Cancelled, requested refund and actually received one?

[SpeedySal]

Has anybody who has cancelled and requested a refund actually received one? I have been told by Costa that my ‘refund request has been added to our database’ and they will ‘proceed with refund ASAP probably NOT before end of April’.

What have you been told? Have you received a refund?

Thanks a lot in advance and apologises if you think this should have been added! to an existing thread but I felt an update would be useful to us all.

[dritan]

Hi - I've received the same responses today - just a wait and see for us all I guess. 

[dethman]

checked a week ago, said it would be still be weeks before i received a refund.  and i cancelled a month ago.

[SpeedySal]

Thanks for your replies. We also cancelled a few weeks ago and they couldn’t say how long the refund would take and it was only after following it up that this further information was given that they were ‘in an unprecedented situation and had a very important backlog’.

As we know, a lot of us pay instantly on a credit card, the deposit and the balance, so it is surely only a two minute process to issue a refund? They are sitting on a fair amount of our money even though we are already substantially out of pocket having to accept the £50 per person penalty on several cruises even though our cancellations are entirely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the first time we have had to cancel so I don’t know what the usual procedure would be but I would imagine it would be done instantly as payments are taken instantly.

We are expected to trust them that our refunds will be forthcoming eventually but there does not seem to be very much we can do about it.

 

[gerryuk]

My understanding is that all cruise lines have a window of between 60 and 90 days for refunds. They are done on a cycle and this is how it was done, before this virus. 

I am personally not worried about any refunds from Costa, costa is part of the Carnival group, and they has deep pockets.

Out of all the cruise lines out there, MSC are probably the safest bet, the cruise part of their operations are only a very small part of their business. MSC are the worlds second largest container shipment business in the world, so their cruise line is going no ware.

As for Costa, although on these boards we are mainly appalled at how their management have handled all this from the get-go, I think we need to remember that the vast majority of customers that Costa have, are from Italy. Before the shut down most Italians were not allowed on their ships, so very few of their large customer base were impacted. Once this is all over Costa will be in a good position as most cruisers from Italy will gravitate towards Costa again. 

 

[SpeedySal]

Thanks for that info, Gerry, it is very helpful to know that this is not abnormal to how refunds would usually work and that it seems to fit with how all the other cruise lines are operating in this crisis.

All those Italians who had cancelled cruises would have had to have refunds processed, of course, and no doubt cash flow has to be managed.
I am truly hoping that we will be able to sail with Costa again in the future. However, we all need to get through this first.

 

[gerryuk]

I received this email today from Costa, it looks like refunds will be done in 2 weeks time. I booked through Costa UK, so it could be different depending on how you booked and the country you booked from.

 

Info UK (info@uk.costa.it)To:you Details

Dear Sir

With this e-mail I want to inform you that we registered your request of refund .
It will be taken in charge by our account in 2 weeks

We thank you in advance for your kind understanding and patience

Best regards

Letizia
 

Costa Club
Costa Crociere S.p.A
Piazza Piccapietra, 48 - Italy - 16121 Genova

[SpeedySal]

Hi Gerry

I hate to say this but ‘taken in charge by our account’ is not actually saying they will be refunding you. I hope it does mean that but I have not had much encouragement when I have phoned as it all sounds very vague and they are unable/unwilling to give any definite information regarding a refund date. Neither are you able to speak to their accounts department. I felt I was being politely fobbed off.

Has ANYBODY actually received a refund from Costa who booked directly via Costa UK? I would be very interested to know please?

[gerryuk]

Well customers who had their cruises cancelled with Costa owners Carnival, have started to receive their refunds this week.

I am pretty confident that refunds will be going to Costa customers in the next 2 / 3 weeks.

[SpeedySal]

Hmm, I wish I shared your optimism and I certainly hope you are right.
A massive class action against Costa Cruises is imminent. The potential financial hit is astronomical.

Carnival has very deep pockets despite the massive drop in its share price. 
However, I think the most likely outcome is for Carnival to sacrifice Costa and rebuild Carnival. The liquidator will probably sell Costa for £1 if you fancy a punt.

[gerryuk]

6 minutes ago, SpeedySal said:

Hmm, I wish I shared your optimism and I certainly hope you are right.
A massive class action against Costa Cruises is imminent. The potential financial hit is astronomical.

Carnival has very deep pockets despite the massive drop in its share price. 
However, I think the most likely outcome is for Carnival to sacrifice Costa and rebuild Carnival. The liquidator will probably sell Costa for £1 if you fancy a punt.

I paid for my cancelled cruise with a Mastercard debit card, so in that respect I have no fall back. I believe that if you paid with a credit card you go to the credit card issuer and claim your money back through them? I do not know the intricacies of how you do it, but I believe it is one of the avenues that those who purchased their cruise tickets with such cards can take? 

I am sure somebody on here will know the finer details of this.

[SpeedySal]

Well, I felt I had no option other than to cancel as I was so stressed that Costa were letting May cruises drift on as if they were still going ahead when it was blatantly obvious they were not going to happen and although I had paid by credit card, I think it was a mistake to cancel as I believe I have no recourse with the credit card company if Costa default on refunds.
If I had waited until the eleventh hour when Costa cancelled, I think I would at least be able to take it up with the credit card company which is why I hope you are right and that refunds will eventually be forthcoming.

