Dad2Cue

1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

Me too!  We are still debating doing the L&S; however, I am cautiously leaning on keeping it and if RCI cancels then we get the FCC 125% for everything.  It has my mind saying "Should we or Shouldn't we" over and over...Oh boy!  However, the FCC is a huge headache so far for everyone that has/is going thru the process.  I guess I will just have to go on my gut when the time comes to decide before our final payment on July 10th if we do the L&S or finish paying and possibly still do the L&S, or just ride it out. 

This stress doesn't help my "gray showing" either since we still don't have our hair salons opened up yet! 

I was tempted by a L&S but I would still have endure the process of my cruise planner purchases being refunded.  

My hair is totally gray but I prefer to think of it as "sun bleached."  I don't have that much hair to worry about so no need for a salon.  The stress may cause me to lose more hair though. 

@Jason12 Are you considered a foreigner to Spain now that the UK has left the EU?  I was thinking IF I could get to Spain AND enter Spain AND get on Allure THEN I could get home.  You may have problems on both ends because entering the USA may still be a problem for you.  Keep in mind that Miami and Florida might be making progress but Washington, DC might have an opinion.

I think it just means they have no income and are living month to month by putting their expenses on a credit card.  Hopefully the banks will continue to increase their credit limit and are happy to collect the minimum amount due.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

 It's bad enough that all of our cruises have been cancelled, but for them to have f'ed up these refunds and credits SO badly is just unsat.  

It makes me reluctant to cancel any cruise. I still enjoy planning and possibly going on a future cruise.  However, whether I cancel or Royal cancels,  the process of a FCC and/or refund is just dreadful.  I can't say "cruise with confidence" is doing what was intended because I'm not feeling it.

1 hour ago, Jason12 said:

Well the original list is massive compared and this, and this reads like it’s the new schedule We will know soon enough 

@Jason12  It doesn't seem like much of anything will be done that pertains to the amplification but I don't really care that much.   I am also booked on the trans Atlantic cruise on Allure for November 1st.  Do you know how Spain feels about cruise ships returning to operation? 

I was scheduled on the trans Atlantic to Southampton but Anthem is still floating off the coast of Florida.  

At least Allure will be in Spain for some maintenance.  From this side of the Atlantic it seems unlikely that she will be doing too many sailings in the Mediterranean this summer.  Allure will most likely depart from Barcelona and return to Miami this fall --- hopefully with passengers and crew.   I'm not sure how I will get to Barcelona but that is another issue.   I just hope the flight to Spain and cruise home again will involve more that 2 weeks at sea on Allure.

4 hours ago, YOLO said:

Same here.  Next big decision - we have a fully paid for Nov 1st cruise.

Same here too.  Logistically I'm pretty sure it isn't going to happen because the cruise starts in Spain and ends in Miami.  I'm not sure how I will even get to Spain.  It is booked refundable and is fully paid.  However, the biggest portion of the fully paid amount is from a FCC so basically non-refundable.  I could reschedule the cruise for next year but I'm still recovering from the refund and FCC ordeal from the cancelled cruise.

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

So having to actually pull money from another source means they need a record..which is why there are fees for changes.

They must have some way to keep a record of it because they offered 125% future OBC for cruise planner purchases on cancelled cruises which can be used on any future cruise through 2021.  That is real money that people have paid and choose not to have it refunded --- only the extra 25% is a perk.

I understand what you are saying.  When my cruise was cancelled, I took the refund of my cruise planner purchases because I didn't think RCCI would be able to keep a record of it very well and I didn't have any future cruise to apply it to. 

In my example, I have a cruise that I want to reschedule to a different date in 2021. There is no change fee because I booked the cruise refundable and it isn't past the 90 day full payment date.  I simply want to apply the total dollar amount of my cruise planner purchases from the original cruise to the rescheduled cruise.  You would think RCCI would like that because they wouldn't need to process multiple credit card refunds AND they get to keep the money in exchange for a future OBC.

