Smurfette2

I took the route of disputing charges with my credit card.  This is proving to be a more involved process than I'd hoped.  Out of 5 charges in total, so far 2 appear to have been resolved, 1 has been partially paid, and 2 more are unpaid. I filled out some more paperwork yesterday to continue the process.  😑

34 minutes ago, blobby113 said:

Our cruises were in March! Still waiting. The TA said that we would have to wait another six weeks to be refunded for the abandoned March 2 cruise.

I need some new emoji options to be added to this site to be able to properly express how I feel about that.  TERRIBLE.😤

20 hours ago, melgirl said:

I have been following this thread with great interest. We were due to sail on June 23 from Copenhagen. Azamara cancelled on May 21 and I asked my TA (local Melbourne operator) to request a refund same day. She advised that Azamara were advising a delay of 30-45 business day . To my absolute astonishment funds were in our account by June 4. I spoke to TA who suggested that, because the payment had been debited directly to OUR credit card, the refund process went more quickly because it didn’t go through the ta’s cc systems. Could this be why others are having such long delays In receiving refunds?

I requested a refund a little over 2 weeks after our cruise was cancelled.  I transferred the booking to a TA and all of our subsequent payments to the TA showed as being paid directly to Azamara on my credit card.  I've been waiting 61 days since requesting the refund.  I have not received anything. I started the process of disputing my charges through Chase over a week ago.  I'm hoping this will turn out well.  Not sure how long this process will take.

10 hours ago, josumello said:

I too have been following this thread. 

Our cruise was cancelled Mar 13. We received our refund in two payments. Final payment amount was received on May 24 and deposit amount was received on May 29. Also the excursions we booked were refunded  by Azamara in 5 days. The money was deposited directly by Azamara to CC account. We did use a TA but the agency always takes our CC info and gives it directly to Azamara and they do the charge.  

It is always recommended in the US to never use a TA that takes your money and puts into their account. I have never had that happen. It is basically considered unethical but not illegal. 
We are in the US. It seems a lot of the refund problems in the U.K. are related to TAs holding back refunds. 

Good luck to everyone. Very frustrating for all. 

I was unaware of the need to look out for that with TAs, so now I know.  Thanks.

10 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

For Chase Sapphire Reserve it's a longer time frame for fraudulent charges and shorter time for dispute. Which Visa card do you have? You're lucky your time frame is so long. 

I'm having to dispute charges with them as far back as February of last year.  They made it harder to do than usual, but it seems to be possible.  I might need to re-consider booking cruises 2 years in advance - if we cruise again.

1 hour ago, blobby113 said:

I tried to raise a dispute. My bank said that MasterCard had directed banks not to allow disputes arising because of Covid-19.

Well that's TERRIBLE.  I just started the process for a visa card.  I have to dispute multiple charges with Celebrity and Azamara due to transferring bookings. It also looks like deposits for different cruises were combined into one charge.  I had to call the dispute department during the regular work week and then complete a form to send with supplemental documents.  I made mention of the virus in the form they required.  I faxed it yesterday but they haven't yet been able to confirm receipt.  If they have not acknowledged receipt of the paperwork within their 3-day time frame, I might re-do the form and remove the reference to the virus.

6 hours ago, MakingUpForLostTime said:

Ok. Understand. Will check. Thanks

Time to Lwrup!

Did you have the option to dispute charges on a credit card?

23 hours ago, Alphabravo said:

I was booked on the 26/4/20 cruise which was cancelled. I received a refund of my deposit, as I requested, on 13/5/20. That is not bad. In fact considering all that is going on, it is excellent!

I am now wondering what to do about a cruise booked for 28th August. 

I'm glad you were able to get a refund.  If you were booked on the Journey, that is the same booking I had.  I am still waiting for full refunds.  I had made a detailed post some time ago and it appears to have been removed.  I have avoided posting here since then to avoid adding any more frustration for myself.  I have continued lurking here - looking for ideas on how to proceed.  Still unsure what of what will be best.

1 hour ago, Doh15 said:

I thought people who were denied boarding for medical reasons would get full refunds not FCCs?
 

If so (I can’t find the policy on the website because it seems to have been superceded by the pause in operations) it would seem odd that people who couldn’t get a dr’s letter would be treated worse, but it may be that they are losing so much cash they have to be less generous. 
 

In any case, I think it’s a better than 50% chance, probably much better, that your cruise on 4/26 cancels — China which is past the worst of it is now imposing controls on visitors so they don’t bring it back— so I would just wait (unless you think things will get so bad so quickly that they might go into receivership). 
 

I am still waiting on a refund for a cruise that was cancelled by a TA  over a week ago— have others had any delays getting cash refunds?
 

 

Thanks for your response.  I was unable to find the policy on the Azamara site today, but here is an excerpt from the RCI site:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

Previously, I read that they were only offering FCC to cruisers who were denied boarding for this reason.  Here and now, they don't specifically say that.  They later reiterate: 

We are a group of 4 booked on the Journey sailing 26 April from Dubai to Athens. I read in another thread that the sailing immediately preceding ours (11 April Singapore to Dubai) has been canceled.  It seems as if our sailing is likely to be canceled as well.  We are in the 25% refund window.  I debated canceling now and then accepting a 75% FCC, but from reading other posts, receiving a combo of refund and FCC would not be guaranteed.  If the cruise is ultimately not canceled, then the most we could get is FCC.  Azamara also had indicated that older passengers and people with underlying health conditions would need a letter from a physician certifying them as not having any chronic illness that would make them susceptible to a severe infection from the virus.  At least 3 of the 4 of us would not be able to get such a letter.  Based on that policy, we would be denied the opportunity to sail anyway, and would only be offered a FCC.  I'm not sure how long that physician letter policy will be in place, but it could interfere with being able to take a future cruise, thus potentially making a FCC more difficult to redeem.  Is there any other option to try to get a refund other than waiting until the last moment to see if our sailing is canceled?