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June 2, 2020 cruise San Francisco to Alaska round trip. Three cabins, seven people. Paid in full.

Cancelled by Princess in the second round of cancellations. Offered full refund or 125% FCC. I chose the FCC as we still want to do this cruise (booked for June 2021)

First refund to credit card received June 30. FCC received on accounts July 9. Last refund to credit card received August 9.

Looking at the FCC and credit card refunds none of it made sense. The numbers didn't seem to match anything. Yesterday I listed everything paid and credits received by cabin. Perfect match!

Thankful to be done with it. Glad I was patient as it all worked out.

Now if only the river cruise I am booked for on September 20, 2020 would figure out that the CDC won't let them sail. I can wait.

21 hours ago, wandb said:

She said that AQSC will be coming out with a new COVID directive soon, probably within 48 hours, so I’m waiting for that before we take any action. We have decided to transfer to a 2021 or 2022 cruise (hoping the Lewis and Clark Cruise will be offered then.)

 

Our main concern has has not been the health measures taken on the boat, as I think AQSC is doing everything possible to provide a safe environment. Our concern is about getting back on the boat at every port stop with a whole group of passengers that may have been in situations where social distancing and wearing masks was not practiced. Even though they exhibit no symptoms for several days, they could be spreading COVID and not even know it. Just too big a risk. 

 

So sad not to be cruising this September, but for this year, we will stay at home or take a little road trip. 

Check the website. New dates for suspension today. Suspended thru August 31, 2020.

We are a September cruise too. Don't understand how they can still be planning to cruise in September.

AQSC updated their website today. No sailings thru August 31, 2020.

When are they going to figure this out?

My cruise in September (American Queen) goes into 3 states - Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. Really can't see 3 different states letting them dock. 

My guess is they are waiting for people to cancel so they don't have to give extra FCC to anyone.

When I finally do sail with them it will probably be a one and done. We have paid in full so I have no choice now.

Not impressed with them right now.

23 hours ago, LDVinNC said:

Which boat?  I think their smaller boats' passenger capacity might exempt those from the order.

 

But I would not want to be cruising anywhere until COVID is no longer an issue, which might be a long time from now.

We are scheduled to be on the American Queen starting September 20, 2020. I know it's not going to happen (and I don't want to go) but as they are over the passenger limit they need to cancel.

When I went to check today their website wouldn't load correctly. Hoping the error is on their side, not mine.

I called AQSC today because it had been 3 weeks since I ordered a new brochure for 2021.

While on the phone I asked about the CDC no sail order. The phone agent stated that the ruling doesn't apply to them.

Which it CLEARLY does. It states "in waters subject to US jurisdiction,".

If I don't get a cancellation soon from them for my September cruise I am going to look into reporting them to the CDC. 

On 7/11/2020 at 12:19 AM, mickrory said:

The CDC ban expires on 24/7/20 so I expect we'll hear something stateside in the next couple of weeks.

Our final balance is due mid August for an October cruise out of San Pedro but we've no intention of traveling to the US while their infection rates are so high.

Going to hang fire for CDC update.

The CDC updated its ban this past week. No cruising in the USA through September.

I am in California which is shut down again til early August.

AQSC still has sailings starting in August. But this is what I found when I looked up the no sail order that is in effect until the end of September.

I am scheduled for the Queen which is well more than 250 people. I don't understand how they haven't announced more cancellations of their cruises.

4 hours ago, LDVinNC said:

When you booked, you agreed to their terms and conditions, and one of them is that cancellation is subject to a $250/pp administrative fee.  Most of the smaller cruise lines have such fees.

 

We switched our Mighty Mississippi cruise booking to next year and it is about the same price we would have been paying this year.

 

Did you have trip insurance?  That might help you recoup the fee.

We bought trip insurance for $25 per person to cover the $500 cancellation fee "just in case". And then increased our coverage when we bought airfare and made final payment for our cruise.

We are booked for September 2020. Waiting until August to make our final decision (if AQSC haven't already cancelled by then)

I think the share holder credits may be getting processed like refunds. 😆

When I sent in the paperwork and info for my June 2 cruise, I included two cruises I had already booked for  April and September 2021.  Yes,, I listed my booking number, ship name and date of cruise.

No OBC listed on either related to share holder. Only military and TA gift in OBC.

18 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Why would you wait that long if you don't have to?  I always send mine in months ahead of time without a problem.

That's good to know. I had read somewhere that they won't process it unless it is close to your sail date.

I just purchased mine earlier this year so I have no  personal experience yet. I sent mine off in March but of course my cruise (June 2) was cancelled.

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Send the account statement showing you own at least 100 shares of Carnival stock. Make sure you black out the account number of your statement. Include your name(s), your ship and sailing date, and your booking number.

Also, don't bother sending it in until maybe a month before the cruise. Do this for every cruise sending a current statement every time.

