APRIL 6 REFUND THREAD: Have you received your refund?

[edl868]

Has anyone whose cruise was cancelled and requested a refund received it yet?

Edited April 6, 2020 by Host Carolyn

[DWolf2020]

No.  Cancelled in mid-March for a late March cruise and still waiting.  Everyone is waiting.  Carnival has told most folks it will take "up to 90 days"

Carnival claims they're "processing refunds" but they aren't.  They're probably trying to secure funds, assess business damage, etc. before they actually start refunding...and hopefully don't go bankrupt.  Some folks have started disputes on their credit cards as a means to get their money back quicker.

[Andoria]

No I canceled my cruise on March 3 and I haven't heard a word or received an email.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Andoria

[NewtoCruise50]

I'm starting to feel like we'll never see our refund. The fact that I didn't receive a confirmation email, basically no proof that I asked for my money back, I already know how this will play out.

[shof515]

25 minutes ago, NewtoCruise50 said:

I'm starting to feel like we'll never see our refund. The fact that I didn't receive a confirmation email, basically no proof that I asked for my money back, I already know how this will play out.

i noticed this when i submitted that form the other day. it seems like they dont care like most big business these days

[crzndeb]

I’m with the rest of you. I just followed the link in the email and asked for a 100% refund on 2 Legend cruises in Oct. It will be interesting to see if we get a confirmation email. Final payment hadn’t been made, but, beside the deposit, I had put a couple of gift cards down on each, to pay down balance a bit.

I did save the emails, notifying me of canceled cruises, so I will give it some time. I know they are slammed right now.

[Host Carolyn]

Please put all REFUND only comments on this thread so they will be easier for all to follow!

 

Thanks......

[DWolf2020]

Thanks Carolyn!

My Status:

Cruise date: March 26, 2020
Initial Cancellation & FCC: March 9 via phone, received FCC & partial refund approx. March 12/13
FCC-to-Refund Requested: March 14 via phone (Carnival policy update announced on March 13)

*Waiting on FCC-to-money refund since March 14*
 

[lulamc]

No refund.  Cruise was 3/14 and included wedding package for my daughter.  We are talking thousands of dollars.  I was told 7-10 days many times, last week was told 2-3 months.

[Cint19987]

Sigh, you guys already confirmed my thoughts. I was to sail 3/21 requested a full refund through the emailed form i think on 3/23 or 3/24. About a week or so later received a call from carnival asking if i wanted to reschedule, i thought it was odd and told her so as i filed out the form asking for full refund. She was really trying to get us to rebook but im like its okay i want a full refund i currently have 2 rooms booked on RCL for decemeber. She finally conceded. About a day later i got a emailed saying my cruise was cancelled but the pdf showed a forferited cruise fare amount. The call wait time is crazy so this point im just hoping they refund me. This is a entire mess. 

[rukkian]

We were supposed to be on the 3/14 magic southern caribbean.  I got the fcc and obc applied to a new cruise for next year, but still waiting on the gc for the excursions ($1100) and cruise cash ($350).  I called today to confirm it was going, and the rep confirmed it was submitted on 2/20 (excursions) and 3/23 (cruise cash).  Have not seen them, but I can see they may need to get many thousand more gift cards created to send out to people.

[ceilidh1]

Cancelled March 10th for a March 21st sailing

No refund received yet

[JustJosephine23]

Cruise scheduled for June 27th. Cancelled March 18th. I’ve called every few days since canceling to get updates. I spoke with a supervisor today and don’t feel great about the update I got. She said they don’t have a timeline right now for refunds and most of their offices are closed which is why it’s taking so long. Of course she could be full of it. But I’m extremely disturbed by the fact that I’ve spoken to 5+ people since cancelling and they’ve all told me different things. One even told me that my refund had been processed and to check with my bank. Carnival’s communication has been absolutely abhorrent. Also disturbed by the fact that no one is posting that they’ve received refunds, not here, on Facebook or twitter. You’d think if they were processing refunds at least a few people would be posting that they got theirs. 

[KansasBeachLover]

We had 7 cabins on March 14th Valor.  Grandparents of the group canceled 2 of the cabins on the night of the 12th (never received confirmation email of cancellation) after receiving the no one over 70 email.  No refunds on those yet.  I canceled 3 excursions the evening of the 12th and got an email telling me I'd receive credit in 5-7 days.  No refunds on those yet.  The other 5 cabins were canceled for 100% refund when we all got our emails the night before we were supposed to cruise.  No one got confirmation emails and no one was received any credit for those rooms or any FTTF or any Fun Shop purchases.  Thousands of dollars tied up in a huge family vacation that we talked our entire family into and no one knows when/if they will see any of the money back.

