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Refund Roll Call


JPH814
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46 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

In other words, we the customers, stand at the end of the line because other creditors would not put up with the cr**p we  have to. Not a good place to be.

If that is where SB believes the customer belongs then it's time for me to patronize someone else (see my 3 other lines' responses above).

Not what I said at all.  Nor what I believe is happening.  I said balance.  You will be seeing a lot of businesses balancing the same issues over the next year in every industry.

I think we will just agree to disagree on this.  

 

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52 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Would agree with you except all three large companies in the US have stated they have enough money for a year or more without any new money coming in so the money is there and the same money for refunds will be there in 60 or 90 or how long it takes to pay. 
 

and don’t forget they are not sending out FCCs either and sending those out will allow people to book and send more money as well so IMHO not a good way to stay in business not to mention those of us who would book and help keep the lights on but won’t snd May never again because of the precedence being set. 

I am not sure what "sending out future cruise credits" means.  Are you saying that people who have the promise of a FCC are not able to book a cruise until they are sent some kind of a communication?  So let's say I had a $3000 FCC coming and I called seabourn to book a cruise using the FCC, they would not accept the booking?  

As for never booking again, you will either want to cruise again or not. And from the sounds of things, all of the other cruise lines have had similar complaints.  So pick your poison, or give up cruising.

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8 minutes ago, JPH814 said:

I am not sure what "sending out future cruise credits" means.  Are you saying that people who have the promise of a FCC are not able to book a cruise until they are sent some kind of a communication?  So let's say I had a $3000 FCC coming and I called seabourn to book a cruise using the FCC, they would not accept the booking?  

Not a matter of Seabourn or any other cruise line accepting the booking, it is a matter of so many promises have been not kept, why would anyone trust Seabourn with more money  that at this point would probably take six months if at all to refund

8 minutes ago, JPH814 said:

As for never booking again, you will either want to cruise again or not. And from the sounds of things, all of the other cruise lines have had similar complaints.  So pick your poison, or give up cruising.

You are absolutely correct about many of the other cruise lines acting in similar ways.  There are a very few that have reacted properly that we would consider.  There are others who were previously removed from consideration as they acted in this manner before the pandemic.'

 

Really thought Seabourn was different and this would have been our third very long cruise and we had plans fo rmore but, don't need this grief from them again.  Really had great communications from Seabourn for the past 5 years that we have been dealing with them but, it seemed to change overnight with the virus.   And, now with nobody on the top effective tomorrow and without any press release not sure Seabounr will be around much longer. 

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31 minutes ago, rallydave said:

 And, now with nobody on the top effective tomorrow and without any press release not sure Seabounr will be around much longer. 

Which is exactly why a credit card chargeback is the best course of action.

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Beware-  this is an example of someone with too much time on their hands and no sports to watch on TV 

 

I admit, I am a data geek (as you might have noticed.)  I like looking at data and trying to see trends or patterns.  Here is a pattern in our data that I find interesting: (again, beware of small sample size)

 

Of the 14 people who have gotten cruise refunds, these 14 are distributed among  8 departure dates.  I may be wrong, but I assume this also means that they all come from 8 specific sailings.  Five of these dates represent 8 bookings - and all 8 bookings on our list of these dates have been refunded.  One had 5 bookings and 4 of the 5 were refunded.  The other 2 were one refund out of 3  bookings.  So for these 8 sailing dates, 14 out of 18 people were refunded.  (And this assumes that the 4 who I do not have as receiving refunds truly have not received refunds - they might not have reported back. )

 

When you look at the 8 dates involved, they include 4 dates in march ( 8 refunds), 2  in april (3 refunds), 1 in may (2 refunds) and 1 in July (1 refund) .  Between the earliest refunded cruise (march 11 ) and the latest (July 18).  There were 22 dates with 39 bookings - none have been returned.

 

My observation /hypothesis/question:  Is Seabourn working cruise by cruise - completely finishing the refunds for one cruise - before moving on to the next one? And is the order of which cruise they are working on  not necessarily chronological?

