How long is it taking to get refunds on cancelled Cruise Planner items?

[DebInAntigua]

I decided to cancel and get a credit card refund on quite a few Cruise Planner purchases for cruises in late 2020 and mid 2021. Who knows what will happen down the road and I'd rather have the money in my pocket during the crisis than let Celebrity sit on it for months.

 

Normally when I've cancelled items in the Cruise Planner before, refunds have shown up on my credit card accounts in about 3 days or so. But this time it's already been over a week and nothing yet on any of the credit cards I used for excursions or specialty dining.

 

Anyone know how long the processing time is running nowadays for just normal CP refunds? Anyone else waiting a week or more to get their money back?

I'm not going to bother to call until another week or so has gone by. This is more of just a curious question what others are experiencing.

[patty1955]

I don't know whether this applies or not, but when Celebrity cancelled my cruise the email I received said "If you pre-booked any shore excursions, beverage, internet, specialty dining or other onboard packages, through Celebrity Cruises, you will have the option of receiving 125% Onboard Credit (OBC) to be used on your next sailing, or you may choose a 100% refund.  In order to select the 125% Onboard Credit please click here to submit your request.  If we have not received your choice of compensation for these pre-booked items by April 8^th, you will automatically receive a full refund to your original method of payment.  Guests with independent shore excursion arrangements should contact their tour operators as soon as possible. "

Since there was no way to communicate the request for a cash refund, I'm guessing I'll be waiting until after 4/8

[hcat]

Our self cancelled excursions, spa and dining took less than a week but we cancelled earlier this month before X cancelled so many cruises, and I think their offices were still ooen.  Now  they are working from home.  

 

When you call, they can tell you what was cancelled...

[hcat]

As mentioned,  we cancelled our  pre paid extras and then a few days later cancelled the cruises. This made it easier for the Rep.  We have one other cruise we will  probably cancel to get our $900 dep back but will wait for the big rush to end...They are  def backed up.

 

Like Deb, we  may also  cancel some other pre paid extras.,.,,and see what happens with the cruises themselves,  Less money held by X,  the better at this point,

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I will see if refunds hit tomorrow from excursions on future cruises that I cancelled last Sunday. It’s usually been 7 days for me for them to hit my account.

[jelayne]

About March 5th I cancelled all our beverage package upgrades, and excursions before we cancelled the cruise. It took 9 days for the refunds to shown on my credit card.

[BEAV]

This is a post from another cruise line board that I've copied and am pasting here. The post is in response to basically the same question no doubt being asked/discussed on every cruise line board. So I think it's worthwhile to post here as well. It's written from the standpoint of the travel industry being slammed with credit card refunds to process. It addresses various poster's questions about how long refund processes are taking, as well as people commenting their experiences are vastly different from other's. In other words, receiving credit card refunds is "all over the map" these days.

 

 

"Is it possible for a merchant to run three different refunds in the same system for three different cards, seconds apart, and have the customers have three completely different experiences?  ABSOLUTELY.  Here's how a cruise line can run three refunds sequentially, and one person sees the refund online immediately, one person sees the refund online four days later, and the next person (against almost every accounting security procedure in practice at the moment) gets a check in the mail two months later.

 

First, a little history is needed.  When a merchant runs a charge these days, the system gets an authorization and blocks credit on that person's card because it can take between 2 and 10 days for the charge to actually process.  The authorization process is instant, but the actual charge on a credit card is much more complex, and involves a lot of steps -- many of which frequently stall or fail and require reprocessing.  This is why if you look closely on when charges go from pending to posted on your credit card account, the timing is very inconsistent.  The authorization and the charge are two independent things, but the hope is that the authorization will still be active on the card by the time the actual charge makes it through the process.

 

Until a couple of years ago, refunds for the major credit card brands worked the old fashioned way, and were posted directly to someone's account.  This meant you didn't "see" a pending refund, someone would tell you a refund was processed and you'd get a receipt, but then it would be a few days before you saw it on your account.  Once you saw it though, it was already posted and not pending.

 

A couple of years ago, one credit card issuer decided to modernize this process and run authorizations on refunds like they do on charges.  Like the whole change with EVM, however, it takes two to tango.  Actually, it takes a whole network (merchants, gateways, banks, etc.) to change a process, and just like with the EVM migration, different stakeholders didn't meet the deadline to change the standard.  Many banks didn't (or couldn't in the time given) change their systems to accommodate the authorizations, and the gateway would successfully process the refund but then when it hit the bank's computer to authorize the charge, the bank's system would reject it only because the bank's system didn't understand what a refund authorization even was.  

