Whats happening? SB refunds and payments Covid19

[bigmjh]

4 minutes ago, zelker said:

 

When was your cruise supposed to sail, when was it cancelled, how long did SB indicate it "might" take, and how long did you wait after it was cancelled to contact Amex?  Thx.

 

May 31st - it was officially cancelled the end of March. I did not wait for SB to give me a timetable for the refund ... I contacted Amex right after getting the email notification of the cancellation. I knew from CC that refunds from most cruiselines were taking 90+ days.

[zelker]

7 minutes ago, bigmjh said:

May 31st - it was officially cancelled the end of March. I did not wait for SB to give me a timetable for the refund ... I contacted Amex right after getting the email notification of the cancellation. I knew from CC that refunds from most cruiselines were taking 90+ days.

 

That's interesting.  Ours was to sail on May 23rd and it wasn't officially cancelled until April 15th.  Maybe yours was cancelled earlier because of where you were going?  Have no idea.  Anyway, we have a Chase card and I think I'm going to go ahead and call them and see what they say.  Thanks for the info.  Wish us luck!  

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by zelker

[bigmjh]

Ours was an Alaska cruise, round-trip out of Vancouver, and "unofficially" cancelled weeks earlier when Canada closed their ports to cruise ships.

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, zelker said:

 

When was your cruise supposed to sail, when was it cancelled, how long did SB indicate it "might" take, and how long did you wait after it was cancelled to contact Amex?  Thx.

 

All good questions + did you or SB cancel the cruise?

TIA>

[zelker]

44 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

All good questions + did you or SB cancel the cruise?

TIA>

 

SB cancelled on 4-15 (cruise was to be 5-23).

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, bigmjh said:

May 31st - it was officially cancelled the end of March. I did not wait for SB to give me a timetable for the refund ... I contacted Amex right after getting the email notification of the cancellation. I knew from CC that refunds from most cruiselines were taking 90+ days.

Still surprised that Amex didn't want you to wait until SB paid up.

[teamflames]

Our Encore sailing for April 17th was cancelled on Mar 10th. We haven’t heard anymore about our refund.
Our flight to Singapore with Singapore Air was cancelled on Mar 20. Initially Singapore Airlines refused to refund the cancelled flights but eventually agreed on April 7 (not sure if that is because I put in claim thru credit card company).
We received the Airline refund today (so processing time was one month).
So Seabourn is now 2 months and clearly had a lot less processing to do. Singapore airlines has also been dealing with cancellations dating back to January.


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[JP1320]

Perhaps a glimmer of hope, or a great TA and Seabourn relationship. We have, today, just received notification that our bookings of tours with Seabourn for the August 1, Barcelona to Monte Carlo, have been processed for full refund.

 

"Quote: Thank you for choosing Seabourn. Cancellation of your cruise reservation has resulted in the cancellation and refund for the following purchases"

 

List all our tours plus prices paid via our respective credit cards. This result was after only a six week wait, not too bad.

 

We await confirmation of our actual cruise costs, the big bucks.

 

Joe

😎😎

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, JP1320 said:

Perhaps a glimmer of hope, or a great TA and Seabourn relationship. We have, today, just received notification that our bookings of tours with Seabourn for the August 1, Barcelona to Monte Carlo, have been processed for full refund.

 

"Quote: Thank you for choosing Seabourn. Cancellation of your cruise reservation has resulted in the cancellation and refund for the following purchases"

 

List all our tours plus prices paid via our respective credit cards. This result was after only a six week wait, not too bad.

 

We await confirmation of our actual cruise costs, the big bucks.

 

Joe

😎😎

Don’t count your chickens or spend that money just yet.

We cancelled a SB cruise on 2/27 and received a refund on the EXCURSIONS within a week but nothing since (taxes and air change fees).

[texswamper]

On 5/1/2020 at 3:54 PM, norm2002 said:

And I think that, whatever news there may be about ports remaining closed and the spread of the virus, we can be confident that SB will not cancel any cruise until after the final payment date has passed.

