Still a big nope

[deep1]

Quick refresher in case you havn't followed along; Booked for Indy cruise on board last year. They blatantly lied and said there were no rooms that could take four where we wanted to be. After getting home did a mock booking to check price and found loads of rooms that could take 4 where we wanted to be. Both same sq ft Ocean views. same deck even. Not in middle (premium) but they charged me 400 and took my obc  to change  rooms...  Some time later I paid big for upgrade to balcony... Then a little good luck with a price drop I was able to turn the one into two. Ok, thats more like it.

Here comes the first wave of cancellations and I'm nailed... Instantly get on phone to book something else.  Find out I can't use FCC for deposit, or really anything as the reservation gal doinked me for double the usual deposit at $2000 instead of 1000 (mind you it was only 400 deposit for original booking... )  That left only a grand to fill out the fare  and I would have 3500 FCC, 2500 of which I'd have to use within six months. So I opted on that cruise at that time to get full refund and the agent plugged me in. I never did get an email confirming so I called (several times) verifying it was in the process. Each time I was told it would be in my hands before April 13.

My new cruise final payment was due on the 15th...  The payment didn't come the 13th as promised. Called again and 'Promised" I would have it in time the 15th. I didn't so I paid the balance for the next trip also out of pocket.  Next day they cancel... Figures...  Today I call and ask about original refund. Three calls three different answers. First on tried to tell me that it had been done ????? Proved they didn't  he said they would call back with an answer, never happened . Second tried to tell me it was never 30 but 45 days to get payment?????... I pointed out friends that requested later and were refunded days or even weeks ago. Then showed him their 30 day statement when they notified me of cancelling... Told me they would call back... hasn't happened... Third one tried t tell me I ony started getting processed April 10th?????... I had guys mid March show me it was in process. I provided them that info ... They would call me back... Nope... 

For the second reservation they pretty much pushed me into the FCC. I don't mind as I'll have the cash from the first to pay the deposits when I do rebook... At this point I'm out $6000 cash and don't even have an existing reservation. Trying to stay loyal to royal but they are making it tough. Any suggestions about at least expediting the original refund?

[AGSLC5]

2 hours ago, deep1 said:

Quick refresher in case you havn't followed along; Booked for Indy cruise on board last year. They blatantly lied and said there were no rooms that could take four where we wanted to be. After getting home did a mock booking to check price and found loads of rooms that could take 4 where we wanted to be. Both same sq ft Ocean views. same deck even. Not in middle (premium) but they charged me 400 and took my obc  to change  rooms...  Some time later I paid big for upgrade to balcony... Then a little good luck with a price drop I was able to turn the one into two. Ok, thats more like it.

Here comes the first wave of cancellations and I'm nailed... Instantly get on phone to book something else.  Find out I can't use FCC for deposit, or really anything as the reservation gal doinked me for double the usual deposit at $2000 instead of 1000 (mind you it was only 400 deposit for original booking... )  That left only a grand to fill out the fare  and I would have 3500 FCC, 2500 of which I'd have to use within six months. So I opted on that cruise at that time to get full refund and the agent plugged me in. I never did get an email confirming so I called (several times) verifying it was in the process. Each time I was told it would be in my hands before April 13.

My new cruise final payment was due on the 15th...  The payment didn't come the 13th as promised. Called again and 'Promised" I would have it in time the 15th. I didn't so I paid the balance for the next trip also out of pocket.  Next day they cancel... Figures...  Today I call and ask about original refund. Three calls three different answers. First on tried to tell me that it had been done ????? Proved they didn't  he said they would call back with an answer, never happened . Second tried to tell me it was never 30 but 45 days to get payment?????... I pointed out friends that requested later and were refunded days or even weeks ago. Then showed him their 30 day statement when they notified me of cancelling... Told me they would call back... hasn't happened... Third one tried t tell me I ony started getting processed April 10th?????... I had guys mid March show me it was in process. I provided them that info ... They would call me back... Nope... 

For the second reservation they pretty much pushed me into the FCC. I don't mind as I'll have the cash from the first to pay the deposits when I do rebook... At this point I'm out $6000 cash and don't even have an existing reservation. Trying to stay loyal to royal but they are making it tough. Any suggestions about at least expediting the original refund?

