Refunds - any received to date?

[nutensteve]

Received credit for our Baltic excursions yesterday. I was notified by AMEX. The cruise was cancelled on 3/31. It's a start.

[kenphy]

We cancelled (and rebooked for next July - 2021) on April 14, and today we received refunds to our card of three of the ten excursions we booked for this July 2020.  Less than a month.  Hope to get more tomorrow.  

[knittinggirl]

We just dumped our Carnival stock!  So strange, because we had purchased an extra 100 shares in March.

[Florida dreaming]

We were on the 2020 Amsterdam world. 
no sign of our 50% refund yet. This should have been refunded automatically since the ship only completed 50% of the cruise. 

[cavecreekguy]

By my count it is exactly 60 days since March 13, when the first batch of cruises were canceled. I have an email from Orlando Ashford that says my refund "may take up to 60 days," and another email and chat transcript that both say "approximately 60 days." Needless to say, no refund.

I've run out of patience. If I had read a report that ANYONE whose cruise was canceled on March 13 has received a refund, I might have more patience.

[Crew News]

1 minute ago, cavecreekguy said:

By my count it is exactly 60 days since March 13, when the first batch of cruises were canceled. I have an email from Orlando Ashford that says my refund "may take up to 60 days," and another email and chat transcript that both say "approximately 60 days." Needless to say, no refund.

I've run out of patience. If I had read a report that ANYONE whose cruise was canceled on March 13 has received a refund, I might have more patience.

 

My May Alaska cruise was cancelled on March 13 and I received my excursion refunds on May 8.  Now just waiting for the fub money to flow.

[DanBoy]

My cruise was cancelled March 14 (New Amsterdam)  STILL WAITING for everything to be refunded.. BS on this..

[PShelley]

Does anyone happen to remember the exact date of HAL's cancellation of cruises that would include one departing April 17?  This would have been HAL's second announcement, extending the original cancelled cruise dates from those announced in mid-March.  I think HAL's second announcement was made on March 30 - - but I'm not 100% sure.  Thanks - - just trying to figure on when to start worrying about my requested refund.

[Florida dreaming]

We were all forced to leave the Amsterdam and fly home on March 22, 2020 from Perth Australia. Two months before end of the four month world cruise. Time for those refunds of 50% and what we paid for airfare home to start flowing back to us. 

[knittinggirl]

We haven't even gotten our FCC for cruise cancelled by us on March 7th.  DH is not happy, because this doesn't involve a refund.  Should just involve some typing on a computer.

 

Over sixty day wait for a credit is unacceptable.  

[Storylady]

I wrote to my TA after the cruise credit from cancelled Cruises was applied to the World Cruise. She said that refunds are taking longer due to the sheer volume. With all cruises from middle of March to almost the end of the year cancelled. I would suspect that it is impossible to give an accurate date as to when everyone will get their money back. Nothing like this has ever happened.

[atexsix]

On 5/9/2020 at 10:14 AM, Crew News said:

 

Just checked my credit card and discovered the refund of all of my May 4 Alaska excursions refunded ($1398).  Now just waiting for cruise refund. 

 

Money is now flowing!!!!

Ditto for us, we received the shore excursion credits that they canceled around April 1st when the cruise itself was canceled (by HAL) they said they'd refund within 60 days and kudos to HAL they were well within it.

 

Still nothing on the cruise itself though.

[strickerj]

Same here, got all but one shore excursion refunded yesterday for our canceled 5/24 Alaska cruise and got FCC for 2 of the 3 passengers, but no refund of the port taxes & fees. 

[dave34]

I canceled shore excursions, Internet, drink packages for 4 on March 2 for Alaska cruise , got $ 3.19 credit back yesterday. LOL you can’t make this up , 3 dollars , waiting on 12 thousand for canceled cruise. Filed  with credit card I will let American Express handle it from now on. 

[bvocruise]

Things do not look for me after speaking to my travel agent.  He was nice but just came out of a meeting and it appears HAL is not processing refunds at this time. He did not have a lot of information but told me to contact the credit card company and see if they can assist.

 

I'm not sure they can in my case because I paid for the cruise/tour in full when booking it a year ago.  I know it was stupid on my part but we like paying things off early.  We may be out $7K but thankfully it won't break us and was just vacation money and not anything critical to our survival.  

