Black Friday credit card charges DISAPPEARED !!!

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, squatopus said:

Thank you for sharing this here, and earlier.  Just had the same thing happen to me with a cruise planner issue, although lucky my cruise wasn't cancelled.  

Side notes:

• I only used my AMEX to pay for the original booking deposit; the remaining charges (cruise + cruise planner) have been on a MasterCard.  
• This was before RC's final payment due of 12/4, and before my cruise was paid in full on 11/15.

I had an existing excursion paid and reserved (from September 2023), but found a sale during the Black Friday deals.  Cancelled the excursion on 11/12, and re-purchased the excursion on 11/12 at the lower price. 

On 11/16 and 11/17, I received two separate refunds on the AMEX for the excursion cancelled on 11/12, which was paid for on the MC.  

I got an email on 11/18 from RC indicating I had an outstanding balance due.  So I log in wondering what the issue was, since I made final payment on 11/15.  First screen shows the "You don't have a balance due".

But then when I went to "Make a Payment" page, there is a balance owed:

Low and behold, it's the same amount as the refunded excursion.

Long story short - 3 calls to RC (one on 11/18 and two on 11/19), I finally found a rep that understood what was happening.  He escalated it to the resolutions department for a while, and had to call me back.  He admitted it was an RC issue behind the scenes, that the refund from cruise planner was showing on the cruise balance somehow, and they were 'working' to correct the system issue. 

I've got another excursion paid for in Nassau, but want to cancel and do something else, but now I'm worried that it's going to cause this problem all over again.

Thank goodness I keep check on this stuff - who knows what the end result would have been!

Thanks for all the info, 

But you didn't purchased anything on the 8th? That's interesting since all our problems happening for the November 8th purchases. My other purchase a few days later, went though without any problems. 

And I'm thinking about another fact, at least for me. I've booked through travel agency, and although cruise still like 6 months away and not paid for, payment go through travel agency, and the same screen on Royal's system, showing paid in full from the beginning. 

[squatopus]

2 minutes ago, Vlad said:

But you didn't purchased anything on the 8th? That's interesting since all our problems happening for the November 8th purchases. My other purchase a few days later, went though without any problems. 

 

No, didn't purchase anything on the 8th since I saw this thread.  Waited for RC's system to work it's problems out for a few days   

Clearly didn't wait long enough.  

[Vlad]

8 minutes ago, squatopus said:

No, didn't purchase anything on the 8th since I saw this thread.  Waited for RC's system to work it's problems out for a few days   

Clearly didn't wait long enough.  

So the ones you've purchased, went through to the card without any problems? 

That's what I'm also worried about, thinking to cancel the purchases that weren't charged for, and just rebook right now, but afraid or would make the matter worse and confuse everyone even more. 

As of now all purchases show as reserved and paid in full. Confirmed through the rep. So they don't really want to escalate it to resolutions, since they don't see a problem at all. 

But for me, and thinking of thousands of others, it's a big problem, since our pending charges disappeared and didn't fully went through the credit card. 

If I knew it would be such a big /strange problem, I would definitely waited till at least the next day. 

I found and read through the whole long thread, exactly 2 yrs ago on black friday. Apparently exactly same problem, and people were charged almost a month later, around December 20-21...

[Starrynight0154]

32 minutes ago, Vlad said:

 

That's what I'm also worried about, thinking to cancel the purchases that weren't charged for, and just rebook right now.

I went ahead and did this yesterday for my cruise planner purchases on Odyssey 9/24 cruise. Left the Wonder cruise alone since it’s paid in full and is a couple months away. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m confident it’ll be ok in the end. 

[Vlad]

1 minute ago, Starrynight0154 said:

I went ahead and did this yesterday for my cruise planner purchases on Odyssey. Left the Wonder cruise alone since it’s paid in full. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m confident it’ll be ok in the end. 

So you just cancelled and rebooked? 

How it's looking so far? 

Did you received all refund and new purchases emails? With correct info? And the credit card was charged again? 

