Refunds - any received to date?

[Baileybasset]

We cancelled our October 2020 Hawaii cruise.  Another Cruise Critic member recommended canceling the "extras" first.  So on 4/1/20 I cancelled the shore excursions, laundry and Internet packages.  Then on 4/14/20, we submitted the formal cancellation request to HAL and received the cancellation document showing the fee for Platinum Protection Plan deducted from the total to be refunded.  On 5/10/20, our credit card received the refunds for the "extras".  Still waiting for the cruise fare refund.  Was advised to allow 60 days, so will pursue it again with credit card company at that time.

 

A friend was booked to sail at end of March 2020, cancelled and has just received her complete refund for that sailing.

[KAKcruiser]

So, are you saying that someone finally received a cash refund?  This is the first one I've heard about.

[AJSkarbo]

On 4/5 I cancelled 2 spa packages, drink package and shore excursions for a 5/16 sailing. Last night I received a refund for one of the spa packages and the excursion. Still waiting on the other spa refund and a refund for the drink package.

[djett]

I cancelled about $3000 worth of shore excursions for our October cruise on 4-16-20 and they were all refunded to my credit card on 4-19-20. I cancelled the cruise on 4-20-20 and am still waiting for the deposit to be refunded.

[Sallyandtex]

Paid in full early. Cancelled a June 7 cruise on March 16.

No email, no refund yet.

[Crew News]

FWIW a couple from the Netherlands on my cancelled May Alaska cruise reported receiving their cruise refund on their credit card today.  They received their excursions refund last week.

 

 

[crzfanatic]

Hmmm, but my March 19th not refunded. Why would they not go in order of sailing date?

[Reagan0712]

Started getting refunds for excursions for Alaska cruise that was to begin May 17th. Have received about half so far.

[Harters]

We were due to take an Alaska cruise at the end of this month. I cancelled shore excursions in mid March and received a refund within days.

 

The cruise is part of a wider trip from the UK to Western Canada, booked through tour operator here. We are currently in the early stages of dispute with the operator, as they are refusing refunds and only offering rebooking or a refund credit note, not redeemable until 31 March 2021. This is unacceptable - not least as refunds are guaranteed under UK law and are clearly offered in the operators terms & conditions. Their argument, so far, is that they will be waiting for refunds from HAL and other suppliers (airline, rail tour, hotels), hence the very long delay on the credit note payout.

 

From reading the above posts, it seems that folk are not yet receiving refunds for bookings direct with HAL, so I assume the booking our operator made will be subject to the same delays. We have logged a claim via our credit card company - refunds of such purchases are covered by UK law (Consumer Credit Act, 1974) - which can run parallel to our claim on the operator.

[CJcruzer]

22 hours ago, CJcruzer said:

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

 

 

 

 

 

Update, today May 13,

 received all 5 refunds for March 28 cancellations of shorex booked for a future cruise (since then, cancelled booking with TA on April 22).   The entries are dated March 28 - and my credit card company says that HAL refunded directly, it was not a result of the dispute I filed.   Time to process and receive credit : 46 days.

 

Carol

 

 

[rotjeknor]

We received the refund for the shore ex's we booked on our april 17 cruise today. Cruise was cancelled late march.

It's a start. I'll patiently wait for the rest.

[conwakr]

There's a couple threads going on this - cancellation email from HAL on March 30.  Request filed by me on March 30.  Refunds came through this week for excursions and beverage package.  FCC came through last week.  One more refund due for port charges, etc. as cruise was paid in full.  So for me,  they are meeting the 60 day promise. 

[TriumphGuy]

Our shore excursions were refunded within 48 hours of canceling our April transatlantic cruise on March 7, but here we are still waiting for the promised cruise fare refund and FCC.

 

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I think the shore excursions and onboard dining reservations money must go into a "different pot" which would explain why those refunds are happening faster. 

 

I am two months into a cancellation using the Platinum Protection Plan (I know it is administered by HAL) and nothing as yet. So no benefit of the PPP in a crisis. 

[PShelley]

It probably bears asking again at this point:  has anyone yet received a refund of their cruise fare and port charges following their option to receive such a refund when HAL made its first cancellation announcement - - which I believe was on or about March 14??  If someone so chose on the day HAL cancelled (March 14), we should expect some people to be reporting the receipt of those refunds now that the 60-day period has passed.

