CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[pete14]

28 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

As far as I know it is OK - I use All Clear.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[jeanlyon]

The best quote I got was Staysure, but each company seems to have different rules about Covid.  A lot of them say they will not cover Anything that is caused by Covid.  Staysure says they will cover medical expenses and repatriation.

[bee-ess]

30 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

The best quote I got was Staysure, but each company seems to have different rules about Covid.  A lot of them say they will not cover Anything that is caused by Covid.  Staysure says they will cover medical expenses and repatriation.

 

We use Staysure, luckily our two 2021 cruises are fully covered for Covid as they were booked pre Mar 2020 but only if we have continuous cover when it expires in Jan 2021. We could have taken a refund for the remaining  months in 2020 as all our 2020 cruises are cancelled but didn't take it as it would have broken our continuous cover and the 2021 cruises would not be covered for Covid.

[Josy1953]

I have just received an email from the TA telling me that they applied today to P&O for a refund for our cancelled cruise. We have already received the refund, I tried to call them but they are now only working 8 am to 1pm so I have replied by email.  I just hope that P&O don't refund twice otherwise I will have to organise a refund to P&O lol.

[jeanlyon]

Or you could keep it!🤣

[Josy1953]

Just now, jeanlyon said:

Or you could keep it!🤣

I would never sleep if I did that I would be waiting for the police to come and arrest me 😂😂

[jeanlyon]

P&O won't refund twice, that's for sure.

[grapau27]

7 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I have just received an email from the TA telling me that they applied today to P&O for a refund for our cancelled cruise. We have already received the refund, I tried to call them but they are now only working 8 am to 1pm so I have replied by email.  I just hope that P&O don't refund twice otherwise I will have to organise a refund to P&O lol.

Up to 60 days 😃

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, bobstheboy said:

A couple of posts deleted. I am going to repeat without hinting at T A

 

Quick summary.  I cancelled cruise with TA on 13th March, requested refun Confirmed by TA on 15th and stated no need to fill in form because they directly informing PO on a spread sheet.  I have been chasing PO for weeks and same reply, 28  days then 60 days. Last week PO confirmed I was on refund list but no date give, just by cheque. Today by Messenger told by POmy TA had not asked for refund and 60 day clock now starts.  Contacted T A and to summarise there is a dispute as to whose fault it is, TA blames PO,  who replied to TA "It's  a system fault." They would not comment on whose system !!!! 

 

My TA is trying to gather evidence to help but at the moment PO aren't budging and quote refund in up to 60 days.

 

Speechless.

Unbelievable. I am so sorry to hear that and suspect that you won’t be alone. I might be wrong, but it does seem as though those who are now experiencing the very longest delays used TA’s and the added complication factor / double handling / risk for error is sadly becoming apparent. I haven’t been at all surprised to read a number of posters saying that they will book direct in future, as the savings don’t appear to be big enough to warrant the hassle.  
 

On another matter, thank you to those (can’t remember who) who provided helpful advice about transferring the refund off credit cards, once received. My refunds landed on my credit card Saturday morning (45 days after cancellation - booked direct with P&O), I called my credit card company soon after and requested the transfer of the credit balance to my bank account and much to my surprise (as it’s a different bank altogether) the funds have just landed in my current account. I’m still waiting on £150 for the Select Dining reservations but it seems that very few, if any, people have had the on board extras refunded yet. Just relieved to have got the £4.5k back in my bank account. With the speed that refunds are now arriving at I am sure that many more people will be posting news in a matter of days. 

[Manx buoy]

1 hour ago, No pager thank you said:

Hurray ... about time!!

Only £6K to go😂😂😂

[happy v]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Now re insurance, very interestingly, I have just done a quote with a well known company, which is not too bad at £453 for the pair of us with a couple of conditions.  They will cover medical expenses and repatriation for Covid but not a cancellation for it.  So that's better than I have found before.

Ours is the same. It's all you need really.

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Now re insurance, very interestingly, I have just done a quote with a well known company, which is not too bad at £453 for the pair of us with a couple of conditions.  They will cover medical expenses and repatriation for Covid but not a cancellation for it.  So that's better than I have found before.

Glad you have found one that covers medical costs. I spoke with our travel insurer today, and he confirmed that urgent medical costs are still covered, but he assumes most insurers will be excluding cancellation and curtailment due to covid in the future.

[majortom10]

31 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

P&O won't refund twice, that's for sure.

They refunded me twice when I went on a cruise on Oriana. Prior to the cruise they changed the cruise and reduced it by 1 night because it had to go in for a refit. Initially they said I could have the refund for the one night as OBC which I refused and said I paid for my cruise in cash and wanted the refund in cash. After lengthy arguments they agreed to me to have the refund in cash and sent me a letter telling me to take the letter to reception and they would give me the refund which they did. When I returned home they had also sent me a cheque as refund. I phoned P&O to tell them I had already received the refund on the ship and after speaking to a senior manager was told to keep the cheque as compensation so actually got paid twice.

[No pager thank you]

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I have just received an email from the TA telling me that they applied today to P&O for a refund for our cancelled cruise. We have already received the refund, I tried to call them but they are now only working 8 am to 1pm so I have replied by email.  I just hope that P&O don't refund twice otherwise I will have to organise a refund to P&O lol.

Poetic justice if that happens...

 

In case they do chase you over an overpayment, just say you are arranging for your fellow posters on Cruise Critic to do an "audit" of the overpayment for you, that will put them off...😂

[happy v]

43 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I have just received an email from the TA telling me that they applied today to P&O for a refund for our cancelled cruise. We have already received the refund, I tried to call them but they are now only working 8 am to 1pm so I have replied by email.  I just hope that P&O don't refund twice otherwise I will have to organise a refund to P&O lol.

