Refund 1st then I will book again

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Not so fast.  Working now with a large experience travel agency which has apparently switched loyalties from the customer to the cruise line.  They work on commission and canceled cruises mean no commission.  FCC is the name of the game today - keeps the cruise line and the TA with money on the books.  And FCC keeps the customer in limbo, especially with the current guidance from CLAI and CDC.  Like a cruise line, a TA can financially restructure or just cease operations.  You monies are lost to creditors.  Caveat Emptor with TAs just as with cruise lines.

 

Don't base your travel agent perspective on an agency like that one. My guess is that it is an online agency? Why do people have travel agents and entrust their travel to someone they have never met. Find a local travel agent like you would a realtor or an auto dealership. My travel agent has been my agent for 20 years. She is also a close friend (not because we were friends first but because she became my friend over those many years).

 

Yes, FCC is the name of the game. Are you going to stop cruising? I doubt it. If so, why would you be posting on a cruise discussion website? So why would you not take 125% FCC rather a complete refund. Do you expect cruise lines to go out of business? The big three are doing OK and have financing in place that should get them through this. The financial analysts who advise on the cruise industry say they will not go out of business. RCL shares were down to  $34 yesterday. After 9/11 they were below $7 so it looks like the are OK. As far as being in limbo because the CDC may not let us cruise for awhile, I know I am going to cruise again...eventually. Maybe it's two years but I know I will use that FCC. 

 

As to you losing money if your TA goes out of business, that is a problem.You should never be giving money to a TA. No TA should be touching your money. When I buy a cruise from my TA, all my payment goes directly to the cruise line. My TAs company never charges anything. They get their money as commission after you sail. If they go out of business, I still have my cruise or I can cancel or postpone directly with the cruise line. If your TA is taking your money and not directly passing it on to the cruise/air/hotel you are choosing, then you should get a new TA. Those people are scam artists. 

[sippican]

3 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Not so fast.  Working now with a large experience travel agency which has apparently switched loyalties from the customer to the cruise line.  They work on commission and canceled cruises mean no commission.

 

FWIW, the RCCL compnay is protecting commissions - if the cruise is cancelled, the agent/agency gets paid.

[Mr. Click]

Dr Koob, FCCs are a waste for those of us over 70.  There has been much discussion about the current restrictions on us old fogeys  so I took the cash refund, when ever it shows up. 

[Quo Vadis?]

On 4/17/2020 at 5:25 PM, DrKoob said:

 

This is a prime example of why I ALWAYS book with a travel agent. Mine would fight for this for me like there was no tomorrow. In fact mine did once before. Got me a complete refund. Still don't understand why people don't use TAs. They cost nothing to you and if you have a good one, you have a great advocate. 

We used a TA.  Our March 15th cruise on Silhouette was a group cruise according to Celebrity and the "TA will handle it."   Our March 27th cruise, still through the same agency was "settled" directly by Celebrity in the form of an FCC and refunded taxes over a week ago.  Nothing from the TA, no return response from emails.  The TA is as consistent as Celebrity.  A refund from Celebrity promised on March 7th is somewhere in the clouds.

"Hell has no fury" as  the story goes as a dedicated loyalist who has been shafted by the system.  (I was going to use another phraseolgy but it probably would not have passed the censors).

[Pickels]

On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 3:47 PM, george35 said:

We had a b/b on the Equinox starting  on March 28th, so we are looking in excess of $4000. I will not even look at another cruise untill I get my refund. My wife & myself are people who cruise 3 or 4 times a year but I dont want to chance the cruise line filling some kind of suit so they dont have to pay all that money back. But in my way of thinking they had my money well ahead of the sailing time & collected intrest on it why shoud I have to wait so long for my refund, I didnt cancell the cruise they did. I know they said 30 days for the refund but I would give odds it is going to take longer then 30 days to get my refund.

 

george35

I wonder how we'll do with our credit voucher for future cruise?

[critterchick]

On 4/20/2020 at 7:33 PM, az_tchr said:

George - Not sure of the whole picture.  You did not share all the details.  As for Cruise Air refund - the airlines changed their policies on March 1st.  You likely have a credit instead of a refund.  Fully understand there are no flights to Scotland today, but when you cancelled there were.