[Starrynight0154]

1 minute ago, Vlad said:

So you just cancelled and rebooked? 

How it's looking so far? 

Did you received all refund and new purchases emails? With correct info? And the credit card was charged again? 

Yes canceled and rebooked. Don’t know, it’s Sunday so not much banking activity. It’ll take a few business days to see what happens. Credit card now has pending charges for everything I just rebooked. Yes, emails are accurate, I screenshot every email to remind myself what I booked and have quick access to the order numbers. 

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, Starrynight0154 said:

Yes canceled and rebooked. Don’t know, it’s Sunday so not much banking activity. It’ll take a few business days to see what happens. Credit card now has pending charges for everything I just rebooked. Yes, emails are accurate, I screenshot every email to remind myself what I booked and have quick access to the order numbers. 

I was thinking of doing the same thing, but probably won't be, since it doesn't really solve the problem. When system is fixed, you/we will probably be charged for everything anyways. 

OR what happens, since you received refunds for purchases that weren't really paid for, the system would think and show that you have the balance and owe them money. 

Or to make this even worse, like happened to some, your refunds would go back to the cruise balance and charges, instead of refunds. 

[Vlad]

If anyone interested to read 

Exactly same problem was 2 yrs ago, looks like everything was sorted out by itself almost 1.5 months later 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2817074-black-friday-purchase-not-showing-on-credit-card/

[Starrynight0154]

14 minutes ago, Vlad said:

I was thinking of doing the same thing, but probably won't be, since it doesn't really solve the problem. When system is fixed, you/we will probably be charged for everything anyways. 

OR what happens, since you received refunds for purchases that weren't really paid for, the system would think and show that you have the balance and owe them money. 

Or to make this even worse, like happened to some, your refunds would go back to the cruise balance and charges, instead of refunds. 

I was willing to take the risk, the cruise is 10 months away, so I’ll have time to straighten out what I booked. Even if it means having to call Royal enough times to make it happen. There’s nothing left to book, so it’s the last time I’ll mess around with it for that cruise. It appears this is all only really a problem if the cruise has been paid in full already. 

[jbrinkm]

My latest update.

Twitter rep sent me to cruise planner department. Luckily, even though the recorded message said there might be long wait times, I did not wait longer than a minute or two with either department I got sent to today. The cruise planner rep could see my purchases, just like before, and didn't see any problem. I explained again what the problem was. I'm running out of ways to say "I haven't paid for this." He decided that since I have a group booking (from my TA), that I needed to talk to that department. 

I called the Group reservations department and explained again. This guy actually seemed to understand what the problem was and looked into it further. He did not offer a resolution, BUT he did see that these two transactions are under review and gave me the internal Royal financial transaction number for each of my two missing purchases. I asked what that meant - "under review"? He said that he used to work at a bank (I will point out that this was a random rep, not an accounting person). I asked about speaking to accounting and he said they don't talk with customers (of course) and that "under review" usually meant that the bank flagged it for fraud. He said typically transactions shouldn't take more than 24 hours, and since this has taken over a week (11 days now), I should check with my bank again. 

When I make a charge that my bank thinks might be fraudulent - I get a call, a text, an app notification AND an email. And if I don't answer them, they keep calling. So I know that my bank has not flagged this as fraud, and I told him that. He didn't have any answer for me other than just giving me my financial transaction number that Royal uses internally. It is only a 9 digit number, not a long alpha-numeric string, so I don't know if it will help if I call my card again. I stressed that the card people said Royal has not collected the money (they told me cancelled, but I went with the other explanation of not collected) but he could not help me any further. 

So tomorrow I may try my bank again. Or maybe I'll just wait to see if it resolves before my final payment date in December. I'm honestly a little tired of reaching out about this. At least I've documented well that I tried to resolve it if something gets cancelled for non payment. 

[Vlad]

14 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

My latest update.

