Anthem of the Seas Feb 6th - Rebates, Discounts, and Refund Q&A

[Newbcruiser1]

Which regional airline was the PIA for the wanting to charge you $67 not to fly with them? I want to avoid them.I'm guessing it was AC or some version of them.

 

It was nice to read that United waved the fee when the flight time changed on you.

 

 

It was Porter Airlines. I called just wanting my baggage fees refunded after the website tried to charge me the $67 to cancel and was informed that they have a $200 cancellation penalty, so that's why I had to pay to cancel (original flight was only $133). Of course I refused to pay, so instead I just opted to not show up at the airport for said flight! Ridiculous!

[foxgoodrich]

It will be interesting to see what happens and how long it takes for everything to clear. We were told on board, at the C & A desk that no cruise credit to status will be given. No payment = no points.

 

- told at front desk, that all change fees will be reimbursed x 2, with no cap to the amount. (only offered after they revised the arrival time from 6am to 9pm)

 

- we paid for the first change fee, but when we tried a 2nd time, found out the airline we booked was sold out til 14th feb....(Cathay Pacific). We ended up having to rebook with another airline, but our credit card company will cover that charge. (flight interruption)

 

we are going to claim for following thru ROYAL...

-non refundable hotel we booked at end of cruise

-change fees to airlines

-excess baggage fees as Cathay Pacific does not charge for one checked in piece per person.

 

Royal did in fact removed all charges to the room that they promised. All long distance charges were removed. Mini bar- as we got lazy one night and hit it early. All beverage packages are pro-rated. Internet and their Royal IQ chat also refunded.

 

It was a trying time on board, and the front desk crew did the best they could, but it did seem like they were the last to know anything, and it was good to see that a lot of us gave them the slack they needed.

 

Well, that's disappointing that you will get no points! I can see a certain amount of logic in what you were told (no pay=no points) though. But...you never know...sometimes the right hand doesn't know what the left hand told people. And sometimes decisions are made and changed.

 

All of your expenses seem reasonable to me since they are the direct result of the cruise being shortened, along with the change in arrival from 6am to 9pm. And it's great that they eased up on the airline change fees as I know that will help a lot of people who changed flights twice.

 

Were you given any instructions on where to send your claim? Or how to submit? I think we might have had some kind of a letter in our cabin with instructions.

Hopefully somebody was given the correct address for sending reimbursement claims and can post.

Judy

Edited February 16, 2016 by foxgoodrich

[nelblu]

Well, it depends on the CC posters. Some I trust, others are in the same category as the RCI phone reps, and a few I distrust altogether.:cool:

 

You've covered the full gamut of CC posters. LOL

[A&L_Ont]

It was Porter Airlines. I called just wanting my baggage fees refunded after the website tried to charge me the $67 to cancel and was informed that they have a $200 cancellation penalty, so that's why I had to pay to cancel (original flight was only $133). Of course I refused to pay, so instead I just opted to not show up at the airport for said flight! Ridiculous!

 

I wondered if it was Porter, but typically AC is the PIA. However, AC usually lets you bank the airfare cost as a credit to use within 3 months with a fee. Did having to fly to Pearson cause you great issues such as your car left at the Island airport, or a bigger problem getting home?

 

We once won free airfare (taxes and fees included) to NYC with Porter in a fundraiser. They did not included luggage, so packed carry on only. We too, like you did not want to give them any extra money.

 

Sorry you, and your fellow cruisers, had to go through all this "stuff" when normally it would have been a week of fun. I have been enjoying your review. The food pics look great, as well as the ship espically prestorm.

 

Andrew

Edited February 16, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[faymuiheng]

We were instructed to contact ROYAL upon return . That's all that was said. I'm still waiting for my statement to show online, before I start the round of phone calls.

 

We rebooked on flight on United, only to find out it was a code share with AC. Talk about inflexibility and rude, we ended up going back to UNITED to see if they could reroute us. United saved the day for us.

 

---we were dropped off at Newark airport about 10am, for 540pm flight, tried to get on earlier, but AC agent at desk wouldn't even listen to our request. kept quoting policy. Luckily the UA agent was just beside him, and made faces for me to come over to her after....

[Newbcruiser1]

I wondered if it was Porter, but typically AC is the PIA. However, AC usually lets you bank the airfare cost as a credit to use within 3 months with a fee. Did having to fly to Pearson cause you great issues such as your car left at the Island airport, or a bigger problem getting home?

 

 

 

We once won free airfare (taxes and fees included) to NYC with Porter in a fundraiser. They did not included luggage, so packed carry on only. We too, like you did not want to give them any extra money.

 

 

 

Sorry you, and your fellow cruisers, had to go through all this "stuff" when normally it would have been a week of fun. I have been enjoying your review. The food pics look great, as well as the ship espically prestorm.