Edited by JPH814
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36 minutes ago, rallydave said:

   And, now with nobody on the top effective tomorrow and without any press release not sure Seabounr will be around much longer. 

Ceo's come and go all the time.  This guy was with Seabourn for 35 years - 9 as CEO. I doubt they were caught without a succession plan in place.  

7 minutes ago, notjaded said:

Which is exactly why a credit card chargeback is the best course of action.

Smart move....without a CEO in place I am sure Seabourn will stop processing the refunds come monday morning.

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1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

nor have the others been significantly faster in completing refunds, either. 

2 Viking deposits refunded in 3 days, 2 Oceania deposits refunded in 42 days, 1 American cruise line deposit refunded in 30 days How is that not better?

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1 hour ago, JPH814 said:

So let's say I had a $3000 FCC coming and I called seabourn to book a cruise using the FCC, they would not accept the booking? 

AFAIK FCC cannot be used as a deposit for a future cruise - thus additional funds must be paid out to book a new cruise (and we're not talking $500) 😀

The FCC can then be used towards the balance due.

Is that not correct?

PS This is the note I got when I cancelled my cruise (underlying mine):

For Guests Who Choose to Cancel:


Future Cruise Credit (FCC) Terms & Conditions

The value of this credit may be applied to the cruise fare only of a new reservation with Seabourn, and is combinable with any other applicable discount. The credit is valid for a cruise departing within one year from the date of this letter. You may choose any available suite category, but the credit may not be transferred, refunded, or used as a deposit, nor may it be used for taxes, onboard expenses, or optional programs or services such as flights, shore excursions, pre- and post-cruise packages, or the SeabournShield® program. This credit is attached to your Club number and will automatically be credited toward your cruise fare. We do suggest that you or your travel professional verify this credit with our Reservations agent at time of booking to confirm that the credit has been applied.

Edited by Paulchili
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4 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

AFAIK FCC cannot be used as a deposit for a future cruise - thus additional funds must be paid out to book a new cruise.

The FCC can then be used towards the balance due.

Is that not correct?

That is correct. But I don't think a "FCC coming" can be used for anything. The credit has to have been applied to your Seabourn account, presumably by the same person who processes the cash refund. Because Seabourn's online system for club members is so prehistoric, it is not possible for the member to see the FCDs and FCCs on their account, that is limited to TAs and Seabourn Cruise Counsellors. I have asked my PCC (I am a direct booker) to let me know what FCDs have reappeared and what FCCs have appeared on my account as a result of the cash refunds, if any. I will report back.

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32 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

2 Viking deposits refunded in 3 days, 2 Oceania deposits refunded in 42 days, 1 American cruise line deposit refunded in 30 days How is that not better?

 

Yup, that's indeed better! ;) Viking, in particular, has seemed to have done better than the other cruise lines,  from reading post son the Viking forum -- although most people didn't get their refunds as quickly as 2 days! (Between 30 and 60 seemed the norm from my informal perusal of posts.) I'd note that Viking, with 80+ ships (mostly in their river cruise division) is actually a much bigger operation than Seabourn, and I'd assume has a larger staff who can be processing refunds. And their operations center is in Switzerland, so they may be much less adversely impacted than Seabourn's staff in Seattle.

That all said, I'm not able to rank how well/poorly Seabourn is doing relative to dozens of other cruise lines; I was only noting that there are very similar complaints about delays upon delays in the forums of other cruise lines, particularly Silversea and Regent (where there's an almost identical 14-page thread tracking who does and doesn't have refunds -- and very few people do).

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45 minutes ago, sunburned tongue said:

That is correct. But I don't think a "FCC coming" can be used for anything. The credit has to have been applied to your Seabourn account, presumably by the same person who processes the cash refund. Because Seabourn's online system for club members is so prehistoric, it is not possible for the member to see the FCDs and FCCs on their account, that is limited to TAs and Seabourn Cruise Counsellors. I have asked my PCC (I am a direct booker) to let me know what FCDs have reappeared and what FCCs have appeared on my account as a result of the cash refunds, if any. I will report back.

