Buying drinks package on board

[James31194]

Hello everyone, 

I’m going on a cruise mid February and bought a drinks package in the cruise planner which I then cancelled do to seeing the price go down so I would rebook at the cheaper price. 
 

however I have been told the refund could take 30 days to clear. I don’t have the money to buy the drinks package again right now so if I wait to get the drinks package on board will I have to pay the cost of the package on the first day or can I add it to my stateroom account and pay the balance at the end of the cruise which by then I would’ve been paid again? 
 

also will the refund take 30 days from my original purchase of the package or will it come sooner? 
 

thanks 

[Matt]

2 hours ago, James31194 said:

if I wait to get the drinks package on board will I have to pay the cost of the package on the first day or can I add it to my stateroom account and pay the balance at the end of the cruise which by then I would’ve been paid again? 

Any purchase you make onboard is charged to your SeaPass account, which gets charged to your credit card at the end of the cruise.

2 hours ago, James31194 said:

will the refund take 30 days from my original purchase of the package or will it come sooner? 

Cruise planner purchases usually get refunded in about 7-10 days or so.

[Fox Forlenza]

2 hours ago, James31194 said:

I don’t have the money to buy the drinks package again right now so if I wait to get the drinks package on board will I have to pay the cost of the package on the first day or can I add it to my stateroom account and pay the balance at the end of the cruise which by then I would’ve been paid again? 

If it went down and you want it at that rate, I'd find someone who could maybe loan you the money in the interim.  Once you get onboard the costs can skyrocket to more than you paid when you bought it originally and had refunded, it likely won't be the rate you saw in the cruise planner especially if they are running a "sale".

At that point you may want to consider buying everything a la carte.

[CrimsonCruiser]

Assuming that the price went down due to the current sale, it unfortunately means your time to grab at this lower price is limited. There's no guarantee the next cruise planner sale will offer the same discounts.

Obviously I'm not certain of your specific financial situation so my suggestions may not apply, but can you put the new purchase on a credit card? You can pay it off with the refund as soon as it is applied. Maybe you can also have your travel partner (if you're going with someone) shoulder the new cost until the refund processes.

I hope you're able to find a way to grab the new lower price,it'd suck if you have to rebook at a potentially higher rate.

And yeah - for sure onboard will not be better. According to the Drink Package info page the deluxe (which is what I assume we're talking about here) can run "...$63.00 - $89.00/per day for 2021-2022 sailings."