 

Over the course of a couple of years, the first card brand worked through these issues with most banks, and we're seeing issues with a very limited number of banks at this point for that brand.  A couple of months ago, unfortunately, a second card brand reached the same cutover milestone with the same initial results.  While we're only seeing a 2-3% decline rate on refunds for that first brand, we are currently running a roughly 20% decline rate by bank systems not programmed to handle a refund authorization for that card type.  That wasn't a big deal when we were running dozens of refunds a day, but now that we're running thousands of them, it's quite unfortunate.

 

So, what happens when a refund gets declined because the bank doesn't support the authorization process yet?  Because the underlying issue isn't something that the bank can resolve (the gateway can not ever get an authorization until the bank updates its system), the issue has to be handled offline.  Because of security procedures, the person running the charge has no access to information about the account, so even to figure out which systems rejected the charge (since merchants and banks often use multiple systems) requires escalation to a key contact inside the company that has access to confidential details.  Then, that person has to call the bank and try to connect with a key contact there that has the ability to discuss such issues, and try to work out a one-off solution for this one case.  That is an all day process, and if you're lucky enough to get a quick call back.  Now imagine the volume exploding exponentially by the merchant.  NOW imagine the volume ALSO exploding exponentially by the bank as they're getting an unprecedented number of refunds overall. 

 

Because of that, I've seen our clients just give up in frustration and cut checks back to the customer just to get some resolution on the issue.  That's not only a horrible idea because it exposes the company to fraud and loss if a chargeback comes on the original charge (and they'll have basically refunded money in cash that they never ended up collecting in the first place),  but it adds weeks to the whole scenario which probably already took days or weeks just to get back the bank discussion stage.

 

So, there it is.  YES -- the merchant CAN run a batch of refunds, and through no fault of their own, one refund can appear immediately (as an authorization), one can appear in 2-10 days as a posted transaction, one can appear weeks later worked out with a bank manually, and one can appear months later as a check (even though it was a credit card transaction)."

 

[mitz18]

19 hours ago, DebInAntigua said:

I decided to cancel and get a credit card refund on quite a few Cruise Planner purchases for cruises in late 2020 and mid 2021. Who knows what will happen down the road and I'd rather have the money in my pocket during the crisis than let Celebrity sit on it for months.

 

Normally when I've cancelled items in the Cruise Planner before, refunds have shown up on my credit card accounts in about 3 days or so. But this time it's already been over a week and nothing yet on any of the credit cards I used for excursions or specialty dining.

 

Anyone know how long the processing time is running nowadays for just normal CP refunds? Anyone else waiting a week or more to get their money back?

I'm not going to bother to call until another week or so has gone by. This is more of just a curious question what others are experiencing.

 

Just as info, when I called X I was told 14-21 biz days for refunds.  Also received an email from them but it stated 21-30 days.  I cancelled March 9th and still waiting for $800+ in refunds.  

[tallfir]

I cancelled our March 15th cruise before it was cancelled by Celebrity. When cancelling, the TA said that the shore excursions that I had purchased and paid for on December 11, 2019 would automatically be credited back to credit card. I received an email confirmation from Celebrity on March 10th stating that the shore excursion refund would be credited "WITHIN TWO BILLING CYCLES". Really? They have had my money since December and now they are holding it for TWO BILLING CYCLES! Unacceptable! As of today, NO REFUND.

[debkaysmith]

I cancelled on March 11th and have seen no refund to my credit card for excursions yet. 

We did receive the FCC last week though. 

 

[EmeraldCruiser19]

We cancelled the 15th of March and received our FCC today (although the wrong amount! 🙄) No sign of the refunds to the credit cards yet. 

[DebInAntigua]

1 hour ago, tallfir said:

I cancelled our March 15th cruise before it was cancelled by Celebrity. When cancelling, the TA said that the shore excursions that I had purchased and paid for on December 11, 2019 would automatically be credited back to credit card. I received an email confirmation from Celebrity on March 10th stating that the shore excursion refund would be credited "WITHIN TWO BILLING CYCLES". Really? They have had my money since December and now they are holding it for TWO BILLING CYCLES! Unacceptable! As of today, NO REFUND.

 

That is unacceptable. They have systems in place to refund directly to credit cards without long delays, so if they are now refunding only after several weeks or even longer, that's a deliberate delay to help their cash flow. Which for many customers mean that people are paying interest on things that should have been refunded promptly. Not very fair to customers, sadly.

[hcat]

Afew days ago we were told our bigger refund was approved and sent to our card, nothing yet...seems it's lingering someplace for no apparent reason. It should be fullly processed already,

 

We will still check each day!

