American Queen Voyages takes forever with refunds!

[nray]

If I could, I would give this company a negative rating! Do not give this cruise line your money! I was to be on a Mississippi river cruise last November so that I could take a cruise friends were going to be on. By the deadline for cancelling with a partial refund, I asked my travel agent to cancel so that I could get some much needed cash back. Little did I know that the company would hang onto my money for another four+ months. It turns out that the company (because of low Mississippi waters) had to cancel my friends' trip too. American Queen cancelled (note that the cruise line cancelled, not my friends) their trip in November 2022 and they STILL have not received  a refund as of the beginning of March,  even though their travel agent calls AQ every week. We are all very angry at this cruise line and will never consider signing up with them again.

[American Queen Voyages]

13 hours ago, nray said:

If I could, I would give this company a negative rating! Do not give this cruise line your money! I was to be on a Mississippi river cruise last November so that I could take a cruise friends were going to be on. By the deadline for cancelling with a partial refund, I asked my travel agent to cancel so that I could get some much needed cash back. Little did I know that the company would hang onto my money for another four+ months. It turns out that the company (because of low Mississippi waters) had to cancel my friends' trip too. American Queen cancelled (note that the cruise line cancelled, not my friends) their trip in November 2022 and they STILL have not received  a refund as of the beginning of March,  even though their travel agent calls AQ every week. We are all very angry at this cruise line and will never consider signing up with them again.

Hi! We apologize for the delay. Can you please private message us with your reservation ID? We will look into the status of your refund. Thanks for being patient.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, American Queen Voyages said:

Hi! We apologize for the delay. Can you please private message us with your reservation ID? We will look into the status of your refund. Thanks for being patient.

There is no PM function on Cruise Critic. Please provide a link for the poster to reach you. 

[American Queen Voyages]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

There is no PM function on Cruise Critic. Please provide a link for the poster to reach you. 

info@aqvoyages.com, please!

[njhoo]

Be prepared to not receive a response to your reaching out to AQ.  We did from a post on Facebook, never responded.  

[Fisherwoman]

I got this message too.  I sent them a DM on their Facebook site.  No response.  They didn't email me on my posted email either.  Customer service???

[island lady]

I was told 90 days for my refund.   Will be happy if they stick to that.   But I have been told a lot of things that didn't happen since I booked my cruises.  

[nray]

To be fair, my friends and I finally did receive our refunds.  It took well over four months for both parties.  Don't believe it when they tell you "90 days."

[island lady]

3 hours ago, nray said:

To be fair, my friends and I finally did receive our refunds.  It took well over four months for both parties.  Don't believe it when they tell you "90 days."

 

Thanks...not surprising with what I have already gone through...even before the cruise.  😕

[njhoo]

When you are told 90 days…they mean 90 business days!   As soon as I was told that, I filed a dispute through my credit card and received the credit right away.  

[island lady]

2 hours ago, njhoo said:

When you are told 90 days…they mean 90 business days!   As soon as I was told that, I filed a dispute through my credit card and received the credit right away.  

 

LOL...and our rep does not work on Fridays (or Saturday or Sunday)....so those business days are probably a four day work week.  😮 

[island lady]

Follow up to the promised refund at 90 days.  Surprise...surprise!!  We actually received it at exactly 90 days.  First time they actually did something they promised!

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 hours ago, island lady said:

Follow up to the promised refund at 90 days.  Surprise...surprise!!  We actually received it at exactly 90 days.  First time they actually did something they promised!

 

So glad you got your refund! Ridiculous that you had to wait so long, but better late than never.

[jssinc]

We are still trying to get a refund form American Queen. They keep saying next month, next month. They totally changed our itinerary (100% change) without telling us. We find out just two months from departure that we were transferred to a totally different cruise, with no notice to us.  I called them as I had not received anything from them in so long. Surprise! Your itinerary has changed! I got approval for a refund and now I wait. They have had full payment of our cruise for almost two years! Do not pay for your cruises in full on this company until you absolutely have to. I am worried about the company going Bankrupt if they hold onto a client's funds and take many months to process a refund. Very poor business practices!

[uktog]

I had already moved American Queen from a line I would always look at (based on previous cruise experience) to one to think carefully about before booking due to onboard experiences (large groups cared for by their onboard travel agent making the independent travellers feel "second class").  Based on what I read here re responding to customer communications and processing refunds they have moved to off the radar.

 

A shame because the itineraries were good but everything else is not (in terms of what matters to me)

[bob brown]

On 10/11/2023 at 4:41 AM, uktog said:

I had already moved American Queen from a line I would always look at (based on previous cruise experience) to one to think carefully about before booking due to onboard experiences (large groups cared for by their onboard travel agent making the independent travellers feel "second class").  Based on what I read here re responding to customer communications and processing refunds they have moved to off the radar.

