Cancelled Cruises Refund Tracker/Discussion (merged topics)

[twincheryl]

Good news among the bad... Amex shows refund today for 2 cabins cancelled by Celebrity for 5/20 Alaska cruise.  Refunded in 3 different line items but for full amount.  Did not call or inquire with Celebrity other than request for refund on 3/29... 32 business days.

[omeinv]

50 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

Beware. If you payed off a cruise early and try to cancel Celebrity will try to charge you a $900 cancellation penalty. Even if you booked with a $50 dollar refundable deposit. I am fighting with them over it right now. 

First, if your dates are correct, it certainly sounds like your cruise was booked with a Non-Refundable Deposit.

 

Yours is an unfortunate situation, that comes up with reduced deposits.  While the deposit amount is reduced, the contract still calls for the full deposit amount in the event of a cancellation.

 

You hurt yourself by making that additional payment, you paid a reduced $25.00 per person deposit.  The regular deposit varies by cruise length, but for longer cruises it's $450.00 per person. 

 

When you with a reduced deposit, you still agree the entire deposit amount would apply if you cancel.

 

You booked paying $25.00 at that time, then - and this is where you hurt yourself - you paid an additional amount before final payment.  You likely simply thought of this as a payment toward the cruise but, since it was before final payment date, Celebrity correctly dealt with it as an additional deposit.  You chose to cancel, and thus Celebrity is deducting the full deposit amount, and retaining the remaining money you paid, in accordance with the agreement you entered into. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by omeinv

[yorky]

11 minutes ago, omeinv said:

Yours is an unfortunate situation, that comes up with reduced deposits.  While the deposit amount is reduced, the contract still calls for the full deposit amount in the event of a cancellation.

 

You hurt yourself by making that additional payment, you paid a reduced $25.00 per person deposit.  The regular deposit varies by cruise length, but for longer cruises it's $450.00 per person. 

 

When you with a reduced deposit, you still agree the entire deposit amount would apply if you cancel.

 

You booked paying $25.00 at that time, then - and this is where you hurt yourself - you paid an additional amount before final payment.  You likely simply thought of this as a payment toward the cruise but, since it was before final payment date, Celebrity correctly dealt with it as an additional deposit.  You chose to cancel, and thus Celebrity is deducting the full deposit amount, and retaining the remaining money you paid, in accordance with the agreement you entered into. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

So over in the US a refundable deposit costs you more for the cruise than one booked with a none refundable deposit but if you cancel you still pay a hefty fee ? 

[omeinv]

Just now, yorky said:

So over in the US a refundable deposit costs you more for the cruise than one booked with a none refundable deposit but if you cancel you still pay a hefty fee ? 

No, it's that from time to time, Celebrity runs promotions for a reduced deposit (often $25.00 per person).  People book this without realizing the full deposit amount is still considered in the event of a cancellation.  This is also true in the case of on-board bookings, which generally call for a reduced deposit of $100.00.

 

It's not a "fee" per se, but collection of the full deposit amount. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

 

[goofysmom99]

The moral to the story then is never prepay a cruise and always wait until final payment?   Will they bill your credit card for the balance if you cancel a $100 deposit?

Edited May 12, 2020 by goofysmom99

[NHDOC]

The game Celebrity plays with deposits being refundable or non refundable (or partially refundable) is so off-putting when they aren't even sailing says a lot about their appreciation of loyalty.  It's not enough that people are willing to extend them an interest-free loan but when they dare ask for it back because they changed their mind they find out there's a penalty.  And, of course you cannot use FCC for it - they only want cash, more cash. 

 

Found out once that a refundable $900 deposit meant we only lost $200 when we cancelled.  What scum.

Edited May 12, 2020 by NHDOC

[yorky]

8 minutes ago, omeinv said:

No, it's that from time to time, Celebrity runs promotions for a reduced deposit (often $25.00 per person).  People book this without realizing the full deposit amount is still considered in the event of a cancellation.  This is also true in the case of on-board bookings, which generally call for a reduced deposit of $100.00.

