Typical Refund Process?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Sadly, I've had to cancel an upcoming cruise which visited Israel.  I first cancelled all of the excursions and "supplemental" items and then cancelled the cruise itself.  I never saw anything during the cruise cancel process that gave me a choice between FCC or refund.  After a bit of searching on the Celebrity site, I found this in the FAQ section:

 

If we cancel a voyage, or delay embarkation by three (3) days or more and you elect not to sail on the delayed voyage or a substitute voyage we offer, you can obtain a refund or a future cruise credit (FCC).  Although our practice is to issue a future cruise credit automatically, you may instead submit your request for a refund by contacting us.   Refund requests must be made within six (6) months of the date the cruise was cancelled or the scheduled embarkation date, whichever is earlier.

 

Following the "contacting us" link just brings up a long list of departmental phone numbers and email addresses.  The closest thing that sounded like what I needed was cec@celebrity.com.  I simply explained why I cancelled and that I was requesting a refund instead of FCC.  I got confirmation emails for everything that I cancelled, with the excursions and such explicitly stating that it was going back to my original credit card (as I expected) but got no indication of such with the cruise cancellation itself.

 

1) Did I do right or is there something else I need to do?

2) Assuming I did everything correctly, what is the typical refund timing?

[mayleeman]

The clause you quoted gives a refund option if Celebrity cancels, not you.

[cw2go]

I recommend making a call to Celebrity

 

Depending on the original terms at booking and when your set sail date is, you may have forfeited your monies paid to Celebrity? Info will be on your booking confirmation. Was just the deposit paid, was it refundable or was the entire sailing paid in full? Celebrity will still sail and reroute so I am not sure cancelling was a good idea? 

 

Excursions and such always go back to the original form of payment. 

 

I am sure others will be more helpful,

Patty 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

If you had a refundable deposit and were outside the final payment date you should receive a refund to your credit card/s automatically.  We cancelled one and had the refunds within 7 to 10 days. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Sorry, I meant to include in my OP... we are 120 days before cruise.  11 night cruise.

 

The Celebrity website shows:

 

 

[jelayne]

Were you on the Apex Oct 16 sailing?  If so when did you cancel.  At some point, very recently, those wanting to cancel were offered options which were sent via email either by Celebrity or your TA if you booked with one.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

Were you on the Apex Oct 16 sailing?  If so when did you cancel.  At some point, very recently, those wanting to cancel were offered options which were sent via email either by Celebrity or your TA if you booked with one.  

No...my sailing was 120 days out (Feb.) Cancelled yesterday.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Arizona Wildcat]

Celebrity offered special terms for the cruises that were scheduled to visit Israel.   If you booked directly CALL Celebrity.  If through a TA - they need to call.

[jelayne]

3 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Celebrity offered special terms for the cruises that were scheduled to visit Israel.   If you booked directly CALL Celebrity.  If through a TA - they need to call.

That was for the upcoming Apex 10/16 sailing and probably 10/26 sailing..  I don’t think that offer applied to next years sailings. 
 

OP if you booked with a refundable deposit you should likely see it in about 2 weeks. Having cancelled all the extras first shoukd make the refund faster.

[Rick&Jeannie]

16 minutes ago, jelayne said:

 

OP if you booked with a refundable deposit you should likely see it in about 2 weeks. Having cancelled all the extras first shoukd make the refund faster.

Thanks! That's basically what I was looking for. 

[Baynanno1]

It seems that those in USA get their refunds a lot faster than those "down under."

We have been waiting now for a couple of months.

Phone calls made and assured it is being processed . . . . . .

[tschwa2]

Did you just pay the deposit or had you paid for the whole cruise?  Did you have a refundable or non refundable deposit?  If you had a non refundable deposit, then you may or may not have been able to get a credit or partial credit toward another cruise but you would not get that back.  You would be entitled to the rest of the payment minus the non refundable deposit.  If you had a refundable fare than you should get everything including the deposit back.

[mayleeman]

@tschwa2   OP has never answered what type of deposit. That would certainly clear some things up!

Edited October 16, 2023 by mayleeman

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, mayleeman said:

@tschwa2   OP has never answered what type of deposit. That would certainly clear some things up!

I have looked on my paperwork...I see nothing that indicates the deposit type.  I had already paid about 95% of the entire cruise fare.

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[jelayne]

If you have the Celebrity Booking Confirmation- Guest. Copy it should say on there.

If you booked with a TA then they should indicate whether the deposit is a refundable or non refundable. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

If you have the Celebrity Booking Confirmation- Guest. Copy it should say on there.

If you booked with a TA then they should indicate whether the deposit is a refundable or non refundable. 

I have gone through that doc twice...I see nothing that states what type of deposit.  Can someone tell me where it would be located?

[CHEZMARYLOU]

33 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I have gone through that doc twice...I see nothing that states what type of deposit.  Can someone tell me where it would be located?

I looked at several booking confirmations. The only one I had that was NR had this statement right below the balance due:

 

"The minimum deposit for this reservation is Non-Refundable. A change fee of 100 USD per guest will apply for ship or sail date changes."

 

All my other bookings were refundable and none of them mentioned the deposit as either R or NR.

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by CHEZMARYLOU

[Rick&Jeannie]

OK...I just got off the phone with Celebrity (45 minute wait).  After putting me on hold several times the rep first said that I would be needing to contact AON to pursue my refund.  (Uh-oh...not sounding good...)

Then, after another hold to "check my reservation" *again*, she came back and shared that my booking was *refundable* and since it was before final payment (120 days out) that I should expect a full refund of all funds paid so far (I only had $1000 left to pay in full...so we're talking a pretty good chunk of money. This was an Aqua class cabin.)

 

It sounded like she was just "confirming" what I was going to hear from AON...so I clarified with her that I did or did NOT need to call AON.  She confirmed that I DID NOT. (Whew...)

 

This was as I fully expected due to the charts posted on the Celebrity website.  

 

 

Thanks to everyone who tried to help...I think the main snag in my issue was the fact that nowhere on my booking confirmation was the fact that I had a refundable deposit!

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[hcat]

 

Very smart to have cancelled all the extras.  That saves so much  X accounting aggravation. They do not operate in a very streamlined way.

 

It is very Good news! .. hope you took the reps name and hope X recorded the call! If it does not come through in the promised time frame..maybe your credit card co will give a provisional credit????

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

 

Very smart to have cancelled all the extras.  That saves so much  X accounting aggravation. They do not operate in a very streamlined way.

 

It is very Good news! .. hope you took the reps name and hope X recorded the call! If it does not come through in the promised time frame..maybe your credit card co will give a provisional credit????

I did get a name (although it is only a first name).  Yes, after having had to cancel cruises on other cruise lines I learned that it is *always* better to get all of the "additional" stuff cancelled FIRST...and then tackle the cruise itself.  I waited until I had confirming emails for each excursion (only took about 10 minutes for all) before I started looking at the cruise.  While there is a mechanism to cancel online (that's what I did since I had booked direct online) I think there's at least a possibility that it *might* have gone smoother had I just waited and done so on the phone.  IDK...it's all (seemingly) worked out now so I can't really say one way or another.

[mayleeman]

@Rick&Jeannie I had no idea that the confirms omitted any indication that a deposit WAS refundable. They have certainly swamped me with all the warnings that mine are NOT!

 

Good job of getting the info and assurance you need. We waited 5.5 months for a refund on a cancellation 18 months ago. I think you will get yours sooner. Good luck!

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

I thought I was losing my mind when I could not find *any* reference to the type of deposit in the confirmation!  That just seems like such a basic piece of information...