Celebrity is no longer issuing partial refunds after final payment...will Royal follow

[Ken at the beach]

Celebrity is no longer issuing refunds after final payment.  Everything is issued as a FCC.  There are no longer the 25%, 50% and 75% penalty phases where you would get some refund in cash and the rest as a FCC.

 

I bet Royal follows...

 

Standard cancellation policy:

• Refund automatically issued based on standard cancellation policy
  1. 89-75 days prior to sailing = receive 75% refund
  2. 74-61 days prior to sailing = receive 50% refund
  3. 60-31 days prior to sailing = receive 25% refund
  4. 30 – 0 days prior to sailing = no refund

 

Summary of temporary policy – must call in to cancel and advise Cruise With Confidence

• Eligible sailings: Cruises through July 31, 2020, all destinations
• Allowed to cancel, even after final payment up until 48 hours prior to sailing
• Future Cruise Credit issued for 100% of the cruise fare, regardless of when you cancel after final payment made
• No future cruise credit issues for sailings cancelled within 48 hours of departure, or no shows

Edited March 10, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[bobmacliberty]

Ouch.  That will create some very unhappy people.

[cruiselvr04]

This would not make me happy.  I’m still in the 30-60. Day window.....and I want my 25% back!   It gives me some cash back to do something else rather then have Royal keep all my money till 2021 when we can cruise again. 

[Oceansaway17]

Glad I cancelled mine to Italy but before I called I was expecting all FCC so was surprised

[Ken at the beach]

Personally I suspect that it is designed to conserve cash.

 

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

Edited March 10, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[voyager70]

Not a smart move by any of the cruise lines especially in light of the current Covid-19 crisis IMO.

 

[ticketsunlimited]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Personally I suspect that it is designed to conserve cash.

 

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

Thats a very sad sign of desperation!!  That has bankruptcy written all over it for NCL

[dani negreanu]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

 

Fingers crossed RC/X will not go "under" with our FCC 😨

Edited March 10, 2020 by dani negreanu

[Another_Critic]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Personally I suspect that it is designed to conserve cash.

 

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

 

5 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Thats a very sad sign of desperation!!  That has bankruptcy written all over it for NCL

 

And probably a class action lawsuit.  I don't see how port fees, prepaid gratuities, etc can legally be "held" for a cancelled cruise.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Another_Critic

[Ken at the beach]

Just now, Another_Critic said:

 

 

And probably a class action lawsuit.  I don't see how refunding port fees, prepaid gratuities, etc can legally be "held" for a cancelled cruise.

The cruise is not cancelled

[Another_Critic]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

The cruise is not cancelled

 

The customer cancelled the cruise. 

[Another_Critic]

30 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Celebrity is no longer issuing refunds after final payment.  Everything is issued as a FCC.  There are no longer the 25%, 50% and 75% penalty phases where you would get some refund in cash and the rest as a FCC.

 

I bet Royal follows...

 

Standard cancellation policy:

• Refund automatically issued based on standard cancellation policy
  1. 89-75 days prior to sailing = receive 75% refund
  2. 74-61 days prior to sailing = receive 50% refund
  3. 60-31 days prior to sailing = receive 25% refund
  4. 30 – 0 days prior to sailing = no refund

 

Summary of temporary policy – must call in to cancel and advise Cruise With Confidence

• Eligible sailings: Cruises through July 31, 2020, all destinations
• Allowed to cancel, even after final payment up until 48 hours prior to sailing
• Future Cruise Credit issued for 100% of the cruise fare, regardless of when you cancel after final payment made
• No future cruise credit issues for sailings cancelled within 48 hours of departure, or no shows

 

Can you opt to follow the standard cancellation policy and forfeit the FCC?

 

For example, you are in the 74-61 day window, can you opt for 50% refund instead of 100% FCC?

[Ken at the beach]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

 

The customer cancelled the cruise. 

They still have the option of canceling under the original terms and getting the refund so that would certsinly make what the new offer is legal 

[Ken at the beach]

Just now, Another_Critic said:

 

Can you opt to follow the standard cancellation policy and forfeit the FCC?

 

For example, you are in the 74-61 day window, can you opt for 50% refund instead of 100% FCC?

yes but no FCC

[SeaHunt]

20 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Personally I suspect that it is designed to conserve cash.

 

Be thankful that you didn't book on NCL.  They are issuing everything as a FCC.  Port fees, prepaid gratuities, shore excursions...

 

"Due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings made a proactive decision of taking out a $675m loan against one of their ships to give them extra cash on hand.

This JPMorgan Chase loan is backed securely by the Norwegian Epic. The total loan will have an interest rate of LIBOR + 0.8%. Given current market rates, this would equal 1.46% ($9,855,000). The loan is planed to end March 2021. They now have roughly $1.5b in liquidity".

 

https://www.cruiseind.com/nclh-takes-out-675m-loan-against-the-norwegian-epic/

[mac_tlc]

Tells me that a lot of people have cancelled and/or they expect things to get a lot worse. Definitely a change to conserve cash. Such a dramatic change only a week after they instituted the policy isn’t a good sign. 
 

