hm9912

12 hours ago, nho9504 said:

 

He did NOT get the refund from Princess as he initially worded -  he later posted the answer on someone's question about "technically it is the result from a credit card dispute".

 

I cannot believe the initial post would be so misleading when everyone is trying to figure out if there are ANY cash refund is processed for the massive suspension started on Mar 12.   His post sounded like it was...  especially he thanked  Princess...

 

On top of that, I dont know what is the purpose of the long post about being nice to the call center workers so to get a good result.  The principles are sound as I myself practice that all the time, even incl chitchat with the Philippines based reps of their home town(s) - BUT the problem is, his refund WAS NOT ISSUED by Princess in the ordinary way of process refund, but a DIRECT RESULT OF A CREDIT CARD DISPUTE.

 

While I appreciate another positive data point on CC dispute results I am quite disappointed by the initial misleading data point.

 

I am in a unique situation that I could not filed a CC dispute with reasons long posted ago.  Had I paid the cruise with my CC, I would have filed right after 30 days passed as that was the time frame given by Princess on the first suspension.   Princess is very stupid in handling this situation - they could do a better job in communication, as to sending out periodic emails on the progress, letting their CSRs know where your refunds stand as in the long queue,  anything that is slightly more transparent then all the mumble jumble "thank you for being Elites" blah blah blah.

 

Being a business person with financial and accounting background, I fully understand where Princess is coming from, and understand their need to preserve cash - but their PR is a disaster in this crisis time - they are essentially ALIENATE their most loyal customers in handling this crisis.  I feel truly bad for those of you having Tens of Thousands of $ tied up, essentially an interest free loan bankrolling CCL / Princess...  None of the airlines which have flights touch US soil could refuse refund because DOT (Department of Transportation)  has issued reinforcement notice when airlines tried to pull a no refund, only voucher stint, even though their vouchers are issued rather timely, unlike Princess on the FCC... 

 

For those of you who have airlines canceled on you, if your flights touch US soil, call your airlines to ask for 100% refund, even if you have been issued voucher - unless you want the voucher - mentioned DOT's ruling - this works 100% of time to get your money back.

 

May be we need a government regulation body on cruise lines that operate their ships in US water, so the passengers rights are protected.

Since you claim to be a person with a business , financial, and accounting background why did you not pay for your cruise with a credit card.

You especially with your background should be aware of the credit card fine print that provides consumers with protections that are not available with those that pay using a debit card, check, cash, bitcoin, paypal, etc

30 minutes ago, nho9504 said:

 

Alright.  When I first read it I thought it was a Princess refund. because of your wording of Thank You Princess.   That by itself led me to interpret it that Princess has processed the refund, even though I do NOT see any reason to thank Princess when it merely returned you your own money, with much delay too.

 

Now you clarified it - it is NOT a true, voluntarily refund as we all are patiently waiting.  Rather it is a result of a dispute to your card issuer and the resolution is in your favor.   Princess simply chose not to Contest the dispute because it has NO GROUND to do so.

 

Completely different things. 

 

Glad someone has thought to ask and you finally clarified.  Otherwise many of us would be misled to have false hope.

Many are making the same mistake in thinking that Princess is going to magically refund their cruise fare that was paid via credit card. The CC company will ask you if you have contacted the merchant. You should at least make a phone call or on line contact to Princess so when you request the charge back refund with the CC company you can answer yes you have contacted the merchant and you would like a refund for a cruise that was paid for 75 days in advance of sailing that was subsequently cancelled. As I mentioned in an earlier post this morning I not only received all of my credit card charges on my Princess Visa card but had previously received the option 2 FCC in my Princess Personalizer.

I should also mention that when I initially contacted Princess Visa the customer service rep initiated two case numbers that were emailed to me for reference. Hope this helps.

Good luck to all still waiting and to those that are angry, just calm down, take a deep breath and be pleasant when contacting a call center.

50 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

HEY PRINCESS, I WANT MY REFUND NOW. YOU'VE HAD OUR MONEY SINCE DECEMBER AND YOU CANCELLED OUR CRUISE 2 MONTHS AGO. YOU'VE JUST ABOUT LOST US AS CUSTOMERS.

No need to shout but bye bye!

If you haven't contacted your credit card company requesting a refund for a cancelled cruise you may be waiting a long time?

