Jump to content

Cruise Planner Refunds


Recommended Posts

15 hours ago, cookie10* said:

I cancelled on April 26 and i am still waiting!!!

Good to know that I'm not the only one wondering where my refund is. Thanks for all the reply's. What I don't understand is how inconsistent Royal Caribbean is with their refunds. After my April 30th Cruise Planner cancellation I have myself cancelled other items in May and June and also have had Royal Caribbean cancel my Cruise Planner items because of a Lift and Shift. They have all been refunded, the fastest was just under three weeks.

So I'm wondering how it can be that if I cancel something in June it is processed and refunded under three weeks when my April cancellation refund is nowhere to be seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Mathias said:

Hope someone here can help. I cancelled my cruise planner items on April the 30th and got the Cruise Planner Cancellation Summary e-mail the same day. That's now nine weeks ago or about 45 business days and still no refund to my credit card. Have anyone here waited for a longer time to get a refund? Should I still sit quiet and wait for a refund or do I need to contact Royal Caribbean?

I did the very thing that you did.  We cancelled our cabana to secure a better price on the cabana back in April for our July 19th sailing on HOS.  I talked to a Royal Caribbean supervisor who assured me that it would be coming back to my card.  (The first cabana, the second i wanted the credit)  I just received my cruise planner credit and you know what happened....  Both cabana's are credited on that.  As of now, I have way too much credit on the cruise planner, and still no money back from the first one.  I am done with it, and have instructed my TA to do what she can to make this right.  (I normally use my TA for the cruise, and my wife and I take care of all cruise planner stuff)  I totally understand that they are short staffed and all, but when you talk to numerous people on their end and they assure you this or that will happen, and it doesn't..  You get the frustration.  Good Luck!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think all this refund/FCC shenanigans is Royal winning a battle but overall may just lose the war.
 

I’m still waiting on a cruise refund and some FCC. It’s on my count, day 45, and it’s been all quiet on the Russian front. I’m frustrated with what they are doing but I do understand it. They are hemorrhaging money with no revenue incoming so they are trying to hold unto the money for as long as they can as that is their near term target; but, it angers me as a consumer that they are doing this and it makes me question my need to go cruising in the future. How many people are like me that are thinking the same thing.

I spend 7+ thousand on cruises all together so add lots of my mind-set up and they we lose loyal cruisers who will find other ways to spend their money. There are lots of resorts and vacation places vying for that money. I used to look forward to emails from Royal announcing new sales but now I just delete them knowing that all they want is more money to hold unto and not return in a reasonable fashion if it gets cancelled. They have hurt their loyal base. It’s to bad they have chosen this route - understandable, but not prudent. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had cancelled cruise planner purchases on 5/15 and no refund.  Last night I DM'd RCCL on twitter letting them know I cancelled on 5/15 and and asking when I can expect my refund.  Their response:  "Thank you for this info, and I apologize for the delay. I will go ahead and set up the refund for you. You should receive your funds within 30-45 days."  I asked why this wasn't set up to process back in May and I've already been waiting 45 days.  Their response:  "I'm not sure why, but I have taken care of it and I'm glad I was able to resolve this for you."   So now I'm waiting again.  Hopefully the refund will be coming soon!  I wonder what would have happened if I had not contacted them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, CFL said:

 I wonder what would have happened if I had not contacted them?

I wish you luck.  I contacted them twice over my cabana issue.  I cancelled and re-booked back on April 19th.  My first call was on May 11th.  They said it was issued and I should get it back in 2 weeks.  My second call (Talked to a supervisor) was on June 5th, and again he told me he fixed the problem and it would be 2 weeks.  I just received my Cruise Planner credits yesterday, and now I got credit for both cabanas...  My only concern is why did two separate people have to each fix my so called problem....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if I should add this here or just start another thread...

I was booked on Ovation until the second wave of cancellations occurred. On this was the first batch that Royal was offering the 125% for Cruise Planner purchases. At the time no stipulations in order to get the CP bonus you had to opt for the FCC for the sailing. I had gotten the Cruise Planner cancellation summary email on April 10.

On Friday (June 26)  I send a Facebook message to Royal asking what the status was for getting the CP bonus. Followed up today after not hearing a thing. This was the response I received:

I'm back. After looking a bit deeper into your reservation, I see you received a 100% refund, but also requested the 125% Cruise Planner credit. Unfortunately, you can't have both, I'm so sorry if you weren't aware. I've set up a refund in the total of $, see details below. 

---Details of charged amounts and refund distribution to cards---

It may take 2-3 weeks to see this amount in your account. I'm so sorry for the delay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cancelling the Cruise Planner orders online did not work for me.  They were still there one day after I tried cancelling them.