3 hours ago, Scrumps said:

We love cruising. We had 2 big cruises booked but as I said elsewhere, we are not planning to cruise again until I can be 100% sure that the originating port will allow the ship to dock and I can get off as scheduled... and that we will then be able to go home and my wife (who can not work from home) is not forced to stay home without pay for 2 weeks in self isolation like what happened in March. 

My wife and I are retired so no worries about self isolating without pay for two weeks after the cruise.  I do have some worry about the originating port not allowing us to disembark but that isn't a big concern.  My wife likes the ports in between and doesn't like sea days as much.  I am perfectly content to stay on the ship.  My wife thinks I'm vulnerable but I told her in the worst case she could throw me overboard.  I mostly hate wearing a mask. 

13 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

What you propose doesn't even work when it comes to branding. Yum corporation owns KFC and Taco Bell, they are both restaurants but if you get a gift card from one, it cannot be used at another. Mariner and Allure are both owned by RCCI but differ in class and offering.

I'm thinking about something akin to a purchased OBC that could be transfered from one ship to another and not the actual items purchased.  It could be itemized with the cruise fare, taxes and fees, gratuities and purchased OBC.  They don't seem to have any problem transfering the first three items from ship to ship when a cruise is rescheduled.   They just total up the amount paid and transfer it to the new reservation and don't even change the reservation number.

I was always impressed with the OBC they used to offer as part of a cruise package.  I could purchase something on the cruise planner with the OBC and the remaining OBC was displayed.  When a sale on the cruise planner happened I could instantly see the amount being "refunded" to the OBC and ready to be spent again. They seem to be capable of doing this so it is just a matter of transfering a dollar amount for the OBC from ship to ship.

4 hours ago, bobroo said:

It's the exact same situation, RCL is just bigger.

The longer things continue, the "lifelines" of credit become a noose.

Generally I agree, however bankruptcy doesn't mean the end of cruising.  It usually means debt is restructured and some assets are liquidated.  Perhaps they do some downsizing and eliminate some employees.  However, creditors eventually want to be paid and investors don't want their investments to become worthless.  My guess is that it isn't the end of the rope for the cruise industry just yet because people like to cruise.  

Just trying to think positively and hoping paying now for a cruise in the future isn't throwing money away.  I can't imagine, things being that bleak for the cruise industry as a whole.

I'm just wondering why cruise planner purchases can't be transferred to another cruise. I do understand that the prices vary from one cruise to another.  It seems the prices could be "standardized" but that is another issue.  My problem is with the thousands, maybe millions of refunds being generated every time there is a cruise planner sale or when someone changes a sail date or cancels a cruise.  Also, many times the refund is split in two - one for my wife and another for me even though the original payment was one transaction.

Since I'm seriously considering changing a cruise from this year to next year, my understanding is that it can be done easily since my  booking is refundable and outside the 90 day full payment window.  However, I believe my cruise planner purchases can't be transfered to the new cruise and will be refunded---why can't they be transfered too??  I dread having to wait for those refunds to materialize before repurchasing the same things for the rescheduled cruise.  Why is it not possible to transfer what I have already spent to the new cruise in the form of an OBC that shows up in the cruise planner.  That way, I could repurchase everything on the cruise planner during a sale or spend it later on the cruise.  It seems it would save a lot of refunds and repurchase transactions.

2 hours ago, GrandmaAirplane said:

If anyone else wants to try their best guesses, we could turn this into an interesting discussion, as several of us would like to return to Europe next year.

I have my hopes for Nov 2020.  However, I'm not so sure the Allure transAtlantic from Barcelona to Miami is likely to happen.  First, Spain has to open up.  Then I will need to get a flight to Barcelona and I can only imagine what that will be like.  Finally, the cruise must actually happen with a crew.   When I imagine all the cruising precautions in place, I will need to decide if I really want to go since the amplification isn't likely to happen.  All of this assumes I can disembark without too many hassles when we arrive in the United States and hopefully without a case of Covid-19.  For now, I won't even think about a flight from Miami to my home in the Midwest.  Maybe next year would be a better time or perhaps 2022.

17 minutes ago, chrisb732 said:

We called today and they sorted it all out.

