Loyal customer fed up

[az_tchr]

Ray - understand your frustration.  The post above summarizes Delta.  I will note that United had a 52 HOUR estimated hold time when I called on a Saturday in March.  Tried again at 4:30amEDT and got through in 10 minutes.  Delta can also be handled via their website using the airline ticket code.

You truly do not need to do anything right now.  RCCL has enough cash for 2020.  So when Celebrity sends you the FCC email you can simply wait to decide or click on the email.  No call needed.

This is an exceptional time and people are doing all they can to help others in need.

Patience.

[BigAl94]

5 hours ago, az_tchr said:

  RCCL has enough cash for 2020.  

 You know this - how?

[Georgia_Peaches]

I second the suggestion to take the cash.  It's not worth the risk and you can always use it again in the future.

 

Thank you for putting your life on the line to save others.  Prayers for your continued health and well-being!

[Welland]

Celebrity refund requested March 20.  Refund received today April 24.

Hang in folks.     

[arsmes]

Some people have previously contacted Celebrity on email at the address listed on their site. The site listed is no longer functioning. As others have found, calling can be very difficult because they are overwhelmed. From what I have learned Celebrity/Royal Caribbean are highly leveraged and I am not holding out much hope for reimbursement for a cruise that I paid a substantial amount of money for,  that they cancelled. I have written them to object to the 100% cruise credit; I would like my money returned. Where else would you pay thousands of dollars in advance for a service not delivered with a promise to deliver at a future date (at a higher cost). Assuming they are still in operation. I am hoping for a response to my letter but I won't be holding my breath.

[az_tchr]

6 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

 You know this - how?

Their cash burn rate, cash and credit lines available.  Their SEC filings are public documents.  They already borrowed several billion and had large cash on hand.

In March they stated $1B a month.  They have cut staff by about half since then with more and more crew going home.  They are no longer running ships full of passengers looking for a place to disembark.

MS suggested cash burn was down to under $500K not counting bookings that are still coming in.  Cancellations are falling as many with cruises in Q3 and Q4 of 2020 have already cancelled.  With drydock paused They could get to about $250-300M.

They have earning call in 5 days. Think you can get a good picture then.

[wrk2cruise]

38 minutes ago, arsmes said:

I am not holding out much hope for reimbursement for a cruise that I paid a substantial amount of money for,  that they cancelled. I have written them to object to the 100% cruise credit; I would like my money returned.

 

If they cancelled you are entitled to 100% refund.  Did you fill out the form to request the refund in lieu of FCC, a link was included in the letter informing you of the cancellation.  If you cancelled before they cancelled then FCC was/is the only option as you cancelled not them, sorry.

[Nymich]

Thanks for all your efforts Ray!  Proud of all of you!

 

That being said if you get the choice take the money!

[Pinboy]

6 hours ago, Welland said:

Celebrity refund requested March 20.  Refund received today April 24.

Hang in folks.     

Interesting--- We cancelled around the same time a received a " partial refund " today .

I called Celebrity immediately to inquire about the difference and was told that portions of refunds are done in separate departments and the balance " should ?? " be received within a week. 

Is this " normal " procedure ?

ps--- the wait time was less than 10 minutes .

[BEAV]

43 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

Interesting--- We cancelled around the same time a received a " partial refund " today .

I called Celebrity immediately to inquire about the difference and was told that portions of refunds are done in separate departments and the balance " should ?? " be received within a week. 

Is this " normal " procedure ?

ps--- the wait time was less than 10 minutes .

 

Gov’t/taxes fees are refunded separately from the cruise fare. It’s an accounting thing....

[DogLover]

Sorry to "hijack" the thread from the orignial rant by Ray, but I'd like to share my experience with Delta, a complete 180 degrees from @ipeeinthepool and @twincheryl

 

We had flights on Delta to and from New York prior to our May 28th NY/Maine/Canada sailing which eventually was cancelled. Our plans were to fly into Newburgh, NY (my birthplace) and visit West Point (for many reasons, including family as alum) before heading down to Jersey City to stay a couple nights before sailing. Long story short, with Delta's numerous cancellations, our original flights into Newburgh resulted in a misconnect with no other flight options available. Therefore, we qualified for a refund instead of eCredits.

 

Called Delta on 4/17, held for 45 minutes for an agent who was very helpful but unable to get the "refund" to go through. Patched me through to the Refund department ... another 45 minute hold. Once connected, Sherri in Refunds processed the request and stated it would be up to 30 BUSINESS DAYS for our refund to appear. I thanked her for her assistance and prepared to wait.

 

Checked the Chase card account Sunday online ... refund was processed and posted the same day I called, 4/17! Not sure how the planets aligned for that to happen, but we are super surprised. And FYI, Hubby is only a Delta Silver Medallion and I lost my status last year making me a lowly simpleton, SkyPesos member.

 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

Hello DogLover, I'm glad the refund process with Delta worked well for you but I do see at least one similarity.   All of the telephone call centers are swamped and I'm sure that all of them have had to hire a lot more agents to help with all of the refund and change requests.  It sounds like the first agent was having some problems and wasn't able to process the form, perhaps because they were inexperienced and you were lucky enough to get transferred to the refund department.  The first agent I encountered didn't have a clue how to handle my request.  It looks like your request was then handled in real time.  It also sounds like you may have called during normal business hours, I tried to avoid the rush by calling early in the morning and I doubt the refund department was open.   Perhaps another lesson is that it may be better to tolerate the wait and call during normal business hours.   I submitted my request on 4/12 and I'm still waiting for my Amex to be credited and the miles to be put back into my account since I paid with a combination of miles and dollars.

 

One of the lessons is that there are many new and inexperienced telephone agents with Delta, Celebrity and many other companies and if things don't seem to be going correctly, request to speak to another agent.