Celebrity and you are both caught up in an unprecedented situation.  Much of the refund issue is that you have multiple accounts - fare, taxes, upgrades like shore or perks and air.  Each is handled separately.  

Interest earned by Celebrity?  I was paid at an annual rate of .0001 by Chase Bank.  Celebrity puts $$ into an escrow account.  Am sure that account has pretty much zero in it.

As for waiting to rebook.  Booking now is crazy.  Wait for things (and you) to calm down.

PS I have $500 in credit from United, await a FCC from Celebrity from 6 weeks ago on a cruise I cancelled and another FCC/future refund on a cruise they cancelled.  Not worth getting frustrated or and calls.  My TA will take care of everything.

Patience.

 

To what change of policy are you referring? Refundable air is refundable air, and the airlines can't change their policies on an already-booked ticket. The problem with booking nonrefundable air through Celebrity is that they will cancel the flight immediately (or their version of immediately). If the airline subsequently cancels the flight, then the airline must refund the airfare to those still holding tickets. But if Flights by Celebrity cancel the flight prematurely, then the passenger is out of luck.

And your TA can't do anything to speed the process (which may not be what you mean). I think that Celebrity (and the other lines) need to send a followup communication at least apologizing for the delay and explaining what is taking so long.

 

3 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Not so fast.  Working now with a large experience travel agency which has apparently switched loyalties from the customer to the cruise line.  They work on commission and canceled cruises mean no commission.  FCC is the name of the game today - keeps the cruise line and the TA with money on the books.  And FCC keeps the customer in limbo, especially with the current guidance from CLAI and CDC.  Like a cruise line, a TA can financially restructure or just cease operations.  You monies are lost to creditors.  Caveat Emptor with TAs just as with cruise lines.

 

All commissions on cruises cancelled by the cruiseline or under the Cruise with Confidence program are protected - if the cruise is fully paid, the TA is fully paid. And if a client takes an FCC and rebooks, the TA gets a commission on that sailing as well. But I like to think that a client who gets a refund will rebook with me some time in the future, so the latter feature is really just smoke and mirrors to me.

And, if your TA isn't simply passing your payment information along to the cruiseline, it's time to find a new one for the very reason you cited.

[az_tchr]

4 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Not so fast.  Working now with a large experience travel agency which has apparently switched loyalties from the customer to the cruise line.  They work on commission and canceled cruises mean no commission.  FCC is the name of the game today - keeps the cruise line and the TA with money on the books.  And FCC keeps the customer in limbo, especially with the current guidance from CLAI and CDC.  Like a cruise line, a TA can financially restructure or just cease operations.  You monies are lost to creditors.  Caveat Emptor with TAs just as with cruise lines.

Actually RCCL pays TAs on cancelled cruises.  A GOOD TA is gold.

[az_tchr]

1 hour ago, critterchick said:

 

To what change of policy are you referring? Refundable air is refundable air, and the airlines can't change their policies on an already-booked ticket. The problem with booking nonrefundable air through Celebrity is that they will cancel the flight immediately (or their version of immediately). If the airline subsequently cancels the flight, then the airline must refund the airfare to those still holding tickets. But if Flights by Celebrity cancel the flight prematurely, then the passenger is out of luck.

And your TA can't do anything to speed the process (which may not be what you mean). I think that Celebrity (and the other lines) need to send a followup communication at least apologizing for the delay and explaining what is taking so long.

 

 

All commissions on cruises cancelled by the cruiseline or under the Cruise with Confidence program are protected - if the cruise is fully paid, the TA is fully paid. And if a client takes an FCC and rebooks, the TA gets a commission on that sailing as well. But I like to think that a client who gets a refund will rebook with me some time in the future, so the latter feature is really just smoke and mirrors to me.

And, if your TA isn't simply passing your payment information along to the cruiseline, it's time to find a new one for the very reason you cited.

Very convoluted reply but airlines were issuing refunds on pretty much all tickets in February.  Starting in March they began issuing only credits on non refundable tickets.  A big change.  Also with Cruise Air the airlines started making YOU deal with cancelled flights instead of Celebrity.

My TA will handle things.  They have emailed instructions on how to handle my FCCs.  Some applied to a 2021 cruise and part to be refunded to my credit card.  She said she can check to see when the FCCs are issued and handle things.  Just to be patient as. she thought 6-8 weeks for all to be completed.

