Gift Card Refunds (3/13 - Present)

[jas1178]

Greetings,

 

Trying to determine if they have done an refunds via giftcard yet.  Anyone who cancelled a cruise, excursion, or purchase get new gift cards yet?

We have 1 cruise we are expecting a refund on, and purchases/excursions for two others that were all cancelled 3/13.

 

Thanks for your info.

[N7786W Flyer]

1 hour ago, jas1178 said:

Greetings,

 

Trying to determine if they have done an refunds via giftcard yet.  Anyone who cancelled a cruise, excursion, or purchase get new gift cards yet?

We have 1 cruise we are expecting a refund on, and purchases/excursions for two others that were all cancelled 3/13.

 

Thanks for your info.

 

Thanks for asking the question....I'm in the same boat even though my cruises were in April and September (from San Francisco, which was also cancelled).

 

Like you, I'm owed monies related to excursions, gratuities, taxes, etc. totaling about $5,600...so I'm anxious to hear if anyone has received replacement gift cards yet.

 

As an aside, it would seem that Carnival would POSSIBLY process the gift card refunds faster than the regular cash refunds since there isn't a real money exchange taking place.  In essence, they're giving us back "Carnival Cash" instead of US $, so I wouldn't THINK that their accounting branch would be quite so tight in releasing those 'funds'.

 

Garnett

[shof515]

On my canceled booking confirmation , it says my address is unknown. My vifp profile has my correct address. i wonder how i am going to get my gift cards mailed back to me

[Joe817]

11 minutes ago, shof515 said:

On my canceled booking confirmation , it says my address is unknown. My vifp profile has my correct address. i wonder how i am going to get my gift cards mailed back to me

It's definitely worth a phone call. It appears that Carnival uses separate databases for different functions. And they don't contain the exact same contact information. Which is a shame. IMO, they should. 

[bury me at sea]

FTTF paid for with a gift card is the only refund I am expecting.  This is for a March 29 cruise cancelled by Carnival.  The email I received said 5-7 business days.  Not here yet.

 

Everything else, all paid for with gift cards, was transferred to a new booking.

[jas1178]

2 hours ago, N7786W Flyer said:

As an aside, it would seem that Carnival would POSSIBLY process the gift card refunds faster than the regular cash refunds since there isn't a real money exchange taking place.  In essence, they're giving us back "Carnival Cash" instead of US $, so I wouldn't THINK that their accounting branch would be quite so tight in releasing those 'funds'.

 

The reason I asked was I knew credit card refunds were flowing slowly but surely.  I hadn't heard of anyone that had gotten gift cards as of yet, and based on responses to this point - haven't seen anyone come forward.

 

It makes sense that they might be more willing to do gift cards due to money not changing hands, however from the other perspective, it is outside of the normal work flow of returning to the original payment.  I fear with the normal work flow so overwhelmed, gift cards could potentially take a back burner.

[mslhb]

I paid for almost everything for my May cruise with gift cards. This includes a couple of pre-purchased dining reservations and some funshop items. Since we were locked into Carnival we took the FCC option. Looks like all of the cruise expenses including taxes, fees, etc. were transferred to the new booking. For the Funshop money I am under the impression we will get a gift card in the mail. Haven't seen one yet. I don't pay much attention to our physical mail so will need to be careful I don't accidently throw it out with other junk mail. Honestly my expectations are low for when we will see the gift card money.

[bingomamma19]

i just contacted my PVP as I am waiting for the overage of my re booked cruise to come back in the gift cards i used.     He said they have 1 ,million people they are working on...so it will take a bit.   My has not been worked on yet...my cruise was april 4th.

 

 

[Wombservice]

I cancelled our May Journeys cruise that I had paid for using mainly gift cards on March 11th (give or take a day) and used my PVP for the process.  I was shocked at how quickly I received the gift cards, totaling around $1,700.00 - within the week!  I was also sent a gift card for one of the excursions at the same time, but I’m still waiting on reimbursement for the steakhouse, WiFi pkg and a room order.  Not sure when those will arrive........

[scpirate]

I got mine right away but it was before the zombie appocolypse.my deposit for a cruise I cancelled has been over 30 days and no where in sight.i put the gift card on a 2022 cruise and made sure I got insurance this time.

[N7786W Flyer]

1 hour ago, fyree39 said:

I'm a little surprised people are taking refunds in gift cards rather than a future cruise credit. I would absolutely take the FCC. If I had to take FCCs for both of my already-paid-for cruises, I'd combine those FCCs and take one fantastic sailing in a Havana suite to Alaska or Canada. Get the drink package, eat at the up-sell restaurants. It'd be a blast.