[resistk]

On 4/25/2020 at 10:15 AM, SpeedySal said:

Well, I felt I had no option other than to cancel as I was so stressed that Costa were letting May cruises drift on as if they were still going ahead when it was blatantly obvious they were not going to happen and although I had paid by credit card, I think it was a mistake to cancel as I believe I have no recourse with the credit card company if Costa default on refunds.
If I had waited until the eleventh hour when Costa cancelled, I think I would at least be able to take it up with the credit card company which is why I hope you are right and that refunds will eventually be forthcoming.

 

You can dispute the pending refund with your credit card company if it seems to be taking too long.  If you read the Carnival and other boards, that is the strategy many are employing.

Edited April 30, 2020 by resistk

[tenpin]

Twelve Costa ships roughly 3000 passengers every week, port fees, crews wages (10.500 roughly), maintenance food wastage and HO in Genova shut for ten weeks with staff wages still to be paid. 

Read today there are 100,000 crew on board at sea on cruise ships how on earth are those Companies going to survive.

 

Think we will be lucky to see the start of cruising for at least six more months.

[jerseylily]

You cannot book a cruise in June now on Costa website in the general cruise search area. Recent change?

Edited May 3, 2020 by jerseylily

[tenpin]

I guess we will have to hire a small cruiser (with Chef & Stewards) ourselves & cruise only without port visits, nothing new to me don't go ashore on cruises now, been there seen that.

 

Still come in here every day, but not a lot happening on the boards.

[jerseylily]

To ensure health protection worldwide, we have suspended the activities of our ships until the end of June. Find out all the details about cancellations and how to get and use the voucher to rebook.

 

this just posted on Costa UK website.  Details have not been updated yet. No email received regarding my June cruise yet.  I suppose it is all over for June!

[gerryuk]

No ports in Europe or any ware else are going to accept cruise ships for the foreseeable future. I don't see any cruises starting up until nearer the end of this year. Once cruise ships start up there will be heavy restrictions applied before the set sail.   

[gerryuk]

30 minutes ago, jerseylily said:

To ensure health protection worldwide, we have suspended the activities of our ships until the end of June. Find out all the details about cancellations and how to get and use the voucher to rebook.

 

this just posted on Costa UK website.  Details have not been updated yet. No email received regarding my June cruise yet.  I suppose it is all over for June!

The current UK site was updated about 2 weeks ago. The vast majority of their cruises are unbookable, and have been for some time. You can book some cruises, mainly for 2021 though. The is no chance that Costa will be sailing again with customers, even in July, many governments wont sanction this. Also the world has to open first, airlines, hotels, public transport and the like will need to be up and running before any cruise line can even consider sailing again. Forget customers for a moment, many of those working on cruise lines have been flown back to their homes, particularly in the Far East and India, without international flights restarting, Costa and other lines will not be able to staff their ships, hence no cruises. I personally have a transatlantic booked with Costa from Savona to Rio De Janeiro in November, I am not even hopeful that this will sail, but if it does there will be many restrictions for customers on the ship,

[jerseylily]

So going back to the original question...has anyone has a refund paid by Costa yet?

[gerryuk]

Not yet, if Carnival Cruises are anything to go by then Costa will refund the cruises that were cancelled first. They initially told everybody that refunds will take up to 90 days, so we are looking at the middle of next month at the latest, for the earliest cancelled cruises to be refunded. I am hopeful refunds will now start to be processed in the next two weeks.   

[jerseylily]

Fingers crossed.  They have cancelled but no email yet. So 90 days we are talking at least August.  As soon as anyone gets a payment it will be great to hear from them.

[SpeedySal]

Hi all

I agree with what you are all saying here, sadly I doubt very much that there will be any cruises going anywhere for the rest of this year and until a vaccine is found (tested, produced, distributed etc.)most of us won’t be going anywhere at all even if things gradually start opening up. Health is all that counts at this point.
 

We cancelled all cruises we had in the pipeline and my guess is we are in the same line as everyone who waited till their cruises were cancelled by Costa. They are going to put off refunds while everyone else is paid, IMO, and if there is anything left maybe they will start some refunds. Carnival are behaving a bit better by the sound of things.

As Jerseylily says, it would be great if we post here if any refunds are forthcoming - let’s stay united!

 

Personally, we are devastated that cruising is off the agenda as we love it so much, as I am sure many others here do also, BUT when it comes to a question of possible life or death........no contest! 

Kindest wishes to all fellow cruisers and all who adore cruising. Hoping for a brighter future for the whole world not just us lucky cruisers who have found something we love. Take care.

 

 

[jerseylily]

Just got the cancellation email to quote...

 

 

Since we’d love nothing more than to welcome you back just as soon as we resume operations, we will offer you a voucher equal to the 100% of the price already paid for the cancelled cruise plus an on board credit of 200 € per cabin for a cruise of 8 or more nights or 150 € per cabin for cruises up to 7 nights.

 

 

We will email them tomorrow requiring a refund per section 8 of thier terms and conditions which I signed up to and will keep you posted.

 

Keep safe in the meantime with best wishes from Jersey island.....

[gerryuk]

Check the price of a similar cruise that they cancelled on you for next year. You will probably find that the € 200 on board credit is not worth the paper it is written on. They offered me the same deal, I checked the same cruise and itinerary for 2021 and the price for the same outside cabin that I booked was € 500 more than I paid this year. So I will have had to pay another € 500 for them to gift me € 200, which I would have to spend on their ship, I am stupid but not that stupid. 

I think that accepting a Future Cruise Credit voucher and paying even more for the same cruise is playing Russian roulette with my money, no thanks.