 

This is true!

 

We had our Refund 3 weeks ago and our FCC for Hotel reimbursement 4 weeks ago. BUT, we still have not got the £ 4,500 FCCs from the cruise showing on the Account and Seabourn will not let us book until we have it!. We have had a Suite on Reserve for three weeks so far. Hopefully it will come through soon.

 

Our TA have been chasing SB regularly, without success.

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Dear JPH814 -

     I also love data and am fascinated by what you have created with this spread sheet.  I have twice suggested to people on Facebook on the various Seabourn pages that they should add their information to this “work of art”.  
    What are your thoughts to the possibility that Seabourn is also looking into the level of loyalty and prioritizing those with the highest level of loyalty above those with lesser levels?  The airline certainly uses this system when issuing   upgrades.  Just a thought.  I’m sure others will weigh in as I’ve learned this is not a shy crowd.

     Also, let me add another cruise of mine that was cancelled.  Nov 7, 2020.  Cancelled on May 6, 2020.  We are waiting for our refund in FCC plus 25%.   

    Today is Day 75 that we are waiting for our first cruise cancellation refund.....

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2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

AFAIK FCC cannot be used as a deposit for a future cruise - thus additional funds must be paid out to book a new cruise (and we're not talking $500) 😀

The FCC can then be used towards the balance due.

Is that not correct?

Yes.  In my case, when my cruise refund was (finally) processed, SB also applied the promised 25% FCC to my SB Club account - and yes, the FCC cannot be used as a deposit to a future cruise.

 

However, I never got any paper or email confirmation of the applied 25% FCC, so I called SB, and a couple of days later I received an email confirmation with the ID# of the FCC.

 

On a separate but related matter, as I have stated previously, my cruise refund excluded the two FCDs (USD500 x 2) that my spouse and I had applied towards the cruise deposit.  SB told me that FCD refunds are processed separately and after the cruise refunds have been processed, and that FCDs cannot be reinstated for future use because they had already been applied to the cancelled cruise.

 

In my case, there is an additional complication:  the 2 FCDs in question were charged to a different credit card account that has long been cancelled and has in fact now been purged by Chase, the credit card issuer, and there is a question whether SB will be able to credit back to that account or may have to cut a paper check (or refund to a different credit card account).  In any case, according to Chase, there may be substantial delays involved with this irregular processing.  I raised this issue in an email to SB, in a firm but polite manner, and the next day I received a phone call by a club concierge, who spent over half an hour chatting with me and reassuring me that she will take ownership of this matter and keep me informed.  We actually had a very good conversation.

 

 

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22 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

On a separate but related matter, as I have stated previously, my cruise refund excluded the two FCDs (USD500 x 2) that my spouse and I had applied towards the cruise deposit.  SB told me that FCD refunds are processed separately and after the cruise refunds have been processed, and that FCDs cannot be reinstated for future use because they had already been applied to the cancelled cruise.

 

Was it your preference to have the FCDs refunded and not reinstated for future use?  Or was that your only option? 

 

Pre-covid, we cancelled a SB cruise on which we had used two FCDs as part of our deposit.  We cancelled well before any penalties were in effect.  The FCDs were returned to our account for future use, with the expiry still being 4 years from the date of our original purchase.  We subsequently used both FCDs on another cruise.

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1 minute ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

Was it your preference to have the FCDs refunded and not reinstated for future use?  Or was that your only option? 

 

I specifically asked SB about that and was told FCDs can only be refunded and not reinstated.

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24 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

 

I specifically asked SB about that and was told FCDs can only be refunded and not reinstated.

 

Thanks sfvoyage.  We had FCDs returned to our account when we cancelled a cruise under deposit only, so I wonder if FCDs are treated differently when a cancelled cruise is paid in full? 

