Celebrity Disappoints Big Time

On November 21, I decided at the last minute to find a cruise for the Christmas holidays. Found one in Asia on the Millenium. Called Celebrity and they had just had an opening for a aft cabin in Concierge Class. Good deal, right?

But what about air travel? The fare that Celebrity found for be was almost as expensive as the cruise! I asked if they would hold the reservation for 24 hours so I could find other flights. They would not but told be that they would charge my credit card the full $9500 amount which would be fully refunded if I cancelled within 24 hours. After checking flights for a few hours, I called Celebrity to cancel the booking.

I was assured that the refund would be processed within 3-5 business days.

Well 3 weeks later I do not have the full refund. On Dec 1 the refunded a small amount. On Dec 3, there were 2 more refund amount. Over $6000 remains to be refunded.

I called Celebrity a week again. The agent apologized and promised to email Accounting to fix it. Nothing happened for another week. Another phone call and another apology, but no action.

Finally, I called Amex and had them put a hold on the remaining amount which was still on my statement and now due for payment.

Why did Royal Caribbean make 3 separate partial refunds, instead of one full refund? The original charge is listed from Celebrity, but the refund is from RC!

While I have enjoyed the service on 3 Celebrity cruises, this has left a very bad impression and it will be a long time before I use Celebrity again, if ever.

My next cruise will be on some other cruise line. Beware of Royal Caribbean Accounting practices!

You thought it reasonable to have NINE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS charged to your credit card for anything less than an absolute, guaranteed, no questions asked, know EXACTLY what I am getting, and am totally, completely, and utterly satisfied with it, final purchase??? :eek:

Whatever... :rolleyes:

I think the guy is talking about $9500 for the whole cruise and airfare. But if he booked on November 21 for a Christmas cruise that is past the due date when they will give you a full refund on the cruise.

The rules are and have been for as long as I can remember:

between 28-15 days prior to cruise you only get back 25% of the cost of the cruise.

Unhappy with a charge and slow refund to your credit card then call the credit card company ...

No way would I ever place what amounts to a $9500 "deposit" for a 24 hour hold on anything, much less a cruise. That amount of money stays in my possession until I know 100% certain that I want to buy the product. And of course, it is always the cruise company that is the villan when someone makes a dumb mistake. :p

Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean, so their name is often on the paperwork.

They always do a refund in 3 parts, but I have only had deposits refunded. It is like your invoice from them, broken down to the components. They take about 4 days for the money to come back on the credit card if it is going right.

This 24 hour thing, where they promise to refund/cancel with no problems, I have heard it on here before. It seems the sales person is keen to lock you in. Others have had trouble with getting refunds too in the past. I am sorry you have been upset by this, but I wouldn't be too sure that other lines are going to have any better finance departments. This is another good warning for others.

I hope it all works out ok for you.

No way would I ever place what amounts to a $9500 "deposit" for a 24 hour hold on anything, much less a cruise. That amount of money stays in my possession until I know 100% certain that I want to buy the product. And of course, it is always the cruise company that is the villan when someone makes a dumb mistake. :p

My thought exactly.

Not clear WHY the OP did not do airfare research before they committed to the cruise (not like it was leaving the next day... But rather not for several weeks). It is a well known fact that last minute / short notice flights are ALWAYS a "boat load" of money

Hopefully he'll get it straightened out soon (does sound like the whole Pay Now to Hold option by the Phone Rep is a bit of a scam... I too am guessing it was so they could score a Booking / Make Sales Quota etc)

Paying the WHOLE cost is NEVER what I would call "a deposit"

Cheers!

Only had a deposit refunded as a single payment. Three sounds weird for a deposit.

Not sure why people are on the OP's case for trusting what the company told him.

Or are companies just expected to lie and everyone's okay with that???

 

Not sure why people are on the OP's case for trusting what the company told him.

 

Or are companies just expected to lie and everyone's okay with that???

Ditto on all counts.

