Current cancellation policy?

[berkeleykel]

Pretty annoyed with Royal Caribbean after having been sent an email about their Cruise with Confidence policy that I think goes beyond just misleading. Email says you can cancel up to 48 hours before the cruise for FCC but when you click on the link for more info, lo and behold it is only for cruises booked by March 2022. I received this email TODAY. In July.  What bullcrap are they playing. 
 

Besides the whining, to get to the real point of my post, when actually booking my cruise it was a bit unclear but seems like if I cancelled at any point I would lose the full deposit.  Has anyone had experience with recent cruise booking to know what they are doing in practice? I wouldn’t expect to get my deposit back if I outright canceled but I’d like to be able to move it to a different cruise if we couldn’t make this sailing for some reason. 
 

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[Cilla]

I had a live chat with them yesterday. I booked in February for a cruise next August and have to cancel. I wanted to book another one using the deposit but she said you had to cancel within 30 days so we have lost our deposit! Won't be booking another one

[Spang1974]

It really depends on where you booked your cruise? When you booked your cruise? Best off contacting your travel agent if you used one, or Royal Caribbean directly.

[ChessE4]

If you booked a non-refundable deposit cruise, you likely got a lower price.  Stated differently, if you had purchased a refundable deposit cruise, you would have been obligated to pay more at final payment.  We typically book well in advance and have our travel agent book with a refundable deposit.  But in the end we are hedging our bets as we pay more for the total package.

Bottomline: The net "loss" is the deposit less the discount you received at the time of booking, not really the total deposit.  If you want planning flexibility, book refundable deposits, and consider the type of travel insurance you purchase (the conditions under which you are covered for changes or cancellations).

[Spang1974]

15 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

If you booked a non-refundable deposit cruise, you likely got a lower price.  Stated differently, if you had purchased a refundable deposit cruise, you would have been obligated to pay more at final payment.  We typically book well in advance and have our travel agent book with a refundable deposit.  But in the end we are hedging our bets as we pay more for the total package.

Bottomline: The net "loss" is the deposit less the discount you received at the time of booking, not really the total deposit.  If you want planning flexibility, book refundable deposits, and consider the type of travel insurance you purchase (the conditions under which you are covered for changes or cancellations).

I have a sneaky suspicion they are from the UK (or London, Ohio). Unfortunately persons who booked in the UK are unable to book refundable deposits, or at least I have never seen the option. We do however have very good consumer protections in place when it comes to package holidays(which Royal sells its cruises under here).

[BrianB]

I cancelled my cruise on the Adventure this past May due to testing positive. I made the non-refundable reservation prior to March 2022, and the sail date was before Sept 2022 so it was covered by Cruise With Confidence. I called on May 8th, four days prior to the sail date. No problem. When I asked where I needed to send my positive test result, I was told it wasn’t necessary because it was more than forty-eight hours before the cruise, and CWC allows for cancellations for any reason. If it was less than forty-eight hours, then I would need to submit the test result.
Cruise cancelled and I received a full refund, deposit included, back to my credit card on May 25th. I’m in New Jersey.

[smokeybandit]

Why not just change the cruise date and pay the $100 change fee?

[berkeleykel]

I am in the UK but I booked via the US website. I was not given the option of a refundable deposit. I think maybe because I booked a suite?

 

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Why not just change the cruise date and pay the $100 change fee?

I guess that’s part of my question. The terms didn’t mention anything about the ability to change with a fee for bookings post May 2022. For some reason they have detailed info for bookings for prior to May 2022 and March 2022 but almost nothing for current bookings. Which isn’t super helpful given this is info that comes up when you are trying to book currently. 
It just says non-refundable but obviously as shown with their various policy changes over the past couple of years, non-refundable can mean various things and isn’t necessarily the same as non-changeable. 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, berkeleykel said:

maybe because I booked a suite?

Full suites are mostly non-refundable with a few exceptions.  Junior suites are normally available on a refundable basis.

[JasonOasis]

When did you book the sailing was it before March 31, 2022? 

Secondly in a later posted you state you booked it on the US website, have you called Royal directly because if the issue is you now need to switch sailings then all you would have to do is pay $100 dollar change fee.  I would start by getting Royal on the phone because depending on when you actually booked this sailing (before March 31, 2022) if the actual set sail date is before September 30, 2022 then cruise with confidence does apply to your sailing.  However if the day of the booking or the actual set sail date falls outside the dates given on the email then normal cancellation policy is in effect.  And it might be better to simply switch your ship and sail date and pay the change fee than to straight out cancel but I suggest you call Royal since you booked this online..

[YOLO]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Why not just change the cruise date and pay the $100 change fee?

If non-refundable and no CWC, then doesn't Royal charge the $200 cancellation fee because of the reservation number change?

[YOLO]

This according to @Matt...

So that is $100 per person.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/31/royal-caribbean-will-keep-full-deposit-if-you-cancel-your-non-refundable-cruise-fare

[berkeleykel]

1 hour ago, YOLO said:

This according to @Matt...

So that is $100 per person.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/31/royal-caribbean-will-keep-full-deposit-if-you-cancel-your-non-refundable-cruise-fare

Thank you very much, this answers my question.
 

I just booked today and I don’t have any reason to change or cancel at present; I was just trying to figure out what the policy was if there is an issue down the line. With young kids, COVID, and living abroad it can be difficult to pencil in a date with conviction 15 months ahead of time. 
 

I’m still baffled that Royal Caribbean would send me an email today setting out a CWC policy that already is outdated and inapplicable to try to convince me to book a cruise (which worked! And then I realized when I got to the check out stage that said policy was inapplicable with no details of the new policy!)

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, berkeleykel said:

I’m still baffled that Royal Caribbean would send me an email today setting out a CWC policy that already is outdated and inapplicable to try to convince me to book a cruise (which worked! And then I realized when I got to the check out stage that said policy was inapplicable with no details of the new policy!)

It looks like they just haven't updated their communications template for the emails that are generated from the cookies from visiting their site.

Royal doesn't excel in this area unfortunately. They have gotten better with keeping their website updated, but they miss things like this pretty often.