I told them I did not want a refund and I then went through 3-4 different Royal Caribbean booking agents and customer resolution personnel (over a 3 day period), begging them not to refund the payment but to 'not process' the original transaction (it is held for 3 days by your credit card company, so this is easily doable). They told me they would refund my payment.
I called back within 8hrs of the original booking when I found out I could not make the cruise work for us. I was told that they would need the full payment upfront but I had 24hrs to cancel the payment. I wanted to hold the cruise for 24hrs because there was only one set of side by side rooms available for my kids and my husband and I. Because it is in US funds, you will pay a service fee on your Canadian Visa which you will not get back with a refund (mine is 2.5%, which works out to over $200 on a $8000 cruise package). I will be stuck with hundreds of dollars in service charges because they actually process and then 'refund' the payment they hold for you, instead of cancelling the transaction.
I just wanted to share my recent experience with Royal Caribbean and their 24hr hold policy.
