Whats happening? SB refunds and payments Covid19

[Paulchili]

15 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

And again, we are talking about a processing delay, we are not getting robbed here.

I'd like to see where that is guaranteed - it would make me feel a lot better.

I am at 62 days and counting. Especially upsetting is the fact that we cancelled on 2/27 when SB was DEFINITELY NOT overwhelmed with requests for refunds as they are these days (and most likely still working with full work force in the office and not at home).

[DWF]

While continuing to wait for my refund from SB I just experienced the way a different company deals with the problem.  When I started booking the trip back in January I took out travel insurance at a cost of something over $1,600.  As I recently read through the policy it looked like I basically had 15 days after it was issued to get my money back.  When all of the virus issue started I just assumed the money was gone as the policy certainly didn't cover pandemics.  I had basically written it off until one day last week I turned up the email address of the president of the company.  I wrote him a very nice note explaining how I had been a long time customer of their travel insurance and that I fully understood that they owed me nothing but I was requesting a refund as this trip was canceled due to no fault of my own.  I was not really expecting a response particularly from that level and pretty much forgot about.  Surprisingly a couple of days later I got a very nice email from someone in the president's office saying they were sorry my trip had been canceled and asking if it would be acceptable to me to take a full credit for my money that could be used during the next two years.  I was impressed as they owed me nothing.  I wrote the person back thanking them for the generous offer and how they handled this.  I also said I would prefer the flexibility afforded with a refund as my business is such that every other year is very busy and my travel plans are unknown in the midterm.  I told them I understood if that is not possible and would happily take the credit.  The next day I again got a very nice email from the person telling me the full amount of the policy had been returned to my credit card and that they hope I will be a customer in the future when travel resumes.  I replied that I certainly will.  What a difference.

[ab21au]

9 hours ago, Isklaar said:

SLSD, sometimes our posts here do not come across in the way we intend them, or we don't fully explain our train of thought. It happens to us all.

I think of you as a thoughtful and considerate poster and although I was somewhat taken aback when I read your comment  I made the assumption that how I read it was certainly not how it was meant when you typed it.

 

Well said, Isklaar, that is also what I thought. I think everyone should get their refunds and I’m sure SLSD does also.
 

However I am also sure that some want to get their refunds before SB/Carnival run out of money and that is understandable. Personally I think that Carnival won’t run out of money but that is only a guess from what I have read. 
 

[Covepointcruiser]

Seabourn was very much in the thick of it from 2/13 and on.   They had to take care of all of the passengers on a 2/14 cruise cancelled 24 hours before sail date.   Almost all were already at the port.   It was a nightmare for everyone!

[ab21au]

15 minutes ago, DWF said:

I was impressed as they owed me nothing.

That is nice to hear. My Travel Insurance refunded me also when I phoned them. I took out the policy 7 months previous.  Their only concern was that I was going to try to claim from them, what I knew I could not as I had read the PDS. 
 

I also claimed airline cancellation fees from SB which they paid within a few weeks. But that was early March. I do hope you get your cruise refund soon. Personally I think SB should have employed someone to send out emails, to keep guests updated. 

[zimflyer]

1 hour ago, ab21au said:

That is nice to hear. My Travel Insurance refunded me also when I phoned them. 
 

I also claimed airline cancellation fees from SB which they paid within a few weeks. But that was early March. I do hope you get your cruise refund soon. Personally I think SB should have employed someone to send out emails, to keep guests updated. 

We are still waiting on reimbursement costs from the additional fares, accomodation when SB changed our Mar 22 itinerary in late Feb.

 

Although we have had an email confirming the amount  and Australian account to be paid, nothing further has been done...

 

Communications essential if we are not all going to be worried, hence this topic, so we can get a sense of whats being done to effect refunds...

 

- basically none and nothing done by SB in our small sample here, so how come staff are "overwhemed" processing refunds, FCCs, etc...?

[Paulchili]

4 hours ago, DWF said:

I had basically written it off until one day last week I turned up the email address of the president of the company.

It is not as unique as you think.

Here is a portion of an email from my insurance (for a cruise cancelled by the line):

 

Premium Refunds

1.Trip Cancellation If the travel supplier cancels the trip completely, and provides a full refund of trip costs, Nationwide will refund the premium for the travel insurance. Nationwide will not offer a refund for travelers who voluntarily cancel their trip, even if the tour operator gives a full refund.

