So, what's the catch?

[Ravenne]

I was poking around Hilton Honors reward site to see what else rewards can be used for and they have an option to redeem them for a voucher with cruising travel partner. I poked around there too, and they seem like a broker/TA of sorts that only does cruises, but this caught my eye and I can't figure out what the catch is:

Book Now, Pay Later: No Deposit Required - Book Online or Call
Put your dream vacation on the calendar now, and pay for it later! When you book select 3+ night sailings, we'll waive the booking deposit for the first 5 staterooms on your reservation. In addition, choose to streamline payment even further by splitting your fare into easy monthly installments with 0% interest!

Additional Terms & Conditions
Advanced Deposit offer is valid for new individual cruise reservations for sailings departing by 4/30/20. Offer is limited to sailings of 3 nights or longer booked at least 110 days prior to departure (or 140 days for Disney, 7-night or longer Norwegian sailings, and 15 night or longer MSC sailings); maximum $500 value and not valid on bookings requiring non-refundable deposits. Deposit must be paid 10 days prior to final payment due date; if changes are made benefit will become void and the cruise lines full deposit is required; changes resulting in a new cruise line booking are considered a cancellation, subject to cruise line’s cancellation policy, our $24.99 processing fee, and $100 cancel fee. Credit card used at time of booking will automatically be charged when the deposit remainder is due. Offer limited to 5 deposited cabins max. for 1 sailing. Offer is not applicable for redemption bookings. Additional restrictions apply.

They deal with DCL too, and of course, the majority of DCL's deposit terms exceeds the $500 max, so I'm guessing you have to pay the deposit in excess of $500, so that's one catch there, but how do they get away with booking without the full deposit DCL requires? I know DCL will do a day or 2 courtesy hold, but to not pay a chunk of the deposit until 10 days prior to PIF?

 

[Quellman]

I suspect that Hilton is paying the deposit on your behalf. When you are charged for the deposit and the cruise fare, the deposit goes to Hilton and then Disney gets the cruise fare (since Hilton already paid the deposit on your behalf).

Oh by the way, your cruise is now $124.99 more expensive. I suspect that those two fees are how Hilton is making some money. They may get a cut as a 'travel agent company' from Disney, and they are also getting $124.99 from you.

The only thing I see from this is that instead of needing to pay the cash for a deposit up front, you just defer the payment until later for $124.99. Seems like a poor choice for me. I don't think that you would be able to invest the cost of the deposit and yield a return greater than what you paid Hilton. Also, you can also just cancel the cruise with Disney direct, and get your money back.

Of course if you have a ton of hilton points you can use to offset a chunk of your cruise cost, the $124.99 may not really matter. Not sure of the points to cash conversion is for hilton. Probably would need to visit THE POINTS GUY for more details.

Also, booking with them may mean you miss out on any on board credit you could receive from booking with a travel agent.

And finally, for frequent cruisers, many of us have placeholders in the amount of $300 that we can use and it gives us a discount on the cruise fare.

 

[gotomu212]

I think the only catch is that you’re out the $125 if you decide to make changes/cancel.

My guess is Hilton is fronting you’re deposit until the 10 days prior to PIF. If you cancel they get their deposit back plus the $125 in fees. If you don’t cancel they get the TA commission and were only out the oppurtunity cost of tying up their money until you paid the deposit. It seems like a better deal for them than the onboard credit a lot of TAs pay to get your business. Plus once you’ve booked you’re a lot less likely to cancel (and you’re more likely to book if you don’t have to put any money done now).

 

[cruiser21]

I was poking around Hilton Honors reward site to see what else rewards can be used for and they have an option to redeem them for a voucher with cruising travel partner. I poked around there too, and they seem like a broker/TA of sorts that only does cruises, but this caught my eye and I can't figure out what the catch is:



They deal with DCL too, and of course, the majority of DCL's deposit terms exceeds the $500 max, so I'm guessing you have to pay the deposit in excess of $500, so that's one catch there, but how do they get away with booking without the full deposit DCL requires? I know DCL will do a day or 2 courtesy hold, but to not pay a chunk of the deposit until 10 days prior to PIF?

AA, Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia....I'm sure there are more that do this. They pay the deposit. The deposit is refundable. They charge you 125.00 dollars if you cancel. They lose nothing by doing this.

 

[cruiser21]

I suspect that Hilton is paying the deposit on your behalf. When you are charged for the deposit and the cruise fare, the deposit goes to Hilton and then Disney gets the cruise fare (since Hilton already paid the deposit on your behalf).

Oh by the way, your cruise is now $124.99 more expensive. I suspect that those two fees are how Hilton is making some money. They may get a cut as a 'travel agent company' from Disney, and they are also getting $124.99 from you.

