empress first 6 sailings canelled

[CotonSocks]

I think if the reasons why the cruise was cancelled or not the reasons they say. Watching some of the crews post the ship looks completed and is sailing for the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean is telling everybody that the ship was not completed in time. If they were being deceptive somebody may have a case for a lawsuit.

[LMaxwell]

I think if the reasons why the cruise was cancelled or not the reasons they say. Watching some of the crews post the ship looks completed and is sailing for the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean is telling everybody that the ship was not completed in time. If they were being deceptive somebody may have a case for a lawsuit.

 

I don't think we will ever know.

 

In fact, just my opinion, based on photos I've seen I think the ship may be getting further paint work. It looks kind of sterile just painted totally white with no contrasting colors; doesn't even have the Royal Caribbean International block logo on the hull yet, just the C&A on the exhaust funnel.

[beerman2]

We were scheduled for the March 30th sailing on Empress. This was our first ever cruise and the entire family was going to celebrate birthdays over spring break. We were all new to cruising. I found Cruise Critic and joined because there was so much good information provided. Since it was uncharted waters for us (pun intended), we hired a TA and bought insurance for this trip. I’m so glad we did that. I can deal with the general disappointment of not being able to go on this trip. However, I’m not so understanding of RC’s complete lack of customer service.

 

To have cancelled so many sailings at late notice indicates a significant issue of which they should have been aware. At this point I’m just trying to break even. I know we’ll get refund from RC and we should (hopefully) get our airfare back. The fact that RC isn’t providing much info is making it more difficult for the TA to file a claim.

 

TA also told us (as well as RC) that she will not book their product again because their handling of this was not even close what other cruise lines have done when they have experienced problems. Oddly enough, I’d actually still be interested in taking a cruise some day, although obviously we’ll never do business with RC again.

 

Gilligan101

Are you by chance from a small town in OHIO! If so just talked to your mom tonight.

 

 

The 101 is what peeked my interest. And yes RCI has definately dropped the ball!

[actuarian]

Not saying what Royal did was right, but they did offer the option to switch to another Empress or Majesty sailing for the same price, or you could take a full refund. I believe anyone who switched to another sailing received $100 OBC per stateroom.

 

Technically, as bad as it is, Royal did all that was required. So I really don't think a law suit will get much accomplished.

 

I agree, "Royal did all that was required" for its customers; there are no grounds for a lawsuit. Throughout history, there have been many companies that did all that was required for their customers but no more. They were companies with names like like Montgomery Ward, American Motors, Studebaker, Gimbel's, United Merchants, E. J. Korvette, and many more. The only problem is that, except in the few cases like the first on my list where somebody bought the names to use for new businesses, you have to either study corporate history or be old enough to retire in order to recognize the names.

Edited March 26, 2016 by actuarian

[Suzcruz57]

Money saved, cruise paid for, cruise cancelled, money not returned for 4-6 weeks. Now what? Cancel vacation time off at work, go back to work. Thanks RCCL[emoji924][emoji19]

[Expat Cruise]

Money saved, cruise paid for, cruise cancelled, money not returned for 4-6 weeks. Now what? Cancel vacation time off at work, go back to work. Thanks RCCL[emoji924][emoji19]

 

Don't play Royal's game. You paid with a credit card right? Just dispute the payment with your credit card company. Royal must follows the credit card rules. The credit card company will credit your account within 24 hours and then wait for Royals reply. In this case you cannot loose the dispute, Royal canceled the cruise.

 

Why should you be required to wait any time? It takes royal less than 3 minutes to process the credit card refund. The only reason they wait is to use the clients funds. That game needs to end.

[Suzcruz57]

We booked through a travel agent. They're asking me to fill out a form to cancel to get a refund, if not booking Empress at a future date or the Majesty. Can I still contact our credit card company? And go around all involved?

[Expat Cruise]

We booked through a travel agent. They're asking me to fill out a form to cancel to get a refund, if not booking Empress at a future date or the Majesty. Can I still contact our credit card company? And go around all involved?

 

Absolutely you do not need to follow the travel agents rules or Royal's rules. Because both of them agreed to the merchant agreement with the credit card processing service. You just need to contact your credit card company. They will put the money back into your account if already paid off, or remove it from your bill if funds are still due.

 

I do not know if you paid Royal or the Travel Agent but it really does not matter, let them work it out. You are 100% protected under Federal law. And please do not fall for the old line "if you file a dispute you cannot use the services again"

 

I have several merchant change accounts and process cards and the agreement is very clear. We as the seller accept whatever ruling the credit card company makes and agree to take no actions again the card holder. If Royal or the Travel Agent came after a card member after the credit card company ruled for the card company they risk losing the ability to ever accept credit cards.

