No refund, but HAL message apologizing for delay

[croozen]

We were booked on a March 16th departure 10

day Panama cruise and did not cancel ourselves. Picked option #2 as soon as the online form was available and also made that choice through our big box travel agent. Still waiting. Did receive this email from HAL just now. 
 

would have thought with our sailing date we would be first in line, or near to it.  I guess people that cancelled themselves , prior to the March 13th shutdown, will get their $$ first and those are the ones they are “manually” working through. Funny, I still have not read of anyone getting $$ for actual cruise fare yet. 

******
 

We know you are waiting for your refund and may be frustrated by how long it is taking. We fully understand and apologize for this situation. Please be assured that we have received your request and currently have it in our queue. We are doing everything we can to expedite the processing of an unprecedented number of refunds and future cruise credits during this challenging time.

We ask for your continued patience as we work through each booking properly. Due to the unique nature of this situation, we are unable to use our usual automated process. Our team is working hard to manually process this large volume of requests while working from home. This is our commitment to ensuring each and every booking is handled accurately and as efficiently as possible, in hopes of avoiding any further frustrations for you, our valued guest.

[VacationCharlene]

We too just received the below message today May 14, 2020.  Tomorrow would of been 60 days since we requested the 100% refund from our March 21th 2020 cruise.  Appreciate the email but got too excited thinking it was our money back.....boo hoo  We were scheduled for the 28 day South Pacific/Hawaii on the Oosterdam.  Notified one week before sail date BY HAL.

 

We know you are waiting for your refund and may be frustrated by how long it is taking. We fully understand and apologize for this situation. Please be assured that we have received your request and currently have it in our queue. We are doing everything we can to expedite the processing of an unprecedented number of refunds and future cruise credits during this challenging time.

We ask for your continued patience as we work through each booking properly. Due to the unique nature of this situation, we are unable to use our usual automated process. Our team is working hard to manually process this large volume of requests while working from home. This is our commitment to ensuring each and every booking is handled accurately and as efficiently as possible, in hopes of avoiding any further frustrations for you, our valued guest.

We also want to share that we have extended the book-by and sail-by dates associated with our Future Cruise Credit (FCC) offer. Guests who elect option 1 to defer their cruise fare refund and receive 125% FCC plus a $250 per guest onboard credit will now have 12 months to make their new booking for any cruise sailing prior to December 31, 2022. If you originally selected option 2 to receive a refund only and wish to change to option 1, please contact us at the appropriate office:

Seattle Office (USD/CAD currency):
Contact us at 1-800-577-1728 or 206-626-7395. We are available Monday – Friday, 5:00am – 7:00pm PT.
Saturday – Sunday 6:00am – 5:00pm PT.

Southampton Office (GBP currency):
Contact us at 0344 338 8605. We are available Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 5:30pm.

Sydney Office (AUD currency):
Contact us at 1300 987 322. We are available Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 7:00pm.

As always, we thank you for your understanding and hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy and safe during this difficult time. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again soon

Best Regards,
Holland America Line

Edited May 14, 2020 by VacationCharlene

[cavecreekguy]

My patience has been exhausted.

[KirkNC]

Well HAL just announced they are laying off 2,000 employees, that should speed things up.

[vinfan]

VacationCharlene: we were also booked on that cruise and also got the notice today. I'm still incredulous at the lack of communication from HAL and, moreover, the fact that they didn't send an email confirmation that refund request was submitted. So I have no proof it was submitted and HAL says they can't look passenger requests up on database. I will believe refund when I see it.

[ontheweb]

Princess has sent a similar message.

 

It also gives the option of taking a double future FCC instead of a refund.

[Loreto]

59 minutes ago, vinfan said:

VacationCharlene: we were also booked on that cruise and also got the notice today. I'm still incredulous at the lack of communication from HAL and, moreover, the fact that they didn't send an email confirmation that refund request was submitted. So I have no proof it was submitted and HAL says they can't look passenger requests up on database. I will believe refund when I see it.

We also received the email today.  Our March 18 cruise was cancelled by HAL and I applied for a full refund immediately March 17th.  There was no confirmation that I applied, which bothered me.  When our July 11 Alaska cruise was cancelled I received an email to make my choice : FCC or refund,   the confirmation# that showed was the March 18 confirmation#!  I filled it out and a message showed that my request had already been received for this confirmation# and was being processed.  That is the only way I know that HAL actually got my request for the March 18 cruise.  I put in the new confirmation# for Alaska, and I did receive a confirmation that it was received.

 

HAL has sent several surveys and I mentioned their lack of communication each time.

[Nymich]

Yep a big fat joke.   They cited how they are overwhelmed with cancellations many that they created thinking they were cruising in April and May.   Maybe the rocket scientist who came up with that plan got canned.  Or maybe he/she got promoted for bringing in more cash to hold on to.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Nymich

[Nymich]

43 minutes ago, Loreto said:

 

 

HAL has sent several surveys and I mentioned their lack of communication each time.

It took TWO MONTHS for HAL to make contact with people who were upended mid March when most had paid in full months before.  The only good thing is I now have proof that I requested a full refund because their antique system provided no receipt.  It does make it easier for the dispute process if needed.  This also helps anyone else out there to expect this email 60 days from when you chose the option you wanted and at least you will have a receipt because that is really all this email is.  How appropriate they tried to sell the FCC one last time.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Nymich

[iancal]

HAL must really believe that their customers are a bunch of patsies.

