Cancelled Cruises Refund Tracker/Discussion (merged topics)

[10261953]

I got a refund with Celebrity cruises with Delta

[aldukenew]

12 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

Well, it looks like my August cruise is cancelled, but I'm curious to know about airfare booked through Celebrity.  I paid in full when I booked it.  Who should I contact about a refund/credit?  Airline or Celebrity? 

K.T.B., I booked my airfare on the Celebrity website but didn't pay for it until final payment - our travel agent handled the payment, along with the cruise payment. It was a refundable fare. I would call Celebrity first, but if the fare was non-refundable, you may have to contact the airline. The has been addressed on multiple forums, so others may have more info based on their experiences.

[NinaBlue22]

13 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

Well, it looks like my August cruise is cancelled, but I'm curious to know about airfare booked through Celebrity.  I paid in full when I booked it.  Who should I contact about a refund/credit?  Airline or Celebrity? 

Celebrity. We did the same, and our airfare was refunded through Celebrity.  I did have to also contact Lufthansa, because I had also paid for some seat assignments directly to them, but the airfare was paid to Celebrity Air and the refund came from them 

[K.T.B.]

4 hours ago, aldukenew said:

K.T.B., I booked my airfare on the Celebrity website but didn't pay for it until final payment - our travel agent handled the payment, along with the cruise payment. It was a refundable fare. I would call Celebrity first, but if the fare was non-refundable, you may have to contact the airline. The has been addressed on multiple forums, so others may have more info based on their experiences.

 

Apparently I was wrong, there's a $200 pp cancellation fee if I cancel.  Regardless, everything I've paid for will be future credit.  Whether it's entirely with Celebrity or split between them and United.  Oddly enough, this works out very well for me because I have an October 2021 cruise booked.  Less money for me to spend now overall.  ☺️

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Well, Celebrity still owes me over $1,000 for my cancelled April & May cruises.  Grrrrrrr.  They tried to lump in the $900 refund for the deposits on my August cruises as part of the refund on the April & May cruises.  Their accounting department needs to be sent to a re-education camp!  Thankfully the August cruises were booked with a different TA, who promptly confirmed with Celebrity that the first 4 refunds I received in April were those deposit refunds.  Since they neatly added up to $900, I was pretty sure that was the case.  I've sent an e-mail to Celebrity One Touch, will see what sort of response I get now.

[librarylady19]

20 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

Well, it looks like my August cruise is cancelled, but I'm curious to know about airfare booked through Celebrity.  I paid in full when I booked it.  Who should I contact about a refund/credit?  Airline or Celebrity? 

Hope you had a refundable airfare. I had a noN-refundable fare and eventually had to file a dispute with Amex. Celebrity Air cancelled my air reservation but wouldn’t take any responsibility for the Refund. Told me to contact Norwegian Air who sent me back to Celebrity again.  X only wanted to issue a voucher, good through 1/21 (this is on an airline that isn’t even flying right now!) Finally got them to agree to request a refund from Norwegian bit they claimed they never got a response so I had to go the Amex dispute route. Hopefully X won’t fight that. Will never book air with them again. 

[NinaBlue22]

4 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

Hope you had a refundable airfare. I had a noN-refundable fare and eventually had to file a dispute with Amex. Celebrity Air cancelled my air reservation but wouldn’t take any responsibility for the Refund. Told me to contact Norwegian Air who sent me back to Celebrity again.  X only wanted to issue a voucher, good through 1/21 (this is on an airline that isn’t even flying right now!) Finally got them to agree to request a refund from Norwegian bit they claimed they never got a response so I had to go the Amex dispute route. Hopefully X won’t fight that. Will never book air with them again. 