Twitter rep sent me to cruise planner department. Luckily, even though the recorded message said there might be long wait times, I did not wait longer than a minute or two with either department I got sent to today. The cruise planner rep could see my purchases, just like before, and didn't see any problem. I explained again what the problem was. I'm running out of ways to say "I haven't paid for this." He decided that since I have a group booking (from my TA), that I needed to talk to that department. 

I called the Group reservations department and explained again. This guy actually seemed to understand what the problem was and looked into it further. He did not offer a resolution, BUT he did see that these two transactions are under review and gave me the internal Royal financial transaction number for each of my two missing purchases. I asked what that meant - "under review"? He said that he used to work at a bank (I will point out that this was a random rep, not an accounting person). I asked about speaking to accounting and he said they don't talk with customers (of course) and that "under review" usually meant that the bank flagged it for fraud. He said typically transactions shouldn't take more than 24 hours, and since this has taken over a week (11 days now), I should check with my bank again. 

When I make a charge that my bank thinks might be fraudulent - I get a call, a text, an app notification AND an email. And if I don't answer them, they keep calling. So I know that my bank has not flagged this as fraud, and I told him that. He didn't have any answer for me other than just giving me my financial transaction number that Royal uses internally. It is only a 9 digit number, not a long alpha-numeric string, so I don't know if it will help if I call my card again. I stressed that the card people said Royal has not collected the money (they told me cancelled, but I went with the other explanation of not collected) but he could not help me any further. 

So tomorrow I may try my bank again. Or maybe I'll just wait to see if it resolves before my final payment date in December. I'm honestly a little tired of reaching out about this. At least I've documented well that I tried to resolve it if something gets cancelled for non payment. 

Thanks a lot for all the info. 

But in my opinion, it sounds like a total BS. My cruise is also group booking, through travel agency. And that department deals only with cruises, directly with travel agents. All of these purchases are individual. Have nothing to do with group. 

I'm not sure about your credit card, but it sounds like another total BS about transactions being flagged. My credit card is from chase and I've made a lot of payment to royal for $500 and much more. My purchases now are like 200-300, a total of about 400. And most important like you said if it's flagged, you get a text, a call from the credit card company. Once you reply to it, transaction continues as normal. And Royal wouldn't flag this credit card, since it's the same card I use, and a few days after 8th, I've used the same card for cruise planner purchase, that went through with any problems. 

I'm not sure how to go further either, I'm guessing there's thousand or tens of thousands transactions like this from 8th of November. 

So from what I understand he couldn't help you or try to help you, since all the screens and info are showing, reserved and paid in full. That's what I've been told. 

And the last thing, not sure if you've seen, I've posted a link either on this thread or another similar thread here, a link to the forum thread from exactly this time from 2021. There's good long discussiona from people of exactly same problem with disappearing black Friday transactions from credit card. Long story short, no one was able to resolve it, but transactions magically were back on credit cards, around December 21st or so, like month or more after initial purchases. 

This was confirmed on that thread by many and all were magically charged around the same time... 

[Ampurp85]

So I decided to cancel all the ones not charged and then reorder them while on sale. As soon as I did this the balance went away.

I had called the casino and was given the same info. They said the purchases were there on their end and to just wait.

I now have the pending charges for the new orders.

[Vlad]

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

So I decided to cancel all the ones not charged and then reorder them while on sale. As soon as I did this the balance went away.

I had called the casino and was given the same info. They said the purchases were there on their end and to just wait.

I now have the pending charges for the new orders.

Wait, were you charged before or not at all? 

Because me, and other were charged, they were pending and disappeared. 

But all the status, info, calls keep confirming that the purchases are reserved and paid. 

But what was your deal? 

[KevinJ]

For those concerned about cruise cancelled due to outstanding balance. Two years ago I cancelled and rebooked some items for a cruise. Never paid much attention to it. When I went to make final payment my TA told me that RC could not tell us what the final balance was as there was a cruise planner purchase that was somehow stuck in an indeterminate state. Since I always pre-pay gratuities my TA said that should cover any potential discrepancy in the balance as the disputed amount was less. There was finally a sequence of charges and refunds that hit my card only a couple weeks before we sailed. The end result to me looked like I got refunded twice. Since then I have been very careful about keeping track of all purchases, the dates when I cancel, and when I get refunds. I'm glad all my BF purchases were made later than first day.

