Have you received your credit card refund from HAL?

[newtocruiseinblue]

Has anyone received a credit card from HAL since March 20 for a cruise that was cancelled or for one that you chose to cancel? Thank you!

[CruiserBruce]

Many, many discussions here about this topic. Most have not. In our case, we have not, for the cruise. But canceled our drink package and a couple of other purchases just before the 30 day shut down and received those refunds immediately.

 

The fact of the matter is no business has the reserves to fund the huge amount of refunds required. So Carnival Corp, on behalf of HAL, is raising money so refunds can be made. This takes time.

[Kfrech]

We canceled entire cruise on March 19, and haven't even gotten a refund on 2 drink packages and additional OBC we bought separately.

 

Initially we were told 7-10 days; now we are told 60 days.

 

The enormity of this situation is worse than any of us could have ever imagined. I'll be happy if I see any money at all.

[StLouisCruisers]

We cancelled our June 6 and June 20 cruises on March 17.  If we don't receive our refund on our credit cards by June 7 and June 21, we can notify our credit card that we did not receive the service we paid for and they will handle it at that point.  That was their advice to us.  So HAL has about 12 to 14 weeks to refund.  To me that is sufficient.  

[utahtea]

We're waiting for HAL to cancel our cruise to Alaska but we did cancel the excursions on March 25th and have not received the refund on our charge cards yet.

 

Utahtea

[Kfrech]

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

We cancelled our June 6 and June 20 cruises on March 17.  If we don't receive our refund on our credit cards by June 7 and June 21, we can notify our credit card that we did not receive the service we paid for and they will handle it at that point.  That was their advice to us.  So HAL has about 12 to 14 weeks to refund.  To me that is sufficient.  

 

What specifically will your credit card company do for you? I ask this because we hadn't paid off our cruise as of March 19th (the day we cancelled); the balance was sitting on our credit card but since the bill wasn't due yet, I didn't want to pay--why give HAL more money at that point. I called the CC and they put the amount "in dispute". We will continue to incur interest charges, but they told me that once HAL refunds the money, I can call the CC company back and they'll refund the interest.

 

I guess my question is this, if 60 days goes by without a refund, what will the credit card company do for you? Refund all of your money? What is their obligation at that point? If they were to refund monies, wouldn't everyone be going that route?

[jlocole]

Yes. We cancelled about 20 days out from our March 29 cruise.  Got about 60% back on cc and the balance as FCC.

Our TA looked after all of it.

[SedNabokos]

2 hours ago, Kfrech said:

the balance was sitting on our credit card but since the bill wasn't due yet, I didn't want to pay--why give HAL more money at that point

By that point HAL already has the money - they were paid by your credit card provider immediately.

 

2 hours ago, Kfrech said:

I guess my question is this, if 60 days goes by without a refund, what will the credit card company do for you? Refund all of your money? What is their obligation at that point? If they were to refund monies, wouldn't everyone be going that route?

 

If a merchant has charged your credit card but not provided the goods or service you're entitled to a "chargeback" where the credit card company gives you the money back, and then tries to recover it from the merchant.

 

But chargebacks should only be done as a last resort - you need to dispute it with the merchant first - and a chargeback may result in a lawsuit from the merchant if they believe you were not entitled to the refund.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

From late February, yes.  We were on one of the first wave of Westerdam cancellations, back when they were likely more flush with cash.

[StLouisCruisers]

12 hours ago, Kfrech said:

 

What specifically will your credit card company do for you? I ask this because we hadn't paid off our cruise as of March 19th (the day we cancelled); the balance was sitting on our credit card but since the bill wasn't due yet, I didn't want to pay--why give HAL more money at that point. I called the CC and they put the amount "in dispute". We will continue to incur interest charges, but they told me that once HAL refunds the money, I can call the CC company back and they'll refund the interest.

 

I guess my question is this, if 60 days goes by without a refund, what will the credit card company do for you? Refund all of your money? What is their obligation at that point? If they were to refund monies, wouldn't everyone be going that route?

