Effective Mar 2 2023: Changes to Non-Refundable Deposit Policy

[C-Dragons]

11 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The refundable deposit on O is not the only enticement to book with them for us. The Retreat product is the ONLY thing that has kept us loyal to Celebrity. When Celebrity started pricing future Sky Suites at premium cruise line prices, we had no reason to not look beyond Celebrity for now. You would be surprised how many former Celebrity CC members are now on the Oceania forums and booking with Oceania. I know several fellow CC members who like me, regularly book Celebrity Suites, who are booking Oceania this year and next for the first time, because of future suites pricing.

I am not surprised at all that others are shopping around for better deals.

 As I said previously we prefer the larger X ships.

To each their own.  💐

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, the penguins said:

I am no expert but reading the various comments it seems that booking with non refundable deposits gives you a lower overall price. Therefore your solution would increase the cruise cost. Surely the current system gives the best of both worlds. 

That's assuming the refundable deposit cruise fare would remain the same IF the nonrefundable option was removed, which I doubt it would. Princess tried doing that a couple of years ago and eventually eliminated the NRD option, and their prices are just fine. I'm glad it works for some, especially when there was only a $100 "administration" penalty for cancelling a NRD booking prior to March 2. But now that the entire NRD is forfeited, that option is just a little too severe for us.

 

Non-Refundable Deposit Bookings (“NRDB”): To qualify for the lowest available cruise fare, guest must choose a non-refundable deposit. All deposit payments for NRDB made after 03/02/23 are non-refundable from the time of booking. 

 

Well, unless you book it onboard and hopefully still get the $100 pp deposit perk.

 

For us, as we now cruise with Princess, NCL, and maybe even HAL if the itinerary is just right, as well as Celebrity, we very much enjoy booking early (without penalty with their only refundable deposit offerings) to get the cabin category and (aft) location we desire. However, since the cruise lines don't post similar itineraries at the same time, sometimes a better itinerary comes along and we switch, as was the case recently with both a 2024 Eclipse Antarctica B2B cruise as well as the second leg of a 2024 Apex Northern Europe B2B cruise we originally booked in 2022. In both cases, Princess later posted more enticing itineraries and we switched. If we would have originally booked those Celebrity itineraries under the new NRD rules as of today, it would have been very painful to make those switches - $3,462 for the 24-day Eclipse B2B and $1,420 for the 7-day Apex cruise.

 

But we get it. Each cruise line has their own strategies, to include offering very diverse loyalty programs, to get their patrons to continue to book with them. It's all part of the cruising game and they all push the limits at various times to maintain profitability. In this case we feel Celebrity has pushed their NRD option over the limit.

 

BTW if you have booked NRD itineraries with Celebrity in the past and weren't aware of the change made today, as we only learned through this CC thread, how upset would you have been if you later had to cancel your cruise prior to final payment and had to learn the hard way about All deposit payments for NRDB made after 03/02/23 are non-refundable from the time of booking?

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

46 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The refundable deposit on O is not the only enticement to book with them for us. The Retreat product is the ONLY thing that has kept us loyal to Celebrity. When Celebrity started pricing future Sky Suites at premium cruise line prices, we had no reason to not look beyond Celebrity for now. You would be surprised how many former Celebrity CC members are now on the Oceania forums and booking with Oceania. I know several fellow CC members who like me, regularly book Celebrity Suites, who are booking Oceania this year and next for the first time, because of future suites pricing.

Sorry, not us. I believe the chances of us booking another Oceania cruise are pretty much nonexistent. But then we've cruised over 110 days with them and had a variety of negative experiences with their HQ staff. That being said, I wish you well and hope you only have fond memories cruising with them.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Just more reason to look at more premium lines, we have Oceania booked for 2025 and their deposits are 100% refundable.

Understand you point but I've been seeing different on many of the Premium line.  From my research I have not found any with 100% refund.

 

On most they have a requirement of 20-25% Deposit and on many this is non-refundable.   When looking at Oceania I was advised they have an administrative fees of $250 pp for cancellations for 90-180 days of cruise and 151-180 days for longer cruises.  For their upper suites the cancellation fee jumps to $500 pp for shorter cruises and 10% of fare for longer cruises.

 

On my upcoming Ponant Cruise there is a 25% deposit which is totally non-refundable.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Not when you book more than 6 months out, the $250 penalty starts at 6 months out, so it is much more friendly than Celebrity. I am booked for March 2025 on Oceania and cancel up to September 2024 with no penalty. That is still better than Celebrity. 

Ahh. .can see what your are saying.     So if you cancel 6 months out there is no cancellation fee but there is if cancelled between say 90 and 180 days.    Better than Ponant,

 

Silver Seas seems to be similar

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

58 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

I am not surprised at all that others are shopping around for better deals.