 

Hope you all get resolutions as these sorts of things just add unnecessary stress.

[Vlad]

2 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

For those concerned about cruise cancelled due to outstanding balance. Two years ago I cancelled and rebooked some items for a cruise. Never paid much attention to it. When I went to make final payment my TA told me that RC could not tell us what the final balance was as there was a cruise planner purchase that was somehow stuck in an indeterminate state. Since I always pre-pay gratuities my TA said that should cover any potential discrepancy in the balance as the disputed amount was less. There was finally a sequence of charges and refunds that hit my card only a couple weeks before we sailed. The end result to me looked like I got refunded twice. Since then I have been very careful about keeping track of all purchases, the dates when I cancel, and when I get refunds. I'm glad all my BF purchases were made later than first day.

 

Hope you all get resolutions as these sorts of things just add unnecessary stress.

Thanks Kevin for the info. 

I'm personally also booked through travel agency, so I'm hoping it will sort out like it did exactly 2 yrs ago on black Friday. People confirming all charges going through towards Christmas time. 

But if anything, I'm making my final payment through travel agency, in couple of months. And after I'll receive Royal's invoice through my TA. So thinking if it will say balance ZERO. That should be enough proof that any of these purchases don't ruin the cruise itself. 

Was thinking of canceling and rebooking purchases. But not sure, since that would confuse situation even more. Making it look like I'm getting refunds for something that wasn't even paid for yet. 

But from what you've said, looks like charges sorted itself out by themselves? 

Or was it your TA who was working on it to get them resolved? 

[KevinJ]

@Vlad my TA tried several times, but couldn't get any sort of final answer. I did have a zero balance invoice though, but they were still saying there was something going on, my TA assured me that at worst they might not acknowledge that I had covered all the gratuities. It seemed to just resolve itself and not directly related to an interaction with them, although they kept saying that it was being worked on. The charges were in Feb, the cruise was in June, so it did take quite some time.

[Vlad]

4 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

@Vlad my TA tried several times, but couldn't get any sort of final answer. I did have a zero balance invoice though, but they were still saying there was something going on, my TA assured me that at worst they might not acknowledge that I had covered all the gratuities. It seemed to just resolve itself and not directly related to an interaction with them, although they kept saying that it was being worked on. The charges were in Feb, the cruise was in June, so it did take quite some time.

Thanks for additional info. 

Sounds bad, I'm not paying gratuities upfront on my cruises. Sailing like a month before you did. It looks like one can't possibly resolve this system error/problem. Since Royal Caribbean basically confirms over and over again, that system is showing that cruise planner purchases are reserved and paid in full. 

[Ampurp85]

12 hours ago, Vlad said:

Wait, were you charged before or not at all? 

Because me, and other were charged, they were pending and disappeared. 

But all the status, info, calls keep confirming that the purchases are reserved and paid. 

But what was your deal? 

I stated earlier in the post the exact same thing happened. I made CP purchases on Nov 8th. The charge was pending and eventually dropped off. On Nov 10th an excursion went down and I cancelled and rebooked. They refunded the cost of the excursion and it went on my cruise balance as if I owed that. I was paid in full and didn't want the cruise cancelled but I waited. It was 10days after the fact and the charges were still pending on Royal's end but never charged to my card despite them being booked. I cancelled the order and now the charges are pending again on my card. 

[Vlad]

10 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I stated earlier in the post the exact same thing happened. I made CP purchases on Nov 8th. The charge was pending and eventually dropped off. On Nov 10th an excursion went down and I cancelled and rebooked. They refunded the cost of the excursion and it went on my cruise balance as if I owed that. I was paid in full and didn't want the cruise cancelled but I waited. It was 10days after the fact and the charges were still pending on Royal's end but never charged to my card despite them being booked. I cancelled the order and now the charges are pending again on my card. 

