Would you book Celebrity more often if not for the much higher prices for refundable deposits?

[D C]

Even the non-refundable fares are uncompetitive.  $1000 more per balcony room for a 7n on X vs Princess, HAL, or other lines isn't going to get them any business from me.  The refundable deposit prices hike just adds further insult to the prices.  

 

 

I recall several years ago where X deposits were typically refundable, and they offered an incentive to book non-refundable.  Took a couple of cruises where the non-refundable took us from a 3-perk "Drinks, Grats, OBC" perk list to all-4-perk "Premium Drinks, Grats, OBC, Wifi".  With no (or minimal) change in price, that was rather nice.  Those days are long gone now. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by D C

[jagoffee]

I am surprised that it took so long for Celebrity to implement a policy that requires an extra change for a fully refundable deposit.  I will admit I liked the $100 change fee policy with a cruise credit better.  Celebrity may have gone too far. 
 

I have never understood why car rental companies have such liberal reservation policies.  
 

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, rodndonna said:

Like others we only book non-refundable (on any cruise line).

 

The difference in price for us makes no sense compared to the level of risk. Paying hundreds more on every cruise to risk losing a deposit on maybe one cruise every 10? (We've never lost a deposit yet)

 

Maybe if makes sense if you typically book and cancel/change often, but if not, the math never seems to make sense to me.

 

Another thing is try to book when you can get low deposits, like purchasing FCD on board (deposit is then limited to $100pp) or when there are sales which are for low deposits. Not sure about Celebrity, but HAL has had  short term sales with deposits as low as $25. I do know with Celebrity there is an agency here in Canada where their price was the same as booking Celebrity on-line but the deposit was greatly reduced ($50 Can) for our last booking. We were using FCD so it didn't really matter for us but it was there.

I booked a cruise on Princess with a one dollar deposit and $100 per person on onboard credit. So when they canceled my cruise, they asked if I wanted my two dollars back, or if I wanted to retain the two dollar future cruise credit with $200 in future onboard credit. I chose the latter, lol.

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, D C said:

Even the non-refundable fares are uncompetitive.  $1000 more per balcony room for a 7n on X vs Princess, HAL, or other lines isn't going to get them any business from me.  The refundable deposit prices hike just adds further insult to the prices.  

 

 

I recall several years ago where X deposits were typically refundable, and they offered an incentive to book non-refundable.  Took a couple of cruises where the non-refundable took us from a 3-perk "Drinks, Grats, OBC" perk list to all-4-perk "Premium Drinks, Grats, OBC, Wifi".  With no (or minimal) change in price, that was rather nice.  Those days are long gone now. 

I can usually get a cruise on MSC with a balcony and Wi-Fi and easy plus drink package for less money than I would get for an ocean view without any of those perks on celebrity. I would be the first one to admit that Celebrity is a superior cruise line to MSC, but the numbers definitely do make a difference for us. 

[bikerunner]

AT this point, I will only book refundable as work can change very quickly for me.  I also never book directly with Celebrity and usually have a Group rate with the TA, which has the fully included and almost every time has been cheaper than the NR rate with no perks.  I usually am a year plus out on my bookings and really cannot do last minute cruises, plus I prefer the 9-11 day ones.  7 day ones will not work.  I have tried other lines and still find celebrity better all around, Princess, Hal, NCL MSC, Oceana (just had terrible service with them but agree with many others food was wonderful) have not gone with Regent or Silversea yet but eventually.  

[rodndonna]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

I am surprised that it took so long for Celebrity to implement a policy that requires an extra change for a fully refundable deposit.  I will admit I liked the $100 change fee policy with a cruise credit better.  Celebrity may have gone too far. 
 

I have never understood why car rental companies have such liberal reservation policies.  
 

 

I think it's because car rentals are just such a different model serving so many business clients and always running a statistical game and moving cars around (between locations) to deal with any gaps in availability that may result. How often do you rent a car (I always reserve the smallest/cheapest) but then there are none available and you get the next grade or 2 up. 

