Non Refundable Deposit Transfer Fee

[Cruise Junky]

Can you help me find the clause on Celebrity’s website regarding the $100 transfer to another cruise if you cancel a NRC?  I give up 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

thank you.  

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

Can you help me find the clause on Celebrity’s website regarding the $100 transfer to another cruise if you cancel a NRC?  I give up 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

thank you.  

 

In March, Celebrity announced the new procedures regarding NRD deposits and they published an FAQ which may answer your question.  Here is the document:

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

 

[jagoffee]

10 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

In March, Celebrity announced the new procedures regarding NRD deposits and they published an FAQ which may answer your question.  Here is the document:

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

 

For a $100 change fee per person, you can change the ship/sail date and not lose you NRD, correct?  The main change is that you can no longer get FCC and select a cruise later.

 

AM I understanding the FAQ’s correctly?

[mahdnc]

10 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

For a $100 change fee per person, you can change the ship/sail date and not lose you NRD, correct?  The main change is that you can no longer get FCC and select a cruise later.

 

AM I understanding the FAQ’s correctly?

 

The answer to the first FAQ is worded poorly. You do not lose your NRD if you switch sailings. You are charged $100 for each change.   You lose the NRD if you cancel.

[Cruise Junky]

30 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

In March, Celebrity announced the new procedures regarding NRD deposits and they published an FAQ which may answer your question.  Here is the document:

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

 

Thank you 🙏 

[jelayne]

So it seems with an onboard booking with a $100 pp deposit a change to ship/sail date is the same as cancelling.  

[RTShaker]

47 minutes ago, jelayne said:

So it seems with an onboard booking with a $100 pp deposit a change to ship/sail date is the same as cancelling.  

Other than the deposit on the new sail date will still only be $100 with a change, and you still keep your extra OBC for booking on board.

[jagoffee]

10 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

The answer to the first FAQ is worded poorly. You do not lose your NRD if you switch sailings. You are charged $100 for each change.   You lose the NRD if you cancel.

Thank you for the confirmation.  
Some  of the discussions on this tropic were confusing me.  Very workable policy for us.  

[CHEZMARYLOU]

@mahdnc, isn't this policy changing again on June 1 for suite bookings?  I thought I read that the entire deposit would be forfeited if a ship/sale date is changed. Or, is this just speculation?

[mahdnc]

22 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@mahdnc, isn't this policy changing again on June 1 for suite bookings?  I thought I read that the entire deposit would be forfeited if a ship/sale date is changed. Or, is this just speculation?

 

When I look at the new suite deposit policy effective on Jun1, it is silent on your question--so I presume that it has not changed.  Question 12 makes it clear that a non-refundable suite deposit is forfeited if the booking is cancelled.  Here is the link.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

3 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@mahdnc, isn't this policy changing again on June 1 for suite bookings?  I thought I read that the entire deposit would be forfeited if a ship/sale date is changed. Or, is this just speculation?

 

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

When I look at the new suite deposit policy effective on Jun1, it is silent on your question--so I presume that it has not changed.  Question 12 makes it clear that a non-refundable suite deposit is forfeited if the booking is cancelled.  Here is the link.

A TA who is active on the RCI forum said that they got confirmation the entire deposit is forfeited even if switching to a new sail date (there's no longer an option to pay a $100 change fee) for suite bookings. I'd imagine it would be the same for Celebrity.

 

Since the official terms and conditions regarding these new suite deposit rules have not been posted, it's not confirmed just yet if that's the case.

[Ken the cruiser]

From my understanding with regards to NRD bookings, "ship/sail" actually means "ship or sail", correct?

[RTShaker]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

From my understanding with regards to NRD bookings, "ship/sail" actually means "ship or sail", correct?

Correct. Ship and/or sail date.

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, RTShaker said:

Correct. Ship and/or sail date.

Interesting. I was under the impression, based on information our Celebrity vacation planner told us a while back, that you could not change both the itinerary and the ship if you had a booking with a NRD. I was always under the assumption you could only do that if your booking had a refundable deposit.
 

That’s why we always book our “place holder” cruises onboard with refundable deposits. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find anywhere on the Celebrity website where it confirms that. But I’m pretty sure there is no $100 pp transfer fee with a refundable deposit booking as we’ve done that a few times in the past without the penalty fee.

[mahdnc]

4 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

 

A TA who is active on the RCI forum said that they got confirmation the entire deposit is forfeited even if switching to a new sail date (there's no longer an option to pay a $100 change fee) for suite bookings. I'd imagine it would be the same for Celebrity.

 

Since the official terms and conditions regarding these new suite deposit rules have not been posted, it's not confirmed just yet if that's the case.

 

Yeah, we will see what actually shakes out.  Celebrity's announcements and bulletins are not normally masterpieces of clear communication.  Still, if deposits are forfeited from changes with ship or sail date, you would have thought they would make that very clear in the FAQ (because it truly would be a frequently asked question!).  As we all know, the FAQ "wasn't a Mozart" (one of my favorite Bill Cowher phrases following an ugly Steelers win).

