Full Refunds

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, KelSny1011 said:

 

Have these other lines promised refunds within 30 days only to not follow through and give no notification to their customers?  Just curious.

 

Another unsettling issue is that they are not communicating with their customers who were expecting refunds.  At least send an email out letting them know.  Instead they are leaving to their customers to tie up their phone lines, stress their poor employees out who probably don't even have a real answer, and making people lose faith in their company.  

 

 

I agree.  Perhaps Royal would have been better starting off by saying 60 days instead of 30.  It would also be a great idea to send out an e mail.  I don’t remember their exact initial communication however I do know that in their current FAQ’s they say 30 days but they also specifically mention the possibility of delays. 

[rolloman]

6 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Because of this. I believe I remember your concerns as D+.  
 

Even after those concerns you still had cruises booked?

No I do not...run along now.... Folks, here is another one who shows no remorse in toying with folks who have suffered due to a breach in contract. What a sad world we live in. 

[JeffT237]

5 minutes ago, KelSny1011 said:

Another unsettling issue is that they are not communicating with their customers who were expecting refunds

 

Completely agree with this, even the website I used through the e-mail I received from Royal to cancel is concerning.  No reference number and it doesn't even have Royal Caribbean's name, logo or contact information.  No details of the cruise that I cancelled like dates, etc.  Just a 3rd party survey company.  When I called Royal to get my reference number they said it's the same as the cruise confirmation number.  

[JustJN]

As I stated on another thread we disputed with our credit card and received the money back within 24 hours. The cruise would have been 3/22. Nothing from RC other than the promise of a refund in 30 days when we submitted the request 3/13.  I tried calling and was told it would be 30 days. I don’t care if I’m “blacklisted”. What they are doing is wrong. Our money they have had since Dec. We needed it now. 

[Biker19]

And folks think the prices are going to go up because of pent up demand?

 

Biker, who is starting to enjoy some of these refund threads almost as much as tipping threads.

[Ourusualbeach]

11 hours ago, JustJN said:

As I stated on another thread we disputed with our credit card and received the money back within 24 hours. The cruise would have been 3/22. Nothing from RC other than the promise of a refund in 30 days when we submitted the request 3/13.  I tried calling and was told it would be 30 days. I don’t care if I’m “blacklisted”. What they are doing is wrong. Our money they have had since Dec. We needed it now. 

Let us know if the credit card reverses the charges after they do their investigation. 

[20165]

13 hours ago, JustJN said:

As I stated on another thread we disputed with our credit card and received the money back within 24 hours. The cruise would have been 3/22. Nothing from RC other than the promise of a refund in 30 days when we submitted the request 3/13.  I tried calling and was told it would be 30 days. I don’t care if I’m “blacklisted”. What they are doing is wrong. Our money they have had since Dec. We needed it now. 

i definitely think denying the credit card charges is the way to go.  Especially with the difficulties this industry faces to recover and the cash they are going to need to keep afloat.  i know this is a touchy topic, but if they do go bankrupt, you become a debtor and get in line with all of the other debtors to try to get your money back.  

And i wouldnt worry about being blacklisted.  These cruise lines will be begging us for our money when they reopen...

Edited April 15, 2020 by 20165

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 minute ago, 20165 said:

if they do go bankrupt, you become a debtor and get in line with all of the other debtors to try to get your money back.  

A debtor or creditor?

 

Asking for a friend 

[20165]

2 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

A debtor or creditor?

 

Asking for a friend 

sorry, meant creditor.  thats the uglyist worst case scenario, but in the back of my mind.

[JustJN]

14 minutes ago, 20165 said:

i definitely think denying the credit card charges is the way to go.  Especially with the difficulties this industry faces to recover and the cash they are going to need to keep afloat.  i know this is a touchy topic, but if they do go bankrupt, you become a debtor and get in line with all of the other debtors to try to get your money back.  

And i wouldnt worry about being blacklisted.  These cruise lines will be begging us for our money when they reopen...

I’m not worried. I agree! 
It was a time sensitive issue so we had to dispute sooner rather than later. Waited until after our cruise would have ended. I had called RC and emailed them. They gave me a later date for the refund when I called. 
Our Credit card not only put the money back but the interest we had paid on that amount. 