How did they sort it out.  I was just told to ignore the cruise vacation receipt and the "system" was what was accurate.  Who did you call???  When I talked to someone, it was hard to explain what the problem was other than the numbers were messed up.  Fortunately, I have a receipt when they first applied the FCC and it appears to be accurate.

14 hours ago, chrisb732 said:

I used credit from a canceled cruise earlier in the month for my August cruise. My credit was $1,373 a person for my wife and I. On the August cruise I owed $2,204.10. I went online and put my credit of $2,746 towards the cruise and later got these two receipts. I then checked online to see what my balance was and it said it was $132.32 instead of the $192.10 it said on the receipt, makes no sense!

 Does this make sense to anyone? Has anyone had a similar experience when using their future cruise credit? 

Thank you

Mine was like this.  I was told it might be a glitch of some kind and was assured that the balance I owed was $0.  For some reason the balance due was the total of the cruise planner purchases even though they were separate credit card purchases.  The amount I owed for the cruise should have showed a balance due of $0.  I was reaasured my cruise was paid in full in the "system".  Every time I purchase something in cruise planner the numbers change. I was told to ignore the cruise vacation receipt and what it shows in the "system" is accurate --- go figure.  

I like how yours shows the "FCC applied" part.  Mine doesn't show the FCC was applied but I know that it was because they refunded part of what I had previously paid.  It is a complicated glitch but the strange numbers were due to cruise planner purchases and refunds when I repurchased something on cruise planner.

26 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I did several Cruise Planner cancellations/rebookings on 4-22 and 4-23 and received refunds last night (4-29) so I'm pleasantly surprised that these came in a reasonably timely manner.

Same with me!  I only did one cruise planner cancelation and repurchase.  The price difference was only $20 and I must admit I was reluctant to do it because I was expecting the refund wouldn't happen for a month or two.  Now, I feel somewhat guilty ... I should have let Royal keep the $20.

20 hours ago, AnnetteJackson said:

Not posting this for people to attack on it, or comment really... Just wanted to post it somewhere so people would see this and maybe ask for everyone to be understanding of those that are working on all of these cancellations.

I just have to comment that it was nice that you posted this.  I'm beginning to understand the monumental task it is.  For me, part of the problem was that refunds in the past always happened within a few days.  This probably caused an unrealistic expectation on my part.   I do understand how people feel and my patience was tested but it never reached the stage of being angry.  Patience is a virtue.  Easy for me to say because my final refund happened today.  It  just took awhile longer, that's all.

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I did this a while ago, but since Michelle at M.E.I. did it for me, I really didn't pay attention to how it was done.  One of the many benefits of using a T.A.

Are you saying that it can be done?  Technically, I do use a T.A because a long time ago I was assigned a "Royal Vacation Planner" who I call.  If I want to change staterooms, re-price a cruise, or do almost anything I call the same person.  I'm pretty sure he is a travel agent working for Royal Caribbean but I don't know for sure.  I'm worried that he may get furloughed though.  In any case, I usually call and leave a message and he calls me back within an hour and usually within 10 minutes.  I could call him but since it is hypothetical question, I don't want to bother him unless I know what ship and/or sail date I would like to change to.

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

In actual fact, if you change the ship and/or sail dates, the booking is, in fact, a cancellation and rebooking...but to keep things simple, they would allow you to do it, in the past.  My fear would be, that in this day of Royal trying to retain/accumulate as much cash as possible, they may require that you officially cancel and rebook, requiring refunds, FCC's, etc. which would likely take months.  I DO NOT KNOW....I am guessing.  I hope I'm wrong, but the only way to know for sure is to ask.

You would think they would still do it because the alternative could be cancel and WAIT for the refund before rebooking again.  During the waiting period, people may decide to permanently cancel and never cruise in the future.  I did find the following on the internet:

"Should you choose to change your original ship and/or sail date, if you booked directly with us, please contact our Consumer Outreach team at (866) 562-7625 where a representative will assist in making the desired changes"

At this point, it is only hypothetical.  We want to go on the transAtlantic cruise from Barcelona to Miami - Nov 1st on Allure.  We don't really care about the amplification. There is so much uncertainty in Spain, the USA, and cruising in general.  What is certain is our age and health conditions -- for sure we won't get any younger and our health isn't likely to improve.  We would gladly take an easier cruise and stay closer to home in the United States.  Just trying to think ahead but the final payment date is Aug 1st. The cruise is already paid using a FCC from another cruise that was cancelled.  We tentatively were going to Spain a couple of weeks before the cruise.  

