Warning: Do not book excursions just because you *MAY* want to go on them to hold the price because you won't see money

[Eli_6]

After 40 minutes on the phone, the second lady submitted a form to their "gift card" team who is supposed to reach out to me via email in 24-48 hours..but said to allow 3 business days.  They said it doesn't show a gift card was ever re-issued so the team is going to have to research the matter and get back with me.  So, basically, another 45 minutes wasted and still nothing is resolved.  Basically, I just spent 45 minutes on the phone so they could fill out a form to send me to yet another department to "research" the issue. Not understanding why this is so darn difficult.  I have the email showing I purchased the excursion. I have the email showing I canceled it.  

 

I am glad for all of you who have "never had this problem" using gift cards and those of you who have been able to eventually after finding just the right person to help you have been able to get these issues resolved or had them resolved after HOURS on the phone, but thus far I have easily invested an hour-and-a-half into this and still no money back. So, now I am out $150 and 1.5 hours of my time.  Not worth it for a ten percent discount.  Never using gift cards on excursions again.  Lesson learned.  And I am also not booking excursions until I am certain I want to go on them. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Eli_6

[ontheweb]

34 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

That's what I am doing right now.

 

I hate talking on the phone is part of it, too.  I much prefer texting.  I have a hard time understanding people on the phone.  And every time I start talking on the phone, my parrot starts screaming in the background because she thinks I am a "bird" in her flock and we are "communicating" and needs to join in. And Macaws are LOUD when they start screaming.  I often have to go outside and sit in the heat to even have a conversation.

You cannot blame Carnival for your macaw being loud. 🤣

[ontheweb]

12 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

After 40 minutes on the phone, the second lady submitted a form to their "gift card" team who is supposed to reach out to me via email in 24-48 hours..but said to allow 3 business days.  They said it doesn't show a gift card was ever re-issued so the team is going to have to research the matter and get back with me.  So, basically, another 45 minutes wasted and still nothing is resolved.  Basically, I just spent 45 minutes on the phone so they could fill out a form to send me to yet another department to "research" the issue. Not understanding why this is so darn difficult.  I have the email showing I purchased the excursion. I have the email showing I canceled it.  

 

I am glad for all of you who have "never had this problem" using gift cards and those of you who have been able to eventually after finding just the right person to help you have been able to get these issues resolved or had them resolved after HOURS on the phone, but thus far I have easily invested an hour-and-a-half into this and still no money back. So, now I am out $150 and 1.5 hours of my time.  Not worth it for a ten percent discount.  Never using gift cards on excursions again.  Lesson learned.  And I am also not booking excursions until I am certain I want to go on them. 

Sometimes learning experiences cost money. But who knows maybe you will eventually get your refund.

[Eli_6]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

You cannot blame Carnival for your macaw being loud. 🤣

No, I am not blaming them for that. I am just explaining why I hate talking on the phone.  

 

[ontheweb]

Just now, Eli_6 said:

No, I am not blaming them for that. I am just explaining why I hate talking on the phone.  

 

Whoa, I was just kidding. I guess I should have added an emoji.

[Eli_6]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Sometimes learning experiences cost money. But who knows maybe you will eventually get your refund.

I guess so.  Even if I do get the refund, this will still be a "learning experience" because I won't be using gift cards again for shore excursions.  It is worth the ten percent saved on the cost of an entire cruise, but not worth it to save $15 on an excursion.

 

[Eli_6]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Whoa, I was just kidding. I guess I should have added an emoji.

Oh, I am not mad.  

 

My husband rags on me all the time for my dislike of talking on the telephone anyway.  

[Eli_6]

The biggest bummer part of this is that an excursion for "Mont St. Michel" showed up recently on the Carnival website and I was wanting to cancel my "Paris on your own" excursion and book it instead...but not doing that anymore since I paid for it ($600 for four of us) with a gift card for Paris. I may try on the ship to see if they can just "transfer" my money over from one excursion to the other. Anyone ever done this before? 

[VentureMan_2000]

A similar thread was started April 3rd...  sounds like Gift Cards can become dicey just to save 10%.
 

