Are we the only one who hasn't received refund?

[Jonbiloh]

It is COMPLETELY illogical to believe that there are practical/operational reasons as to why refunds must take 30, 45 or up to 90 days that some folks have been advised.

 

The only reason this is happening is because of the cash strain on RCL's balance sheet. 

 

All of my other travel (airlines/hotels) interrupted by COVID-19 have been refunded within days after the request. Royal is the sole outlier. 

 

Tomorrow I am going to make additional efforts to gain some official word on when I can expect a refund. Late last week we were told that our refunds were not processing due to "errors" in the RCL system (this after numerous calls over the past 5 weeks to make sure that was not the case). About $500 of my current reservations were paid for using FCCs from a November 2019 cruise that missed ports due to Allure's propulsion issue. I know that if I file chargebacks (on the balance, 14.5K~ paid via credit card) I forgo getting that back most likely. Also unclear is any potential long term ramifications to my ability to sail on RCL in the future and my D+ status. 

 

The reality is folks that the future is very dark for NCL and RCL. It could easily end up taking 180+ days for refunds to be processed if the cash flow situation does not improve -- if ever, as a default would likely wipe out people owed refunds. 

 

For all the people that mistakenly received FCCs after requesting a cash refund (this includes me on one of my 3 reservations for cruises canceled by RCL in mid March) the reason for that is very simple. By converting the monies paid by its customers to FCC RCL is able to avoid taking a hit to Industrial Free Cashflow - the most important metric to gauge a company's practical operational health - in accordance with GAAP. By kicking the can down the road 30/60 days RCL is hoping that enough new bookings come in to support the pyramid scheme they are sitting on top of. Will those payments come in? Are you willing to risk your money? Tough questions right... 

[keishashadow]

Cancelled my sailing on 3/13.  Called RCCL on 4/17 to inquire as to my refund.

 

was told they didn’t start to process it until ‘after the cruise docked’ on 4/5.  Interesting phrasing since the ship never sailed.

 

then, the rep, said something to effect of “...wait, I’m seeing it’s moving thru the system...has been checked off by two departments...should be soon”

 

I’m the sort that would rather be told the cold, hard truth vs having smoke blown where the sun don’t shine.🙄  

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Jonbiloh said:

All of my other travel (airlines/hotels) interrupted by COVID-19 have been refunded within days after the request. Royal is the sole outlier. 

What about NCL?

[Jonbiloh]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

What about NCL?

My comment was in reference to my own experience canceling travel. I have no travel booked with ncl and therefore nothing to cancel with them. 

 

For the record, for anyone who does have ncl travel booked, be very cautious as they are the fast track to bankruptcy. Ncl has already hired bankers to evaluate their options as of a few days ago. 

[Iamcruzin]

11 minutes ago, Jonbiloh said:

My comment was in reference to my own experience canceling travel. I have no travel booked with ncl and therefore nothing to cancel with them. 

 

For the record, for anyone who does have ncl travel booked, be very cautious as they are the fast track to bankruptcy. Ncl has already hired bankers to evaluate their options as of a few days ago. 

Oh Boy.

[Jonbiloh]

46 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Oh Boy.

NCL had poor financials prior to covid-19.

 

They are the weakest of the 3 majors by far. 

 

If they do avoid major dilution or bankruptcy the company will be a shell of its former self. 

 

Just look at what has happened to carnival with their stock and debt offerings recently. And ccl is the strongest by miles when it comes to underlying financial position. 

[Kbonner]

8 hours ago, Jonbiloh said:

By kicking the can down the road 30/60 days RCL is hoping that enough new bookings come in to support the pyramid scheme they are sitting on top of. Will those payments come in? Are you willing to risk your money? Tough questions right... 

Isn't the right word for that=

Ponzi scheme?

