Refundable deposit with current Sail Beyond Event?

[Mcart]

I was wondering if anyone has been able to book a refundable deposit with the current Sail Beyond Event?  In the past, they would typically give both refundable and non-refundable options when booking through the Celebrity website, and you could choose.  Currently, I see a Lowest Price, and Best Value option, both of which seem to require non-refundable deposits.  Does anyone know of a way to obtain the price for the cruise with the refundable deposit?  Based on discussions here and the fine print, it looks like the promotion applies to both deposit types.

Do I need to go through a Celebrity agent to see the cruise price with refundable deposit?  Is there typically a flat additional cost associated with booking refundable vs NRD?

[twins_to_alaska]

I called to get the refundable deposit.

[Cruise Raider]

I also called to get the refundable deposit on my booking.  I think it was about $100 more for the entire reservation but, that is still so much less than losing a deposit.  I think one is actually able to transfer a booking to another sailing if you the non-refundable deposit but, then there is a fee for doing this.  When I book my cruises so far out in the future, I'd rather just pay the extra for a fully refundable deposit.  

[wrk2cruise]

Yes they have refundable deposit with 1 or 3 perks under the current promo.  There are some TA web sites which show all the price combinations.  Evidently Celebrity pricing department is much smarter than the IT department as the IT department is unable to sell all the pricing combinations they have come up with.

 

I've found the differential between NRD and Refundable to be somewhere around $300 pp on the cruises I've looked at.  On some suites it's been well over $1000 pp which is crazy.

 

For me the NRD is worth the risk now if I make a booking I do plan on taking.  Even if I have to cancel or change sailing date I'm out $100 pp and the rest of the deposit is returned via a FCC to be used within a year.   As long as I don't cancel more than 1 out of 3 cruises I'm coming out ahead.   If I cancel for a covered reason my travel insurance will cover the fee as well.

 

I'm sure when they get us all comfortable with NRD they will change them to be fully non-refundable or have substantial fees like the airlines.

Edited December 26, 2019 by wrk2cruise

[Lastdance]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes they have refundable deposit with 1 or 3 perks under the current promo.  There are some TA web sites which show all the price combinations.  Evidently Celebrity pricing department is much smarter than the IT department as the IT department is unable to sell all the pricing combinations they have come up with.

 

I've found the differential between NRD and Refundable to be somewhere around $300 pp on the cruises I've looked at.  On some suites it's been well over $1000 pp which is crazy.

 

For me the NRD is worth the risk now if I make a booking I do plan on taking.  Even if I have to cancel or change sailing date I'm out $100 pp and the rest of the deposit is returned via a FCC to be used within a year.   As long as I don't cancel more than 1 out of 3 cruises I'm coming out ahead.   If I cancel for a covered reason my travel insurance will cover the fee as well.

 

I'm sure when they get us all comfortable with NRD they will change them to be fully non-refundable or have substantial fees like the airlines.

 

Agree, as on one of my booked cruises in a suite(S2) was almost $1,500...I know, right?  Let the games begin...

Edited December 26, 2019 by Lastdance

[goofysmom99]

I fiddled with the website last night trying to compare prices for cruises I have already booked.  Finally, when I clicked the little box "no thanks" when selecting perks, got a refundable deposit.

[wrk2cruise]

2 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

I fiddled with the website last night trying to compare prices for cruises I have already booked.  Finally, when I clicked the little box "no thanks" when selecting perks, got a refundable deposit.

 

Oh, that's intuitive!   It's much easier to see the various fare combinations on other sites.   The big online TA in the northeast is one.   One of the largest online travel sites which can be used as an encyclopedia is another.  I don't trust the Celebrity site anymore.   Just use it to confirm the price I get on other sites.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Oh, that's intuitive!   It's much easier to see the various fare combinations on other sites.   The big online TA in the northeast is one.   One of the largest online travel sites which can be used as an encyclopedia is another.  I don't trust the Celebrity site anymore.   Just use it to confirm the price I get on other sites.

 

You may want to consider checking a place that would more likely be considered as a car club.  There website is very well organized and has a straightforward listing of options.

[Mcart]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! I will stick with online TA websites over Celebrity's own!

[oh2cruise]

Hmmm... trying to figure out the online websites you are all referencing.  Stumped!  I think many of us prefer the Refundable option, particularly when planning far in advance.  

 

[hcat]

A  $100 pp difference between Refundable  and non would be  perfect for our budget,  but  we have been seeing much larger differences. We are not interested in the non ref plan b/c you can lose  quite a bit  if you do not re book within a set  time span  and there also seems to be a change fee/penalty.

