Told we can't cruise due to Coronavirus - no full refund??!

[Hollysmokes]

Shocked a RCL's customer service.

 

We live in Asia and received an email to say we couldn't board the cruise if we had been in contact with anyone who had been to China, Macau or Hong Kong in the last 15 days.

 

I had hung out with a friend at the weekend who had transited through HK earlier than week so I decided to do the honest thing (I didn't have to!!) and tell them. This wasn't me choosing not to cruise, it was subject to THEIR rules and I did the responsible thing by admitting I had. 

 

Shocked to find out they'll only give me future cruise credit. This is no use to me at all. My mother is here visiting from overseas. I can't cruise with her again as we live on opposite sides of the world and she has no use for the cruise credit.

 

Surely RCL should be offering me a full refund onto my credit card? This wasn't my choice - this was them telling me that I couldn't cruise?

 

I am getting no where with their customer service team. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Hollysmokes

[Ourusualbeach]

Agree, if they want people to be honest they need to be issuing full refunds.  Word of them only offering FCC’s will spread rapidly through social media and cause many people to be not fully honest thusly jeopardizing the health and safety of others 

[Hollysmokes]

It is completely disgraceful. I could've said nothing and gone ahead , which many others may now do. Really disgusted at this decision.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, Hollysmokes said:

It is completely disgraceful. I could've said nothing and gone ahead , which many others may now do. Really disgusted at this decision.

Try voicing your concerns on their Facebook page, they seem to respond to complaints there better than by calling. 

[PhoenixCruiser]

What about travel insurance?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Hollysmokes]

25 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Try voicing your concerns on their Facebook page, they seem to respond to complaints there better than by calling. 

What is the best FB page to use? Royal Caribbean International?

[Merion_Mom]

Yes. 

[dethman]

46 minutes ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What about travel insurance?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

 

travel insurance won't cover theoretical or 'possible' illnesses.

[blueridgemama]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Agree, if they want people to be honest they need to be issuing full refunds.  Word of them only offering FCC’s will spread rapidly through social media and cause many people to be not fully honest thusly jeopardizing the health and safety of others 

 

I would hope no one would be "fully honest" about the possibility of spreading a potentially deadly virus.

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, dethman said:

 

travel insurance won't cover theoretical or 'possible' illnesses.

But it does cover disrupted travel plans. 

[Balsam12]

This could turn out to be rather interesting as the situation develops...

 

I understand that FCC doesn't work for the OP, but was the credit offered greater than the cost of the original cruise? If so, for some people that could be a win.

 

Personally (and I'm speaking in relation to Australian consumer law), I don't see how they can legally refuse to give a full refund. This is purely a decision by RCI to deny boarding. Were it me in the OP's situation, I would be seeking legal advice and contacting the relevant consumer protection authorities.

 

As much as I agree with their stance, they should be offering either a full refund, or FCC with added value/benefits.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Balsam12

[Hollysmokes]

41 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

This could turn out to be rather interesting as the situation develops...

 

I understand that FCC doesn't work for the OP, but was the credit offered greater than the cost of the original cruise? If so, for some people that could be a win.

 

Personally (and I'm speaking in relation to Australian consumer law), I don't see how they can legally refuse to give a full refund. This is purely a decision by RCI to deny boarding. Were it me in the OP's situation, I would be seeking legal advice and contacting the relevant consumer protection authorities.

 

As much as I agree with their stance, they should be offering either a full refund, or FCC with added value/benefits.

Sadly not. FCC and nothing additional. Furthermore it's per person which is no use to our party at all as we live on opposite sides of the globe (not to mention that I paid for everyone myself so giving them each their own cruise credit isn't really useful to me!). 

[molly361]

Can you try ti dispute the charge on your credit card?

[snaefell]

Some way off yet I guess but I wonder how this will eventually effect the likes of Quantums return to the Chinese theatre.

[Static events]

Email the CEO/exec office 

[grapau27]

6 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Agree, if they want people to be honest they need to be issuing full refunds.  Word of them only offering FCC’s will spread rapidly through social media and cause many people to be not fully honest thusly jeopardizing the health and safety of others 

I agree,this will encourage people to say nothing.

[1992cruiser]

Royal needs to change this policy immediately or they will definitely have people sailing when they shouldn’t be. A 1000 refunds are better than having a ship quarantined for 14 days off the coast. 

Somebody isn’t using the smart side of their brain. Hope it works out for the op. 

[sparks1093]

3 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

But it does cover disrupted travel plans. 

But the cruise line is issuing a credit, so in the eyes of the insurance company there is no loss.

[marci22]

4 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

But it does cover disrupted travel plans. 

I like to go on insure my trip.com and look at policyholder reviews, 'worst'. The companies do take time to answer complaints and tell the consumer why their claim was rejected. Often it is for a valid reason that I never would have considered.

 

Policy terms and conditions are very specific. They vary from policy to policy. One needs to read the policy entirely to know exactly what is covered. It is boring reading but you will be educated.

 

ps don't bother reading the good reviews. "I'm glad I didn't have to use my policy but I felt good knowing it was there". 

Edited February 7, 2020 by marci22

[Moeve]

All take a deep breath it may not actually me you won’t get a refund. All cruise lines have been caught on the left foot by recent medical and political events and it may take some time to clear legal matters and some information simply takes longer to trickle down to the foreign parts of companies. Saw the same happen on a Celebrity cruise. It took more than a week to inform European guests of an embarkation port change.

 

currently I think they are dealing with a much more important issue namely the Anthem returning with what could possibly be sick guests.

[vacationlover_mn]

So sorry 😞. I hope you end up getting your $$ back!

[SAmome]

This really stinks, encouraging the exact wrong thing, they've canceled sailings and are refunding money, right?  I guess they don't want people to lie and say they've been exposed as an easy way to get a refund if they want out for some other reason.  That's the only thing I can think of.

 

Would be nice if there is a way to test people who say they've had contact with someone from China/HK, have them get to the port or some other location much earlier, quarentine them while running a test kit on them, let them on if they test negative.  I have no idea how long they take to get results back but if they are keeping pax on the Anthem until tested, I'm guessing it's not a long time to get results.  

[twins_to_alaska]

Cases are showing you can pass the virus before any symptoms... quarantine is 14 days... which is why the no boarding if in contact in less than 15... not enough to just check temperature/test at boarding.

Edited February 7, 2020 by twins_to_alaska

[Ourusualbeach]

Windstar and I believe some other cruiselines have set the number at 30 days as opposed to 14. 

[eldrima]

Sucks for OP and others truly affected by this...new loophole for getting full credit for those passengers that have a last minute change of plans and will not be able to make their cruise.

 

Thinking of it from a cruise line’s perspective, if they offered a full refund to someone who had been around someone else who was recently in China, it opens a huge door for anyone to cancel for whatever reason. Very hard to prove definitively that someone has or has not been in contact and meets that criteria. Some people may want to cancel their cruise due to fear mongering about the possibility of contracting the virus by being in an environment like a cruise ship...full refund for saying they have been around someone who recently came from China could cause an avalanche of cancellations. At the end of the day, unfortunately, publicly traded companies make decisions based on the best interest of their shareholders.