Oceania Refunds - Has anyone actually received any cash yet?

[clo]

2 minutes ago, ORV said:

When I don't know what I'm talking about I try not to clutter up a topic. But that's just me. 

It was pretty clear that they were possibly/probably confusing US/Europe. That was my point.

[tedcatuk]

23 hours ago, LHT28 said:

You do not say what Country you are in but sounds like you booked via the UK

ABTA is for UK  bookings 

https://www.abta.com/

 

 

2 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

You may want to check Oceania's prices for 2021 and 2022 (as well as for what 2020 itineraries may still have a chance of happening). The price drops are not exactly "chump change."

I've been able to get repricing on all three of my currently booked future cruises. For our two 30+ day cruises, it's meant savings of thousands of dollars on each one. 

We were also "fortunate" to get refunds AND FCCs for our recent modified February and "current" (O cancelled) May cruises. Using these FCCs for our next cruise (hopefully this November), on top of the huge price reduction, will lower our final payment (on a 30 day cruise) to only a couple of thousand dollars.

And, yes, if November doesn't happen, our FCCs will be redeposited and extended.

 

As for the refund rules: with that "14 day" mention, it sounds like you're in the U.K. and using a TA(?). The Oceania T&Cs (at least in the US) make no mention of a deadline for refunds from Oceania. And, if you bought/paid for your "holiday" by having your credit card charged by that TA (instead of charged by Oceania), your argument is with the TA who THEORETICALLY should have the cash reserves or insurance or whatever to comply with that 14 day stuff. 

 

At the bottom line, it sounds like your gripe is with the TA and the TA's gripe may be with Oceania. BTW, have you filed a CC dispute against whoever's business name appears for the charge on you CC statement?

 

[tedcatuk]

You sound like a T A to me ! - my gripe is with both! in fact the same 90 day time scale is being applied here contract or not- at least we have section 75 credit card protection which will pay if all goes wrong . Perhaps the price lists are a bit different on your side of the pond ?

[LHT28]

42 minutes ago, tedcatuk said:

I am- the law in Europe is clear- refund within 14 days of suppliers cancelation and it is the same with the passenger contract .

Problem is enforcing it . This situation is causing a lot of anger here with cruise agents trying to give cruise credit notes and delays from cruise lines in paying up.

In normal times  that is  reasonable   but  these are far from normal times 

https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

 Even ABTA  agrees

 

Just saying

 

 

[tedcatuk]

20 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

In normal times  that is  reasonable   but  these are far from normal times 

https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

 Even ABTA  agrees

 

Just saying

 

 

That depends who ABTA are looking after - to date they have not convinced the UK govt to its tune.

[Flatbush Flyer]

54 minutes ago, tedcatuk said:

You sound like a T A to me ! - my gripe is with both! in fact the same 90 day time scale is being applied here contract or not- at least we have section 75 credit card protection which will pay if all goes wrong . Perhaps the price lists are a bit different on your side of the pond ?

No- not a TA. Rather, a big Oceania fan who found his niche cruise line almost a decade ago.

To the best of my knowledge, there are can be some Oceania "price" differences (e.g., Europeans can more often get all 3 "O Life" perks [I.e., "ultimate O Life] country to country. But, I trust that the huge savings currently being seen here in the US is a worldwide phenomenon.

[tedcatuk]

31 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

No- not a TA. Rather, a big Oceania fan who found his niche cruise line almost a decade ago.

To the best of my knowledge, there are can be some Oceania "price" differences (e.g., Europeans can more often get all 3 "O Life" perks [I.e., "ultimate O Life] country to country. But, I trust that the huge savings currently being seen here in the US is a worldwide phenomenon.

Well remember the old saying is- you get what you pay for.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, tedcatuk said:

Well remember the old saying is- you get what you pay for.

True - and, fortunately, what you get with Oceania is value.

[tedcatuk]

Sorry that’s not my first criteria when I look to my vacation 

[clo]

20 minutes ago, tedcatuk said:

Sorry that’s not my first criteria when I look to my vacation 

I'm confused. What is it that you look for? Not sure who you were replying to

[Flatbush Flyer]

13 minutes ago, tedcatuk said:

Sorry that’s not my first criteria when I look to my vacation 

"Gimme a break" (as we say in the US). You know exactly what I mean in terms of "value" as relates to premium/luxury cruise lines.

 

Have you been on an Oceania ship?

"Finest cuisine at sea" (just ask Bon Appetit, Saveur et al.)

Excellent crew and space ratios with stellar service.

Unusual itineraries with plenty of long cruises to choose from.

Heavenly cabin amenities (people can and do buy the mattresses from the manufacturer).

A well-traveled, professionally accomplished, adult passenger demographic.

 

And then there's what you don't get:

Nickel/diming 

Obnoxious photogs and art auctions

Thundering herds

etc.

 

O's "value" is that you get a relatively great price for an outstanding experience.

[clo]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

"Gimme a break" (as we say in the US). You know exactly what I mean in terms of "value" as relates to premium/luxury cruise lines.

Perhaps you can tell me what he was talking about. Please. And I agree with you. I don't know if we'll return to cruising or not at this moment. But O was simply wonderful. I really lusted after those thousand thread count sheets 🙂

[roger b]

14 hours ago, tedcatuk said:

I don't know who is putting all this stuff on here maybe T A s or NCL staff -The passenger contract is clear 14 days refund upon their cancelation of your holiday.

If you go for the Future cruise credit all is fine - you wont get any thing extra because if you look at the comparable cruise and room next year the pricing will have gone up enough to take your future credit.

