Compensation - Millennium Alaska - Interrupted and Canceled Cruises

[cruisestitch]

No, it's not just the gov't fees. So far I have received 39% of my cruise fare. Two of my friends who were also on the cruise just checked in and they have received 92% of their fare as refunds on their credit card, each in two different transactions. The first transaction got them about 40% back, the second got them more money back, but they are still about 8% short. Captain's Club said be patient, they are coming in dribs and drabs.

 

What I don't know is if the travel agent's commission will be coming back to us. I expect it to, but I don't know for sure at this stage. Have any of the reps you spoke to mentioned that factor?

[sandyss]

No, it's not just the gov't fees. So far I have received 39% of my cruise fare. Two of my friends who were also on the cruise just checked in and they have received 92% of their fare as refunds on their credit card, each in two different transactions. The first transaction got them about 40% back, the second got them more money back, but they are still about 8% short. Captain's Club said be patient, they are coming in dribs and drabs.

 

What I don't know is if the travel agent's commission will be coming back to us. I expect it to, but I don't know for sure at this stage. Have any of the reps you spoke to mentioned that factor?

 

There were two credits on the credit card that we used. The first credit was a full refund of what we paid for our cabin. The second credit was a full refund of the port fees. There was no adjustment for our TA's commission.

 

The TA commission was not mentioned in either of my phone calls. In the letters that we received on board, we were told that we would get a refund of the fare that we paid. The fare that we paid included the TA's commission. So that should be a non-issue.

[cruisestitch]

That's what I think too -- it should be a non issue. So we will all give it a few days and see if we get back all that we expect to -- and knowing your experience helps.

[sandyss]

I just got off of the phone with the Captain's Club. I inquired about the cruise credit that wasn't showing up for our August 16th shortened cruise. I was told that the system wasn't picking up this cruise since because of the refunds, there was no cost associated with it. I was told that credits for everyone on the cruise were being manually added - no need to call in individually.

[cruisingronnie]

We were on the Aug 16th sailing. A refund on our credit card was posted on Sept. 5 by Celebrity. HOWEVER...there is a discrepancy of $333 per/person (substantial amount when multiplied for a family of 5) between what was paid and was refunded. I understand that pre-paid gratuities, government fees, port taxes will be prorated, however, the amount doesn't add up to me. When I called Celebrity for a break down of the refund - to ensure that they refunded the amount pre-paid for the train transfer, a portion of pre-paid gratuities, etc. I was directed back to my travel agent. Apparently Celebrity is not allowed to disclose financial details with passengers who book with an agent. Of course, when I contacted my agent, they have not received information from Celebrity. Stay tuned -- I will be making more phone calls next week.

As for reimbursements for meals while in Seattle. I sent in my receipts by express mail last week; my tracking code shows that it was received and signed for on the Celebrity end. I will post once I receive the reimbursement. Does anybody know how long Celebrity has been taking to process these once they've received the receipts?

[cruisingronnie]

We were on the Aug 16th sailing. A refund on our credit card was posted on Sept. 5 by Celebrity. HOWEVER...there is a discrepancy of $333 per/person (substantial amount when multiplied for a family of 5) between what was paid and was refunded.

Just to clarify, the amount refunded is approx. 70% what was paid.

[sandyss]

As for reimbursements for meals while in Seattle. I sent in my receipts by express mail last week; my tracking code shows that it was received and signed for on the Celebrity end. I will post once I receive the reimbursement. Does anybody know how long Celebrity has been taking to process these once they've received the receipts?

I mailed our claim for reimbursement on August 25th. After talking with Guest Relations, I resubmitted my claim by email on September 5th. No reimbursement of expenses yet, though. See Post #22.

[Cindy]

I "think" I just saw the first small refund for our September 13th cancellation. I had paid for two shore excursions for my mother, and it looks like those were refunded yesterday. They still owe me for a specialty restaurant reservation for my mom, and then my entire fare with add-ons.