That is extremely frustrating.. I am not out 6k but for the 4 cruises they canceled I am out about 1,500.. I am still waiting for taxes and fees from my March cruise they canceled. I called today and the Rep told me honestly it could be another 30-60 days before I see just the taxes and fees. I don't think there is anything anyone can do.. They claim its because they have to manually go in and fix the refunds.. Is that true? I have no idea. But I Love cruising so I just keep giving them more money and book more cruises.. I feel like there is nothing anyone can do they just keep giving the same answer.. Now I guess if another 60 days do go by I can call my credit card company and force the issue but I am not really sure what else could be done. I am so sorry you are in this position. Personally I am frustrated that I cant move my taxes and fees over to new reservations. They said if it wasn't during the pandemic with mass cancelations then it would be no problem and I could do that which leads me to think they just want to A hold my money as long as possible and B Need me to give them more money to stay afloat.. But since I love cruising and Royal I keep giving them more money.. I wish I knew what to tell you. Hang in there and hope for the best.  

[Mike.s]

As I'm soon expecting to join the queue waiting for a refund (we're due to cruise out of Italy late June) a thought occurred, how would we stand were RC to file for chapter 11, assume we'd all be chasing our credit card companies for refunds? Just starting to worry me that it's beginning to feel that RC are holding on to our money, appreciate they have a lot of refunds to process but not to have processed any so far, that's stretching it. 

Should we be concerned or is it just my cynical old mind?

[Spang1974]

3 hours ago, Mike.s said:

As I'm soon expecting to join the queue waiting for a refund (we're due to cruise out of Italy late June) a thought occurred, how would we stand were RC to file for chapter 11, assume we'd all be chasing our credit card companies for refunds? Just starting to worry me that it's beginning to feel that RC are holding on to our money, appreciate they have a lot of refunds to process but not to have processed any so far, that's stretching it. 

Should we be concerned or is it just my cynical old mind?

In the UK, RCI sell Cruises as Package Holidays so your cruise/money is fully insured (against bankruptcy) with ATOL and ABTA.

[Balsam]

3 minutes ago, Spang1974 said:

In the UK, RCI sell Cruises as Package Holidays so your cruise/money is fully insured (against bankruptcy) with ATOL and ABTA.

You must remember... this is a US biased forum, and anything non US is frowned upon as inferior....

[ellcee]

1 hour ago, Balsam said:

You must remember... this is a US biased forum, and anything non US is frowned upon as inferior....

That's ridiculous. I'm sorry you feel this way.

[Jill]

Pretty sure a bankruptcy judge would protect the consumer. At least I hope. Hmmmm though.....what country would they declare bankruptcy in? Ships are all flagged in other countries. RC doesn’t pay US corporate taxes. Uh oh.....

[deep1]

6 hours ago, Balsam said:

You must remember... this is a US biased forum, and anything non US is frowned upon as inferior....

Not from me... Its good t know the perspectives from our fellow cruisers in lots of different places...

[Ampurp85]

@Balsam That's a fallacy in its self because.....none of the destinations are US based. I can only speak for myself but I love to hear different perspectives. I cannot recall anyone speaking negatively to non-USA cruisers. We cannot deny the fact it was started by an USA citizen but @Matt still educates us in the blog about everything RCCI related. It might seem biased because our experience, as a whole, is only with the North American side of RCCI operations.

[twangster]

12 hours ago, Balsam said:

You must remember... this is a US biased forum, and anything non US is frowned upon as inferior....

Having spent a lot of time on these forums my experience is very different from yours.  Over countless threads there is good input and information from most regions around the world.  I can recall no thread where a poster from a non U.S. region has been frowned upon in any way and certainly not deemed or labeled inferior.  

[Balsam]

Maybe I didn't word that particularly well....

There is obviously plenty of information here for Non-US people, otherwise I wouldn't be here in the first place.

There is definitely a US bias here, but this just comes from having the majority of the people from the US. This becomes evident when you look at things like menus. Not one menu from Ovation, Radiance or Voyager. I don't believe that not a single person would post a menu from one of those ships.

Apologies if I offended anyone.

[HeWhoWaits]

12 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I cannot recall anyone speaking negatively to non-USA cruisers.

Well, we DO tease our northern neighbors a bit, but they deserve it. Eh?

[twangster]

5 hours ago, Balsam said:

Maybe I didn't word that particularly well....

There is obviously plenty of information here for Non-US people, otherwise I wouldn't be here in the first place.

There is definitely a US bias here, but this just comes from having the majority of the people from the US. This becomes evident when you look at things like menus. Not one menu from Ovation, Radiance or Voyager. I don't believe that not a single person would post a menu from one of those ships.

Apologies if I offended anyone.