If you dare to want your money back well whatever your contract says with them or your travel agent its not going to happen within the 14 days stated and NCL is going to benefit from your money for a good long while.

Oceania was a very different company before the hookup with NCL and I wont be booking again.

There is an answer  for all the people writing  on this board that are waiting for refunds . We have been given so many mixed messages  from NCL . One minute  they might  go into bankruptcy  next they have secure finance to keep going for 18 months .Now they have that finance ,a letter  to all those in limbo of an assurance  that they would be reimbursed would go a long way to instilling  confidence  and people feeling  confident  in making new bookings  

 

[jonthomas]

We regret not having given up on Celebrity cruises years ago.  We complained but did not let our money do the talking. We recently did an O cruise and now we know we missed a good thing for so many years. 

 

Going forward I can only hope that O survives and  will be able to provide the kind of standard that we experienced before this scourge. That and all else is the big unknown. 

 

If I had to do things over again, we would have not sailed with Celebrity for the past ten years, when things were going steadily down hill. We realized what we missed by doing one Oceania cruise. 

 

We still have one Celeb cruise, due to an itinerary that we want to do, but our expectations of all else are nil. 

 

By all means if you want me to expand on this commentary, just ask.

 

 

[KS&JW]

I have yet to receive my deposit back for my Oceania cruise. However,  I did, after almost 6 weeks, receive my United refund for a flight they canceled.   Everyone is slow to refund, even those that received government bailout money.  The flight was purchased half with ETC and half cash(credit card) yet they refunded the full amount to my credit card.  So a small bonus.  

[ORV]

2 hours ago, KS&JW said:

I have yet to receive my deposit back for my Oceania cruise. However,  I did, after almost 6 weeks, receive my United refund for a flight they canceled.   Everyone is slow to refund, even those that received government bailout money.  The flight was purchased half with ETC and half cash(credit card) yet they refunded the full amount to my credit card.  So a small bonus.  

What is ETC?

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 minutes ago, ORV said:

What is ETC?

Electronic Travel Certificate - "coin of the realm" for many United rebooking/refunding/price differentiating financial transactions. 

[KS&JW]

20 minutes ago, ORV said:

What is ETC?

Similar to a FCC for a cruise. 

[Comitis]

We were originally scheduled to depart on April 19 for a 10-day cruise to the Mediterranean.  When we received notification from Oceania that we could opt to rebook on a later cruise we did.  This was before Oceania cancelled our cruise.  We rebooked for an August Mediterranean cruise.  We had second thoughts and decided to change our booking to an April 2021 Mediterranean cruise.  Now we are concerned that if there isn't a vaccine before we go on this cruise we are putting ourselves at risk.  We are 64 and 73 years old.  My question to the group is do you think we can get a refund or will Oceania insist on future cruise credit?  

[Paulchili]

18 minutes ago, Comitis said:

We were originally scheduled to depart on April 19 for a 10-day cruise to the Mediterranean.  When we received notification from Oceania that we could opt to rebook on a later cruise we did.  This was before Oceania cancelled our cruise.  We rebooked for an August Mediterranean cruise.  We had second thoughts and decided to change our booking to an April 2021 Mediterranean cruise.  Now we are concerned that if there isn't a vaccine before we go on this cruise we are putting ourselves at risk.  We are 64 and 73 years old.  My question to the group is do you think we can get a refund or will Oceania insist on future cruise credit?  

My bet is on the latter since you were the ones that cancelled the cruise originally

[LoveChops]

Me and my husband were booked on 1st April trip which Oceania cancelled and we requested a cash refund on 14th March.  We still haven't received anything despite chasing up several times.  Apparently "the refund is moving through the process", whatever that means.  Has anyone requested a refund (cash) AFTER 14th March and received this already?

Thanks

Denise

[jo-b]

We cancelled around 12 March a May cruise after the ports were substantially changed. We have an invoice from Oceania dated 22 April showing a full refund. But no monies returned to date. Our TA is chasing regularly and is told it is being escalated. 

 

We cancelled September cruise on the 21 April and got a cancellation invoice from O dated 29 April, so some things are getting speedier...just no cash! 

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 minutes ago, jo-b said:

We cancelled around 12 March a May cruise after the ports were substantially changed. We have an invoice from Oceania dated 22 April showing a full refund. But no monies returned to date. Our TA is chasing regularly and is told it is being escalated. 

 

We cancelled September cruise on the 21 April and got a cancellation invoice from O dated 29 April, so some things are getting speedier...just no cash! 

Though we had zero problem getting all expected refunds from O for two affected cruises, we did have some DIY airline challenges. For one cruise we were to use Philippine Air which sent approval of our refund request (less cancellation fee) on the same day we cancelled in the last week of April. However, we only just got the CC credit and that took doing a CC dispute.

A silver lining on all this mess is that it solidifies some of my consumer loyalties including:

Oceania - stellar responsiveness.

United Airlines- unequalled digital sophistication.

[Paulchili]

59 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Oceania - stellar responsiveness.

You are entitled to that impression based on your experience but just know that you  are a true exception.

You and a few others from Insignia's WC received refunds very promptly early on. I bet you represent less than 5% with that type of response on Oceania or any other cruise line that I am following.

Seabourn is just one example (and that table is now 5 days old - add 5 days to most of those numbers):

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Paulchili

[bbqoug]

I certainly don't rate Oceania's responsiveness as stellar.

We are on day 65 waiting since we requested a full refund on March 14 for our April 1 cruise that was cancelled on March 13.