Covid reimbursement

[Scott M]

Long story, but we were on the July 23 Symphony sailing, and a couple days in half our group tested positive (4 of 8).  

To say I was disappointed in the way some of our group was treated would be a huge understatement.  Again it's a long story, but for the 2 that were sent to the deck 3 "red zone", it was akin to being in jail for 4 days.  It was obvious many others around the ship were sick (nasty coughing often heard), we did the right thing after self testing, and paid the price of a horrible 4 days.  

Anyway, has anyone else dealt with the reimbursement process?  Tips? Timeline to get communication from RC on how to do this?

 

Thanks much,

Scott

[WhoCruiser]

They are not very forthcoming in these matters, several people in my own group who received similar mistreatment in the "Deck 3 Jail" have still not received a full proper resolution since our Voyage in April.  I wouldn't hold my breath...

[Mathias]

I was quarantined on Voyager of the Seas in April this year. I got a written letter when I disembarked, stating that they would refund me for the days in quarantine. Nothing happened after that so I had my travel agent contact Royal Caribbean in the beginning of June. After a month Royal Caribbean responded in July confirming the refund and how much the refund will be. However, they wrote that due to many cases, it will take some time before they process the refund. And after the refund is processed, it may take up to 30 days for the payment to be processed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the refund would happen now in August.

I can say that the experience I had did not compare with what Matt had when he quarantined. The lack of information and conflicting information was disturbing. All the small and big mistakes made from the staff are enough to write a comedy novel. If anyone is interested, I can tell you some of the stories. Naturally, however, I have to admit that it is a difficult situation for Royal and that the staff probably tried to do their best, but came up short for one reason or another. It's also nice of Royal to pay back for the days I was in quarantine.

[Matt]

10 hours ago, Scott M said:

Timeline to get communication from RC on how to do this?

It takes a long time. I'm in the process still for my claim from early June. The department is slow given all the requests, so don't expect a check right away.

The actual refund from missed time (and subsequent cancelled cruise) came very quickly (maybe a week?)

It took ~month to ask for my paperwork (all my receipts for reimbursement from quarantine). Waiting for next step.

[Scott M]

3 hours ago, Mathias said:

I can say that the experience I had did not compare with what Matt had when he quarantined. The lack of information and conflicting information was disturbing. All the small and big mistakes made from the staff are enough to write a comedy novel. If anyone is interested, I can tell you some of the stories. 

I couldn't agree more, I was INCREDIBLY disappointed in how this was all handled.  

The way they isolated, and treated, those on deck 3 was horrible.  I tested positive the day after our first 3 did, and fought to stay in our balcony room, and have my wife brought back up to me.  At first we were told it couldn't be done because of the ventilation system, but then magically the captain said it was ok for us to be in our room, but my mom and mother in law had to stay in prison because my dad was negative, and my 11yo son, who was in my MIL cabin was negative.  They wouldn't let them shift cabins.  Mind you, my 11 year old was on a separate reservation with my MIL, but nobody ever bothered to ask who would be taking charge of him.  

Took hours to get medicine, only checked on a time or 2.  Food at times took hours and often delivered to wrong deck.  We followed the rules, and didn't leave the room, but we could have gone anywhere, there were no checks on anything.  Our room attendant offered every day to clean our room, but we declined to be safe.  In the "prison" they had their food left outside the door, the staff would knock and run away.  Stacks of empty plates/trays lined the halls for hours.  It would take hours for them to give us daily results for those testing negative.  Heck, the day I was really sick, they told me I tested negative before calling an hour later saying I was positive.

I too could go on, but it was so poorly handled I can't even do it justice.  

[Bowen]

I'm so sorry that you guys had to deal with this, what a bummer.

[imisscruising]

I went through this in May. I received reimbursement for my post-cruise isolation expenses seven weeks after submitting. We are still waiting for the refund of cruise expenses. I will echo the above, it was not a good experience in the red zone. My biggest complaint was the complete lack of medical care or follow-up. 