 

It's not a "fee" per se, but collection of the full deposit amount. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

 

Ok so it is different to a normal “refundable deposit” which you would receive back with no penalties should you cancel before final payment is due the same way you would with a hotel stay. ?

[omeinv]

1 minute ago, yorky said:

Ok so it is different to a normal “refundable deposit” which you would receive back with no penalties should you cancel before final payment is due the same way you would with a hotel stay. ?

Well, in this case, - although the person says they have a refundable deposit, if their dates are correct, it would appear they either have a non-refundable deposit.  If they truly have a refundable deposit, they would be getting everything back, including their $25.00 per person original deposit. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[yorky]

5 minutes ago, omeinv said:

Well, in this case, - although the person says they have a refundable deposit, if their dates are correct, it would appear they either have a non-refundable deposit.  If they truly have a refundable deposit, they would be getting everything back, including their $25.00 per person original deposit. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Ah, the plot thickens.

[GottaKnowWhen]

When you make a Deposit on a cruise, you are asking Celebrity to place a hold on a certain cabin at a certain price for a certain cruise, and they offer best-price guarantee up until the date of the required final payment. Typically the deposit on longer cruises (which is all I do) is $450/pp but if booking onboard or during one of their frequent specials, then the initial deposit to hold the cabin might be as low as $50 or $100/pp. Every time I have booked with a reduced deposit, I have asked "so what does this mean?" And the answer always is "you owe a deposit of $450/pp, but you only need to pay $100/pp of that now. And there is a change fee if you later change the ship or the dates of the cruise."

I just checked, and all of that is fairly clear in every Booking Confirmation I have received in the last few years. Fortunately my momma taught me to always read the contract before signing...

 

Stan

[helen haywood]

Today I called Celebrity again about my refund from the canceled Edge March 29, 2020 sailing.  I used the link in the Celebrity email to request a refund back on March 14.  On April 29 I saw five credits on my credit card however they added up to being about $150 short of what I was owed.  I called on April 30 and was told the remaining credit was being processed.  Not seeing anything I called back today.  This time the X representative told me that as I booked with a travel agent she could not discuss the refund with me.  I politely and calmly said I'd called X on April 30 and spoke to Anthony who was able to look into my refund and told me that the remaining amount was being processed.  She then looked at my booking and told me she saw a note that on April 23 a single sum credit had been initiated.  I asked how long she thought that would take and she gave me the 30 to 45 day answer.  I said I understood people were being quoted that length of time for a full refund of a cruise but was she saying it could take that long for the remainder of a refund to be issued and she said yes.

[mafig]

That's ridiculous.  Maybe they feel you'll forget about it by that time.  

[hcat]

1 hour ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

When you make a Deposit on a cruise, you are asking Celebrity to place a hold on a certain cabin at a certain price for a certain cruise, and they offer best-price guarantee up until the date of the required final payment. Typically the deposit on longer cruises (which is all I do) is $450/pp but if booking onboard or during one of their frequent specials, then the initial deposit to hold the cabin might be as low as $50 or $100/pp. Every time I have booked with a reduced deposit, I have asked "so what does this mean?" And the answer always is "you owe a deposit of $450/pp, but you only need to pay $100/pp of that now. And there is a change fee if you later change the ship or the dates of the cruise."

I just checked, and all of that is fairly clear in every Booking Confirmation I have received in the last few years. Fortunately my momma taught me to always read the contract before signing...

 

Stan

Most of our deposits  recently have been $900...except for one for APEX, which was only $500.  This  is why we cancelled everything except 1 cruise.. still a $900 risk, plus loss of opportunity to utilize a $2,000 + fcc if it all falls through.

 

In general, we do not like the way Celeb  handles deposits, refunds and other people's money!

[librarylady19]

Today I received a refund of the taxes only on our cancelled 5/3 Apex sailing which I requested a refund for on 3/29.  Hoping the full refund will be coming soon. 

[chocolatelover1]

On 4/17/2020 at 5:45 PM, treehugr said:

Nothing here.