Wow they are slow. If you hadn't already done it you would have been waiting until July!

[peteukmcr]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Unbelievable. I am so sorry to hear that and suspect that you won’t be alone. I might be wrong, but it does seem as though those who are now experiencing the very longest delays used TA’s and the added complication factor / double handling / risk for error is sadly becoming apparent. I haven’t been at all surprised to read a number of posters saying that they will book direct in future, as the savings don’t appear to be big enough to warrant the hassle.  
 

On another matter, thank you to those (can’t remember who) who provided helpful advice about transferring the refund off credit cards, once received. My refunds landed on my credit card Saturday morning (45 days after cancellation - booked direct with P&O), I called my credit card company soon after and requested the transfer of the credit balance to my bank account and much to my surprise (as it’s a different bank altogether) the funds have just landed in my current account. I’m still waiting on £150 for the Select Dining reservations but it seems that very few, if any, people have had the on board extras refunded yet. Just relieved to have got the £4.5k back in my bank account. With the speed that refunds are now arriving at I am sure that many more people will be posting news in a matter of days. 

Was there no charge for the transfer? All money transfer options I see with my card incurs a % fee

[No pager thank you]

1 minute ago, peteukmcr said:

Was there no charge for the transfer? All money transfer options I see with my card incurs a % fee

Hi Pete,

That's only if you put money in to your current account (i.e. loan it from them).  Moving an actual credit from your credit card to your current account should be free of charge.  This is because credit (unlike pre pay) cards are not supposed to be run with a positive balance.

[NoFlyGuy]

6 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Hi Pete,

That's only if you put money in to your current account (i.e. loan it from them).  Moving an actual credit from your credit card to your current account should be free of charge.  This is because credit (unlike pre pay) cards are not supposed to be run with a positive balance.

We had to cancel back to back cruises Dec 18/Jan 19 on medical grounds. The refunds took our credit card into a positive balance.

There was no problem, just phoned card services and asked for the whole credit from P&O to be returned to our bank account.

No problem and certainly no fee.

Did the same when the 50% came back from our travel insurance - same result.

[peteukmcr]

29 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Hi Pete,

That's only if you put money in to your current account (i.e. loan it from them).  Moving an actual credit from your credit card to your current account should be free of charge.  This is because credit (unlike pre pay) cards are not supposed to be run with a positive balance.

 

17 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

We had to cancel back to back cruises Dec 18/Jan 19 on medical grounds. The refunds took our credit card into a positive balance.

There was no problem, just phoned card services and asked for the whole credit from P&O to be returned to our bank account.

No problem and certainly no fee.

Did the same when the 50% came back from our travel insurance - same result.

Thanks everyone, that's the situation I'm in and even though I used the card for payment to P&O at the time (for more protection), I immediately paid the amount off the card from my bank account, so now have a large credit balance.

[Selbourne]

35 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Was there no charge for the transfer? All money transfer options I see with my card incurs a % fee

No charge - I checked before I asked them to do it. The chap told me that their system will show a charge initially but to ignore it as that only applies if you are ‘borrowing’ money off them, not when you move out a credit. The system reverses the ‘fee’ within a few days. They must use the same IT provider as P&O 😂 

[No pager thank you]

17 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

No charge - I checked before I asked them to do it. The chap told me that their system will show a charge initially but to ignore it as that only applies if you are ‘borrowing’ money off them, not when you move out a credit. The system reverses the ‘fee’ within a few days. They must use the same IT provider as P&O 😂 

Made me chuckle - which one of the two people in the bank's refund team helped...🤣

[NoFlyGuy]

Maybe different card providers have different procedures. Just for the record my card is a John Lewis Partnership card.

[Mysticalmother]

1 hour ago, No pager thank you said:

Hi Pete,

That's only if you put money in to your current account (i.e. loan it from them).  Moving an actual credit from your credit card to your current account should be free of charge.  This is because credit (unlike pre pay) cards are not supposed to be run with a positive balance.

My bank have moved mine from my credit a card to my current account at my request  ... as far as I aware without charges..even though I had a large balance outstanding on my card... It is a card with a long interest free period taken out for a specific purchase which I am paying off in equal instalments over the interest free period. Hope I am not going to find any surprise charges..... I needed half the money to refund my friend who I was due to cruise with..

[Roger88]

My neighbors just got their refund after 90 days of waiting. I would say it was a pleasant experience but they managed somehow to get both a full refund and some FCC cruise credits on their next tour. I think it was due to the fact that they were on retirement  

[No pager thank you]

7 minutes ago, Mysticalmother said:

My bank have moved mine from my credit a card to my current account at my request  ... as far as I aware without charges..even though I had a large balance outstanding on my card... It is a card with a long interest free period taken out for a specific purchase which I am paying off in equal instalments over the interest free period. Hope I am not going to find any surprise charges..... I needed half the money to refund my friend who I was due to cruise with..

No, you shouldn't do.  You should still have your 0pc deal, which should be paid off as normal, as you mentioned.

 

As I mentioned the other day, the only thing you can't do is to use the refund to offset your obligation to make a payment already due on the card i.e. you cannot skip paying a month because P&O has refunded you, if there is an outstanding balance.

 

You have to, to avoid paying interest, either make at least the minimum payment every month on a 0pc card, or pay the full balance if you do not have a 0pc deal.

 

The only scenario, as mentioned by Selbourne and No Fly Guy where you would be charged is if you borrowed new money from the credit card company, that's not what anyone is doing.

 

I'm not an accountant or finanvial adviser of course, but hope that helps.  I think that I am allowed to mention that Martin Lewis has more information on the topic if you are in any way worried, as would the card company.