We had non refundable airfare, but had no issues with getting the refund from Celebrity Air. This was for a flight that was cancelled by Lufthansa, so even with non refundable tickets, they had to fully refund us

[hcat]

14 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Well, Celebrity still owes me over $1,000 for my cancelled April & May cruises.  Grrrrrrr.  They tried to lump in the $900 refund for the deposits on my August cruises as part of the refund on the April & May cruises.  Their accounting department needs to be sent to a re-education camp!  Thankfully the August cruises were booked with a different TA, who promptly confirmed with Celebrity that the first 4 refunds I received in April were those deposit refunds.  Since they neatly added up to $900, I was pretty sure that was the case.  I've sent an e-mail to Celebrity One Touch, will see what sort of response I get now.

They are  certainly in a state of disorganization. I think it is because of the way they apportion the fares internally ( just a guess)

 

We did our cancellations one at a time...after cancelling our excursions and specialty dining on our own, online ( those were cifrect and came back quickly).  They still had it very confused. Most businesses assign a number to a refund so it can be tracked..apparently not X.

 

All refunds are done now but we are waiting for charge backs on the BOA  card for the temp credits we were issued and of course all the BOA points we have to give back!

 

Using a diff card for the new booking deposit,

Good luck!

[boblin]

On 6/19/2020 at 8:40 PM, K.T.B. said:

 

Well, it looks like my August cruise is cancelled, but I'm curious to know about airfare booked through Celebrity.  I paid in full when I booked it.  Who should I contact about a refund/credit?  Airline or Celebrity? 

 

Well, I had a surprisingly positive outcome to my Air Canada flight booked through Celebrity Air. I called to enquire about the status of that flight and somehow they managed to turn what was a non refundable flight into a refundable one and managed to pry a full refund out of AC. Flight was Rome-Toronto and not subject to any European or U.S. gov't mandated refunds, as far as I know. I took the refund with pleasure and didn't ask any more questions.

[twentyknots]

Time is up for Celebrity.  On March 26 my TA requested a refund for the April 12 Reflection cruise that Celebrity cancelled.  My TA was told 30 days was the official time for refund but customer service said it might take 45.   I gave them 90 days to make good on their promise and they failed.  Now, as far as I’m concerned, we won’t consider them for future cruises.

The total cruise cost was $4512.  On May 6, 42 days after cancellation, $3432 was posted to my CC.  A call by my TA to Celebrity asking about the holdup of the remaining $1080 could not be explained but she was assured it would be coming within 30 days in two installments of $540 each.  On June 6, 73 days after cancellation, I received the first $540.  Since it took 30 days to get the first $540 I don’t expect the remainder until early July.  Unfortunately that will be too late.  90 days from the requested refund was June 23.

HAL is our preferred cruise line but we will miss Celebrity.  We have had some very nice cruises on Reflection and Solstice.  I realize 90 days is arbitrary but each of us makes judgements on the level of service we expect.  Most of us have favorite places where we shop.  If service declines or the quality of the goods diminishes, we move on.  Some can live with the decline, others won’t.  In my opinion, 90 days is more than enough time to make a refund, regardless of the circumstances.

[DragonflyCruiser]

I was scheduled to sail in Sept.  Never paid for the entire trip since all was shut down prior to the final payment date.  I had used a Celebrity credit card to pay for tours and the deposit.  All of that has been refunded to my card in the past week.  I didn't opt for the 125%, just repayment.  I'm happy!   The card usually issues a check back to me if funds are unused.  Good luck to all and happy sailing someday!  We are rebooked and can't wait!

[K.T.B.]

I double checked my airfare and I opted for the "refundable with a fee" apparently.  So it's Celebrity who needs to refund.

 

So this is what I'll be expecting, based on the info sent to me by Celebrity:  125% FCC, 125% OBC on my booked excursion (not a lot actually...), and full refund on my airfare.  I'm in no hurry to get it because I know I'll get it eventually.  My next cruise is October of 2021, so plenty of time.  I will, however, follow up with Celebrity to make sure that what I'm expecting is accurate.

[twentyknots]

21 hours ago, twentyknots said:

Time is up for Celebrity.  On March 26 my TA requested a refund for the April 12 Reflection cruise that Celebrity cancelled.  My TA was told 30 days was the official time for refund but customer service said it might take 45.   I gave them 90 days to make good on their promise and they failed.  Now, as far as I’m concerned, we won’t consider them for future cruises.

