stevea36

If they do the same thing they had done with past cancellations, here are the options (at least for the North American Markets, but I believe they were worldwide):

1- full refund to the card(s) used to pay for the cruise

2- 125% Future Cruise Certificate, to be used by December 31, 2021, cruise by April, 2022

3- "Lift and Shift" from your sailing to another that is the same basic itinerary (TA to TA) and the same number of days.  Your pricing would be protected for the same category of cabin.   This is available now without them cancelling your sailing !!

I hope this helps..

Steve

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

The last round of cancellations had Lift and Shift as an option.  

I believe you need to do it before June 10th.

If you cancel the purchases before the cruise you should get the refund in about 2-3 weeks.  deposits and cruise fare are taking anyplace from 3 weeks to 3 months. 

All of the tour operators are fully aware of the actual time the ship will be in port and tailor their tours to the time the ship will be there.  If you are referring to Bernard's SXM tours I would recommend that you plan to stop at the shops (not many at the port itself) after the tour.  (Not many of these shops are open before 9am or so).

Steve

3 minutes ago, betmust said:

I am looking for more info about Lift and Switch.

I have a cruise to Canada?New England booked for Oct. 2020. When I booked I put a $5oo non-refundable deposit down. I was told that if i cancelled the only way I could get that back was if I bought and paid for travel protection at the same time so I did.

There are 6 of us going in 3 cabins. The other day we decided that we should cancel because we are still concerned about the virus.

 

I called Royal Caribbean and explained that to that. They told me that even though I purchased the insurance, they do not pay it until the cruise is paid for so no i would not get back the deposit in cash but in a Future Cruise credit.  That was never explained to me when I booked it. He said if i paid the whole cruise, the insurance would only give me back 75% of the deposit plus what i paid but only under certain circumstances. A pandemic is not a covered reason. I have not cancelled yet.

 

So I forgot to ask but does anyone know how long the FCC is good for?  

Also looking to find out about a lift and switch. I never heard of it until i saw someone mentioning it on here. Just curious how that would work. Does that just move my deposit to another cruise? i I booked the same cruise for Oct 2021 would I get the same pricing?

 

thanks I appreciate any info I can get before deciding what to do.

The FCC, if issued under their Cruise With Confidence program is good to use until December 31, 2021 for cruises thru April 2022.

With L&S you can move your deposit to a new booking that is 4 weeks before or after the anniversary of the cruise to be cancelled and is the same number of days and same basic itinerary.  This will give you the same cabin type on the new sailing at the same price you that you are paying for the current one.

It is my understanding that there is also a 3rd option.  RCI will move your total deposit to a new sailing with no penalties, however you will get the new cabin at the current prevailing rates.

Steve

I could not even venture a guess as to how long it should take as they just cancelled 6 weeks of cruises.

However, I believe they should extend the expiration of the renewed certificate when it is re-issued.

If you have hours to kill you can call them and find out the particulars for your specific situation.

The RCI App will tell you your muster station.

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

Is it that the L&S has to be executed before 8/1, or is L&S good for cruises booked before 8/1. The language is confusing.

both

Yes, but you cannot do the L&S until at least 24 hours after you book and deposit against the new sailing and the L&S has to occur before August 1, 2020

30 minutes ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

I just received my FCC in an email for my canceled cruise.

Was there suppose to be an actual certificate to open up, or it is just the certificate # listed within the email?

I am waiting on the refund of Port charges, taxes, etc which I know will appear on my credit card.

How will I receive confirmation of my OBC? Will I get an email with a confirmation #?

Your OBC will come in the form of another FCC, but in the text it will say for onboard purchases.

5 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

the first agent's accent was definitely Indian, the second - from the Philippines. The first accent made me think that the center may have been in India.

The biggest problem that they have is the lack of resources.  RCI laid off about 1/4 of their CS Staff.  The remainder of the staff is working from home with a laptop screen and a VOIP phone connection thru the laptop.  They usually have 2 large screens to work with in the office so doing some transactions are more difficult and prone to error as they cannot easily have the 2 sets of data needed up on the screen at once.  The phone connection has issues as most home network providers do not build out their networks to support the immense number of people who are now working from home.  Additionally, using a VOIP phone via a computer does not get the same quality over the network as a connected VOIP phone as being on the PC its presence is masked from the network itself.  Hence the longer times to get transactions complete and lower quality of phone calls (and frequent disconnects).

My recommendation is to bear with them and, if possible, give it a week or so to calm down a bit after the latest round of cancellations.  (or use a TA to do the waiting for you (most TAs who are RCI Certified have tools that allow them to do some of the things themselves that an end consumer would need to call RCI to get accomplished)).

