Refund timing?

[dfish]

6 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Refunds are coming, if people would stop calling Holland every few days asking for there refunds.they might be able to do it faster.

The amount of calls Holland is getting every day is crazy.

When I was on the phone with a reservation staff member last week she was able to get into the system and find my refund and FCC.  She told me if I hadn't received the refund in a couple of weeks to be sure to call.   

[friedaliene]

A competitor cruise-line has posted a chart of exact dates that claims will be processed. Holland can't be that scattered brained that they don't have a chart for processing claims by cruise departure date.  Maybe they would have fewer calls if they kept us apprised of their time-line for processing and thereby avoid an influx of calls. Just a thought Holland.

 

• 6 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

  Refunds are coming, if people would stop calling Holland every few days asking for there refunds.they might be able to do it faster.

  The amount of calls Holland is getting every day is crazy.

   

  3 hours ago, VacationCharlene said:

  I totally agree with you BUT this is where HAL could of saved themselves a lot of time, money, etc by being more forthcoming and keeping people apprised with emails etc.  Not until recently have they started adding more information that has been very helpful.  FYI I never called JUST to ask about my refund.......only at a time where I was booking another cruise and had someone on the phone!  Can't wait for things to get back to "normal".  Safe travels all!

   

[JerriBonner]

Just an update.  My husband and I got refunds of the taxes we had paid for our March 18 cruise that we requested a refund on.  I am grateful and aware that we are at least in the chain.  Let's see where HAL goes with this. Just happy not to be totally forgotten. It is so true how better communication with your public and your customers can circumvent a lot of anger.

[fabuloso]

23 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

Yep... the line is VERY long. We were scheduled to sail March 14th, and HAL cancelled the cruise March 13th. Our refund posted to our credit card on May 21st... took awhile.

 

I'm still waiting on my refund for the same cruise.

 

What irritates me is the emails from HAL trying to entice me with a cruise that has free perks.  That and people who had scheduled cruises long after mine have received their refunds.  Add in that I didn't cancel, but the cruise line did.

 

I know.  I'm "preaching to the choir".  It just felt good to vent momentarily. 

 

[pammyfromca]

Question from a newbie. I just canceled my Sept 2020 Alaskan cruise today . I saw it was the last day to cancel to receive my money back. My TA never got back with me so I took it upon myself to cancel. I did not receive an email confirmation. Is that normal? Ill wait for the money, but I just want to make sure they received my request. Thank you 

[doctork]

We were booked on a charter cruise scheduled March 18 - 25 and HAL hasn't refunded any payment to the chartering entities yet (it cost  between $1.5 million  and $2 million to rent the Veendam for a week), though apparently under legal pressure, HAL agreed they would refund $1.5 million.  The chartering entities say that the payment to HAL was less than half the actual cruise cost and much of the rest of the money has been already been spent on non-refundable costs.  If HAL ever pays the charterers (it is looking somewhat dubious, isn't it?), we may receive a partial refund.

 

This is a mess.  Everybody (including many travel insurers) says they are not required to repay a penny since the cause was "force majeure."  Maybe they will do us beggers a favor and give us a portion of our money back.

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, pammyfromca said:

Question from a newbie. I just canceled my Sept 2020 Alaskan cruise today . I saw it was the last day to cancel to receive my money back. My TA never got back with me so I took it upon myself to cancel. I did not receive an email confirmation. Is that normal? Ill wait for the money, but I just want to make sure they received my request. Thank you 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

HAL announced awhile back that all Alaska cruises are cancelled for this year, your TA should have let you know.  In any case, you're in line to get your refund, your cruise has been cancelled.  (maybe consider getting a different TA!)  🙂  

[k0jdd]

HAL issued our refund for our cancelled March 19 cruise, and some extras we had prepaid for, on May 29, 2020. 

AMEX has posted the credit to my account as of this this morning.

 

That makes it about 75 days ( +/- ) since we got notice that the cruise was cancelled.

I hope others see their refund activity in about the same amount of time.

 

Stay safe out there......

[Sallyandtex]

9 hours ago, k0jdd said:

HAL issued our refund for our cancelled March 19 cruise, and some extras we had prepaid for, on May 29, 2020. 

AMEX has posted the credit to my account as of this this morning.

 

That makes it about 75 days ( +/- ) since we got notice that the cruise was cancelled.

I hope others see their refund activity in about the same amount of time.

 

Stay safe out there......

 

Good to hear!

 

We cancelled March 16, and our borders closed soon after. Cruise was June 7.

No refund yet! I have been told I will lose deposit in any case, as I cancelled and not HAL.

 

I think this is pretty MEAN,  my relatives had similar thing with Princess but got refund PLUS an extra FCC for same, pretty generous I thought.