Edited March 30, 2020 by hcat

[Cruising89143]

I called this morning. We originally asked for a refund on our B2B on 3/15 after X canceled the cruises. We were originally told around 12-15 days. Today the rep placed me on hold. After returning he told me that the revenue department is now saying 30 days from when notice was received for refund. They are processing each refund manually. I still think that they’re holding the money as long as possible. Our two cruises are still showing as active when I log in. 

[upwarduk]

I cancelled 5 excursions on 10th March and the refund showed on my credit card 27th March.

They were actually refunded by Celebrity on 24/03/20, but the funds were not on my card until 27/03/20.

I had been watching daily, as I needed to pay my bill on 27/03/20 , so now I have a sizeable credit on my card.

Edited March 30, 2020 by upwarduk

[BEAV]

If folks passed over post #7 that I copied and pasted from another cruise line board because it was too long, I’d encourage anyone to read it. On the board it was originally posted, the responses that followed were in stark contrast to the comments on this board. This despite the subject of “where’s my refund?” being the same on both boards. 

 

For the record, I’m waiting on a refund from Celebrity, too. So I also have a pony in this race like everyone else. 

[Cruising89143]

30 minutes ago, BEAV said:

If folks passed over post #7 that I copied and pasted from another cruise line board because it was too long, I’d encourage anyone to read it. On the board it was originally posted, the responses that followed were in stark contrast to the comments on this board. This despite the subject of “where’s my refund?” being the same on both boards. 

 

For the record, I’m waiting on a refund from Celebrity, too. So I also have a pony in this race like everyone else. 

The X rep told me that I would know when the refunds were processed. Our bookings would no longer show active on their website when I logged in. They’re still active which means that they have not touched my bookings. Also X owed me an overage of $1200.00 a few weeks back. It hit my card three days after I spoke to resolutions. 

[BEAV]

I’d suspect they’re processing ship by ship, sail date by sail date?  My sail date was April 24, and I can still bring up my booking. So I won’t expect a refund before its purged from their system. 

[bajathree]

I was on Silhouette March 6 sailing that returned March 15.....all passengers were told we are receiving a 25% refund due to issue's on that sailing. Called Celebrity last week and it was confirmed and refund will happen....nothing yet.

Edited March 31, 2020 by bajathree

[Lena11033]

8 hours ago, BEAV said:

I’d suspect they’re processing ship by ship, sail date by sail date?  My sail date was April 24, and I can still bring up my booking. So I won’t expect a refund before its purged from their system. 

Who knows, my TA cancelled my cruise on the 13th and I pretty much couldn't bring up the booking 24 hours after. The TA said 7-10 days I'd have a refund, a week later someone else from the same company said two billing cycles. So here I am still waiting.

 

My cruise wasn't until the summer either.

[Fouremco]

13 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

The X rep told me that I would know when the refunds were processed. Our bookings would no longer show active on their website when I logged in.

Rather than challenge the veracity of this X rep, let's just say yet another misinformed employee. I cancelled on March 8 and the cruise disappeared from my booking in under 24 hours. On March 16 I received my FCC and on March 23 partial payment of the refund. Still no sign of the balance. If the refund was processed in that initial 24 hour period as the X rep claims, I wouldn't still be waiting. What the rep possibly meant to say is that you would know that the cruise cancellation process had been initiated when it disappeared from your list of active cruises.

[BEAV]

As to my April 24 sailing, this was a cruise that Celebrity cancelled as opposed to my voluntarily cancelling what was still a live sailing. I can understand a booking disappearing from view/access within 24 hours of a voluntary cancellation. But in my particular case, Celebrity cancelled the voyage 6 days ago, yet I can still access the booking. So is it a safe assumption Celebrity simply hasn’t yet got around to processing refunds for that cruise?

[vkb2751]

Our cruise sailing on 3/27 was cancelled by Celebrity on 3/13. The cruise still shows on celebrity website when I log in. I guess it hasn’t been cancelled yet so no chance of refund soon!

[Roger88]

Depends on what items you are talking about. Bar credits, excursions and etc. should be included in that list of items. Also, I doubt that you will have a chance to profitably use these kinds of 125% credits by the time you get on board. One thing I can tell you for sure - no actual refund will be reimbursed to your bank account. They will be postponing the cruise as long as they need. In any case, I hope I am wrong 

[Fouremco]

23 minutes ago, BEAV said:

So is it a safe assumption Celebrity simply hasn’t yet got around to processing refunds for that cruise?

I'd think so.