Sunsigngirl

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

 

Could you tell me when you disputed the charges, did you include the FCC amount?   And did you cancel the cruises or did HAL?

 

We have a tiny FCC amount and a very large refund amount, and I wondered since we've received no notification at all on the FCC yet, should we include it in our dispute?   We cancelled March 17 (June cruises).

Since I cancelled totally, and didn't re-book this time, I didn't ask for the FCC because that needs to be applied to a future sailing. I never did file a dispute since we ended up getting the majority of our money back.  I just now cancelled totally, so don't expect to see anything for quite awhile - and, given their desperate situation, maybe never.  I'm hoping they will weather the storm, but when I look at all the ports that are closed right now, I have to wonder where one could cruise to!

On 5/14/2020 at 3:05 PM, cavecreekguy said:

Yeah well I'm calling BS on the continued excuse of "oh we just have so many requests we can't get to them all." If they were actually working them then SOMEONE should have reported receiving a refund of their cruise fare by now. I've only heard people reporting receiving refunds of excursions or other pre-purchased items.

We did get our refund.  (See my other posts.). Long and confusing process.  

On 5/13/2020 at 7:36 PM, KAKcruiser said:

Sunsigngirl - What was the date of your cancelled sailing?  I am curious to know in what order they are doing the refunds.

What happened is that we cancelled the April 2 Australia sailing and put the full fare onto an October sailing.  This was maybe March 5 or so.  On the 23rd of March, I asked to have all the funds above the necessary down payment on the October cruise refunded, as I started to get nervous re: HAL's viability in this perfect storm.  While waiting, we decided to cancel the October cruise as well as a 2021 cruise we'd booked, but wanted to wait until we got the big chunk ($11,300+) back.  We got it on May 12 and cancelled the two cruises immediately.  Here's hoping we get the additional $1,700 back some day.  We've lost all the airfare - well, have a year to use it, and, with Virgin Air going belly up, probably won't have that.  Got half the Sydney BnB $ back.

3 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

Could this have been the April 2 Sydney-Vancouver sailing?  We opted for the FCC on March 14.  Received that a week+ ago, but still waiting for the refund of port fees, taxes and flight ease.  Did you get any of those refunds also?  Our PCC told us to let him know if we haven't received them by the end of this week.

Yes, this was the initial cruise we booked.  In early March, I cancelled it and put all of our money on an October cruise.  I shortly realized "why am I letting all that money ride" when we need it.  So I requested a refund of the amount over the downpayment on the October cruise.  As time went by, and I saw all that was happening and probable problems with cruising even in October, I knew I was going to cancel the October cruise as well as an April 2021 cruise...however, I wanted to wait until I got the $11,300+ refund.  When I got it, I cancelled immediately.  Re: the April 2, 2020 cruise, we got refunds for our excursions and on-board items immediately when I cancelled that cruise in early March.

6 hours ago, Bramcruiser said:

Well, I got my cancellation  notice one week and one day ago today. Even before the cancellation email was sent out I received 5 emails where HAL cancelled various onboard purchases that I paid for in advance. This morning I see that all of these have been refunded and are now on my credit card account. Mighty fast considering the horror stories I have heard so far.

 

Yesterday another round of emails were received where HAL acknowledged they cancelled the shore excursions I booked. Waiting to see how long that takes. Then there is the ultimate - the cruise itself. I selected the refund over the FCC so will it be months before I see it? 

It took lots of follow up and 7 weeks for me.

4 hours ago, gigianne said:

Wow, you are lucky, I have been waiting since March 8th and had paid $$$ for the Platinum  Insurance.  Seems like that was a waste of money.  I have been give so many dates of when I wii receive the refund, none of them true.

It was a lot of work - numerous phone calls and emails... Do you have a Cruise Consultant?  If so, you can check with them and have them look, or call the main number and plead your case.

Yes!  Finally!  We requested a refund on March 23 and got it yesterday.  This was AFTER many contacts with our cruise consultant during which we got various answers about what was going on.  What was disturbing is that the money kind of "disappeared" for about 16 days after our consultant said it had been "processed" by Accounting. We're talking $11,300+ for a long cruise from Australia to Canada. Lots of money for people with money, and a tremendous amount for someone like us!  I got exasperated and called the main HAL number and got a phone number for Accounting (which I'd asked for before and not gotten.)  I called them on May 11 and the first person I talked to told me the refund was processed on April 21 and I should have it, and it was my bank's fault.  I called the bank and they saw nothing and told me I had to wait 30 days from the date the refund was processed to file a claim.  I called Accounting back and got a different person who said the refund was processed on May 8!!!  When I checked my bank last night, the money was there!  What a relief.  We are still owed about $1,300, for cruises we cancelled yesterday, but this was the big amount we were waiting for. I know they are crunched with requests, but I think they could have done much better.  The right hand didn't know what the left was doing. I don't know about you guys, but it's going to be awhile before we cruise again...what ports are going to allow people in?  On and off the ship at various places, with long contacts, then back on the ship in an enclosed space - perfect for getting and spreading a deadly virus.  No, we'll wait until things are much safer.