No refund on cruise cancelled by Holland

[Niagarawine]

I have been waiting for a refund that I requested on the May 9 cruise to Alaska cancelled by Holland last month I filled in the form sent to me and indicated I did not want fcc but a refund. I did not receive a confirmation back but assumed they would honour my request. I contacted my cc provider today as nothing showed up n my statement. She contacted them and told me I was highly unlikely that I would receive anything back . How does that work? That does it for me.

[taxmantoo]

Why contact your credit card issuer and how would they know the details of your booking with HAL?  You should contact HAL directly if you booked with them, or your travel agent if you used one. 

[ontheweb]

As you might imagine, there are a lot of requests for refunds. It will take time.

[Nymich]

They have not even refunded the March cruises and they were the first so be prepared to wait.

[Janet76]

Sounds like cash management problem to me.  Hal devotees can bash all they want but CCL need our money to pay off current debt.  

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Nymich said:

They have not even refunded the March cruises and they were the first so be prepared to wait.

 

Actually they have refunded some on the April cruises we were on that cancelled early but some are still waiting.  I can’t figure out the rhyme or reason to this when several of us cancelled at the same time.

[CruiserBruce]

This sounds very familiar...hasn't it been discussed extensively here?

 

There is absolutely NO factual indication there won't be refunds.

[kevingastreich]

Obviously they are keeping the money as long as they can. They don't have it just sitting around waiting to give it back to people.  When you give HAL a deposit, they use it for operating expenses etc. They need people to pay for some cruises first so they can give back some deposits. It's kinda like a Ponzi scheme but it's all legitimate until something like this happens and then there is not enough money to go around. Sorta like a run on the banks, if everyone wanted all their money at the same time, the bank couldn't do it.

[CruiserBruce]

56 minutes ago, kevingastreich said:

 Sorta like a run on the banks, if everyone wanted all their money at the same time, the bank couldn't do it.

NO bank, ever, has 100% of its deposits and liabilities just sitting around, being held in reserve, in cash. NONE. Neither does any other type of company. Too many people think(not saying you do, @kevingastreich, but far too many do think ), incorrectly, that businesses just have huge quantities of cash just sitting around, just because they are large companies. Total lack of understanding how a business works.

[dave34]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

NO bank, ever, has 100% of its deposits and liabilities just sitting around, being held in reserve, in cash. NONE. Neither does any other type of company. Too many people think(not saying you do, @kevingastreich, but far too many do think ), incorrectly, that businesses just have huge quantities of cash just sitting around, just because they are large companies. Total lack of understanding how a business works.

I canceled Internet,drink packages and excursions on March 2, HAL canceled my cruise for June on April 12. I have heard absolutely nothing from them. Is this the way you run a business that wants to have customers in the future? I do not think they plan on having future customers they are getting everything in line to file bankruptcy.  They have 12 grand of mine, I can’t get a response but the standard Waite 60-90 days BS. 

[CruiserBruce]

5 minutes ago, dave34 said:

I canceled Internet,drink packages and excursions on March 2, HAL canceled my cruise for June on April 12. I have heard absolutely nothing from them. Is this the way you run a business that wants to have customers in the future? I do not think they plan on having future customers they are getting everything in line to file bankruptcy.  They have 12 grand of mine, I can’t get a response but the standard Waite 60-90 days BS. 

So, are you expecting them to print money? Are you aware of how many cancellations they have to refund? Are you aware of what they are doing to raise money? From my understanding,  no other cruise line is rushing out refunds either. They have 16k of our money.

[msmayor]

I received a casino offer today that indicates to me HAL is being a bit creative in attempting to raise operating cash.

 

The offer was for a free interior stateroom (options to upgrade all the way to Neptune suite, and must pay taxes/port fees as usual) on a laundry list of cruises from fall 2020 through April 2021, including some casino credit and free drinks while gambling.

 

The interesting part?  Even though the interior stateroom is advertised as being free, we would pay $200pp up front to secure the reservation.  Once the cruise embarks, we'd have $200pp OBC to use during the cruise.  In effect, they are asking us to 'buy' OBC now, which gives them additional cash today.  I thought it was an interesting strategy.

[CruiserBruce]

8 minutes ago, msmayor said:

I received a casino offer today that indicates to me HAL is being a bit creative in attempting to raise operating cash.

