As I am just today trying to get a refund of a portion of my final payment for an upcoming cruise refunded and replaced with my FCCs I JUST received, I sadly, agree with you. "Oh, we can't do that here. We have to fill out a form and send it to another department!"
Thank goodness my TA has taken hold of the reins and will stir us through this oncoming mess.
Carnival Lines with their stock-driven dictates and nickel and diming have destroyed what used to be a good Customer Service team with a fairly flat hierarchy to deal with. As was said, this is literally telling a computer to complete a transaction... with my background, I know this.
Anything else is designed to slow the process down and keep the money within the company spreadsheets longer.
Keep on top of them and push, push, push.