non refundable deposit

[Cile]

I just cancel October cruise for my daughter and RC told me they will give only $100 back and rest will be credit for future cruises. My daughter is not big fan of cruising and I am not sure she will go in future . I think it is not fer now with virus to tied money or even let you transfer to other member of family ? Do you have same experience? 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 minutes ago, Cile said:

I just cancel October cruise for my daughter and RC told me they will give only $100 back and rest will be credit for future cruises. My daughter is not big fan of cruising and I am not sure she will go in future . I think it is not fer now with virus to tied money or even let you transfer to other member of family ? Do you have same experience? 

I have heard lately that some people have had luck getting their FCC transferred to someone else's name.  It really is going to depend on who you get on the other end of the phone.

[Cile]

I was waiting 2:10 minutes and I ask for supervisor and now I am waiting already 45 min. I am very unpleasantly surprise about all of this? 

[WAAAYTOOO]

13 minutes ago, Cile said:

I just cancel October cruise for my daughter and RC told me they will give only $100 back and rest will be credit for future cruises. My daughter is not big fan of cruising and I am not sure she will go in future . I think it is not fer now with virus to tied money or even let you transfer to other member of family ? Do you have same experience? 

I am very surprised to hear that they gave you ANY kind of cash refund.  The Cruise With Confidence program offers only a Future Cruise Credits.  I guess you are lucky to have gotten $100 in cash back.

[Cile]

Reason is bc I book first time for 4 people and then one didn't want to go so we cancel him. Still I was thinking they need at least to transfer credit to my cruise, my daughter will not go in future. But I was holding for 50 min waiting for supervisor and he just hang up! I have another 5 different reservations and it make me really mad now.  

[Lovetocruise2002]

14 minutes ago, Cile said:

I was waiting 2:10 minutes and I ask for supervisor and now I am waiting already 45 min. I am very unpleasantly surprise about all of this? 

The hold times are awful.  My TA has been on hold almost all day trying get FCCs applied to my sailing for final payment.

[Cile]

I know it is hard for them loosing so much business , but they need to be much better in costumer service and work with people why are repeat customers even more. I am in sales for years and I am very careful how I treat my old customers. I just don't understand there logic?    

[Atlantix2000]

26 minutes ago, Cile said:

I know it is hard for them loosing so much business , but they need to be much better in costumer service and work with people why are repeat customers even more. I am in sales for years and I am very careful how I treat my old customers. I just don't understand there logic?    

How would you handle all of your customers trying to change and/or cancel all of their orders simultaneously?  And you're dealing with some of the same customers over and over because they have multiple cruises booked or they don't/won't reschedule for far enough out.  You really think you can do all that without wait times going to hell?

[Lovetocruise2002]

Keep in mind they also laid off a lot of their agents.  Add that in with the much higher volume of calls and wait times are a nightmare.

[Cile]

40 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

How would you handle all of your customers trying to change and/or cancel all of their orders simultaneously?  And you're dealing with some of the same customers over and over because they have multiple cruises booked or they don't/won't reschedule for far enough out.  You really think you can do all that without wait times going to hell?

I am not talking about wait time. I am talking about money and for people why don't want to cruise in future it is just lost money?

[Andrew72681]

2 minutes ago, Cile said:

I am not talking about wait time. I am talking about money and for people why don't want to cruise in future it is just lost money?

Unfortunately I think a lesson that may come out of this entire situation for many is to read agreements and contracts before agreeing with them. 

[Cile]

7 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

Unfortunately I think a lesson that may come out of this entire situation for many is to read agreements and contracts before agreeing with them. 

I wouldn't complain if it is normal time, but with corona virus is totally different story.  

[Andrew72681]

14 minutes ago, Cile said:

I wouldn't complain if it is normal time, but with corona virus is totally different story.  

I hate to sound like a travel insurance salesman, but examples like this are precisely why everyone needs to know what they are getting into. It’s why we all make the math work between refundable and non refundable deposits, as decides whether or not the 250$ deposit makes sense to potentially lose. As your cruise isn’t till October you aren’t fully paid, there’s people dealing with today potential August departures who have made final payment and because of work issues or other issues they aren’t going to be able to go. 

[Cile]

13 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

I hate to sound like a travel insurance salesman, but examples like this are precisely why everyone needs to know what they are getting into. It’s why we all make the math work between refundable and non refundable deposits, as decides whether or not the 250$ deposit makes sense to potentially lose. As your cruise isn’t till October you aren’t fully paid, there’s people dealing with today potential August departures who have made final payment and because of work issues or other issues they aren’t going to be able to go. 

My cruise for next week was cancel and I never get penny yet from RC . I am not even complaining about that , neater I call them and asking them for money. But it is more then month now since Royal cancel "Harmony of the Seas' for next Sunday. They didn't even give money for tips we pay upfront.  But If we new about virus at the time when we book our cruise for October I am sure I will not pay non-refundable deposit . And I am only one in my family why still book 3 more cruises one for New Year and 2 next May.   