 

The card holder has all the power here, file and you will be refunded shortly.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Absolutely you do not need to follow the travel agents rules or Royal's rules. Because both of them agreed to the merchant agreement with the credit card processing service. You just need to contact your credit card company. They will put the money back into your account if already paid off, or remove it from your bill if funds are still due.

 

I do not know if you paid Royal or the Travel Agent but it really does not matter, let them work it out. You are 100% protected under Federal law. And please do not fall for the old line "if you file a dispute you cannot use the services again"

 

I have several merchant change accounts and process cards and the agreement is very clear. We as the seller accept whatever ruling the credit card company makes and agree to take no actions again the card holder. If Royal or the Travel Agent came after a card member after the credit card company ruled for the card company they risk losing the ability to ever accept credit cards.

 

The card holder has all the power here, file and you will be refunded shortly.

 

Everything you say makes sense and you probably know what you are talking about. However, Suzcruz57 and a bunch of other people have signed contracts with RCCL that say that they get no refund if they the passenger cancels after a given date. The fact that RCCL has offered to release them from that (under the condition that the passengers decide not to opt for an alternate sailing) doesn't change the fact that they are obligated to RCCL until RCCL formally closes the agreement and returns the money. Right? If I decide to cancel a cruise 5 days before sailing, I can't just have the credit card company do my bidding and thereby avoid the late-cancellation penalties, which is what you are advising here.

[LMaxwell]

Everything you say makes sense and you probably know what you are talking about. However, Suzcruz57 and a bunch of other people have signed contracts with RCCL that say that they get no refund if they the passenger cancels after a given date. The fact that RCCL has offered to release them from that (under the condition that the passengers decide not to opt for an alternate sailing) doesn't change the fact that they are obligated to RCCL until RCCL formally closes the agreement and returns the money. Right? If I decide to cancel a cruise 5 days before sailing, I can't just have the credit card company do my bidding and thereby avoid the late-cancellation penalties, which is what you are advising here.

 

There's no ship and no sailing happening, so what would apply normally doesn't count.

 

Why does it take 4-6 weeks to issue a refund? The reality is...it does not. It's just a way for them to hold people's money longer that they have no legal claim to do so.

 

When I had to cancel a cruise I had my money back from Royal in 72 hours. Maybe they just say 4 to 6 weeks to cover worst case scenario? Either way, if I didn't have my money in one business week I'd have gotten Amex involved too. Companies only play games if you allow them to.

[Expat Cruise]

Everything you say makes sense and you probably know what you are talking about. However, Suzcruz57 and a bunch of other people have signed contracts with RCCL that say that they get no refund if they the passenger cancels after a given date. The fact that RCCL has offered to release them from that (under the condition that the passengers decide not to opt for an alternate sailing) doesn't change the fact that they are obligated to RCCL until RCCL formally closes the agreement and returns the money. Right? If I decide to cancel a cruise 5 days before sailing, I can't just have the credit card company do my bidding and thereby avoid the late-cancellation penalties, which is what you are advising here.

 

OK you have raised a couple of different issues here. First yes people have signed contracts with Royal for the cruise. But long before these people signed contracts Royal signed contracts with Mastercard, Visa, and the other cards. Part of the contract is how disputes are handled, and Royal like every other merchant (the seller is the Merchant) agrees to follow the terms as set by this agreement.

 

But as a card holder you must have a valid reason to request a refund. If you do not then Mastercard (Using MC to represent all cards) will find for the merchant and say no refund.

 

Now lets look at a basic contract, it needs to have a few things, Seller, buyer, consideration (payment) and goods or services. You agree to pay a set amount to the seller, the seller agrees to provide a good or service. In this case you agreed to purchase a cruise, you paid for the cruise, Royal agreed to provide the cruise. On the ship and the time agreed too. Then after payment was made Royal is not providing the cruise, they have broken the contract.

 

Or to put in real simple terms you purchase a cruise from Royal they are not providing the cruise so you are entitled to a refund. If you purchase airline tickets and the airline goes out of business the credit card company must refund your money. When you pay with credit cards you have many legal protections, in this case a full refund.

[GottaKnowWhen]

There's no ship and no sailing happening, so what would apply normally doesn't count. ...