Thanks, got it. Similar, but different error. 

Charges were never changed to your card after you rebooked under sale prices. 

Wait, so you never actually received the refunds back? They went to your balance, then disappeared. 

[Dad2Cue]

44 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

They refunded the cost of the excursion and it went on my cruise balance as if I owed that. I was paid in full and didn't want the cruise cancelled but I waited.

My cruise planner purchase hasn't gone on my cruise balance ... yet.   I think that is where it will go eventually.  I currently have a zero balance due for my cruise because it is still "paid in full."

I can see how cancelling the cruise planner purchase and buying it back again will reset the purchase. As long as it goes back onto  my credit card and Royal gets paid via my credit card instead of saying I owe more for my cruise.

I can't explain it to myself. My brain wants to explode trying to sort it out.

 

[benc42793]

4 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

My cruise planner purchase hasn't gone on my cruise balance ... yet.   I think that is where it will go eventually.  I currently have a zero balance due for my cruise because it is still "paid in full."

I can see how cancelling the cruise planner purchase and buying it back again will reset the purchase. As long as it goes back onto  my credit card and Royal gets paid via my credit card instead of saying I owe more for my cruise.

I can't explain it to myself. My brain wants to explode trying to sort it out.

 

I doubt it. You're thinking worst case scenario. It seems the people who had this issue is more that they had a refund go to their cruise balance, not the outstanding cruise planner purchase going there. It also seems most people who are dealing with this issue got the $0 balance due email 48 hours after the situation. It's been almost two weeks since I made the purchase and although it is still missing on my credit card, I haven't gotten any email yet.

The most likely scenario is you are going to wake up one day within the next month and see the charges randomly back on your credit card. That's what happened with the thread that Vlad share. 

If you haven't gotten any email yet, don't stress. The people who got that email got it pretty much the day or two after.

[DoomSlayer]

This is such a strange thread and no doubt something weird has happened since so many people were affected.  To make it worse, it seems to be inconsistent, making it harder to determine what exactly is going on.  I too did refund and repurchase of items in the cruise planner on Nov. 8, but my charges all went through as expected on my card -- pending and then settled as well as correct items refunded.  No issue with my booking as it still shows paid in full and no e-mail.  The only data point I can add is that I do all of my planning and purchases through the website on the computer, I never use the app for planning.  I am curious if people experiencing the issue are using the app.

[benc42793]

8 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

This is such a strange thread and no doubt something weird has happened since so many people were affected.  To make it worse, it seems to be inconsistent, making it harder to determine what exactly is going on.  I too did refund and repurchase of items in the cruise planner on Nov. 8, but my charges all went through as expected on my card -- pending and then settled as well as correct items refunded.  No issue with my booking as it still shows paid in full and no e-mail.  The only data point I can add is that I do all of my planning and purchases through the website on the computer, I never use the app for planning.  I am curious if people experiencing the issue are using the app.

The short of it is, people who made purchase on November 8 (most with a Visa credit card) aren't having the purchase showing on their credit card but on the cruise planner, Royal says it was paid in full. Also some people who cancelled a cruise planner purchase, instead of the refund getting put to their credit card, it went to their cruise balance instead therefore Royal is saying they haven't paid in full i.e. refund something for $20, now cruise balance says they owe $20 and if they don't pay it, their cruise will be cancelled.

Seems like everything is fine with you so you have nothing to worry about.

[Vlad]

14 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

This is such a strange thread and no doubt something weird has happened since so many people were affected.  To make it worse, it seems to be inconsistent, making it harder to determine what exactly is going on.  I too did refund and repurchase of items in the cruise planner on Nov. 8, but my charges all went through as expected on my card -- pending and then settled as well as correct items refunded.  No issue with my booking as it still shows paid in full and no e-mail.  The only data point I can add is that I do all of my planning and purchases through the website on the computer, I never use the app for planning.  I am curious if people experiencing the issue are using the app.