 

May not be true if the thread about Seabourn cruises being canceled thru 10/30/20 if actually true.  We have a 10/3/20 Med cruise on Encore that we haven't made final payment on, so now I will just wait and see if the email arrives today from Seabourn. :-(

[zimflyer]

16 hours ago, texswamper said:

 

May not be true if the thread about Seabourn cruises being canceled thru 10/30/20 if actually true.  We have a 10/3/20 Med cruise on Encore that we haven't made final payment on, so now I will just wait and see if the email arrives today from Seabourn. 😞

Maybe this will help,  announced today in cruise press for agents in Australia. Have also included the RCL brands info as I particularly liked the offer to take cruise of x nights and lift it to another date. Fair policy.

 

Note how low key the press release is about refunds in cash are in SB report!

 

 BTW, I have since heard that HAL and Princess are cancelling most thru till late Oct or later in 2020.

 

Still think CCL is way too tight on their customers.... and the reluctance to refund to source, well, it's going to cost them long in the future after this...

[JPH814]

Please check out the post below and consider providing your information.  The post is primarily for gathering and sharing specific information....we try to keep discussion to a minimum.

 

 

 

[SLSD]

Mr SLSD is still saying that Seabourn is going to be holding on to cash going forward.  Based on his experience in the corporate bankruptcy world, he is saying that refunds could be a long time coming.  I hope he is wrong.  Both of us love Seabourn and have talked today about how sad we are that we won't be cruising this year.  

[Paulchili]

So after 70+ days after I had requested a Change Fee Reimbursement for airfare I was finally offered it in a form of a FCC.

Not only was a legitimate award return fee valued at $240 declined but the remainder of the value of $2400+ was offered as FCC. I can live without those $240 denied but not with $2400+ in FCC instead of in cash/credit card refund.

The reason given was because we cancelled the cruise before SB did. That explanation is fair enough for the cruise fare but we have received our excursions as a refund to CC and are still waiting for a refund of taxes ($2500+) in cash/credit. If those 2 can be refunded as cash/credit I don't see why airfare change fees cannot - they are not part of the cruise fare per se.

I advised them that it is unacceptable to me in form of a FCC and if they fail to compensate me in cash/credit card refund I shall dispute the charge in the amount they had already agreed to pay as FCC.

Am I wrong?

Edited May 11, 2020 by Paulchili

[zimflyer]

FYI Paulchili

 

Still waiting for our refund reimbursement of our rebook additional costs when our B2B cruise was changed 2 weeks out from Singapore-Sydney to Perth-Auckland.

 

Then cruise cancelled, by SB...

 

...so SB agreed to cover our lost air x2, hotels x3 (on about 21 April) and that it was approving reimbursement, gave Au$ value, and advised cheque would be forthcoming...

 

Advised we are in Australia, so US cheque no good....SB advised they COULD NOT REFUND ANCILLARY TO AMEX CARD as no debit on Amex made (ie, we bought fares/ hotels ourselves).

 

Told to forward bank details for money transfer.... that was done to SB same day.

 

Nothing....

 

Agent called May 2, was told by SB that refund was processed on April 30 and allow 5 days for transfer...

 

10 days still nothing...

 

Lies, lies and more damned lies...!

 

I ask:

Who is going to book in uncertain times when we are not really considered of any priority now. The dollar wheel will stop running if future bookings dry up...

 

Can't they see that, these multi-talented corporate money-focused geniuses...??

 

...sad.

 

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, zimflyer said:

 

 

I ask:

Who is going to book in uncertain times when we are not really considered of any priority now. The dollar wheel will stop running if future bookings dry up...

 

Can't they see that, these multi-talented corporate money-focused geniuses...??

 

...sad.

 

We are not  going to book in these uncertain times--first, because there is no vaccine, and second because I am watching all of you wait for the refunds which were promised.   Seabourn is holding onto cash because they have to service some rather large loans. They simply do not have any choice.  If I remember correctly, the first large payment is due in October.  You have probably read that NCL has said that they don't expect to survive financially.  I think Seabourn may be in the same situation (I almost typed boat, but thought better of it. )  

[MightyQuinn]

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

You have probably read that NCL has said that they don't expect to survive financially. 