 

We'll face a similar situation with a Feb/Mar 2021 cruise under deposit to which we've applied FCDs.  The prospects for that cruise aren't promising and we'll likely cancel before any penalties.  I really hope our FCDs can be reinstated.

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10 minutes ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

Thanks sfvoyage.  We had FCDs returned to our account when we cancelled a cruise under deposit only, so I wonder if FCDs are treated differently when a cancelled cruise is paid in full? 

 

We'll face a similar situation with a Feb/Mar 2021 cruise under deposit to which we've applied FCDs.  The prospects for that cruise aren't promising and we'll likely cancel before any penalties.  I really hope our FCDs can be reinstated.

 

I had also thought we could choose for either a refund or a reinstatement.  In my case, I'd have preferred a refund anyway, since I already have 3 other unused FCDs. 

 

I guess you don't have an extra one, and so you are counting for a reinstatement to use against your next booking.  Is that right?  If so, please ask your cruise agent or Seabourn.  A cruise agent (who used to work for SB) told me that in this particular case. i.e. you had a cancelled cruise and thus a refunded FCD but no other FCD on record, SB will still give you the 5% FCD discount when you book your next cruise.  They should note that on your account automatically.  (If you already have another FCD on record, they will not do this, as you can apply that FCD towards your next booking.)

 

Another point to note:  in my case, SB cancelled my cruise.  Not sure if that makes a difference in their policy, i.e. if you cancel the cruise before SB does.

Edited by sfvoyage
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13 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

I guess you don't have an extra one, and so you are counting for a reinstatement to use against your next booking.  Is that right?  If so, please ask your cruise agent or Seabourn.  A cruise agent (who used to work for SB) told me that in this particular case. i.e. you had a cancelled cruise and thus a refunded FCD but no other FCD on record, SB will still give you the 5% FCD discount when you book your next cruise.  They should note that on your account automatically. 

 

We had another set of FCDs on file that we refunded recently.  So our only FCDs are currently applied against our upcoming Feb/Mar 2021 cruise, which we'll likely cancel.  If so, it seems we'll fall into the category described by your contact and SB will give us the FCD discount when we rebook.  I'll certainly probe further if/when we cancel.  Thanks for the info.

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3 minutes ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

We had another set of FCDs on file that we refunded recently.  So our only FCDs are currently applied against our upcoming Feb/Mar 2021 cruise, which we'll likely cancel.  If so, it seems we'll fall into the category described by your contact and SB will give us the FCD discount when we rebook.  I'll certainly probe further if/when we cancel.  Thanks for the info.

 

Hopefully the 5% discount will be offered to you even though you will be cancelling; not sure if the information I got from my cruise agent friend would be valid for guests cancelling vs. SB cancelling.   In any case, good luck and hope you'll get the discount anyway!

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9 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

 

I specifically asked SB about that and was told FCDs can only be refunded and not reinstated.

 

I was told completely the opposite by SB UK last week.  They explained to me that the FCD I used for this cancelled cruise can be reused for another cruise when I book.  But that I have to make sure I tell the TA that the FCD is there to be used.

We have another FCD we took out on a cruise in December, so we have two to use

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9 hours ago, MMastell said:

I received the refund for my Antarctic cruise on 5/28. It was three weeks to the day I cancelled my cruise.

Can you provide some information that might help the rest of us: Did you get the refund directly from Seabourn or from your credit card? What is your status level with SB?  Do you have any theory to explain why you got your refund so quickly? Thanks!

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10 hours ago, MMastell said:

I received the refund for my Antarctic cruise on 5/28. It was three weeks to the day I cancelled my cruise.

Amazing....we canceled our Antarctic cruise scheduled for 12/20/2020 on March 22. We had only put down the initial deposit. It has now been 71 days of silence from Seabourn. Doesn’t seem to be much logic in how they are approaching refunds. Status apparently does not buy you anything.

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