 

The offer was for a free interior stateroom (options to upgrade all the way to Neptune suite, and must pay taxes/port fees as usual) on a laundry list of cruises from fall 2020 through April 2021, including some casino credit and free drinks while gambling.

 

The interesting part?  Even though the interior stateroom is advertised as being free, we would pay $200pp up front to secure the reservation.  Once the cruise embarks, we'd have $200pp OBC to use during the cruise.  In effect, they are asking us to 'buy' OBC now, which gives them additional cash today.  I thought it was an interesting strategy.

Pretty much the the same as a FCD.

[Boatdrill]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

NO bank, ever, has 100% of its deposits and liabilities just sitting around, being held in reserve, in cash. NONE. Neither does any other type of company. 

It's like the classic scene in It's a Wonderful Life, when there's a run on the Bailey Savings and Loan.   

 

[Janet76]

10 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

So, are you expecting them to print money? Are you aware of how many cancellations they have to refund? Are you aware of what they are doing to raise money? From my understanding,  no other cruise line is rushing out refunds either. They have 16k of our money.

Yet, CEO, CFO and others in the higher position receive millions in stock options and salaries.  CCL current financial book is terrible.  Current liability is way more than current asset. Just look at up. It’s not our problem that their financial book is in poor shape.  Holding our money for more than 60 days is not acceptable.  

[dave34]

Has anyone filed a dispute with their credit card company? How long should a person wait until we do? Maybe someone with experience with this has some info. I see bankruptcy happening sooner than later. 

[CruiserBruce]

35 minutes ago, Janet76 said:

Yet, CEO, CFO and others in the higher position receive millions in stock options and salaries.  CCL current financial book is terrible.  Current liability is way more than current asset. Just look at up. It’s not our problem that their financial book is in poor shape.  Holding our money for more than 60 days is not acceptable.  

And there is a worldwide pandemic which is causing the economic distress. No fault of the cruise lines. Their financial house was fine until Covid came along (maybe not NCL). The business operation was fine...otherwise there wouldn't be the investment going on, raising the cash to pay refunds. 

[wakey16]

8 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

And there is a worldwide pandemic which is causing the economic distress. No fault of the cruise lines. Their financial house was fine until Covid came along (maybe not NCL). The business operation was fine...otherwise there wouldn't be the investment going on, raising the cash to pay refunds. 

Sorry, but what do you mean by (maybe not NCL)

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, wakey16 said:

Sorry, but what do you mean by (maybe not NCL)

Thanks

NCL has been identified as probably the weakest, financially, of the cruise lines.

[wakey16]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

NCL has been identified as probably the weakest, financially, of the cruise lines.

We are in limbo at the moment, we had a cruise from NY on 16th March which was cancelled the day we were due to leave the UK, we asked our agent for a refund but as of yet have not seen any monies so was wondering whether to just bite the bullet and re-book for next year. Suppose there are so many people in the same situation it's hard to know what is best to do.

Thanks

[Janet76]

CCL was not prepared financially for this.  RCL and NCL same boat. 

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CCL/balance-sheet?p=CCL

 

 

[CONCH65]

We were scheduled for the May 9th Koningsdam cruise out of Vancouver and have yet to receive a refund as well.

[CruiserBruce]

18 minutes ago, Janet76 said:

CCL was not prepared financially for this.  RCL and NCL same boat. 

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CCL/balance-sheet?p=CCL

 

 

Were you? Were the airlines? Who was?

[Janet76]

First of all, We would not be booking vacations if we were heavy in debt.  HAL devotees can bash all they want but it’s also not ethical for these corporations to hold our money just because there is cash flow problem. 

 

Would CEOs and CFOs postpone their salary and stock option just because the company is having cash flow issues?  

 

We will wait 60 days for our refund as HAL promised.  We’ve been extremely patient and foregiving to current situation, but we should not be held accountable for their financial problems.

[kevingastreich]

If HAL can't (or doesn't want to) borrow the money needed for refunds...they may have no other option but to file bankruptcy. That will  forestall the requirement to pay back the money owed until a bankruptcy judge comes up with a plan. Bankruptcy will also keep the lawyers and lawsuits at bay for awhile too.