I called Royal and asked an agent to do the cancellation.  I got an email confirming they were cancelled.  I haven’t checked my online Cruise Planner yet.

FYI, the refund for the cruise reservation itself showed up on my credit card account within a day.  Thank God I did not have to wait 30-45 days.  Let’s see what happens with my Cruise Planner refunds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I called Bank Of America this morning for my BOA RCL CP refund from May 22nd for $230.  I have a "Cruise Planner Cancellation Summary" email from Royal as evidence.  They told me to again call RCL and complain to them!  This is still annoying me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like the refunds aren't really being processed in order of cancellation. I cancelled all of our cruise planner purchases for our September 28th Honeymoon Cruise on Independence of the Seas on the day that NCL announced they were cancelling cruises through September 30th figuring Royal would most likely do the same just so I could get ahead of the next wave of cancellations and it only took about a week to get the refunds. So pretty much standard RCCL pre-covid. Weird right? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally took the bullet and called Royal Caribbean to get the delayed refund sorted out. Some background information first. I had several cabins booked for my family and relatives. I myself booked and paid for the cruise and for the Cruise Planner items for everyone. I am the only contact person on every reservation and everything is paid with only my information. The only place my family and relatives names are mentioned is under the guests names in the staterooms.

Well, it turns out the customer service at Royal Caribbean are just not Clowns, they are the entire Circus.

They confirmed that they made some mistakes and that they will now process the refund for my April 30th cancelled items, but only for my items. Therefore, everyone else in my family and relatives need to each individually call in to Royal Caribbean and demand that Royal Caribbean correct their mistake and process the refund for the items I paid for. This is crazy as I have e-mail proof of the Cruise Planner Cancellation Summary where they tell me "Your order has been cancelled. […] All monies will be credited or reimbursed based on your original form of payment."

I have no idea on how to proceed with this because my family consists of several generations of people so we have old persons who do not speak English and do not own a computer and never even seen the reservations I done. Moreover, we have children with us where the youngest is nine years old. I also made several surprise reservations (spa treatments, restaurants and excursions) that my family do not even know about. So now, everyone individually must call in to Royal Caribbean and demand that I get a refund for the items I ordered and paid for.

I tried to explain calmly the impracticality of every family member calling in to Royal Caribbean to demand that they will correct their mistake and process the refund. Not all speak English and we have children as young as nine. How would they manage this task when they do not even know what reservations I have made for them? The customer service person came up with the extraordinary idea that I could travel around the country in my spare time and visit each person of my family and relatives that were supposed to come cruising with me. There when I'm visiting I call Royal Caribbean and explain the situation and then hand over the phone to the other person and have them confirm that they want Royal Caribbean to correct their mistake and process the refund. So now I have my summer vacations plans worked out for me thanks to Royal Caribbean which is nice considering my summer cruise is cancelled.

As I said above, the customer service at Royal Caribbean are just not Clowns, they are the entire Circus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Matt, @WAAAYTOOO HELP!  I'm still waiting for cruise planner refunds from April 22, 2020. I called and sent emails to no avail. My bank prefers I wait a bit longer when explaining the dispute, it is Bank of America but not the Royal Card. The crazy part is I did receive a few random amounts from my June sailing, guess those April refunds are at the bottom of some pile. 

Expecting taxes and fees refunds as well for cancellations for sailings June 28, August 3 and now Odyssey November 20. 

Question please Odyssey sailing cancelled before my final payment, thank goodness for small blessings. Do my taxes and fees become refunded seperate from the rest of the deposit? 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/3/2020 at 3:57 AM, Mathias said:

 

I tried to explain calmly the impracticality of every family member calling in to Royal Caribbean to demand that they will correct their mistake and process the refund. Not all speak English and we have children as young as nine. How would they manage this task when they do not even know what reservations I have made for them? The customer service person came up with the extraordinary idea that I could travel around the country in my spare time and visit each person of my family and relatives that were supposed to come cruising with me. There when I'm visiting I call Royal Caribbean and explain the situation and then hand over the phone to the other person and have them confirm that they want Royal Caribbean to correct their mistake and process the refund. So now I have my summer vacations plans worked out for me thanks to Royal Caribbean which is nice considering my summer cruise is cancelled.

 

It's ridiculous that they won't let you cancel everyone's.  First, I'd call and talk to someone else - escalate it to a supervisor.  If that doesn't work, as much as you shouldn't have to and it would be a pain the the butt to do, you could call and say you're the other person (people). It's not as though they aren't going to know your voice, and the voice of Uncle Jim, etc.  But I'd definitely talk to someone else first.  It's not unusual to get different answers from different employees there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Neesa said:

@Matt, @WAAAYTOOO HELP!  I'm still waiting for cruise planner refunds from April 22, 2020. I called and sent emails to no avail. My bank prefers I wait a bit longer when explaining the dispute, it is Bank of America but not the Royal Card. The crazy part is I did receive a few random amounts from my June sailing, guess those April refunds are at the bottom of some pile. 

