Took only about 5 days to get a refund on a cancelled RCI cruise.

[goodycruising]

I just posted the same item on the RCI board - but though Aussies might be interested too....

Recently we were looking at the RCI sale (Aus early bird) and decided to book a particular trip in Feb 2015. We were getting a good discount on the sale and got a good C&A discount with the balcony, so we jumped in. Deposit paid. Then we realised we could get time off work and do the same cruise in October 2014 for exactly the same price. Same cabin even! So we booked the October one also, and paid our deposit. We know we could have rung up and transferred etc, but we just wanted to nail it down with no cross pollination of bookings. We were also testing how cancelling would work. If we had any issues we would just take the cruise, no hardship there!

So then we were going to ring to cancel and I noticed online that there was a cancel this cruise button. So I pressed it, and it all went quickly, and I got a confirmation that the cruise was now cancelled. We thought we might have to wait a while for the refund. But we were very pleasantly surprised that the credit showed 5 working days later back on our credit card account.

I have been on the band wagon of the poor performance of the website lately, and we have 2 cruises in January 2014 that we couldn't access for a few weeks online (but luckily we had printed them out - luggage tags and all!), but now I would have to say, well done Royal Caribbean. That worked very well, and we have more confidence now in continuing to use the website.

We are also now able to access all our bookings fully online, so something is getting fixed. Just wanted to let people know, as we tried to search about cancelling and refunds here, but we were probably using the wrong search words. We have seen horror stories on here and were not sure how it would flow. I know there is a lot of info here on CC, and we try to contribute info to repay all we have learnt. :)

[gaechann]

I just posted the same item on the RCI board - but though Aussies might be interested too....

 

Recently we were looking at the RCI sale (Aus early bird) and decided to book a particular trip in Feb 2015. We were getting a good discount on the sale and got a good C&A discount with the balcony, so we jumped in. Deposit paid. Then we realised we could get time off work and do the same cruise in October 2014 for exactly the same price. Same cabin even! So we booked the October one also, and paid our deposit. We know we could have rung up and transferred etc, but we just wanted to nail it down with no cross pollination of bookings. We were also testing how cancelling would work. If we had any issues we would just take the cruise, no hardship there!

 

So then we were going to ring to cancel and I noticed online that there was a cancel this cruise button. So I pressed it, and it all went quickly, and I got a confirmation that the cruise was now cancelled. We thought we might have to wait a while for the refund. But we were very pleasantly surprised that the credit showed 5 working days later back on our credit card account.

 

I have been on the band wagon of the poor performance of the website lately, and we have 2 cruises in January 2014 that we couldn't access for a few weeks online (but luckily we had printed them out - luggage tags and all!), but now I would have to say, well done Royal Caribbean. That worked very well, and we have more confidence now in continuing to use the website.

 

We are also now able to access all our bookings fully online, so something is getting fixed. Just wanted to let people know, as we tried to search about cancelling and refunds here, but we were probably using the wrong search words. We have seen horror stories on here and were not sure how it would flow. I know there is a lot of info here on CC, and we try to contribute info to repay all we have learnt. :)

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

I've had to cancel in the past and usually have to wait up to 2 weeks so in the future I'll look for the CANCEL button on the website!

[sewgood]

Thanks for posting about your refund great to hear a good news story.

It certainly gives me confidence to use the online booking service.:)

 

Karryl

[goodycruising]

Yes, I had very little faith to start with and didn't expect such a simple button on the my cruises page :) I fully expected to have to take a chunk of time to get it processed. There is hope!

[keagle]

Cancelled a cruise with the cancel button as the cruise we were going on came up in an early bird sale. Prices drop heaps. Liked the fact that it asked if I wanted to book another cruise at the end. Yes please. Booked again for the cheaper price and the refund was that quick there was no need to any extra on the credit card.

[Chelseapop]

I, unfortunately had to cancel a cruise with RCI a couple of days ago due to hubby being ill and was told my refund would take TWO MONTHS!! Might just go check my bank account now....... well I can live in hope.:D

[Chelseapop]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay it's in the bank account already.:):):)

[gaechann]

Cancelled a cruise with the cancel button as the cruise we were going on came up in an early bird sale. Prices drop heaps. Liked the fact that it asked if I wanted to book another cruise at the end. Yes please. Booked again for the cheaper price and the refund was that quick there was no need to any extra on the credit card.

 

I'm assuming that this can only be done IF you have booked directly with RCI. If you've booked through a Travel Agent then they would have to do the cancellation - correct?:confused: Most TA's like to charge a cancellation fee though could waive that if you re-book through them.

[keagle]

I'm assuming that this can only be done IF you have booked directly with RCI. If you've booked through a Travel Agent then they would have to do the cancellation - correct?:confused: Most TA's like to charge a cancellation fee though could waive that if you re-book through them.

 

 

Yes, it was a direct booking through the website. I do our booking that way all the time now. Very easy and straight forward.

[Chelseapop]

Mine was directly through RCI too.

[The_Big_M]

I'm assuming that this can only be done IF you have booked directly with RCI. If you've booked through a Travel Agent then they would have to do the cancellation - correct?:

 

Yes, that's correct. You can't cancel direct with RCL, as with other direct changes, if you booked through a TA.

[Dizziedi]

I'm assuming that this can only be done IF you have booked directly with RCI. If you've booked through a Travel Agent then they would have to do the cancellation - correct?:confused: Most TA's like to charge a cancellation fee though could waive that if you re-book through them.

 

If your TA charges you a cancellation fee, it's time for a new TA.

 

Cheers

Di

[cruisine21]

Does Royal Carribean Australian site charge in Aus Dollars or US? When I booked on their site 2 1/2 years ago we were charged in Aus Dollars.

[goodycruising]

Yep, Aussie dollars still. I believe you can do a bank transfer also. The details are at the bottom of the invoice they email you when you book.

 

Another tip is that when you go to book, it picks a cabin number in your category. You can ask for different cabins, but not all are shown apparently. If you want a particular cabin you can type in the cabin number and see if it comes up.

 

If you have any questions, give them a ring. Up until recently we have had good quick service by phone. We had been having long holds on the phone and getting transferred to the US, but apparently it is back to being quick again. We always find the staff helpful.

[goodycruising]

If your TA charges you a cancellation fee, it's time for a new TA.

 

Cheers

Di

 

Particularly with the amount of travelling you are doing Gae. If you are using the same TA they should be giving you some nice gifts by now :)