2 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yeah, I understand.... Plus, I think they are all in India somewhere.

 

While the balcony I wanted for us is still there, the balcony cabin I wanted for my parents is no longer available. 😞  Going to call them now and get something different, if we are not disconnected.

I'm sure you are aware, but due to the latest round of cancellations their Customer Service teams are getting blasted..  I had to wait on the TA Groups line for over an hour yesterday (this line rarely has waits of over 5 minutes).   

And, no, they are not in India.  RCCL, as a Corporation, does not have any CS locations in India.   They utilize sites around the US, central America, and the Philippines.    Its the IRS that has their help centers in India !!!

44 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

the price HAS JUST DROPPED for the holidays. Should I wait to rebook until it goes up again? Seriously? And I wasn't exactly following their cancellation schedule. Everybody is cancelling cruises now, weeks and weeks of it. I am talking about dropped calls, not the long wait.

 

And when you call, their system says - if your cruise is cancelled, please don't stay on the line - you will automatically get your FCC.

Correct, a FCC for the sailing is the default and will be processed relatively quickly.  Remember, you have the option to convert the 125% FCC back to a 100% refund.

46 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yeah, but how strange for the call to be dropped AFTER A VERY LONG WAIT. Why couldn't it drop 10 minutes into it?

I know the waits are long due to the pandemic/cancellations/etc, and I don't mind that, but dang it - dropping right after somebody answers the phone twice? couldn't they call me back? The travel agency that works with my company always takes our phone number first to call us back if we are disconnected.

The call is not transferred to someone's remote phone until they are available to handle a call, otherwise it is connected to their "phone system" at HQ.  The drop, most likely, occurred when the call was being transferred to a remote individual.

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I wish they had the system that a lot of other companies have adopted where you can enter your phone number and they call you back. 

Delta has that.   Last week call back times were being quoted at 10-12 hours...   I called saturday morning and it said 30 minutes so I went for it..   got called back in 1 hour...  was on the phone with the agent for less than 1 minute, mission accomplished (and these times were thru the TA numbers (and I am a Delta Reserve Card holder !!)...

14 minutes ago, gdy0354 said:

What are the odds of any ship sailing out of NY or  NJ in 2020?

do you know the Chance brothers ??    Slim and None...   That's about it...

I'd say maybe .0000009 % for NY (and that doesn't include RCI or Celebrity)

I could See Anthem returning to NJ in late October/November and cruises starting then...

Steve

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I called this morning.  Left the phone on the table and went to the office to get a customers file.  While I was out I also stopped  at a Pet Smart and got gas which took an hour and a half.  Came  home and only had another hour to wait. It’s been crazy the past week and a half since they introduced the Lift and Shift.  

and the new cancellations just add on to the load !!

when you FINALLY get an agent give them a callback number so they can get back to you if the call drops.  I did that today as soon as I noticed some breaking up of the Agent's voice, fortunately it was not needed but she gladly took the number "Just in case".

Cruise Planner purchases as well as Gratuities (and the original Taxes and fees) will be refunded.  they are not transferable under this policy,

22 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Steve, that was only in effect for the first couple weeks in March.  It changed and they are not refunding any of the deposit

Thanks Ken,  That's good to know (I did it for a couple of clients when this first started but nothing since)...

One other note on refunds... Once RCI creates the credit with your bank, the times for the bank to process and post the transaction vary.  I had refunds for cruise planner purchases on two different credit cards.   Amex posted the day after RCI created the credit while it took chase 10 days to post theirs.  Once chase posted them, they backdated the transactions to the date that Amex had originally posted theirs...

If you apply your FCC after having paid your deposit and the FCC is for more than what is owed, it will be put toward the deposit amount and the deposit will be refunded to your card on file for this booking.  

But, on the other hand, they do not charge you if the port fees go up compared to their estimate which is based on past cruises.

29 minutes ago, Hawg11 said:

 

I have a non refundable deposit on Harmony of the Seas for an August 16 2020 sailing. I would like to be able to get similar pricing on the same ship next year. Do I have to call to "lift and switch"?

 

Also it doesn't seem that the Harmony is doing the same itinerary next year, if I can't book the same ship which other shops offer similar activities. I was looking forward to Flowrider and Ultimate Abyss.

 

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Harmony, Symphony, Oasis all have the flowrider and Abyss...

Who did you pay for the cruise ?   If your credit card was charged by the TA then you need to deal with them as they are the ones who, ultimately, need to refund you.  If your card was charged by RCI, then they are the ones to refund to you.  

I am guessing that your TA charged your credit card and then paid RCI.   They probably already got the refund from RCI and have not passed it on to you.