I've purchased using mobile /cell phone, but used the website, browser. 

The only reason I can think of is whoever, purchased it at certain times, when sales started. System was not up to date or messed up. Those purchases weren't finalized and transactions dropped off. Hopefully it will sort itself out. I'm not sure what to do. Royal doesn't want to confirm there's a problem. Any rep just looks at the screen and says it's booked and paid for. 

[DoomSlayer]

2 minutes ago, Vlad said:

I've purchased using mobile /cell phone, but used the website, browser. 

The only reason I can think of is whoever, purchased it at certain times, when sales started. System was not up to date or messed up. Those purchases weren't finalized and transactions dropped off. Hopefully it will sort itself out. I'm not sure what to do. Royal doesn't want to confirm there's a problem. Any rep just looks at the screen and says it's booked and paid for. 

Thats what is weird to me.  I did my refunds and repurchases within minutes of the sale starting, but using the website.  I used my Visa card too.  I obviously had no problems, but I am sympathetic to those that did experience problems.  This reminds me of the problems they had last year with refunds that took forever to get sorted.

[jbrinkm]

32 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

This is such a strange thread and no doubt something weird has happened since so many people were affected.  To make it worse, it seems to be inconsistent, making it harder to determine what exactly is going on.  I too did refund and repurchase of items in the cruise planner on Nov. 8, but my charges all went through as expected on my card -- pending and then settled as well as correct items refunded.  No issue with my booking as it still shows paid in full and no e-mail.  The only data point I can add is that I do all of my planning and purchases through the website on the computer, I never use the app for planning.  I am curious if people experiencing the issue are using the app.

I was using my computer - the planner on the website, not the app. My 2 missing purchases actually show that they were made on the 9th in the planner, but because they were made just after midnight. The other purchases I made later in the day on the 9th were fine. 

One potential common factor might be Chase? I thought I saw several posts where people had various different cards issues by Chase Bank. Mine is also a Visa. 

9 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

Thats what is weird to me.  I did my refunds and repurchases within minutes of the sale starting, but using the website.  I used my Visa card too.  I obviously had no problems, but I am sympathetic to those that did experience problems.  This reminds me of the problems they had last year with refunds that took forever to get sorted.

Yes, refunds took forever last year. And charges that never went through stayed a week or more on the card before they dropped off (remember you would click "buy" and it would just spin and spin? and then a pending charge would show up but no actual planner purchase? It's like Goldilocks, one year too many charges, the next year not enough charges.).

I was really pleased that the refunds came through quickly this year and were accurate, if a little strange in how they trickled in. I didn't use the planner during Black Friday two years ago because we booked our April cruse in January but like @Vlad said, it sounds like this year's issue is similar to two years ago. 

[Dad2Cue]

I'm happy to report my cruise planner purchases listed in the payment history of my cruise are now "paid"  instead of "pending."  I'm not sure how they were paid because there is no transaction on my credit card. 

My cruise is still 'paid in full."  In fact, when all my cruise fare payments are added up ... I have overpaid for my cruise.

I'm not sure if this is progress or not.  To my knowledge ...  I still haven't paid for my cruise planner purchases.  

[Vlad]

1 minute ago, Dad2Cue said:

I'm happy to report my cruise planner purchases listed in the payment history of my cruise are now "paid"  instead of "pending."  I'm not sure how they were paid because there is no transaction on my credit card. 

My cruise is still 'paid in full."  In fact when all my cruise fare payments are added up ... I have overpaid for my cruise.

I'm not sure if this is progress or not.  To my knowledge ...  I still haven't paid for my cruise planner purchases.  

Congratulations... I guess... 

Honestly, I've never heard or seen, purchases to be pending... Mine said paid right away after credit card was charged... 

Can you remind, were your card charged in the beginning and then pending charges dropped off or it wasn't charged at all? 

[Dad2Cue]

3 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Congratulations... I guess... 