[DWolf2020]

They're definitely NOT being "processed" in the definition we all seem to think.  They're just sitting 'pending' in Carnival's Accounting dept. probably while Carnival tries to figure out how to stay afloat.

On a plus, a Saudi group bought a ton of stocks and Carnival stock rose to over $10.  They should be fine.

[webzila]

13 hours ago, NewtoCruise50 said:

I'm starting to feel like we'll never see our refund. The fact that I didn't receive a confirmation email, basically no proof that I asked for my money back, I already know how this will play out.

 

I took a screenshots of the filled out form and the confirmation page that shows up after submitting. Saved those as proof since I saw people saying there are no email confirmation.

[Teachmath1]

Glad to find this. Cancelled my cruise in the middle of March online. A week later I received a phone call from a sales rep that works for carnival (not a third party). She looked up my cancellation and saw that I had cancelled but said it was in "limbo" because the computer system didn't know if I wanted future credit or a refund. She fixed that and sent it over to accounting to refund. She said it would take up to 3 weeks (not months). It has been 3 weeks and nothing.

 

I personally do not think they have the money to issue any refunds. I don't know a single person that has received a refund. They did a stock offering the other day (which dilutes the value of shares) for $8 a share to raise money. This tells me they are broke and days or weeks from bankruptcy. I doubt I ever get a refund. I would like a reporter to do a story on this. The government is not going to bail out the cruise lines because they pay 90% of their taxes to other countries, so we might all end up out of luck.

 

I'm getting ready to ask John Heald if Carnival has the money to refund. Any other company issues refunds in a day or two. It only takes Carnival 10 seconds to take my money so it shouldn't take 90 days to get it back.

 

To add on to this, I received a nice offer via e-mail and called to try to potentially take advantage of the offer. They were trying to charge me $400 up front and then they could apply my cruise credit. It felt like a total scam. Just like all of those people they offered cheap upgrades to in late March knowing that those cruises weren't going. 

[JustJosephine23]

 

 

Confirmation that their offices are closed. Has anyone opened up a claim with their banking company? Should that be the avenue I take? 

Edited April 7, 2020 by JustJosephine23

[shof515]

8 minutes ago, JustJosephine23 said:

Confirmation that their offices are closed.

 

if it is like my job, our office is closed with a skeleton crew having remote access to corporate systems that is used  to manage day to day operations. i am guessing carnival might have a similar problem too.

[nccruzencouple]

I finally received an email this weekend from a cruise I had in late March that was canceled. I filled out the form on March 16th. They said in the email that all money would be refunded but did not give a date due to  the unprecedented situation. 

[ksmcdonald]

Has anyone had success with their credit card company reversing the charges?  I know the window to do that is rapidly closing for me.  I’ve never disputed a charge on m6 credit card but I have $8,000 tied up in three different cruises.  March, May and June 2020.

 

 

[mpdog42]

I would wait 30 days after you applied for a refund, and if you have not received it...Contact your State Attorney General to inquire if other people in your state are in the same situation and if instructed file a formal complaint....90 days is crazy!!

[DWolf2020]

The funny thing is that their customer service and their personal vacation planners are still working (and even calling customers!)....but not their accounting dept.?

Like someone said, it's easy to work with a skeleton crew and limit/rotate people in the office.  My office was gearing to do rotating teams for a few weeks before they opted to shut down instead.  Given that Carnival is still working, there are certainly options. I don't think they have a remote system for refunds, which makes sense since that is a lot of personal information for someone to take home.  I still think Carnival is assessing financial damage, trying to gain loans/lines-of-credit/etc. before they start issuing refunds.  Maybe the Saudi purchase will also help them.

But yes, this situation isn't getting better for them.  And aside from frustrating their customers, they're going to have a lot of financial institutes going after them as well.  Poor leadership and a lack of communication is damaging customer trust.

[48traveler]

I called Carnival today and got a live person in one minute or less. He was very nice. He stated they are all working from home and that some refunds may take more than 90 days. What I wanted to know was since our May 11 cruise was cancelled , which I had pre paid gratuities on, would they still be included as part of our new, Sept 14, hopefully, sailing. He said they were not and would be part of my refund. I also asked his gut feeling on Sept sailings and he said Sept is looking good although I am a bit skeptical. I asked again about the over 70 letter and he said that requirement was for those early March sailings. Just wondering if anyone is hearing different than me ?

[mbarker10]

Called carnival today and had a person within a few minutes. I inquired about the refund I requested and she said they were processing them in the order of cruises cancelled. I noted that I was cancelled by the government mandate two days before sailing, so if anyone would be seeing refunds yet it would be me. She conceded and got supervisor, albeit remotely. He “removed penalties” (??!?) and authorized a faster refund. I’m not sure I believe any of it.