Regent Refund Experience (please limit to received refunds)

[Pcardad]

My contact is sharing his general impression of how long it has been from claim to money based on what he has looked up over the past few days. This isn't an official statement, just his general impression of the times he is seeing based on refunded cruises. FCC taking 3-5 days.

[pappy1022]

Fair enough

[SusieQft]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:05 PM, rallydave said:

Have a suggestion for you Portolan.  There is a thread on Seabourn called Refund  Roll Call and it is doing exactly what you are looking for without all of the superfluous chatter,  The OP is keeping a spreadsheet from what people are posting and periodically posting the updated spreadsheet.

Hi rallydave.

THANK YOU so much for this suggestion, and please accept my apologies for not recognizing you when I started the Regent Refund Roll Call thread.  I have been reviewing this thread to find additional input from people waiting for refunds, or who received them, and I see that the idea came from you first.  Unfortunately, it is too late to go back and edit my original post there.   

[SusieQft]

Hello to the posters on this thread.  I have collected a summary of the information posted here:

Full Cruise Fare	Original Sailing Date	Refund Request Date	Refund Received Date	Days Since Request	Days to Receive Refund	Latest Date of Posted Information	Notes
Pcardad	2/12/2020	2/12/2020	2/26/2020		14	4/15/2020
Pcardad's friend	2/12/2020	2/12/2020	2/16/2020		4	4/15/2020
Fran&Steve	2/12/2020	2/20/2020	3/10/2020		19	4/19/2020	Cruise fare refunded but not excursion
tecnam2003	?	2/26/2020	4/4/2020		38	4/14/2020
cruisealert	4/1/2020	3/13/2020		59		4/15/2020
JIMinJC	6/24/2020	3/23/2020	3/27/2020		4	4/3/2020	15% penalty under original cancellation terms
paratrooper69	?	3/25/2020		47		4/24/2020
irishwitchy	6/30/2020	4/24/2020		17		4/24/2020
Deposit Only	Original Sailing Date	Refund Request Date	Refund Received Date	Days Since Request	Days to Receive Refund	Latest Date of Posted Information
tubeamps	11/1/2020	3/6/2020	4/23/2020		48	4/23/2020
DarthCruiser	9/1/2020	3/10/2020		62		4/17/2020
cruisealert	4/1/2020	3/15/2020		57		5/7/2020
thomastoo	10/1/2020	3/19/2020	3/19/2020		0	4/3/2020
pappy1022's friend	Sep 2020	3/23/2020	3/25/2020		2	4/16/2020
cruiseluv	?	3/24/2020	3/31/2020		7	4/3/2020
cruiseluv	?	3/24/2020	3/31/2020		7	4/3/2020
wristband	Jan 2021	4/2/2020				4/15/2020
Other (Taxes, etc., when FCC taken for cruise fare)	Original Sailing Date	Refund Request Date	Refund Received Date	Days Since Request	Days to Receive Refund	Latest Date of Posted Information
Fran&Steve	2/12/2020	2/20/2020		81		4/21/2020	Cruise fare refunded but not excursion
Anchorbuoy	3/24/2020	3/16/2020		56		4/3/2020
rcandkc	6/1/2020	3/18/2020		54		4/28/2020
ronrick1943	?	?	?		4	4/30/2020	b2b New York to Barcelona

 

If there are any errors, or if you have new information (for example that you got a refund!), please post an update on the new thread:

 

For those of you who posted here and also on the new thread, thank you.  Your information is not shown above but is in the spreadsheet in a different tab.  The list shown above is also included in its own separate tab.

 

[rallydave]

58 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

Hi rallydave.

THANK YOU so much for this suggestion, and please accept my apologies for not recognizing you when I started the Regent Refund Roll Call thread.  I have been reviewing this thread to find additional input from people waiting for refunds, or who received them, and I see that the idea came from you first.  Unfortunately, it is too late to go back and edit my original post there.   

You are very welcome Suzy.  Seemed like a good way to get rid of the animosity on this thread and provide useful information that would be much more useful than the suggested polls that would not have provided much if any information especially as most people have not received their refunds it would have been months to have any useful information by voting for any of the suggested options.

