Anyone having difficulty getting a refund from Azamara?

[Pumpkincat]

We cancelled a 2022 cruise on January 19th, agreeing to the $75 each cancellation fee & expecting our $950 refund promptly. It has now been 44 days and the only response I have had from Azamara is that they have no idea why I haven't received our refund. I am also a travel agent. I am hesitant to book other clients as a result of this. I am sure if Royal Caribbean was still a part of it we would have had our refund within 10 business days or less. Wondering if this is an issue since Royal Caribbean sold it off? We are getting concerned as there has been no response to our last 2 emails.

[upwarduk]

According to this article, the hand over by RCG, doesn’t happen until the end of March.

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article248600095.html

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Pumpkincat said:

We cancelled a 2022 cruise on January 19th, agreeing to the $75 each cancellation fee & expecting our $950 refund promptly. It has now been 44 days and the only response I have had from Azamara is that they have no idea why I haven't received our refund. I am also a travel agent. I am hesitant to book other clients as a result of this. I am sure if Royal Caribbean was still a part of it we would have had our refund within 10 business days or less. Wondering if this is an issue since Royal Caribbean sold it off? We are getting concerned as there has been no response to our last 2 emails.

You are incorrect Azamara is not separated from Royal Caribbean yet. Have you checked with your credit card company as the money may be sitting there.  

[GlobalMethod]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

According to this article, the hand over by RCG, doesn’t happen until the end of March.

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article248600095.html

Yes upwarduk ... Azamara is now in stronger hands than RCL ... RCL unfortunately is going through a travel crisis ... the recent acquisition of another ship by the 'new Azamara' indicates that they believe not only in the Azamara brand but in the industry, for the long term.

[CynthiaP]

Do I have a story for you! We were on the Indian Ocean cruise that was cut short and we returned home on March 15, 2020, almost a year ago. We were promised a 75% FCC because of the missed ports and shortened trip. While on board they processed the refund for the missed excursions. I received an email for my FCC on April 17, 2020. Robert never received an email notifying him of his FCC, but our TA confirmed that it was on the books.

 

We were booked for the back-to-back of the Persian Gulf. While on board, we received a letter that we would get a refund plus a 25% FCC. We received the FCC on May 4 and Robert on May 6, 2020. This time Robert received an email but I didn't. We were in the OS and had paid $17,398 for the cruise fare. We received a refund for the taxes, port fees, etc. of $302.68 on July 28. We received another refund for the exact $302.68  amount on January 12, 2021. That's right, 7 months late. On January 12, 2021 we received a refund of $720. On January 21, 2021 we received a different refund of $817.32. Keep in mind, we never received an email, phone call, nothing to explain what these were for, but clearly they still owed us a bunch of $$.

 

At this point, I'd had enough and was concerned with the sale that we'd run into a bigger problem. I had put together a spreadsheet showing what was paid, refunded, FCC and excursions paid/refunded. I contacted our TA and said it was time to get this settled. The TA (who couldn't have kept track of this because she wasn't getting any notices unless I told her) got someone a little higher up over there to take over the whole account and find out what was going on. On February 23, 2021 we received two refunds of $14,020.68 and $1,537.32. Why two refunds? Again, no emails, calls, nothing to explain this. And the only reason I knew of the refunds is I was watching the credit card statements as they came in and keeping track on the spreadsheet. This brought the balance to a net $0. Finally!

 

We're still waiting for a promised refund of the cost of visas we didn't use in Sri Lanka and India and the visa we needed to disembark in Oman. I think eventually we will get this refund since there is someone supposedly taking care of our account at Azamara. Compared to the cruise fare, this is small potatoes but they said they'd pay for this, and I want to hold them to their promise.

 

You're a TA - you should know someone who can push this for you over there.

 

Hopefully we can use our FCCs on the two Azamara trips we have scheduled. Now we need to find out the status of our FCC with Celebrity for a cancelled April 2021 cruise. Way back when, they told our TA we could use the Celebrity FCC on an Azamara cruise, but that isn't going to be an option now. 

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

[laurieb]

21 hours ago, Pumpkincat said:

We cancelled a 2022 cruise on January 19th, agreeing to the $75 each cancellation fee & expecting our $950 refund promptly. It has now been 44 days and the only response I have had from Azamara is that they have no idea why I haven't received our refund. I am also a travel agent. I am hesitant to book other clients as a result of this. I am sure if Royal Caribbean was still a part of it we would have had our refund within 10 business days or less. Wondering if this is an issue since Royal Caribbean sold it off? We are getting concerned as there has been no response to our last 2 emails.