 

 

 

Andrew

 

 

Thank you for your kind words! :) Fortunately I didn't have a car at the airport, and it actually worked out better for my family picking me up from Pearson as the downtown core was crazy from the NBA All Star game that day!

 

But I've had issues with Porter before as well - my flight home was cancelled after my cruise on the explorer 2 years ago due to the big ice storm in Toronto... After sitting in the airport for 12 hours with no information. Finally they cancelled it and as it was right before Christmas, advised us that they had no other flights to book us on and to wait for an email from Porter with the rescheduled date. We booked a hotel on our own and booked new flights home (luckily we had insurance as they were $850pp and flying through Detroit!). The next day we got an email from Porter with our rescheduled flights... For FOUR DAYS later!!! Good thing we made our own arrangements.

 

I don't think I would book with them again - not worth the hassle, unfortunately!

[Live Where You Play]

Were you given any instructions on where to send your claim? Or how to submit? I think we might have had some kind of a letter in our cabin with instructions.

Hopefully somebody was given the correct address for sending reimbursement claims and can post.

Judy

 

The e-mail address is:

royalguestrelations (at) rccl (dot) com

 

The mailing address is:

Royal Guest Relations

re: Anthem of the Seas; Feb. 6th, 2016 sailing

1050 Caribbean Way

Miami, FL 33132

 

At least that's what I was told over the phone from a customer service representative. Take it for what you will...

[Live Where You Play]

Just a few updated tidbits for people...

 

As far as the 50% future cruise credit goes. It's the cost of the cruise only (no taxes/port charges or graduities included in the discount). Many people have said that already so that is likely nothing new. However, if you were given an OBC, that will be removed from the calculated cost of the cruise. So if you paid $1000 for the cruise and received a $200 OBC, your credit toward the next cruise will only be $400 ($1000 - $200 = $800 divided by 2).

 

Secondly, United Airlines has been amazing as far as this situation has gone! They are giving me a full refund of both flight changes! I'll apologize ahead of time for the long cut/paste, but it really shows what a stand up company they are.

 

"Please accept our regrets for your unpleasant and anxious travel

experience onboard cruise liner - Anthem of the Seas. I am sure it was a

true nightmare at times and we are very relieved that you all made back

to port fairly safely. I did review the news video link that you

attached and I can understand that this must have been an enduring

ordeal for you as it was frightening for me to view the phone videos

taken by the passengers onboard and the CNN report.

 

Yes, I have authorized the refund of the two $200 change fees back to

your form of payment. Your file has been forwarded to United Refunds for

their review and processing under Refund Request Files **** and

**** for tickets **** and ****. Refunds will

contact you directly and please allow up to 14 days for this to be

reviewed and processed.

 

Refunds can be contacted at: www (dot) united (dot) com and then - Contact Us, and

then - Refunds. You can also check on the refund status on this site

using the file number or ticket

number.

 

I do hope that this helps for all that you went through and had high

expectations for.

 

Thank you for flying United Airlines as as MileagePlus member."

 

Best of luck to anyone else who is still sorting out their situation and hopefully you get some positive results as well.

 

Kurtis

[jd10367]

I am going to assume we do not get any C&A cruise points for this cruise because of the refund. If anyone knows different please let us all know. ;)

 

Just checked our account. We got all 7 cruise points. YAY!!!

[faymuiheng]

:):):):):)

 

Just checked our account. We got all 7 cruise points. YAY!!!

[Clarea]

Just checked our account. We got all 7 cruise points. YAY!!!

Excellent, that is consistent with what they have done in similar situations before. Thanks for reporting.

[stevea326]

Thank you everyone for the help and posts so far.

 

We also have 7 cruise points showing, but are those going to come off when we get the refund? Hopefully not.

 

We also received information from RCI this morning about the refund in an email:

 

 

Refunds

All refunds will be processed to the original form of payment and should be received within 2 weeks. Refunds include the following:Cruise Fare paid, including Taxes & Fees

Gratuities

Pre-purchased Post-Cruise Hotels and Post-Cruise Transfers

Prorated Beverage Package - Based on three day value

Prorated Specialty Dining Package – Based on usage

Shore Excursions and Spa Reservations

Cruise Enhancements – Behind the Scenes Tours, Flow Rider, DreamWorks, Onboard Internet and phone (not independent cell phone charges)

Parking - If you parked off site, submit receipts to RoyalGuestRelations (at) rccl (dot) com

 

* If any of the items above were purchased onboard, a refund for this item should have already been provided via your SeaPass account.

 

Future Cruise Certificates

Future Cruise Certificates are equal to 50% of the cruise fare paid for this cruise. If there is no e-mail address on file, the certificates will be sent via postal mail (allow extra time for delivery).You may redeem the certificates once you have made a new reservation by contacting us directly or providing them to your travel agent.

As always, please be sure to review the certificate guidelines detailing usage and application.