 

Not offended in the least by you missing me on your initial thank you's as knew eventually you would be aware I was the one who suggested what you did an excellent job  making happen.  Knew it was a simple solution and easy to implement and you certainly proved that point.  Your spreadsheet is a bit different and presented in a different manner than the Seabourn one but, both get the message across in a simple to read manner.

 

Always enjoy your unbiased posts and knowledge of who on this board to believe and those not to be believed.  Keep up the great work.

[Travelcat2]

Karen - you are doing an amazing job on this board.  Now that you are getting to know people on this board, I truly hope that you can sail on Regent sooner rather than later.  I cannot even imagine how much you will be able to contribute after you have sailed on Regent.  Hopefully you will be able to challenge those of us (Pcardad and I for instance) that have hundreds of nights on Regent.

 

Well done!

[Travelcat2]

Portolan - I truly felt that it was okay to compliment Karen on this thread as others have done as I thought that this thread had moved to the new Roll Call thread.  Sorry - did not think it was active any longer.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Travelcat2

[Fran&Steve]

Note to SusieQft:  Ou  excursion refund was received 5/9.  Delete second entry for us below. One closer to top of spreadsheet covers us. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Fran&Steve
additonal info

[SusieQft]

31 minutes ago, Fran&Steve said:

Note to SusieQft:  Ou  excursion refund was received 5/9.  Delete second entry for us below. One closer to top of spreadsheet covers us. 

Thank you for the update.  I added your additional refund date, and moved your entries to the current tabs (first and third tab) in the spreadsheet.  I left the refund date for your excursion in because people want to know how long it took.

 

 

[flossie009]

On 4/16/2020 at 6:32 PM, Pcardad said:

As a 30 year banker, 90 days is unreasonable. Regent needs a kick in the butt on this. I would happily wait 30 days but at 45 I would get the ball rolling. Many banks require you to bring an item to their attention with a certain time frame.

 

I agree, there is no system at Regent at all....imagine buckets of mail coming down a chute in a huge room and people grab a handful at a time to work on.

 

I guess this is where we differ...I don't side with Regent on this. Taking 90 day to process a refund in the current climate would not work for me and I certainly would not accept it for my clients.

 

Don't worry, I still like and respect you though. 😃

 

On 4/24/2020 at 11:58 PM, Pcardad said:

Refunds are now ALL being done by hand and are taking 40 - 45 days as of today.

 

On 5/7/2020 at 5:35 PM, Pcardad said:

50-55 days currently I heard.

 

In light of your previous comments, your insider knowledge and your contacts at Regent I would be interested in your opinions on the following issues that are destabilising my previously unshakable faith in Regent:

1. @SusieQft's spreadsheet on the Regent Refund Roll Call thread appears to indicate that Regent has as yet made no refunds for cruises that they cancelled from March 13 onwards. It does now appear that they are intending to make their customers wait a full 3 months for a refund.
2. Is it right/ethical/legal that Regent and its TAs are still marketing cruises in July & August that the head of NCLH has publicly stated will not sail?
3. Similarly is it right/ethical/legal that Regent are sitting on deposits and seeking final payments for cruises that according to the head of NCLH will not sail?
4. Should Regent be making more regular updates on its website for customers and prospective customers? (the last website update about COVID-19 was April 24, 3 weeks ago)

Maybe unfair to direct this solely at @Pcardad, so if anyone else has factual information that can help alleviate my concerns I would welcome their input.

Serious cruise-withdrawal symptoms are causing increased depression today ☹️ 

[Pcardad]

1. I don't know how big of a statistical sample that it - or is people are in as much of a hurry to share good news as they are to complain. I have personal knowledge of refunds taking less than 90 days so I don't agree that is policy.

 

2. I can't speak to the legality but I warn my clients and share all relevant facts/opinions with them. Many of them like the idea of the 125% FCC and are willing to take a chance for a 25% return vs. losing it all. They do not think this has a reasonable chance of occuring. 

 

3. Not sure what you mean by sitting on deposits and seeking full payment. You can, by the terms of your contract, not make any payment. You can also use the Regent Reassurance program. You have many options...you might not like them but they are exactly (or better) than what your contract dictates.

 

4. My opinion is Yes, absolutely. I don't think they understand the ire present in this forum. But, on the other hand, the feedback they get from people calling in is far less...agitated.

