Refund of Insurance Premium when Cruise was cancelled by Oceania due to Covid

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

 

That's why I find it close to impossible to believe the withheld amount is commission my agent withheld. When I had my agency we used consolidators for some people who were on a tight budget and needed the best international fares. It was in the day when consolidators were honorable and people rarely got into trouble. I kept whatever commission I wanted to add right off the top as most agencies did, but for the rest we never withheld commissions. I think maybe Oceania is holding it back for whatever reason.

If you paid by CC  i do not see how your agent can withhold  any $$   so I bet  it is Oceania  & with the situation as it is  with people working from home   it just may take longer

JMO

Yes when you use consolidators you can add want % you like  but  not with the cruise lines

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

Nah. I've got another cruise on a different line that, if you read publications like Business Weekly, has a good chance of going under. It's too much money on the table overall. I'll pursue with Oceania and then take to the next level. And the other cruise line too.

Well if NCL goes down   I do not see any hope for O 😎

[Petoonya]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

Well if NCL goes down   I do not see any hope for O 😎

Unfortunately the other cruise is on (bleah) NCL and all the more reason I really don't want to wait 2 weeks. Feel I've got to act soon.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Petoonya said:

Unfortunately the other cruise is on (bleah) NCL and all the more reason I really don't want to wait 2 weeks. Feel I've got to act soon.

[Petoonya]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

You are so kind. Looks very relaxing and I will easily move into a meditative state. But business first.

 

Honestly I would never believe that my agent would withhold that $. I truly think it is an O screwup. She is too honest, gracious and kind. I love her like family. She would tell me.

 

But that said, again, for some reason I think O is holding that $ and I don't like it, even after enjoying hot tea. I called my CC company. They will give both NCL and Oceania 45 days to pay up. NCL credited my account with cruise credit Thursday. In fine print they'll give me 1 week between 5/7-5/13 to apply for a refund, which they claim will be in 90 days. 90 days is a long time if can NCL hold on till then. What if they change back to giving cruise credit only in place of refunds? (Yuk NCL- I only did because of family reunion) So much speculation on their financial state.When things are tenuous I want to take the money and run.

 

Sorry Lyn.....I know your advice is to be patient and hold tight. Too much money tied up- even another O deposit. I want to tile my bedroom floors 🙂 and can use the cash!

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Back in the old days  (before  internet ) many people would pay cash/cheque so agents could just submit the net rate   but in this new  world of travel most pay by credit card so agents just wait for the commissions to be paid to them  AFAIK

I mentioned in one of my posts that a travel agent I deal with splits the payment into two pieces even if it's a credit card payment...the commission piece is paid to the agency by the customer and the net fare goes to the cruise line. When I got a refund a couple of months ago for a cruise I canceled after final payment I received one payment from the cruise line and one from the travel agency.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

If you paid by CC  i do not see how your agent can withhold  any $$   so I bet  it is Oceania  & with the situation as it is  with people working from home   it just may take longer

JMO

Yes when you use consolidators you can add want % you like  but  not with the cruise lines

It's easy- you'd see two separate CC charges - one to TA for Commission and one to Ocesnia for the rest.

The only problem here is that your Oceania invoice would then show less than the total cost   as paid. And if that's your only Oceania proof of payment, you're SOL if problems arise and you now have a very complicated dispute.

 

For the cost of an Oceania cruise, particularly a long one, why would anyone in their right mind want to insert themselves in a financial responsibility "triangle."

FWIW, I will only authorize my TA to transmit deposits and final payments info to Oceania for  charging against my CC.

 

As I've often stated, I would never ever book a cruise with a TA who did not have the cruise line do all the CC charges nor would i book with anyone who did not provide Oceania invoices or charged any kind of fee to me.

And it would be the rare instance indeed where I'd book a cruise with a TA that did not share commissions.

[LHT28]

4 hours ago, Petoonya said:

You are so kind. Looks very relaxing and I will easily move into a meditative state. But business first.

 

Honestly I would never believe that my agent would withhold that $. I truly think it is an O screwup. She is too honest, gracious and kind. I love her like family. She would tell me.

 

 

I wonder  what your clients  would say about you  under the current circumstances ???

I think I know the TA you are talking about  & would  hope she is not reading your comments on your distrust  of her

 Well off my soap box

Be well

[Petoonya]

13 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I wonder  what your clients  would say about you  under the current circumstances ???

I think I know the TA you are talking about  & would  hope she is not reading your comments on your distrust  of her

 Well off my soap box

Be well

Lyn,

I didn't think I said I distrusted her. I think it was suggested by others that maybe the missing refund was commission, but that I knew that withholding it and not telling me is something this TA isn't capable of. I'm confused. And I'll always listen to you on your soapbox 😉 But I said just a few posts back that I believe as she does that O is holding onto that money for whatever reason, and she doesn't know what it is. I love her to pieces. I'd never think or say anything ill of her. If I've written anything otherwise you may have misunderstood. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

????

