Refund that's not really a refund

We were scheduled on the Fascination Oct 8 sailing from San Juan that was cancelled. We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise. So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was Carnival willing to void the gift cards and send you a check? I have emailed my PVP and Carnival Guest Care and am waiting to hear. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

I really doubt it. Read similar posts on here before regarding same thing. But keep in mind most stores, vendors, etc, do the same thing when making a return or getting a refund, if the purchase was on a gift card to begin with.

We were scheduled on the Fascination Oct 8 sailing from San Juan that was cancelled. We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise. So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was Carnival willing to void the gift cards and send you a check? I have emailed my PVP and Carnival Guest Care and am waiting to hear. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

It is a standard business practice to refund to the original method of payment. Having said that, if you paid with a mixture of credit cards and gift cards, that is how you should have received your refund. If you are wanting to contest the form of your refund, you can only hope to get the amount paid by credit card credited back to your card.

Your refund is returned in the form it was paid. The only time I can remember different is that I put money on my sail and sign account with gift cards, but at the end of the cruise I had enough money left to get it returned, and I was mailed a check.

I had a friend cancel a cruise that paid with gift cards and that is how they got their money returned to them.

Every refund I've received was returned to the original form of payment. So I don't think them returning your deposit via credit card and balance via gift cards is unreasonable. I assume you got the gift cards at a discount and that's why you used them. So technically you would have made a profit to get it back in cash. Any chance you could try selling the gift cards if you don't wish to cruise carnival again.

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Unfortunately that is the policy. Many purchase gift cards at full price as a way of saving for the trip or to give as gifts. I buy gift cards at a 10% discount. So when I pay $500 to my balance it only cost me $450. I truly can imagine people scamming the system.

Thank you for sharing. Your story might help someone in the future.

As mentioned you might be able to sell the gift cards but other than that I don't see a way out for you. This is definitely a drawback if one uses gift cards with no future plans for another cruise.

We were scheduled on the Fascination Oct 8 sailing from San Juan that was cancelled. We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise. So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was Carnival willing to void the gift cards and send you a check? I have emailed my PVP and Carnival Guest Care and am waiting to hear. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

Every refund I've received was returned to the original form of payment. So I don't think them returning your deposit via credit card and balance via gift cards is unreasonable. I assume you got the gift cards at a discount and that's why you used them. So technically you would have made a profit to get it back in cash. Any chance you could try selling the gift cards if you don't wish to cruise carnival again.

 

 

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We didnt get the gift cards at a discount..not really. We purchased them at Kroger which allowed us extra fuel points, which saved us money in gas. They did not save me enough to ever do this again. I have learned my lesson. If we had been told/advised by our PVP to use the value of our balance toward the new offer (4 day cruise for port fees, taxes, and surcharges) then MAYBE any left over onboard credit would've been sent to us in the form of a check....BUT we were not advised. Due to the different forms of payments and the short notice of the next cruise we just gave her a credit card for the new amount and patiently waited for our 'refund'. Had i been aware that the refund would not come as a check but in another gift card, i would've done it differently. Lesson learned, i guess.

As of right now, we are not sure what we are going to do, but selling them sounds like it might be an option...i hadnt thought of that. Thx

We were scheduled on the Fascination Oct 8 sailing from San Juan that was cancelled. We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise. So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was Carnival willing to void the gift cards and send you a check? I have emailed my PVP and Carnival Guest Care and am waiting to hear. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

I'm curious as to what exactly "happened"....You bought Carnival gift cards, paid for a Carnival cruise with them, that Carnival cruise was canceled, Carnival refunded the amount of the cruise back to the gift cards. Did they also refund the deposit back to the gift cards? That part I'd have an issue with. But as other are saying, Carnival refunded the cruise amount paid with gift cards, back or with other gift cards. Not sure there's a problem with that. As others are saying, many gift cards from retailers work the same way, is more or less the "risk" you take when purchasing specific gift cards. We purchase Carnival discounted cards with the knowledge we're pretty much committing those funds to Carnival.

We didnt get the gift cards at a discount..not really. We purchased them at Kroger which allowed us extra fuel points, which saved us money in gas. They did not save me enough to ever do this again. I have learned my lesson. If we had been told/advised by our PVP to use the value of our balance toward the new offer (4 day cruise for port fees, taxes, and surcharges) then MAYBE any left over onboard credit would've been sent to us in the form of a check....BUT we were not advised. Due to the different forms of payments and the short notice of the next cruise we just gave her a credit card for the new amount and patiently waited for our 'refund'. Had i been aware that the refund would not come as a check but in another gift card, i would've done it differently. Lesson learned, i guess.

