Fulshear540

UPDATE - full refund finally showed up in my account today.  

UPDATE - full refund finally showed up in my account today.  

All of this could be a mute point if the following were to happened:
The person in charge of social media content on the WWW for Royal,  read and  listened to our concerns and fixed them immediately. (I know someone is out there) Maybe a person on this forum that may have a closer connection to Royal than the rest of us, tell them our concerns. (I know someone is out there) Please remember this is just an opinion. 

I know FCC and Refunds have been the majority of the conversations on this blog lately but I think we all have valid reasons we are talking about it.  Imagine, if they gave us a clear update on why things are being held up, we could go back to talking about fun things!

I received a partially refund for our meal package...a drop in the bucket.
Spoke with them on Monday and was told the refund was initiated on Sunday and the money should be back in my account in 2-4 days.  Today is day 3 (or day 2 using business days) and I have yet to see an additional dime in my account.  I'm not holding out hope that I'll see the money this week.  The agents are so overwhelmed at this point that they are saying whatever it takes to get the annoyed customer off the phone.  I'm not saying its right, but I don't necessarily blame the rank and file worker - I blame management for this colossal mess!  
FWIW, my official cancellation dated was 3/19.

I received a partially refund for our meal package...a drop in the bucket.
Spoke with them on Monday and was told the refund was initiated on Sunday and the money should be back in my account in 2-4 days.  Today is day 3 (or day 2 using business days) and I have yet to see an additional dime in my account.  I'm not holding out hope that I'll see the money this week.  The agents are so overwhelmed at this point that they are saying whatever it takes to get the annoyed customer off the phone.  I'm not saying its right, but I don't necessarily blame the rank and file worker - I blame management for this colossal mess!  
FWIW, my official cancellation dated was 3/19.

Finally a subject I'm (somewhat) qualified to respond to.  While it does happen from time to time, you typically don't see large end users of fuel (i.e. airlines/cruise lines) purchase the physical commodity on a fixed-price basis out the curve (you'd also be hard pressed to find a seller willing to sell on a fixed price basis out the curve).  When you hear the words "fuel futures" that typically corresponds to a financial trade (i.e. a swap).  This is what we call hedging.  
Here's a simplified example of how hedging works (sometimes, not always):  For budgeting purposes, a corporation - let's say RC - wants to know exactly how much their fuel costs will be.  They decide they want to fix their fuel cost at say $3/gallon.  RC will purchase their physical fuel at whatever the market happens to be, just like we do so in our personal vehicles.  They will then enter into a fixed for floating swap with a financial institution (we will call them XYZ).  In this scenario, RC will be the fixed price payer (RC pays XYZ $3/gallon) and XYZ will be the floating price payer (XYZ pays RC whatever the "market" price is for the product).  Again, remembering that RC wants to fix their fuel cost at $3/gallon, any time the market price goes up to say $4/gallon RC will have to pay that amount for their physical product but they will also receive $1 from XYZ.  Therefore RC's net cost is $3/gallon.  
However, this bet isn't risk-free.   Using the same example above, the market price for the physical commodity has gone down and RC is now buying its physical fuel at say $2/gallon.  However, RC's financial hedge is now out of the money - they owe XYZ $1/gallon.  That's all well and good because remember, RC has budgeted for $3/gallon. 
It's safe to assume RC is burning MUCH less fuel at this point than they normally do - they are saving money on the purchase of the physical product, but the hedge with XYZ doesn't just go away.   This is why people were upset that plane tickets didn't go down to $10 last time crude crashed - the airlines were paying less for their physical fuel, but they were upside down on their hedges.  
This is a long way of me expressing my opinion that I doubt that RC has drawn on its credit line to purchase more futures.  I have a feeling they've drawn down on their credit facility in order to pay for their day-to-day expenses and refunds - they've got no money coming in the door at this point (I'm sure that's a big duh to everyone on this forum).
Again, the above is a very simplistic example of hedging and I'm sure there are financial minds on this forum will correctly point out the holes (I have no intention of debating anyone on my example...you're probably right).  There are a ton of ifs, ands and buts out there!  I believe someone mentioned force majeure earlier in this thread - you are correct that many contracts contain a force majeure provision (meaning a party is excused for performance due to circumstances beyond their control).  Unfortunately, we are in uncharted waters here as to what constitutes a valid force majeure - there will be new law arising from the current market conditions.  