 

My point is that there is a ship, there is a sailing, or two or five. Just not precisely the same ship at the same time that you had originally planned on. So RCCL has provided the option of getting out of your contract at no cost if and when you choose to do that. So the passenger just needs the TA to tell RCCL "no thanks, send refund" and then the funds get returned. Obviously there may be a delay while waiting for someone in the accounting department to verify that this passenger did ask for a refund on this card via this TA. And the accounting department has a few thousand people to deal with right now...

[Pesseh0729]

I got my money in a week!

[MJonTravel]

They say "4 to 6 weeks" because back before the interweb was invented, people used to actually have to receive a card statement in the mail. (tongue in cheek, I know many still do depend on paper statements) In that case, it very well could be 4 to 6 weeks before you receive the statement that reflects the credit. In truth, if you look at your card account online, you're going to see the refund in just a few days.

[Suzcruz57]

A few days sounds good to me. Now, I have hope[emoji106]🏻[emoji389]

[iMedic]

My refund was posted on my Amex on Monday 22 March. We cancelled at noon on 19 March.

[kbset]

Has anyone had any luck with getting their airline tickets refunded?? We couldn't go on the Majesty cruise they were offering nor could we do an empress cruise at a later date. We did purchase insurance for our airline tickets and we just got a letter stating that our refund was denied.

[Suzcruz57]

Update! Switched my booking from the cancelled 4/16 Empress sailing to the Brilliance 4/18 sailing and got a refund. Very happy[emoji924][emoji227][emoji267][emoji295]️[emoji932][emoji106]🏻[emoji457][emoji120]🏻

[Clarkk W Griswald]

Has anyone had any luck with getting their airline tickets refunded?? We couldn't go on the Majesty cruise they were offering nor could we do an empress cruise at a later date. We did purchase insurance for our airline tickets and we just got a letter stating that our refund was denied.

 

 

Did you get the letter from the airline or the insurance company? We purchased non refundable air and the airline won't refund our money on the cancelled tix, but I've filed a claim with insurance company. Still waiting to hear from them.

[kbset]

Did you get the letter from the airline or the insurance company? We purchased non refundable air and the airline won't refund our money on the cancelled tix, but I've filed a claim with insurance company. Still waiting to hear from them.

 

We sent everything over to the insurance company and they are the ones who denied giving us a refund.

 

And we did purchase the insurance for our airline tickets.

Edited March 31, 2016 by kbset

[Clarkk W Griswald]

We sent everything over to the insurance company and they are the ones who denied giving us a refund.

 

And we did purchase the insurance for our airline tickets.

 

uhoh, sorry to hear that!

we purchased the cancel any reason policy...it that what you had? what insurance company did you use?

I'm going to be very upset if our claim is denied and we lose $500!

[kbset]

uhoh, sorry to hear that!

we purchased the cancel any reason policy...it that what you had? what insurance company did you use?

I'm going to be very upset if our claim is denied and we lose $500!

 

We purchased whatever insurance Delta offered/has. The insurance company is Allianz.

 

What airline were you going with?

Edited March 31, 2016 by kbset

[Clarkk W Griswald]

We purchased whatever insurance Delta offered/has. The insurance company is Allianz.

 

What airline were you going with?

 

It was American Airlines. We bought the insurance thru our travel agent that covered the cost of cruise, air and pre-cruise hotel.

Ours was thru Allianz also. I filed the claim last week as soon as i cancelled the air and had those documents. They said it could take up to 10 business days to review.

 

Did they give you a reasons to why the denied your claim?

What is the point of purchasing travel insurance if they won't cover things like this?

[djandnic]

We purchased whatever insurance Delta offered/has. The insurance company is Allianz.

 

What airline were you going with?

 

It makes a difference what level of travel insurance you buy. Most only cover for a medical or life type event. If you purchase the 'cancel for any reason' which cost a little more, reasons outside of the 'normally covered' reason are covered at 80% refund.

 

So it would be helpful to know if you had the 'normal' travel insurance or the 'cancel for any reason' trip insurance.

[kbset]

It was American Airlines. We bought the insurance thru our travel agent that covered the cost of cruise, air and pre-cruise hotel.

Ours was thru Allianz also. I filed the claim last week as soon as i cancelled the air and had those documents. They said it could take up to 10 business days to review.

 

Did they give you a reasons to why the denied your claim?

What is the point of purchasing travel insurance if they won't cover things like this?

 

They just said it wasn't covered 😣

 

But since our daughter had major surgery today (we rescheduled since the cruise was canceled) her doctor is writing us a medical note so hopefully that will do it.