(found that one out the hard way)

We are currently trying to decide whether or not to cancel our September 20 SB cruise on the Queen. Our traveling companions are definitely not going as he has health concerns.

As they have suspended the cruises through August 8, maybe we should just wait see if AQSC cancels.

Lines with larger ships have cancelled thru September and later. Maybe AQSC will follow.

Our river cruise is September from Memphis to New Orleans on the American Queen. It is fully paid for. (we paid for flights too)

Has anyone moved a fully paid trip to next year? Are there any bonuses for doing that?

Trying to decide whether to wait for them to cancel or do it ourselves.

Hopefully meeting with our travel companions this week to discuss the pros and cons. Not really sure if we want to spend the whole trip with masks on and social distancing.

Thanks for any help.

On 5/29/2020 at 4:37 AM, crusinbanjo said:

Update......  No response from my query from last Friday

Heard anything yet?

16 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

An issue I've seen when reading through posts is some difficulty booking when you're doing a re-positioning cruise and you need to book 2 one-way tickets.  In my case it'll be flying into LA and flying home from Fort Lauderdale.

 

And I definitely will take your advice Hlitner.  Thanks!

I used EZ Air last summer and had no problems. We flew San Francisco to Shannon and home from Heathrow. No problems booking on the Princess website. We flew first class except for a small 2 hour flight going from Heathrow to Shannon.

Just input that where you want each flight to start and end. I booked early and refared at least 2 times to save a lot of money.

Overall, I paid over $2000 less then if I had booked the flights direct.

Very interesting as I have not gotten ANY communication from AQSC.

We are on the September 21 American Queen from Memphis to New Orleans.

I booked with a travel agent but I would think I am still entitled to some kind of communication.

The following is on the American Queen website:

American Queen Steamboat Company has temporarily suspended operations across all boats through June 21, 2020. The decision was made due to the evolving and unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued wide-spread governmental restrictions across ports, cities and public institutions. Please continue to check our travel alerts page for the latest updates to our sailing schedule, as well as our latest change policy updates.

We are booked for September. Final payment has been made and flights booked. I really hope we will be allowed to sail.

On 5/7/2020 at 12:09 PM, LDVinNC said:

 

I sure would like to know where you are seeing those posts. I certainly have not seen any such posts except from "dog" and a few others who cancelled before the March 12 pause.

I am part of a group on Facebook  called "Princess Cruises Information Page". 

5 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

I agree.....Princess is not refunding anyone and if they have not been able to process refund requests from March 12, 2020 then they certainly are not going to be able to handle all of the cruises they just canceled and refunds.  They are basically committing fraud at this point and I would encourage you to file complaints with your state authorities and also write your congressional  representatives for upcoming hearings on CCL....

I have read lots of posts where people HAVE received their refund.  All the Princess employees are working from home and have to process each account manually. My understanding is they don't have access to the same computer info as they do when they are physically at work. They have to check the fares, payments made, and how it was paid.

Patience is a virtue (and it is not nice to spread rumors that have no fact basis)

3 hours ago, bennybear said:

 

Though the doubling is tempting!  Bird in hand? 

At this point there is no doubling with the FCC. Our June 2 cruise was canceled. Our choices are 125% FCC or our money back. 

Those in the early cancellations got much much more. I'm okay with that.

I would recommend checking the Princess site maybe once a week. Sometimes travel agents buy blocks of rooms to sell. For whatever reason they occasionally open up again.  

For our September cruise I need to find transportation from the port to a hotel. Currently looking at a Holiday Inn a block or 2 from Bourbon Street.

Where does the ship dock? And what kind of transportation is readily available at the dock? Do I need to book it in advance?

There will be four of us traveling together.

Thanks for any info.

3 minutes ago, Ombud said:

This may no longer be true but Princess cancelled my cruise on March 12, 2020. I received a 100% refund + 50% FCC which was 537. I already had another cruise with a balance due (September 4, 2020) so paid it off and bought 202.13 OBC. But that was last month. Like I said : things may have changed 

Current options are 125% of cruise fare as FCC (and they keep your money) OR your money back.

Not nearly as good as you got.

My question for option 1 is how can those credits be used? Only to purchase a cruise? If there is leftover credit can it be used on the cruise for other purchases like other on board credit?

I am asking because I purchased 3 cabins for a family cruise that of course got cancelled. My husband and I cruise a lot but the family members in the other 2 cabins don't. 

The FCC issued under option 1 will go to each cabin holder, not me, even though I paid for all 3 cabins. If they can use the extra credit on board then I might do option 1.

Otherwise I am going to have to ask for credit back to my credit card. And wait.

Update:

Yes, the cruise was cancelled. I contacted Chilkoot Tours to request a refund and cancel our tour.

They replied by email that a credit will be posted to my credit card. No cancellation fee.