Celebrity is no longer issuing partial refunds after final payment...will Royal follow

[mac_tlc]

9 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

No, under the current standard, you get nothing after final payment.  You don't even get a discount on your cabin if the price drops.  No FCC, no on board credit, nothing.   We had to to do that once, and had to fully rely on insurance- with nothing from RCI.  

 

That changed with the new policy that allows for FCC and health concerns.  And that is a totally different policy that gives you FCC.

 

The new "standard" policy is to give FCC and some actual cash refund depending on when you cancel.  

 

So I'm not seeing how this is a bad thing relative to where we were yesterday.

Your first statement is not always true. It depended on when after final payment you cancelled. The day after final payment, the penalty was less than 100%. Within 30 days, it was 100%. So, under the “standard” policy, you would lose some or all of your money, but get some cash back if you cancelled soon after final payment.

 

Last week, the temporary policy gave you the same cash as you would have gotten under the standard policy and an FCC for the dollars you would have lost. 
 

Now, the changed the temporary policy to only give FCC, even if you cancel the day after final payment. It’s a big difference. 
 

Our only qualifying sailing is within 30 days, so not change for us. ButI have a cruise in August where it would be a big difference. 
 

They are basically saying if you want any cash back, you have to pay the standard cancellation fee, regardless of when after final payment you cancel. Clearly to conserve cash, but not a consumer-friendly change at all. Better than the standard policy, but the change so soon after implementation of the temporary policy is not good.
 

mac_tlc

Edited March 11, 2020 by mac_tlc

[elephant98]

1 minute ago, alfaeric said:

No, under the current standard, you get nothing after final payment.  You don't even get a discount on your cabin if the price drops.  No FCC, no on board credit, nothing.   We had to to do that once, and had to fully rely on insurance- with nothing from RCI.  

 

That changed with the new policy that allows for FCC and health concerns.  And that is a totally different policy that gives you FCC.

 

The new "standard" policy is to give FCC and some actual cash refund depending on when you cancel.  

 

So I'm not seeing how this is a bad thing relative to where we were yesterday.

 

We must be talking about 2 different things.  I'm looking at my cruise confirmation right now for a cruise that departs on April 12th.  It has the following cancellation schedule should I decide cancel AFTER final payment:

 

74 to 57 days prior to sailing  you forfeit $250 deposit per guest and get the rest refunded back to your credit card.

56 to 29 days prior to sailing you forfeit 50% per guest and get the rest refunded back to your credit card

28 to 15 days prior to sailing you forfeit 75% per guest and get the rest refunded back to you credit card

14 to 0 days prior to sailing you forfeit 100% per guest and there is nothing to refund.

 

Royal implemented its Cruise with Confidence program last Friday.  For the first several days of the cruise with confidence program (that is, until yesterday), if I had called to cancel my cruise due to concerns over the coronavirus, Royal would have given me a 50% refund and the 50% that was ordinarily forfeited would be a 100% FCC.  If I cancel my cruise now, I will only get a 100% FCC.   Royal simply tweaked the cruise with confidence program. 

[alfaeric]

3 minutes ago, elephant98 said:

 

We must be talking about 2 different things.  I'm looking at my cruise confirmation right now for a cruise that departs on April 12th.  It has the following cancellation schedule should I decide cancel AFTER final payment:

 

74 to 57 days prior to sailing  you forfeit $250 deposit per guest and get the rest refunded back to your credit card.

56 to 29 days prior to sailing you forfeit 50% per guest and get the rest refunded back to your credit card

28 to 15 days prior to sailing you forfeit 75% per guest and get the rest refunded back to you credit card

14 to 0 days prior to sailing you forfeit 100% per guest and there is nothing to refund.

 

Royal implemented its Cruise with Confidence program last Friday.  For the first several days of the cruise with confidence program (that is, until yesterday), if I had called to cancel my cruise due to concerns over the coronavirus, Royal would have given me a 50% refund and the 50% that was ordinarily forfeited would be a 100% FCC.  If I cancel my cruise now, I will only get a 100% FCC.   Royal simply tweaked the cruise with confidence program. 

I posted a correction in my second reply, but I still see the FCC instead of a penalty lost as an improvement.  Something is better than nothing, even if the timing of the refunds has changed.

[elephant98]

Just now, alfaeric said:

I posted a correction in my second reply, but I still see the FCC instead of a penalty lost as an improvement.  Something is better than nothing, even if the timing of the refunds has changed.

 

Oh, its definitely better than the nothing that Royal could have given (and still can as the policy is subject to change at any time).  In retrospect, when the U.S. State Department issued its advisory stating that all U.S. citizens should not cruise I should have called and canceled then.  I thought (rather stupidly in hindsight) that the travel advisory might influence Royal into giving passengers full refunds.  Instead, I'm guessing that the travel advisory  . . . along with many employers telling employees they can't come back to work for 14 days if they take a cruise . . . led to many more people cancelling cruises than Royal anticipated.  So, Royal did completely the opposite, eliminating the refund aspect altogether.  Ah well.    

[MoniMommy]

15 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Personally I suspect that it is designed to conserve cash.

 

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

Couldn't you cancel prepaid gratuities, shore excursions, etc before canceling?

[MoniMommy]

Someone posted this on another forum.