Have you contacted your BDM?

[GlobalMethod]

11 hours ago, CynthiaP said:

Do I have a story for you! We were on the Indian Ocean cruise that was cut short and we returned home on March 15, 2020, almost a year ago. We were promised a 75% FCC because of the missed ports and shortened trip. While on board they processed the refund for the missed excursions. I received an email for my FCC on April 17, 2020. Robert never received an email notifying him of his FCC, but our TA confirmed that it was on the books.

 

We were booked for the back-to-back of the Persian Gulf. While on board, we received a letter that we would get a refund plus a 25% FCC. We received the FCC on May 4 and Robert on May 6, 2020. This time Robert received an email but I didn't. We were in the OS and had paid $17,398 for the cruise fare. We received a refund for the taxes, port fees, etc. of $302.68 on July 28. We received another refund for the exact $302.68  amount on January 12, 2021. That's right, 7 months late. On January 12, 2021 we received a refund of $720. On January 21, 2021 we received a different refund of $817.32. Keep in mind, we never received an email, phone call, nothing to explain what these were for, but clearly they still owed us a bunch of $$.

 

At this point, I'd had enough and was concerned with the sale that we'd run into a bigger problem. I had put together a spreadsheet showing what was paid, refunded, FCC and excursions paid/refunded. I contacted our TA and said it was time to get this settled. The TA (who couldn't have kept track of this because she wasn't getting any notices unless I told her) got someone a little higher up over there to take over the whole account and find out what was going on. On February 23, 2021 we received two refunds of $14,020.68 and $1,537.32. Why two refunds? Again, no emails, calls, nothing to explain this. And the only reason I knew of the refunds is I was watching the credit card statements as they came in and keeping track on the spreadsheet. This brought the balance to a net $0. Finally!

 

We're still waiting for a promised refund of the cost of visas we didn't use in Sri Lanka and India and the visa we needed to disembark in Oman. I think eventually we will get this refund since there is someone supposedly taking care of our account at Azamara. Compared to the cruise fare, this is small potatoes but they said they'd pay for this, and I want to hold them to their promise.

 

You're a TA - you should know someone who can push this for you over there.

 

Hopefully we can use our FCCs on the two Azamara trips we have scheduled. Now we need to find out the status of our FCC with Celebrity for a cancelled April 2021 cruise. Way back when, they told our TA we could use the Celebrity FCC on an Azamara cruise, but that isn't going to be an option now. 

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, there isn't much staff available at RCL or Azamara right now ... the greatly reduced number of employees are mostly working at home. Keep being patient, persistent, and polite and I think you will continue your success on getting your return of funds. Good Luck!

[Gypsy025]

Our May 01 Black Sea Cruise was cancelled by Azamara on 02/26/21. I completed a request choosing a refund the same day. I received a "You're All Set" acknowledgement from Azamara, also on the same day.

A full refund was received via my credit card on 03/11/2021.

Excellent service Azamara!

[TeaBag]

I'm very impressed.  Just the same I hope our plans for 2022 don't cancel.

[Mackdogmolly]

Or later in 2021! Still have fingers crossed for my November ’21 cruise!

Betsey

[Red Haired Lady]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:52 AM, Gypsy025 said:

Our May 01 Black Sea Cruise was cancelled by Azamara on 02/26/21. I completed a request choosing a refund the same day. I received a "You're All Set" acknowledgement from Azamara, also on the same day.

A full refund was received via my credit card on 03/11/2021.

Excellent service Azamara!

Same cruise as you....credit appeared on my credit card on 3/3 and 3/4.  I was amazed!

[JsMom2]

On 3/3/2021 at 11:28 PM, Pumpkincat said:

We cancelled a 2022 cruise on January 19th, agreeing to the $75 each cancellation fee & expecting our $950 refund promptly. It has now been 44 days and the only response I have had from Azamara is that they have no idea why I haven't received our refund. I am also a travel agent. I am hesitant to book other clients as a result of this. I am sure if Royal Caribbean was still a part of it we would have had our refund within 10 business days or less. Wondering if this is an issue since Royal Caribbean sold it off? We are getting concerned as there has been no response to our last 2 emails.

Call in and have them push your refund through.  You should have had it within 2 weeks, since it was a normal cancellation, not a suspended sailing.  If their system shows that the refund already disbursed, have them submit an inquiry to accounting. 

[JsMom2]

On 3/4/2021 at 1:00 AM, upwarduk said:

According to this article, the hand over by RCG, doesn’t happen until the end of March.

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article248600095.html

The sale was final March 19th, but they are still using the Royal accounting systems.  Nothing has changed there.