Edited May 3, 2020 by Petoonya

[Redtravel]

Oceania does not want to refund money. I asked for a refund for all the port charges for those ports that we did not stop at on my March cruise.  Response was that Oceania does not charge port charges or taxes.  No refund.  I have had other cruise lines refund port charges for missed ports, why not Oceania.  Do they have a special arrangement with ports that exempt them from paying port fees?  I think not.  While it isn’t a big amount of money, it does irritate me that Oceania is not refunding those port charges.  When I mentioned it to the travel agency that booked the cruise, they said that all cruise lines pay port charges. Oceania just lumps them in the total fee.  They should refund port charges for ports missed since the port didn’t collect those fees.  It may seem small, but it annoys me.

[Petoonya]

I need to add this one thing about TAs to this discussion that's maybe OT but have to say anyway. They are the ones who really got screwed in this whole mess. Sure it's not the cruise lines fault COVID-19 came to be but not our TAs either. My TA carried the water and then had to tolerate screaming and nastiness from clients. She got NOTHING. If a portion of my refund is agent commission that O is withholding without PAYING her it just adds insult to injury.

We always get the cheap seats on a cruise and my agent treats me like I've booked a RTW. If I knew for sure that the amount O was withholding was commission it should rightfully go to my agent and I wouldn't have any qualms about it. TAs really got treated like dirt in this.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Petoonya

[Paulchili]

32 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

I need to add this one thing about TAs to this discussion that's maybe OT but have to say anyway. They are the ones who really got screwed in this whole mess. Sure it's not the cruise lines fault COVID-19 came to be but not our TAs either. My TA carried the water and then had to tolerate screaming and nastiness from clients. She got NOTHING. If a portion of my refund is agent commission that O is withholding without PAYING her it just adds insult to injury.

We always get the cheap seats on a cruise and my agent treats me like I've booked a RTW. If I knew for sure that the amount O was withholding was commission it should rightfully go to my agent and I wouldn't have any qualms about it. TAs really got treated like dirt in this.

It is my understanding (from a very reputable source) that O does pay the commission to TA for fully paid and then cancelled cruises unlike Viking that does not.

[susiesan]

23 hours ago, Petoonya said:

We were only able to do so (and these is back in the 80's and 90's) if the traveler paid by check, not CC. But you are 100% right, and if so and I've asked twice about it ,I'd move my next booking- no clue where. My TA is the kindest most honorable person I know- and has rescued me from myself more than once. It's still hard to think that she would not tell me.....:( It's a lot of money.

I guarantee if it is your beloved TA who is holding on to your money that once you file a credit card dispute you will hear from her. She will have the amount in dispute deducted from her merchant account, you will immediately get it back, and it is up to her to explain to the card company why she should get it back. Merchants have 60 days to reply to a chargeback and if they don't, you win.

[ORV]

There is so much jumping to confusions in this thread. Some posters just muddy the water. 

[Petoonya]

3 hours ago, susiesan said:

I guarantee if it is your beloved TA who is holding on to your money that once you file a credit card dispute you will hear from her. She will have the amount in dispute deducted from her merchant account, you will immediately get it back, and it is up to her to explain to the card company why she should get it back. Merchants have 60 days to reply to a chargeback and if they don't, you win.

I think you're incorrect Susie. But I'm no stable genius 😉

Don't think her agency has the commission. I don't know the inner workings but believe Oceania is holding the balance. I gifted us $500 for the cruise. My husband has dementia but he's with  the program enough to get a thrill believing that he has "free money" to spend. That $500 I put in our account would not have been commissionable and it wasn't included in our refund.

I have a hard time believing that Oceania would put travel agencies and agents in the middle. I disputed because I really believe O is messing around. There have been several folks on our cruise roll call who've received refunds in full. I'm a believer that the little guy is blamed for the big guy's difficulties here.

But again I'm no stable genius. I hope that you get to do Wind Spirit, btw.

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Oceania does not want to refund money. I asked for a refund for all the port charges for those ports that we did not stop at on my March cruise.  Response was that Oceania does not charge port charges or taxes.  No refund.  I have had other cruise lines refund port charges for missed ports, why not Oceania.  Do they have a special arrangement with ports that exempt them from paying port fees?  I think not.  While it isn’t a big amount of money, it does irritate me that Oceania is not refunding those port charges.  When I mentioned it to the travel agency that booked the cruise, they said that all cruise lines pay port charges. Oceania just lumps them in the total fee.  They should refund port charges for ports missed since the port didn’t collect those fees.  It may seem small, but it annoys me.