 

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

I booked a cruise on Princess with a one dollar deposit and $100 per person on onboard credit. So when they canceled my cruise, they asked if I wanted my two dollars back, or if I wanted to retain the two dollar future cruise credit with $200 in future onboard credit. I chose the latter, lol.

This seems strange to me.  If you could retain the $200 in future onboard credit with only a $2 deposit, wouldn't you be able to obtain $1000 in future onboard credit if you made 5 reservations and then cancelled them?  Was this just a one-time gesture or is this standard policy?

[hcat]

we always booked refundable over the years   but the price difference has led us to select NRD...so far we have done okay.. deposits have been smaller recently.

 

in general, we are booking fewer cruises, and for now sticking with X

[MarkWiltonM]

I have always booked nonrefundable fares on Celebrity. This is especially important to me on Edge-class ships because we like Sunset verandas (which is to say we don't like "infinite veranda" staterooms) and I have to book the SVs as close as possible to the release of the cruises before they sell out. For example, I booked an April 2025 cruise on Beyond back in December 2022. That's too far out for me to commit 100 percent to the cruise. I buy travel insurance when I book (actually, my TA provides it upon booking), but it doesn't cover "cancel for any reason" so I would be out the nonrefundable deposit if I canceled for a reason not covered by insurance.

 

I have noticed Celebrity is increasing the amount you have to pay for refundable deposits, and it's something I'll have to factor into my future bookings. We also cruise on Oceania a lot, and sometimes HAL. Those don't have tiers of fares based on refundable/nonrefundable deposits.   

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

 

I have never understood why car rental companies have such liberal reservation policies.

 

I missed the jump point here...

[Oceansaway17]

I do not like the idea of higher price but would book refundable if less than $500.

Otherwise nope

I dislike paying extra to select room too.

a bit of a scam that one is

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

dislike paying extra to select room too.

 

So wait until they're offering Guarantee cabins. I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of cruisers are pretty picky about their stateroom location and don't want to leave it to chance.

[Oceansaway17]

13 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

So wait until they're offering Guarantee cabins. I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of cruisers are pretty picky about their stateroom location and don't want to leave it to chance.

Nope as there is now issues with overbooking and the guar rooms get cancelled. Happened on Wonder OTS

I do pay for picking my room just annoys me.

[stevec999]

We book the non refundable. The deposit really doesn't have any impact on how often we book. We saved enough over the years that if we have to cancel the loss is way less than total savings. For 7 day cruises the deposit is not that much.  We have a 35 day (not Celebrity) booked and that was $1350 a person deposit I think. Losing that would be annoying but not the end of the world. 

[sanger727]

23 hours ago, PKB said:

I would never dream of booking a cruise without also booking outside travel insurance.  If I had to cancel and a nonrefundable deposit was involved, travel insurance claim is prudent.  

 

While the above takes care of the loss out of my pocketbook, it still galls me that Celebrity is keeping my money and adding to their pocketbook.

 

Unless you are cancelling for a covered reason, you would still have to pay extra for 'cancel for any reason' coverage and most likely not get the full amount returned. 

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

This seems strange to me.  If you could retain the $200 in future onboard credit with only a $2 deposit, wouldn't you be able to obtain $1000 in future onboard credit if you made 5 reservations and then cancelled them?  Was this just a one-time gesture or is this standard policy?

Princess is the one who cancelled the cruise, so they offered a return of the deposit, which in my case was $1 per person, and also offered $100 per person OBC if one took a FCC instead of a refund of deposit.  I'm sure some on that sailing had a more standard refund because they booked with a larger deposit, and if it meant tying up hundreds of dollars, I would have just had the deposit refunded.  But because I only had $2 on the line due to a promotion, it was worth potentially losing the two bucks for the upside of picking up an extra $200 in OBC.

