Refunds

[bury me at sea]

After reading numerous individual posts I think I am seeing a pattern.

 

I don't have an eidetic memory but it seems people who bought Carnival insurance and have booked a new cruise, had the payment for that insurance transferred to the new cruise.  In effect this was a refund.

 

It seems to be people who requested a full refund are being told the amount paid for Carnival insurance won't be refunded.

 

If true, this doesn't make sense to me.

 

I rebooked and was credited with the amount I paid toward Carnival insurance to purchase Carnival insurance again on the replacement cruise.  Has anyone who chose to request a full refund been told the Carnival insurance fee would be refunded?

[mano2020]

41 minutes ago, Doggielover68 said:

Same here, except I had to pay $4 (yes 4) and change because the new booking was slightly higher in price. Our excursions were refunded back to new gift cards and mailed within 3 days, but that was before the wave of cancellations. It did take around 2 hours on the phone.

 

People seem to forget that the folks in Miami are going through the same shut down as the rest of us. When you have to relocate hundreds/thousands of employees from an office to a work from home situation, there are going to be some hiccups. The phone system is different, reps don't have a support system or supervisors nearby, etc. Refunds take longer than payments because they don't just go through automatically. Humans have to go through a series of steps to process the refund. Multiply that by the thousands and thousands of refunds that they are processing. It's going to take some time. 

 

The money will come. 

That's really not a legit excuse. Yes, we should expect it to take some time...maybe a week or 2 extra, NOT 90 days.

 

NCL has had time to calculate my FCC and keep emailing me with different incentives in an attempt NOT to pay me....and the majority of their agents worked from home BEFORE Covid 19, so nooooo!

 

Most industries, e.g. real estate, have rules and laws pertaining to deposits and how they are handled and returned. The treatment we are receiving from some cruise lines should be a real eye opener for the public! 

 

People seem to still think this pandemic is going to be over in a few weeks! What if this drags on for 3 months....Do you still think you'll get your refund?   

 

 

 

[Doggielover68]

6 minutes ago, mano2020 said:

That's really not a legit excuse. Yes, we should expect it to take some time...maybe a week or 2 extra, NOT 90 days.

 

NCL has had time to calculate my FCC and keep emailing me with different incentives in an attempt NOT to pay me....and the majority of their agents worked from home BEFORE Covid 19, so nooooo!

 

Most industries, e.g. real estate, have rules and laws pertaining to deposits and how they are handled and returned. The treatment we are receiving from some cruise lines should be a real eye opener for the public! 

 

People seem to still think this pandemic is going to be over in a few weeks! What if this drags on for 3 months....Do you still think you'll get your refund?   

 

 

 

Carnival wouldn't have a huge corporate office in Miami if "most people already worked from home."

 

Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime. Everything in the world is upside down! The government has shut everything down. To think that it's business as usual for the cruiselinesand their employees is absolutely ridiculous. 

 

Refunds will come eventually, especially now that Carnival has taken out a gigantic loan.

 

 

 

[Knights on the Beach]

This is what it says in the cancellation email we received from Carnival:

 

Regardless of the option you select, your taxes, fees and port expenses, Carnival Vacation Protection, pre-paid gratuities, pre-purchased Carnival shore excursions, beverage and WiFi packages, and Fun Shop purchases will be automatically refunded to the original form of payment.

 

We bought insurance from Carnival so according to the wording in the email, it should be refunded to us.

 

[bury me at sea]

15 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

This is what it says in the cancellation email we received from Carnival:

 

Regardless of the option you select, your taxes, fees and port expenses, Carnival Vacation Protection, pre-paid gratuities, pre-purchased Carnival shore excursions, beverage and WiFi packages, and Fun Shop purchases will be automatically refunded to the original form of payment.

 

We bought insurance from Carnival so according to the wording in the email, it should be refunded to us.

 

 

Thanks for responding.  I am so glad to see that.

 

Happy sailing someday.

[beshears]

SRQMom, yes there were 4 rooms booked for the March 15th cruise, but Carnival cancelled instead of us.  My PVP called and ask me which option I wanted.  Since I have not been well, I told her I wanted a FULL refund back on my credit card as I paid for all 4 rooms.  Yes, SWA gave a quick refund back.  Now I'll see how long Carnival takes before they refund my money.  My son had also mentioned, not that we want any cruise line to go bankrupt, but he said, wouldn't it be better to get your money back, and this way if the cruise line goes bankrupt, I already have my money. I know the OBC sounded nice, but we were not expecting it, so it was no loss to us. Time will tell if the PVP takes care of this or not, or how soon it will take.

[travelhound]

1 hour ago, DWolf2020 said:

That's great news!  Interesting too because Princess officers are in California and Carnival's are in Florida.  Both states have "stay-at-home" orders.  Yet Princess Accounting is working and Carnival Accounting is not...?

There's also rumors of a class action suit building against Princess so I'm sure their goal is to "appease" as many customers as possible as quickly as possible so they don't jump in on it.

Yup, it is good news.  Carnival survived the Costa Concordia disaster, so I suspect that they will survive this crisis.

 

[coevan]

Don't think I would compare running aground in shallow water, comparable to this virus

[LaRue1975]

6 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

After reading numerous individual posts I think I am seeing a pattern.

