Why Royal Caribbean is taking so long in doing refunds?!?!?

[CruisinNole]

7 hours ago, OHCruisinDad said:

 

Their refunds are broken up into different parts.  One part is the cruise fare and deposit.  Another any cruise planner purchases and the third are the taxes and port fees.  Each is handled by a separate department and as stated several times above, their Accounting folks handling refunds are swamped.  They have been posting 30 - 45 days in most cases.  I got FCC in about 35 days from Celebrity and Cruise planner refunds from Royal in about 30 days.  It's been nearly 6 weeks so far for Port fees and taxes I am waiting for.

I received partial refund of my cruise fare and a separate line item refund of port charges and taxes. I had no cruise planner purchases. My husband and I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out why we were shorted $422.00 and no matter how we ran the numbers, could not figure it out. We called our TA who also ran the numbers and gave up. She called Royal who was clueless. Nearly a week later and still no balance of our refund. This was a very straight forward booking. No promos or bogos. Just two equal cruise fares and port charges. Absolutely no reason for the partial refund.

[CruisinNole]

On 5/10/2020 at 9:18 AM, CruisinNole said:

I received partial refund of my cruise fare and a separate line item refund of port charges and taxes. I had no cruise planner purchases. My husband and I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out why we were shorted $422.00 and no matter how we ran the numbers, could not figure it out. We called our TA who also ran the numbers and gave up. She called Royal who was clueless. Nearly a week later and still no balance of our refund. This was a very straight forward booking. No promos or bogos. Just two equal cruise fares and port charges. Absolutely no reason for the partial refund.

Wanted to update my post. I waited a week for the balance of my refund to show on my credit card. I called Royal today and spent about an hour an a half on hold. The representative could tell right away that I had not been refunded the total amount of my cruise but did not have an explanation as to what happened. She talked to her supervisor and processed the balance of my refund. She told me that refunds are taking 30 to 45 days so I guess the clock resets when they have to reprocess a refund. My advice is that if your refund is not correct, bite the bullet and call when you can spend a lot of time on hold. I would guess that if I hadn't pressed the issue, I never would have seen the balance of my refund.

[zalusky]

How about Shipboard refunds?  I have gotten my FCC and and port and Taxes but I am on day 68 waiting for my shipboard purchases refunds AKA Internet, dining, excursions.

[Sailaway1706]

Today’s article from Aaron Sounders is a joke.  Not the number of cancellations is the problem. And the credit card companies can handle these transactions very easily. No, the cruise lines are in trouble: they have no cash. And no money comes in. If they are lucky they will be back in business in September or October. So it is a difficult situation and not every cruise will survive. Í’m very happy with Celebrity. I got my money back within 45 days. In this situation it‘s great.

[johnjen]

The other day when we processed our Lift and Shift to next year's cruise - RCL rep told us that the amenities and excursions we booked and paid for should be refunded in about 45 days. The same evening we completed the re-booking, we got an email from RCl, showing the breakdown of what was getting refunded; I verified each of them from my spreadsheet displaying cost of each excursion and extra dinners we paid for and it matches up.

[orville99]

Update: We just received the full refund on our May 17 Harmony cruise. Actually came back as six separate credits - four to my CC and two to DW's CC. 😀💲💲

[island lady]

I got my full refund today, except for the exact amount of taxes and fees, back to my RCI credit card for my cancelled 5/31 Harmony cruise.  🙂  

 

And at the same time yet another reminder that my August Radiance Alaska cruise full payment is due on Saturday.  😵 Yeah, get my money back on one cancelled cruise...just to give it back to them for another probably doomed cruise...so they can hold on to my money again for another month.  😣

[CruisinNole]

15 hours ago, zalusky said:

How about Shipboard refunds?  I have gotten my FCC and and port and Taxes but I am on day 68 waiting for my shipboard purchases refunds AKA Internet, dining, excursions.

I would give them a call. We didn't have any shipboard refunds but I received a generic email shortly after my cruise date telling me that all purchases were cancelled and I'd receive a refund. It should not take 68 days for those refunds. 

[nivek82]

We finally had to call for two canceled cruises back at the end of March.  Received the FCC but still waiting on the taxes and tips.  I didn't think of it until someone else in our party got money back and we haven't.  Of course we called and the answers they gave were disappointing and lies.  For one cruise they said they just started the refund process the day before (then how come our other party already received money back almost two weeks ago?)  I would love to rebook my FCC but I'm not putting in any more money until I get what I'm owed back.  I'm going to give them another few weeks but then probably just ask for all  the money back and forgo the FCC.  

[Wine-O]

I got my credit card involved in disputing the charge.  Got my full refund in 42 days from the day I cancelled.  🍷

[TheSteveK]

Our Empress cruise on March 14 was cancelled by Royal.  We requested the refund within a couple hours of getting the email from Royal to request a cash refund.

 

We heard nothing about that nor the Cruise Planner refunds until last week.  We got an email apologizing for the delay and that the refunds will be issued and appear in our account the next week.  It's now Thursday and there's nothing but cobwebs in my account so far.

