Better to Cancel Cruise Planner Purchases First?

[LuCruise]

I know that if we do nothing, and we cancel a cruise or Lift and Sift, that the cruise planner purchases will be automatically refunded.

 

However, is it better to cancel them first ourselves if doing a LIft and Sift (or cancelling a cruise where not 125% for future )?  Or does it make no difference in terms of getting refunded?

[stevea36]

If you cancel them before RCI cancels your sailing you have a chance, albeit  a slim one, to get them a bit quicker.   I have seen mixed results...

 

Steve

[adolfo2]

25 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

I know that if we do nothing, and we cancel a cruise or Lift and Sift, that the cruise planner purchases will be automatically refunded.

 

However, is it better to cancel them first ourselves if doing a LIft and Sift (or cancelling a cruise where not 125% for future )?  Or does it make no difference in terms of getting refunded?

Yes, do it. Cancelled our CruisePlanner purchases immediately after Royal announced the cruise was toast. Received refund in a few days to CC.  

[LuCruise]

Thanks for the replies.  In our case, I may try and Lift & Sift.  To confirm, pre-cruise planner purchases do not carry forward right?  (This cruise would be the exact same itinerary but I know that's not always the case).  And I assume the same with L&S then where it's better to cancel first?

Edited July 1, 2020 by LuCruise

[molly361]

I don't think it matters but I cancelled mine if only to be sure that it was done and when.

[molly361]

5 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Thanks for the replies.  In our case, I may try and Lift & Sift.  To confirm, pre-cruise planner purchases do not carry forward right?  (This cruise would be the exact same itinerary but I know that's not always the case).  And I assume the same with L&S then where it's better to cancel first?

Correct they do not carry over

[LuCruise]

17 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Correct they do not carry over

Thanks for confirming

[dani negreanu]

Following advice on this forum, I've 1st cancelled my shore excursions, and then cancelled my cruise. Got the tours refunded in a few days. Still waiting for the deposit refund.

Personally, I've found the advices on this forum always spot on.

[bouhunter]

We did a lift and shift a month ago and let them cancel the drink packages at that time.  Refund was on our VISA in 4-5 days.  But if you know you aren't going on a cruise, no reason not to cancel the other stuff now 🙂

 

[karli_ratte]

We lifted and shifted on June 5th. I cancelled everything in the cruise planner before that. Haven't received anything yet... So cancelling before L+S didn't get us our money back faster (at least not yet).

[LuCruise]

Thank you for the replies.  Ended up doing Lift and Sift .  One thing I forgot when I did the post is that I wasn't sure we would be allowed to L&S and thus, I ended up leaving the excursions intact.  Luckily they approved the L&S  (took 2+ hrs, but that's another thing).  I did get cruise planner cancellation emails (unlike our cancellation of our last cruise where I got nothing), but we'll see how long for actual refund.

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Thank you for the replies.  Ended up doing Lift and Sift .  One thing I forgot when I did the post is that I wasn't sure we would be allowed to L&S and thus, I ended up leaving the excursions intact.  Luckily they approved the L&S  (took 2+ hrs, but that's another thing).  I did get cruise planner cancellation emails (unlike our cancellation of our last cruise where I got nothing), but we'll see how long for actual refund.

We did the L&S on May 8th, received a notice from Royal on May 13th that cruise planner items were canceled, today July 1st we are still waiting for the refund.. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

Good info. I have October cruise Allure that has two Drink Packages and not at $18. 
 

M8

[LuCruise]

5 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

We did the L&S on May 8th, received a notice from Royal on May 13th that cruise planner items were canceled, today July 1st we are still waiting for the refund.. 

Thanks for sharing your timing. Hope that refund comes soon for you.

[njcruisebunny]

Cancelled our cruise planner purchases on May 14th for an October 23rd Jewel cruise to the Mediterranean.  Cancelled our cruise after the emails were received that we would get our money returned to our original credit card.