 

[stobe1]

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

OH.MY.GOODNESS.  Against my better judgment, I just called them back to try once again to get this sorted out. Called me main number because can't find one for the carnival shore excursions. They told me there is no separate number for the shore excursions department.  They asked me for my booking number. Told me that it was invalid. Then tried to look up under my husband's name. Told me that there was no one in the system with that name. (We are platinum so I think there is.)  Then they looked under my name and found the booking linked through me. Then told me the booking was made and canceled in Sept all on the same day and the money was never taken off of a gift card or from my account. No it wasn't. I have a receipt and the cancellation letter from MARCH.  It was made in September. Canceled in March.  Now I am on hold while they are researching.  Sigh.  

Its the Fun Shops Department you need to ask for.

[BlerkOne]

One thought is - Are the cards people have trouble with purchased for full price or at a discount from a third party? Hmmm...

[Eli_6]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

One thought is - Are the cards people have trouble with purchased for full price or at a discount from a third party? Hmmm...

I think another issue is because the transaction was for $299.98 (one on my room and one ticket on hubs room) and apparently half was paid for (my ticket) with OBC and his half was paid for with a gift card because he didn't have OBC. I gather that somehow, some way (best I can discern) because it was on two rooms and two methods were used but it was only one transaction, it only refunded my OBC and never sent hubs his refund and now is showing in the system as the refund having been made when really only half of it was made...i.e. my half to OBC.  At least this is my understanding of the situation. 

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I think another issue is because the transaction was for $299.98 (one on my room and one ticket on hubs room) and apparently half was paid for (my ticket) with OBC and his half was paid for with a gift card because he didn't have OBC. I gather that somehow, some way (best I can discern) because it was on two rooms and two methods were used but it was only one transaction, it only refunded my OBC and never sent hubs his refund and now is showing in the system as the refund having been made when really only half of it was made...i.e. my half to OBC.  At least this is my understanding of the situation. 

Separate rooms could be another issue. Much of this doesn't sound like a situation many people would find themselves in.

[Eli_6]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

Separate rooms could be another issue. Much of this doesn't sound like a situation many people would find themselves in.

That phrase pretty much describes my entire life.  

[Illbcruzn4life]

14 hours ago, wemjam said:

This.  I have cancelled and changed more cruise stuff than you can shake a stick at (cruises, gift shop, dinning, excursions, etc.).  I have always received my refunds.  Now, I will say there were long delays during Covid and it took weeks, but otherwise it is usually within 2 weeks or so if I paid with a gift card I'd get a new on in the mail.  Credit Card refund maybe an extra week or so.

 

I will say, sometimes it requires some of our time if there is a mishap (after all there are actual people processing these things, and with humans comes human error).  I have sat on the phone for hours (literally) before to resolve issues with company's because I am just that type of person.  I will fight with someone over 5 cents because I am a "it's the principle of the matter" kind of person.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am aggravated and frustrated the whole time, but I am not going to let them win and keep my money 😆

hahaha! you just described me to a t. BTW my wife sometimes thinks I'n nuts.

[wemjam]

13 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I think another issue is because the transaction was for $299.98 (one on my room and one ticket on hubs room) and apparently half was paid for (my ticket) with OBC and his half was paid for with a gift card because he didn't have OBC. I gather that somehow, some way (best I can discern) because it was on two rooms and two methods were used but it was only one transaction, it only refunded my OBC and never sent hubs his refund and now is showing in the system as the refund having been made when really only half of it was made...i.e. my half to OBC.  At least this is my understanding of the situation. 

I think you nailed it, the for "complex" the original situation the more room for error when someone is processing the refund.   I had a small hiccup with a refund that I paid for part with a gift card and part with my credit card.  I had a gift card that had like $15 left on it or something and used that and then used my CC for the rest.  I received the CC refund but not the $15 at first, I called (and if I remember correctly I think I had to talk to 2 or 3 people when I did it to): however, I did get the refund in the form of a e-gift card.   

 

A LOT of it depends on the person you reach and how knowledgeable they are.  The first person I talked to gave me a number to contact for the people that are the actual gift card company (which is NOT carnival by the way), the told me they had nothing to do with it and couldn't do anything about it.  I knew that was the answer I was going to get when I called, and even asked the Carnival rep "are you sure, that doesn't make sense," but I did as instructed anyhow.   I called and talked to my PVP and he said he was going to send and email, but even a PVP is at the mercy of the "correct" department at Carnival doing their job.  Then I called back myself and got someone that knew what he was doing and he did email the "correct" department.  Took about 2-3 days I think and I had the gift card email.  So hopefully, you are at that point and will see a refund soon!