8 minutes ago, dog said:

Do you think? Or do you know?

I just Googled it so I know

https://chargebacks911.com/chargebacks/

14 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Good to hear, but just to clarify - was your refund from Princess or was it the result of a credit card dispute? If it was from Princess with no dispute process, then I think you may be one of the first to receive an actual refund from that first round of cancellations!

It is technically a credit card dispute for promised services that were not received and Barclay's Princess Visa gets the money back from Princess for a cancelled cruise.

55 minutes ago, remydiva said:

Maybe Howard went to front of the line cuz he used a PRINCESS Visa?!

No I don't think so.

Prior to retiring I managed telecommunications in a large call center so  know a few things because I've seen a lot of things in a large call center.

When making a telephone call to any customer service call center, no matter how upset you are against the company, be nice and stay calm to the agent that takes your call. Their job is stressfull and not a highly paid one.

You can state calmly that you are upset and may need to speak to a supervisor if they are unable to resolve your problem but will give them a 10 on the survey if they can resolve your issue. (Agents live and die by those surveys and are very important to them)

The agents have a script in front of them and are told exactly what to say to customers but can often make adjustments for you so you want to be nice. Never use abusive language or swear at them. If you do don't be surprised if you get disconnected. One other thing I discovered is my call to Princess Visa was answered by an agent working from home in The Philippines  which is GMT +8. As I write this it is 1:08 AM Saturday morning.

Any credit card dispute should be initiated as soon as possible.

First call Princess and ask for the refund of a cancelled cruise. They will tell you it will take 60 to 90 business days.

Then immediately call your credit card company to request a credit for the charges on a cruise that Princess cancelled. They will ask you if you have contacted Princess and you will say yes.

Good luck

Howard

18 minutes ago, jat1977 said:

Happy that someone has gotten something!  However, this also proves that Princess is NOT processing refunds in the order of the cancelled cruises.  Our cruise was March 22, cancelled by Princess on March 12.  We got the email a week ago that they were still working on our refunds (we had two cabins).  After reading the note above, I just checked our cc, and nope, no indication that our refunds have been processed, i.e., no pending transactions.  Curious if Princess is refunding those who have credit cards affiliated with them first . . . would not surprise me.  

You need to file a dispute with your credit card company. Don't wait and expect Princess to just automatically issue a credit card refund. Princess will only give you a future cruise credit

12 hours ago, hpeabody said:

Does Princess not realize they had passengers on board ships before mid-March that they put off in foreign ports when the pause happened.  What about us?  They owe me quite a lot and I am not a lending institution.  We seem to be put aside in favor of scheduled cruises that did not happen.  So are we at the end of the line after they cancel all cruises for the next year?  It will be interesting to see if we get anywhere with this huge new wave of cancellation upon them. 

 

Feeling forgotten.  (I know I am not alone)

Holly:

When you make a purchase on a credit card you have certain rights and protections on its terms of use. If you do not fully receive the items or services that you paid for it is up to you to contact your credit card customer service and initiate a complaint and follow up in writing asking for a refund. I initially wished we could have been on that cruise with you and joined you again at the chef's table but the DW did not want to be away from our grandkids for so long. Now we are unable to go near them except from across the street. Contact your credit card company and file a dispute for the money you paid for that cruise. Hopefully you'll get some sort of partial refund from them and from Princess?

Howard

I just checked the balance in my Princess Visa Card this morning and I received the refund for the two cabins and the two tours that we booked on the Sky Princess cruise for us and the grand kids on April 4th that Princess cancelled.

Thank you Princess and hopefully we will all be able to cruise again in the not too distant future. We also received the travel insurance premium from Allianz that we took out for the grand kids about a month ago.

We also previously received the Future Cruise Credits from Princess about a month ago. We chose Option 2

Howard

Absolutely  will book a future cruise with Princess even though our April 4th cruise has been cancelled by Princess

6 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

I cannot believe all the posts about toilet seats. What's next to talk about?

Art and sculpture in the Restaurant Men's room.

Vienna Austria

IMG_6505

Most of the women on this tour had to go in and see for themselves after they heard the men discussing the art of the pee

2 hours ago, Globehoppers said:

What a great place to incubate all kinds of viruses and germs!

Am I the only one that observes people using public restrooms and walking out without washing their hands?