Thanks for the response --- life is getting very complicated.

I don't want to cancel my cruise but is it easy to change the original ship and/or sail date when booked refundable?  Is it necessary to cancel and rebook?  I would rather make changes and not have to worry about the refunds, FCC, etc.  It would be before the final payment due date.

21 hours ago, tcneal said:

We have not received our port fees and taxes yet.   It's been exactly 30 business days since we canceled.   Not 30 days since the end of the cruise.  Not sure what date they are using.

I received refunds for the cruise I cancelled on March 13th.  The trans-Atlantic cruise on Anthem was scheduled to depart on April 12th and would have arrived in England on April 24th.  This morning April 25th ... all refunds for taxes, gratuities, and CP purchasses were received --- maybe just a coincidence.  Doesn't matter, I'm happy about the refunds but sad that my first trans-Atlantic cruise didn't happen.  

1 hour ago, Newtorc said:

I really don’t know either, I’ve never disputed a charge in my life...

I’m more than willing to be patient, but they need to communicate. 

I'm that way too.  I would be hard pressed to determine which transactions to dispute. 

To be honest, I thought Royal might have limited liability for losses caused by "acts of god" like pandemics.  Even if they came out and communicated that they aren't obligated to refund anything would be better.  I wouldn't like it but I would try to get over it and move on.

2 hours ago, Newtorc said:

I got my bank/credit card company involved. They agreed the multiple stories and lack of communication were unacceptable, even given the circumstances. 

How does that work?  I have rarely got my credit card company involved in cases of fraud. Usually, my credit card company involves me when there is suspicious activity.  In cases of a disagreement and some dissatisfaction, they usually recommend working it out before disputing a charge.  I don't think there is any fraud involved... delays, lack of communication, frustration-yes.  I don't think it is as simple as dispute charge - get refund.  I'm just curious.  I have considered the action you have taken but I'm not sure how that would work out. 

7 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not to be Capt. Obvious, but this is where a Travel Agent can be sooooo helpful.  Good luck with your sleuthing. It can be infuriating. 

It has never been a problem before this.  Do you go through a travel agent to do cruise planner purchases?  In the past, I've done cruise planner purchases online and they were totally separate from anything related to the cruise fare.  I have cancelled cruise planner purchases to take advantage of sales ... the refunds always happened in 2-3 days.

4 hours ago, Dad2Cue said:

UPDATE: Today (4/22/20) the cruise vacation receipt says:

Cruise Fare     310.00      Gratuities  406.00     Taxes/Fees  265.10    Total Charge      981.10    Amount Paid   568.38       Balamce Due   412.72

So now I have paid $158 more and the balance due is less ... I didn't make any payments.   That amount is the refund for the CoCo Beach Club - Full Day Pass that I cancelled to take advantage of the lower price on the cruise planner sale.  Since when are the cruise planner purchase refunds processed as part of the payments on the Cruise Fare??

See above post for context ...

The balance due amount $412.72 is the total of my cruise planner purchases charged to my credit card.  I think something is really screwed up!!!  Maybe I will call because I have no clue what they are doing. It is giving me a headache.

47 minutes ago, Leroyr55 said:

So personally I’ll wait patiently for all my refunds for a while yet. 

I have been waiting patiently.  I haven't called them about refunds.  Should I call them to find out why I OWE them anything??  Something tells me it will only confuse somebody.  Then, I will need to wait 60 more days for it to be processed.  Meanwhile, I just gave them $350 more for the recent cruise planner sale purchases---even though they owe me $1000 in cruise planner purchases from the cruise that was cancelled.  It is somewhat ironic that I would probably put down a deposit on another cruise in 2021...IF the refunds ever get processed.