 

Can you get just 2 perks with the  refundable dep.?  Or no perks?

 

We did not book anything  so far  from the new releases...nothing really caught our eye and the pricing was not easy to follow.   We have 3 booked cruises which  come with various perks, all refundable prior to final payment date. Not sure what we'll do next!

[ipeeinthepool]

5 hours ago, oh2cruise said:

Hmmm... trying to figure out the online websites you are all referencing.  Stumped!  I think many of us prefer the Refundable option, particularly when planning far in advance.  

 

 

Start at the beginning of the alphabet and repeat 3 times

[Educators2]

Many thanks to goofysmom for suggesting the “no thanks” option to get a price for the refundable deposit. I was able to lower the price of my cruise in May 2020 to Canada by $120 and get an additional perk.

I did try the suggested websites but could not find refundable rates. The difference in price between refundable and non-refundable was $400 for a balcony cabin on a 9 day cruise.

Thanks again...great workaround for a mock booking.

 

[wrk2cruise]

On 12/28/2019 at 9:42 PM, hcat said:

A  $100 pp difference between Refundable  and non would be  perfect for our budget,  but  we have been seeing much larger differences. We are not interested in the non ref plan b/c you can lose  quite a bit  if you do not re book within a set  time span  and there also seems to be a change fee/penalty.

 

Can you get just 2 perks with the  refundable dep.?  Or no perks?

 

We did not book anything  so far  from the new releases...nothing really caught our eye and the pricing was not easy to follow.   We have 3 booked cruises which  come with various perks, all refundable prior to final payment date. Not sure what we'll do next!

 

With the current promo you get 1 perk included in the price regardless.  I booked a few this way in the last month.  I have found that the TA sites which do list the various price codes don't seem to list this but I have been able to book it directly with Celebrity and with my TA.

 

Since one perk is included the refundable 1 perk rate is "PRICE GRAT".   If this were a non refundable rate it would be "PRICE GRAT NRD" and the discount is larger.  Of course if you choose another perk it will be OBC, BEV, WIFI.

 

One problem I did have is when I was having this promo applied the Captains Club rep I spoke with inadvertently applied the PRICE GRAT NRD to the reservation.  When he quoted me the price I knew it wasn't what I asked for.  When I received the invoice after he fixed the rate code it still had the line about it being a non refundable deposit and the $100 pp fee for ship/date changes.  It appears that they have no way to remove that from the reservation and finally they said they noted on the reservation that it was full refundable plus sent me an email to that effect.

 

Lesson:  Make very sure the agent knows what you are looking for even as far as quoting the rate code.

 

When they don't have the "free perk" promo the rate code for refundable deposit no perks is "Price Rate".

 

Hope this info helps.

 

 

 

 

[dgraham]

When I was trying to compare non-refundable and refundable, and wanted to compare with 3 perks (love my perks), I eventually noticed on the "lowest price" (NRD) option that when I selected it I could ignore the 1 perk choice it presented and instead chose the 3 Perks-Sail Plus option (which stated that the avg per person additional cost was $247pp) and found when I chose the 3 options OBC, tips, classic beverage, that the resultant cost was $1,000 CAD  lower for the 3 of us on a 14 day Europe cruise. So since we were sure we were taking that cruise, it was easy to select the NRD option.

[Jim_Iain]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:36 PM, oh2cruise said:

Hmmm... trying to figure out the online websites you are all referencing.  Stumped!  I think many of us prefer the Refundable option, particularly when planning far in advance.  

 

I usually do my shopping on the various major airline websites,   usually the one that begins with AA.   I like how they display all the open cabins with a blinking green dot.   It came in really handy when trying to find the same cabin for a B2B2B.    I also like that they show all the pricing options.

[hcat]

Wrk2cruise.

Thank you..we might consider a 1 perk refundable booking if we can choose the Classic Alc..

 

  We only really need the Classic Alc perk.  We  each get E plus wifi,  and OBC from our BOA card.  We can deal with grats on our own.

 

Will look at stuff next week ... while on our relaxing vacation in the Fla sunshine!

[wrk2cruise]

42 minutes ago, hcat said:

Wrk2cruise.

Thank you..we might consider a 1 perk refundable booking if we can choose the Classic Alc..

 

  We only really need the Classic Alc perk.  We  each get E plus wifi,  and OBC from our BOA card.  We can deal with grats on our own.

 

Will look at stuff next week ... while on our relaxing vacation in the Fla sunshine!

 

You can, it's "PRICE BEV".   I don't need beverage package as I get it and wifi as part of my loyalty perks so pick OBC or GRAT depending on cruise length.