 

A shame because the itineraries were good but everything else is not (in terms of what matters to me)

We had a group, (not sure how large), on our Red Wing to New Orleans sailing, but other than them having their own representative desk opposite the Purser's window, and their exclusive use of the Deck Three theater a few times for presentation's, they ("Road Scholar's", identified by their group lanyard's), were not at all an issue on our cruise...🤷‍♂️

[DaveinCharlotte]

21 hours ago, bob brown said:

We had a group, (not sure how large), on our Red Wing to New Orleans sailing, but other than them having their own representative desk opposite the Purser's window, and their exclusive use of the Deck Three theater a few times for presentation's, they ("Road Scholar's", identified by their group lanyard's), were not at all an issue on our cruise...🤷‍♂️

Good to hear this.  Have done scads of RS programs, though none on ACL, and a couple of European cruises, where the ship was 100% RS.  But have done two where there were indeed groups that tended to push the rest of us aside, so I know how unpleasant that can be.  Part of the problem was that the ship's hotel and restaurant management personnel would give them preferentiaI treatment (which possibly the favored passengers didn't even want).  I always hoped that if WE ended up in an RS group that only had part of the ship, our group would not end up like that.      

[Chrome Diva]

I agree customer service is awful.  
 

We booked our cruise and paid in full $8,000 to take advantage of the sale in 2022 yes Paid in Full 

then 
AQV canceled our New Years Holiday  ocean cruise out of Jacksonville Florida due to the ship being sold   Trip canceled June 28, 2023     We we’re told refund would be 60 to 90 days  After the 60 days I emailed Tara and was told it was 60 working days. 60 working days came I emailed again.  Was then told by Tara that it is 90 days.   At day 77 I emailed Tara again she replied 

   “I show the refund to be pending and have requested an update for you.

no contact has been received. 
 

November 2 2023 is  90 working days and I’m totally discussed with AQV 

I assume I will be emailing AGAIN 

On 6/5/2023 at 8:58 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

So glad you got your refund! Ridiculous that you had to wait so long, but better late than never.

 

 

 

[Chrome Diva]

On 4/12/2023 at 6:11 AM, njhoo said:

When you are told 90 days…they mean 90 business days!   As soon as I was told that, I filed a dispute through my credit card and received the credit right away.  

I should have done that also.  So

know I wait. 7 more working days and my 90 days are up. 

[American Queen Voyages]

1 hour ago, Chrome Diva said:

I agree customer service is awful.  
 

We booked our cruise and paid in full $8,000 to take advantage of the sale in 2022 yes Paid in Full 

then 
AQV canceled our New Years Holiday  ocean cruise out of Jacksonville Florida due to the ship being sold   Trip canceled June 28, 2023     We we’re told refund would be 60 to 90 days  After the 60 days I emailed Tara and was told it was 60 working days. 60 working days came I emailed again.  Was then told by Tara that it is 90 days.   At day 77 I emailed Tara again she replied 

   “I show the refund to be pending and have requested an update for you.

no contact has been received. 
 

November 2 2023 is  90 working days and I’m totally discussed with AQV 

I assume I will be emailing AGAIN 

 

 

 

Hi there! What's your reservation ID? We will reach out and see if we can get in touch with Tara for an update. We will also find out if we can expedite your refund. 

[Chrome Diva]

1 hour ago, American Queen Voyages said:

Hi there! What's your reservation ID? We will reach out and see if we can get in touch with Tara for an update. We will also find out if we can expedite your refund. 

My reservation is 1136221

my sister’s reservation is 1142935

Sorry we had to go to cruise critic when this should have been completed in July when AQV cancelled the cruise.  
thank you 

[Globalfish]

On 10/18/2023 at 6:50 PM, DaveinCharlotte said:

  Have done scads of RS programs, though none on ACL

Road Scholar doesn’t use ACL; it uses AQV for its Mississippi and Ohio River cruises and previously (past tense) for the Great Lakes.  For Alaska it uses American Dream Cruises.

[DaveinCharlotte]

18 hours ago, Globalfish said:

Road Scholar doesn’t use ACL; it uses AQV for its Mississippi and Ohio River cruises and previously (past tense) for the Great Lakes.  For Alaska it uses American Dream Cruises.

Yep - made a typo...meant to say AQV, not ACL.

[bob brown]

On 10/27/2023 at 2:32 PM, Globalfish said:

Road Scholar doesn’t use ACL; it uses AQV for its Mississippi and Ohio River cruises and previously (past tense) for the Great Lakes.  For Alaska it uses American Dream Cruises.

So, I wonder who, if anyone, they will book Great Lakes cruises on going forward?

I booked on ACL's sub Pearl Seas...

[Globalfish]

Road Scholar (RS) is not offering any Great Lakes cruises next year.  For whatever reason RS doesn’t seem to have any business relationship with ACL so I doubt if the Pearl Mist is in its plans for future programs on the Great Lakes.  I took the Pearl Mist in June 2022 from Midland, ON to Milwaukee as a 70th birthday present to myself.  I am also a veteran of 116 RS programs (albeit none of them were cruises).  I like booking directly through the cruise company and don’t see the need for a middleman.