You are correct that participation is largely from North America however there is a strong Canadian contingency present here in the forums plus a handful of regulars from down under and Europe or the U.K..  Participation from the Asia region is much lower but even then it's not non-existent.  Fortunately we've had some regulars post when cruising in Asia.  The majority of members are from the U.S. so they post their experience sailing U.S. cruises.  I'm not sure that a bias, it's not like they sail in other regions and refuse to post about it due to a bias.  

If you look harder you'll see menus from ships like Ovation and Radiance.  I know because I've posted them and so have some others from the region.  Having said that now that menus are now in the Royal app posting them isn't the thing it used to be and I'm not bothering to capture menus with the zest I once did.  It's simply easier to tell people to look in the app.

Here are some recent Ovation menus for your review:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17870-standing-ovation-from-the-land-down-under-new-zealand-11-nights-feb-2-2020/&do=findComment&comment=189391

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17870-standing-ovation-from-the-land-down-under-new-zealand-11-nights-feb-2-2020/&do=findComment&comment=189665

 

[AnnetteJackson]

On the part of all this about this being a manual process...... I can tell you they have said that on other cruise cancellations BEFORE all of this.  This is not like airlines that worked with Corporate travelers and had a system in place for tons of changes after final payment.  I know that everyone is frustrated with this process, but please remember that this is a VERY UNUSUAL circumstance that EVERYONE finds themselves in and no one had a good plan for what would happen when the world shut down.  The cruise lines have furloughed lots of people and have moved people from their normal jobs to helping handle the refunds, FCC, call center questions, etc.  The systems were never created to give all the money back plus some...lol  Manual process means its slower and less accurate.  

We all have to hang in there and find some patience.  I know its hard, but your TA cant push this thru faster, Royal cant move any faster, and anyone that picks up the phone to help explain all this - needs some understanding as they didnt create this issue, they are only there to try to help

 

[FoxboroCruiser]

Great post @AnnetteJackson !  Always great to hear a voice of reason.  Money can cause a lot of anxiety, frustration, and every other human reaction and emotion.  I need my fees and taxes back to make the deposit on a rebooked cruise.  Its my money and I expect to get it back. Others may need it just to put food on the table, and others might just get wound up at the thought that they aren’t going to get the money back at all.  

Those members posting over an over about it is not going to make it happen any faster and has made coming to this forum far less attractive for me in the last few days. Everybody has the right to do as they please, but count me among those that are tired over the vocal minority who post about the same issue again and again.

[RBRSKI]

That's the beauty of it you know what you are opening. 

If the topic is not of interest to you just don't open it. 

You may see it as members posting over and over, but it may be a form of stress release for some.  We all have our own ways of coping with situation!

 

[FoxboroCruiser]

I get venting, really I do. That said there was one member who posted rough 50times in the same month they joined. That’s excessive.  Sorry if I hit too close to home but seeing the same negativity from the same small number of people makes me want to vent too.

May be I’ll post the anti vent every time I see a repeat complainer and the the complainers can just not open those topics. Work for you?

 

 

 

[Ampurp85]

@FoxboroCruiser I get what you mean, there are plenty of threads that repeat about refunds. I get wanting to vent, but its hard to ignore when they come into other threads not talking about refunds..and post about refunds.

[Balsam]

21 hours ago, twangster said:

You are correct that participation is largely from North America however there is a strong Canadian contingency present here in the forums plus a handful of regulars from down under and Europe or the U.K..  Participation from the Asia region is much lower but even then it's not non-existent.  Fortunately we've had some regulars post when cruising in Asia.  The majority of members are from the U.S. so they post their experience sailing U.S. cruises.  I'm not sure that a bias, it's not like they sail in other regions and refuse to post about it due to a bias.  

If you look harder you'll see menus from ships like Ovation and Radiance.  I know because I've posted them and so have some others from the region.  Having said that now that menus are now in the Royal app posting them isn't the thing it used to be and I'm not bothering to capture menus with the zest I once did.  It's simply easier to tell people to look in the app.

Here are some recent Ovation menus for your review:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17870-standing-ovation-from-the-land-down-under-new-zealand-11-nights-feb-2-2020/&do=findComment&comment=189391

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/17870-standing-ovation-from-the-land-down-under-new-zealand-11-nights-feb-2-2020/&do=findComment&comment=189665

 

Thanks for those menus. Very handy as we have Ovation booked over Xmas and New Year (fingers crossed).

You mention the app, however I don't seem to be able to do anything with it. Our last two cruises were on Voyager before it was added to the app, and the Radiance which was also not on the app (and was cancelled).

Our Ovation cruise shows up , but all I get is a message "We're working on the fun", and "Check back later". I thought we could make cruise planner purchases, MTD reservations etc using the app? Am I incorrect, or does that functionality show up closer to sailing?