[Nymich]

14 minutes ago, iancal said:

HAL must really believe that their customers are a bunch of patsies.

That FCC offer at the end tells me it will be awhile before any refunds are issued. They are still in sell mode.   At least April thru August HAL cancels know what to expect.

[kaiiak]

2 hours ago, Nymich said:

That FCC offer at the end tells me it will be awhile before any refunds are issued. They are still in sell mode.   At least April thru August HAL cancels know what to expect.

Yes I got the same email today as well for our HAL canceled 4/5 cruise that I requested refund for after the March 13th email.  I though the same thing when I got the email today reminding me that I could still request FCC instead of my refund.  Then I got a sales ad a few hours later.  The email today coupled with layoffs worries me that I will never see my money! 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wish you all luck in getting your money back -- especially with HAL laying off 2000 employees.

[lizziebargain]

I requested a charge back from my cc company last night-the ports have been closed for 2 months and the cruise "cancelled" for 1 month. Enough is enough. If HAL is not up to the challenge of refunding our money in a timely manner, then I have made it easier for them by having the cc company look after mine.

[TN Fem]

this should have been communicated months ago.  

[bouhunter]

12 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Well HAL just announced they are laying off 2,000 employees, that should speed things up.

Yep, a move in the right direction..... 🙂

 

[bouhunter]

We sailed Nieux Statendam March 8-15.  Not only were we lucky to have sailed the last time the ships were out, now realizing how lucky we were to get something for our money.....

 

Very glad we only have small deposits out there for 4 2021 cruises.

Edited May 15, 2020 by bouhunter

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Wish you all luck in getting your money back -- especially with HAL laying off 2000 employees.

Actually, that should help in getting money back.  Laying off employees frees up cash flow for refunds.

[Doubt It]

I trust that those here who are complaining about HAL (me too) - will not patronize them in the future.

 

I will not.

[cruisetheworld67]

9 hours ago, Nymich said:

That FCC offer at the end tells me it will be awhile before any refunds are issued. They are still in sell mode.   At least April thru August HAL cancels know what to expect.

Of course they are still in sell mode. Typical Ponzi scheme. Slowly  paying  off those waiting for refunds with deposits from those currently booking future cruises.

 

Other threads talk about those putting down deposits on future cruises so they can "have something to look forward to."

That something may be waiting forever for a refund!😖

 

PT Barnum was right.

[dave34]

I got a email today to remind me to put my flight information in check in info for my June 12 cruise that was canceled. I’m letting American Express handle my refund. HAL never again 

[Orsino]

Probably not what HAL intended, but when I got the email it prompted me to call my credit card company and dispute the charges. I was going to wait until the end of the month (my sail date was 28 March, so I thought 28 May would be 'fair'), but the email made me think I wasn't going to ever get a refund directly through HAL. I'll be out 200.00 since I used future cruise vouchers that I bought in 2017, and the nice lady at the credit card company told me she can't access that far back. Losing 200 I can live with, I'd rather this all just get settled.

[kira5]

After reading the initial post I decided, after some consideration, that the offer of 125% refund plus $250 each guest OBC was sufficient to motivate me to change from the full refund option.    I chose the refund option about 2 weeks ago when first advised that our July 11th cruise was cancelled.   I have been reading of all the refund woes and inadequate service since the cancellation started.   But the pot was sufficiently sweetened with the new offer which you described.

 

However, when I called HAL at the number you provided,  the offer was not available to us.   The same initial offer of 125% refund only.    I declined and advised I would continue with the refund.    At least the phone was answered promptly although the staff member had to put me on hold for several minutes to check things.    

 

Perhaps the OBC inclusion was for cruises of a certain price level or suites only.    I do hope all this is resolved satisfactorily.   I really wanted to go on that cruise.

[KAKcruiser]

I wonder if they sent this letter to try to appease all the people who have been complaining about the lack of communication or if they have decided to delay refunds even longer.  Has anything changed?

[CJcruzer]

2 hours ago, Orsino said:

Probably not what HAL intended, but when I got the email it prompted me to call my credit card company and dispute the charges. I was going to wait until the end of the month (my sail date was 28 March, so I thought 28 May would be 'fair'), but the email made me think I wasn't going to ever get a refund directly through HAL. I'll be out 200.00 since I used future cruise vouchers that I bought in 2017, and the nice lady at the credit card company told me she can't access that far back. Losing 200 I can live with, I'd rather this all just get settled.

 

I cancelled a January 2021cruise where I have monies and future cruise deposits holding the booking. 

 

I have received the future cruise deposits back as refund (Cancelled April 22, received credit on card May 08) - as I requested that I did NOT want them returned on file  to Mariner accounts (I already have one spare pair of FCD’s).

 

I believe those monies are processed similar to refunds for dining, shore excursions, prepaid internet, spa treatments, etc.   They seem to be showing up the past week or so on people’s accounts.

 

I am still waiting for the $400 in deposit money that I had to top up to secure booking.  

 

So hopefully, you will be able to recoup your FCD cash value.

 

Carol