[Cusebarman]

On 5/9/2020 at 8:51 AM, OSUTRIKERS said:

I’m sure I am beating a dead horse, but has anyone actually gotten a refund yet?  I got ‘notice to refund’ on excursion and onboard purchases, but HAL said that just a notice to be refunded. No email notice on cruise/airline refund.   Sad.

HAL says UP to 60 days.  Sure, they are busy.  Some people want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but then some should have received their refunds on day 1, some on day 2, etc.  But nobody it seems has received them.
 I am now at 64 and counting.  I cancelled the 3/15 Maasdam, Papeete to San Diego, on 3/9.  I have heard nothing from them. I would trust HAL as far as I could toss them.  
Come on, folks.  HAL is NOT your friend.  They are a large corporation trying to maximize their profits.  They do not give a rats ass about you unless they see something in it for themselves.  

[Crazy For Cats]

This morning I received a refund for an excursion I cancelled in April.  I still have not received the refundable portion of my March cruise.  I notified my PCC to cancel my Greenland cruise for next year that has sizable deposits unless the Credits for March will appear by this Friday.

[crzfanatic]

I cancelled all my on board purchases for our March 19, 2020 cruise and it was refunded within a few days.  I have not heard a thing from HAL about the cruise refund. It’s coming up on 60 days now. Our cruise was within the first week of cancelled cruises, there is absolutely no excuse for my refund not to have been processed yet. When it hits the 60 day mark I’m going to contact my credit card company. I’ve had refunds from 2 airlines and a hotel reservation made through Expedia come through recently. I’m not willing to write off this kind of loss. I honestly think that if they were handling this in a timely manner, more people would be booking future cruises. They are losing customers right and left!

[Crazy For Cats]

I received the following from my PCC after my request to cancel our Greenland cruise unless they could let me know that the March cruise monies would be refunded by Friday.  Reads as canned text to me.  I went ahead and cancelled the cruise requesting refunds of deposits paid.

 

"We know you are waiting for your refund and may be frustrated by how long it’s taking.  We hear you and are doing everything in our power to get it to you as soon as possible.  Rest assured we’ve received your request, and it’s in our queue.  Refunds are being processed by sailing date of the cancelled voyages with the earliest departures being refunded first.   We ask for your continued patience in affording us the time to work through the refunds properly.  Because we are not able to use our usual automated process,  our team is manually handling a large volume of requests while working from home.  We want to try to make sure each and every guest’s booking is handled accurately, and as efficiently as possible and this is taking more time."

[madera1]

4 hours ago, Cusebarman said:

HAL says UP to 60 days.  Sure, they are busy.  Some people want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but then some should have received their refunds on day 1, some on day 2, etc.  But nobody it seems has received them.
 I am now at 64 and counting.  I cancelled the 3/15 Maasdam, Papeete to San Diego, on 3/9.  I have heard nothing from them. I would trust HAL as far as I could toss them.  
Come on, folks.  HAL is NOT your friend.  They are a large corporation trying to maximize their profits.  They do not give a rats ass about you unless they see something in it for themselves.  

We were also to be on that segment and like you have received nothing from HAL. We too canceled on March 9. I though they were to be working on the first canceled cruises first?

[ON cruiser]

20 hours ago, bvocruise said:

Things do not look for me after speaking to my travel agent.  He was nice but just came out of a meeting and it appears HAL is not processing refunds at this time. He did not have a lot of information but told me to contact the credit card company and see if they can assist.

 

I'm not sure they can in my case because I paid for the cruise/tour in full when booking it a year ago.  I know it was stupid on my part but we like paying things off early.  We may be out $7K but thankfully it won't break us and was just vacation money and not anything critical to our survival.  

 

@bvocruise and anyone else waiting longer than the time specified for your refund, whether or not your credit card issuer can assist will only be determined if you make the call to enquire. I urge you to do so. Most credit card issuers are aware of this problem. Moreover, you are calling before your sailing date (hopefully, or at least before your cruise end-date).

 

For $7 grand, I would make the call and ask to initiate a "dispute". You have nothing to lose, that I can see, by trying. Also, like insurance companies whose first answer is usually "no", if the first answer received is "no", escalate up the chain.

