Been waiting over 4 months for my refund

[matymil]

Just curious if anyone else has been waiting this long or longer? I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I know they have been deadly with an ungodly workload but I just had a Norwegian cruise get cancelled last month and they said I only have to wait 45 days. My cruise of the Magic was cancelled on May 4th. I've seen bits and pieces refunded but im still owed over $1500. I called the other day and they had no excuse. From what I gathered my refunded was never fully processed because I booked through the casino which sounds fishy. Has anyone else had issues waiting this long with a casino rate as well? Like I said I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is ridiculous. 

[xDisconnections]

Follow up.
 

Daily.

[matymil]

1 hour ago, xDisconnections said:

Follow up.
 

Daily.

They said they are "now being processed" I should still follow up daily? I don't think im ever going to book through the casino again. Its been nothing but problems 

 

[Moviela]

I assume you paid by credit card. Look at the statement and see who was paid. I doubt it was the casino company. Then I would seek some executive assistance with your refund. Four months seems like a long time for a non-trivial amount.

[xDisconnections]

3 hours ago, matymil said:

They said they are "now being processed" I should still follow up daily? I don't think im ever going to book through the casino again. Its been nothing but problems 

 

I’d still follow up. Never trust a cruise line or cruise holding company.

Edited September 10, 2020 by xDisconnections

[Jasalth]

I had an issue with a gift card refund I had been waiting since April for and finally got it at the very end of August. 

 

In the end I had to call, no one told me why it wasn't done, just that they would send a ticket to their "refund resolution team". Yes.. they seem to have made a whole new department just to handle problems with refunds! Guy on the phone also told me he would send me a follow up email. Never got the email, but about 10 days later I did get the gift card in the mail. 

 

I know it's not the same thing as a CC refund, but I did have to fight for mine it seems. I personally needed the $ so I could use it for our December cruise final payment. I then decided to lift that sailing to 2023 due to work issues, but yeah w/o calling and making sure you get to the right person who will do their job it seems like it would have never been done! 

 

I personally would give it until the end of next week. If there isn't anything I would call again. Or bring John Heald into it, but that didn't even work for me originally so.. 

[n6uqqq]

I had a cruise for May 9th cancelled on April 2nd . I booked through Costco and paid the 250 deposit with credit card and the rest with gift cards. I finally got the 250 credit card payment in mid July. AS of now 5 months later and numerous calls with Costco to Carnival I am still waiting for the 1700 dollars from gift card payments. Last call was two weeks ago and the Carnival resolution specialist said I would have new gift card by 10-12 days. So far nothing is coming to me.

[Joe817]

2 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

I had a cruise for May 9th cancelled on April 2nd . I booked through Costco and paid the 250 deposit with credit card and the rest with gift cards. I finally got the 250 credit card payment in mid July. AS of now 5 months later and numerous calls with Costco to Carnival I am still waiting for the 1700 dollars from gift card payments. Last call was two weeks ago and the Carnival resolution specialist said I would have new gift card by 10-12 days. So far nothing is coming to me.

Uggghhhh. Exact same story here, but for a Freedom cruise supposed to be on 9/13/20-9/20/20. It obviously was cancelled and we rebooked, same ship, same cabin, for a late Feb. sailing. Now that looks in jeopardy.  If we are cancelled then we will be refunded our $250 deposit and the remaining in gift cards.  This isn't something I'm looking forward to, but we will roll with the punches, keep on keeping on, and like someone said a few days ago, 'like a twig in a stream', go with the flow. Have no other choice, dammit. 

[HillBilly Bob]

On 9/9/2020 at 11:23 PM, matymil said:

Just curious if anyone else has been waiting this long or longer?

Just received my refund from March.....be patient, it will be coming.  

[matymil]

On 9/10/2020 at 7:23 PM, n6uqqq said:

I had a cruise for May 9th cancelled on April 2nd . I booked through Costco and paid the 250 deposit with credit card and the rest with gift cards. I finally got the 250 credit card payment in mid July. AS of now 5 months later and numerous calls with Costco to Carnival I am still waiting for the 1700 dollars from gift card payments. Last call was two weeks ago and the Carnival resolution specialist said I would have new gift card by 10-12 days. So far nothing is coming to me.

Wow that's terrible. Sorry to hear that 😞

 

[matymil]

On 9/11/2020 at 10:09 AM, HillBilly Bob said:

Just received my refund from March.....be patient, it will be coming.  

Im sure but the way it was explained to me, it seemed that if I hadn't had called my refund would not have gone through. Like she sounded surprised that I had all these refunds still left in my account and then told me "I will process that for you now". Which id assume means that im going to have to wait for up to 3 months from now. 

 

[matymil]

On 9/10/2020 at 4:22 AM, Moviela said:

I assume you paid by credit card. Look at the statement and see who was paid. I doubt it was the casino company. Then I would seek some executive assistance with your refund. Four months seems like a long time for a non-trivial amount.

Casino rate bookings get paid the same as normal bookings. The only difference is because you get a discounted rate directly through the carnival casino, whenever you want to call about your booking you have to call directly to casino booking which can be a pain. 

 

[tidecat]

Carnival has seemed to have issues with gift card refunds because the gift cards are not reloadable once they are completely spent. Not all of the customer service people I have spoken to have been aware of that.

 

While it may sound silly, make sure there's an address associated with your booking. I had a cancelation whose refund was held up because of that.

[n6uqqq]

5 hours ago, tidecat said:

Carnival has seemed to have issues with gift card refunds because the gift cards are not reloadable once they are completely spent. Not all of the customer service people I have spoken to have been aware of that.

 

While it may sound silly, make sure there's an address associated with your booking. I had a cancelation whose refund was held up because of that.