Did you happen to consider that Oceania faced the same situation as its passengers? Though Nautica had an assigned berth at Singapore, the company decided to head to Dubai instead (per our favorite new phrase- "out of an abundance of caution."). Do you honestly think the Port Authority of Singapore gave them a refund?

[Flatbush Flyer]

38 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

I think you're incorrect Susie. But I'm no stable genius 😉

Don't think her agency has the commission. I don't know the inner workings but believe Oceania is holding the balance. I gifted us $500 for the cruise. My husband has dementia but he's with  the program enough to get a thrill believing that he has "free money" to spend. That $500 I put in our account would not have been commissionable and it wasn't included in our refund.

I have a hard time believing that Oceania would put travel agencies and agents in the middle. I disputed because I really believe O is messing around. There have been several folks on our cruise roll call who've received refunds in full. I'm a believer that the little guy is blamed for the big guy's difficulties here.

But again I'm no stable genius. I hope that you get to do Wind Spirit, btw.

Whoa!!!

In post #26, you said this was a singular purchase and never mentioned $500 gifted to yourself (which, of course, O will return). 

You keep giving us incomplete and/or piecemeal info and then ask for help understanding what's going on.

That your fellow shipmates are getting back all that they've paid REALLY suggests that your TA is screwing you AND/OR you are not considering/incorporating important parts of the equation. 

 

Here's an idea: add up all your original Oceania charges on your credit card(s). Add up all your credits to date from Oceania on those credit cards. Identify any other related credit card charges from your TA.

Balance your books!!!

What were your total charges (including the "gift") charged by O? How much have you already gotten back from Oceania? What is the difference and what percent of your bottom line cruise fare is that? If it's still 18%+\-, that is most likely the commission.

Really- too many missing points to help you.

 

Again, dispute the difference between what Oceania charges and credits are on your accounts. If you meet the criteria for a 100% refund, that difference is owed to you by whoever's charges/credits don't balance.

 

This is not exactly rocket science.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Flatbush Flyer

[Paulchili]

29 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Do you honestly think the Port Authority of Singapore gave them a refund?

Are these fees paid at the time of booking the port (possibly years ahead) or at the time of docking - perhaps related to the amount of water taken and other services provided (garbage, electricity, etc)?

Also, as you know, Oceania doesn’t refund you the fees for a missed port either. 🙂

Edited May 4, 2020 by Paulchili

[Petoonya]

24 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

This is not exactly rocket science.

Maybe I have a little dementia too.

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, Petoonya said:

I think you're incorrect Susie. But I'm no stable genius 😉

Don't think her agency has the commission. I don't know the inner workings but believe Oceania is holding the balance. I gifted us $500 for the cruise. My husband has dementia but he's with  the program enough to get a thrill believing that he has "free money" to spend. That $500 I put in our account would not have been commissionable and it wasn't included in our refund.

I have a hard time believing that Oceania would put travel agencies and agents in the middle. I disputed because I really believe O is messing around. There have been several folks on our cruise roll call who've received refunds in full. I'm a believer that the little guy is blamed for the big guy's difficulties here.

But again I'm no stable genius. I hope that you get to do Wind Spirit, btw.

Again 

The  Gift of OBC  will probably come from a different dept  than the cruise fare

 

Just to clarify

Did any of the payments you made go to the travel agency or just Oceania  noted  on your CC statement? 

 I do not see how  a TA can hold the funds as they never received them?

As I have said a few times  just give  O a couple more weeks  & you will probably get  your $ back

 

Be well

[Redtravel]

Flatbush flyer:   I know the cruise lines have added expenses during the pandemic. We all have unusual experiences. That doesn't address my issue. That doesn't mean that they should keep port charges from guests who went on their cruises and were not allowed to dock in the scheduled ports.  Oceania being docked in Singapore has nothing to do with them not refunding port charges to guests that cruised to several ports that did not allow them to dock. I am sure that Oceania didn't pay port charges to all of the ports we missed on our March cruise. Last year I was on Windstar when we stayed in Porto 3 extra days while waiting out a storm. We missed 2 of our ports and arrived in Amsterdam late. WE embarked in Lisbon, we were given a letter with a sincere apology explaining the changes in itinerary due to the upcoming storm.   It included onboard credit as a gesture and also a refund of the port charges for the ports we missed.  For those guests who missed planes, they were reimbursed for changes and other expenses.  After arriving home, we received another letter of apology with a generous fcc.   

[Paulchili]

33 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

 Last year I was on Windstar when we stayed in Porto 3 extra days while waiting out a storm. We missed 2 of our ports and arrived in Amsterdam late. WE embarked in Lisbon, we were given a letter with a sincere apology explaining the changes in itinerary due to the upcoming storm.   It included onboard credit as a gesture and also a refund of the port charges for the ports we missed.  For those guests who missed planes, they were reimbursed for changes and other expenses.  After arriving home, we received another letter of apology with a generous fcc.   