 

Our own cruise departed after the dates included in the first cancellation announcement, so we had to wait until the second announcement to see what our options were - - which occurred on March 30, when we chose the refund option and now must wait until the end of May in hopes of getting our refund.

 

I am not really discounting the return of other funds - - for dining, excursions, drinks packages, and the like - - but judging how quickly those particular refunds were made in our case back in late February/early March when we had decided not to cruise regardless of what HAL decided, those refunds do appear to be made from a pot of income normally designated as fluid and is routinely refunded upon people changing their minds about the extras right down to the wire of disembarkation.

 

So the real question is whether the income that was not earmarked for potential refund will, in fact, be refunded as promised.

[Crazy For Cats]

39 minutes ago, PShelley said:

It probably bears asking again at this point:  has anyone yet received a refund of their cruise fare and port charges following their option to receive such a refund when HAL made its first cancellation announcement - - which I believe was on or about March 14??  If someone so chose on the day HAL cancelled (March 14), we should expect some people to be reporting the receipt of those refunds now that the 60-day period has passed.

 

Our own cruise departed after the dates included in the first cancellation announcement, so we had to wait until the second announcement to see what our options were - - which occurred on March 30, when we chose the refund option and now must wait until the end of May in hopes of getting our refund.

 

I am not really discounting the return of other funds - - for dining, excursions, drinks packages, and the like - - but judging how quickly those particular refunds were made in our case back in late February/early March when we had decided not to cruise regardless of what HAL decided, those refunds do appear to be made from a pot of income normally designated as fluid and is routinely refunded upon people changing their minds about the extras right down to the wire of disembarkation.

 

So the real question is whether the income that was not earmarked for potential refund will, in fact, be refunded as promised.

Our March 18 cruise was cancelled on March 13 by HAL.  I reached out to my PCC yesterday to check on status.  In a nutshell taking longer than expected, you are in the queue.  I took the FCC offer.  Based on the canned text response I disputed monies paid for an August cruise that I cancelled last month and HAL cancelled this month.  

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, PShelley said:

It probably bears asking again at this point:  has anyone yet received a refund of their cruise fare and port charges following their option to receive such a refund when HAL made its first cancellation announcement - - which I believe was on or about March 14??  If someone so chose on the day HAL cancelled (March 14), we should expect some people to be reporting the receipt of those refunds now that the 60-day period has passed.

 

Our own cruise departed after the dates included in the first cancellation announcement, so we had to wait until the second announcement to see what our options were - - which occurred on March 30, when we chose the refund option and now must wait until the end of May in hopes of getting our refund.

 

I am not really discounting the return of other funds - - for dining, excursions, drinks packages, and the like - - but judging how quickly those particular refunds were made in our case back in late February/early March when we had decided not to cruise regardless of what HAL decided, those refunds do appear to be made from a pot of income normally designated as fluid and is routinely refunded upon people changing their minds about the extras right down to the wire of disembarkation.

 

So the real question is whether the income that was not earmarked for potential refund will, in fact, be refunded as promised.

 

Not exactly what you are asking about but, we received an email from HAL at 4 pm on March 13 that out March 15 departure was cancelled.

 

No movement on refund or FCC at this time. 

Today is the magical 60 days :)  Maybe have to start working on 90 days now......

Edited May 13, 2020 by SilvertoGold

[Exboater]

We cancelled our June/July Alaska tour on March 15th. We are due refunds for 2 shore excursions plus our refundable deposit. We received an email from HAL on April 21 , "...the below excursion(s) have been sent for refund. Tours will be refunded by port of call and will go back to the original credit card that was used for purchase".... This was for one of the shore excursions (Haines)and the funds appeared on our Credit card today - May 13 although the credit card shows that they received it from HAL on April 21. We are still waiting to hear anything about the other excursion (Juneau) or our tour deposit. Maybe they are doing the ports of call alphabetically.

We had booked our flights to Fairbanks through travel points rather than through HAL and cancelled them also on March 15. The first leg was through Aeroplan (points + cash) and the points were returned to our account within 48 hours and the cash portion was also refunded back to our credit card at the same time - on March 17. The second leg was through CIBC Aventura and we finally received a response on May 8 ".....will process this refund today and return your points. It will take some time for the points to appear, but rest assured, I will work on this for you."