[Mathias]

Sorry to bother you @Matt, but did I understand you got your prorated refund for the days spent in quarantine in just one week?

In that case you really got fast tracked and received special treatment. That is of course totally understandable. If I were in charge of Royal Caribbean I would also treat you in the best possible way. On a different forum I have seen people waiting on their refund for three, four, five or six months. If I get the refund now in August I will be in the four month category.

That said, it's very generous of Royal to offer a refund for the days in quarantine, considering you got to eat from the room service menu free of charge and still receive your full C&A points even in quarantine. I had a Jr Suite, so got double C&A points and did not even have to pay for them. 

[Ja-sun]

So did Royal actually say your getting cash back or cruise credit?

[Scott M]

1 hour ago, Ja-sun said:

So did Royal actually say your getting cash back or cruise credit?

I am under the impression it will be money back in the original form of payment.  Since they have yet to provide me any details, I may be completely off.

[Matt]

4 hours ago, Mathias said:

Sorry to bother you @Matt, but did I understand you got your prorated refund for the days spent in quarantine in just one week?

First, I got the money back for the cancelled cruise I was not able to go on (did a B2B).

Then I got a prorated refund for 1 day

4 hours ago, Mathias said:

In that case you really got fast tracked and received special treatment. That is of course totally understandable. If I were in charge of Royal Caribbean I would also treat you in the best possible way. On a different forum I have seen people waiting on their refund for three, four, five or six months. If I get the refund now in August I will be in the four month category.

I really don't believe I got any special treatment. I'm still waiting for my reimbursement for the quarantine costs owed to me. We're going on 2 months now for that. So like the others, I'm still waiting.

1 hour ago, Ja-sun said:

So did Royal actually say your getting cash back or cruise credit?

Cash back. I got a refund to my credit card

[Jordyn]

Figured someone in this thread might know - 

 

We cancelled due to COVID. We got the refund back for the cruise and for all the add ons. But not for the deposit. Is the $500 deposit not refundable? We booked back in February before the March 31st date if that matters. 
 

Thanks! 
 

Side note: We called and cancelled on Tuesday last week and by Friday, the refund was posted to our card. 

[Mathias]

Can anyone please give an update if you have received any refunds for days spent in the Covid quarantine.

I'm still waiting for my refund for the cruise I was on in April. In beginning of July Royal Caribbean customer service confirmed by e-mail how much the refund will be. However, they wrote that due to many cases, it will take some time before they process the refund. And after the refund is processed, it may take up to 30 days for the payment to be processed. This is three months ago.

When I get the refund, I will post an update here.

[not easy being green]

We posted this a while back, we were on the pre tour so no ship quarantine

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/35134-covid-refund-~-royal-caribbean/

I hope this helps a bit (always ask for a name, this helped us)

[Pattycruise]

17 hours ago, Mathias said:

Can anyone please give an update if you have received any refunds for days spent in the Covid quarantine.

I'm still waiting for my refund for the cruise I was on in April. In beginning of July Royal Caribbean customer service confirmed by e-mail how much the refund will be. However, they wrote that due to many cases, it will take some time before they process the refund. And after the refund is processed, it may take up to 30 days for the payment to be processed. This is three months ago.

When I get the refund, I will post an update here.

I finally sat and pulled all my credit card statements from the card I use with Royal.  I have lots of cruise planner purchases and cancellations etc.  When I matched my emails for cancellations of cruise planner and the subsequent credit to my credit card I had one month that I had a credit I could not match to anything,  It was the month after my quarantine so they did the credit pretty quickly.  (June to July).  I also pulled my reservation and calculated the # of days in quarantine and divided out my cost for my part of the cruise and it matched.  I never received any communication from Royal telling me what my refund would be or when to expect it.  I would going over your credit card statements for any refund you may have been unaware of.  If it's not there perhaps tweet to RC, or onto FB Michael Baley's account.