The only thing I see from this is that instead of needing to pay the cash for a deposit up front, you just defer the payment until later for $124.99. Seems like a poor choice for me. I don't think that you would be able to invest the cost of the deposit and yield a return greater than what you paid Hilton. Also, you can also just cancel the cruise with Disney direct, and get your money back.

Of course if you have a ton of hilton points you can use to offset a chunk of your cruise cost, the $124.99 may not really matter. Not sure of the points to cash conversion is for hilton. Probably would need to visit THE POINTS GUY for more details.

Also, booking with them may mean you miss out on any on board credit you could receive from booking with a travel agent.

And finally, for frequent cruisers, many of us have placeholders in the amount of $300 that we can use and it gives us a discount on the cruise fare.

They only charge you 125.00 if you cancel. The booking fee is 25.00 dollars. The cruise is only 25.00 dollars more expensive.

 

[Dug720]

There is a "booking fee" at the time of booking - when I booked my Greece cruise it was $24.99 and non-refundable. Ditto the Edge cruise I booked and cancelled. The fee at that time was $100 to cancel - and I think the guy said that I would not be eligible for the "we pay your deposit" thing again because I cancelled that one. Not a huge deal as I don't plan to use them again. I just have a new TA I like and use for all things Disney, and since she also books RCCL if I decide to go with them again I'll use her as well. Just a little more personal. While the Hhonors agent with my Greece cruise is still there and I can still talk to her if I need to, the other extension I had been given (when I booked the Edge cruise) resulted in a totally different agent (who ended up being the one for Greece) because the other person was no longer there.

Both RCCL and Celebrity had deposits that were less than $500. I don't know how the "no deposit down" thing works for DCL where the deposit is almost always going to be more than $500.

 

[Ravenne]

They only charge you 125.00 if you cancel. The booking fee is 25.00 dollars. The cruise is only 25.00 dollars more expensive.

There is a "booking fee" at the time of booking - when I booked my Greece cruise it was $24.99 and non-refundable. Ditto the Edge cruise I booked and cancelled. The fee at that time was $100 to cancel - and I think the guy said that I would not be eligible for the "we pay your deposit" thing again because I cancelled that one. Not a huge deal as I don't plan to use them again. I just have a new TA I like and use for all things Disney, and since she also books RCCL if I decide to go with them again I'll use her as well. Just a little more personal. While the Hhonors agent with my Greece cruise is still there and I can still talk to her if I need to, the other extension I had been given (when I booked the Edge cruise) resulted in a totally different agent (who ended up being the one for Greece) because the other person was no longer there.

Both RCCL and Celebrity had deposits that were less than $500. I don't know how the "no deposit down" thing works for DCL where the deposit is almost always going to be more than $500.

Ah ha! And there it is. See, I knew there was a catch. I just couldn't figure out what it was. "No deposit down" till 10 days prior to PIF sounds too good to be true and very much marketing.

 

[cruiser21]

Well speaking of deposits NCL is offering 1 dollar deposits if you're looking to book a cruise with nothing upfront.

 

[Dug720]

Ah ha! And there it is. See, I knew there was a catch. I just couldn't figure out what it was. "No deposit down" till 10 days prior to PIF sounds too good to be true and very much marketing.

As @cruiser21 pointed out, assuming you don't cancel the cruise (or possibly change...not 100% on that one), it's only $24.99 more.

The "catch" comes in if you cancel. Though i know RCCL is going the non-refundable deposit (with a fee to change to another cruise) route, so that "catch" is kind of a moot point since you'd lose the deposit anyway. I don't know how Hhonors is handling that - I'd imagine the cancel fee would be the $100 plus the deposit they already paid RCCL.

 

[Ravenne]

Well speaking of deposits NCL is offering 1 dollar deposits if you're looking to book a cruise with nothing upfront.

It seems NCL does do that pretty often. I'm not looking to book now or 0 down. I was just trying to figure out what the catch is. Usually I see things like that and don't even consider it figuring it's scammy, but since it was a Hilton referral of sorts, I looked, and tried to figure out what the deal was.

 

[cruiser21]

It seems NCL does do that pretty often. I'm not looking to book now or 0 down. I was just trying to figure out what the catch is. Usually I see things like that and don't even consider it figuring it's scammy, but since it was a Hilton referral of sorts, I looked, and tried to figure out what the deal was.

I thought it my be useful to anyone looking to book a cruise. I may take a look at some their European cruises again.

 

[Quellman]

They only charge you 125.00 if you cancel. The booking fee is 25.00 dollars. The cruise is only 25.00 dollars more expensive.

Ah. I misunderstood it as something they collected in addition to the $24.99, not a cancellation.
I wonder if you could use Disney Gift Cards (discounted) to pay down the cost of the cruise, probably not. So there goes another 5% (Target) lost by using this method as well.