@Neesa FYI, I just received my $230 CP refund from a cancellation I made on May 22nd.  The refund was dated July 4th.  Happy 4th of July to me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now I really think RCCL does not know one hand from the other. They sent me an email asking if we would take 125% CP credit from our June sailing a few weeks after we had requested refunds the day they announced the cancellations. We received our credit letters (one for me and one for the wife) and they were correct on the amplified amounts and even rounded up to the nearest dollar. Now over the weekend we received a CC refund for our dining package which was included in the CP credit. Wonder if they are from two different departments and like most large companies do not coordinate between them. Oh well, if they negate some of our CP credit that is ok, just so in the end all the refunds and purchases align. Me thinks it may be mid-2021 before the stars align on their accounting department. Would not want their job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a bunch of refunds yesterday for my cancelled August Symphony cruise.  I have been very, very fortunate.  So far (fingers crossed behind my back) all of the CP refunds have been accurate and complete for a single cruise...so I haven't had to go searching trying to and identify which refunds are from which cancelled cruise.  My unprofessional observation is that they are working in reverse.  I got my October refunds first, now August but still waiting for May.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We lifted and shifted a Dec 2020 cruise to Dec 2021.  RCCL cancelled my cruise planner booking for Labadee on May 6 when we moved the cruise.  Still don't have my refund.   Called RCCL today (60 calendar days - 45 business days) and have been told it was on hold and will be another 45 days before I get my money.  So am looking at four months to get a refund.   (insert facepalm here).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just some more data points...

Cruise planner refund requested June 30. Refund posted to Amex held with Wells Fargo and a Delta Amex July 9. Also posted were some of the refunds I had to ask Royal about, see post in this thread from July 2.

Waiting for refunds to a Costco Citi card for the same sailings. Someone else's card so I don't have real time information.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to my Agent, a full refund of both cruise fare and cruise planner purchases are on their way from my cancelled Sept. Liberty cruise.  The cruise fare was exact and the CP purchases added up correctly even though the amounts were completely bizarre.  It hasn't hit my bank account yet but apparently the refunds are on their way.  If so, it will be the first of my 5 cancelled cruises that will be completely and totally refunded.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DH and I decided that we wanted the CP moneys back on the card, as we weren't sure we'd spend that amount again on our next cruise (already purchased drink pkg at a reasonable price), so we instructed our TA to do nothing -- not to ask for the CP money as the 125% deferred amount -- and we did nothing -- which, to my mind, meant we would get it back on the card eventually.  (Cancelled cruise we for the end of this month.)  About 10 days ago, I get a cheerful email from Royal congratulating me on my 125% CP credit, that we could start applying to our next cruise!!  

Messaged the TA - Did you ask for this when we got our 125% FCC? No -- so luckily for us, she spent time on the phone with Royal to get it straightened out.  No idea how long that will take...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

According to my Agent, a full refund of both cruise fare and cruise planner purchases are on their way from my cancelled Sept. Liberty cruise.  The cruise fare was exact and the CP purchases added up correctly even though the amounts were completely bizarre.  It hasn't hit my bank account yet but apparently the refunds are on their way.  If so, it will be the first of my 5 cancelled cruises that will be completely and totally refunded.

Of 3 cancelled cruises, 1 is fully refunded and all of our cruise planner purchases are either refunded or we have received the CP credit. The rest of the refunds received to date are so bizarre in their amounts that they defy linking to the 2 remaining cancelled cruises amounts. In their infinite wisdom they did give us 200% CP credit on our shore excursions (gave the wife and I 100% of the total outstanding shore excursion amounts each). Go figure. Eventually they will account for it and probably demand it back, but for the moment it is giving us a big smile in all of this mess. Wish I could trade it for cash back on the card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

The rest of the refunds received to date are so bizarre in their amounts that they defy linking to the 2 remaining cancelled cruises amounts

You can request an accounting for any expected refund.  They can look up a cancelled cruise and tell you the various refund amounts that are associated to that exact cruise.

I've been in a situation more than once where I am expecting refunds for more than one cruise.  Then those bizarre amounts show up and it's challenging to associate them to the right cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/2/2020 at 2:45 PM, PG Cruiser said:

Cancelling the Cruise Planner orders online did not work for me.  They were still there one day after I tried cancelling them.

I called Royal and asked an agent to do the cancellation.  I got an email confirming they were cancelled.  I haven’t checked my online Cruise Planner yet.

FYI, the refund for the cruise reservation itself showed up on my credit card account within a day.  Thank God I did not have to wait 30-45 days.  Let’s see what happens with my Cruise Planner refunds.