 

We applied on line for the full credit but have not received any thing back. We did receive our royal Caribbean points from our credit card that we cashed in for the cruise. This was a shipboard credit.  

[jelayne]

On 5/11/2020 at 1:54 PM, jelayne said:

I got a FCC for our  Edge 4/19 cruise we cancelled - but DH's FCC has  not arrived nor have port fees & taxed.  it took 36 business days so not too bad.  That was  better than the airline refund we are waiting for - they quoted 60 days

Yeah, we got the 2nd FCC today.  Now just waiting for refund from Alitalia  and port taxes & fees then we can close this chapter and look forward to our next cruise. 

[doodlefan]

7 hours ago, mahi mahi said:

Celebrity cancelled our May 9th Norway cruise on March 24th.  We had booked direct with them and cancelled immediately using the link in the email.  Flights were also booked with Air Canada through Choice Air and were non refundable - email noted we would have to deal direct with Air Canada for flights (previous cancellations of non refundable air were refunded by Celebrity).  Air Canada directed us back to Celebrity as the booking was treated as a 3rd party booking.  I emailed Choice Air supervisors on the advice of the rep I spoke to, they said they would look into it and let me know in 7 - 10 days.  I know they were slammed so did not followup until 30 days later, again they said they would look into and get back to me which surprisingly, they did a couple days later.  Good news - AC agreed to refund the tickets but it would be 60 days!

 

In the meantime, no word from Celebrity when the cruise fares would be refunded.  Checked yesterday, nothing.  Checked this thread today since someone else said they had just received the refunds on their credit card and VOILA - full refund of the cruise fare!  Yippee!!!  Now I just have to fight with TD to get the refund back into my bank account - they will not transfer a credit balance to a bank account for some reason, I have to get a cash advance (which means I have to line up outside the bank for an hour, wearing  my mask!!!).

 

Guess I will have to wait for the AC refund but I am just happy they agreed to give back my money rather than a voucher.

 

Hang in there people!

We received a full refund including non-refundable air that was also book by Air celebrity also flying with Air Canada. I also called TD Canada Trust And once the credit was sitting on a credit card for 5 days they happily transferred it into my account. No cash advance needed.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

4 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

The moral to the story then is never prepay a cruise and always wait until final payment?   Will they bill your credit card for the balance if you cancel a $100 deposit?

No.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

3 hours ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

When you make a Deposit on a cruise, you are asking Celebrity to place a hold on a certain cabin at a certain price for a certain cruise, and they offer best-price guarantee up until the date of the required final payment. Typically the deposit on longer cruises (which is all I do) is $450/pp but if booking onboard or during one of their frequent specials, then the initial deposit to hold the cabin might be as low as $50 or $100/pp. Every time I have booked with a reduced deposit, I have asked "so what does this mean?" And the answer always is "you owe a deposit of $450/pp, but you only need to pay $100/pp of that now. And there is a change fee if you later change the ship or the dates of the cruise."

I just checked, and all of that is fairly clear in every Booking Confirmation I have received in the last few years. Fortunately my momma taught me to always read the contract before signing...

 

Stan

 

I have never ever paid a change fee on cruises with a $100 deposit from booking on board and I've moved a few of those around.

[omeinv]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I have never ever paid a change fee on cruises with a $100 deposit from booking on board and I've moved a few of those around.

The poster clarified on another thread they in fact DID have a non-refundable booking.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[critterchick]

On 5/10/2020 at 8:10 AM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Yep. Ticketmaster is also taking its sweet time. They actually use the phrase "you can expect your refund in as few as 30 days". And it's not a mis-print where they meant "can take up to". I'm sitting at 34 days now and no refund for my Broadway tickets. At least the website tells me the refund has "begun processing" but who knows how long that's going to take.

 

We were scheduled to see Hamilton in July and got that email from Ticketmaster. But we got another email from a company called Broadway on Hollywood that said we'd get our money no later than June 2. We shall see. When we cancelled a concerge in March, Ticketmaster refunded the money in a couple of days, although they had said it would take 4-6 weeks.