Nothing yet on the air change fee reimbursement which I was told I would have by Friday, however, I did receive another last minute reminder e-mail this morning telling me they can't wait to welcome me on-board!:rolleyes:

[susaraymond]

We received a credit on our card for the amount on the line "cruise fair", but no reimbursement for the vacation protection plan or the taxes and fees. No reimbursement yet, for excursions not taken

[WayTea]

Re Sept 13th:

Received call from TA to confirm credit card numbers used for fare. Problem is that we booked while on an RCCL cruise last October (then transferred to our TA) and the card used for the deposit has since been cancelled. Our concern is that Celebrity seems to want to credit the amounts back to the cards used. Guess I'll wait and see what happens.

[cruisestitch]

cruisingronnie wrote:

 

"I understand that pre-paid gratuities, government fees, port taxes will be prorated, however, the amount doesn't add up to me."

 

I don't believe that is correct. Pre-paid gratuities will not be refunded for those of us on the August 16 cruise, according to what we were told on board, and confirmed by Guest Relations and Captain's Club representatives since. The port taxes were already pro-rated and returned while we were on board -- check your SeaPass accounts and you should see those amounts there.

 

As far as I know, no one has received any reimbursement yet for the receipts sent in for the meals. I expect that to take a few more weeks, no matter when Celebrity received the receipts.

 

Sararaymond -- were you on the August 16 cruise or one of the later cruises that was cancelled? If you were on the August 16 cruise, you probably will not receive a refund for the cruise protection plan. If you were on one of the cruises which followed, I believe that you will receive a refund for the insurance you paid for in addition to the cruise fare, any pre-paid gratuities, and any pre-paid shore excursions, specialty restaurants, taxes and fees, etc.

 

Those who were on the August 16 cruise will not be receiving any refund for insurance, which, after all, was in force and would have been available to you if needed.

[NJBeast]

Received $101.88 X2 refund for what I am huessing is the port etc fees on 9/5 to my card. Have not gotten the much higher cruise fare yet.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

[cruisestitch]

For which cruise, please?

 

It will be helpful to know if we are writing about

 

1. The Seward-Vancouver cruise August 9

2. The Vancouver - Seward cruise August 16

 

or one of the four following cruises.

[to-see-the-world-is-grand]

(Response to #10): The amount of refund was a verbal quote when we called Costco (who then called Celebrity). Since we booked both our cruise and my wife's cousins at the same time using our Costco ID, we know what each of us paid.

Edited September 9, 2013 by to-see-the-world-is-grand

[NJBeast]

Received $101.88 X2 refund for what I am guessing is the port etc fees on 9/5 to my card. Have not gotten the much higher cruise fare yet.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

 

I was on the Aug 16th Vancouver to Ketchikan cruise. I submitted my travel home expenses on Aug 30th so I do not expect them for a while but I was really hoping to have the cruise fare portion refunded to offset this months credit card before it closes for the month.

[cruisestitch]

I'm not sure I understand the point made about Celebrity being able to apportion the cruise vs. post cruise costs as they see fit, as mentioned in post 9.

 

Six in my group booked cruise only, and have that invoice. They then added a post cruise and received a new invoice. So it's clear how much the post cruise days added to their fare.

 

They received the post cruise trip, and expect no refund. But they should get the original cruise fare back as a refund, and the same amount as a Future Cruise Certificate.

 

Your travel agent should be able to re-create the same information for your booking -- the cruise only fare, and then the cruise + post cruise fare. You should expect to receive a refund for the cruise portion, in my opinion.

 

By the way, each couple in the group was in a different class of stateroom, and I'm checking now, but I believe that each couple had the same differential added to their original booking to reflect the addition of the post-cruise trip. In other words, it should be a fixed amount.

Edited September 9, 2013 by cruisestitch

[satdan]

We were on the Aug 16 cruise. Full refund of that cruise was posted to my VISA on Sept 8 and the onboard credit left over was done about a week before (interestingly, they creditted us the leftover cost of the drink package that we never originally paid for as it was a perk at booking time). They have had my expenses for a week now and I havent heard about that yet.