Honestly, I've never heard or seen, purchases to be pending... Mine said paid right away after credit card was charged... 

Can you remind, were your card charged in the beginning and then pending charges dropped off or it wasn't charged at all? 

My cruise planner purchases showed up on my credit card initially as "temporary authorizations" but after a few days they disappeared.

The corresponding amounts for my cruise planner purchases then showed up in the payment history of my cruise but they were "pending" for about 5 days. 

Today, the payments in the payment history for my cruise are "paid."

[benc42793]

2 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

My cruise planner purchases showed up on my credit card initially as "temporary authorizations" but after a few days they disappeared.

The corresponding amounts for my cruise planner purchases then showed up in the payment history of my cruise but they were "pending" for about 5 days. 

Today, the payments in the payment history for my cruise are "paid."

 I think the issue is though, at least on my end, the cruise planner purchase says "paid" but still not showing up on our credit card statement. That's where I think a lot of people are confused and worried.

I'm not too worried though because as I said in a previous message, I think I'm just going to wake up one day and the charges will be back on my credit card.

[Vlad]

8 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

My cruise planner purchases showed up on my credit card initially as "temporary authorizations" but after a few days they disappeared.

The corresponding amounts for my cruise planner purchases then showed up in the payment history of my cruise but they were "pending" for about 5 days. 

Today, the payments in the payment history for my cruise are "paid."

Thanks, it's sort of continuation of my case. And in a weird sense, even more interesting... 

So the system thinks it billed you directly instead of credit card, and then paid itself of... 

Unbelievable... 

Huge mess... 

[Vlad]

7 minutes ago, benc42793 said:

 I think the issue is though, at least on my end, the cruise planner purchase says "paid" but still not showing up on our credit card statement. That's where I think a lot of people are confused and worried.

I'm not too worried though because as I said in a previous message, I think I'm just going to wake up one day and the charges will be back on my credit card.

That's what I'm hoping as well. 

I don't want start dealing with canceling and rebooking. Then I will have refunds or no refunds and still initial charges must be taken care of someway. 

So will make this whole thing much more confusing than it's already is. 

[benc42793]

8 minutes ago, Vlad said:

That's what I'm hoping as well. 

I don't want start dealing with canceling and rebooking. Then I will have refunds or no refunds and still initial charges must be taken care of someway. 

So will make this whole thing much more confusing than it's already is. 

My cruise leaves on Christmas eve next month so if it gets cancelled or something happens i will let you all know

[jbrinkm]

Does anyone remember from 2 years ago, when the charges finally posted, was the date in the credit card statement/transactions the one from the original purchase, or a new date? I'm wondering if I want to be continuing to monitor Nov 8-9, or just looking at new charges. 

[Vlad]

1 minute ago, jbrinkm said:

Does anyone remember from 2 years ago, when the charges finally posted, was the date in the credit card statement/transactions the one from the original purchase, or a new date? I'm wondering if I want to be continuing to monitor Nov 8-9, or just looking at new charges. 

That's good question... I'm just keeping the eye on available balance. I'll definitely notice the charges once any appear from Royal Caribbean . 

[DMcrusin]

I figure I’ll add my situation in here as well.

I used my phone, but through the Royal website, not the app.

I booked excursions for our family on the evening of Nov. 8th.  Everything went through normal, received a confirmation e-mail (which says the 9th) and checked that the charges were pending on my card (Visa, but not Chase). This was the first and only booking of the excursion, and not a cancel and re-book.

On the 9th, I decided to purchase an internet package.  From phone, on website, etc. (all same as above). Again I received a confirmation e-mail, and noticed again that the charges were pending (and saw the previous ones still there as well)

Not until I saw this post first pop up did I check again.  Yup, the excursion from the 8th was dropped from pending, and never made it to “posted” charges.  However, the internet from the 9th did get posted and charged.

Everything on the website still shows that I have the excursion booked and paid for.

Edited:  To add that I’m booked through a TA.