 

It could be my bank is just slow about processing the refund.  And I'm assuming the phone queues at Royal are still a mess so I'm going to give it more time before checking on the status to see if I need to whine at my bank next.

[Ivy86]

After waiting for over a month I finally got my refund ! Yessss 

[grapau27]

On 5/14/2020 at 2:19 PM, island lady said:

I got my full refund today, except for the exact amount of taxes and fees, back to my RCI credit card for my cancelled 5/31 Harmony cruise.  🙂  

 

And at the same time yet another reminder that my August Radiance Alaska cruise full payment is due on Saturday.  😵 Yeah, get my money back on one cancelled cruise...just to give it back to them for another probably doomed cruise...so they can hold on to my money again for another month.  😣

Just got our March Refund from P&O after 67 days.

I cancelled our June 7th Allure cruise before final and our £300 deposit was converted to FCC.

[LPut714]

On 5/9/2020 at 7:15 AM, Ivy86 said:

Has anyone received refunds on a cruise cancel by them ? They cancel my Cruise 3 weeks ago still waiting on refund. 

I got mine in about 3 weeks-so very happy

 

[lenquixote66]

On 5/9/2020 at 9:15 AM, Ivy86 said:

Has anyone received refunds on a cruise cancel by them ? They cancel my Cruise 3 weeks ago still waiting on refund. 

We cancelled a cruise on April 24 and got our refund yesterday. When I called RCI I waited less than a minute to speak to someone.The woman told me that I would receive the refund within 90 days.She also sent e-mails to both my TA and I stating that.My TA said she would follow up if necessary.

[FOXTROT]

Our B2B cruises were canceled 6 weeks ago. We have another B2B who's final payment is in 2 weeks. RCL is crazy if they think I will pay for this 100% out of my pocket. Will use the voucher & pay the balance. The cruises goes out of Vancouver. The Canadian Government said no cruise of 500 or more passengers out of Vancouver this year without being quarantined. Don't like the idea of RCL sitting on over 20 grand of my money.

[Meekomist]

I contacted RCL on Twitter because I got 1/3 of a refund for excursion within a week, and almost 4 weeks later still waiting for the other 2/3. It was a cancel/rebook for lower price (3 people on two reservations) they of course have no issue taking the new money right away 😜 To add to it, I had to cancel 1/3 of it again as couple decided to lift & shift. We are still on fence, final payment is still 2 weeks away, will try and decide by then. (Alaska- Sept 4) Alaska excursions are not cheap, so this waiting thing sucks.

[island lady]

14 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Just got our March Refund from P&O after 67 days.

I cancelled our June 7th Allure cruise before final and our £300 deposit was converted to FCC.

 

A few days later I got the second credit of the taxes and fees.  Full refund now received for 5/31 Harmony, but still nothing on the FCC 125% on Grandeur that was cancelled two weeks prior.  

[fandash]

Hi there

 

We received our refund within  2 and half weeks which i am happy about. I wasn't worried about it as knew we would get it refunded but didn't think it would be as quick from reading the posts on here.

Still sad not cruising this year as really look forward to my holiday but hey, nothing can do.

Edited June 9, 2020 by fandash

[Summerwind54]

Sounds like some people  are receiving refunds from RCCL.  Our Panama Canal cruise was cancelled by them & we are still waiting for part of our refund.  The airlines cancelled the flights (booked thru RCCL) & refunded RCCL so we didn't pay for the flights since the cruise line was refunded directly from the airlines for their pre-payment.  Now RCCL is holding the airfare amount as if we still owe it!   The cruise was cancelled on March 25, 2020 & it is now June 9, 2020.  Our TA is beside himself trying to explain to RCCL that the money remaining is actually due to us.  Not sure how else we can explain this issue to RCCL.  They won't talk to us because we have a TA but they don't seem to understand the payment/refund business either.  Totally disgusted with them.  We have been "Loyal to Royal" since 2001 when we first cruised.  Now they seem to forget our loyalty!

 

[baldilocks]

I'm just tired waiting for my shore excursion and dinner refund. We cancelled in late March. Nothing yet. I was told that it would be refunded on several dates...now by June 18th. I was also told I was impatient by one agent. I have tried every number and department I know. All either say be patient or you have the wrong department.....bla..bla..bla.

[mac_tlc]

Tomorrow will be day 90 and I am still waiting for the taxes/fees for our cancelled 3/22 Anthem. 
 

mac_tlc

[Royal Brat]

We have receive all FCC and refunds except the Vacation Protection costs. 

[denamo]

On 5/9/2020 at 9:08 AM, Armac said:

Just received my money this week for cruise Royal cancelled on Feb 15

While way too long to receive your refund; glad you did receive it.  I'm simply waiting on my taxes to be refunded and mine was requested about a month after yours.  Hope springs eternal. 🙂

 

[LorraineP]

45 minutes ago, denamo said:

While way too long to receive your refund; glad you did receive it.  I'm simply waiting on my taxes to be refunded and mine was requested about a month after yours.  Hope springs eternal. 🙂

 

Insane!