 

We had already fully paid for our 49 days of cruising due to the two weeks earlier final payment date our Big Box TA requires.  Then everything hit the fan and we decided we wanted to cancel and receive refunds.  HAL told our TA it would be about 2 weeks to see the refund on the credit card.  The credit card company can charge back and try to get our money back, if HAL is still in business in June, that is.  Let's hope they don't go under!  Their advice to us was to wait until the services were scheduled and then dispute.

 

And yes everybody would be doing that (getting their money back through the credit card), if they hadn't accepted a FCC instead.  JMHO.  I wasn't comfortable with the FCC.

[Caribbean Chris]

We canceled (our choice) March 11 for a March 18 departure and got back the excursions & internet package fees on our credit card very quickly. We know we have a FCC.
 

But never have seen the refund on the card for port tax and airline fee portion of the cancelled cruise.

[jeremystevens]

13 hours ago, utahtea said:

We're waiting for HAL to cancel our cruise to Alaska but we did cancel the excursions on March 25th and have not received the refund on our charge cards yet.

 

Utahtea

We cancelled our excursions and massage treatments about a week earlier, and got a refund back on our card within a few days. Perhaps we managed to do so just in time.

[iancal]

This is a great example of why you should never pay until your final payment is due.

[jeremystevens]

I paid my balance using discounted vouchers via my employer i.e. they run a scheme where I can buy vouchers for Virgin Cruises (who I booked the cruise through) at a 4% discount, I purchased vouchers and then paid the balance using them - having paid the deposit directly via credit card. I can't imagine what hoops I'll have to jump through in order to get a refund rather than a FCC, I'm happy to have the discount reclaimed but nevertheless, I'm sure it'll add complications.

[Loreto]

3 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

We canceled (our choice) March 11 for a March 18 departure and got back the excursions & internet package fees on our credit card very quickly. We know we have a FCC.
 

But never have seen the refund on the card for port tax and airline fee portion of the cancelled cruise.

I also received credit  back for the shore excursions I booked for this cruise almost immediately. We waited until HAL cancelled. I chose full refund for the cruise fare, was told 30-60 days, but I doubt that I will ever see that🙁.  Travel insurance company refunded the cost of my policy in a week.  Next up is out July 11 Alaska cruise including family, which I will consider a loss as well.  Finally is the big one: 22 day solar eclipse/Antarctica Nov. 27.  I am holding off making anymore payments on that cruise until I see if anything is refunded from HAL from our cancelled cruises..  Final Payment is in August.

 

Looking at other cruise sites: Viking, Crystal to name a few, the story is the same, 30-60 days.  Everyone is waiting.  I hope the cruise industry survives.

 

Karen

[travelhound]

1 hour ago, Loreto said:

I also received credit  back for the shore excursions I booked for this cruise almost immediately. We waited until HAL cancelled. I chose full refund for the cruise fare, was told 30-60 days, but I doubt that I will ever see that🙁.  Travel insurance company refunded the cost of my policy in a week.  Next up is out July 11 Alaska cruise including family, which I will consider a loss as well.  Finally is the big one: 22 day solar eclipse/Antarctica Nov. 27.  I am holding off making anymore payments on that cruise until I see if anything is refunded from HAL from our cancelled cruises..  Final Payment is in August.

 

Looking at other cruise sites: Viking, Crystal to name a few, the story is the same, 30-60 days.  Everyone is waiting.  I hope the cruise industry survives.

 

Karen

Princess has started issuing refunds.

 

[jamesfic67]

HAL cancelled our April 16 trans Pacific cruise. I called my HAL Personal Cruise Consultant to discuss refund vs. FCC. At that time, April 1, he told me that HAL was dealing with 40,000 cancellations (even more now) and that the 60 day refund timeline was an estimate. 

[utahtea]

10 hours ago, iancal said:

This is a great example of why you should never pay until your final payment is due.