Hopefully that made sense.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Stockjock

[TMLAalum]

$900 NRD is too expensive for us. However, our 3 upcoming Celebrity cruises were booked onboard or with a FCC purchased onboard (1 personally and 2 by friends while sailing). $200 NRD for those, and losing that is likely less than the cost of travel insurance. 

[alyssamma]

On 5/8/2023 at 10:54 PM, Stockjock said:

I rarely book cruises that are non-refundable, in terms of the deposit.  In fact, I don't think I've ever booked a non-refundable fare.

I've seen some cruises on Celebrity that interest me, but in order to make them refundable prior to final payment, I'd have to pay a much higher price.

What are your thoughts?  Would you be more inclined to book if all fares allowed for a refundable deposit prior to final payment?  Or are you just fine with the current structure of lower non-refundable fares and higher refundable fares?

Thanks for an interesting post that isn't about dress codes or chair hogs. I've seen you often on the MSC board.

 

Anyway, for me it's yes. X is my fav line, but I am booking them less because of cost. Yes, my TA occasionally gets me a great deal on a refundable group rate, but absent that, I don't want to pay that much higher for the cruise.

 

I'd be fine if I could take that and roll it into a different cruise but that is now no longer a thing.

 

 

[MMMCruiser]

Yes, I would.  I need a cruise to be fully refundable, at least until I can patch together flights, hotels, and the rest of my travel plans.

[SSAtlantic]

We have always booked cruises with a refundable deposit. However, Celebrity pricing is making us rethink this. We recently booked a Princess cruise a year from now with only $100 pp deposit refundable. A Celebrity cruise 4 months later deposit  was over $1300 higher fare then non refundable with a $450 pp deposit.  We were on board last week and booked it with $100 pp deposit with the non refundable rate. If we go, we will save quite a bit and not  lose a lot if we don’t. 
 

[phoenix_dream]

What's causing me to book fewer cruises these days is the prices in general.  This year we have 8 cruises booked/taken.  Next year so far 2, and maybe adding one or two more.  I don't like the high full refundable deposits, but I just book the non-refundable and cross my fingers.  Hopefully if I had to cancel my credit card travel insurance would cover me.

[phoenix_dream]

2 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Thanks for an interesting post that isn't about dress codes or chair hogs. I've seen you often on the MSC board.

 

Anyway, for me it's yes. X is my fav line, but I am booking them less because of cost. Yes, my TA occasionally gets me a great deal on a refundable group rate, but absent that, I don't want to pay that much higher for the cruise.

 

I'd be fine if I could take that and roll it into a different cruise but that is now no longer a thing.

 

 

How are they handling non-refundable deposits these days?  Do you lose the entire amount or does some part of it go to a FCC, which is what they were doing after a $100 pp penalty.

[RD64]

4 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I do not like the idea of higher price but would book refundable if less than $500.

Otherwise nope

I dislike paying extra to select room too.

a bit of a scam that one is

Why do you consider that to be a scam? It is an option just like drink packages etc. Celebrity has adopted this, as have other cruise lines to varying degrees - before you know it, it will be common practice for all. Remember - this is already being done in the UK.

Edited May 9, 2023 by RD64

[Duanerice1]

I don;t even think about it.  Not sure if I've ever booked any travel, other than hotels, that was refundable.  I'm willing to take the risk on the deposit and most companies let you apply it to another travel date. 

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, RD64 said:

Why do you consider that to be a scam? It is an option just like drink packages etc. Celebrity has adopted this, as have other cruise lines to varying degrees - before you know it, it will be common practice for all. Remember - this is already being done in the UK.

If they publish a price for a category of room it should selectable.

A passenger should have the published price for the room of their choice.

it is a racket IMHO.  They could offer a discount for guaranteed room on a published price rather than increase an addl amount to select a room.

I guess it is all about presentation.

 

Not sure why UK pricing should be different than for USA. That explains why UK customers won’t sympathize on any issues we have.

It sounds like various unfair pricing in my opinion. But RCI has overbooked rooms and it is those guarantees getting bumped off a week or so before.