Finally a subject I'm (somewhat) qualified to respond to.  While it does happen from time to time, you typically don't see large end users of fuel (i.e. airlines/cruise lines) purchase the physical commodity on a fixed-price basis out the curve (you'd also be hard pressed to find a seller willing to sell on a fixed price basis out the curve).  When you hear the words "fuel futures" that typically corresponds to a financial trade (i.e. a swap).  This is what we call hedging.  
Here's a simplified example of how hedging works (sometimes, not always):  For budgeting purposes, a corporation - let's say RC - wants to know exactly how much their fuel costs will be.  They decide they want to fix their fuel cost at say $3/gallon.  RC will purchase their physical fuel at whatever the market happens to be, just like we do so in our personal vehicles.  They will then enter into a fixed for floating swap with a financial institution (we will call them XYZ).  In this scenario, RC will be the fixed price payer (RC pays XYZ $3/gallon) and XYZ will be the floating price payer (XYZ pays RC whatever the "market" price is for the product).  Again, remembering that RC wants to fix their fuel cost at $3/gallon, any time the market price goes up to say $4/gallon RC will have to pay that amount for their physical product but they will also receive $1 from XYZ.  Therefore RC's net cost is $3/gallon.  
However, this bet isn't risk-free.   Using the same example above, the market price for the physical commodity has gone down and RC is now buying its physical fuel at say $2/gallon.  However, RC's financial hedge is now out of the money - they owe XYZ $1/gallon.  That's all well and good because remember, RC has budgeted for $3/gallon. 
It's safe to assume RC is burning MUCH less fuel at this point than they normally do - they are saving money on the purchase of the physical product, but the hedge with XYZ doesn't just go away.   This is why people were upset that plane tickets didn't go down to $10 last time crude crashed - the airlines were paying less for their physical fuel, but they were upside down on their hedges.  
This is a long way of me expressing my opinion that I doubt that RC has drawn on its credit line to purchase more futures.  I have a feeling they've drawn down on their credit facility in order to pay for their day-to-day expenses and refunds - they've got no money coming in the door at this point (I'm sure that's a big duh to everyone on this forum).
Again, the above is a very simplistic example of hedging and I'm sure there are financial minds on this forum will correctly point out the holes (I have no intention of debating anyone on my example...you're probably right).  There are a ton of ifs, ands and buts out there!  I believe someone mentioned force majeure earlier in this thread - you are correct that many contracts contain a force majeure provision (meaning a party is excused for performance due to circumstances beyond their control).  Unfortunately, we are in uncharted waters here as to what constitutes a valid force majeure - there will be new law arising from the current market conditions.  

Finally a subject I'm (somewhat) qualified to respond to.  While it does happen from time to time, you typically don't see large end users of fuel (i.e. airlines/cruise lines) purchase the physical commodity on a fixed-price basis out the curve (you'd also be hard pressed to find a seller willing to sell on a fixed price basis out the curve).  When you hear the words "fuel futures" that typically corresponds to a financial trade (i.e. a swap).  This is what we call hedging.  
Here's a simplified example of how hedging works (sometimes, not always):  For budgeting purposes, a corporation - let's say RC - wants to know exactly how much their fuel costs will be.  They decide they want to fix their fuel cost at say $3/gallon.  RC will purchase their physical fuel at whatever the market happens to be, just like we do so in our personal vehicles.  They will then enter into a fixed for floating swap with a financial institution (we will call them XYZ).  In this scenario, RC will be the fixed price payer (RC pays XYZ $3/gallon) and XYZ will be the floating price payer (XYZ pays RC whatever the "market" price is for the product).  Again, remembering that RC wants to fix their fuel cost at $3/gallon, any time the market price goes up to say $4/gallon RC will have to pay that amount for their physical product but they will also receive $1 from XYZ.  Therefore RC's net cost is $3/gallon.  
However, this bet isn't risk-free.   Using the same example above, the market price for the physical commodity has gone down and RC is now buying its physical fuel at say $2/gallon.  However, RC's financial hedge is now out of the money - they owe XYZ $1/gallon.  That's all well and good because remember, RC has budgeted for $3/gallon. 
It's safe to assume RC is burning MUCH less fuel at this point than they normally do - they are saving money on the purchase of the physical product, but the hedge with XYZ doesn't just go away.   This is why people were upset that plane tickets didn't go down to $10 last time crude crashed - the airlines were paying less for their physical fuel, but they were upside down on their hedges.  
This is a long way of me expressing my opinion that I doubt that RC has drawn on its credit line to purchase more futures.  I have a feeling they've drawn down on their credit facility in order to pay for their day-to-day expenses and refunds - they've got no money coming in the door at this point (I'm sure that's a big duh to everyone on this forum).
Again, the above is a very simplistic example of hedging and I'm sure there are financial minds on this forum will correctly point out the holes (I have no intention of debating anyone on my example...you're probably right).  There are a ton of ifs, ands and buts out there!  I believe someone mentioned force majeure earlier in this thread - you are correct that many contracts contain a force majeure provision (meaning a party is excused for performance due to circumstances beyond their control).  Unfortunately, we are in uncharted waters here as to what constitutes a valid force majeure - there will be new law arising from the current market conditions.  