 We paid one day before the due date...we couldn't wait any longer.  We only canceled the excursions so far and waiting for HAL to cancel our June 1st cruise to get all our money back.  I guess we won't be seeing that any time soon!  

 

Utahtea

Edited April 13, 2020 by utahtea

[shaunly]

I canceled my May 24th sailing out of Amsterdam on March 9th, unfortunately I booked through at TA (Costco Travel) and so it took over 15hrs on hold to even get that accomplished.  Fortunately, that was the last day that I was entitled to a full refund and I was told that it would take 7-10 business days to receive it.  The dining reservations I had made were refunded back to the CC they were purchased on within a couple of days.  At the 10 business day point I called HAL through my TA and was told that it was now taking 30 business days to receive a refund.  I've got that date on my calendar, but fully expect to be informed when I make that call that the policy has been updated with a 60-90 business day timeline.

 

At the 30 business day mark, I intend to call the Washington state Attorney General's office of consumer protection to discuss the matter with them.  I'm interested to hear if they have any suggestions or alternative avenues to explore.  Otherwise, if HAL has not issued my refund by May 24th I will contact my credit card company and report the "fraudulent" charge for services not rendered.  I've half a mind to contact my local news channel too, since I live in the Seattle area ... perhaps their reporters would like to wander down to the HAL corporate offices and start asking questions about the legality of constantly changing the time-frame in which the company will issue what is, in my uneducated opinion, a contractually obligated refund to a customer.

 

I get that these are extenuating circumstances and they have evolved into an unprecedented scenario for the cruise industry, but these companies have pages upon pages of legalese designed to provide them opportunities to hold their customers accountable for various actions.  They are not devoid of obligations to their customers either and they should be returning any monies due to people in a reasonable manner.  When I've allowed three times the "normal" time-frame to receive my money, I've been more than reasonable.

 

My two cents.

Shaun

[TN Fem]

we received refunds on the internet packages we purchased on 3/11 for our 3/14 cruise, but now we are 31 days after the fact and no refund of the thousands we paid even though we were told we would be refunded 100% within 7-10 days.

[cruise.gal]

On 4/12/2020 at 10:34 AM, Loreto said:

I also received credit  back for the shore excursions I booked for this cruise almost immediately. We waited until HAL cancelled. I chose full refund for the cruise fare, was told 30-60 days, but I doubt that I will ever see that🙁.  Travel insurance company refunded the cost of my policy in a week.  Next up is out July 11 Alaska cruise including family, which I will consider a loss as well.  Finally is the big one: 22 day solar eclipse/Antarctica Nov. 27.  I am holding off making anymore payments on that cruise until I see if anything is refunded from HAL from our cancelled cruises..  Final Payment is in August.

 

Looking at other cruise sites: Viking, Crystal to name a few, the story is the same, 30-60 days.  Everyone is waiting.  I hope the cruise industry survives.

 

Karen

No credits yet on my card for my cancelled April 19th cruise...cancelled by HAL.  Know it will take time.  I purchased travel insurance thru TravelGuard (via Costco) but have not received any credit back to my card.  What insurance co. did you receive your credit from?

[Loreto]

1 hour ago, cruise.gal said:

No credits yet on my card for my cancelled April 19th cruise...cancelled by HAL.  Know it will take time.  I purchased travel insurance thru TravelGuard (via Costco) but have not received any credit back to my card.  What insurance co. did you receive your credit from?

Hi cruise.gal,

A pandemic is not covered under travel insurance...it is in very convoluted wording in the contract.  I have always known this, but what is the reality of this happening??   I buy insurance if something happens on the ship...we have seen people be helicoptered off cruise ships too many times.  Another time our flight to Rome was cancelled on the runway and the ship sailed without us (we did catch up with the ship eventually!) I had Travel Insured through USAA for this Hawaii cruise.  I use them from time to time.  I filled out the form at their web site.  I will wait to see if HAL refunds my cruise fare for the March 18 Circle Hawaii cruise.