The total cruise cost was $4512.  On May 6, 42 days after cancellation, $3432 was posted to my CC.  A call by my TA to Celebrity asking about the holdup of the remaining $1080 could not be explained but she was assured it would be coming within 30 days in two installments of $540 each.  On June 6, 73 days after cancellation, I received the first $540.  Since it took 30 days to get the first $540 I don’t expect the remainder until early July.  Unfortunately that will be too late.  90 days from the requested refund was June 23.

HAL is our preferred cruise line but we will miss Celebrity.  We have had some very nice cruises on Reflection and Solstice.  I realize 90 days is arbitrary but each of us makes judgements on the level of service we expect.  Most of us have favorite places where we shop.  If service declines or the quality of the goods diminishes, we move on.  Some can live with the decline, others won’t.  In my opinion, 90 days is more than enough time to make a refund, regardless of the circumstances.

UPDATE: I was shocked  and happy today when I looked at my BofA visa activity online and saw the remaining $540 posted to the account with a posting date of June 23.   Celebrity made it just under the wire and we have received a full refund within the 90 day window and we will contine to consider them for future cruises.  Whew, just in the nick of time.  

[ciera123]

59 minutes ago, twentyknots said:

UPDATE: I was shocked  and happy today when I looked at my BofA visa activity online and saw the remaining $540 posted to the account with a posting date of June 23.   Celebrity made it just under the wire and we have received a full refund within the 90 day window and we will contine to consider them for future cruises.  Whew, just in the nick of time.  

I also got another installment just under the 90 day mark. Unfortunately, they still owe me more than $900.....😕

[BoomerMan47]

I hope this is best thread to post my issue. I originally posted it in a RCC forum and was advised that I should post here instead. Consider it a newbie training opportunity,

 

Can anyone provide any insight and/or opinion into why Royal Caribbean decided to go with the  CLIA-imposed minimum of September 15, while the Carnival and Norwegian of the Big Three cancelled most U.S. sailings through at least September 30?

That decision will significantly impact our group of eight couples financially because we are booked on a Celebrity September 25 departure; so we will not be able to participate in the "Celebrity Cruise With Confidence Program". That program has a "Lift and Shift" option to move our complete deposit to a future cruise with the same pricing and benefits. 

All but one couple are over 70 years old and we are very wary of cruising ANYTIME in 2020. If we cancel ourselves the only option available to us will be to forfeit $100/person of our $450 non-refundable deposit, be given a future cruise credit of the remainder AND have to pay the going rate on a future booking. I estimate that we may have to pay $1,000 more per person to get an equivalent cruise with Celebrity. 

Our final payment is due tomorrow and I don't know what to do. Others in the group are planning to cancel their reservations and take the hit. Is there a better option?

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

13 minutes ago, BoomerMan47 said:

I hope this is best thread to post my issue. I originally posted it in a RCC forum and was advised that I should post here instead. Consider it a newbie training opportunity,

 

Can anyone provide any insight and/or opinion into why Royal Caribbean decided to go with the  CLIA-imposed minimum of September 15, while the Carnival and Norwegian of the Big Three cancelled most U.S. sailings through at least September 30?

That decision will significantly impact our group of eight couples financially because we are booked on a Celebrity September 25 departure; so we will not be able to participate in the "Celebrity Cruise With Confidence Program". That program has a "Lift and Shift" option to move our complete deposit to a future cruise with the same pricing and benefits. 

All but one couple are over 70 years old and we are very wary of cruising ANYTIME in 2020. If we cancel ourselves the only option available to us will be to forfeit $100/person of our $450 non-refundable deposit, be given a future cruise credit of the remainder AND have to pay the going rate on a future booking. I estimate that we may have to pay $1,000 more per person to get an equivalent cruise with Celebrity. 

Our final payment is due tomorrow and I don't know what to do. Others in the group are planning to cancel their reservations and take the hit. Is there a better option?