The OP appears to be an experienced cruiser, with many posts on Cruise Critic and several cruises listed. I am surprised that he accepted the word of the Celebrity agent about a refund, knowing their reputation for being ill informed. In the UK we loose our deposit whatever, and have never heard of a full refund within 24 hours of booking, certainly on this side of the pond.

I recently had to cancel 2 Celebrity cruises for which I had paid deposit of $900 each.

One I had booked thru a TA and I got the refund in one amount.

The other was booked Celebrity direct and was refunded in 3 almost equal amounts.

Both refunds shiwed as RCI on my credit card

OP once the CC statement is received file a dispute w/the CC company. They will contact RCCL on your behalf and 'expedite' the remainder of the refund you are due.

You won't be expected to pay off/or any possible interest due on remainder of this disputed amount as long as they rule in your favor.

Personally, I would never put $9,500 down on a 24-hour hold for a cruise. :confused:

We just cancelled a Royal Caribbean cruise - and got our deposit refunded in three parts but it was all within the same day or two timeframe.

I just don't understand why anyone would book and pay a cruise that close to sail date without checking airfare first. Great cruise deals are to be had for booking that close sometimes- sometimes at close out prices - but the airfare usually is out of the stratosphere.

Only had a deposit refunded as a single payment. Three sounds weird for a deposit.

 

Not sure why people are on the OP's case for trusting what the company told him.

 

Or are companies just expected to lie and everyone's okay with that???

In the US we expect our cell phone companies, cable TV companies, insurance companies, airline companies, auto companies and others to lie to us. They lie when the truth sounds better.

We are not "Ok with that", but it is the way business is done.:mad::(

If the facts are stated correctly Amex should take care of the OP's problem.

First of all, I would never (no matter what assurances they gave me) put a deposit of FULL payment on anything I was not 100% sure of. If they were unable to hold something for a few hours while I checked other prices, I would simply take my chances that it would be available when/if I called back.

Second, I believe they record phone calls when booking. (I read that on Cruise Critic - I don't have first hand experience.) If that's the case, they should be able to settle the dispute - if there is one other than just bad service/accounting practices.

Good luck with this.

Ditto on all counts.

I totally agree! Are we not to believe what we are told?

I'm sorry for your trouble. I don't understand their bookkeeping process. I booked a cruise for 2016 and it took a week before they charged my credit card. Usually on other lines I get an alert from the bank before I hang up the phone. I would suggest that in the future you research your flights before you call the cruise line to book. I think you would be hard pressed to find a cheap flight 4 days before Christmas on any airline.

I doesn't matter if the 'deposit' was $9,500 or $950, the issue is RCL has been vary slow to refund it! OP will get his money back eventually. I always sick AMEX on companies who deserve it - they are very good at this.;) Companies like RCL need to realize that their accounting departments are also in the customer service business, just like the rest of the organization.:rolleyes:

I think the guy is talking about $9500 for the whole cruise and airfare. But if he booked on November 21 for a Christmas cruise that is past the due date when they will give you a full refund on the cruise.

The rules are and have been for as long as I can remember:

between 28-15 days prior to cruise you only get back 25% of the cost of the cruise.

I agree, I think this is what has happened.

I think the guy is talking about $9500 for the whole cruise and airfare. But if he booked on November 21 for a Christmas cruise that is past the due date when they will give you a full refund on the cruise.

The rules are and have been for as long as I can remember:

between 28-15 days prior to cruise you only get back 25% of the cost of the cruise.

I agree, I think this is what has happened.

The finance office is probably handling this like any normal cancellation, and applying the penalty for canceling after the final payment date per the established rules. They weren't involved with making the booking so they would not have any knowledge of the alleged "pay now and you will get a full refund" promise made by booking representative since they weren't there.

Plus, there is the complication of the time it takes to fully process the original booking, including processing the original payment, and then the immediate request for a refund, which itself will require time to process. One department of a very large company would still be processing the booking, while another department would be processing the refund at the same time. What could possible go wrong? ;)

Not sure why people are on the OP's case for trusting what the company told him.

 

Or are companies just expected to lie and everyone's okay with that???

I totally agree! Are we not to believe what we are told?