1 question I have about the FCC is...When we originally booked the classic drink package was a free perk...Does anyone think we will get credit for that in our FCC?

 

D

[aringirl]

We were on the 8/09 itinerary cancelled cruise. Have received our full refund as of last week on our credit card. While we were still on the ship we received the "other fees" refund (port charges or taxes?).

 

Still waiting for the promised FCC so we can apply it to a cruise we booked for next year while on the ship.

 

I was also on the August 9 trip. We have our refunds to our credit card as well:)

Has ANYONE recieved the FCC certificate yet? Does anyone know of when to expect it?

[deise17311]

We were on the Aug 16 cruise. Full refund of that cruise was posted to my VISA on Sept 8 and the onboard credit left over was done about a week before (interestingly, they creditted us the leftover cost of the drink package that we never originally paid for as it was a perk at booking time). They have had my expenses for a week now and I havent heard about that yet.

1 question I have about the FCC is...When we originally booked the classic drink package was a free perk...Does anyone think we will get credit for that in our FCC?

 

D

 

Celebrity said no to the FCC and perks I.e. FCC with drinks package

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[cruisestitch]

August 16 passengers' letter said that it would be six to eight weeks for FCC.

[gblotter]

For the August 16 cruise ...

 

I received a partial refund (approx 80%) to my credit card on September 6.

 

The Celebrity accounting department wouldn't talk to me - needed to go through my travel agent to get more information.

 

My travel agent (Costco Travel) then called Celebrity and who said that the total refund will be divided between three separate payments back to my credit card. The remaining payments should appear within the next two weeks.

 

Apparently some of the refund comes from the cruise fare, and some comes from on-board ship expenses and taxes. But I was told that the total amount of the three refunds would equal the amount I paid - so not to worry.

 

I have not yet submitted my receipts for reimbursement for airfare and meals after leaving the ship.

[tinabinab]

Aug 16th cruiser here...

 

So far have yet to see any refunds being applied to any of the cards that we used. My mother originally had her own cabin and had paid hers in full when she booked. She ended up cancelling her cabin early this year and moving into ours; applying her "refund" to our room. Not sure how that's going to play out. The rest was split between two of my CC's. So far, none are showing any kind of refund.

 

I will be emailing our flight reimbursment information this evening. Not hopeful that we'll get my airline miles back, but going to give it a try anyway. Saved them tons of money by not going the change fee / pay the difference route and I have screen shots to prove it. Good times... :/

[cruisingronnie]

Follow up to posts 31 and 32. My travel agent spoke to Celebrity about the discrepancy btw the refunded vs the amount paid. Here is the response from my TA "I was advised that the departure transfers would be refunded, as well as a pro-rated value for the prepaid gratuities. They are still working on processing these refunds, as they are being handled by another section of our Accounting. They were working to have all of these processed within 3-6 weeks from the sailing, so this should be refunded by the end of the month."

[SandyLion]

Just spoke to Celebrity and we already got back the taxes/port charges on board - about 33 dollars so all that we will be getting back is what we paid for the cruise fare.

 

That's not what I understood at all but I guess "full refund of the cruise fare paid" means just that. Since Vancouver is an expensive port we are getting so little back and they do not have a break down on what each port charges.

 

Not too happy about this. It means I'm only getting back 88.45% of what I paid. I think it's unfair. Anyone else think so and have you gotten any different results?

 

Thanks.

[cruisestitch]

The cruise fare is generally listed as a separate line item from the taxes and fees on US bookings. Non-US bookings may not be set up the same way. Our invoices show one line for the cruise fare, one line for the taxes and port fees.

I think that what we received on board for missed port charges is all that we will get from that category. The cruise fare is what I think we should expect to receive back as credit for the missed cruise and that should be the same amount we will see as FCC. Others may have been told differently, and it is a very confusing situation all around.