 

  8 hours ago, velmasue said:

I was told by RCCL Rep that as of 2 PM Tuesday they are only offering FCC no matter what penalty phase.  Taxes and fees refunded, that's all.  No big deal for us as we will be cruising before Dec 2021, but it may not be so good for everyone.

Personally, I called at 1:14 and was on the phone for 43 minutes. I was told I would get half as a refund and half as FCC. I confirmed the numbers with her but I have nothing in writing. I did n ou t receive the confirmation email I was promised. I hope they honor my refund. 

[MoniMommy]

15 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

 

Can you opt to follow the standard cancellation policy and forfeit the FCC?

 

For example, you are in the 74-61 day window, can you opt for 50% refund instead of 100% FCC?

Someone reported on this thread that, they were given that option

 

 

Post 152

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, MoniMommy said:

Couldn't you cancel prepaid gratuities, shore excursions, etc before canceling?

Not sure of NCL's policies but you would think so  

[LMaxwell]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Not sure of NCL's policies but you would think so  

 

That's the work around people are trying to do currently; cancel amenities for refund before cancelling the cruise.  

 

Even outside of penalty phase, even for those already booked, NCL has unilaterally made their deposit non-refundable as cash now.  

 

The law suits will be flowing soon.  

[Ken at the beach]

16 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

That's the work around people are trying to do currently; cancel amenities for refund before cancelling the cruise.  

 

Even outside of penalty phase, even for those already booked, NCL has unilaterally made their deposit non-refundable as cash now.  

 

The law suits will be flowing soon.  

Thanks for the update

[drakes2]

16 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Well, there is going to be a huge number of angry customers who hadn't cancelled right away for a variety of reason, including the difficulty getting through to Celebrity or their TA, who are now going to lose the cash refund. I'm very glad that we didn't wait!

Me too I cancelled my May cruise out of Rome but have a Bermuda one on the summit this July. Only paid $125 deposit but I'm not risking flights and hotel which I havent booked not being refunded so will cancel. Would the $125 go to FCC? Confused with all these changes. 

[Fouremco]

17 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Me too I cancelled my May cruise out of Rome but have a Bermuda one on the summit this July. Only paid $125 deposit but I'm not risking flights and hotel which I havent booked not being refunded so will cancel. Would the $125 go to FCC? Confused with all these changes. 

If this latest policy change has officially been implemented, my understanding is that any deposit would be refunded as FCC.

 

Back on the Celebrity board, however, one poster making a cancellation today was first told that everything would come back as an FCC as apparently announced to TA's yesterday. But when he challenged that and quoted the policy still shown on the website, they agreed to a split refund/FCC in keeping with the "old" policy.

 

So, if you make that argument before they publish the new policy, maybe you'll get a proper refund. If not, you'll have an FCC for $125. As you already have one FCC from your cancelled May cruise, you'll need to book at least two cruises to use both credits as I believe that they are still only allowing you to apply one per cruise.

[drakes2]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

If this latest policy change has officially been implemented, my understanding is that any deposit would be refunded as FCC.

 

Back on the Celebrity board, however, one poster making a cancellation today was first told that everything would come back as an FCC as apparently announced to TA's yesterday. But when he challenged that and quoted the policy still shown on the website, they agreed to a split refund/FCC in keeping with the "old" policy.

 

So, if you make that argument before they publish the new policy, maybe you'll get a proper refund. If not, you'll have an FCC for $125. As you already have one FCC from your cancelled May cruise, you'll need to book at least two cruises to use both credits as I believe that they are still only allowing you to apply one per cruise.

Thank you. I'm trying to call my celebrity vacation planner but keep getting busy signal. I'll do at least 2 more Caribbean cruises in the next year so I don't mind the $125 going towards them I was unsure of what would happen to the deposit for Bermuda final payment is in 3 weeks. 

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Thank you. I'm trying to call my celebrity vacation planner but keep getting busy signal. I'll do at least 2 more Caribbean cruises in the next year so I don't mind the $125 going towards them I was unsure of what would happen to the deposit for Bermuda final payment is in 3 weeks. 

I like your optimism that there will be Caribbean cruises next year. We have one booked and hope to apply the FCC from our cancelled April cruise.

 

I don't like the fact that CLIA is recommending to Pence and his team that cruisers 70 and over should have to get a doctor's note saying that they are healthy enough for cruising. If by next March we are deemed too much of a risk, we'll be stuck with FCC that we can't possibly use.

[drakes2]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I like your optimism that there will be Caribbean cruises next year. We have one booked and hope to apply the FCC from our cancelled April cruise.

 

I don't like the fact that CLIA is recommending to Pence and his team that cruisers 70 and over should have to get a doctor's note saying that they are healthy enough for cruising. If by next March we are deemed too much of a risk, we'll be stuck with FCC that we can't possibly use.

Didn't hear that. I'll be 70 by the end of summer but in great health. No meds so I'm sure my doctor would clear me.

FYI. Just got paperwork to file claim from insurance for monies lost on hotels in Rome. They wanted me to change my dates as non refundable.  

[myownplace]

All I'm getting is a busy signal when I call 800-256-6649, does anyone have a phone number for C & A, or a number that is working?

[reallyitsmema]

5 minutes ago, myownplace said:

All I'm getting is a busy signal when I call 800-256-6649, does anyone have a phone number for C & A, or a number that is working?

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/contact-us