I have an August cruise for a rather large amount of money that I would not want FCC for....I’d probably never use it. Incentive for me is now to cancel before final payment, regardless of whether they extend the “cruise with a little bit of confidence” policy.

 

mac_tlc 

[elephant98]

I see that Celebrity is now issuing only future cruise credits for cruises cancelled due to coronavirus.  Is it certain that Celebrity was previously issuing combined refunds (based on time after final payment until cruise) and future cruise cruise credit?  If so, that may influence my decision whether to cancel with Royal now and get a 50% refund/future cruise credit combo while I still can. 

[Ken at the beach]

Just now, elephant98 said:

I see that Celebrity is now issuing only future cruise credits for cruises cancelled due to coronavirus.  Is it certain that Celebrity was previously issuing combined refunds (based on time after final payment until cruise) and future cruise cruise credit?  If so, that may influence my decision whether to cancel with Royal now and get a 50% refund/future cruise credit combo while I still can. 

Yes Celebrity previously issued partial refunds 

[reallyitsmema]

We just cancelled.  Was on hold with C&A for less than 5 minutes.  We are in 75% penalty and are receiving a FCC for 75% of our fare and a refund for the remaining 25% plus taxes/fees, excursions, Voom and our only $18 deluxe packages 😞  With Celebrity making a change in their process, we decided not to wait to cancel.  We also found out yesterday that DH has to self quarantine for two weeks if we do go on the cruise.  That and Massachusetts declaring a state of emergency closed the deal.  We will get to the ABC Islands some day.

[Sunshine3601]

38 minutes ago, elephant98 said:

I see that Celebrity is now issuing only future cruise credits for cruises cancelled due to coronavirus.  Is it certain that Celebrity was previously issuing combined refunds (based on time after final payment until cruise) and future cruise cruise credit?  If so, that may influence my decision whether to cancel with Royal now and get a 50% refund/future cruise credit combo while I still can. 

For RCL:   The standard cancellation applies to cruises sailing August 1st and thereafter.

The temporary policy only applies to cruises from now till July 31st.

[hcat]

 Hmmm

We have to read this over a few times and process how it affects us in the future.  We already cancelled under rhe Cruise with Confidence plan..getting 50% back on credit card and 50% future cruise credit. Happy with that .

 

Many res are not at final payment date yet..so they can just be cancelled without any penalty.  If this is the " new plan" , folks will have to make their decision earlier rather than  last min after final payment.  We will likely cancel our Nov cruise after the current cancellation is processed. For Nov that  can be done on line & will just be a credit back to our card ..

 

X will still have 2 $ 900 deposits  for 2021 and 2022....Hoping things will be all good by then.

 

Should have posted this on Celeb thread..forgot I followed a link!

Edited March 10, 2020 by hcat

[Sunshine3601]

19 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

We just cancelled.  Was on hold with C&A for less than 5 minutes.  We are in 75% penalty and are receiving a FCC for 75% of our fare and a refund for the remaining 25% plus taxes/fees, excursions, Voom and our only $18 deluxe packages 😞  With Celebrity making a change in their process, we decided not to wait to cancel.  We also found out yesterday that DH has to self quarantine for two weeks if we do go on the cruise.  That and Massachusetts declaring a state of emergency closed the deal.  We will get to the ABC Islands some day.

Curious, why would your DH need to self quarantine?   Sorry if too personal, you don't have to answer.    

Stay Healthy!

[reallyitsmema]

18 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Curious, why would your DH need to self quarantine?   Sorry if too personal, you don't have to answer.    

Stay Healthy!

 

New corporate policy was announced yesterday, anyone who is going on a cruise needs to self quarantine for two weeks after they return from the cruise.  Many companies are now requiring this of their employees, whether they go on a cruise or just travel internationally.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Celebrity is no longer issuing refunds after final payment.  Everything is issued as a FCC.  There are no longer the 25%, 50% and 75% penalty phases where you would get some refund in cash and the rest as a FCC.

 

I bet Royal follows...

 

Standard cancellation policy:

• Refund automatically issued based on standard cancellation policy
  1. 89-75 days prior to sailing = receive 75% refund
  2. 74-61 days prior to sailing = receive 50% refund
  3. 60-31 days prior to sailing = receive 25% refund
  4. 30 – 0 days prior to sailing = no refund

 

Summary of temporary policy – must call in to cancel and advise Cruise With Confidence

• Eligible sailings: Cruises through July 31, 2020, all destinations
• Allowed to cancel, even after final payment up until 48 hours prior to sailing
• Future Cruise Credit issued for 100% of the cruise fare, regardless of when you cancel after final payment made
• No future cruise credit issues for sailings cancelled within 48 hours of departure, or no shows

The Celebrity board is full of threads dealing with Celebrity's current policy, and not one of them says this. Moreover, I'm one of many Celebrity customers who have cancelled within the past couple of days under the new Cruise with Confidence policy and have received a combination of cash refund and FCC. It's unfortunate that you didn't choose to post this on the Celebrity board for discussion with posters there who have a very good handle on what Celebrity is doing.

[Hllb]

Where was this info? Their website still mentions the FCC is regards to any penalty.