 

I don't have an eidetic memory but it seems people who bought Carnival insurance and have booked a new cruise, had the payment for that insurance transferred to the new cruise.  In effect this was a refund.

 

It seems to be people who requested a full refund are being told the amount paid for Carnival insurance won't be refunded.

 

If true, this doesn't make sense to me.

 

I rebooked and was credited with the amount I paid toward Carnival insurance to purchase Carnival insurance again on the replacement cruise.  Has anyone who chose to request a full refund been told the Carnival insurance fee would be refunded?

Works the same way with third party insurance, the policy is not refundable.  My 4-4 family cruise was cancelled, if I had requested a full refund and not rebooked I would not have received a refund of the $400 I had paid for my independently booked policy. I did reschedule and was easily able to move the policy to my rescheduled cruise. 
 

[grandmarnnurse]

12 hours ago, Doggielover68 said:

Same here, except I had to pay $4 (yes 4) and change because the new booking was slightly higher in price. Our excursions were refunded back to new gift cards and mailed within 3 days, but that was before the wave of cancellations. It did take around 2 hours on the phone.

 

People seem to forget that the folks in Miami are going through the same shut down as the rest of us. When you have to relocate hundreds/thousands of employees from an office to a work from home situation, there are going to be some hiccups. The phone system is different, reps don't have a support system or supervisors nearby, etc. Refunds take longer than payments because they don't just go through automatically. Humans have to go through a series of steps to process the refund. Multiply that by the thousands and thousands of refunds that they are processing. It's going to take some time. 

 

The money will come. 

Agree.

[mano2020]

10 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

Works the same way with third party insurance, the policy is not refundable.  My 4-4 family cruise was cancelled, if I had requested a full refund and not rebooked I would not have received a refund of the $400 I had paid for my independently booked policy. I did reschedule and was easily able to move the policy to my rescheduled cruise. 
 

So it was refundable ONLY if you went on another cruise.

 

How is that fair? Sounds like perhaps the cruise line owns or controls the insurance company. 

 

Funny so many are ok giving away money for something they never got, or never even went into effect. By these standards then, they should be able to keep our drink upgrade package money, excursion money...Heck, just keep it all.

 

Funny that the travel agency could refund me within hours but NCL needs 100 days. Lets not forget they are HUGE corporations folks,, with CEO's who's bonuses are bigger than some peoples lifetime salaries,   not some mom & pop operation who deserve our support!

 

 

[LaRue1975]

25 minutes ago, mano2020 said:

So it was refundable ONLY if you went on another cruise.

 

How is that fair? Sounds like perhaps the cruise line owns or controls the insurance company. 

 

Funny so many are ok giving away money for something they never got, or never even went into effect. By these standards then, they should be able to keep our drink upgrade package money, excursion money...Heck, just keep it all.

 

Funny that the travel agency could refund me within hours but NCL needs 100 days. Lets not forget they are HUGE corporations folks,, with CEO's who's bonuses are bigger than some peoples lifetime salaries,   not some mom & pop operation who deserve our support!

 

 

I need to clarify so thank you. What I was trying to say is that in my experience the fee you pay for travel insurance is non refundable after you pass the short cancellation period. If you change your mind and cancel your trip you will not get a refund of the travel insurance payment. That is why I don’t buy it immediately after booking a trip even though you do get extra benefits, like pre-existing conditions if you do. I usually book big trips months if not a year or more in advance and sometimes change my mind.

 

The policy is in effect from the day of purchase through the end of your trip. I misspoke when I said if I got a refund my insurance would not be refundable, the travel insurance fee is not refundable regardless. You could have the option to move your insurance to a different date, I think this is at the discretion of the insurance company. In cases like this pandemic I think it is the norm to let people do that. I had no problem switching mine, just had to send an invoice from the original cruise and the rescheduled cruise and they updated my policy. 

[mano2020]

Yours is a much different situation.

 

Mine was specific to the trip, through NCL, and THEY cancelled, not me....So the policy never went into effect. 

 

What NCL and others should be doing, especially if they are going to have my money for over 7 months and keep part of it, is to give us a full refund, AND a FCC for, say 25% of the original amount, at a minimum!!

 

Some cruise lines, like Princess, are giving 200% FCC's,. I have read. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by mano2020

[TAIC1234]

40 minutes ago, mano2020 said:

Yours is a much different situation.

 

Mine was specific to the trip, through NCL, and THEY cancelled, not me....So the policy never went into effect. 

 

What NCL and others should be doing, especially if they are going to have my money for over 7 months and keep part of it, is to give us a full refund, AND a FCC for, say 25% of the original amount, at a minimum!!

 

Some cruise lines, like Princess, are giving 200% FCC's,. I have read. 

The biggest problem I see with your beef is that this is a CARNIVAL thread, and you are complaining about NCL.

They have a thread for NCL that might better serve your issues.

[rmvst]

36 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

Can anyone share how long recent refunds have taken? Just trying to get an idea from budget perspective. Thanks!

mine took 7 days

[Globetrotter21]

It was 90 days for me. April request, July received refund.

[mouche]

My girlfriend that was traveling with us decided she did not want to go, she had booked by herself with a $250 deposit and had only paid approx $200 more on her sailing, she cancelled two weeks ago and she got her money back yesterday minus the non refundable deposit. So it was pretty fast for her refund.