 

Won't be going with HAL now, ever, even though I like their cruises. They lost me as they really don't give 2 hoots about keeping customers happy.

 

 

[Sallyandtex]

14 hours ago, dfish said:

When I was on the phone with a reservation staff member last week she was able to get into the system and find my refund and FCC.  She told me if I hadn't received the refund in a couple of weeks to be sure to call.   

Hi Debbie,

Good luck! Keep us posted!

So sad, we were suppose to be meeting next week!

Take care

[richwmn]

23 minutes ago, Sallyandtex said:

 

Good to hear!

 

We cancelled March 16, and our borders closed soon after. Cruise was June 7.

No refund yet! I have been told I will lose deposit in any case, as I cancelled and not HAL.

 

I think this is pretty MEAN,  my relatives had similar thing with Princess but got refund PLUS an extra FCC for same, pretty generous I thought.

 

Won't be going with HAL now, ever, even though I like their cruises. They lost me as they really don't give 2 hoots about keeping customers happy.

 

 

I cancelled as well for one of my cruises and was originally told I would lose my deposit under the normal terms. Later I received an email that I would received the deposit back, I believe as a future cruise credit.

 

[bvocruise]

We cancelled a cruise tour on 3/14 and haven't received a refund as of this morning.  I'll wait until 6/11 which is the date the tour was to start before contacting the credit card company.  We paid in full several months ago and used one card for the deposit and the other one for the balance.  Hopefully things process at some point.  Not to be negative, but it is comforting knowing we are not the only ones still waiting for a refund.

[CJcruzer]

Update to my wait for refund -

 

I am awaiting  refund for a cruise I cancelled on April 22 - received the future cruise deposits back, shore excursions, etc....

 

Went to HAL chat, and was advised it was put through on March 27, and the agent also quoted the last four digits of the credit card number in the conversation.  Hopefully it will show up in the next few days.... 

 

Advantage : I took a screenshot of the chat session.  All other telephone inquiries in the past have netted vague  and canned responses (I have had 3 cancelled cruises, one of which was a Japan cruise in April - dealt with quickly as it was the beginning of cancellations).

 

So it seems they are progressing - although my cancellation did not involve any future cruise credits to be figured and banked, etc.   It was a straightforward transaction and I cancelled of my own accord.

 

Carol

[daisy-mae]

57 minutes ago, CJcruzer said:

Update to my wait for refund -

 

I am awaiting  refund for a cruise I cancelled on April 22 - received the future cruise deposits back, shore excursions, etc....

 

Went to HAL chat, and was advised it was put through on March 27, and the agent also quoted the last four digits of the credit card number in the conversation.  Hopefully it will show up in the next few days.... 

 

 

Carol

 

Carol, thanks for the tip.

 

I tried to call this morning but had no luck, so I thought I would try a chat. The wait time was minimal and the agent confirmed that I would be getting a refund. Because HAL did not return any acknowledgement of our request, I was concerned that we would be given the default option (FCC). Although it was not possible to ascertain exactly how much longer we would have to wait, I at least have the assurance that a refund is in the works.

[doctork]

Update on our HAL charter:

 

Our charter cruise scheduled for March 18 - 25 was cancelled on March 11 by the chartering entity, 2 days before HAL actually cancelled all sailings.  If we receive our promised 70% refund next week, it will have been approximately 90 days from cancellation to repayment. 

 

I received an email today stating that "the check is in the mail" from HAL and the charterer expects to receive it on June 4.  We can expect our refund checks mailed the week of June 8; we should receive approximately 70% of what we paid.

 

Most if not all of us would have paid by credit card, so I don't understand the use of paper checks rather than credit card refund, but if they actually refund us some of our payment I won't complain, I will deposit the check.  Quickly.

[CJcruzer]

8 hours ago, CJcruzer said:

Update to my wait for refund -

 

I am awaiting  refund for a cruise I cancelled on April 22 - received the future cruise deposits back, shore excursions, etc....

 

Went to HAL chat, and was advised it was put through on March 27, and the agent also quoted the last four digits of the credit card number in the conversation.  Hopefully it will show up in the next few days.... 

 

Advantage : I took a screenshot of the chat session.  All other telephone inquiries in the past have netted vague  and canned responses (I have had 3 cancelled cruises, one of which was a Japan cruise in April - dealt with quickly as it was the beginning of cancellations).

 

So it seems they are progressing - although my cancellation did not involve any future cruise credits to be figured and banked, etc.   It was a straightforward transaction and I cancelled of my own accord.

 

Carol

 

I meant to type that my refund was processed on MAY 27, according to the chat agent.