[bobmacliberty]

In the best of times, Royal has problems with bookings/payments.  Fully paid reservations that suddenly show a balance due, difficulty processing refunds/FCCs for individually cancelled cruises, entire reservations disappearing from their online system.  Their IT system just flat out sucks...especially when they give the intern time off 😁.  I'd lean more toward the incompetent end of the scale than the thievery end.  Disclaimer...I have no cancelled cruises.

 

Here is my own "conspiracy theory" thought (with zero data to back it up).  Could Royal be giving refund priority to their top TAs?  TAs are very important to Royal and it would make sense to me that refunding those clients earlier would help these TAs maintain good customer service.  That would assume that they can quickly identify these customers, which goes against my IT incompetence argument above.  Maybe some of our resident TAs can comment.

 

I'd also be interested if TAs have seen ANY full refunds so far.  As Biker noted, CC is a small % of the real cruising population, and even then, people typically only post here with problems.  If there are no refunds happening anywhere, then the argument for Royal holding onto funds gets a lot stronger for me.

[Jonbiloh]

5 hours ago, Kbonner said:

Isn't the right word for that=

Ponzi scheme?

The two are used interchangeably and according to Google have the same meaning. 

 

Also the bit about NCL reviewing options for liquidity and "strategic alternatives" made the top news article on CNBC this morning. That's one small step before bankruptcy. 

[Biker19]

50 minutes ago, Jonbiloh said:

That's one small step before bankruptcy. 

It doesn't seem to be reflected in their stock price - only down 3%

[Garyjames220]

I have been dealing with a team leader to sort our refund and have had to push them

 

just got a email there saying that our May cruise has been fully refunded today and should show on our credit card within the next few days

Edited April 20, 2020 by Garyjames220

[lidodeck03]

On 4/15/2020 at 8:17 AM, Dadof2kids said:

I don't think people are being impatient. I think we all see what is going on in the cruise industry and are concerned about our cash flow just like the cruise industry is.  I will gladly give it back to them in the future but I would rather hold on to it myself.

When you call in to make a deposit and/or final payment on your cruise, the customer service agent can take your credit card number and process the deposit and/or final payment for your cruise (at least 90 days BEFORE your cruise).....however, when you call to get a refund on your cruise that RCI cancelled, that same customer service agent can tell you everything about the refund, they just can't apply it back to your credit card that was used to make the final payment and/or deposit. Seems like it should be a much easier process than it is. If they are capable of processing the transactions to pay for the cruise, they should be capable of processing the credit as well.

[Scarlette]

6 minutes ago, Garyjames220 said:

I have been dealing with a team leader to sort our refund and have had to push them

 

just got a email there saying that our May cruise has been fully refunded today and should show on our credit card within the next few days

 

 

Did you book through a TA or directly with Royal?

 

I have a full refundable deposit owing.  I cancelled on March 23rd, I called this morning and she said the refund was refunded to my credit card yesterday, which was Sunday??  I guess we will see in a few days.  I am not holding my breath.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Scarlette

[Garyjames220]

1 minute ago, Scarlette said:

 

 

Did you book through a TA or directly with Royal?

 

I have a full refundable deposit owing.  I cancelled on March 23rd, I called this morning and she said the refund was refunded to my credit card yesterday??  I guess we will see in a few days.  I am not holding my breath.

 

Direct with royal

[coaster]

Royal stating 30 business days now. Not just 30 calendar days. The excuse just keeps changing when pressed for an answer.

 

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/04/19/charlotte-area-travelers-struggle-get-refunds-cancelled-cruise-trips-due-covid-/

 

Very sound advice in regards to booking new cruises...

 

According to the BBB, if you’re trying to hop on deals and book a trip, you may want to wait until things are calmer in the cruise line industry.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by coaster

[Biker19]

29 minutes ago, coaster said:

Royal stating 30 business days now. Not just 30 calendar days. The excuse just keeps changing when pressed for an answer.

The front line CSR will give you any answer to get you off the phone - they don't control the refunds, some other section of RCI does over which they have no control.

