Refunds on excursions

[cruisegirl]

We were booked on the 3/27 sailing of the Rotterdam and had purchased four shore excursions. After HAL announced the cancellation we almost immediately received refunds on two of the shore excursions but not on all four. Has anyone else had this happen?  I hate to bother HAL about right now but would like the other two refunds as soon as possible. What would you do? Call or ride it out? 

[CruiserBruce]

Can you cancel on the website? I canceled all of our excursions on the website before I canceled the cruise...they credited back immediately. However, could not cancel a Retreat cabana or port to airport transfers on the website. They have not yet shown up on the credit card, and the cruise has been canceled since Saturday.

[Alberta Quilter]

I've not heard about this before but my guess is that maybe they're cancelling by port rather than by booking. For example, maybe they're doing all shorex in Puerto Vallarta before gong on to Mazatlan, or San Juan before Saint Thomas.  So if your other two excursions are a few days after the ones that were refunded, I would give them a few more days before calling. But that's a total guess on my part. 

[cruisegirl]

Thanks to both of you. Good suggestions and good advice. 

[2inSETexas]

10 hours ago, cruisegirl said:

We were booked on the 3/27 sailing of the Rotterdam and had purchased four shore excursions. After HAL announced the cancellation we almost immediately received refunds on two of the shore excursions but not on all four. Has anyone else had this happen?  I hate to bother HAL about right now but would like the other two refunds as soon as possible. What would you do? Call or ride it out? 

We have had a similar experience. We were on the 4/6 transAtlantic on the Rotterdam. We quickly received emails on expected refunds on all but one of our excursions. I’m just going to wait an see what hits the credit card before following up.

[Cruising-along]

I canceled all our excursions online before HAL canceled the cruise (the writing was on the wall).  It took a good part of a week to see the credits on our CC.  But they all were there at the same time (including dinner reservations and distilled water).  There seems to be no rhyme or reason how things are happening.  Still waiting for our Flight Ease refund, but know it's coming.

[tamsno]

I also have seen refunds on only some of the excursions which I cancelled on line a few days before cancelling the April 4 transatlantic.  They were credited quickly and then nothing.  Also the refunded cruise portion posted to my credit card in a few days.

[gailellen12]

Same with me.  I received refunds on three out of my four excursions right away.  I did receive notification that all four had been cancelled.  I think I will check with Holland America down the line a bit.  I am sure they have so much to sort out right now and I have been notified that they are cancelled.  I understood from my travel agent that when you cancel your cruise; your shore excursions are cancelled at the same time

[dfish]

3 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

I canceled all our excursions online before HAL canceled the cruise (the writing was on the wall).  It took a good part of a week to see the credits on our CC.  But they all were there at the same time (including dinner reservations and distilled water).  There seems to be no rhyme or reason how things are happening.  Still waiting for our Flight Ease refund, but know it's coming.

Knowing how close you were to cruising, are you receiving a cash refund for Flight Ease?   How did that work?   Surely, you were ticketed already.

[Roger88]

Normally you dont get refunds on excursions. If there were tickets Bought to some play/museum/etc you wont get refunded. Maybe some service charge could be refunded but not the whole excursion. In any case, they usually dont cost much so just let those guys enjoy with your little buck. Its hard times this right now. Hope you understand 

[CruiserBruce]

23 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

Normally you dont get refunds on excursions. If there were tickets Bought to some play/museum/etc you wont get refunded. Maybe some service charge could be refunded but not the whole excursion. In any case, they usually dont cost much so just let those guys enjoy with your little buck. Its hard times this right now. Hope you understand 

Absolutely not true. HAL has a very clear policy on refunding excursions,  with pre sailing and while on the cruise procedures. Yes there are penalties for very late canceling. 

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

Knowing how close you were to cruising, are you receiving a cash refund for Flight Ease?   How did that work?   Surely, you were ticketed already.

Hi Debbie, here's a quote from Ashford's email:

"Non-cruise fare purchases through Holland America Line will be refunded via the method of payment used to purchase the services."

Everything else has gone like clock-work, so not worried.  We have a couple other refunds coming, like the travel insurance (we had to get a separate policy instead of putting it on our yearly policy because of the cost of this trip). Like everyone, they're slammed right now too.  

 

[lazey1]

47 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

Normally you dont get refunds on excursions. If there were tickets Bought to some play/museum/etc you wont get refunded. Maybe some service charge could be refunded but not the whole excursion. In any case, they usually dont cost much so just let those guys enjoy with your little buck. Its hard times this right now. Hope you understand 

The excursions on HAL that are are-purchased can have a wide range of prices. The Alaska cruise I am booked on has excursions ranging from $35pp for a tram ride (not much money) to $659pp for dog sledding and glacier (that is a lot of money).  Most of the excursions are between $249 and $399. When you purchase HAL excursions and have to cancel you always get the full amount refunded unless it is past the refund period which is posted on the tickets you receive on board.

[old mike]

Patience people,  consider the order of magnitude math, 

assume an average of 2000 people per ship and 14 ships and say that many tours booked for every alternate  day, then over the 30 day suspension that gives an order of magnitude number of refunds of 400,000. Even at half that it's still a lot of transactions. 

[kazu]

19 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Normally you dont get refunds on excursions. If there were tickets Bought to some play/museum/etc you wont get refunded. Maybe some service charge could be refunded but not the whole excursion. In any case, they usually dont cost much so just let those guys enjoy with your little buck. Its hard times this right now. Hope you understand 

 

Really?  Since when??

 

Most of my private shore excursions did not require a deposit but some did and a substantial one in one port.

 

Every single one of my private shore excursion deposits have been refunded in full (minus 10 NWT due to paypal fee).  I found all the guides very understanding and very empathetic.  When things are safe and we can go, I can assure you I will be using them in the future 😄 

 

All HAL prepaid expenses whether they be beverage cards, shore excursions, etc have been refunded.

 

HAL definitely refunds shore excursions IME.