Question about cancelling cruse booked with booking.com

I booked a cruise yesterday through booking.com, one of the promos they had running was that you wouldn't have to pay any deposit fee right then, just a $25 fee. I just called them to cancel the cruise and was told there's a $100 cancellation fee (which I expected) but then she said they'd also charge me $198 for the deposit that they had to pay for me and there was no way around that. After thinking about it, I asked her "wait, so you paid the $198 deposit for me, so when the cruise line gives you the $198 back you're just going to keep my money as well?" She then said, "well no, once they get the money from them then I'll get the $198 refunded." I verified that again by repeating what she said.

This sounds fishy to me since she didn't mention that part of it until I asked about it. Has anyone ran into a similar situation and know if this is legit how it works?