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Excursion refund policy


rtread

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I should know this and don't..... If you book excursions ahead of time and then have to cancel the cruise, what is the policy for excursion refunds? We are booking through a TA and have the insurance. Thanks for your reply!

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21 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

If the excursion is purchased through Royal in the Cruise Planner, it would be refunded just like any other Cruise Planner purchase.  Obviously, if you book directly with the vendor, you would have to confirm the vendor’s cancellation policy.

Thank you very much! We are booking all excursions through Royal in the cruise planner. I know there are cheaper alternatives but I seem to be more confident in purchasing through RCL....like my thinking is they won't run off and leave us. LOL maybe unfounded?

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31 minutes ago, rtread said:

Thank you very much! We are booking all excursions through Royal in the cruise planner. I know there are cheaper alternatives but I seem to be more confident in purchasing through RCL....like my thinking is they won't run off and leave us. LOL maybe unfounded?

Very sound reasoning. I almost always purchase excursions through the CP for that very reason....and with things so fluid at the moment, it’s reassuring to know that you will get your money back with no hassle if the cruise is cancelled. 

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10 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Very sound reasoning. I almost always purchase excursions through the CP for that very reason....and with things so fluid at the moment, it’s reassuring to know that you will get your money back with no hassle if the cruise is cancelled. 

The ONLY part of your money guaranteed to be returned hassle-free in case of a cancellation of your cruise.

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I'll add that if your cruise is in a country that doesn't use the dollar as its currency (basically Europe / Asia / Pacific), going through the Cruise Planner ensures that if you need to cancel you will get back the full amount as originally paid in USD. Booking an excursion directly will probably save you money, but because it'll ultimately be paid in the native currency it'll expose you to exchange rate variability that could make canceling painful.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We cancelled everything in the cruise planner (shore excursions, drink package, and internet package) in April prior to the cruise finally cancelling in May a month before and the refund was processed to my credit card very quickly.  My credit was on the next statement.  I have heard it takes longer if you wait for the cruise to be cancelled to get everything you are supposed to between the Future Cruise Credit for the cruise and items in the CP.  I would not use a TA and just book directly through Royal yourself.  I have heard so many horror stories with people who used one and are having so many issues because of the virus.  

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26 minutes ago, CynBeth said:

  I would not use a TA and just book directly through Royal yourself.  I have heard so many horror stories with people who used one and are having so many issues because of the virus.  

@CynBeth welcome to the forums!

I've only heard this when people use big consolidated TAs. For those of use who have used MEI Travel, they have saved us so much time and hassle.  I'd never book a cruise again without using them.  That being said, they typically don't deal with Cruise Planner items.

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2 hours ago, CynBeth said:

We cancelled everything in the cruise planner (shore excursions, drink package, and internet package) in April prior to the cruise finally cancelling in May a month before and the refund was processed to my credit card very quickly.  My credit was on the next statement.  I have heard it takes longer if you wait for the cruise to be cancelled to get everything you are supposed to between the Future Cruise Credit for the cruise and items in the CP.  I would not use a TA and just book directly through Royal yourself.  I have heard so many horror stories with people who used one and are having so many issues because of the virus.  

I cancelled my excursion in the cruise planner on May 18 and still have not received the refund, what should the expected timeframe be? Should I call Royal and check? I have already received a partial refund for my cruise that I cancelled on May 31, still waiting for the FCC.

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2 hours ago, crazytaxman said:

I cancelled my excursion in the cruise planner on May 18 and still have not received the refund, what should the expected timeframe be? Should I call Royal and check? I have already received a partial refund for my cruise that I cancelled on May 31, still waiting for the FCC.

I canceled my cruise planner purchase on May 9 and they told me 45 business days, so I don't expect to see it until mid July.

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10 hours ago, crazytaxman said:

I cancelled my excursion in the cruise planner on May 18 and still have not received the refund, what should the expected timeframe be? Should I call Royal and check? I have already received a partial refund for my cruise that I cancelled on May 31, still waiting for the FCC.

8 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I canceled my cruise planner purchase on May 9 and they told me 45 business days, so I don't expect to see it until mid July.

At this point, I would say that anyone cancelling on their own and not having it canceled by Royal should call their credit card company and dispute the lack of prompt refund. This gets the money back on your card right away and the card company will take it up with Royal / whomever.

