New cruise refund rules

[smokeybandit]

These had been in the works for quite a while

 

https://www.nbcchicago.com/consumer/new-rules-require-full-refunds-for-canceled-or-delayed-cruise-trips/2809788/

[anxiouscruiser]

wow good news i guess. however i do hope there is no more "global pandemic" stuff to cause delays! im excited to travel for the first time in 3.5 years.

[twangster]

"That’s when the FMC came to a realization that with the variety of companies operating cruise voyages, so came a variety of refund policies."

Wow... who knew?  Didn't see that coming.  These Washington folks are so smart to figure this out so quickly!

[Moby Dick]

A little late, but good news anyway.  

[BillS]

Great concept, but they need to put a limit on how long it can take them to issue the credit.  I've been waiting almost 4 months for a full refund, I have to keep emailing them asking about it, only to be told they are working on it and it will take 7 - 10 business days.

[twangster]

There may have been cruise lines that would have been impacted if such a regulation had been in effect for the pandemic but Royal isn't one of them.  

I've had a significant number of cruises cancelled with Royal and in every case they did offer a full refund as an option.  They also offered FCC and FCC accelerators like the 125% but for every cancellation I chose the refund option.

What I don't see in the regulation is a time frame for the refund to be processed and that is where Royal did slip at times.  Despite that, in the end Royal did eventually refund dozens of cancelled for cruises for me and I am whole with them in the long run.  

To me, at least as a Royal guest, this regulations appears to be much to do about nothing, something that politicians can claim they did something when they didn't really do anything at all.  However there may be other cruise lines that didn't offer refunds so for some other set of guests this may carry more weight.

[BrianB]

I guess they will still offer a choice between the full refund and 125% FCC. I also picked up a lot of the ‘extra’ 25%.

[JasonOasis]

While this is good news, I wonder in a typical year how many cruises are canceled or delayed more than 3 calendar days (operative word is calendar)?  Hopefully there will be no more shutdowns of the cruise industry.  If there aren't this change will only impact a small percentage of the millions of passengers who set sail from a US port. 

Of the complaints to the FMC I wonder did they take the time to investigate how many complaints were from passengers who jumped the gun and canceled their cruises before the cruise line officially canceled the cruise and how many had their cruises canceled only after the cruise lines officially canceled their cruise.  Remember originally were only canceling cruise 4 weeks out as they and many most people thought this would be over sooner rather than later. I know on one of my cruises I jumped the gun and canceled before Royal officially canceled the cruise it was a nonrefundable cruise (great rate on Oasis out of New York in April of 2020) they offered me 100% FCC. The other two cruises I had book in 2020 I took a different route and decided to wait for Royal to officially cancel the cruise. Afterward I called and was given an option of either a full refund or a 125% FCC of course I took the 125% FCC and I remain loyal to Royal.    

[Pattycruise]

I would love to see the ability to cancel one person off a cruise  due to Covid and not have to lose the other person who is booked in the cabin.  Especially when the positive person lives in another state and has had no contact.  that and the automatic cancellation of reservations attached to that cabin.  It's a money loss for the industry, and a PIA for the cancelled people to find something else.  I know it's off topic, but it's been weighing on my mind.

[gatorskin76]

Piece of advice for anyone that wants it....never get a Future Cruise Credit.  Take the refund every time.

[Ampurp85]

38 minutes ago, gatorskin76 said:

Piece of advice for anyone that wants it....never get a Future Cruise Credit.  Take the refund every time.

I took 1 set of FCCs out of the 5 cruises I had cancelled. Not because I didn't have faith in the industry or was planning to cruise again. But because I didn't want cages on how I booked my cruises. 

[JasonOasis]

47 minutes ago, gatorskin76 said:

Piece of advice for anyone that wants it....never get a Future Cruise Credit.  Take the refund every time.

That is great advice for those who are not avid cruisers or don't know when they intend to cruise again. However if you know will be taking another cruise the FCC can be a great deal.  For example one of our cruises that I waited for Royal to cancel and we took the 125% FCC we were booked in an owners suite on Symphony I don't remember the exact dollar amount of our cruise fare but I know it was over $5500 dollars that additional 25% Royal put on the FCC amounted to an additional $1375 dollars.  For someone like me who takes at least 4 cruises a year taking the 125% FCC was the right decision. So I think people should look at both the FCC and the refund and make a decision that fits their situation.

[gatorskin76]

15 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

That is great advice for those who are not avid cruisers or don't know when they intend to cruise again. However if you know will be taking another cruise the FCC can be a great deal.  For example one of our cruises that I waited for Royal to cancel and we took the 125% FCC we were booked in an owners suite on Symphony I don't remember the exact dollar amount of our cruise fare but I know it was over $5500 dollars that additional 25% Royal put on the FCC amounted to an additional $1375 dollars.  For someone like me who takes at least 4 cruises a year taking the 125% FCC was the right decision. So I think people should look at both the FCC and the refund and make a decision that fits their situation.

Well, I did say for anyone that wants it.  The problem in a situation like this is you never know what the future holds, so I am not feeling the 25% I received is worth the hassle.  Of course everyone should make the decision that fits their situation, but you don't know what you don't know. 

I took the 125% on the March and May 2020 cruises I had paid in full and many cancelled cruises later am still hoping to be able to use them.  I have made the choice to not vaccinate my 13 year old daughter (the whole risk/reward thing), my wife and I are vaccinated.  I am currently sitting on the phone for the last 2 hours waiting for them to fix two of our FCC's that they are showing as inactive that shouldn't be (feel free to provide the travel agent advice to others that might want that advice, but I get it, hindsight is 20-20).  

Using an FCC shouldn't be this difficult.  There really is no excuse, in my opinion, that they couldn't have put some smart people in a room and figure out a better way.  At 2 hours and 5 minutes I am beginning to wonder if this is a strategy hoping I will just hang up.  I have heard their RCI news feed around 154 times at this point.

[RWDW1204]

On 4/27/2022 at 10:51 AM, gatorskin76 said:

Piece of advice for anyone that wants it....never get a Future Cruise Credit.  Take the refund every time.

Understand your frustration with FCC. Granted, we have a TA who helped us deal with all of them.

We took our FCC's and turned them into a longer, upgraded cabin cruise, Vision 11 night Owner's Suite, and for this year an extra 3 night Owner's Suite on Independence we wouldn't have taken except for FCC.