We don't sail till April, so currently I’m not concerned, as I’m fairly confident that the excursion charges will just eventually go through on the card.

More so, I’m just adding more info to this post if it helps anyone pinpoint the problem.

[Vlad]

18 minutes ago, DMcrusin said:

I figure I’ll add my situation in here as well.

I used my phone, but through the Royal website, not the app.

I booked excursions for our family on the evening of Nov. 8th.  Everything went through normal, received a confirmation e-mail (which says the 9th) and checked that the charges were pending on my card (Visa, but not Chase). This was the first and only booking of the excursion, and not a cancel and re-book.

On the 9th, I decided to purchase an internet package.  From phone, on website, etc. (all same as above). Again I received a confirmation e-mail, and noticed again that the charges were pending (and saw the previous ones still there as well)

Not until I saw this post first pop up did I check again.  Yup, the excursion from the 8th was dropped from pending, and never made it to “posted” charges.  However, the internet from the 9th did get posted and charged.

Everything on the website still shows that I have the excursion booked and paid for.

We don't sail till April, so currently I’m not concerned, as I’m fairly confident that the excursion charges will just eventually go through on the card.

More so, I’m just adding more info to this post if it helps anyone pinpoint the problem.

If you read the thread that I started from the beginning. It's almost identical to my initial problem. Except I've made the other purchase 3 days later, 11th.

But the 1st day, evening the 8th,I've actually made 2 separate orders, different cruises. So that rules out the problem with specific cruise, date, or ship. 

Since Royal sells so much, especially now, I'm guessing just from the evening of 8th, same probably happened to thousands or tens of thousands of people. Definitely not just a few that posted on this forum. 

[JohnK6404]

I didn't want to, but I did ...

I contacted Royal via the chat function through Royal's FB page this time. I pushed and they too insist emphatically that everything is in order and they even sent me an e-mail confirming all 7 of my completed cruise planner purchases (6 from this sale) with transaction numbers, amounts, dates, etc.

Excerpt... just Royal's FB chat comments...

 

I called Chase again... this time they state there are no pending transactions (as previously confirmed in detail by Chase as waiting for "collection" by Royal) and that they all have dropped off... they assured me that if Royal collects these funds they were pre-authorized, etc., and not to worry... we'll see...

There is nothing showing on my Chase credit card in any status related to these purchases.

I have a feeling, as mentioned earlier, that the charges will mysteriously appear next month with 11/8 and/or 11/9 transaction dates. 

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I didn't want to, but I did ...

I contacted Royal via the chat function through Royal's FB page this time. I pushed and they too insist emphatically that everything is in order and they even sent me an e-mail confirming all 7 of my completed cruise planner purchases (6 from this sale) with transaction numbers, amounts, dates, etc.

Excerpt... just Royal's FB chat comments...

 

I called Chase again... this time they state there are no pending transactions (as previously confirmed in detail by Chase as waiting for "collection" by Royal) and that they all have dropped off... they assured me that if Royal collects these funds they were pre-authorized, etc., and not to worry... we'll see...

There is nothing showing on my Chase credit card in any status related to these purchases.

I have a feeling, as mentioned earlier, that the charges will mysteriously appear next month with 11/8 and/or 11/9 transaction dates. 

Thanks buddy, and thanks for sharing. 

Very useful info for me and the rest of us. We're in the same boat. 

I have a feeling we'll be good as well. 

I've contacted my TA about this. Explained in details. Initially she said she haven't heard anything about this problem, but will look into it. Don't really hope anything will come out from it, but doesn't hurt to ask. 

[benc42793]

13 hours ago, Vlad said:

Thanks buddy, and thanks for sharing. 

Very useful info for me and the rest of us. We're in the same boat. 

I have a feeling we'll be good as well. 

I've contacted my TA about this. Explained in details. Initially she said she haven't heard anything about this problem, but will look into it. Don't really hope anything will come out from it, but doesn't hurt to ask. 

I think as long as you don't get the dreaded "Balance due email" nothing to worry about