[wrk2cruise]

27 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Interesting. I was under the impression, based on information our Celebrity vacation planner told us a while back, that you could not change both the itinerary and the ship if you had a booking with a NRD. I was always under the assumption you could only do that if your booking had a refundable deposit.
 

That’s why we always book our “place holder” cruises onboard with refundable deposits. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find anywhere on the Celebrity website where it confirms that. But I’m pretty sure there is no $100 pp transfer fee with a refundable deposit booking as we’ve done that a few times in the past without the penalty fee.

 

That's why I always make placeholder bookings refundable to avoid the $100 pp penalty for moving the booking.  You can change it to NRD when moving it.  Probably another loophole they will try to fix.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

That's why I always make placeholder bookings refundable to avoid the $100 pp penalty for moving the booking.  You can change it to NRD when moving it.  Probably another loophole they will try to fix.

Good point! That’s another strategy our CVP taught us IF it made economical sense to do so. However, it seems over the past year with the massive increase in Demand, the prices have only seemed to consistently rise rather than fall. Heck, on our July 2024 Apex cruise and our March 2025 Constellation cruise, the NRD rates are now higher than the refundable rates we booked them at when they first came out! 😂

[mahdnc]

9 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

That's why I always make placeholder bookings refundable to avoid the $100 pp penalty for moving the booking.  You can change it to NRD when moving it.  Probably another loophole they will try to fix.

 

The walls are closing in.  First jack up the refundable deposit fares to chase everyone towards non-refundable deposits.  Then make the non-refundable deposits very non-refundable.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

The walls are closing in.  First jack up the refundable deposit fares to chase everyone towards non-refundable deposits.  Then make the non-refundable deposits very non-refundable.

That’s where booking “place holder” cruises with $100 refundable deposits while onboard comes in very handy. On our last cruise, we booked 2 cruises in April 2025 on the Beyond that we have no intention of going on. 
 

Here’s a fun fact. The onboard Celebrity booking agent couldn’t figure out why we just didn’t purchase one of their Book Later packages. I asked her when did the OBC perk expire? She said 6 months, and I said that’s why! 😂

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/future-cruise

 

[wrk2cruise]

9 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s a fun fact. The onboard Celebrity booking agent couldn’t figure out why we just didn’t purchase one of their Book Later packages. I asked her when did the OBC perk expire? She said 6 months, and I said that’s why!

 

I've had the same thing where I think they "pretend" to not understand.  I there's another catch with the book later is that once you assign it to a sailing, if you then move it again the OBC drops as well (at least if you do it after 6 months).   I don't know this for sure but I have heard people say you can only move (assign) it once.   The only use I can see for those book later certificates is to buy for someone else as you can change all names on them which assigning to a sailing the first time.

 

Bottom line is the placeholder refundable sailing conditions are currently in my favor.   Refundable since I don't intend to take that specific sailing, hence the term placeholder.   If I'm 90% sure then I will generally make it NRD.

 

 

[mayleeman]

They need new terms since they have made mince-meat of what non-refundable means. I spent years not booking cruises because our ability to plan far in advance was minimal due to work issues for us both. We did not want to lose the $900 NRD if we had to cancel.

 

Only after we actually booked one did we learn about the $100 fee for transferring and that made the risk more palatable. 

 

"Fully refundable", "transferable" (for a fee), and "nonrefundable" might be a start.

Edited May 27, 2023 by mayleeman

[Islander500]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:56 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

That’s where booking “place holder” cruises with $100 refundable deposits while onboard comes in very handy. On our last cruise, we booked 2 cruises in April 2025 on the Beyond that we have no intention of going on. 
 

Here’s a fun fact. The onboard Celebrity booking agent couldn’t figure out why we just didn’t purchase one of their Book Later packages. I asked her when did the OBC perk expire? She said 6 months, and I said that’s why! 😂

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/future-cruise

 

Ken, Help me with this. I don't understand the difference. We do the "Book Later" because we have six months to decide what we want to book. Once that's done within 6 months, isn't the $100/PP charge for a change to the cruise booking you made (within six months) equal to the charge if you change the "future cruise" you actually booked on-board?  The OBC from booking on-board is part of either booking.  I don't understand the benefit.  Appreciate you clarifying.  

[wrk2cruise]

I also do what Ken does.  We book the future cruise with a refundable deposit so there is no charge to change the ship/sail date.  Then when we move it to the sailing of choice we can choose to make it a NRD at that time for more advantageous pricing.   Any subsequent change would be charged the $100/pp fee.

 

An example, I book this now for a March 2025 sailing, in Nov 2024 I decide I want to take a March 2026 sailing instead.  I simply move the reservation to the March 2026 sailing and change it to NRD (if desired).   I still get the book onboard OBC on the March 2026 sailing adjusted for the cabin type/number of nights.