Experiences getting a refund if cruise cancelled?

[stephenSJ]

Hi, What experience have cruisers had either getting a refund or using a future cruise credit if Saga have to cancel a cruise?

I ask as I have had 2 very bad experiences getting refunds with another cruise company after cancellation of cruises with them spinning it out to 9 months so am a little reluctant to book again. We did our very first cruise on Quest for Adventure a long time ago but have no cancellation experience with Saga. 

Thank you.

[nosapphire]

2 hours ago, stephenSJ said:

Hi, What experience have cruisers had either getting a refund or using a future cruise credit if Saga have to cancel a cruise?

I ask as I have had 2 very bad experiences getting refunds with another cruise company after cancellation of cruises with them spinning it out to 9 months so am a little reluctant to book again. We did our very first cruise on Quest for Adventure a long time ago but have no cancellation experience with Saga. 

Thank you.

My personal experience - excellent.

The deposit and final balance paid to Saga had been paid spread over 4 separate cards, two of which had expired.

Refunds on the 2 current cards were less than 3 days, cheques for the expired cards less than 10 days.

Saga do all their payments on a Friday, so the time lag will depend whether your refund request is made in time for the upcoming Friday or the next - but my experience is that they are very fast.

However, I am still not booking anything with anyone for at least a year, until the dust settles and I know what the cruise experience will be.

 

[Windsurfboy]

Sounds like Saga leave other cruise lines standing. 

[nosapphire]

38 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Sounds like Saga leave other cruise lines standing. 

The one difference MAY be that my booking did not include any flights or third party charges.

Having said that, it was reported in the travel supplements last Autumn (I think it was taken from a Which? survey) that Saga, along with Jet2, were the top companies for fast and trouble-free refunds when the holiday was cancelled by the travel company.

[Windsurfboy]

Think things are getting better BA had my money back on credit card 2 days after lockdown announced.  However some companies even now are slow well worth checking like Stephen 

[stephenSJ]

17 hours ago, nosapphire said:

The one difference MAY be that my booking did not include any flights or third party charges.

Having said that, it was reported in the travel supplements last Autumn (I think it was taken from a Which? survey) that Saga, along with Jet2, were the top companies for fast and trouble-free refunds when the holiday was cancelled by the travel company.

One of the cruises i had a problem with had no flights yet still took many many months to resolve. It was booked through one of the largest online cruise travel agents though - a mistake i wont be repeating. 

[lindylooellalouise]

We have and still are having dreadful experiences with other cruise companies trying to get refunds our Cruise was cancelled in Dec 20 and we still are trying to get our refund as cruise company are denying any deposits have been made and TA saying payments have been made I’m stuck in the middle and trying to get hold of anyone is so difficult.

[Glenndale]

Our TA held onto our money for 3 months after the cruise line had repaid them. Only taking out a section 75 against them seemed to work.

We have a small deposit from another cancelled cruise waiting to be paid back, I don't think we will see that until May at the earliest. Booked with same TA.

They have seen the last of our custom, we will book direct in future.

[Glenndale]

23 minutes ago, lindylooellalouise said:

We have and still are having dreadful experiences with other cruise companies trying to get refunds our Cruise was cancelled in Dec 20 and we still are trying to get our refund as cruise company are denying any deposits have been made and TA saying payments have been made I’m stuck in the middle and trying to get hold of anyone is so difficult.

If you paid with a credit card there will be an electronic trail to prove payment to TA was made.

Maybe TA held onto payment? If you did pay with a credit card start a section 75 with CC company.

[lindylooellalouise]

1 minute ago, Glenndale said:

If you paid with a credit card there will be an electronic trail to prove payment to TA was made.

Maybe TA held onto payment? If you did pay with a credit card start a section 75 with CC company.

Hi I think the travel agent is hanging on to our deposits we did pay by credit card and have all the receipts, it’s just so annoying that We can’t contact anyone and keep getting pushed from pillar to post we will in future only book direct then if there are problems you know exactly who to contact.

[kool kruiser]

A recommendation based on actual experience.

Use an Amex card to pay for cruise. If refund is not received within the statutory 14 days, a short telephone call to Amex is all that is needed to initiate an immediate chargeback credit to the card. The merchant (TA or cruise line) has 56 days to contest but there is generally no valid basis for them to argue.