[Ampurp85]

@Cile COVID-19 has disrupted a lot.....which is exactly why you shouldn't be complaining. Your cruise contract states that even in times like these they have the right to honor your contact without a refund. Them offering refunds or FCC is just a building of goodwill, businesses rely on goodwill to maintain and lure customers. But don't twist it...it is still a business. You cancelled on your own, so you have to accept the consequences. There really is no "fair" in business: you paid for a cruise that does not entitle you to a refund because you wanted a cheaper fare, they have to give you the service or FCC and not a refund. Whether that cruise is much later in date, a different itinerary or ship is up to them as per the contract. I hate that FCC doesn't go back into the person who paid for it name but there are ways around it. Unfortunately, there are not enough reps to deal with the millions of customers impacted.

[Cile]

I am not complaining about Next Sunday cruise . I am reading everybody's post and as I see nobody got money back even after 60 days . I was talking about cruise in October that I get for my daughter but she don't want to go on cruise and she say she never will. So credit is lost to then. 

[Ampurp85]

@Cile  I personally don't like to use quotes in my replies but I was replaying to this

50 minutes ago, Cile said:

I wouldn't complain if it is normal time, but with corona virus is totally different story.  

I then went on to respond to the total of your post(s) as you are the OP.

Also there have been plenty of people who have gotten refunds, I have read plenty of post about how some got theirs in under 40 days. I posted about mine a few days ago, I believe it was 45 days from RCCI and almost 60 for Carnival. My post refers to your point about them not refunding money and putting the FCC in your daughters name, who may never cruise. I created a post a few weeks ago about how my 80y/o grandmother refuses to cruise. I had the rep remove my grandmothers name and keep the room in only my mothers. I am now getting FCC in only her name and will apply it to the cruise we have scheduled in Oct 2021. I find that if you explain right away what you want to do and be patient, the Reps will do all they can to help you. But hindsight is 20/20, its always better to go into the call prepared.

[Cile]

I try to explain and ask if he can give me credit on at least one of my cruises and he say no and then his manager said same thing. So I am canceling for my son not to . So I guess I will loose all deposit. And I will never do that again. Thank you anyway.

[Ampurp85]

@Cile Hmm that sound weird if all you wanted was credit but I would try and try again. Sometimes one rep will say no..then another no..another no..then a yes.

[Cile]

I just did I got credit for my son's cruise. And it is weird. 

[Hoski]

They adding information to the website today about how to avoid the wait times if that is helpful to anyone in the future.  In our case we will not cancel any of our cruises.  If Royal says we can go we are going.

[Lovetocruise2002]

The only issue I have with refundable, that no one has brought up yet, is that most times, prices goes up as you get closer to final payment, not the other way, at least not on sailings that I have tracked over the last few years.  So if you book a refundable, and count on changing that to a non-refundable down the road (closer to final payment), the price may have jumped a lot by then, making the non-refundable more than you originally booked the refundable for.  This was just one disadvantage that I thought of just now.  Who knows how this pandemic will change these trends, but just something I noticed over the years.

[Andrew72681]

15 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The only issue I have with refundable, that no one has brought up yet, is that most times, prices goes up as you get closer to final payment, not the other way, at least not on sailings that I have tracked over the last few years.  So if you book a refundable, and count on changing that to a non-refundable down the road (closer to final payment), the price may have jumped a lot by then, making the non-refundable more than you originally booked the refundable for.  This was just one disadvantage that I thought of just now.  Who knows how this pandemic will change these trends, but just something I noticed over the years.

Don’t try to fake us out, we know it’s because the RLS will never have a refundable deposit

[Lovetocruise2002]

9 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

Don’t try to fake us out, we know it’s because the RLS will never have a refundable deposit

Actually, that was one of the rare ones the went down quite a bit closer to final payment! 

[Ampurp85]

@crisgold52 I wouldn't mention L&S as I doubt this is an ongoing policy. It is only available to bookings before Aug 1st 2020 and the last rep I spoke to...I had only one cruise booked without a TA.....sort of agreed that L&S is in place to (a) deter people from cancelling their bookings and losing out on any more capital this year. (b) giving an idea of how ready cruisers are to get back to cruising. Thereby eliminating a lot of the hardship and negativity they faced during the first rounds of cancellation.

Given the current climate it might better if you do REF, especially if you would rather have a refund than FCC. As a mostly solo cruiser, I have found NRD to be a better deal. But if I book with friends or family, I am not taking the chance do to varying schedules. Also it does not matter when you get fancy...aka into suites territory

[whitsmom]

I cancelled my UBP then re-purchased it at a cheaper cost.  I got my credit to my original cc 7 days.  A few days later, I did the same thing for my VOOM internet package; however, I never did get my credit (over 15 days).  So I message RCI from FaceBook with my concern that if my UBP was in 7 days and was way more money, that I should have gotten the VOOM back by now.  I just ask them (nicely) to please just check on this as I was afraid that it may have fallen thru the cracks (for lack of a better term).  They messaged me back in a couple of days later, apologized for responding late.  They looked into it and she found both purchases however the credit never was issued.  She created the credit and said to allow 30 days to receive it.  I thanked her and told her that I realized that they are overwhelmed and that I appreciated her help.