Just a quick update, I got my refunds for my cancelled cruise planner orders.  They showed up on my account just this week but the transaction date was July 8th.

So that's six days from Royal's end and eight to nine days on the card provider's end.  Not bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad someone is getting refunds. Our refunds for our March 22nd cruise have STILL not resolved (almost 100 days). Cannot get RCCL to talk to us as it was booked through TA and they said the TA would have to talk to them, not us. Unfortunately, our MEI TA retired last month and we have heard NOTHING from the company as to a replacement person. This is doubled down for our June 14th cruise as we have not received ANYTHING from that one. Have received partial amounts but no where near 50% in total money out. The one cruise we booked ourselves we received the refund within 2 weeks of us canceling. Can only hope we will eventually receive the money back. Despite all this we have 3 more cruises scheduled, that we booked ourselves.?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

Glad someone is getting refunds. Our refunds for our March 22nd cruise have STILL not resolved (almost 100 days). Cannot get RCCL to talk to us as it was booked through TA and they said the TA would have to talk to them, not us. 

Cruise planner refunds don't go through TAs - I've had RCCL give me the status of my cruise planner refunds, even though I booked through a TA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

Today is July 18. I still haven't received any refund or activity on my RCCL BOFA card.

Same here. Two of us called RCCL via conference call to rebook the canceled Odyssey cruise. My friend received her refunds in a few days, I am still waiting for mine. The hold up might be specific to the RCCL BOFA card depending on your statement closing date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Lucky in Love said:

Same here. Two of us called RCCL via conference call to rebook the canceled Odyssey cruise. My friend received her refunds in a few days, I am still waiting for mine. The hold up might be specific to the RCCL BOFA card depending on your statement closing date.

My closing date is the 27th of the month. Hopefully, something will happen soon. It says I do not owe a minimum payment. Nice. I always pay it off in full. BUT! It still shows that amount as my current balance. ARGH! I filed a dispute with BOFA. Hopefully, they will get to the bottom of this soon. I'm wondering if RCCL didn't refund the money and apply it to my L&S, which would go against their written refund confirmation of refunding back to the original form of payment. Stay tuned. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, crisgold52 said:

Trust me RCL can do literally anything even refunding cruise with confidence FCC's even though its against their published policy. With some patience and sweet talk with an understand RSS agent as long as one speaks their lingo its doable. I know since this was an exception they were able to make. Of course it took three hours of working the phones and a great deal of patience to find the correct RSS agent though .

I'm referring to the CP purchases for a cruise that gets L&S.  It was a glitch experienced by several people that the refund for their CP purchases ended up being posted as a credit towards the new cruise date rather than refunded as they should have when the original cruise was canceled to be L&S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

Today is July 18. I still haven't received any refund or activity on my RCCL BOFA card.

I’m with you on that...today is July 19 ( cancelled 18 May 20) and still nothing of a refund. I called my TA last week, and much to my chagrin, my paperwork for the refund fell through the cracks - imagine that.  So the TA went over the numbers with RCI to make sure the refund will be correct, and after RCI keeping $200 due to a changing dates long ago, I should see a refund - well sometime.
 

It’s maddening what they are doing. I don’t know how they will ever get loyalty again as I’m just one person and I’m sure there are lots of people like me. I’m basically losing $200 for a silly reason, long story, but I guess that’s my RCI tax or donation to the RCI cause. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I hate to double post the same info in various threads, just in case some people don't make it over to the Shore Excursions section I'll post it here, too.

I just got all of my Cruise Planner refunds yesterday from the cruise Lifted and Shifted on May 11th.  Like an idiot, I didn't cancel the CP purchases prior to completing the L&S, so I'm sure that added to my wait time.  As an aside, I called in on July 9th to check on the status of the refund, and a very helpful customer service representative named Lacey told me she could see the system tried to process my refund on 6/1, but a computer error prevented it from processing.  Why it took me calling to find this error, ?‍♂️ , but she pushed the transaction through and said that it would be back on my card in 7-10 business days.  All of the funds got there in 6, so fair play there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/18/2020 at 8:45 PM, Baked Alaska said:

Today is July 18. I still haven't received any refund or activity on my RCCL BOFA card.

I too "re-priced" cruise planner items I purchased for (2) bookings. After having a long...on hold....explain again....on hold conversation with RC and got all except for $503.86 refunded which RC said they already gave it back to me. I filed a claim through RCCL BofA Card mid June.  Called the other days after mailing "hard copies" of proof of the purchases for each booking number...and I'm still waiting for them to review the documents which could take up to 90 days. My advice is to get a supervisor involved for all refunds with RC.  At this point I'm sick with disappointment and awaiting for the next round of cancellations. Good Luck getting anyone to care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...