It might be easy to imagine yourself having a great vacation, but we never know what life has in store for us. So, when your plans don’t work out, can you get a refund on your cruise? Cruise line booking policies can be complicated to understand, but we’ll see if we can help clear things up so you understand if cruise bookings are refundable. Note that policies can vary depending on what country you’re in, so keep in mind that the information below is about bookings where the guest is in the US (though Canada’s policies are generally similar).
How Cruises Are Paid For
For most cruise lines, if you’re booking far enough in advance (which could be 60-180 days before sailing), you’ll put a deposit on your cruise to reserve your accommodations and lock in your rate. The deposit could be a fixed dollar amount, or a percentage of the cruise fare. Paying a deposit means you don’t have to pay the entire cruise fare today if you’re not sailing for a long time.
If you decide before it’s time to pay your full balance and commit, that you don’t want to take the cruise you’ve booked, you can often get the deposit refunded - but it may depend on the fare type you booked.
Final Payment Dates
The deposit is of course only part of your cruise fare, and the “final payment date” is the date by which you must pay the balance in full. While this varies by cruise line, length of sailing, and other factors, it’s usually 60-180 days before the embarkation date. If you book before the final payment date, you’ll only be required to pay a deposit. If you book after the final payment date, you’ll need to pay for your cruise in full. Either way, any reservations not paid in full by the final payment date will be canceled by cruise line.
Understanding Fare Types - Refundable Deposits vs Non-Refundable Deposits
Some cruise lines allow you to book different types of fares, at different costs, which will impact your cancelation options - as well as your overall cost. Each option has it's advantages.
Refundable Deposit Fares
If you book a refundable deposit fare and decide to cancel before your balance is due, you’ll get your money back. For years, this was, for the most part, the only way it worked, and it’s still the most common way it works - at least with some lines. While this seems simple, remember we’re just talking about what happens to the deposit in the event you cancel - and only up to the date by which you need to pay the balance.
Non-Refundable Deposit Fares
Non-Refundable Deposit fares are an option on several cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean International. If you book one of these fares and decide, even months in advance of the sailing date, that you want to cancel, you will not get a refund. Instead, the cruise line may allow your deposit money to used for a different sailing - but there are rules around that, such as how many times you can reschedule and how long you have to use that future cruise credit. There may also be change fees assessed.
Why might someone choose a non-refundable deposit rate? The total cost of the cruise is cheaper with non-refundable deposits than with refundable deposits. So, if you’re confident you’re sailing, this can save you some money.
Canceling a Cruise After Final Payment
If you’ve already passed the final payment date (and you indeed paid), but need to cancel, it’s no longer just the deposit in question - but the entire cost of your cruise. How much money you get back if you cancel at this point depends on how far away your cruise is, and sometimes other factors, such as the type of accommodations you've booked. The cruise line will usually keep a significant portion of what you paid as a penalty for canceling this late in the game. For example, here is how this works with Norwegian Cruise Line (which is pretty similar in structure to how some lines do this, even if the days and percentages may vary):
| Days Prior to Departure Date | Cruise/Cruisetour and Air Cancellation Fee | |||
| All Sailings (Club Balcony Suites and Below) | ||||
| 119 - 91 days | 25% | |||
| 90 - 61 days | 50% | |||
| 60 - 31 days | 75% | |||
| 30 days or less | 100% | |||
| The Haven Suites, Suites and Garden Villas | ||||
| 119 - 106 days | 25% | |||
| 105 - 91 days | 50% | |||
| 90 - 61 days | 75% | |||
| 60 days or less | 100% | |||
| *Cancellation Fee for 3-8 Guests will also follow the schedule outlined above | ||||
While the exact percentages and days can vary by line, it’s safe to say that if you cancel after your final payment date, cruise lines impose significant penalties.
Canceling a Cruise with Trip Insurance
If you need to cancel a cruise, then trip insurance may help - but only if it’s for a covered reason, and usually, these policies pay you directly - they don’t make the cruise line to refund your money. So, if your policy covers cancelation due to a certain type of medical emergency that keeps you from traveling, and that happens to you, then you’ll not get your money from the cruise line, but instead file a claim with the insurance company and get paid by them, based on the terms of your policy. Most policies have strict guidelines on what circumstances are covered, meaning they don’t cover you simply deciding to cancel, or any other reason not specifically listed in the agreement. For any policy to cover the actual expense of your trip, it usually has to be purchased within a short time of booking and/or before you're subject to cancelation penalties.
There are “cancel for any reason” policies, and addendums to policies, but they tend to be very costly and only cover a portion of what you paid.
It’s critical to know what circumstances a policy covers before purchasing it, as making assumptions here can have major financial consequences.
Trip insurance is potentially the most misunderstood, yet often important element of cruising. We’re not going to explain it all here, but we made a pretty comprehensive video on the topic, and we encourage all cruisers - in fact, all travelers in general - to check it out. Everything about Travel Insurance for Your Cruise
Canceling a Cruise without Trip Insurance
If you do find yourself in a situation where you have to cancel because of an emergency, but you don’t have insurance to protect against the circumstances you’ve run into, you may be out of luck. Maybe. When you book a cruise you agree to the fine print in your cruise contract - similar to when you book a plane ticket. The provisions for cancelations are usually pretty ironclad, however, as they say, it never hurts to try.
As soon as you find out that you need to cancel, contact the cruise line or your travel agent - do not delay. Politely explain the circumstances, and if you have a reasonable suggestion, make it. For example, if you’ve just come down with the flu, but you’d love to sail in two weeks when you’re all better, explain that you’re not well enough to cruise and you’d not want to get others sick anyway, and see if they might be willing to move you to a future cruise. To be honest, they’ll likely say no - but it really depends. Many cruisers have found that being polite, asking for a supervisor that may be able to help, and just being lucky (for example, being on an overbooked sailing, or having a slow sailing coming up) can get you some relief. This can be especially true if the cruise line sees that you're a frequent guest, or perhaps that you did purchase trip insurance, but your need to cancel falls outside the policy's coverage.
Another thing that can help is booking with a good travel agent - doing so has many benefits. If your reason for cancelation is compelling enough, a good agent may be able to reach out to other contacts at the line to negotiate things a bit better than you may be able to. Again though, this is far from a guarantee, and the best way to avoid this type of disappointment is to purchase adequate trip insurance - something an agent, in fact, can help you with.
Exceptions & Other Considerations
Above we've shared some general information as to how cruise cancelations work, and hopefully this has helped make things clear. It's still important to understand the terms of your specific booking, because in most parts of life, exceptions abound. Charters, cruises over holidays, on maiden voyages, and other factors can completely change the game. If you ever have any doubt about the terms of your booking, find out before paying any money. Finally, now that you know a bit more about these policies, it is also worth understanding your options in the event you are going to sail, but the price of your cruise drops after booking: What happens if I book a cruise and then the price goes down?
