol.

 

I don't like to be on a cruise and worry about booking my next, I don't want to waste my time doing this as I want to enjoy my cruise, get home then book another cruise, to me, it gives me more time to consider my options and choose what I want.

 

Trev71- I am the very same way!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dennis#1

Dennis#1

Posted
Posted
Not much reason for us. If we happen to be on board when new cruises come out and we're really sure of ship/date, then we would probably be more likely to book on board.

 

 

With the new policies, what are the benefits of booking onboard (besides the reduced deposits)? Do you still get the OBC to be used for the new cruise you booked?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dcgrumpy

dcgrumpy

Posted
Posted

I liked the reduced deposit. We're a family 5 and I normally book our cruises a year or more in advance. I prefer not to lay out that much money so far in advance. I booked a cruise while on IOS earlier this year. At that point I still had a 12 night WDW trip to pay for this summer. I wanted to pay that off before I paid a big chunk of money towards a cruise next year. Now that the WDW is over I've been making payments towards the cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...