 

Have you checked with your TA or Celebrity about this?  We cannot tell you what Celebrity will or will not do.  If it were me and Celebrity refused to give me the lift and shift option, I would take the $100 hit.  No way I would give them any more money.  The moral of this story is not to do non-refundable deposits.

 

I was not eligible for lift and shift because I cancelled my August cruises prior to final payment and before they came up with the lift and shift program.  I knew the cruises weren't going to go and I didn't want to give Celebrity any more of my money than they already had after three cancelled cruises in April and May.  I re-booked those cruises for 2021 because it's an itinerary I want to do.  Yes, they were more expensive.  My choice.

[harz99]

23 minutes ago, BoomerMan47 said:

I hope this is best thread to post my issue. I originally posted it in a RCC forum and was advised that I should post here instead. Consider it a newbie training opportunity,

 

Can anyone provide any insight and/or opinion into why Royal Caribbean decided to go with the  CLIA-imposed minimum of September 15, while the Carnival and Norwegian of the Big Three cancelled most U.S. sailings through at least September 30?

That decision will significantly impact our group of eight couples financially because we are booked on a Celebrity September 25 departure; so we will not be able to participate in the "Celebrity Cruise With Confidence Program". That program has a "Lift and Shift" option to move our complete deposit to a future cruise with the same pricing and benefits. 

All but one couple are over 70 years old and we are very wary of cruising ANYTIME in 2020. If we cancel ourselves the only option available to us will be to forfeit $100/person of our $450 non-refundable deposit, be given a future cruise credit of the remainder AND have to pay the going rate on a future booking. I estimate that we may have to pay $1,000 more per person to get an equivalent cruise with Celebrity. 

Our final payment is due tomorrow and I don't know what to do. Others in the group are planning to cancel their reservations and take the hit. Is there a better option?

I'm not sure thats correct? I know there are like for like stipulations for Lift n Shift but afaik you only have to do it at least 48hrs before sail date and by August 1st. Have you checked the up to date position via Celebrity's website?

[BoomerMan47]

harz99, Yes I checked the Celebrity website yesterday when I heard about the decision. I plan to check it again today and also talk to the TA.

[mooveebuff]

Today marks 101 days since Celebrity cancelled my March 15th sailing on the Edge and I have not recieved a refund. I can't get any answers from Celebrity or VTG. When I call or email Celebrity I'm told my booking is locked and that I need to call VTG. When I call or email VTG they tell me Celebrity has all the information they need to process the refund and there's nothing more they can do. I'm seriously concerned that RCI will never return my money. I feel like my only recousre is to try and file a dispute with my card company; I dont want it, but, I will. This experience has caused me to lose faith in a company I once regarded as solid gold. Is there anyone out there that has been waiting this long?

[Water babies]

So I just wanted to share what I learned today about differences in refunds under the "Cruise with Confidence" program and those when Celebrity cancels the sailing. I called on May 19 to cancel our July 6 sailing on the Reflection out of Dublin (our granddaughter is having open heart surgery on June 30th). I was refunded all charges (excursions, beverage/dining packages, port fees and taxes) to my credit card by May 27 and got our 100% FCC via email on June 16.  If I had waited 24 hours, Celebrity cancelled the sailing May 20, and I would have had the option of 125% FCC or 100% refund of the cruise fare AND the vacation protection plan (added up to $1700 for 3 of us) as well as the other refunded charges that are separate from the cruise fare. They would NOT make an exception for the 24 hour time frame. The agent I spoke with (who was working from home, by the way, and very helpful/pleasant--she made sure she had my number in case the call was dropped) did give me the phone number for the insurer (AON 1-800-797-4516) so I could call and ask for credit to be applied for the Vacation Protection Plan on a future sailing; she knew they were not giving refunds, but thought they had given future credits (not Celebrity's call). Interesting that they ARE refunding those whose cruise was cancelled by Celebrity. The agent I had worked with on May 19 gave me the wrong information, but there was no documentation of that in the record on Celebrity's end. So if you get a different answer, make sure you get that person's information. Then we addressed the onboard credit I had on that booking. Today's agent was able to re-apply a promotion for on-board booking to a new reservation number I have for 2021-not as much as I had, but it went from a 11 day sailing in Europe to a 7 day sailing in the Caribbean. Gladly, I had booked our flights with American Airlines directly, who issued full refunds within 2 weeks of cancelling as well. All in all, I can't complain-- though I recommend that  you DO understand the nuances of cancelling under "Cruise with Confidence" vs waiting for Celebrity to cancel. Don't waste your time sending emails to the Celebrity Engagement Center--they were NOT helpful at all and took several days to respond. When I called 844 418 6824 I only had to push one option in a phone tree and the call was  answered within minutes. (number good for US and Canada only). I got the number from the email containing my FCC. Hope this helps. 

