How do you keep track of your payments and refunds with Royal?

[PG Cruiser]

As far as I know, Royal does not present a master account for every passenger to keep track of all payments and refunds from sailings for the passenger.  With all the cancellations being made and refunds being issued, it gets very confusing, especially for passengers with numerous bookings.  My credit card statement only shows "Royal Caribbean" for the transactions without specifying which ship or reservation number it was for.  This gets more complicated when Cruise Planner purchases and refunds are added to the mix.  As of now, I have cancelled about 3-4 cruises since the latest restart schedule was published.  Does my TA have a record of all the cancelled cruises and the refunds issued?  Will Royal issue receipts/statements for these refunds?  How do you manage all these?

[em.down.the.rabbit.hole]

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.

Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!

I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

[luvstodans]

Agreed, what a nightmare it has been with over 30 canceled cruises and every time they refund differently. It is so difficult to track and if you have a travel agent Royal won't talk to you you per the policies with agent agreements and agents...NIGHTMARE  actually describes it. I won't even go into the missing Future Cruise Credits from March and April 2020 that have been applied 4 times and are now lost?

[BrianB]

I’m pretty picky, and a bit of a geek, when it comes to monitoring this. It took a while to understand all the applicable credit card refunds and what was eligible for the 125% and what was not. Taxes and port fees, cruise fare paid, deposit amount paid,  cruise planner (then the 125% cruise planner), the confusion of a new FCC issued when only part was used, or the new FCC issued when a cruise with an applied FCC was cancelled (I found the best way to track the FCCs was by using the reservation number). Then there was the additional payment line of global suspension. I called several times when I saw a discrepancy and had to hold while the person had to check with another department. But, every time that happened, I received the explanation and was satisfied. I’m fortunate that I can take the time to do it myself…I know that if I couldn’t, then I would have relied on a good TA to do it for me. Every time I called, I never had the feeling that they didn’t want to help. I tried using a computer spreadsheet but ended up keeping my yellow pads filled with scribbling! It makes sense to me!

[twangster]

My TA can access the bookings in their system and tell me what weird, odd amounts post to my credit card are associated with each booking.  

I have a tab in my master spreadsheet that lists the refunds I think I am due and using the data from a TA I can make sure the weird amounts that Royal uses track and add up to what I'm expecting.  

Same for FCC.  I note all things that FCC isn't associated with like port fees & taxes or prepaid gratuity then I can account for FCC and validate what Royal does.

If you don't use a TA you can call Royal and give them a booking number.  They can tell you $X was refunded on this date and $Y was posted on that date.  

When you have many, many bookings in play it is work to track it all but if you focus on each booking one at a time you can get there.

Of the dozens and dozens of cancellations I've had all but six have refunded or FCC'd cleanly.   The rest require a lot of patience working with Royal until you reach someone who isn't using a child's toy calculator and can understand that 2 + 2 does indeed equal 4, not the 2.37 that was refunded.   

[JSB_Z51]

19 minutes ago, BrianB said:

 It took a while to understand all the applicable credit card refunds and what was eligible for the 125% and what was not. 

Not sure if I understand this correctly. Are you saying some cash refunds are actually 125% of what was paid? I requested my 8k refund June 18th.  Up until this week I was still owed 1k.  Instead I got roughly 1600, which isn't 125% but is still more than I was owed. Their refund process is awful from an accounting perspective. IMHO, they need an IT technology infrastructure overhaul.

[BrianB]

30 minutes ago, JSB_Z51 said:

Not sure if I understand this correctly. Are you saying some cash refunds are actually 125% of what was paid? I requested my 8k refund June 18th.  Up until this week I was still owed 1k.  Instead I got roughly 1600, which isn't 125% but is still more than I was owed. Their refund process is awful from an accounting perspective. IMHO, they need an IT technology infrastructure overhaul.

No…Cash refunds for taxes and port fees were just straight refunds…but after subtracting those amounts from my total amount paid I could then figure what amount was covered by the FCC. I never took a full refund for a cancelled cruise because I wanted the 125% FCC. The cash refund option was only for the actual amount paid…at least that’s what I understand. Don’t know how you got more than you figured but, oh well!