On our last Princess Cruise there was a crew person stopping everyone attempting to enter the Horizon Court forcing them to wash their hands and then use hand sanitizer before being allowed to enter.

All public restrooms should have an alarm device that sounds whenever someone leaves without washing their hands in my opinion.

26 minutes ago, Gwendy said:

Years ago in the port at Nagasaki I pressed the buttons in the toilet, instructions all in Japanese of course.  I had warm air, shooting jets of water, music, everything you can imagine.  I laughed so hard I had to spend longer in there, lol

No Video, No photos 😞

For those complaining!

From my collection of toilets that I discovered in my travels .

Russia

I passed on using this one

IMG_0489

Moscow

I passed on using this one also.

IMG_0309

I did pee in this one as I had to go real bad. There was something to aim for.

IMG_0270

For all those complaining just remember it could get much worse depending on where in the world you are.

Howard

10 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

I suspect that they at some point in the future they will start screening passengers at check in using a hand held medical pyrometer to check for fever like they do in some hospitals.  😉

Agreed!

Every passenger should have their temperature taken at embarkation and denied boarding if they have a fever to protect all the other passengers.

Howard

11 hours ago, Waynetor said:

Internet has been slow and hit and miss - I'll try more pics later. 

Thank you for your posts

We did the 49 day around South America on the Royal last year and would have loved to visit Easter Island.

The highlight of the trip for us were the penguins in the Falkland Islands.

Howard

On 1/26/2020 at 1:10 AM, ltlqtgrl said:

I just booked a cruise on the Royal Princess with my 4 and 6 year olds for their first cruise (just the kids and me).  I've been on several cruises, but having kids with me changes things.... Does anyone have information on the kids program for their age?  Kids menus? Any other tips/suggestions?  Thank you!!

We had our three grandchildren in a mini suite on the Regal Princess a few years ago. They were five, four and two and a half.

Their Cabin [/url [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/153608073@N05/]

They loved the kids club and the food.

Howard

An annual policy from Allianz is cheaper and more comprehensive than Insurance from Princess.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/

Howard

23 hours ago, betmust said:

I am looking at an Alaska cruise for 2021 on the Royal Princess. Are any of the balconies not covered?  I want to make sure whatever deck I choose it has a covered balcony.

 

Anyone been on the Royal Princess what was your favorite deck?  I am looking at a balcony or deluxe balcony.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thank you

Our obstructed balcony was big enough for the Ultimate Balcony Dinner

Howard

On 1/25/2020 at 7:38 AM, GottaLuvCruising said:

My younger granddaughter ordered plain spaghetti almost every evening (much to my chagrin!)  It was her bare bones version of the adult spaghetti and meatballs that was on the menu the first or second night, but she was able to get it every night.  

My two grandsons loved the spaghetti on the Regal Princess

Left dining rm happy

My two and a half year old granddaughter loved the mussels

Loves Mussels[/url [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/153608073@N05/]

Howard

12 hours ago, Ombud said:

Does anyone have a copy of a recent children's menu? 

From a few years ago

Childrens Menu

Howard

On 1/23/2020 at 7:46 PM, Daniel A said:

I am sailing in 9 days.  (Yaaayyy!!)  I recall seeing some posts about a year ago where posters raved about a fabulous dessert you can order that is generally not on the dessert menu but may be on a kids menu.  It might be something named like a volcano.  When I first read about it I decided I wanted to try it at least once on my next cruise.  Can you help?

On our last cruise last year you just had to ask tor it.

Howard

2 hours ago, cinncy said:

Does Princess still do an event called Chefs Table I believe its called. DW and I were able to do this a few years ago on a Mediterranean cruise and loved it.

Sign up immediately. Well worth it. Loved it and will do it again

Howard

3 minutes ago, bbfgator said:

Thank you all for your input.  It was a very hard decision but we've picked Celebrity Silhouette for 2/14/21.  I'm not going to look back or regret this or that as I know it will be a wonderful cruise as would it be with Princess or Hal or Azamara.  Thanks again for thoughts & suggestions.  Happy cruising!

We were on the 49 day cruise around SA on the Royal Princess last year and the Penguins on the Falkland Islands was the best part of the trip for us.

Enjoy your cruise.

Howard

I got mine on Amazon

Outlets Royal

Howard