Why is my cruise refund taking so long?
10 weeks since the first cruise lines started being recalled back to dock early by governments around the world, and frustration is starting to show in online travel forums as cruisers wonder how much longer they’ll need to wait.
Cruise Refund Options
Most cruise lines are offering passengers either a Future Cruise Credit or voucher that can be used towards a future cruise, often with additional value than the original booking of the cruise, or a full refund. Future Cruise Credits are great for those wanting to get a great deal and cruise on the same cruise line in the future. These are taking up to 6 weeks to show in the system for you to rebook your next cruise.
Refunds are normally processed for the full fair of the original amount, and back on to the form of payment that was used to make the booking. This could be directly onto your credit card or returned to the travel agent or wholesaler who originally made the booking. As the default option is a Future Cruise Credit, you will need to contact your travel agent or the cruise line direct to request a full refund. As many of the cruise line’s call centres are based in the Philippines, and restrictions have only been lifted slightly there as of last week, there may be a longer waiting time than usual.
Cruise Refund Options
Most cruise lines are offering passengers either a Future Cruise Credit or voucher that can be used towards a future cruise, often with additional value than the original booking of the cruise, or a full refund. Future Cruise Credits are great for those wanting to get a great deal and cruise on the same cruise line in the future. These are taking up to 6 weeks to show in the system for you to rebook your next cruise.
Refunds are normally processed for the full fair of the original amount, and back on to the form of payment that was used to make the booking. This could be directly onto your credit card or returned to the travel agent or wholesaler who originally made the booking. As the default option is a Future Cruise Credit, you will need to contact your travel agent or the cruise line direct to request a full refund. As many of the cruise line’s call centres are based in the Philippines, and restrictions have only been lifted slightly there as of last week, there may be a longer waiting time than usual.
Why Is It Taking So Long?
Cruise lines are used to dealing with refunds, with a couple of hundred each week needing to be processed. Cruise line refund systems are extremely complex. A base cruise fare is made up of government charges, port taxes, the cruise base fare, plus add-ons like drinks packages, speciality dining, shore excursions or onboard credits, which are accounted for separately in many cruise lines system. Because of this, the cruise line needs to account for all parts of the total cruise fare to be accounted for, and often has to wait for government charges and port taxes to be refunded separately.
Similarly, passengers who booked travel arrangements through the cruise line, including airfare or pre- or post-cruise packages and airport transfers, may also have more complicated refunds.
With such convoluted refunds, most cruise lines’ automatic systems are not equipped to successfully coordinate the process. Instead, refund requests must often be manually reviewed, which takes additional time and manpower that is in very limited supply.
Because this situation is global, many refunds need to be processed in complicated ways, involving different credit card and payment companies, international currencies, different languages, and multiple time zones.
Extra Volume and Less Staff
Carnival Corporation, who account for almost 20% of all cruises worldwide, say that over one million people have been affected by pause in the cruise season. Across all cruise lines, millions of customers have requested refunds, and this, coupled with a reduced workforce because of workplace safety restrictions around COVID-19, means that employee’s workloads have increased exponentially. Cruise line employees and travel agents are certainly working overtime to get these millions of refunds processed as quickly as possible.
The reduced the number of customer service representatives available to handle refund requests are still working and handling new bookings, fielding media requests, making travel arrangements to repatriate crew members, and answering other cruise-related questions.
Furthermore, the staff who are processing refunds may be doing so remotely, working on their home office equipment rather than more powerful, faster equipment that would be available if they were working under regular office conditions.
Cruise lines are used to dealing with refunds, with a couple of hundred each week needing to be processed. Cruise line refund systems are extremely complex. A base cruise fare is made up of government charges, port taxes, the cruise base fare, plus add-ons like drinks packages, speciality dining, shore excursions or onboard credits, which are accounted for separately in many cruise lines system. Because of this, the cruise line needs to account for all parts of the total cruise fare to be accounted for, and often has to wait for government charges and port taxes to be refunded separately.
Similarly, passengers who booked travel arrangements through the cruise line, including airfare or pre- or post-cruise packages and airport transfers, may also have more complicated refunds.
With such convoluted refunds, most cruise lines’ automatic systems are not equipped to successfully coordinate the process. Instead, refund requests must often be manually reviewed, which takes additional time and manpower that is in very limited supply.
Because this situation is global, many refunds need to be processed in complicated ways, involving different credit card and payment companies, international currencies, different languages, and multiple time zones.