 

I think in over 20 years cruising I have had maybe 2 or 3 hiccups like this, but as long as I stayed in communication they were always resolved to my satisfaction.  Again frustrating, but humans make mistakes it is just a fact of life. 😆

 

PS:  I was speaking to the fun shops each time, I knew normal Carnival reps would not be able to do anything.

[crooooze]

18 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

After 40 minutes on the phone, the second lady submitted a form to their "gift card" team who is supposed to reach out to me via email in 24-48 hours..but said to allow 3 business days.  They said it doesn't show a gift card was ever re-issued so the team is going to have to research the matter and get back with me.  So, basically, another 45 minutes wasted and still nothing is resolved.  Basically, I just spent 45 minutes on the phone so they could fill out a form to send me to yet another department to "research" the issue. Not understanding why this is so darn difficult.  I have the email showing I purchased the excursion. I have the email showing I canceled it.  

I think you’re almost there…. In my experience, this “form” usually works. You should have a new eGC in your email by Wed. Keep checking your spam box too. Hard part is getting a Customer Service rep that knows this process. It is usually done by the Fun Shop department, even for excursion or specialty restaurant purchases.

 

I’ve gone through this numerous times. The problem always happens when canceling a purchase that the passenger books directly with a gift card for a cruise booked through a TA. It is definitely a problem with Carnival and how they work with their third party gift card company.

 

Knowing this, I still use gift cards for every Carnival purchase to save that 10%. But I am very aware that this, for sure, will happen again if I need to cancel.

 

The so called lessons-learned that people are harping for using a GC or not using a PVP are pure garbage.

Edited April 22, 2023 by crooooze

[Eli_6]

Woot! Woot!  Finally got my refund.   Gift card came via email!  This gives me more faith in possibly canceling the Paris excursion and rebooking to Mont St. Micheal. 

[BlerkOne]

Never say never.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Woot! Woot!  Finally got my refund.   Gift card came via email!  This gives me more faith in possibly canceling the Paris excursion and rebooking to Mont St. Micheal. 

Yay. And if you had faith that that would eventually happen, this thread would have never appeared. 😁

[Eli_6]

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yay. And if you had faith that that would eventually happen, this thread would have never appeared. 😁

Oh no...I still have learned a valuable lesson out of this because I consider the amount of time I had to put in to "fix" this to have been an annoyance and not something I want to repeat.  If I have any doubt in my mind that I might cancel an excursion and rebook another one at a later time, I am paying for it with a credit card and not a gift card.  This is really only an issue for the Europe or the "unique" itineraries Carnival does where some of the excursions may not show up until close to sailing anyway and they may change from year to year.  The excursions for carribean or Mexico or even Alaska stay pretty constant.  

[crooooze]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Yay. And if you had faith that that would eventually happen, this thread would have never appeared. 😁

Not quite… if that form was not filled out to have human follow-up,  the refund would be in limbo indefinitely.

[Joanne G.]

15 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Oh no...I still have learned a valuable lesson out of this because I consider the amount of time I had to put in to "fix" this to have been an annoyance and not something I want to repeat.  If I have any doubt in my mind that I might cancel an excursion and rebook another one at a later time, I am paying for it with a credit card and not a gift card.  This is really only an issue for the Europe or the "unique" itineraries Carnival does where some of the excursions may not show up until close to sailing anyway and they may change from year to year.  The excursions for carribean or Mexico or even Alaska stay pretty constant.  

You make an excellent point about the particular issue with European itineraries, where, for my 3 European cruises this year, Carnival's release of excursions has been slow and piecemeal.   Glad to hear you finally got your refund, and thank you for sharing your experience with the gift cards.  I canceled one Carnival excursion paid by credit card and got a prompt refund.   If I ever have gift cards, I will remember your experience.   

[mz-s]

They seem to be relatively prompt with credit card refunds, perhaps because they know the customers have a strong recourse by filing a chargeback. With a gift card you're essentially paying cash so you're relying on the goodwill of a company $30bn (and counting) in debt to pay you back. Sobering when you think about it.

[Eli_6]

52 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

You make an excellent point about the particular issue with European itineraries, where, for my 3 European cruises this year, Carnival's release of excursions has been slow and piecemeal.   Glad to hear you finally got your refund, and thank you for sharing your experience with the gift cards.  I canceled one Carnival excursion paid by credit card and got a prompt refund.   If I ever have gift cards, I will remember your experience.   

That has been my experience exactly.  Yet, some of the excursions do sell out. So, I have been booking ones and then something else I like much better will come out...or that is more appropriate for our family.