[JustJN]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Let us know if the credit card reverses the charges after they do their investigation. 

I’ll update. Maybe Royal will come through with refund!

[Ourusualbeach]

15 minutes ago, JustJN said:

I’ll update. Maybe Royal will come through with refund!

Thanks

[gatour]

On 4/14/2020 at 10:27 PM, rolloman said:

No I do not...run along now.... Folks, here is another one who shows no remorse in toying with folks who have suffered due to a breach in contract. What a sad world we live in. 

What breach of contract?  They are refunding money.  It may be taking time, but they are refunding money.

[JoelinSedona]

4 hours ago, gatour said:

What breach of contract?  They are refunding money.  It may be taking time, but they are refunding money.

When I cancelled I was told the refund would take a week. After that I was told it would take 2 weeks. After that I was told it would take 30 days.  I'm currently on day 34 and still haven't received it.

[island lady]

16 minutes ago, JoelinSedona said:

When I cancelled I was told the refund would take a week. After that I was told it would take 2 weeks. After that I was told it would take 30 days.  I'm currently on day 34 and still haven't received it.

 

I cancelled 2 weeks ago and was told it would not show up until the end of May, at the earliest.    

 

Who told you it would take a week?  

[JoelinSedona]

20 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I cancelled 2 weeks ago and was told it would not show up until the end of May, at the earliest.    

 

Who told you it would take a week?  

My big box agent gave me the 1 week timeframe. After that I started calling Royal directly and they gave me the 2 week date. When 2 weeks passed called Royal again and they gave me the 30 day date.

[20165]

1 minute ago, JoelinSedona said:

My big box agent gave me the 1 week timeframe. After that I started calling Royal directly and they gave me the 2 week date. When 2 weeks passed called Royal again and they gave me the 30 day date.

Pretty similar answer i got.  started with 7-10 business days, then went to the end of march, now is just???  All from the RCL customer service line.

[C Dog]

The email I received from Royal on March 13th stating they were cancelling our April 4th cruise on Brilliance specifically stated the refund would come 30 days after I submitted the request.  I submitted my request on that very day, and it has now been well over 30 days.   If it doesn't come tomorrow, I will be calling my credit card company.

[Mrsberri0909]

I cancelled our cruise with our Big Box TA on 3/9/20.  Everytime I call RCCL to ask where the FCC is, they give me a different answer.  Today the answer was "We have emailed our back office.  Because you are with a 'group booking', it is in process.  We may have an answer next week. " Wow.

Here are my thoughts:

 

1.  I wasn't part of any "group booking" that I was aware of or signed up for.  It was just 3 of us booking through the Big Box TA.  I am not happy being grouped together with my Big Box TA/other customers and knowing they are delaying what is rightfully mine (it has been 30+ days now) -and- blaming on some group booking mentality.

 

2.  I was going to use the FCC to apply to a 6/7/20 cruise; anticipating the cruise would then be cancelled and I would get a full  cash refund. Question:  would that have happened or would I have just got my original FCC back?

 

3.  I feel like RCCL is just waiting to cancel the "re-booked"  6/7/20 cruise so I don't do apply the alleged FCC to this cruise.  They want to keep me hostage with my FCC (almost $4k) so I can continue this insane customer experience with them.

I feel like RCCL is just taking advantage of people at this point.  I have lost any loyalty to them I had.

[cruisemeister8]

So when the 2nd round of cancellations came down on 3/25, we put in for our refund and got the same generic (your request has been received) screen everyone else has seen.  It states 30 days, so we're trying to be patient.  (Although reading comments from those of you who were cancelled before us and have still not received anything isn't filling us with a lot of confidence.)

 

What I haven't seen discussed yet (uness I can't find it) is making the payments on the credit card that you know is due a credit.  We wondered if anyone else was in this situation.  Obviously, we paid off the trip in early February for a May sailing.  Back when the world was normal, we made the regular payment on the card in early March.  Late March comes along, the world is upside down, our trip is cancelled, but the credit card bill comes in wanting its April payment. Considering that we were told that our refund will be coming in April, which will essentially wipe out the card balance, we see no point in making another large payment toward the card like we normally would have, so we opted to pay the minimum just so the account is current.  Now we have a balance, paid a tiny bit of interest, and we're still "hopeful" that this refund will come in before the next statement closes for the May payment. 