Extra Volume and Less Staff
Carnival Corporation, who account for almost 20% of all cruises worldwide, say that over one million people have been affected by pause in the cruise season. Across all cruise lines, millions of customers have requested refunds, and this, coupled with a reduced workforce because of workplace safety restrictions around COVID-19, means that employee’s workloads have increased exponentially. Cruise line employees and travel agents are certainly working overtime to get these millions of refunds processed as quickly as possible.
The reduced the number of customer service representatives available to handle refund requests are still working and handling new bookings, fielding media requests, making travel arrangements to repatriate crew members, and answering other cruise-related questions.
Furthermore, the staff who are processing refunds may be doing so remotely, working on their home office equipment rather than more powerful, faster equipment that would be available if they were working under regular office conditions.
Bookings through Agents
If you booked through your travel agent, there may be an additional delay as the agent waits for funds from the cruise line to be processed into their bank account before they can pass it on to you.
Rest assured though, travel agents are also spending hours on hold to cruise lines to follow up your booking details and refund. This saves most people hours of frustrating on hold music-listening being played while you wait, which is an agent can be very helpful when it comes to organising cancellations.
When a travel agent makes a cruise booking, they may have used a cruise wholesaler to make the booking. The advantage of using and agent is that cruise line often gives exclusive pricing or value add promotions that are only available through an agent. The other obvious advantage is that it saves you time by having a travel agent put everything together for you. This works very well for when you’re making the booking as you don’t see the behind the scenes work that goes into making your holiday dream come true. However, in these unprecedented times, it does mean that the agent needs to wait for the cruise line to refund the wholesaler and for the wholesaler to pass this back on to the agent.
In addition, the wholesaler can sometimes pay only part of the refund first to the agent, and then
Check your Credit Card Details
If you used a credit card to pay for your cruise, that has since expired or been lost, the cruise line will automatically refund the original form of payment. Check your credit card details and ensure they are identical to what was given originally. If the cruise line refunds your card, the bank will receive it and then take additional time to send it back to the cruise line, where you will have to wait for the process to begin again.
If your card details have changed, call the cruise line or your agent and make sure your details are updated.
It’s a challenging time for everyone in the cruise industry – cruise lines, crew, travel agents and customers alike. Many of the staff have never dealt with a situation that has impacted them like this before. Know that refunds are being processed and that payment will be returned.
To help speed up the process, request refunds as soon as the cruise line cancels your sailing, instead of going on the automatic Future Cruise Credit default. When calling the cruise line, make sure to have your reservation number, original form of payment details, all passenger information and the total you are expecting as a refund. Sign up for notifications from the cruise line so that you can be informed of the process without having to wait on hold for hours. And above all, be patient and understanding with the staff.
The good news is that this week many bulk refunds have started being received from customers of Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and more will start to be seen in customer’s bank accounts soon.
If you booked through your travel agent, there may be an additional delay as the agent waits for funds from the cruise line to be processed into their bank account before they can pass it on to you.
Rest assured though, travel agents are also spending hours on hold to cruise lines to follow up your booking details and refund. This saves most people hours of frustrating on hold music-listening being played while you wait, which is an agent can be very helpful when it comes to organising cancellations.
When a travel agent makes a cruise booking, they may have used a cruise wholesaler to make the booking. The advantage of using and agent is that cruise line often gives exclusive pricing or value add promotions that are only available through an agent. The other obvious advantage is that it saves you time by having a travel agent put everything together for you. This works very well for when you’re making the booking as you don’t see the behind the scenes work that goes into making your holiday dream come true. However, in these unprecedented times, it does mean that the agent needs to wait for the cruise line to refund the wholesaler and for the wholesaler to pass this back on to the agent.
In addition, the wholesaler can sometimes pay only part of the refund first to the agent, and then
Check your Credit Card Details
If you used a credit card to pay for your cruise, that has since expired or been lost, the cruise line will automatically refund the original form of payment. Check your credit card details and ensure they are identical to what was given originally. If the cruise line refunds your card, the bank will receive it and then take additional time to send it back to the cruise line, where you will have to wait for the process to begin again.
If your card details have changed, call the cruise line or your agent and make sure your details are updated.
It’s a challenging time for everyone in the cruise industry – cruise lines, crew, travel agents and customers alike. Many of the staff have never dealt with a situation that has impacted them like this before. Know that refunds are being processed and that payment will be returned.
To help speed up the process, request refunds as soon as the cruise line cancels your sailing, instead of going on the automatic Future Cruise Credit default. When calling the cruise line, make sure to have your reservation number, original form of payment details, all passenger information and the total you are expecting as a refund. Sign up for notifications from the cruise line so that you can be informed of the process without having to wait on hold for hours. And above all, be patient and understanding with the staff.
The good news is that this week many bulk refunds have started being received from customers of Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and more will start to be seen in customer’s bank accounts soon.