What's the deal with nonrefundable fares?

If you've been cruising for a while you may have noticed that NON-refundable fares are everywhere now. This wasn't always the case. Carnival was the pioneer of nonrefundable fares and stood as one of the only ones offering them for quite some time. But now it seems like every cruise line is offering them! A lot of newer cruisers don't even realize that REFUNDABLE deposits are a thing! It's incredibly tricky to discern between the two on many cruise line websites. A lot of my clients don't even realize they are being offered something nonrefundable when they are doing a search on their own. I am careful to always disclose the difference!

I am not going to go in to nitty gritty details on these, but rather I will give you the highlight reel with links for further reading :)

Know what you're getting in to when pricing cruises. Better yet, contact me to do the dirty work for you :)

Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean introduced nonrefundable fares in July of 2017. Since then you have two options for booking. Refundable and Nonrefundable, of course.  Refundable deposit fares can be cancelled with no penalty up until final payment. You will get the full amount back. Nonrefundable fares work a little different. You place a deposit based on length of cruise and number of people as usual, but Royal holds on to that money. If you need to change the ship or sail date, you're charged a $100 per person change fee. The balance of what you paid then gets converted to a Future Cruise Certificate. That FCC must be applied to a new reservation within one year.

So, what's the motivation to book a nonrefundable fare? They are less money. It varies by ship and date, I've seen differences over $500 and less than $25. It just depends. So if you know for sure you're going to cruise, go ahead and book that nonrefundable rate for some savings. If you're not 100% sure you can go on the date, I would recommend taking the refundable option.

*Something to keep in mind is that for Suite Guests, a nonrefundable deposit is the only option.

Here is the official policy from Royal Caribbean HERE.

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Carnival

Carnival has the largest number of booking fares for cruises.  I typically see 5-8 fare types for every cruise depending on whether someone is a past guest, casino connoisseur, or what have you. So I will focus on Early Saver rates since those are the most generic and popular of their nonrefundable rates. You place a deposit based on length of cruise and number of people as usual. If you need to change the ship or sail date, you're charged a $50 per person change fee. The balance of what you paid then gets converted to a Future Cruise Credit. That FCC must be applied to a new reservation within two years. These Early Saver Rates are typically less than the fully refundable rates. Pack & Go is another one of their nonrefundable fares, but that one is 100% nonrefundable as soon as the money is paid since these are only available last minute.
Carnival's official policy is located HERE.

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Princess

Princess Cruise Line does not have a set nonrefundable fare type.  In fact, most of their fares happen to be fully refundable up until final payment.  What has changed for them is that some of their sales are part of a nonrefundable deposit requirement. Those special sales have deposits that are 100% nonrefundable and cannot be converted to a credit either. 

Read more about Princess Cruise Line's Passage Contract HERE.

Celebrity

Celebrity's nonrefundable deposit fares are very similar to Royal Caribbean's. This makes sense being that they have the same parent company. There is a $100 per person change fee for any ship or date changes. If you need to cancel, you'll be issued a FCC minus the change fee.

Celebrity's Nonrefundable Fare Q&A HERE

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If you're still confused about how to figure out which one is the right one or which one you're even looking at, please reach out to me.  It's so much easier for me to lay it all out for you in an easy to understand and compare format.