As of right now, we are not sure what we are going to do, but selling them sounds like it might be an option...i hadnt thought of that. Thx

You're going on another cruise? That's important new information! Just apply all of those gift cards to your S&S account. Use the casino trick to cash them out. Problem solved :)

We didnt get the gift cards at a discount..not really.........

You might not have bought them at a discount but the store where you bought them did. My guess is at a 10% discount. Some scrip sells for more, others less.

Our group buys a local supermarket scrip (gift card). We pay 6% less than face value. For every $100 purchased we pay the market $94.

This discount is why places don’t allow you to buy gift cards (ie Carnival) with gift cards (ie Safeway) and why they return to original payment.

You can call Carnival and have them refund your credit card for the upcoming cruise and have them apply the gift cards in place of the cc payment. I have done this and had no issue changing the form of payment prior to my cruise. If you have already sailed on the rebooked cruise, it may be too late.

We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise.

Carnival, like all other merchants refunds in the form of original payment.

You paid for your cruise using gift cards. Carnival is refunding new gift cards to you.

What is the problem?

If you paid via Visa, MC, Amex or debit, you'd receive a refund via those payment methods.

I apologize if I'm misreading your post but it all seems pretty clear. How you paid is how you're refunded.

If you are going on another cruise I agree with another poster's recommendation to add the GCs to your shipboard account , transfer to your casino card and then cash out before you debark.

"So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again."

^ To be fair to carnival, this happened the day you bought the original gift cards.

As long as they didn't refund your deposit on a gift card, there's really nothing wrong with what they did. Like mos merchants, any refunds will be issued the same way that you paid.

My offer to buy the gift cards still stands. Carnival only allows $500 OBC per room. We have three rooms and we always wait til we are on the ship to buy excursions. Yes, I know that is not the right way but with eleven people, never can agree on one excursion. By picking from leftovers, we usually have our choice of three to pick from. Crazy, yes but it's been fun waiting for the pick. So, I can always use another gift card or two but buying on the secondary market gets scammed to much. By buying from a CC member gives me a little more of peace of mind. So anyone want to sell a gift card?

My offer to buy the gift cards still stands. Carnival only allows $500 OBC per room. We have three rooms and we always wait til we are on the ship to buy excursions. Yes, I know that is not the right way but with eleven people, never can agree on one excursion. By picking from leftovers, we usually have our choice of three to pick from. Crazy, yes but it's been fun waiting for the pick. So, I can always use another gift card or two but buying on the secondary market gets scammed to much. By buying from a CC member gives me a little more of peace of mind. So anyone want to sell a gift card?

They only allow $500 Cruise Cash of each type per room. You can fund your S&S card to whatever level you wish.

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You received a 100% refund. No gift card is refundable. Why is it carnivals fault you purchased them. That was your choice. If you win this battle, you must take the Bar exam and become a criminal attorney. Good luck [emoji1360][emoji256]

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They only allow $500 Cruise Cash of each type per room. You can fund your S&S card to whatever level you wish.

 

 

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Don’t know about the accuracy of your statement. We had $1500.

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We were going on the same sailing and were totally satisfied with our refund. It did go back to the two cards I used.

Don’t know about the accuracy of your statement. We had $1500.

 

 

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Agree.....we used $1000 on the Vista in August

We were scheduled on the Fascination Oct 8 sailing from San Juan that was cancelled. We paid our deposit with a credit card and then paid the balance with Carnival gift cards. When the cruise was cancelled, we were told we would get a refund. We received our refund in the form of gift cards. In my opinion, that is not a refund. That is just Carnival holding onto our money for future cruise. So, essentially, we are out that money (bought the gift cards with a credit card) until we can cruise again. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was Carnival willing to void the gift cards and send you a check? I have emailed my PVP and Carnival Guest Care and am waiting to hear. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

I think that whenever you pay for anything with a gift card, if it is cancelled or if you cancel it, it is returned as a gift card. That was your method of payment, and it was return in your method of payment. You chose to do that to get a 10% discount. Why should Carnival have to cover your 10% discount?

Don’t know about the accuracy of your statement. We had $1500.

 

 

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Agree.....we used $1000 on the Vista in August

The person I quoted said they are only allowed $500 OBC per stateroom. That is not correct. What is correct is that you are only allowed $500 Cruise Cash per type per stateroom.

Cruise Cash purchases are limited to $500 per category, per stateroom. Each stateroom can purchase Cruise Cash Bar $500, Cruise Cash Photo $500 and Cruise Cash $500 for a stateroom total of $1500.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3602/~/cruise-cash-program

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