Cheers

[FoxboroCruiser]

8 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

@FoxboroCruiser I get what you mean, there are plenty of threads that repeat about refunds. I get wanting to vent, but its hard to ignore when they come into other threads not talking about refunds..and post about refunds.

That's really all I was trying to say - may be I could have chosen more appropriate words or examples.   A real community is there for each other through think and thin. That said, there are some people that are only here for a short time with a very specific agenda and they don't deserve the same considerations - and sometimes even long established members of a community can cross the line. This is a leisure activity for all of us (both the blog, message boards and cruising in general).  When it doesn't feel like that for too long or too often, may be its OK for someone to suggest it's too much.

[Matt]

On 4/22/2020 at 3:09 AM, Balsam said:

There is definitely a US bias here, but this just comes from having the majority of the people from the US. This becomes evident when you look at things like menus. Not one menu from Ovation, Radiance or Voyager. I don't believe that not a single person would post a menu from one of those ships.

Thanks for clarifying your stance.

I'd also add any compass or menu I post here is totally dependent on readers sending them in. There aren't as many entries from those ships, while accurate, is also a reflection of people on those sailings not sending them in.

So if I get something, I am happy to post it!

[deep1]

This isn't about venting... This is trying to hopefully straighten out an ongoing and increasingly bad situation. Its a prayer shot to the wind that we hope somebody who's "been there done that" might shed some light on...  Its posted also in hopes that nobody else gets sucked in. Tonight they drifted to that  BS of "Oh we only opened this refund on April 10th????????? So it will be 45 days from then!!!!!! I'm trying to book now three cruises and cant because they are sitting on my money, some over a year now! I know in other situations with some good input and ideas of approaches I have been able to string the right words to get positive things done...  Hoping somebody has some sound input...

 

 

[deep1]

The first refund is the one that I'm increasingly uptight about.  The second I'll take FCC...  I'm usually good at sitting down and hashing out problems  but they are getting worse with their inconsistencies and  could care less attitudes... Some of the worst most belligerent customer service I have ever seen anywhere. I'm sympathetic but they need to ramp up their game in tough times like this and not lose track  of tending to their  client base  with respect and honesty. May 25th is not the April 13th they guaranteed on the refund. Goodness only knows when the FCC will become available... If its another 75  days that's early July... Long after final payment is due on the cruises I'm looking to book. Then what?

 

[deep1]

Another week since I started this update and not word one... Again, Refunds and fcc will be applied to new cruises but need t see em before that can happen. 

 

[deep1]

Just a quick update... No closer than I was...  No first refund, no second FCC... Not a word from RCL other than the generated Apology letter that everybody got. Saw somewhere today what looked like an update explaining stuff. According to it I should have had the first refund by April 13 as I was originally told...  

[deep1]

Todays questionable update... They said they put it back in my account 3 days ago but bank says nope...  I got my cancelled excursions within hours of manually cancelling them so bank does real time... If it is actually refunded I can see I will have to go line by line to make sure the amounts are correct... 

 

 

 

[Bigken]

 Same here told me they put it back six days ago my bank said no. I ask my credit card company to dispute the charge said I have to wait 15 days from when they said they put it back. Waiting on to other refunds from rc said it would take a least 45 days 

[deep1]

5 hours ago, Bigken said:

 Same here told me they put it back six days ago my bank said no. I ask my credit card company to dispute the charge said I have to wait 15 days from when they said they put it back. Waiting on to other refunds from rc said it would take a least 45 days 

The account its should have gone back to I can't access on line and I'm long way from home. Will have to go to a branch to verify... The second set is supposed to be FCC and they say May 22?  Who knows... 

 

[deep1]

Well well...  got my "deposits" from the first two... Rest of that still MIA... No word of the 3rd /4th  FCC... Now I see prices going through the roof... So me booking two or even three getting farther out of reach...

[deep1]

Update... I got 1/4 of 1 of my refunds... They tried to tell me that we're all caught up. I had them do the math and they got really apologetic but that doesn't fix the ongoing problems. No the FCC's did not come either as promised. Said it will be a week just to get my question answered what is going on with that! Meanwhile the cruises I was going to book have both doubled in price and no longer affordable!

[deep1]

At what point are they gonna figure out doing these refunds and FCC's right the first time would so much be in their best interest...  That will be the fourth attempt at getting just that one  correct... Multiply that out 4 times and thats 16 separate employees tied up (not to mention phone people) where it could have been 4 very quick and easy ones... Insane waste of manpower!