 

Obviously could not be March, as I only cancelled in April lol

 

Can I blame the mistype on iPad? 🤪

 

Carol

[KroozNut]

3 hours ago, CJcruzer said:

 

Can I blame the mistype on iPad? 🤪

 

No, you must take ownership of your screw-ups... Lol! 😆

[CJcruzer]

Update : today June 2, I received the deposit refund posted to my credit card with transaction date of May 28.

 

The HAL chat agent said it had been processed at their end May 27.

 

So, not a canned response, the agent did indeed look up the booking and report on actual status.

 

Carol

[Searanger]

Finally my dispute I filed with my credit card company in mid April was credited back today from a March 18th cruise cancelled by HAL.  I'm sure it is a nightmare at HAL trying to figure out cash refunds, FCC and then these credit card disputes.  Note to HAL...jerking around your customers has consequences.  Not only has your failure to communicate with your customers caused what I assume is a big accounting headache, you have also lost my loyalty and trust.  

[dogcanyon]

2 hours ago, Searanger said:

Note to HAL...jerking around your customers has consequences.  Not only has your failure to communicate with your customers caused what I assume is a big accounting headache, you have also lost my loyalty and trust.  

I agree 100%. Three Star Mariner here and up until this fiasco I had a very good impression of HAL. They cancelled my April 19 cruise on March 30 and the following day I requested a refund on the web site they provided. Their email stated that it might take up to 60 days to process refunds, but it has now been 63 days and still no refund. I have tried reaching out to them by emailing my personal cruise consultant, using the chat feature on HollandAmerica.com and by calling. In every case all I get is a vague, canned "copy and paste" response to be patient and absolutely no info as to when to expect my refund.  

Edited June 2, 2020 by dogcanyon
spelling

[Dormey]

I HIGHLY recommend dispute the cruise charges with your cc co. It is painful to do and takes time while they investigae.But our (4) cruise charges plus interest were set aside and we were given conditional credit until final investigation is over. 

[Gigi2170]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:31 AM, bvocruise said:

We cancelled a cruise tour on 3/14 and haven't received a refund as of this morning.  I'll wait until 6/11 which is the date the tour was to start before contacting the credit card company.  We paid in full several months ago and used one card for the deposit and the other one for the balance.  Hopefully things process at some point.  Not to be negative, but it is comforting knowing we are not the only ones still waiting for a refund.

I spoke with a HAL agent this morning and he said the reason our refund had not processed yet (3/21 cruise/3/14 cancellation) was that there were amounts going to 2 different credit cards and those take longer to process.  I can't figure out why that would take longer as HAL can clearly see which $$ go to which credit card, but that's the latest excuse. Talked with our cc today and they said they will absolutely take the dispute even though the initial deposit was paid in July 2019 and the balance in 12/2019. Don't know how long this will all take, but I'm not waiting any longer while HAL does a Ponzi scheme with money I paid them.

[CJcruzer]

33 minutes ago, Gigi2170 said:

I spoke with a HAL agent this morning and he said the reason our refund had not processed yet (3/21 cruise/3/14 cancellation) was that there were amounts going to 2 different credit cards and those take longer to process.  I can't figure out why that would take longer as HAL can clearly see which $$ go to which credit card, but that's the latest excuse. Talked with our cc today and they said they will absolutely take the dispute even though the initial deposit was paid in July 2019 and the balance in 12/2019. Don't know how long this will all take, but I'm not waiting any longer while HAL does a Ponzi scheme with money I paid them.

 

That is a pretty poor excuse HAL is giving you.   I don’t blame you for initiating a dispute, and what you were told lends even more credence to your dispute and not waiting any longer.

 

Carol

Edited June 2, 2020 by CJcruzer

[CMDE]

I got my refund to my credit card tonight.

 

I had cancelled our cruise on March 12, our cruise was a 25 day leaving on April 16. I had the cancellation insurance through Holland America, and my refund was what I would have received under normal circumstances, plus an additional FCC (not huge). I am happy to see the refund. I hadn’t made any pre-boarding purchases.

 

i hope I get to use the FCC next year!

[croozen]

Our March 18th cruise was cancelled by HAL on March 13th. Our refund went through on credit card, posted May 29th and showed up this morning. The refund included both initial cost of cruise, and a separate upgrade cost that had just gone through on card in late February. (Neptune Suite , weep weep)

 

The week of March 18th I had filled in online form option for refund, and contacted big box travel agent. Heard absolutely nothing and no paper trail until canned email asking for patience a couple of weeks ago. I had no luck contacting HAL by phone last week, but did fill out email to customer relations detailing amounts and reservation numbers. All I got was an auto email response.

 

We are still awaiting refund of deposit for June cruise, but the March amount was the big ticket item. Relieved!