 

2.Trip Postponement If a Traveler postpones their Trip due to the Coronavirus, Nationwide will allow the Traveler’s current insurance policy to extend to those new trip dates provided:

a.The new trip dates are no more than 18 months from their original trip dates.

b.Additional premium, if needed based on the new or postponed trip,will be collected. No refund will be considered if the premium for the new or postponed trip is less than the original trip premium.

[scottie920]

Quick question. Has anyone received any form of communication from Seabourn to advise that they have received your request for a refund or FCC and that it is being processed? Thanks.

[Rambo_Trout]

50 minutes ago, scottie920 said:

Quick question. Has anyone received any form of communication from Seabourn to advise that they have received your request for a refund or FCC and that it is being processed? Thanks.

 

No, only through our Travel Agent.

 

The last news that I had was that my refund should be received by 9th May, which is 60 calendar after Seabourn cancelled our cruise.

[ab21au]

1 hour ago, scottie920 said:

Quick question. Has anyone received any form of communication from Seabourn to advise that they have received your request for a refund or FCC and that it is being processed? Thanks.

No.  I have received the refunds.  I have nothing from SB but the TA may have received an email and not forwarded it. 

[Rambo_Trout]

5 minutes ago, ab21au said:

No.  I have received the refunds.  I have nothing from SB but the TA may have received an email and not forwarded it. 

 

Just to be clear ab21au,

 

You HAVE had your Refund? You are the first that we know about. How long did you have to wait?

[ab21au]

5 minutes ago, Rambo_Trout said:

 

Just to be clear ab21au,

 

You HAVE had your Refund? You are the first that we know about. How long did you have to wait?

Yes but we were on one of the first cruises they cancelled. And then we had to wait a while (not sure how long but it was weeks, not days)

[Paulchili]

51 minutes ago, Rambo_Trout said:

The last news that I had was that my refund should be received by 9th May, which is 60 calendar after Seabourn cancelled our cruise.

Good luck - I am on day 65 w/o a refund.

[Paulchili]

22 minutes ago, ab21au said:

Yes but we were on one of the first cruises they cancelled

Which cruise was that?

[Rambo_Trout]

56 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Good luck - I am on day 65 w/o a refund.

 

Any news from SB? Has your TA or you kicked them?

[zelker]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Which cruise was that?

 

On March 9 and 12, SB initially "paused" cruises starting March 14 so would be curious to know your sail date and refund date if possible, @ab21au  just for reference. 

 

Our cruise (May 23rd sailing) was cancelled April 14th, I submitted the refund request that afternoon and got a Cruise Cancelled Confirmation via email from our TA the next day that shows "Payment Refund - Vendor Direct" on April 15th for the full amount, including port fee/taxes and Seabourn air.  So we're hopeful that no later than mid-June we'll see a credit from Seabourn back to our credit card.

 

On March 24, I called Seabourn directly and requested that our 2 outstanding FCD's be refunded to our credit card and have not seen that credit yet.  If we don't see that credit by May 24, I will follow up with SB and request that they expedite it.  (same with HAL for several FCDs plus a deposit on a booked cruise)

 

FYI, did anyone else see that on April 24, Seabourn updated the April 14 "pause" announcement to allow use of FCDs through the end of 2022 rather than 2021 as was initially done?

 

[wesport]

I cancelled on 4/3. Cancellation email received immediately from my TA. Today is 28 days. Nothing. I sent Seabourn an email saying I want to rebook for next year, but no way would I even consider that until I get my refund. Email response is wait for 14 days to get a response. Will be cancelling two on HAL before final payment , as this is crazy. I really think they are shooting themselves in the foot. 

[rallydave]

I cancelled on 3/23 and have received absolutely nothing from Seabourn.  The website stated I would automatically get my FCC in approximately 2 weeks.  TA informed me they would get my refund within 30 business days.  Two weeks ago my TA got more promises that my FCC would be by the end of last week and now that my refund would be on 5/23 or now 60 days.

 

Yesterday I found that I could get a refund on my GeoBlue with an immediate confirmation of receipt and that it might take awhile because they were extremely busy.  This morning received an emal from GeoBlue asking me to confirm and I would get a credit on the credit card I used to purchase.  That is customer service.

 

The customer service from ALL cruise lines is appalling and they are simply digging their own grave to be bankrupt without customers soon after they begin sailings again.  If I don't get something from Seabourn very soon will have to go the disputes route.  Cannot wait much longer for more and more lies.