 

[Mathias]

Thanks for the replies. I read the topic from @not easy being green, and it looks like the refund took about four months for him/her after calling RC several times about it. @Pattycruise the refund I'm waiting for is for four days spent in quarantine. The amount is so big that it will definitely stand out on the credit card statement once it's there. No chance that I missed and already received the refund.

On a different forum I have seen people waiting on their refund for three, four, five or six months. I have now waited five and a half month. You can compare this to @Matt who received his prorated refund in just one week and still thinks he "really don't believe he got any special treatment". 

[Matt]

6 hours ago, Mathias said:

I have now waited five and a half month. You can compare this to @Matt who received his prorated refund in just one week and still thinks he "really don't believe he got any special treatment". 

If it makes you feel any better, I haven't gotten any money back for the post-cruise reimbursements that were outlined for quarantining (food, lodging, et al). So no, I didn't get special treatment. I have a great travel agent who worked on my behalf immediately while I was still onboard.

[Pattycruise]

9 hours ago, Mathias said:

Thanks for the replies. I read the topic from @not easy being green, and it looks like the refund took about four months for him/her after calling RC several times about it. @Pattycruise the refund I'm waiting for is for four days spent in quarantine. The amount is so big that it will definitely stand out on the credit card statement once it's there. No chance that I missed and already received the refund.

On a different forum I have seen people waiting on their refund for three, four, five or six months. I have now waited five and a half month. You can compare this to @Matt who received his prorated refund in just one week and still thinks he "really don't believe he got any special treatment". 

I stand by escalating via social media.  I hope it works for you!

[not easy being green]

@Pattycruise  ~ (not trying to sound critical)  

Some people do not use social media for anything like me (not that old) just don't care about it, personally drives me crazy!  I rather sit and wait on the phone and keep calling if needed.  One day I might start on social media and the kids will go crazy.

With this process I am not sure if it would have helped, I did think about it for a little bit of time and I am happy that it went through the system and we did receive the refund.

 

[Pattycruise]

51 minutes ago, not easy being green said:

@Pattycruise  ~ (not trying to sound critical)  

Some people do not use social media for anything like me (not that old) just don't care about it, personally drives me crazy!  I rather sit and wait on the phone and keep calling if needed.  One day I might start on social media and the kids will go crazy.

With this process I am not sure if it would have helped, I did think about it for a little bit of time and I am happy that it went through the system and we did receive the refund.

 

I do not embrace things like Twitter and Instagram.  I did open accounts when I ran a Class of 2021 Parents let’s get it done for my daughters senior year in high school .  I had people who did the tweets/posts for me but I could check to see it was being done.

the Twitter came in handy on her college move in when we sat in a line in a parking lot for clues to 3 hours….Ana ing how one tweet to the school Twitter got the line moving (or so I think it did)….wish I had used it sooner.  Sometimes we need to embrace the unknown. 

[Mathias]

I received my refund today into my bank account. As a summary from earlier, I had been waiting for my covid refund for half a year.

After escalating the situation and getting some manager involved at Royal Caribbean, it turned out the refund had already been paid three months ago to my travel agent. So the long wait was not entirely Royal Caribbeans fault. The delay at my travel agents end was explained by that when the refund was paid from RC to the travel agent it contained no information like the booking number, which cruise it was for or to whom it was to be paid. It may have been an honest mistake on their part because my travel agent probably have many customers and they did not know that this money was meant for me.

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Mathias said:

I received my refund today into my bank account. As a summary from earlier, I had been waiting for my covid refund for half a year.

After escalating the situation and getting some manager involved at Royal Caribbean, it turned out the refund had already been paid three months ago to my travel agent. So the long wait was not entirely Royal Caribbeans fault. The delay at my travel agents end was explained by that when the refund was paid from RC to the travel agent it contained no information like the booking number, which cruise it was for or to whom it was to be paid. It may have been an honest mistake on their part because my travel agent probably have many customers and they did not know that this money was meant for me.

Glad you got it sorted out