 

Carnival gift cards are not reloadable period. They always send out new gift cards.

[n6uqqq]

10 hours ago, matymil said:

Wow that's terrible. Sorry to hear that 😞

 

Thanks. For me the delay is not a big deal but my cruising buddy needs her half of the refund to pay for other cruises already booked where the final payment is coming due. She does not want to commit more money to Carnival when we already have a lot owed to us. There really is no excuse for this taking 5 months to complete especially after a few calls inquiring about this. It is not like they are unaware.

[SwissMrs]

12 hours ago, matymil said:

Casino rate bookings get paid the same as normal bookings. The only difference is because you get a discounted rate directly through the carnival casino, whenever you want to call about your booking you have to call directly to casino booking which can be a pain. 

 

We always cruise on a casino rate and our PVP handles it all...have never needed to call or deal with the casino department directly.   If you don't have a PVP, maybe one would be beneficial.  If you have one that doesn't take care of your casino bookings, then it might be time to change to a PVP that will. 

[Bevv]

On 9/9/2020 at 10:23 PM, matymil said:

Just curious if anyone else has been waiting this long or longer? I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I know they have been deadly with an ungodly workload but I just had a Norwegian cruise get cancelled last month and they said I only have to wait 45 days. My cruise of the Magic was cancelled on May 4th. I've seen bits and pieces refunded but im still owed over $1500. I called the other day and they had no excuse. From what I gathered my refunded was never fully processed because I booked through the casino which sounds fishy. Has anyone else had issues waiting this long with a casino rate as well? Like I said I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is ridiculous. 

I canceled my Carnival cruise on 7/27.  We had three payment types, two different credit cards and a large amount of Gift cards. We had total refund of all $$ by 9/7 .

Edited September 14, 2020 by Bevv

[ARcruisin2]

I agree with others - call and ask for their Refund Resolutions Dept.

You've been more than patient and it seems that, like you,  those who are still waiting are finding there are little things holding their refunds up from processing smoothly. 

 

Also, now's the time to push for resolution... as there could be another round of cancellations coming and then you will be among thousands again, trying to get attention to your particular issue. 

Good luck!

[ZoeyVictoria]

On 9/13/2020 at 8:38 AM, tidecat said:

Carnival has seemed to have issues with gift card refunds because the gift cards are not reloadable once they are completely spent. Not all of the customer service people I have spoken to have been aware of that.

 

While it may sound silly, make sure there's an address associated with your booking. I had a cancelation whose refund was held up because of that.

I had to cancel a cruise in 2017.  I moved a month later and changed my address on my profile.  My neighbor (old location) called to let me know that Fed Ex had shown up with an envelope for me and she advised that I had moved.  The envelope turned out to be the replacement gift card.  It took three months and many phone calls to prove that they really owed me and that the replacement gift card was lost.  Apparently an address change on one’s profile does not carry over to the reservation system or anywhere else.

[crooooze]

It's been about 5 1/2 months since we requested a refund. The TA isn't able to get a straight answer on why the delay or how much longer. Carnival won't talk to me directly. Tried the credit card dispute thing, but that's not going anywhere either - most of the refund is gift cards anyway. I'm pretty much at wit's end.  Anyone try a legal route? I just don't want to pay a lawyer too. Will small claims court work?

[tidecat]

3 hours ago, crooooze said:

It's been about 5 1/2 months since we requested a refund. The TA isn't able to get a straight answer on why the delay or how much longer. Carnival won't talk to me directly. Tried the credit card dispute thing, but that's not going anywhere either - most of the refund is gift cards anyway. I'm pretty much at wit's end.  Anyone try a legal route? I just don't want to pay a lawyer too. Will small claims court work?

I'd try posting on John Heald's Facebook page if you haven't done so already (make sure he's working that day). If that doesn't work a lawyer should be able to send a demand letter for a reasonable cost.

[xDisconnections]

6 hours ago, crooooze said:

It's been about 5 1/2 months since we requested a refund. The TA isn't able to get a straight answer on why the delay or how much longer. Carnival won't talk to me directly. Tried the credit card dispute thing, but that's not going anywhere either - most of the refund is gift cards anyway. I'm pretty much at wit's end.  Anyone try a legal route? I just don't want to pay a lawyer too. Will small claims court work?

Three way call.

[skridge]

On 9/9/2020 at 11:23 PM, matymil said:

Just curious if anyone else has been waiting this long or longer? I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I know they have been deadly with an ungodly workload but I just had a Norwegian cruise get cancelled last month and they said I only have to wait 45 days. My cruise of the Magic was cancelled on May 4th. I've seen bits and pieces refunded but im still owed over $1500. I called the other day and they had no excuse. From what I gathered my refunded was never fully processed because I booked through the casino which sounds fishy. Has anyone else had issues waiting this long with a casino rate as well? Like I said I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is ridiculous. 

Times are tough over there.  

[matymil]

On 9/14/2020 at 5:42 PM, crooooze said:

It's been about 5 1/2 months since we requested a refund. The TA isn't able to get a straight answer on why the delay or how much longer. Carnival won't talk to me directly. Tried the credit card dispute thing, but that's not going anywhere either - most of the refund is gift cards anyway. I'm pretty much at wit's end.  Anyone try a legal route? I just don't want to pay a lawyer too. Will small claims court work?

For what its worth I posted my case on John Healds page and he got back to me and said he'd look into it. I understand hes extremely busy, so who knows if he will but he did respond. 

[n6uqqq]

I am happy to report that after 167 days ( 5 months 2 weeks) Carnival finally sent me a gift card from My cruise that was cancelled on April 2. This was a booking that was done through Costco paid mostly with gift cards except the 250 dollar deposit by credit card which I received on July 16th. Thankful this ordeal is now behind me.