[PG Cruiser]

Oh wow!!!  I haven't even availed of their offers for FCC and Lift & Shift.  I also haven't availed of OBC's for Cruise Planner items.  That would be even crazier

I wish every passenger had a master account with Royal like banks and credit card companies do.  Every passenger can be assigned a customer number

Something as simple as a date referenced list of transaction: (Sample)

August 10, 2021 - Deposit - Empress of the Seas Nov 15 - $200.00
August 12, 2021 - Final Payment - Oasis of the Seas Nov 21 - $1034.85
August 15, 2021 - Refund - Brilliance of the Seas Oct 25 - $684.43

How hard can that be? They are a billion dollar company, I'm sure their "interns" can come up with a program to handle this.  Home Depot and Sam's Club send me an itemized statement of all my transactions every month

[cdixon22]

21 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

How hard can that be? They are a billion dollar company, I'm sure their "interns" can come up with a program to handle this.  Home Depot and Sam's Club send me an itemized statement of all my transactions every month

Ha - I think they use cruise planner math for refunds too! 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I guess I will admit that I have just given up trying to track anything.

Every once in a while I will ask @michelleto look into a refund that I am anticipating but I pretty much just leave it up to fate.  If they owe me something I assume I will get it, eventually.

The only refund that I am eagerly watching is the one where 4 FCC's (~$10K) are supposed to be refunded from a cancelled SY cruise.  So far, nothing on that one.  But all the others ?  Who knows....

[mathbees]

I think what makes it extra frustrating is when you pay for everything in one lump sum (like drink packages for everyone in the room) but they refund it split up by person. I know this is for accounting purposes on their end, since an FCC or onboard credits will be by person instead of the original purchaser, but from our end it just makes it troublesome to track. Thankfully, they put it back on the same credit card, so at least it's just a little bit of arithmetic to figure things out...  

Of course, I would also argue that the credits should go back to the original purchaser and not the people in the room, as they may or may not be the same people who go on the rebooked cruise. But, that is an discussion for another day.

[JSB_Z51]

3 hours ago, BrianB said:

The cash refund option was only for the actual amount paid…at least that’s what I understand. Don’t know how you got more than you figured but, oh well!

That's what I thought too.  I am about $400 over refunded now.  One of the amounts was exactly $150 which was OBC and never anticipated getting that in cash.  And while I don't want the extra $$$$ that I am not entitled too, I have little to no desire to waste time calling them as I don't think a customer service agent will be much help. 

[Pattycruise]

Funny I was just thinking about this as I’ve booked a few cruises.  I’m considering assigning one credit card to each cruise. Unfortunately I wouldn’t get all the bonus points by using my Royal Caribbean credit card, but I’d be able to track it much better.  

[luvstodans]

8 hours ago, luvstodans said:

Agreed, what a nightmare it has been with over 30 canceled cruises and every time they refund differently. It is so difficult to track and if you have a travel agent Royal won't talk to you you per the policies with agent agreements and agents...NIGHTMARE  actually describes it. I won't even go into the missing Future Cruise Credits from March and April 2020 that have been applied 4 times and are now lost?

And I have a detailed spread sheet so I have everywhere the credits have been...butt still they are unavailable to me 

[JessyCruises]

Like others mentioned above, I have a spreadsheet where I track all payments and credits I have received from RCL and I make sure they match up.

[IRMO12HD]

I, too, use a spreadsheet (or two or three)!  I also keep a PDF copy of all of my invoices/confirmations, and number them, so I can track how the cruise cost changed over time with FCC application, price drops, etc.

[PG Cruiser]

Those of us with skills to set up spreadsheets and generate PDFs would be able to keep track of our transactions fairly easily.  But what about those who just want to see everything in a bill or a statement (mailed or paperless).  Everyone (who so desires) should be able to go to their account on the Royal website and see ALL of their transactions.

As it is, if you cancel three beverage packages on three sailings, you will get three separate emails about your refunds.  Speaking of emails, am I the only one who finds their emails not to be "reader-friendly".  

Pardon me, I'm grumpy ... I haven't been on a cruise since November 2019

[jack168]

I currently only have one cruise booked and the FCC/cancellation process was a headache. Some of you have like 50 cruises booked and I can't imagine what those spreadsheets look like

[em.down.the.rabbit.hole]

22 hours ago, BrianB said:

I’m pretty picky, and a bit of a geek, when it comes to monitoring this

Have you come across the scenario where you filled out the online form to receive a 125% OBC on a cancelled cruise, they then fail to do anything with it, and the next thing you know you have 100% refunded back to my card.  When you ring them up, all you get is "nothing we can do, it's been refunded" and "OBC form not showing on your account, therefore it doesn't exist, and nothing I can do".  When you push them for about 15mins of the same thing being said on repeat they finally relent and say all you can "try" is the customer service email.  The email either doesn't reply or when it does it says the same as above. 

For me these mistakes total up across loads of cruises to be well in excess of $500 worth of mistakes, and when you consider the prices on planner items keep going up and up ... Royal can be accused of making mistakes to cash in.