[reallyitsmema]

Just called Royal Caribbean again concerning a cruise I cancelled on March 10th.  We were originally told 7 to 10 business days for our refund of our cruise planner purchases and 25% of our cruise fare.  I called a second time on March 26th after not receiving any refunds.  Rep spoke to a supervisor and said they are taking a little longer than expected.  Received our cruise planner refunds on April 1st but nothing more.  Called again on April 10th and was told refunds are taking 30 days and we should receive it "next week".  Waited again and called today, April 20th, to see what was up with the cruise fare refund.  Waited on hold to get a rep and explained the situation.  Was then put on hold for almost 15 minutes as the rep researched the issue.  She said she had to talk to the accounting department to find out what was going on and found that our refund had not been initiated and has been corrected.  It will now take another 30 days to get out refund.

 

It is absolutely crazy that they can not process refunds in a timely manner.  We had hotel and airfare that also had to be cancelled for this trip.  We had used points for the hotel and they were back in our account immediately upon cancelling.  Our refund for our flights posted within four days of speaking to Jetblue and our baggage fees hit within 10 days.  I will wait another 30 days before calling Royal Caribbean again but we will not be making any future bookings.  We have FCC that were issued as part of the refund for this cancelled cruise that we have basically written off due to their new policies.  We fully understand that there is a pandemic and that all businesses are trying to deal with our shutdown economy but Royal Caribbean has failed where others have succeeded.

[juvy]

It is very odd, when its time for us to Pay, Royal wants the funds NOW.  But trying to get the money back is like pulling teeth.  After all this time is over, I will for sure be checking the reviews for the cruise lines that refunded their loyal customers in a timely manner.  Very poor customer service.

CVA 62

[keishashadow]

3 hours ago, Garyjames220 said:

I have been dealing with a team leader to sort our refund and have had to push them

 

just got a email there saying that our May cruise has been fully refunded today and should show on our credit card within the next few days

Congrats, but rather Curious as so many with cruises from March are still waiting. 

 

Squeaky wheel shouldn’t be getting the grease, in a perfect world it should be first in, first out.

Edited April 20, 2020 by keishashadow

[Garyjames220]

5 minutes ago, keishashadow said:

5 minutes ago, keishashadow said:

Congrats, but rather Curious as so many with cruises from March are still waiting. 

 

Squeaky wheel shouldn’t be getting the grease, in a perfect world it should be first in, first out.

I did call a few times to explain I was unhappy with time scales. Spoke to team leader twice and he sent me email today confirming it had been done. 

[keishashadow]

42 minutes ago, Garyjames220 said:

 

Hope you do receive it soon!  Make sure to come back & let us all know. Would be a morale boost as not many success stories lately

[Judyrem]

46 minutes ago, Garyjames220 said:

 

I could fiddle with them, wait on hold and act irate😬.   I just don't have the heart and the will to deal with this horrible situation right now on top of the all the other trips, hotels, airlines that I have had to plead for a refund.

 

I am just tired of the whole process and will definitely not be sailing with them anytime in the near future unless the get their ****

together.

 

 

[Garyjames220]

Don’t get we wrong it took hours of calls and emails to sort this

 

but they issued me with a FCC when I asked for a refund I said to them I am not waiting for you to start the refund process again when it was your error  It needs sorted now

 

i spoke to someone higher up and I said I will be calling daily until I get this money if not 

 

he then re started the refund process on 7th April then got this email today 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Garyjames220

[keishashadow]

Ok, noticed the denomination in the above post...

 

curious, if those who have received refunds are primarily non US cruisers

[Garyjames220]

1 minute ago, keishashadow said:

Ok, noticed the denomination in the above post...

 

curious, if those who have received refunds are primarily non US cruisers

well he told me it was the back office team in Miami that sorts the refunds. I’m guessing it’s the same office Mybe for USA bookings