Thankyou for your replies. Yes it is the VAT refund …..our purchase onboard was $347, we were told any purchase over $100 qualified for the refund. We completed paperwork at the onboard store (Marco Polo)the assistant said that Royal Carribean would take care of it and to expect the refund on our card used to settle our bill. She also did exactly the same with a couple who purchased goods at the same time as us.
We bought a couple of items at ports and were given the appropriate receipts by the shops and had no problem getting a refund at Barcelona airport on our way home.
Looks like we as I suspect others have been duped…does anyone know of a specific email contact I could use to try and rectify