My main issue with Royal tbh I'd the lack of escalation routes, process and management and the lack of ability to resolve issues...customers of a billion dollar company being left at the side of the road because the multi billion dollar company hasn't invested in modern business practices and are stuck in the circa 1980's at best.

[KevinJ]

Had my TA apply three FCCs from a cancelled cruise, was only the deposit. They were told one of them was unavailable.  Turns out they refunded one of them to my CC. I had wondered what that refund was for. But then the math doesn't work out between what was refunded and the FCCs. Then try and figure out on your invoice how the FCCs are actually applied. I wish they just kept subtracting from the original total like they do for the deposit, then it's clear, instead there is a TBZ5-Global Suspension FCC line with various amounts spread across all guests. Like others I keep a ledger trying to keep things straight but after 3 cancels re-books and various FCC and OBC applications it's almost impossible to make it all match up.

[BrianB]

2 hours ago, em.down.the.rabbit.hole said:

Have you come across the scenario where you filled out the online form to receive a 125% OBC on a cancelled cruise, they then fail to do anything with it, and the next thing you know you have 100% refunded back to my card.  When you ring them up, all you get is "nothing we can do, it's been refunded" and "OBC form not showing on your account, therefore it doesn't exist, and nothing I can do".  When you push them for about 15mins of the same thing being said on repeat they finally relent and say all you can "try" is the customer service email.  The email either doesn't reply or when it does it says the same as above. 

For me these mistakes total up across loads of cruises to be well in excess of $500 worth of mistakes, and when you consider the prices on planner items keep going up and up ... Royal can be accused of making mistakes to cash in.

My main issue with Royal tbh I'd the lack of escalation routes, process and management and the lack of ability to resolve issues...customers of a billion dollar company being left at the side of the road because the multi billion dollar company hasn't invested in modern business practices and are stuck in the circa 1980's at best.

No. I have not had any OBC balance on my cancelled cruises so I can’t comment on how it was handled. But it sounds like you’re having a hard time dealing with them about it. Don’t give up! 
My cancelled cruises had Cruise Planner purchases (usually The Key and the Dining Package) and in the beginning, they were 100% refunded to my credit card…sometimes it took quite a while to show up but eventually they did. Then, when they offered 125% credit for Cruise Planner purchases, I opted in and they issued me a Cruise Planner Credit which looked just like an FCC form. I think when I had any OBC on my cruises, I used it to make my Cruise Planner purchases and had a zero balance OBC when the cruise was cancelled. Is it possible that remaining OBC was refunded at 100% and OBC used to purchase Cruise Planner items was refunded at 125%?

[luvstodans]

10 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

Those of us with skills to set up spreadsheets and generate PDFs would be able to keep track of our transactions fairly easily.  But what about those who just want to see everything in a bill or a statement (mailed or paperless).  Everyone (who so desires) should be able to go to their account on the Royal website and see ALL of their transactions.

As it is, if you cancel three beverage packages on three sailings, you will get three separate emails about your refunds.  Speaking of emails, am I the only one who finds their emails not to be "reader-friendly".  

Pardon me, I'm grumpy ... I haven't been on a cruise since November 2019

I cant even imagine those not able to track with spread sheets. Totally agree about having availablitly to see all traditions regarding payment and refunds for cruises....if only....not sure agent perks are worth giving up control of your bookings at this point. 

[cruisellama]

I use a spread sheet to account for the various increments (which drive us all crazy) and hope it sums to what I paid out.   So far it has - IMO, the return payouts seem to drip - drip - drip .

[Cruise Pirate]

Good luck .. me and my TA have been showing them that they owe us $325, even the numbers they gave us show they owe us but they will not budge. They even went so far to try and refund me $200 back to My cc and removed it from another booking. This is fraud and they need to be held accountable. I am paying off my cruise except for $325 and telling them I am considering it Paid in Full ... they can figure it out or I might get a lawyer or advocate involved. My TA, Amex, is beside themselves at how much RC accounting system is a load of crap.

[WannaCruise]

I have a spreadsheet of each cruise.  One of those tabs is for "cost".  I add each item and cost to that tab (includes cruise, cruise planner and pre-cruise stuff such a hotels).

For cruises that are cancelled, I have a different spreadsheet where I track those entries.  When I add the entries for each cancelled item (cruise/deposit/cruise planner purchases), I put the amount in red.  Once the refund comes back, I change the font to black.  

In the case where we just rebook a cruise planner item due to a sale, then I just note the new price in the original spreadsheet and wait for the refund. 

I've been finding that for items that we cancel, the refund is in about 1 week so it's not that long.  (We book directly with Royal)