Are any pre-cruise bookings non-refundable?

[Aurianna]

My group is super on the fence about a water park cabana. I was thinking of booking it and watching prices to rebook if it comes down at all like I've done with some other things, but I'm scared there's super small print somewhere random that there are certain things I can't return. We don't even know for sure we're going to the waterpark.

 

I'm assuming this is good to cancel/refund like most other items on board? Is there anything you absolutely cannot play that game with?

[firefly333]

Nothing I can think of just dont wait too close to ship sailing date and get blocked out. Says 48 hours before but mine has closed sooner.

[leaveitallbehind]

Cruise planner purchases can be canceled and rebooked for a lower price without penalty anytime typically up to 48 hours prior to sailing. Pre-cruise planner purchases typically close at that point. They can also be canceled outright until this time for a refund to your credit card. 

 

Cancelations after that and on board, with certain restrictions and typically 24 hours prior to the scheduled date, will be issued an OBC.  I am not aware of any purchases that would be excluded from this policy.

Edited September 3 by leaveitallbehind

[lovesthebeach2]

46 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Cruise planner purchases can be canceled and rebooked for a lower price without penalty anytime typically up to 48 hours prior to sailing. Pre-cruise planner purchases typically close at that point. They can also be canceled outright until this time for a refund to your credit card. 

 

Cancelations after that and on board, with certain restrictions and typically 24 hours prior to the scheduled date, will be issued an OBC.  I am not aware of any purchases that would be excluded from this policy.

I may be wrong, but onboard I thought we had to cancel an existing excursion 48 hours prior. On the world cruise we cancelled 2 excursions we had booked long ago, and I thought they stressed it had to be cancelled 2 days prior… 

 

Oddly one of the cancellations we were issued refundable OBC to our onboard account but the other got credited back to my CC directly.

[Ken at the beach]

32 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I may be wrong, but onboard I thought we had to cancel an existing excursion 48 hours prior.

You are correct, on board it is 48 hours prior.  If they have a waitlist for the excursion they may waive the charge.  They have also waived the charge when one of our party was sick

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are correct, on board it is 48 hours prior.  If they have a waitlist for the excursion they may waive the charge.  They have also waived the charge when one of our party was sick

That may be correct for many situations but we have experienced 24 hour timeframes with full OBC credit, which is why I included that in my response.  And perhaps I should have clarified that.

 

I agree that the 48 recommendation is good and likely circumstance driven, just not carved in stone in our experience.

Edited September 3 by leaveitallbehind

[Ken at the beach]

5 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

That may be correct for many situations but we have experienced 24 hour timeframes with full OBC credit, which is why I included that in my response.  

 

I agree that the 48 recommendation is good and likely circumstance driven, just not carved in stone in our experience.

It is more than a good idea, it is the policy.

 

[leaveitallbehind]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It is more than a good idea, it is the policy.

 

Ken, I'm not going to argue the point with you.  Policy as it may be, it is not always followed based on our own experiences most recently with our NYE Oasis cruise.  That's all I'm saying.   

Edited September 3 by leaveitallbehind

[Ken at the beach]

2 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Ken, I'm not going to argue the point with you.  Policy as it may be, it is not always followed based on our own experiences most recently with our NYE Oasis cruise.  That's all I'm saying.  

Okay, so you be the one to tell people it is absolutely fine to cancel at 24 hours and then have them not get a refund.  I agree that sometimes exceptions are made but you should not be telling people with the absolute certainty that you are that 24 hours is fine because it is not.

[ahahn078]

Usually it's 48 hours, but be sure to read the fine print in case they decide to change the deadline for full-refund cancellations.

 

I booked a Jetski excursion pre-cruise, but cancelled 48 hours ahead due to weather-related concerns (too cool for me to jetski). Got a full refund during the next day. 

[leaveitallbehind]

18 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Okay, so you be the one to tell people it is absolutely fine to cancel at 24 hours and then have them not get a refund.  I agree that sometimes exceptions are made but you should not be telling people with the absolute certainty that you are that 24 hours is fine because it is not.

Please don't put words in my mouth.  I never said it is absolutely fine or with absolute certainty.  I originally said "typically".  I then corrected myself in my response to you by agreeing with your correction to 48 hours, but further qualifying my response that exceptions have been made in our experience. 

 

I then responded to you further by saying the 48 hours was a correct recommendation to be made, but that in our experience it isn't always followed.  Sorry if you took issue with "recommendation" as the choice of word.  But the exceptions in our experience is a factual response.

 

Clearly as you have pointed out the policy is 48 hours and if I were to make a further suggestion on these boards it would be to that.  I don't like providing incorrect information and don't mind being politely corrected, and not sure why you are being so argumentative about it - especially after I said I wasn't arguing your point. I was only qualifying the facts of our experience. 

Edited September 3 by leaveitallbehind

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Ken, I'm not going to argue the point with you.  Policy as it may be, it is not always followed based on our own experiences most recently with our NYE Oasis cruise.  That's all I'm saying.   

So,,, anyone can ask for an exception. The vast majority of the time it is denied. That's good business. Let's not set the expectation that everyone should go up to the ShoreEx desk and demand a refund a few hours before their excursion. 

 

The policy is what can reasonably be expected. Nothing more. 

[leaveitallbehind]

16 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

So,,, anyone can ask for an exception. The vast majority of the time it is denied. That's good business. Let's not set the expectation that everyone should go up to the ShoreEx desk and demand a refund a few hours before their excursion. 

 

The policy is what can reasonably be expected. Nothing more. 

That is not my intent. And I was originally incorrect in thinking, based on our experience, that it was typically 24 hours.  Since corrected.  I simply have stated since then that the policy is not always adhered to based on personal experience. 

 

By the way, nothing was demanded and I never suggested that. Please don't also put words in my mouth  Perhaps the circumstances at the time regarding my experience were deemed reasonable and valid.  I'm only stating my experience, nothing more. 

 

I also agree that it is a responsible policy that should be expected to be followed.

Edited September 3 by leaveitallbehind

[firefly333]

11 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

So,,, anyone can ask for an exception. The vast majority of the time it is denied. That's good business. Let's not set the expectation that everyone should go up to the ShoreEx desk and demand a refund a few hours before their excursion. 

 

The policy is what can reasonably be expected. Nothing more. 

I arrived onboard and tried 2 days before we hit roatan to cancel. They combined groups and I got put in a earlier group I didnt sign up for. I didnt have wifi to prove I signed up for a hour later and was told I couldn't cancel. Was within the 48 hour window, I was more like 42 hours before and denied. Also 100% rain forecast. 

 

Friends on same excursion unknown to me also tried to cancel same night and also denied. .. and sure enough it poured rain. I let it go but I was put at a different time than I signed up for. Onboard said well they didnt change my time. 

 

Someone else tried the they were sick to cancel. They were told they needed a note from the onboard medical facility which you couldnt get for free. They were sick for real. So even someone sick was unable to cancel. Needed a note.