 As I said previously we prefer the larger X ships.

To each their own.  💐

 

I'm with you for sure.    So far I have only cancelled one cruise (as oppose to moving it) that was due to a mistake and booking the wrong week.   Celebrity waived the cancellation fee on that one. 

 

Paying $100 pp to change a reservation with a NR is a bargin to me compared to the additional $1,800-UP  for a Refundable -   May be cheaper to buy cancellation insurance.

 

Example of the RF fee for our 2025 cruise in a RS -

Edited March 2, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Just more reason to look at more premium lines, we have Oceania booked for 2025 and their deposits are 100% refundable.

 

Are not refundable fares still available on Celebrity?  

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Are not refundable fares still available on Celebrity?  

For a much higher booking price. For our Equinox cruise in June the difference between a NRD and a fully refundable deposit is $1579 for the two of us in a Sky Suite. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by terrydtx

[ldubs]

23 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

It’s a tough call for Celebrity and Royal, clearly the intent is to reduce the speculative multiple bookings that many people make then cancel prior to final payment.

 

 

Cutting down on speculative bookings is a reason I would support this change.   Right now we reserve hotels with a refundable or nonrefundable option. Refundable costs more.    Folks who are "iffy" and want to just bookmark a cabin can do so using the refundable fare.  In essence pay a price for taking that cabin off out of circulation for a period of time.   

[ldubs]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

For a much higher booking price. For our Equinox cruise in June the difference between a NRD and a fully refundable deposit is over $1000pp.  

 

Of course, as it should be.  But you are also paying a lot more for that "refundable" Oceania fare too.  

 

 

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Of course, as it should be.  But you are also paying a lot more for that "refundable" Oceania fare too.  

 

 

Not when I can book Oceania for about the same as a Sky Suite with Celebrity. On a cost per day Oceania can be a better deal than a retreat SS and I am getting much more of a premium experience with Oceania. If you are content to be in cabin categories less than suites or Aqua on Celebrity, then Celebrity is a better deal for you. For us we want at this point in our lives something more.

Edited March 2, 2023 by terrydtx

[ldubs]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Not when I can book Oceania for about the same as a Sky Suite with Celebrity. On a cost per day Oceania can be a better deal than a retreat SS and I am getting much more of a premium experience with Oceania. 

 

Overall experience for the $.   I understand that.  Thanks. 

[terrydtx]

44 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

So far I have only cancelled one cruise (as oppose to moving it) that was due to a mistake and booking the wrong week.   Celebrity waived the cancellation fee on that one. 

 

Paying $100 pp to change a reservation with a NR is a bargin to me compared to the additional $1,800-UP  for a Refundable -   May be cheaper to buy cancellation insurance.

The only cruise we have ever canceled on our own was last year on Oceania for a Baltic cruise we cancelled after Russia invaded Ukraine. We got a 100% refund for that cruise.

Edited March 2, 2023 by terrydtx

[Jim_Iain]

51 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The only cruise we have ever canceled on our own was last year on Oceania for a Baltic cruise we cancelled after Russia invaded Ukraine. We got a 100% refund for that cruise.

 

I would expect that to be the case.   Did you cancel before the Embargo went into effect.   I would have thought Oceania would have cancelled or modified the cruise substantially possibly offering a different option.

[Hlitner]

Oh my!  You mean non-refundable really means non-refundable.  Horrors!  We have plenty of issues with X (which is why we have no future cruises booked with this line) but agree with the concept of non-refundable deposits.  In most cases (with many line) this will get you a lower price or more amenities as an incentive to make a non-refundable booking.  If folks do not like that option they can generally pay a higher rate and get a fully refundable deposit.  

 

Low refundable deposits simply encourage folks to "hold" desirable cabins with the likelyhood that they will later cancel.  It pulls the most popular cabins out of inventory and prevents others, who have every intention of taking the cruise, of getting those cabins.  It also means the cruise lines will often find themselves with a large group of available cabins at the final payment date. And they sometimes need to sell those cabins at a much lower price (call it a fire sale).  

 

We actually have some friends who will book multiple cabins (with several different cruise lines) for the same time frames.  They later (around final payment time) decide which cruise they will take and then cancel the other bookings.  This is not uncommon and many cruise lines are now moving towards various disincentives for those false bookings.  

 

 

 

[NevadaCruiser2023]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

Oh my!  You mean non-refundable really means non-refundable.  Horrors!  We have plenty of issues with X (which is why we have no future cruises booked with this line) but agree with the concept of non-refundable deposits.  In most cases (with many line) this will get you a lower price or more amenities as an incentive to make a non-refundable booking.  If folks do not like that option they can generally pay a higher rate and get a fully refundable deposit.  