 

I am not a Regent employee. I don't know what they are planning and I have no effect on it. Contrary to suggestions made here, I am not attempting to manipulate NCLH stock for personal gain. My personal opinion is that they should make refunds a much higher priority and use it as a PR gain. A very large missed opportunity IMO. If/when any refunds I control hit 50 days you can be certain I will turn up the heat. My loyalty is to my clients, not to Regent (if they don't earn it).

 

There may be an industry shift coming up...small group charters of large yachts. Luxury AND safety.

[Portolan]

It is easy to refute the idea that the 90 day delay is because of processing time.  Let's assume that you were the first to request a refund when the first cancellations happened.  OK, a Regent employee starts processing your claim...and it takes at least 60 days since, despite Pcardad's anecdotes, no one posting on this board has reported a refund yet for a Regent cancelled cruise even though it has been nearly 60 days since the first round of cancellations.  Now, you are the second person requesting a refund, and it still takes 90 days because that's how long it takes to process.  Presumably your Regent employee is only working on your case since it'll take them 90 days of total, dedicated effort (note that I being sarcastic here).  And so on.  If this were a case of backlog, then we'd have reports of early applicants receiving their refunds in days, later applicants in weeks, and late applicants in months, i.e., the queue is lengthening.  No evidence of this.

 

I believe that the whole issue is Regent's desire to preserve cash flow, which I understand, though this as an honest explanation would defuse much of the angst posted here.  I strongly suspect that there is an underlying issue with credit card terms which suggests to me that the credit card companies won't process a charge-back if Regent says it'll take them 90 days and they are on it.  This will be essentially proven if we see those sharing their experiences start receiving refunds at the 80-ish day point REGARDLESS of when they requested the refund. 

[Pcardad]

2 minutes ago, Portolan said:

OK, a Regent employee starts processing your claim...and it takes at least 60 days since, despite Pcardad's anecdotes, no one posting on this board has reported a refund yet for a Regent cancelled cruise even though it has been nearly 60 days since the first round of cancellations.

 

Not correct. I requested a refund and it took about 2 weeks. That was way back in Feb. All documented on this forum and on the spreadsheet.

[Travelcat2]

21 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

1. I don't know how big of a statistical sample that it - or is people are in as much of a hurry to share good news as they are to complain. I have personal knowledge of refunds taking less than 90 days so I don't agree that is policy.

 

4. My opinion is Yes, absolutely. I don't think they understand the ire present in this forum. But, on the other hand, the feedback they get from people calling in is far less...agitated.

 

 

 

Agree that the number of people on this thread that have not received funds yet is a small sample.  And, some folks feel that "Critic" means that they are suppose to complain (not true - as many know).   

 

It is interesting, but not surprising, that people calling in are far less agitated.  If people calling in were as upset as some posters, I feel badly for the Customer Service Reps. (and I generally have nothing good to say about them).  

[wristband]

Simple: we provided an interest free loan to NCL which NCL will repay on its own terms in its own time.

 

As for soliciting bookings for Regent cruises in July & August - even though no one in their right mind believes these will occur - the practical effect is refunds for those cruises will not be an obligation until Regent officially announces cancellations.

 

In other words, moving cruise "start up" dates incrementally is how NCL is managing cash flow.  As well as managing customer expectations.  Caveat emptor.  

 

 

[Portolan]

10 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

 

Not correct. I requested a refund and it took about 2 weeks. That was way back in Feb. All documented on this forum and on the spreadsheet.

 

The idea of this thread was to report on refunds requested after Regent cancelled a cruise.  They had not done so in February.

 

It was at that point that they began facing rather huge amounts of cash to be returned.  Past refund anecdotes aren't relevant except to show that it doesn't take 90 days of dedicated effort to process.

 

I stand by what I said. 

[rallydave]

30 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

2. I can't speak to the legality but I warn my clients and share all relevant facts/opinions with them. Many of them like the idea of the 125% FCC and are willing to take a chance for a 25% return vs. losing it all. They do not think this has a reasonable chance of occuring. 

 

3. Not sure what you mean by sitting on deposits and seeking full payment. You can, by the terms of your contract, not make any payment. You can also use the Regent Reassurance program. You have many options...you might not like them but they are exactly (or better) than what your contract dictates.