Honestly, I think even for cruises / CP purchases that got canceled by Royal as part of a bulk cancellation, I'd still go this route. I've learned that the Consumer Credit Protection Act (hope I got the name right), and/or most credit card companies' dispute policies, only provides 90 days for a customer to contact their card company and request resolution for issues with a charge. With the cruise companies taking so long to issue the full refund, there's a real risk you could cross that mark without even realizing it.

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On 6/29/2020 at 8:15 AM, JLMoran said:

At this point, I would say that anyone cancelling on their own and not having it canceled by Royal should call their credit card company and dispute the lack of prompt refund. This gets the money back on your card right away and the card company will take it up with Royal / whom...

This is not true! BOFA 's in bed with "the enemy", namely RCCL. BOFA does NOT issue the credit, getting "the money back on your card right away". Rather, they change the statement amount due, but it still shows the disputed amount as being owed. I have disputed a little over $3k with BOFA.

Edited by Baked Alaska
too many Hard Ciders/grammar police
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15 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

This is not true! BOFA 's Royal Caribbean card not surpsied, BOFA is in bed with "the enemy") does NOT issue the credit, getting "the money back on your card right away". Rather, they change the statement amount due, but it still shows the disputed amount as being owed. I have disputed a little over $3k with BOFA.

So BofA (who I still refer to by the Bill Maher “rhymes with” name ?) is just as bad as Capital One. Can’t tell you how many people on my Iceland & Greenland Cruise who got hit by the Saga Travel bankruptcy had a CO card and we’re basically told to pound sand by the dispute reps.

And this is depressing as all get-out to read when I have the BofA Celebrity card and I’m still waiting for all CP refunds from my L&S to be applied. About 90% there now, but still have several hundred to go...

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4 hours ago, JLMoran said:

 ?<- appropriate face since I can't delete it

And this is depressing as all get-out to read when I have the BofA Celebrity card and I’m still waiting for all CP refunds from my L&S to be applied. About 90% there now, but still have several hundred to go...

I was wondering where you were at in all of this with your BOFA X card. Have disputed anything, yet?

I filed my dispute June9th. Nothing yet. Over $3k. Nada.

 

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@Baked Alaska, haven't opened any disputes yet. As of now, I've gotten back one full airfare and what I think is the balance of the other airfare after having the upcharge post-L&S applied; got that a couple weeks ago. Yesterday I got back my private journey booking, plus about $130 that I can't explain; it's possible that's part of my internet package and / or Halifax excursion, but it's hard to say.

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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.

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On 6/29/2020 at 11:22 AM, Baked Alaska said:

This is not true! BOFA 's in bed with "the enemy", namely RCCL. BOFA does NOT issue the credit, getting "the money back on your card right away". Rather, they change the statement amount due, but it still shows the disputed amount as being owed. I have disputed a little over $3k with BOFA.

You are correct! I filed a claim as well with RCCL BofA mid June and I'm waiting still for them to review the evidence I mailed.

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11 minutes ago, CruisingKitty said:

You are correct! I filed a claim as well with RCCL BofA mid June and I'm waiting still for them to review the evidence I mailed.

I was able to fax in my cruise planner cancellations (showing refund back to original form of payment). Received a snail mail letter about a week later saying they've received all the info. I'm wondering if the refunds went to our New Year's lift and shift sailing (and the CP cancellation refunds wasn't even associated with that particular cruise), which is showing zero dollars per @Sharla, which she thinks is wrong. It does seem to good to be true. In the meantime, I could still receive the refunds the usual way, which would be good. If that is the case, I'll call BOFA and cancel the dispute.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/28/2020 at 7:18 PM, crazytaxman said:

I cancelled my excursion in the cruise planner on May 18 and still have not received the refund, what should the expected timeframe be? Should I call Royal and check? I have already received a partial refund for my cruise that I cancelled on May 31, still waiting for the FCC.

I finally received my refund for my excursion purchased on my cruise planner on 7/29. It took more than 2 months but finally received my refund. Apparently, when Royal refunded my cancelled cruise, they refunded my entire amount, including the deposit, rather than give me a FCC. Can't complain. Let's hope that my cruise in April 2022 will not be cancel.

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