 

Low refundable deposits simply encourage folks to "hold" desirable cabins with the likelyhood that they will later cancel.  It pulls the most popular cabins out of inventory and prevents others, who have every intention of taking the cruise, of getting those cabins.  It also means the cruise lines will often find themselves with a large group of available cabins at the final payment date. And they sometimes need to sell those cabins at a much lower price (call it a fire sale).  

 

We actually have some friends who will book multiple cabins (with several different cruise lines) for the same time frames.  They later (around final payment time) decide which cruise they will take and then cancel the other bookings.  This is not uncommon and many cruise lines are now moving towards various disincentives for those false bookings.  

 

 

 

It's amazing to watch and see how many cabins open up after the final payment date for a particular cruise. 

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I would expect that to be the case.   Did you cancel before the Embargo went into effect.   I would have thought Oceania would have cancelled or modified the cruise substantially possibly offering a different option.

We canceled the week of the invasion, not knowing what Oceania would do itinerary wise and before the 180-day free cancelation window closed. A couple of months later Oceania dropped the St Petersburg port and added a sea day, so we were glad we canceled when we did.

Edited March 2, 2023 by terrydtx

[Ken the cruiser]

Can you refare a Celebrity booking with a NRD that has gone down in price any time prior to the final payment date? I know we couldn't on a 30-day HAL cruise back in 2019 when the price for our vista suite cabin category dropped $3,500 prior to the final payment date.

[omeinv]

20 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Can you refare a Celebrity booking with a NRD that has gone down in price any time prior to the final payment date? I know we couldn't on a 30-day HAL cruise back in 2019 when the price for our vista suite cabin category dropped $3,500 prior to the final payment date.

Yes.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Can you refare a Celebrity booking with a NRD that has gone down in price any time prior to the final payment date? I know we couldn't on a 30-day HAL cruise back in 2019 when the price for our vista suite cabin category dropped $3,500 prior to the final payment date.

Unless they change something you can refare if a reduction occurs prior to Final Payment.     I've done it many times with a NRD, the most recent about a month ago.

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Unless they change something you can refare if a reduction occurs prior to Final Payment.     I've done it many times with a NRD, the most recent about a month ago.

Thanks! I remember when our CVP quite a few years back would suggest we book a cruise with a refundable deposit (just in case something happens) and then refare it to nonrefundable just prior to final payment, if it made economic sense to do so, which we actually did a couple of times. However, I've noticed as of late on the more popular itineraries and associated cabin categories we book, the nonrefundable rate many times turns out to be more just prior to its FP date than when we originally booked the cruise with the refundable deposit.

 

For example and this really amazed us, our March 2025 New Orleans cruise where we booked an aft-facing AQ cabin on the Constellation is now $4,486 pp with a NRD whereas when we booked it when it first came out it was $4,476 pp with a refundable deposit. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[phoenix_dream]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:36 AM, NevadaCruiser2023 said:

I'm not sure what people really expected. Non-refundable sounds pretty self-explanatory to me. If you think you might cancel, pay a bit more for a refundable deposit.  The upfront cost may hurt a bit, but it'll definitely feel better if you had cancel due to say, declining health.  

The main problem is the amount of difference is rarely "a bit more" but rather substantially more. 

[phoenix_dream]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:36 AM, NevadaCruiser2023 said:

I'm not sure what people really expected. Non-refundable sounds pretty self-explanatory to me. If you think you might cancel, pay a bit more for a refundable deposit.  The upfront cost may hurt a bit, but it'll definitely feel better if you had cancel due to say, declining health.  

Duplicate post

Edited March 2, 2023 by phoenix_dream

[hcat]

On 3/1/2023 at 10:40 AM, mahdnc said:

 

No, the new stricter policy goes into effect with bookings made starting tomorrow.  Bookings made today are unaffected.

 

Glad to hear that,..our BEYOND cruise in RETREAT was supposed to be our last.(been there done that!). We enjoyed it very much, weakened,  and booked ASCENT. 

 

We will be grandfathered if we need to cancel or switch.  If not, we will  be slow to book another with X.   We used to book only refundable deposits but the prices for that category skyrocketed, so we switched to NRD.  

 

 The new policy seems complicated...not worth the added computations.. We'll just move on!

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by hcat

[jagoffee]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:28 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Personally, I wish they would just get rid of the nonrefundable deposit option and have just one price for each category, with the option to add All Included if so desired. But that's just me. 

I will take whatever discount I can get.  I would hate to see it no longer being offered.