As to number 2 above, and this applies to all cruise lines using the 25% FCC bonus.  Am confident that the 25% bonus first of all will be quickly be eaten up by increased cruise costs in the future that have already been reported  so not very costly to the cruise line to make these offers since it significantly increases the liquid cash on hand and keeps the customer tied to the cruise line they previously booked.  Plus for some cruise lines the terms and conditions of these 125% FCC bonus are in some cases extremely onerous and there is a likelihood that not all 125% FCC bonuses will eventually be redeemed so a significant savings for those not redeemed.

 

As to number 3, believe Flossie is referring to the necessity to make an early decision that is time limited for a cruise that the CEO has indicated will not sail yet remains on the schedule.  It requires people who don't want an FCC to commit more money that in the worst case will be lost and in the best case will be unavailable to them for many months.

[Pcardad]

5 minutes ago, Portolan said:

 

The idea of this thread was to report on refunds requested after Regent cancelled a cruise.  They had not done so in February.

 

It was at that point that they began facing rather huge amounts of cash to be returned.  Past refund anecdotes aren't relevant except to show that it doesn't take 90 days of dedicated effort to process.

 

I stand by what I said. 

 

They did cancel the back-end of the Feb 12 cruise. I have personal knowledge of other refunds but I am unable to share that personal info here as it is not mine to share. But I agree with you, the time taking to process these is pretty shabby.

[Pcardad]

I can't help but wonder if all the time that went into all these posts would be better spent calling Regent daily and voicing the same concerns. It would certainly have a greater effect.

[Travelcat2]

10 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

I can't help but wonder if all the time that went into all these posts would be better spent calling Regent daily and voicing the same concerns. It would certainly have a greater effect.

 

Agree.  Not sure what the point of tracking refunds so diligently is. All it seems to do is get people upset (if someone gets a refund before they do).  Eventually everyone will get a refund. and this discussion end!

 

P.S.  If I recall correctly, there is at least one person that cancelled in February and has yet to receive a refund.  This is of interest since 90 days from February is May.

[Pcardad]

I think tracking shows what people can except, and what Regent isn't saying out loud.

 

Calling lets Regent know that their paying customer base is not happy...I don't think they understand the depth of it yet.

[bissel]

Not everyone has your unshakable surety that everyone will get reimbursed.

[jeb_bud]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

 

Not correct. I requested a refund and it took about 2 weeks. That was way back in Feb. All documented on this forum and on the spreadsheet.

Your experience is real and valid, but using it in a discussion about experiences post-March 13 is like discussing the life of the dinosaurs before and after the meteor impact. 
 

Regent’s business and cash flow plan changed on March 13. We don’t really know how it changed because apparently no refund transactions have gone to closure yet. Of course the CC Regent community is a nanocosm of the Regent customer base, and maybe hundreds of refunds have been processed, just none of us(although I doubt it).

[Pcardad]

It was a Cov-19 cancelled cruise but if you feel it misleads people then please remove my data from the spreadsheet. If it isn't relevant, it shouldn't be there.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

3 hours ago, Pcardad said:

1. I don't know how big of a statistical sample that it - or is people are in as much of a hurry to share good news as they are to complain. I have personal knowledge of refunds taking less than 90 days so I don't agree that is policy.

 

2. I can't speak to the legality but I warn my clients and share all relevant facts/opinions with them. Many of them like the idea of the 125% FCC and are willing to take a chance for a 25% return vs. losing it all. They do not think this has a reasonable chance of occuring. 

 

3. Not sure what you mean by sitting on deposits and seeking full payment. You can, by the terms of your contract, not make any payment. You can also use the Regent Reassurance program. You have many options...you might not like them but they are exactly (or better) than what your contract dictates.

 

4. My opinion is Yes, absolutely. I don't think they understand the ire present in this forum. But, on the other hand, the feedback they get from people calling in is far less...agitated.

 

I am not a Regent employee. I don't know what they are planning and I have no effect on it. Contrary to suggestions made here, I am not attempting to manipulate NCLH stock for personal gain. My personal opinion is that they should make refunds a much higher priority and use it as a PR gain. A very large missed opportunity IMO. If/when any refunds I control hit 50 days you can be certain I will turn up the heat. My loyalty is to my clients, not to Regent (if they don't earn it).

 

There may be an industry shift coming up...small group charters of large yachts. Luxury AND safety.

Count us in on chartered yachts. We have done it before and loved it.