 

After our one and only Crystal cruise last fall, I've once again found the fun in Carnival providing I don't try to sail Carnival cheaply. If I spring for all the extras, I like it more.

 

Speaking only for myself, I took the FCCs, but some of the excursions, gratuities, etc were also paid for with gift cards.  Therefore, they weren't transferrable to any new booking...i.e. I had to take a refund to the original form of payment, which was gift cards.  Hence, the waiting I'm having to endure...but, to your point, if I had the option, I would have MUCH preferred Carnival holding all of my refunds as FCC's so I could apply those funds where I wanted (we have 15 cruises booked between now and January 2022), but I wasn't offered that option.

 

Garnett

[Jasalth]

21 hours ago, N7786W Flyer said:

Hence, the waiting I'm having to endure...but, to your point, if I had the option, I would have MUCH preferred Carnival holding all of my refunds as FCC's so I could apply those funds where I wanted (we have 15 cruises booked between now and January 2022), but I wasn't offered that option.

  

This is the same boat I am in waiting. My TA did all the transferring for me when he called them to take over my booking I made before they canceled my September cruise. I made sure he was going to specifically ask if my excursion I had paid for could be transferred over ($100 gift card, $60 on cc) just to make life easier. From what he was told things like excursions and fun shop purchases are handled by a different department that cruise fares so they can't be transferred over at all.  

 

I think this is the situation with most people waiting fora  gift card refund, not that we asked for the gift card back, but were given no choice. 

 

And on a on-topic note, still waiting for mine gift-card/refund now for about 6 weeks. 

[matymil]

On ‎4‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 2:08 PM, jas1178 said:

 

The reason I asked was I knew credit card refunds were flowing slowly but surely.  I hadn't heard of anyone that had gotten gift cards as of yet, and based on responses to this point - haven't seen anyone come forward.

 

It makes sense that they might be more willing to do gift cards due to money not changing hands, however from the other perspective, it is outside of the normal work flow of returning to the original payment.  I fear with the normal work flow so overwhelmed, gift cards could potentially take a back burner.

I read under normal circumstances gift cards would take longer but im thinking that gift cards may go through faster because of sheer volume of credit card refunds they have to issue vs the volume of gift card gift cards. Im only waiting on one $100 gift card from a cruise that was cancelled on 3/13 myself so im not to stressed about it.

[Woodfaerie]

I cancelled, took full refund for my 4/19 sailing. I have $1300 coming back in gift cards and $800 credit card.  Cancelled with Carnival one month ago.  As a self employed person whose business is operating at a 90% loss of income, I need the money back for financial survival purposes.  A family member wants to by my gift cards back if I get them by the end of May  (not holding my breath on that)

[matymil]

On 4/29/2020 at 11:41 PM, Woodfaerie said:

I cancelled, took full refund for my 4/19 sailing. I have $1300 coming back in gift cards and $800 credit card.  Cancelled with Carnival one month ago.  As a self employed person whose business is operating at a 90% loss of income, I need the money back for financial survival purposes.  A family member wants to by my gift cards back if I get them by the end of May  (not holding my breath on that)

Wow...I am really sorry to hear that 😞 

[FloatingSunGoddess]

Most of my cancelled excursions and dinner reservations were paid with gift cards.  How long does it get to get your gift cards?  What do they do when they are not an exact amount?

 

Thanks!!

[richfret]

I am in the same boat (Almost a joke  since we are writing about cruising)  I have a cruise booked for January 2021 and have concerns since I have $1,300 in gift cards to pay final payment and on board expenses.  I read some where that Carnival will not refund gift cards for cash.  So what if the cruise is cancelled or worse yet, there will be no more cruises.  Hopefully, they can be cashed in for a future cruise assuming there are future cruises.

 

I have sailed 23 Carnival cruises and are very pleased with Carnival but have never experienced any thing like this.  We could be big losers.  Well I guess all we can do is wait and see.  

[N7786W Flyer]

10 minutes ago, richfret said:

I am in the same boat (Almost a joke  since we are writing about cruising)  I have a cruise booked for January 2021 and have concerns since I have $1,300 in gift cards to pay final payment and on board expenses.  I read some where that Carnival will not refund gift cards for cash.  So what if the cruise is cancelled or worse yet, there will be no more cruises. 

 

Carnival will not redeem the gift cards for cash.  However, they will send you a replacement gift card in the amount that you are owed.  Essentially, Carnival has your cash and will not return it.  If by some chance Carnival goes out of business or files bankruptcy (doubtful....at least at this point) , you'll most likely lose your money.

