Non-refundable fare

[electricguy]

Has anyone heard of a non-refundable fare?  It showed up on two of my big box booked 2021 cruises on their website today.  I have only deposits paid on both cruises.

[oaktreerb]

22 minutes ago, electricguy said:

Has anyone heard of a non-refundable fare?  It showed up on two of my big box booked 2021 cruises on their website today.  I have only deposits paid on both cruises.

Yes.  Call the big box TA.  They should have explained this concept.  If you booked online maybe you missed it.  This is important.

[DFD1]

We booked a cruise a while back and the VTG agent told us that any money we paid toward the cruise was non-refundable for any reason.

 

We did not like the idea and have  been careful not to do it again.

[RMLincoln]

We booked once on a non-refundable FLASH fare, but really it was a re-fare situation that we upgraded into about 2 or 3 weeks out from sail date.  We were deep into the penalty period anyway, so we figured, why not!  

 

I still think if HAL cancels a cruise the non-refundable fare should still be refunded, or at the very least one would get a credit.  Otherwise isn't that fraud?  But the fine print may say differently, a lesson for the future.  m--

[electricguy]

Finally got through to TA who checked with HA and both cruises are fully refundable.  Must be a glitch in there computer system. If I look at both cruises today on the TA's website the only fare shown is non-refundable with Have it All perks.  No other options available on line with the TA today.

[iancal]

We typically only do non refundable cruise fares.  Anywhere from 3-6 weeks from sailing.  Same for other travel products.  For the past nine years.  We would not consider doing a non refundable any further out than this even in 'good' times.  

 

The covid crisis has only served to reinforce that this is the best option for us.

Edited May 8, 2020 by iancal

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, electricguy said:

Finally got through to TA who checked with HA and both cruises are fully refundable.  Must be a glitch in there computer system. If I look at both cruises today on the TA's website the only fare shown is non-refundable with Have it All perks.  No other options available on line with the TA today.

Good!  Glad to see you were able to confirm that they are actually refundable!

[DFD1]

It always is a good idea to check for yourself.  I've had agents in the past who failed to tell me when a fare was non-refundable. Glad it worked out for you.

[Mud_Shark]

Ya - I am a penny pincher and took the non refundable fare for our September cruise.  I had to put down $2300 in deposit.  I figured we were certainly going on this cruise, but that was a long time ago - well before COVID.  Now the cruise has not officially cancelled yet, but I do not want to give HAL any more funds towards this cruise as it will just get locked in the system.  I seriously doubt the cruise will happen.  I would like to think one day we will get the deposit back, but not all that confident we will.  First the cruise has to be officially cancelled.

 

Don

[macintx]

That happened to me.  I booked through a big-box TA, with a refundable deposit/fare.  A few days later the red words "non-refundable fare" appeared in my reservation when I checked it, even though my confirmation email with receipt said nothing about being non-refundable (I would never book a non-refundable fare and I read all the fine print thoroughly!)  I called my TA, who confirmed that HA had it in their system as refundable, so it was just a computer glitch in the big-box TA's system.  It was corrected within a day, and it now doesn't say that any more.  They did say they had several people call about it and that IT dept was aware of it, but they weren't sure why it was happening.