That was very generous from Windstar because it seems that they didn't charge you port fees for the 3 extra days in Porto

[Flatbush Flyer]

43 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Flatbush flyer:   I know the cruise lines have added expenses during the pandemic. We all have unusual experiences. That doesn't address my issue. That doesn't mean that they should keep port charges from guests who went on their cruises and were not allowed to dock in the scheduled ports.  Oceania being docked in Singapore has nothing to do with them not refunding port charges to guests that cruised to several ports that did not allow them to dock. I am sure that Oceania didn't pay port charges to all of the ports we missed on our March cruise. Last year I was on Windstar when we stayed in Porto 3 extra days while waiting out a storm. We missed 2 of our ports and arrived in Amsterdam late. WE embarked in Lisbon, we were given a letter with a sincere apology explaining the changes in itinerary due to the upcoming storm.   It included onboard credit as a gesture and also a refund of the port charges for the ports we missed.  For those guests who missed planes, they were reimbursed for changes and other expenses.  After arriving home, we received another letter of apology with a generous fcc.   

Too many missing details -

 

Why did you miss ports and who made the decision to miss them?  A port turning away a ship is not the same as a ship deciding not to arrive due to fear of health concerns?

 

Do you know for sure that Oceania did not lose prepaid taxes/fees for ports they chose to avoid (which were prepared to accept the ship). 

 

Were there substitute ports? If so, who paid those taxes/fees?

 

You mentioned a March cruise? Did you get a partial refund and/or FCC?

 

We were on Nautica in February and received both a 25% refund + 25% FCC) for approx 4 missed or replaced ports plus Dubai disembarkation vs Singapore. In addition, Nationwide cruise insurance pays $250/person if one or more ports are missed due to weather/mechanical issue, which was the case for one of our replacement ports. And O paid airline change fees for anyone with DIY air.

 

In any case, remember that your T&Cs clearly state that O can change the itinerary as they see fit. And BTW, your TA's version of the O invoice has more info than yours including the total of taxes and fees (though not disaggregated). Of course, you can pursue your concern with O's Guest Services at the home office and try to get an accounting of the exact amounts for ports that turned the ship away and actually did return those prepaid and/or non-refundable fees to O.

 

I'm not saying you're right or wrong. But, it appears that you are making multiple assumptions forveguch you have no details and your argument is based on a prior cruise which probably didn't go to the same ports under the same conditions.

Nonetheless, if you remain upset, you could always choose to not cruise again with Oceania.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Flatbush Flyer

[Redtravel]

7 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Too many missing details -

 

Why did you miss ports and who made the decision to miss them?  A port turning away a ship is not the same as a ship deciding not to arrive due to fear of health concerns?

 

Do you know for sure that Oceania did not lose prepaid taxes/fees for ports they chose to avoid (which were prepared to accept the ship). 

 

Were there substitute ports? If so, who paid those taxes/fees?

 

You mentioned a March cruise? Did you get a partial refund and/or FCC?

 

We were on Nautica in February and received both a 25% refund + 25% FCC) for approx 4 missed or replaced ports plus Dubai disembarkation vs Singapore. In addition, Nationwide cruise insurance pays $250/person if one or more ports are missed due to weather/mechanical issue, which was the case for one of our replacement ports. And O paid airline change fees for anyone with DIY air.

 

In any case, remember that your T&Cs clearly state that O can change the itinerary as they see fit. And BTW, your TA's version of the O invoice has more info than yours including the total of taxes and fees (though not disaggregated). Of course, you can pursue your concern with O's Guest Services at the home office and try to get an accounting of the exact amounts for ports that turned the ship away and actually did return those prepaid and/or non-refundable fees to O.

 

I'm not saying you're right or wrong. But, it appears that you are making multiple assumptions forveguch you have no details and your argument is based on a prior cruise which probably didn't go to the same ports under the same conditions.

Nonetheless, if you remain upset, you could always choose to not cruise again with Oceania.

Oceania said that don’t charge port charges. Thus they don’t refund them.   Does not matter why they missed ports. After a March 13th, we were told we would not dock until a Miami for our safety. It might have been nice if they said they were sorry, gave us some OBC to help pass the time at sea, and refunded port charges. Port charges are only collected by ports when a ship lands.  

[Redtravel]

7 hours ago, Paulchili said:

That was very generous from Windstar because it seems that they didn't charge you port fees for the 3 extra days in Porto

Windstar was excellent.  It’s no wonder why they have a very high number of repeaters. While in Porto, they brought extra entertainment on the ship. Got to watch local chefs, did wine tasting, and enjoyed local singers and dancers. Windstar wasn’t at fault for the weather. They kept us safe and happy.  It cost them extra money staying in Porto and they didn’t complain or pass those costs onto guests. Love Windstar.