 

My upcoming cruises are insured with Travel Guard through your mentioned company.  Looking at the Travel Guard  web site it looks like all I will get is a refund for the price paid for the policy or a voucher.  Making a claim with them would be a long iffy process.  You will have to initiate the process at the Travel Guard web site.  They will not automatically refund anything.

 

I decided to cancel a pricey excursion I booked for my grand daughter and her mom for our July Alaska cruise (because I am sure it will be cancelled) and was very annoyed when I was told by the HAL Shore Excursion agent that it would take 30-60 days for a refund.  That is unacceptable, but nothing can be done. 

 

Karen

[newtocruiseinblue]

31 minutes ago, Loreto said:

 

A pandemic is not covered under travel insurance...it is in very convoluted wording in the contract.  

 

 

Pandemics are covered if you purchase “Cancel for any reason” protection, which we did through the HAL Platinum Protection Program but, just as everyone else, we are still impatiently patiently waiting for our refund.

[TriumphGuy]

2 hours ago, Loreto said:

Hi cruise.gal,

A pandemic is not covered under travel insurance...it is in very convoluted wording in the contract.  I have always known this, but what is the reality of this happening??   I buy insurance if something happens on the ship...we have seen people be helicoptered off cruise ships too many times.  Another time our flight to Rome was cancelled on the runway and the ship sailed without us (we did catch up with the ship eventually!) I had Travel Insured through USAA for this Hawaii cruise.  I use them from time to time.  I filled out the form at their web site.  I will wait to see if HAL refunds my cruise fare for the March 18 Circle Hawaii cruise.

 

My upcoming cruises are insured with Travel Guard through your mentioned company.  Looking at the Travel Guard  web site it looks like all I will get is a refund for the price paid for the policy or a voucher.  Making a claim with them would be a long iffy process.  You will have to initiate the process at the Travel Guard web site.  They will not automatically refund anything.

 

I decided to cancel a pricey excursion I booked for my grand daughter and her mom for our July Alaska cruise (because I am sure it will be cancelled) and was very annoyed when I was told by the HAL Shore Excursion agent that it would take 30-60 days for a refund.  That is unacceptable, but nothing can be done. 

 

Karen

I don't think this is necessarily true, it depends on the insurance you purchase. I looked over our insurance contract with a fine toothed comb (US Fire Gold) and found no reference anywhere of an exclusion or denial due to pandemic.

Now, going forward, I expect that will be in the exclusion language in most travel insurance plans. All the more reason to be sure to read it carefully within the review (free look) period.
I did receive a full refund for the price of our policies when I requested it, after we cancelled our April transatlantic cruise. In retrospect, I may have shot myself in the foot, as I am less than confident HAL will actually refund our cruise fare (50% CC refund & 50% FCC) as promised, and we may have had an out with the trip insurance, had we kept it. As you say, it likely would been a long battle to get them to pay however.

Edited April 13, 2020 by TriumphGuy

[cruise.gal]

5 hours ago, newtocruiseinblue said:

Pandemics are covered if you purchase “Cancel for any reason” protection, which we did through the HAL Platinum Protection Program but, just as everyone else, we are still impatiently patiently waiting for our refund.

 

Loreto-Karen....oh yes...was well aware that travel insurance policies can exclude coverage for pandemics.  What I was referring to was the premium you paid for coverage...as some are posting that the premium has been credited to their cards or coverage postponed for a future cruise...to my understanding.

We also have had incidents requiring helicopters evacuating ill passengers...one time a 13 yr old girl was airlifted to the USS Roosevelt....which came to meet our ship in Pacific waters.

My husband and I have cruised well over 100 times...since the 1980's.... the only time we had to file a claim was because we missed our connection home from Rome due to the Iceland volcano eruption...insurance promptly reimbursed our hotel stay.  Can't remember what insurance co. that was.

Am still patiently waiting for the refund(s).

cruise.gal Lu