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Monthly payments for Cruise?


firebuck

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2 minutes ago, castle25 said:

APR 15% !!!  Having a laugh.......

Right??

 

2 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

I just make my own monthly payments and don't have to pay any interest rates. 

Agreed - the whole point of booking far in advance is that you can save up and pay as you go.  I'm guessing this is catering to those who would rather see a lower number to make them feel comfortable about such a large purchase.  Ahh the psychology of marketing.

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They definitely will have biters.  They don't do these type of things unless they can make money.

My niece is getting married next summer and her fiancé was someone about to do this until we screamed NO!  They are young (25), millennials.  He saw this as easy peasy.  Just have them take care of it.  I swear he knows nothing about credit!  At their engagement party he was sat down by our side and explained to him how he was losing money by many people.

~ Fiance, I just sign up and they will take care of it, I don't have to do anything more, except give them my bank account for them to take the money monthly.

~~US:  You do realize you could just put that monthly payment into an interest bearing account and pay it all 90 days prior, gaining interest for you and her and not for them?

~Fiance:  Really?

~~US:  or you could pay it all off on a credit card that gives you points at a lower interest rate!  IE AMEX, use that card to buy gas, groceries, pay cell phone, etc and than you can use the points to fly 1st class there.

~ Fiance: Really?

~~US: Head shaking, YES, REALLY!  

 

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Just ran through a mock booking, and it looks like the traditional self booking  and self pay is still applicable, even for a booking less thatn nine months out. Good to know. I can see, however, that this would be a good opportunity to build or rebuild credit or pay for a cruise if one is not good at keeping on top of payments.

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On 10/18/2018 at 9:42 AM, whitsmom said:

I just make my own monthly payments and don't have to pay any interest rates. 

i wonder if this option is going to away in lieu of the new financing. I am regularly making a free payment on cruises that I have booked out. Then I can pay as I want to and can afford to. Adding 15% finance charge would make me think much differently about booking ahead. IIt seems that a lot of people do this based on just the postings here. I would think RCL would risk losing a lot of future bookings this way. Which would seriousl affect thier ability to forecast future earnings.

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6 hours ago, whenismynextcruise said:

i wonder if this option is going to away in lieu of the new financing. I am regularly making a free payment on cruises that I have booked out. Then I can pay as I want to and can afford to. Adding 15% finance charge would make me think much differently about booking ahead. IIt seems that a lot of people do this based on just the postings here. I would think RCL would risk losing a lot of future bookings this way. Which would seriousl affect thier ability to forecast future earnings.

Are you wondering if the option to make arbitrary payments on the RCCL website (with no interest charges) might be taken away ?  

I always make cruise payments (poor Michelle) but even if I didn’t have my TA make those payments (when I book directly with Royal) I never use the website anyway. I go through my bank’s web bill pay function and just send Royal a check.  I don’t see how Royal could (or would) ever “outlaw” this practice.

i suppose it might be possible for them to remove the “free” online payment option but I don’t see that being a wise move on their part.  Can you even still “make a payment” on the RCCL website ?  I don’t recall seeing it on the new and improved (HAHA) website.

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Yes @WAAAYTOOO that is what I was referring to. I dont normally use a TA for booking. When I have in the past I just pay in full. You can still book for yourself online with the minimum deposit and then make payments along the way until the final amount due. In my case I use my debit card so I am paying cash. 

The make a payment option is there when you log in and go to the my cruise section and if you have an outstanding balance there is the option to "make a payment"

What I was specifically referring to and I wasnt very clear about it seems is that these arre 0% interest payments in how we are both paying for the trips. With this new finance option with the 15% interest rate showing up I was wondering if that was a new trend for Royal -  Take awy the 0% and only have the 15% finance option. 

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This is an interesting subject....

I just did a mock booking for a sailing from Sydney, Australia in 2020, and the finance option was not available.

Maybe it is only available in certain markets? I am using the ".com.au" website.

As with most people so far in this thread, I would pay the minimum deposit, and then either make multiple regular payments until I had paid the full amount, or just wait until final payment is due and pay the balance then (leaving the money in my bank, earning interest for me until the payment date).

Without trying to sound funny, if my partner and I don't have the full cost of the trip in the bank, we wouldn't make the booking in the first place. Again, as noted by someone else, a cruise is a luxury, and we would never use credit for anything vacation related. I understand that not everyone thinks the same, and I'm not passing judgement on people who feel differently.

Anyway, as to why the "financing" option would be made available...

1. RCI thinks people are stupid, and will pay 15% pa without realising they can do the same thing interest free.

2. RCI are going to remove the option to make multiple part payments on bookings. Not sure how this would work unless they made it "Payment in full at time of booking", as most people would still pay minimum deposit, then just put the rest aside until final payment is due, and if full payment is due at time of booking, I would see that as a huge mistake on their part.

3. Can you take the "financed" option without making a deposit? If so, that could look attractive to someone who can't come up with a few hundred dollars at time of booking, but knows they could make regular payments.

At the end of the day, even if this option were available in Australia, it would not appeal to us, but as another option for those who either cannot budget, or have "different" cashflow situations, it could look appealing.

 

MOck.PNG

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No, it's not necessary, the only requirement is paying in full before the final due date.

In my opinion, the only time this financed monthly option makes sense is for people who want to sail soon but can't afford to pay all at once.  This option would allow them to book a cruise that sails a couple months from now, the financing company pays Royal the whole amount, the customer gets to make small, monthly payments not only past final due date but maybe even past the actual cruise.  Royal gets their money, the financing company gets some interest on the deal, and the customer sails when they couldn't before.

Anyone that can pay in full by final due date, should continue to do so, there's no reason to pay interest to anyone unless you have to!

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