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paying for the cruise


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My cruise is not till Feb25th 2023 and thru my agent I have the air2sea plane tickets. I was wondering when is the best time to fully pay for the cruise or just wait till I hear from my travel agent. Everything is all ready reserved except for the hotel stay the night before the cruise. Looking forward to hearing all of your suggestions. Happy Cruising!

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Every one approaches this differently.

Some pay immediately upon booking

Some pay at the last minute (90 days prior to embarkation)

Some pay incrementally over time.

There is no "right" way, one must do what one is comfortable with. Whatever you do, do not miss final payment and do not rely solely on a travel agent to keep it straight for you; these boards are full of stories that do no end well due to missed final payment date.

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It is generally advisable to retain at least a small balance due until close to final payment.  There are some things that are complicated by a paid-in-full cruise.  Sometimes it is difficult to take advantage of a cruise fare reduction if you have paid in full…especially if you have used Future Cruise Credits to pay for your cruise.  Once a cruise is paid in full you can no longer transfer the booking to a travel agent.  Most of the time there would be no issue with paying your balance in full in advance but since there is really no down side to waiting until closer to final payment, it is just easier to wait.  Just be cognizant of final payment date, as  @TXcruzer mentioned.   If you miss it, they can cancel your cruise for non-payment and that be a bummer.

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Case in point for what @WAAAYTOOO mentioned...  last week I booked a November cruise since it appeared to be a really good price.  I was going to pay it in full because we aren't that far from final payment due date.  Yesterday I saw my really great price was even cheaper and I saved another $100.  If I had paid in full the credit would have become more complicated.  The savings paid for my prepaid gratuity.  So glad I didn't pay it in full last week.

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In the past, I would pay a portion each month to basically budget it all out, leaving a few hundred for final payment in case of last-minute price drops. These days, I'm not confident yet that a sailing couldn't end up canceled due to another emergency scenario. I would say to just put any money you might use on monthly payments into a savings account, and then either pay it all off a couple of days before final payment; or at most split it across two credit card billing cycles in the month leading up to final payment.

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I am paying mine as I have extra money in my vacation fund.  It helps me control booking and paying for cruises.  When I have more than 2 cruises booked that are not paid for, I know to slow down my booking and/or vacations.

Note:  I have rean into issues that @WAAAYTOOO is talking about.  They can work it out, but it would be easier if it was not paid in full.

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as many here have learned  if the cruise industry has your $ and Covid type things occur (🙏🏻) you’d have difficulty getting  your $ back quickly. If you are concerned you might spend the money prior to final payment maybe open a travel account at your bank to put the money away.  If it’s a matter of having too much in the bank (like college FAFSA) then consider to pay it now. Otherwise I don’t see a benefit of paying it early. 
all travel agents I’ve used always ask for payment 7-10 days prior to final payment.  It gives a cushion for them to work with when making the payments to Royal 

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I usually wait until about 3wks before final payment and pay mine. There could be a problem, so I don't want to wait too close or pay too early in case of price drops. I actually had a cruise that had final payment on June 29th, but I paid it the 11th, well a sale happened, and I was able to save $116. 

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I never pay more than the required deposit at booking.  I make my full/final payment on the last day/minute possible.  I treat my money as an employee, I try to have it work for me, not be lazy and sit in a non-interest growing place.  Not that a few thousand dollars are going to make me a rich man.  Not only that, if an emergency comes up and you have to cancel your cruise to access that money, it could take days to get back (thankfully, that hasn't happened to me, yet!  But, anything is possible).  So, I would recommend not paying a cruise off until the last minute.  I also would recommend that if you want to make payments to your cruise account, do it to your own "savings account" or under your mattress, what ever.  I also keep in mind that most cruise lines are just one pandemic away from going out of business.  Limit your exposure as much as possible.    

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I usually pay only the deposit at the time of booking, and then schedule my final payment for at least ten days prior to the final payment due date. I do not use a TA and take responsibility for my own payments. By making the final payment more than a week in advance, I’m making sure the payment clears with plenty of cushion (got to consider weekends and holidays).

On another note, I have seen prices drop after I had made my final payment and before the final payment due date. When I called and had the price adjusted…the difference was always credited back to my credit card within a week. Even if the date it was credited was after the final due date. I never had a problem with refund versus OBC. Several times I re-priced after final due date and had OBC applied. For me, it worked as expected. Good luck!

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On 7/11/2022 at 8:03 AM, Moby Dick said:

I never pay more than the required deposit at booking.  I make my full/final payment on the last day/minute possible.  I treat my money as an employee, I try to have it work for me, not be lazy and sit in a non-interest growing place.  Not that a few thousand dollars are going to make me a rich man.  Not only that, if an emergency comes up and you have to cancel your cruise to access that money, it could take days to get back (thankfully, that hasn't happened to me, yet!  But, anything is possible).  So, I would recommend not paying a cruise off until the last minute.  I also would recommend that if you want to make payments to your cruise account, do it to your own "savings account" or under your mattress, what ever.  I also keep in mind that most cruise lines are just one pandemic away from going out of business.  Limit your exposure as much as possible.    

^^^This^^^  I put mine in a separate savings account. Why should RCCL make money off of my money and not me. My TA will charge my "travel" card, so I will get points for flights too and then just roll the money to the payoff of the card.  A few thousand dollars is not going to make me a rich man either, but it will most likely buy me and Mrs Fan dinner out one evening.

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We always wait to pay in full until close to final payment date. Why let them have your money early? I’d rather have that money working for ME, not them. 
 

I also will ask my TA to check the difference between my refundable deposit and non refundable. If non refundable fare is less near final payment, we switch the deposit to non refundable. It’s not always less but my October Odyssey was close to $1800 less going with non refundable. That paid an airfare to Rome! 

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This is really good advice, I generally pay in full asap because once I almost lost my price because of a small balance due on an alaska cruise in peak season when rates had quadrupled since I booked. But now I realize a midsummer Alaska cruise is an anomaly and holding back might have it's advantages. Thanks

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