Are YOU certain that what the OP is telling us hasn't been skewed a bit to enhance his case? Did the rep really tell him what he claims he was told? Or, considering that the entire booking process seems to have been a rush job and in his haste to not lose the chance on the trip he misunderstood what he was told? A classic "He said, she said" scenario.

It seems with some people the automatic response is to always assume that the other buy is to blame. "Never take responsibility for my own actions" is their philosophy.

Without having been part of the conversation, all I can rely on is common sense. That common sense tells me spending $9,500 on a purchase I am not sure I want is not very smart. My common sense tells me that the refund rules for cancellations made AFTER final payment - which in essence this is - should apply in every case in order to make it fair for everyone. My common sense tells me it isn't always the big bad company that is cheating us, but is often carelessness by the buyer.

But, then again, common sense seems to be almost obsolete these days. :rolleyes:

Dileep,

Be sure you come back and let us know how it worked out for you. I did not even realize that Celebrity had a 24 hour full refund policy for cruise fare with air. Good lesson for everyone. Paying $9500 for a cruise with air and then researching and making a final decision is not something I would ever do. Of course I never realized it was even possible for a last minute cruise and I am surprised that it is. Hopefully this isn't a misunderstanding about a full refund if cancelled within 24 hours problem. Good luck because as you said you were told it was the policy and it was your understanding.

I can see that as soon as the OP cancelled the Celebrity cruise they booked an Emerald Princess cruise out of Houston instead. I am sure it was less expensive and more convenient.

Does anyone know if Celebrity actually has a policy that allows the cancellation within 24 hours of last minute paid in full cruise and air? Does any other cruise lines have this policy?

It would be interesting to know although I do not think I would ever do it. I know that this is true on airlines that do not offer a 24 hour hold policy.

I totally agree! Are we not to believe what we are told?

Are YOU certain that what the OP is telling us hasn't been skewed a bit to enhance his case? Did the rep really tell him what he claims he was told? Or, considering that the entire booking process seems to have been a rush job and in his haste to not lose the chance on the trip he misunderstood what he was told? A classic "He said, she said" scenario.

 

It seems with some people the automatic response is to always assume that the other guy is to blame. "Never take responsibility for my own actions" is their philosophy.

 

Without having been part of the conversation, all I can rely on is common sense. That common sense tells me spending $9,500 on a purchase I am not sure I want is not very smart. My common sense tells me that the refund rules for cancellations made AFTER final payment - which in essence this is - should apply in every case in order to make it fair for everyone. My common sense tells me it isn't always the big bad company that is cheating us, but is often carelessness by the buyer.

 

But, then again, common sense seems to be almost obsolete these days. :rolleyes:

The OP has been on these boards for quite some time, and I have been reading his posts in various forums on here for a long time. Maybe you and I and others on here would not have put down that sum of money as the OP did, and maybe we would not have relied on what the Celebrity rep told the OP, but the OP did, and he was entitled to. I don't know why cruise line cheerleaders on CC seem so eager at times to bash their fellow cruisers, but there's no call for it.

I think it's very important to note something that has been ignored: when the OP has called Celebrity back to complain that the balance of his money hasn't been refunded, he's been told it's coming, *not* that he isn't entitled to it.

I totally agree that the OP needs to get AMEX on this, as he has. Good luck to him.

Does anyone know if Celebrity actually has a policy that allows the cancellation within 24 hours of last minute paid in full cruise and air? Does any other cruise lines have this policy?

 

It would be interesting to know although I do not think I would ever do it. I know that this is true on airlines that do not offer a 24 hour hold policy.

No, they don't. And never had, to my knowledge. They have a 24 hr no deposit hold policy, but in this case, for a cruise that is past final payment, and for a stateroom category that all but sold out, I would not be surprised if that policy did not apply.

Sorry to the OP, but I don't know how an experienced cruiser could possibly think making full payment on a rare stateroom availability with the intent of canceling within 24 hours if they changed their minds was a wise course of action. I certainly would not have done it, no matter what the rep told me. That is way too much money to be playing with on a product I may not actually want.