Cancelled Cruise Planner Transactions Not Refunded

[mikehermawan]

Guys, be really careful when you transact in Cruise Planner.  I cancelled a few transactions at Cruise Planner and the refund took way too long. 

In 2020, it took 6 months for my $200 refund from cancelled shore excursion to be returned back. 

Recently, I took a Symphony cruise on 11-18 June 2022, and my $600 cancelled Cruise Planner transactions were never refunded back until today (10+ Weeks). When I was still in the US right after my cruise, I tried several times calling the RCI Miami guest relations, yet I was bounced to several other departments just to locate the correct department that had my cancelled transactions data.  Basically, the US offices would not have your data if you booked from Europe or Asia. So I finally was able to find the correct unit, which is the International Post-Cruise Department.  Outrageous!  After a few days of navigating, I was finally asked to wait for the refund to be returned to my credit card.  So I waited until i returned home to Indonesia 1.5 weeks later.  

Fast forward to 11 July 2022 (1month after the cruise), I still have not received any refund.  So I contacted the Post Cruise Department Guest Relations in Singapore. There have been multiple contacts (some 5-6 calls) with them until today (18 August 2022), yet everytime they just ask me to wait and wait and wait.  Everytime I call in, they just came up with so many different excuses not to return your money back and ask to wait for another 15 business days, 7-10 business days, 3-5 business days, yet the money is never refunded to your credit  card.  Just different excuses every time.  Just terrible experience.  I really don't know if I will ever get my money back.  

Be really careful with this Royal Caribbean company!

[bobmacliberty]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

[Sunshine3601]

So sorry to hear of your troubles in getting your refund.

Hopefully you get soon

[barbeyg]

Here in the states, I've been getting mine back within 1 - 2 weeks, max.  Sorry you are having that much trouble internationally.

[Jkaczanowski]

Cancelled something in cruise planner Monday, received credit back today. 

[rudeney]

I don't know about the way this works outside the USA, but here,  RCCL will process Cruise Planner refunds and send them to the credit card company within 2 business days.  This is pretty much a requirement that the credit card companies enforce on them in their retail contracts.  Any delay after that is strictly the credit card company itself holding the money before they credit it back to the account.  When the retailer (in this case RCCL) and the credit card companies can hold money, they create a "float" and earn interest on that.  A few days for a few hundred dollars may not seem like much, but multiply that by the number of refunds being process every day and they could easily have millions of dollars always sitting in their "float".  The big 5 card issuers (Chase, Cap One, BofA, Citi and Discover) tend to be the worst ones to hold money for a long time.  Smaller banks that issue their own cards and Amex tend to do this for the shortest time.  

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, rudeney said:

I don't know about the way this works outside the USA, but here,  RCCL will process Cruise Planner refunds and send them to the credit card company within 2 business days.  This is pretty much a requirement that the credit card companies enforce on them in their retail contracts.  Any delay after that is strictly the credit card company itself holding the money before they credit it back to the account.  When the retailer (in this case RCCL) and the credit card companies can hold money, they create a "float" and earn interest on that.  A few days for a few hundred dollars may not seem like much, but multiply that by the number of refunds being process every day and they could easily have millions of dollars always sitting in their "float".  The big 5 card issuers (Chase, Cap One, BofA, Citi and Discover) tend to be the worst ones to hold money for a long time.  Smaller banks that issue their own cards and Amex tend to do this for the shortest time.  

My Cap One takes less than 2 weeks. Amex shorter than that.

[LeeW]

Whenever we see a sale on purchases I cancel and rebook.  Generally takes about a week for refund, and I do this pretty often.  Not last few months - sales have been rotten lately.  

[molsonschooner]

I cancelled the refreshment package last November for a cruise that is leaving this Sunday. I got the email informing me that the purchase had been canceled and the refund would go back to my credit card. I think it was  March when I called Royal. They told me to get my T/A involved. He said it was not up to him as he had nothing to do with the purchase. I called Royal again last week. They told me there would be no problem. The money was put back on my credit card on Tuesday

[Jingerwoppy]

They can charge your card in 10 minutes and the refund they say "is complicated" and it takes 10 months. 

[rudeney]

4 minutes ago, Jingerwoppy said:

They can charge your card in 10 minutes and the refund they say "is complicated" and it takes 10 months. 

 

Yeah, like I said before, it's all about the "float" - both with RCCL and your credit card company.