[davekathy]

39 minutes ago, mooveebuff said:

Today marks 101 days since Celebrity cancelled my March 15th sailing on the Edge and I have not recieved a refund. I can't get any answers from Celebrity or VTG. When I call or email Celebrity I'm told my booking is locked and that I need to call VTG. When I call or email VTG they tell me Celebrity has all the information they need to process the refund and there's nothing more they can do. I'm seriously concerned that RCI will never return my money. I feel like my only recousre is to try and file a dispute with my card company; I dont want it, but, I will. This experience has caused me to lose faith in a company I once regarded as solid gold. Is there anyone out there that has been waiting this long?

I suggest you call the Captains Club (1-800-760-0654) if you already haven't and explain your detailed timelines and conversations. In my experiences the CC reps. have always been more knowledgeable and helpful then the Celebrity call center.  Sounds like to me the TA you used has no interest in you as a repeat costumer. 

 

FWIW...we received our cash refunds (100%) from our Celebrity canceled March/April B2B cruises within 64 days of submitting the requests and received our other cash refund (100%) for our Celebrity canceled September cruise 30 days (23 June) after submitting the requests. Two of the three were done thru the TA I used, even though she dropped the ball on the B2B refunds. I didn't give her the opportunity to screw up our third Celebrity canceled cruise refund request. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by davekathy

[BoomerMan47]

3 hours ago, Water babies said:

So I just wanted to share what I learned today about differences in refunds under the "Cruise with Confidence" program and those when Celebrity cancels the sailing. I called on May 19 to cancel our July 6 sailing on the Reflection out of Dublin (our granddaughter is having open heart surgery on June 30th). I was refunded all charges (excursions, beverage/dining packages, port fees and taxes) to my credit card by May 27 and got our 100% FCC via email on June 16.  If I had waited 24 hours, Celebrity cancelled the sailing May 20, and I would have had the option of 125% FCC or 100% refund of the cruise fare AND the vacation protection plan (added up to $1700 for 3 of us) as well as the other refunded charges that are separate from the cruise fare. They would NOT make an exception for the 24 hour time frame. The agent I spoke with (who was working from home, by the way, and very helpful/pleasant--she made sure she had my number in case the call was dropped) did give me the phone number for the insurer (AON 1-800-797-4516) so I could call and ask for credit to be applied for the Vacation Protection Plan on a future sailing; she knew they were not giving refunds, but thought they had given future credits (not Celebrity's call). Interesting that they ARE refunding those whose cruise was cancelled by Celebrity. The agent I had worked with on May 19 gave me the wrong information, but there was no documentation of that in the record on Celebrity's end. So if you get a different answer, make sure you get that person's information. Then we addressed the onboard credit I had on that booking. Today's agent was able to re-apply a promotion for on-board booking to a new reservation number I have for 2021-not as much as I had, but it went from a 11 day sailing in Europe to a 7 day sailing in the Caribbean. Gladly, I had booked our flights with American Airlines directly, who issued full refunds within 2 weeks of cancelling as well. All in all, I can't complain-- though I recommend that  you DO understand the nuances of cancelling under "Cruise with Confidence" vs waiting for Celebrity to cancel. Don't waste your time sending emails to the Celebrity Engagement Center--they were NOT helpful at all and took several days to respond. When I called 844 418 6824 I only had to push one option in a phone tree and the call was  answered within minutes. (number good for US and Canada only). I got the number from the email containing my FCC. Hope this helps. 