 

Don't feel bad...I'm in the same 'boat' with you...to the tune of $5600....not to mention that additionally, I have 15 cruises booked and would probably lose all of that $ as well if the worst happens.

 

Garnett

[N7786W Flyer]

1 hour ago, FloatingSunGoddess said:

Most of my cancelled excursions and dinner reservations were paid with gift cards.  How long does it get to get your gift cards?  What do they do when they are not an exact amount?

 

 

 

How long??? That's the BIG question everyone is asking.  To my knowledge, no one on these boards has received a gift card refund yet, so no one knows "how long".

 

As far as the 'exact amount' question goes, they'll send you a gift card in the exact amount(s) that you are owed.  They can put any amount on the cards that they desire and do not have to round the amounts to increments of $25, 50, 100, etc. (hoping that I understood your question correctly).

 

Garnett

[pcvtmom]

Our Med cruise was cancelled, and I elected to have the FCC and OBC option.  I paid for the entire (cancelled) cruise and Fly2Fun with Carnival gift cards (discounted AARP).  When booking a new cruise (Hawaii 2021), I asked my PVP if the gift cards would just transfer to FCC for the new cruise.  He said he THOUGHT they would, but would check with the department that deals with gift card issues, to be sure.  Long story short, two weeks later my reservation still shows me with the complete balance due.  I called him to find out if and when that would update and he still had no answer.  Has anyone received FCC after paying for a cancelled cruise with gift cards?  I don't mind being patient, since my cruise is far into the future.  I just would like assurance that it will work!  Again, my PVP didn't know...Thanks, in advance, for insight!

[N7786W Flyer]

22 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

Our Med cruise was cancelled, and I elected to have the FCC and OBC option.  I paid for the entire (cancelled) cruise and Fly2Fun with Carnival gift cards (discounted AARP).  When booking a new cruise (Hawaii 2021), I asked my PVP if the gift cards would just transfer to FCC for the new cruise.  He said he THOUGHT they would, but would check with the department that deals with gift card issues, to be sure.  Long story short, two weeks later my reservation still shows me with the complete balance due.  I called him to find out if and when that would update and he still had no answer.  Has anyone received FCC after paying for a cancelled cruise with gift cards?  I don't mind being patient, since my cruise is far into the future.  I just would like assurance that it will work!  Again, my PVP didn't know...Thanks, in advance, for insight!

 

I had two cruises cancelled...and on both I elected to take the FCC and OBC offered by Carnival....and both were 100% paid for using gift cards. 

 

I had no issues having the Carnival rep apply the FCC's to two different cruises, so I'm not quite understanding why your PVP is having issues with this. 

 

Garnett

[bingomamma19]

2 hours ago, FloatingSunGoddess said:

Most of my cancelled excursions and dinner reservations were paid with gift cards.  How long does it get to get your gift cards?  What do they do when they are not an exact amount?

 

Thanks!!

I have about 900 coming back to me in gift cards.   Our cruise was april 4th ..we have rebooked for 8/15 this year..   I had paid for my april cruise with gift cards.  They did transfer 2100 to the august cruise, but said the remaining 900 will come back to me in the gift cards.

 

I talked to my PVP the other day and he said they have a million people that were affected, so they are overwhelmed, but they are working on them.   He is not sure when they will be sent, so all we can do is wait.    I am fine with that as those gift cards will be put on my March cruise next year.

 

For those afraid of bankruptcy and losing the money.   I don't see that they would do that.   They would not fold and just go out of business, so they would need the trust of future cruisers that they could book and not lose their money.   It would be very hard to gain that confidence if millions of people had lost money.   

Edited May 2, 2020 by bingomamma19

[biomedbob]

I booked a cruise yesterday for us and 2 grandkids.  The school has since restructured the kids school calander and we can't do those dates.  We made a $600.00 deposit with a refunded gift card and today they say if we cancel there will be a $300.00 penalty.   What gives?

[mbglib]

My sister cancelled a cruise in 2016 due to ill health.  She received her gift card that had been used to pay for an excursion exactly 1 YEAR later.  I doubt this was the status quo then, but, even without the current problems, it can take a long time!

[Elaine5715]

4 hours ago, N7786W Flyer said:

 

I had two cruises cancelled...and on both I elected to take the FCC and OBC offered by Carnival....and both were 100% paid for using gift cards. 

 

I had no issues having the Carnival rep apply the FCC's to two different cruises, so I'm not quite understanding why your PVP is having issues with this. 

 

Garnett

Probably just confused them...

 

OP if you elected FCC with OBC, it doesn't matter how you paid.  You are getting what you paid transferred into FCC not a refund. 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Elaine5715