 

Air Change Fees

Air change fees of up to $150 for domestic flights (within the US) and $250 for international flights will be provided per person with receipts.Receipts should be submitted to RoyalGuestRelation (at) rccl (dot) com.

Once receipts are received, the refunds should be processed within 2 weeks.

 

Should you have any questions or require assistance, please feel free to contact our Guest Relations team at 1-800-256-6649 or email RoyalGuestRelations (at) rccl (dot) com

[knittinggirl]

Regarding Cruise Credit, I've had some cruise credit from norovirus quarantine a few times. I called C & A desk who forwarded me to the proper person. She mailed me a certificate, that I had to sign, and I had to forward the original to my TA who was supposed to send it in to apply to my booked cruise.

 

I had to use the credit w/in a year. And they were terribly slow each step of the way. Many phone calls. The agent I worked w/ had to get approval for the credit before she could mail the certificate. My cruise w/ the quarantine was May, and we barely got everything credited before final payment was due for my October cruise.

[Clarea]

... We also have 7 cruise points showing, but are those going to come off when we get the refund? Hopefully not. ...

I seriously doubt they will take your C&A points away.

[JDIRWINCPA]

I was also on the Feb 6 cruise. I called Delta Tuesday afternoon yo rebook 5 tickets. They agreed to waive the $75 rebooking fee, but wanted to charge $1290 due to fare difference. I refused, and called RCI to see if they would cover. t that point, they said no. Wednesday afternoon I called Delta again, and rebooked for a Thursday morning flight with NO additional charges of any kind. Needless to say, I was pleased.

[Newbcruiser1]

Just to point out regarding the future cruise credit...

 

I booked a cruise yesterday that was past final payment. I called the cruise line and told them I wanted apply my credit from the Anthem to that booking, even though it had not yet been issued. After about 15 minutes on the phone, I was all set! They had the credit issued on the spot, and applied it to the cruise, then transferred me to another agent who helped me with the rest of the payment process!

 

Super easy despite the fact it hadn't been issued yet... In fact, probably easier since there were no certificates or codes that I had to deal with!

[Newbcruiser1]

Another bit of info re: C&A points!

 

I just called them as I was in my own room and paid a solo supplement but had only received 7 points - they fixed it so I got my 14 points! :)

 

So we're definitely all getting our points after all! Just make sure you got the appropriate number for the type of room you were in!

[jd10367]

Another bit of info re: C&A points!

 

I just called them as I was in my own room and paid a solo supplement but had only received 7 points - they fixed it so I got my 14 points! :)

 

So we're definitely all getting our points after all! Just make sure you got the appropriate number for the type of room you were in!

 

How the hell did you get them to fix it for 7 points and we had a several month long battle to get 1 friggin point. Which BTW is still short. They say they can not go in and just add 1 point. The point that was missing. ( due to someone not knowing how to add) put us from Emerald to Diamond, so yes we went to war for it. Lol. They finally agreed to make us Diamond at 79. Now we are a few short of D+ so we will fight again in 67 points.

[Newbcruiser1]

Yikes! Sorry to hear about your problems! :( I wonder if it made a difference that the 7 points didn't actually bump me up to the next tier? (Although after my next cruise I'll be well into the diamond range! Lol!).

 

I think the same advice stands here - call 5 times and get 5 different answers! :) Glad to hear you got your diamond status after all though!

[Clarea]

Another bit of info re: C&A points!

 

I just called them as I was in my own room and paid a solo supplement but had only received 7 points - they fixed it so I got my 14 points! :)

 

So we're definitely all getting our points after all! Just make sure you got the appropriate number for the type of room you were in!

That seems to happen quite often, shortened cruise or not.

[faymuiheng]

Got the cert and always used up! rebooked for cruise to Alaska in SEP. Explorer of the Seas. Painless, and was even pleased that our points went into the system.

 

Merci Beaucoup ROYAL!

[Biker19]

Super easy despite the fact it hadn't been issued yet... In fact, probably easier since there were no certificates or codes that I had to deal with!

The RCI system probably had the FCC info in it within a few days after the cruise - it's just that it takes them a few weeks to actually issue the certificate. I had the same experience with an FCC received on the Quantum TA - applied it to a sailing without having info about it.

[robmtx]

Is anyone else still waiting on their E-Mail from Royal with their FCC info and the refund amount? I have heard from others here that you've received this e-mail, and the other couple that traveled with us received their e-mail. However, we have not received any communication from Royal, and other than our TA (Orbitz) calling us the day we got back, we haven't heard anything else.

[Newbcruiser1]

I got a refund for a strange amount today (about 1/4 of the amount paid). Thanks for the heads up from whoever said it comes in increments! :) Anxiously awaiting the remainder now!

[JDIRWINCPA]

I have not received an email from RCI yet either. I called customer service and was told it could take up to two weeks for everyone to receive emails.