Thanks for that phone number. However, we booked through a TA and it is my understanding that none of the cruise companies will talk to us customers if we booked that way. The stock answer is: Talk to your TA. Have a nice day. Click.

True?

[hcat]

5 hours ago, Water babies said:

So I just wanted to share what I learned today about differences in refunds under the "Cruise with Confidence" program and those when Celebrity cancels the sailing. I called on May 19 to cancel our July 6 sailing on the Reflection out of Dublin (our granddaughter is having open heart surgery on June 30th). I was refunded all charges (excursions, beverage/dining packages, port fees and taxes) to my credit card by May 27 and got our 100% FCC via email on June 16.  If I had waited 24 hours, Celebrity cancelled the sailing May 20, and I would have had the option of 125% FCC or 100% refund of the cruise fare AND the vacation protection plan (added up to $1700 for 3 of us) as well as the other refunded charges that are separate from the cruise fare. They would NOT make an exception for the 24 hour time frame. The agent I spoke with (who was working from home, by the way, and very helpful/pleasant--she made sure she had my number in case the call was dropped) did give me the phone number for the insurer (AON 1-800-797-4516) so I could call and ask for credit to be applied for the Vacation Protection Plan on a future sailing; she knew they were not giving refunds, but thought they had given future credits (not Celebrity's call). Interesting that they ARE refunding those whose cruise was cancelled by Celebrity. The agent I had worked with on May 19 gave me the wrong information, but there was no documentation of that in the record on Celebrity's end. So if you get a different answer, make sure you get that person's information. Then we addressed the onboard credit I had on that booking. Today's agent was able to re-apply a promotion for on-board booking to a new reservation number I have for 2021-not as much as I had, but it went from a 11 day sailing in Europe to a 7 day sailing in the Caribbean. Gladly, I had booked our flights with American Airlines directly, who issued full refunds within 2 weeks of cancelling as well. All in all, I can't complain-- though I recommend that  you DO understand the nuances of cancelling under "Cruise with Confidence" vs waiting for Celebrity to cancel. Don't waste your time sending emails to the Celebrity Engagement Center--they were NOT helpful at all and took several days to respond. When I called 844 418 6824 I only had to push one option in a phone tree and the call was  answered within minutes. (number good for US and Canada only). I got the number from the email containing my FCC. Hope this helps. 

 

Wouldn't the insurance cover cancellation due to health reason if a family member?

We cancelled  a cruise after final payment when our dtr  needed bc surgery on short notice.  She was an adult but had no one to help care for her or take her to and from hospital. (Insurer first said it was pre existing, yeah as is all cancer til  newly discovered!)

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, BoomerMan47 said:

Thanks for that phone number. However, we booked through a TA and it is my understanding that none of the cruise companies will talk to us customers if we booked that way. The stock answer is: Talk to your TA. Have a nice day. Click.

True?

I agree but with bookings made with the TA that are not canceled but not my experience with Celebrity canceled cruises regarding refunds. I had a similar experience with a useless TA and the CC rep. (1-800-760-0654) got the info I was requesting concerning my requested refunds. I would explain to the CC rep. in detail including how your TA is unwilling to still act as your agent to get answers to your questions concerning the refunds due from Celebrity. 

Edited June 25, 2020 by davekathy

[Margarita Jane]

@moveebuff I am still waiting for refunds for bev pkg, WiFi and shore excursions for 3/15/20 Eclipse which Celebrity cancelled on 3/14/20 while we ready to board in Santiago, Chile. We just received FCC emails from Celebrity today (!) and DH and I received different amounts - mine was about 65% of what it should have been and his was about 40% of what it should have been. So we are at 101 days, too, and about the end of my patience with Celebrity.