 

As you may know, NCLH has recently secured financing such that they can sustain operations for about 18 months of cruise suspensions without revenue.  Frank del Rio, Chairman of NCLH, has been doing media interviews touting this fact, no doubt trying to assure nervous cruisers and stimulate demand.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/nclh-can-go-18-months-plus-no-revenue-scenario-del-rio

[Paulchili]

On 5/5/2020 at 9:22 PM, Paulchili said:

Don’t count your chickens or spend that money just yet.

We cancelled a SB cruise on 2/27 and received a refund on the EXCURSIONS within a week but nothing since (taxes and air change fees).

In retrospect I was too nice to SB and believed their mumbo-jumbo.

I waited for my taxes to be refunded by day 60 and even gave them an extra week before I filed a dispute with my CC. This may take up to another 30 days (or more) before SB has to answer them.

I should have filed that claim earlier and would have had my money by now one way or another - a lesson learned. It was a courtesy on my part that SB has shown not to be worthy of.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Paulchili

[SLSD]

15 hours ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

 Frank del Rio, Chairman of NCLH, has been doing media interviews touting this fact, no doubt trying to assure nervous cruisers and stimulate demand.

 

No doubt. 

[amusea]

I may have the only happy story, mostly because of when I applied for a partial refund through my cruise agent.  I had been booked on the April 20 Quest TA from Miami.  I cancelled the cruise on February 26 just before the pandemic became so obvious.  My booking was for the cruise fare and an air package to Miami and returning from Madrid including hotel in Miami and transfers.  

The following day, February 27, the 50% refund of everything including taxes was posted to my CC.  I was duly impressed.  I guess all I can say is "What a difference a day makes".  I had cancelled because of some medical problem that I was facing but I was not sure if my CC insurance would cover the rest of the cancellation costs.  After the usual jumping through hoops, however,  the insurance paid the other 50% of the travel cost.  

BUT,  I am still waiting for a refund from Oceania for a 22 day July cruise that I cancelled at the end of March knowing that I would be forced to pay the 25% penalty (no valid insurance for that one).   Oceania also states that refunds take 90 days.

[Rambo_Trout]

Great News!

 

This morning, my £ 19,000 arrived on my Credit Cards, with a processing date of 8th May, which was Day 59 from when Seabourn Officially cancelled our Cruise.

 

Coincidentally (?), Seabourn agreed our Change Fee Claim on the 6th May, even though we only submitted it on the 11th April. We took the enhanced FCC for this, as, even though they said + 25%, it was + 28% & 2 x $ 250 On Board Credit.

 

So, it looks like they are sticking to their targets.

 

Good Luck to everyone!

[teamflames]

3 minutes ago, Rambo_Trout said:

Great News!

 

This morning, my £ 19,000 arrived on my Credit Cards, with a processing date of 8th May, which was Day 59 from when Seabourn Officially cancelled our Cruise.

 

Coincidentally (?), Seabourn agreed our Change Fee Claim on the 6th May, even though we only submitted it on the 11th April. We took the enhanced FCC for this, as, even though they said + 25%, it was + 28% & 2 x $ 250 On Board Credit.

 

So, it looks like they are sticking to their targets.

 

Good Luck to everyone!

Congrats. We were cancelled on March 10th, no word yet.

[Rambo_Trout]

5 minutes ago, teamflames said:

Congrats. We were cancelled on March 10th, no word yet.

 

We never had any notification, the money just appeared on our CC Statements.

[Isklaar]

1 hour ago, Rambo_Trout said:

Great News!

 

This morning, my £ 19,000 arrived on my Credit Cards, with a processing date of 8th May, which was Day 59 from when Seabourn Officially cancelled our Cruise.

 

Coincidentally (?), Seabourn agreed our Change Fee Claim on the 6th May, even though we only submitted it on the 11th April. We took the enhanced FCC for this, as, even though they said + 25%, it was + 28% & 2 x $ 250 On Board Credit.

 

So, it looks like they are sticking to their targets.

 

Good Luck to everyone!

 

Great news Rambo_Trout. Good job by our mutual TA too, I hope!

[Rambo_Trout]

35 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

 

Great news Rambo_Trout. Good job by our mutual TA too, I hope!

 

Yes Isklaar,

 

Stephanie has been exceptional, always friendly, helpful and prompt to respond.

 

I hope that yours comes through soon.

 

Regards, Kevin