Hi.  I had a non-refundable deposit as well.  I've been told that the deposit won't be lost - you'll receive a FCC for the amount of the deposit.  Good luck.  

Finally a subject I'm (somewhat) qualified to respond to.  While it does happen from time to time, you typically don't see large end users of fuel (i.e. airlines/cruise lines) purchase the physical commodity on a fixed-price basis out the curve (you'd also be hard pressed to find a seller willing to sell on a fixed price basis out the curve).  When you hear the words "fuel futures" that typically corresponds to a financial trade (i.e. a swap).  This is what we call hedging.  
Here's a simplified example of how hedging works (sometimes, not always):  For budgeting purposes, a corporation - let's say RC - wants to know exactly how much their fuel costs will be.  They decide they want to fix their fuel cost at say $3/gallon.  RC will purchase their physical fuel at whatever the market happens to be, just like we do so in our personal vehicles.  They will then enter into a fixed for floating swap with a financial institution (we will call them XYZ).  In this scenario, RC will be the fixed price payer (RC pays XYZ $3/gallon) and XYZ will be the floating price payer (XYZ pays RC whatever the "market" price is for the product).  Again, remembering that RC wants to fix their fuel cost at $3/gallon, any time the market price goes up to say $4/gallon RC will have to pay that amount for their physical product but they will also receive $1 from XYZ.  Therefore RC's net cost is $3/gallon.  
However, this bet isn't risk-free.   Using the same example above, the market price for the physical commodity has gone down and RC is now buying its physical fuel at say $2/gallon.  However, RC's financial hedge is now out of the money - they owe XYZ $1/gallon.  That's all well and good because remember, RC has budgeted for $3/gallon. 
It's safe to assume RC is burning MUCH less fuel at this point than they normally do - they are saving money on the purchase of the physical product, but the hedge with XYZ doesn't just go away.   This is why people were upset that plane tickets didn't go down to $10 last time crude crashed - the airlines were paying less for their physical fuel, but they were upside down on their hedges.  
This is a long way of me expressing my opinion that I doubt that RC has drawn on its credit line to purchase more futures.  I have a feeling they've drawn down on their credit facility in order to pay for their day-to-day expenses and refunds - they've got no money coming in the door at this point (I'm sure that's a big duh to everyone on this forum).
Again, the above is a very simplistic example of hedging and I'm sure there are financial minds on this forum will correctly point out the holes (I have no intention of debating anyone on my example...you're probably right).  There are a ton of ifs, ands and buts out there!  I believe someone mentioned force majeure earlier in this thread - you are correct that many contracts contain a force majeure provision (meaning a party is excused for performance due to circumstances beyond their control).  Unfortunately, we are in uncharted waters here as to what constitutes a valid force majeure - there will be new law arising from the current market conditions.  

Hi.  I had a non-refundable deposit as well.  I've been told that the deposit won't be lost - you'll receive a FCC for the amount of the deposit.  Good luck.  

I posted this on a different thread, but thought I'd cover all my bases.
Cancelled my cruise on 3/19...received the same changing promises/stories everyone else has regarding the timeline.  Today was day 32 w/o a refund for cruise fair and cruise planner purchases (with the exception of a small amount for part of a meal package).
Decided to call again today.  Was told the full refund was issued yesterday but give it another 2-4 days to show up in my account.  Holding my breath...will let everyone know if it shows up.