Aeroplan's response was impressive, the rest I guess are doing as best they can under the workload. Hopefully we will see the rest of our refunds eventually. At least we have their acknowledgements that the wheels are actually in motion.

[Sunsigngirl]

Yes!  Finally!  We requested a refund on March 23 and got it yesterday.  This was AFTER many contacts with our cruise consultant during which we got various answers about what was going on.  What was disturbing is that the money kind of "disappeared" for about 16 days after our consultant said it had been "processed" by Accounting. We're talking $11,300+ for a long cruise from Australia to Canada. Lots of money for people with money, and a tremendous amount for someone like us!  I got exasperated and called the main HAL number and got a phone number for Accounting (which I'd asked for before and not gotten.)  I called them on May 11 and the first person I talked to told me the refund was processed on April 21 and I should have it, and it was my bank's fault.  I called the bank and they saw nothing and told me I had to wait 30 days from the date the refund was processed to file a claim.  I called Accounting back and got a different person who said the refund was processed on May 8!!!  When I checked my bank last night, the money was there!  What a relief.  We are still owed about $1,300, for cruises we cancelled yesterday, but this was the big amount we were waiting for. I know they are crunched with requests, but I think they could have done much better.  The right hand didn't know what the left was doing. I don't know about you guys, but it's going to be awhile before we cruise again...what ports are going to allow people in?  On and off the ship at various places, with long contacts, then back on the ship in an enclosed space - perfect for getting and spreading a deadly virus.  No, we'll wait until things are much safer.

[gigianne]

Wow, you are lucky, I have been waiting since March 8th and had paid $$$ for the Platinum  Insurance.  Seems like that was a waste of money.  I have been give so many dates of when I wii receive the refund, none of them true.

[bvocruise]

21 minutes ago, Sunsigngirl said:

Yes!  Finally!  We requested a refund on March 23 and got it yesterday.  This was AFTER many contacts with our cruise consultant during which we got various answers about what was going on.  What was disturbing is that the money kind of "disappeared" for about 16 days after our consultant said it had been "processed" by Accounting. We're talking $11,300+ for a long cruise from Australia to Canada. Lots of money for people with money, and a tremendous amount for someone like us!  I got exasperated and called the main HAL number and got a phone number for Accounting (which I'd asked for before and not gotten.)  I called them on May 11 and the first person I talked to told me the refund was processed on April 21 and I should have it, and it was my bank's fault.  I called the bank and they saw nothing and told me I had to wait 30 days from the date the refund was processed to file a claim.  I called Accounting back and got a different person who said the refund was processed on May 8!!!  When I checked my bank last night, the money was there!  What a relief.  We are still owed about $1,300, for cruises we cancelled yesterday, but this was the big amount we were waiting for. I know they are crunched with requests, but I think they could have done much better.  The right hand didn't know what the left was doing. I don't know about you guys, but it's going to be awhile before we cruise again...what ports are going to allow people in?  On and off the ship at various places, with long contacts, then back on the ship in an enclosed space - perfect for getting and spreading a deadly virus.  No, we'll wait until things are much safer.

This is good news!  Congratulations.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Congratulations bvocruise. . Am glad someone received their refund of the cruise fare.

[KAKcruiser]

Sunsigngirl - What was the date of your cancelled sailing?  I am curious to know in what order they are doing the refunds.

[DeeniEncinitas]

We received our FCC as well as our refund monies minus port fees and taxes back into our AMX credit card today!!!!! We were the first Panama Canal  cruise cancelled while on The Rotterdam on 3/11 and flew home from Puerto Vallarta on 3/15

I never doubted HAL. I admit there were times I got frustrated but still realized this was  Bigger than anyone could imagine!

Denise😊

[Sunsigngirl]

4 hours ago, gigianne said:

Wow, you are lucky, I have been waiting since March 8th and had paid $$$ for the Platinum  Insurance.  Seems like that was a waste of money.  I have been give so many dates of when I wii receive the refund, none of them true.

It was a lot of work - numerous phone calls and emails... Do you have a Cruise Consultant?  If so, you can check with them and have them look, or call the main number and plead your case.