[DrKoob]

4 hours ago, Argo. said:

We used a TA.  Our March 15th cruise on Silhouette was a group cruise according to Celebrity and the "TA will handle it."   Our March 27th cruise, still through the same agency was "settled" directly by Celebrity in the form of an FCC and refunded taxes over a week ago.  Nothing from the TA, no return response from emails.  The TA is as consistent as Celebrity.  A refund from Celebrity promised on March 7th is somewhere in the clouds.

"Hell has no fury" as  the story goes as a dedicated loyalist who has been shafted by the system.  (I was going to use another phraseolgy but it probably would not have passed the censors).

 

As they say, patience is a virtue. Please realize how backed up the groups department is. TAs put people into groups to get them extra benefits and lower pricing but when it comes to dealing with things like this crisis, groups are tough. Just hang on, it will show up...eventually. I am waiting for some money on a group that sailed in February before all this started happening. They are that far behind. It's going to he difficult to figure out if you want an FCC when you are priced in a group as well.

 

Also realize that the cruise line offices in many states are closed due to restrictions. That means that while you may get a person on the phone, working from home, they may not be able to have accounting get a check out. 

[critterchick]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:08 AM, az_tchr said:

Very convoluted reply but airlines were issuing refunds on pretty much all tickets in February.  Starting in March they began issuing only credits on non refundable tickets.  A big change.  Also with Cruise Air the airlines started making YOU deal with cancelled flights instead of Celebrity.

My TA will handle things.  They have emailed instructions on how to handle my FCCs.  Some applied to a 2021 cruise and part to be refunded to my credit card.  She said she can check to see when the FCCs are issued and handle things.  Just to be patient as. she thought 6-8 weeks for all to be completed.

 

Thanks for the clarification. That's a downside of booking with the line - I had a very expensive flight to Hawaii for which I didn't want to take a credit, so I waited out AA until they cancelled a week prior - under those circumstances I was entitled to (and promptly received) a full refund.  I'm unclear how Celebrity are handling the nonrefundable tickets - they say to contact the carriers, but don't indicate whether they will also cancel the flight on the passenger's behalf. In most circumstances I would prefer to wait until the day of the flight to see if the airline blinks first.

[DWhit]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:47 PM, george35 said:

We had a b/b on the Equinox starting  on March 28th, so we are looking in excess of $4000. I will not even look at another cruise untill I get my refund. My wife & myself are people who cruise 3 or 4 times a year but I dont want to chance the cruise line filling some kind of suit so they dont have to pay all that money back. But in my way of thinking they had my money well ahead of the sailing time & collected intrest on it why shoud I have to wait so long for my refund, I didnt cancell the cruise they did. I know they said 30 days for the refund but I would give odds it is going to take longer then 30 days to get my refund.

 

george35

I would have to say that is a reasonable plan.  Best of luck!

[LEtue]

The week ended on a good note for me.  My $900 credit from Celebrity showed up today and yesterday American Airlines waived the fee to put my award miles back in my account on a web special priced trip I was going to take in May.  😃

 

I hope everyone gets good news soon and stay safe!

Edited April 26, 2020 by LEtue

[NC State]

On 4/17/2020 at 3:47 PM, george35 said:

We had a b/b on the Equinox starting  on March 28th, so we are looking in excess of $4000. I will not even look at another cruise untill I get my refund. My wife & myself are people who cruise 3 or 4 times a year but I dont want to chance the cruise line filling some kind of suit so they dont have to pay all that money back. But in my way of thinking they had my money well ahead of the sailing time & collected intrest on it why shoud I have to wait so long for my refund, I didnt cancell the cruise they did. I know they said 30 days for the refund but I would give odds it is going to take longer then 30 days to get my refund.

 

george35

George, we were also scheduled to be on the Equinox on March 28th. We want to rebook but like you I want my money back before I pull the trigger again. We have three picked out since we don't know when cruising will start again.

[dabear]

This morning I was able to cancel one 2020 European cruise and transfer our deposit to another cruise in 2021. I was pleased since I would not have been happy if I had to pay another deposit while I wait for my refund.

[ORV]

Not only do I want my money back before booking anything else I want to see all the ships back sailing and people being healthy before I book anything with my FCC.