[rallydave]

1 hour ago, zelker said:

FYI, did anyone else see that on April 24, Seabourn updated the April 14 "pause" announcement to allow use of FCDs through the end of 2022 rather than 2021 as was initially done?

Just looked at the Cruise With Confidence Page and see absolutely nothing about FCD's with FDD's still having to be booked by the end of 2020 and sailing only in 2020 or 2021.  No change in usage or booking dates only change moving the pre August cancellations to pre September.

 

Please provide a link or information as have never seen anything about FCD's and when I cancelled on March 23 the word my got regarding the FCD I used was that Seabourn had not figured out what to do with cancellations including FCD's

 

Thanks,

[Paulchili]

6 hours ago, Rambo_Trout said:

 

Any news from SB? Has your TA or you kicked them?

I spoke to them on Monday (Day 60) - all the usual excuses -"if it was up to me", etc, etc.

The agent promised to "expedite" the mater so I will wait till this coming Monday. If there is no refund I will file a dispute.

I should have told her that Viking returned 2 of my future deposits in THREE days!

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, zelker said:

Our cruise (May 23rd sailing) was cancelled April 14th, I submitted the refund request that afternoon and got a Cruise Cancelled Confirmation via email from our TA the next day that shows "Payment Refund - Vendor Direct" on April 15th for the full amount, including port fee/taxes and Seabourn air.  So we're hopeful that no later than mid-June we'll see a credit from Seabourn back to our credit card.

You should consider yourself very fortunate.

We cancelled our March 8 cruise on 2/27 and got the excursions refunded promptly but not the taxes or airline change fees.

[MightyQuinn]

1 hour ago, rallydave said:

.... when I cancelled on March 23 the word my got regarding the FCD I used was that Seabourn had not figured out what to do with cancellations including FCD's

 

In pre-covid times, we cancelled a SB cruise on which we had used FCDs as part of our deposit.  We cancelled well before any penalties were in effect.  The FCDs were returned to our account for future use, with the expiry still being 4 years from the date of our original purchase.  We subsequently used them on another cruise.  I don't see why FCDs on a covid cancellation would be treated any differently.

[rallydave]

11 minutes ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

In pre-covid times, we cancelled a SB cruise on which we had used FCDs as part of our deposit.  We cancelled well before any penalties were in effect.  The FCDs were returned to our account for future use, with the expiry still being 4 years from the date of our original purchase.  We subsequently used them on another cruise.  I don't see why FCDs on a covid cancellation would be treated any differently.

Couldn't agree more MightyQuinn.  I had to cancel when I did as final payment and a penalty increase to 50% was coming in two days and my TA tried to get the answer but, Seabourn said they did not know how the FCD would be handled.  Had no choice but to cancel without delay as the loss without canceling would have been much more costly than hoping Seabourn would take care of us  They now say the FCD will be included in the FCC but, I have doubts as just totay got my third lie about when it will come. 

 

Should be a no brainer however seems the cruise lines are working without brains nor transparency or communications and seemingly without refunds.  Yes, completely disgusted.

[MightyQuinn]

21 minutes ago, rallydave said:

They now say the FCD will be included in the FCC but, I have doubts as just totay got my third lie about when it will come.

 

It will be interesting to see how SB protects the 5% future discount associated with your FCD.  If it's lumped into an FCC, hopefully they don't just give you its base cost and you lose the future discount.

[zelker]

2 hours ago, rallydave said:

Just looked at the Cruise With Confidence Page and see absolutely nothing about FCD's with FDD's still having to be booked by the end of 2020 and sailing only in 2020 or 2021.  No change in usage or booking dates only change moving the pre August cancellations to pre September.

 

Please provide a link or information as have never seen anything about FCD's and when I cancelled on March 23 the word my got regarding the FCD I used was that Seabourn had not figured out what to do with cancellations including FCD's

 

Thanks,

 

My bad, I typed the wrong acronym.  I meant to write FCCs (future cruise credits) are now good until end of 2022.  Don't know if this only pertains to cruises Seabourn cancelled vs someone cancelling on their own.  

 

And here's the link to what I was referring to:  https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/news/pause-global-cruise-operations.html

 

Sorry for any confusion. 

 

FYI, our cruise SB cancelled DID include 2 FCDs as part of the original booking and those are included in the amount of the total refund.