Considering others'  experiences, this now sounds unlikely. So am I (and all of us) supposed to just pay the minimum and carry the balance and interest until we someday get refunds to wipe our balances?  Or would it be more beneficial to just pay off our cards, and sit with a zero balance until the refund Gods bless us?  It seems counter-productive to pay money that we know is due us back. And it seems equally awkward to be given a refund to a card with a zero balance.  

Speaking of which, how do you actually get THAT money back in your bank?  Do credit cards issue refund checks when you have a fairly sizeable negative balance?  Or do you just have to "spend" your credit card credit on other purchases, and then "save" your own money that you otherwise would have spent on said purchase?

 

And yes, I've read the advice to file a claim with the credit card.  I'm holding out until the 30-day mark, at least. I agree that that may or may not work, considering it was a legitimate charge when we made it. And we made an honest payment toward it.  So we still owe the money to the credit card bank, and they're not likely to let us forget it.  That's how I see the payments on our credit cards a different issue than those who rightly don't feel comfortable paying final payments on upcoming trips that are sure to be cancelled.  It's all related to unnecessarily paying money that we know is due us back, but with past purchases, we're obligated. With current and future purchases, there's still a choice on whether or not to go down that road. Just curious to know how others are handling their credit cards.

PS: Sorry for the novel. But there's plenty of time to write while we're stuck at home!  

[justKirbo]

23 minutes ago, cruisemeister8 said:

Speaking of which, how do you actually get THAT money back in your bank?  Do credit cards issue refund checks when you have a fairly sizeable negative balance?  Or do you just have to "spend" your credit card credit on other purchases, and then "save" your own money that you otherwise would have spent on said purchase?

We are some of the lucky ones that have been able to get refunded (but it was just a deposit on a cruise that wouldn't have sailed until next April). We use a Royal Caribbean Visa for only our cruise related stuff, so when the $1000 credit came through, it had gone onto a card that had had a zero balance prior. When I called the Visa company, they immediately gave me the option to have a check mailed to me, which I had them do. I received it just a few days later and deposited it into my checking account.

 

Personally, I hate paying interest, so I'd probably pay off the card rather than pay any interest. Then, once (if?) the refund went in, I'd just call and ask for a check to be mailed to me.

 

Good luck and I hope we're all sailing again someday.

[cruisemeister8]

6 hours ago, justKirbo said:

We are some of the lucky ones that have been able to get refunded (but it was just a deposit on a cruise that wouldn't have sailed until next April). We use a Royal Caribbean Visa for only our cruise related stuff, so when the $1000 credit came through, it had gone onto a card that had had a zero balance prior. When I called the Visa company, they immediately gave me the option to have a check mailed to me, which I had them do. I received it just a few days later and deposited it into my checking account.

 

Personally, I hate paying interest, so I'd probably pay off the card rather than pay any interest. Then, once (if?) the refund went in, I'd just call and ask for a check to be mailed to me.

 

Good luck and I hope we're all sailing again someday.

Thanks for the encouragement. We also put the trip on our Royal Visa. So it's good to know that they will mail a check back if we end up with a large credit balance.  

[ARandomTraveler]

9 hours ago, Mrsberri0909 said:

 

 

2.  I was going to use the FCC to apply to a 6/7/20 cruise; anticipating the cruise would then be cancelled and I would get a full  cash refund. Question:  would that have happened or would I have just got my original FCC back?

 

 

You wouldn’t have gotten cash back, you wound have had your original FCC reissued with the same expiration date. 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, JoelinSedona said:

My big box agent gave me the 1 week timeframe. After that I started calling Royal directly and they gave me the 2 week date. When 2 weeks passed called Royal again and they gave me the 30 day date.

 

Next round, as I suspected, of 30 day suspensions came through last night.   I requested refund, with request form stating 45 days to refund.  This was the same as when I requested the 125% on previous cruise.  

[justKirbo]

I think one of the links about the next wave of cancelations said they'd be refunding for those that wanted payment returned on May 22. I could be totally wrong, but having an actual date made me think the refunds might actually all show up by then.