 

On 5/10/2020 at 10:23 AM, casinoman1 said:

Hello,

 

I don't follow these boards a great deal.

We live in the UK but I booked through the international office in USD I have a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on the 8th August with Celebrity. We then have a further two cruises back to back after this one with Royal Caribbean.

I notice already our very expensive business class flights are not actually being sold, the one that they would likely put us on would mean arriving a day late and return home a day late too. This would not be possible for me with work. 

It will be 90 days until the cruise tomorrow so I need to make the final payment, I notice that Grand Cayman is closing until September, this is one of the ports of call. Can anyone advise what I should do, I would prefer a refund though they are none refundable cruises and I simply do not know when I will have the time again along with my wife to take 3 weeks again.Thanks

 

If it were me, I would cancel, but only you can make that decision. You don't have a way to get there at the moment, and Royal Caribbean have said that they are going to ease their ships back into service, not put them all in at once. So even if they do start sailing in August, it might not be your ship. I don't know if Cruise With Confidence applies to the UK, but in the US it would save your nonrefundable deposits until some time in 2022.

 

On 5/10/2020 at 11:35 AM, Roger88 said:

I wouldnt use word "tracking". To be more exact, I dont believe there is a way to track the whole process. The only option available is to keep calling their office or checking your bank account via calling the bank (sometimes it does not appear  on yor checking account. it appears later). As far as refunds are concerned, I am glad they keep refunding us. 

 

There is way to see what is going on. A TA has access to the service history of a reservation and can see when a refund was processed.

 

On 5/11/2020 at 12:36 PM, BP99 said:

Got an email from Celebrity today.

Instead of 100% cash refund they gave me FCC.

It was for an April 5th cruise that was cancelled by them.

I applied online for a 100% refund on March 14.

After >55 days waiting I get FCC instead of a refund.

I have read on these boards that they have done this

trick to others.

After I complain, do I have wait another 2 months???

I think they will do anything possible to avoid giving refunds.

I'm UPSET!!!!

 

 

Yes, you are now at the back of the line with us. Our refund was rejected FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS on May 4 (May 11 cruise cancelled on March 24; refund requested that day). And nobody at Celebrity noticed that it had come back - I was checking the service history and saw it. So I got to spend over an hour on hold to get Resolutions involved in resubmitting the request, which was an incorrect amount, unless they are going to ask for another $608.00 tomorrow. The rep said that it would normally take 7-10 business days to resolve but was instructed to say allow 30-45. I was incoherent with annoyance yesterday. And, after two hours on hold for another reservation this morning, I'm not much better today.

 

Oh, and the rep let it slip that there are a whopping four people processing refund requests. They apparently sent in reinforcement sin the last week or so. The incompetence is mind-boggling.

[vermonter16]

Still waiting for our taxes and port charges to be refunded from a cruise canceled around March 23...I forget the exact date anymore.

 

[jerryd1]

30 minutes ago, vermonter16 said:

Still waiting for our taxes and port charges to be refunded from a cruise canceled around March 23...I forget the exact date anymore.

 

 

We are, too.    That would be the taxes and port charges that Lisa Lutoff-Perlo  President and CEO Celebrity Cruise Lines stated in the notice of cancellation received on March 23 that "You can expect to receive a refund for cruise taxes and fees within 10 days"

[K.T.B.]

As bad as it's been in getting money back from cancelled vacations, it's been worse for those who have tickets to baseball games.  Officially, MLB hasn't cancelled anything, it's merely "delayed"  So no one has gotten a dime back.  Granted, not as much money involved, but it's just another form of greedy ownership.

[jelayne]

7 minutes ago, K.T.B. said:

As bad as it's been in getting money back from cancelled vacations, it's been worse for those who have tickets to baseball games.  Officially, MLB hasn't cancelled anything, it's merely "delayed"  So no one has gotten a dime back.  Granted, not as much money involved, but it's just another form of greedy ownership.

For some with  multiple seats in some ball parks it can add up quickly.