Booked a new cruise  for 2021 and paperwork went through on May 15th.

One month later, I called and RCI said they are processing the refund for the cruise planner $$ and money would be coming soon.

Called 2 weeks later and RCI said the credit would show up when we are on the next cruise in 2021.  I told RCI that we didn't sign up for that and want my refund now for the cruise planner charges.  RCI  changed the paperwork and said it would be another 30-45 days from today's date.  Runaround for sure.  Very disappointed.  

 

 

[RCS2cruise]

In early May (before final payment), we did the L&S for our Aug2020 cruise to the same cruise in 2021.  We received an email that the cruise planner item ($102) would be refunded to the original method of payment, our credit card.  Waited a month or so, but no refund.  When I phoned again, rep said that the amount was applied as a payment against our 2021 cruise instead.  They offered to arrange a refund to our credit card (eta another month or two), but then the final payment on the next cruise would be higher by the same amount.  We opted to leave it as a prepayment against the 2021 cruise.  I sure hope that cruising will resume by then.    

[lovesthebeach2]

On May 14 I cancelled  our excursions for a cruise that was to sail from Amsterdam on Sept 2. I still haven’t received the money back to our credit card. 

[vegas7df]

I canceled cruise planner items and received a refund in a few days.

[LuCruise]

7 hours ago, RCS2cruise said:

In early May (before final payment), we did the L&S for our Aug2020 cruise to the same cruise in 2021.  We received an email that the cruise planner item ($102) would be refunded to the original method of payment, our credit card.  Waited a month or so, but no refund.  When I phoned again, rep said that the amount was applied as a payment against our 2021 cruise instead.  They offered to arrange a refund to our credit card (eta another month or two), but then the final payment on the next cruise would be higher by the same amount.  We opted to leave it as a prepayment against the 2021 cruise.  I sure hope that cruising will resume by then.    

Did you ever get your invoice for the L&S?  And did it have this adjustment?  Haven't heard of that happening before. 

When we went ahead and did the L&S, I got no invoice as they said it takes 48 hrs to process with the correct price (what we paid for our 2020 cruise).  Am hoping that invoice gets emailed today or tomorrow as they said.

[RCS2cruise]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Did you ever get your invoice for the L&S?  And did it have this adjustment?  Haven't heard of that happening before. 

When we went ahead and did the L&S, I got no invoice as they said it takes 48 hrs to process with the correct price (what we paid for our 2020 cruise).  Am hoping that invoice gets emailed today or tomorrow as they said.

Yes, we received the invoice for the L&S almost immediately on May 3, via email.  It showed an Amount Paid equal to the deposit for the 2020 cruise, plus a bit more.  When I asked about that, the rep simply said not to question it, it was a bonus.  Later, I realized that the "extra" was the same amount as the planner package.  Waited to see if the credit would also come through on the cc, but that never happened.  In mid-June, I called again, but then they said that the credit had been applied to Amount Paid for the new 2021 cruise.  Still hoping that we get to cruise next year...

[Sandman799]

We had over $1700 in Cruise Planner purchases when our cruise was cancelled on June 23rd.  I was given the option of either a refund or 125% OBC to be used on a future cruise, so since we planned the same cruise for next year, we chose the OBC.  That will more than pay for replacing what we had bought, and potentially could give us several hundred $$ in additional OBC if I can repurchase everything for the same as the original cost or lower.  So, my advice is that if you plan to cruise again in the next year anyway, wait until they cancel the cruise and see if they offer you the choice of a refund or 125% OBC on your next cruise.  Our offer was specifically limited to those cruises which were cancelled on June 23rd, but they could very well do it again.  Unless you need the refund, there's no harm in waiting to see if you can increase it by 25% in OBC on your next cruise.

[Balsam12]

Results obviously vary, but we cancelled and repurchased DBP for a December cruise on Friday 26 June.

Refund hit our account this morning, 7 July, so 7 business days later. This is about the same as it was last year before things hit the fan.