 

Good luck to all those who seek the refund of their money. If you consider it "found money", then look at it this way: you can donate some of it to a local charity that is, in these times, struggling.  

[CJcruzer]

today I received four $100 credits to my credit card - pertaining to 2 future cruises I had cancelled through my TA, on April 22. These 4 entries match up to  future cruise deposits purchased onboard,  which I had used to secure those bookings.  I requested they be refunded as cash, not to my Mariner account.  I am awaiting the $400  for the extra deposit amount I paid which was required for one of those cruises, as it was 32 days.  I expect that to show on my credit card  either as two $200 credits (guest 1 and guest 2) or one lump $400 sum.   Fingers crossed that will come soon.

 

I specifically requested the FCD’s, purchased onboard  and used towards these bookings, to be refunded to my credit card - as I still have a set of FCD’s with one more booked cruise AND a spare set hanging on our Mariner accounts.  At this point, I do not feel a need to stockpile any more of these.

 

I am still waiting for 5 shore excursions which I cancelled on March 28, which were for one of the above cruises.  These involve more money than the cancellations above.  I have filed a dispute claim with my credit card company and they will be handling it.

 

I have one more  shoreX I cancelled May 3,  however there is a disclaimer that the refund may take 30-60 days.   My cancellations of March 38 had no such disclaimer,. I will wait until close to the 60 day mark before I proceed with a dispute.  

 

I did received my cruise credit for the April Japan Westerdam cruise, which was cancelled by HAL on Feb 20, monies all credited back by Feb 23.  HOWEVER, this was before the mid March cancellations which encompassed way more sailings, and since then, HAL has been slow to compensate.

 

So there does not seem to be rhyme or reason to the dates and order of refunds that are NOT within the framework of HAL cancellations.  HAL may be portioning them out to different areas/workers , i.e. a pile of shorex refunds to one agent, someone else has a pile of deposit refunds, someone else dealing with amenities/indulgences pre-purchased, etc.  

 

I will post if I receive anything further, and to what dates of cancellation they apply.

 

JMO

 

Carol

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by CJcruzer

[Alibaster McGillicutty]

On 5/11/2020 at 1:56 PM, PShelley said:

Does anyone happen to remember the exact date of HAL's cancellation of cruises that would include one departing April 17?  This would have been HAL's second announcement, extending the original cancelled cruise dates from those announced in mid-March.  I think HAL's second announcement was made on March 30 - - but I'm not 100% sure.  Thanks - - just trying to figure on when to start worrying about my requested refund.

My Alaska cruise was for May 3 and I ?think? we were in the 2nd group of cancellations.....I think?

We received a notice on 3/30 from HAL about the cancellation.  We used a big-online-TA and I don't remember receiving anything through them but a couple weeks later they had a "Request Cancellation" button on their page under my itinerary.

 

 

[KirkNC]

On 5/11/2020 at 2:57 PM, Florida dreaming said:

We were all forced to leave the Amsterdam and fly home on March 22, 2020 from Perth Australia. Two months before end of the four month world cruise. Time for those refunds of 50% and what we paid for airfare home to start flowing back to us. 

Agreed, I also would like our luggage.

[Triger]

I believe there are many factors contributing to the delays; staffing levels, working from home, etc.  But the parent company CCL was on the verge of bankruptcy and now has to meet ongoing expenses, the largest is getting their crews home (remember those great people on board who catered to all our wants and needs) they have been stuck on their ships for 60 days away from their families and many will be unemployed for a long time. The cash CCL has (after their recent re-financing and don't forget CCL has many brands under the umbrella to manage with now limited cash resources) is firstly going to meet ongoing sea operations and salaries of reps still working and no incoming cash flow. (All ships are at sea needing maintenance, fuel, food for the crews, etc.)

We all know were are promised refunds and I believe the company is working to provide them but no doubt at a pace that balances their operating cash needs and what they can spare.  Maybe if we all stopped calling then the staff could concentrate on refunds, FCC, etc. People keep off the phones. 

We are also waiting for a refund from another cruise line; same delays, promises and limited communication plus add the concern for  long term viability.  We have come to the conclusion we may never see our refunds, they may be  write offs.  It may be beneficial to take a somber second look.  Please stay safe and be patient.