On Board Credit Refund

[CallyCruzer]

How long does it take Princess to refund your onboard credit?  I had over $1200 refundable credit. My cruise ended five weeks ago and when I called Princess they said to email customerrelations@princesscruises.com as they handle refunds and they have no phone number.  Of course I heard nothing.  Anyone else had this issue. 

[Hlitner]

20 minutes ago, CallyCruzer said:

How long does it take Princess to refund your onboard credit?  I had over $1200 refundable credit. My cruise ended five weeks ago and when I called Princess they said to email customerrelations@princesscruises.com as they handle refunds and they have no phone number.  Of course I heard nothing.  Anyone else had this issue. 

We recently finished an Emerald Princess cruise with a remaining OBC.  Our OBC refund check showed-up (snail mail) about  3 weeks after the cruise.  Be careful to open all your mail (it comes in a normal size envelope) as you could easily mistake the mailing as junk mail and toss it out before looking :).

 

Hank

[Colo Cruiser]

25 minutes ago, CallyCruzer said:

How long does it take Princess to refund your onboard credit?  I had over $1200 refundable credit. My cruise ended five weeks ago and when I called Princess they said to email customerrelations@princesscruises.com as they handle refunds and they have no phone number.  Of course I heard nothing.  Anyone else had this issue. 

6  plus weeks

[Ombud]

Last week I called and asked Princess to roll over my refund from my last cruise (A$374) to my next downunder cruise. The rep stated it was processed Dec 18, making it 2 weeks after I disembarked. Waiting to see what shows up

[Coral]

6 weeks for mine.

[Cruise Raider]

I was all set to receive mine two weeks after we disembarked ... just as they had said it would.  

I have that Informed Delivery email for my mail and saw a letter from Bottomline Technology, which is who Princess uses to send out their refunds.  Unfortunately, it got lost in the mail somewhere.  We just have poor postal service in my neighborhood ... but that's another story.  Anyway, I knew I was supposed to receive it as it was scanned at the post office but still a few days went by and no check.  

After 5 days, I called BottomLine Technologies and they are so nice and accommodating.  They made a record of my inquiry and said to give it another week and if I still didn't receive it, they would cut a new check and cancel the one they originally sent.  Well, I received it shortly afterwards, it was a little ripped on one side so think it was just caught in something on the mail truck or in the post office before anyone noticed it ... or maybe delivered to the wrong address.  

After a month, I would definitely contact BottomLine Technologies to see what they could do.  You will only really need to give them your name, your booking number from the cruise ...normal stuff.  

https://www.bottomline.com/us/products/bottomline-paymode-x

 

One post mentioned it looks like junk mail ... and it does.  I forgot about a future cruise deposit once and it had expired and they sent a check out to me.  I thought at first it was a scam or junk mail ... glad to have not made that mistake for real.  This most recent time, they sent out a refund for my unused refundable obc.  

 

[vampiress]

i had a move over offer, and didn't even come close to using all of my on board credit.  i received mine surprisingly quick, i want to say within a month.  but barbecue they send in a  nondescript envelope, i had to look for it.

 

if you don't get in in 2 months, ask them to resend it

[Pierlesscruisers]

5 hours ago, CallyCruzer said:

How long does it take Princess to refund your onboard credit?  I had over $1200 refundable credit. My cruise ended five weeks ago and when I called Princess they said to email customerrelations@princesscruises.com as they handle refunds and they have no phone number.  Of course I heard nothing.  Anyone else had this issue. 

I've gotten it back in 2-3 weeks and have had it take 6-8 weeks.  I suspect it varies according to the workload at the 3rd party office that handles the refunds.

 

I'll attach a copy of the envelope that mine always comes in so you'll recognize it when it arrives.

 

Tom

Vet OBC refund envelope.pdf

[MissP22]

A better idea is to use it on the ship & not have to worry about getting anything back a month or so later. 

[geoherb]

My expected refund from my back-to-back cruises never came. The rep I spoke with explained that since it was under $25 per cruise, I should have cashed out on the ship. The problem is the ship's accounting procedure showed me receiving over $90. I ended up getting a goodwill credit toward another cruise instead.

[Cruiser_1977]

Also, are you sure your OBC was refundable? There is non-refundable OBC as well.

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

Also, are you sure your OBC was refundable? There is non-refundable OBC as well.

 

Whoa ... that would be a horrible mistake if that's what happened.  At least go hog wild in the casino or buy a nice watch or something.  

[Ken the cruiser]

Is it possible to designate extra OBC at the end of the cruise to your cabin steward and/or MDR wait staff? That would definitely come in handy as we usually tip both quite well at the end of a cruise.

[CallyCruzer]

1 hour ago, Pierlesscruisers said:

I've gotten it back in 2-3 weeks and have had it take 6-8 weeks.  I suspect it varies according to the workload at the 3rd party office that handles the refunds.

 

I'll attach a copy of the envelope that mine always comes in so you'll recognize it when it arrives.

 

Tom

Vet OBC refund envelope.pdf 770.89 kB · 17 downloads

Thank you. It’s frustrating that I can’t speak to anyone at Princess but have to wait for a reply email.  I am used to Celebrity refunding immediately on my credit card.  

[Shiprobbo]

Well we disembarked Sapphire Princess on 8th October and had a refundable OBC of USD264.93. Despite 3 phone calls and one email I am yet to receive any refund, despite being told twice that it was on its way. In 50+ cruises with Princess and 75 cruises in total, this is the first time I have felt the need to complain.

 

I was prepared to cut some slack being located in Australia and the refund being USD, but it should be easy to credit back to my Credit Card. Not angry, just really disappointed that it has not been resolved.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Shiprobbo

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Is it possible to designate extra OBC at the end of the cruise to your cabin steward and/or MDR wait staff? That would definitely come in handy as we usually tip both quite well at the end of a cruise.

I do not think you can designate your OBC to specific cruise members although it might be possible to increase your autotips which go into the shipwide tipping pool.  If you want to give extra tips to certain individuals it is probably best to just quietly hand them cash and pay yourself back when you get your OBC refunded in a few weeks.

 

Hank

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I do not think you can designate your OBC to specific cruise members although it might be possible to increase your autotips which go into the shipwide tipping pool.  If you want to give extra tips to certain individuals it is probably best to just quietly hand them cash and pay yourself back when you get your OBC refunded in a few weeks.

 

Hank

That's the way it appears since increasing our auto tips won't allow us to target who we would want to give extra tips to.

[Mr_Plow]

Just got mine 3 weeks to the day we disembarked. Was sent to my Canadian address. Not bad IMO.

 

Similar experience earlier this year - delivered in about 3 weeks.

[capriccio]

We received our check in five weeks this past summer.  It was the first time we ever had a refund and I knew (thanks to posters on this board) to look for an envelope from Bottomline.  I did notice that it now includes 'for Princess Cruises' on the return address which is helpful.

[kitty2264]

Our check arrived just two weeks after we got home.  I would agree with "Hlitner" that it does look a bit like junk mail.

[MissP22]

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I do not think you can designate your OBC to specific cruise members although it might be possible to increase your autotips which go into the shipwide tipping pool.  If you want to give extra tips to certain individuals it is probably best to just quietly hand them cash and pay yourself back when you get your OBC refunded in a few weeks.

 

Hank

That's the best way to ensure the person who you want to receive it gets it.

Otherwise it goes into the big pot & distributed to everyone.

I know they say if you have the autotips in place they'll receive it back after they confirm it, but I know who's hand I placed it in. 

The other OBC goes to the casino & I'm always the winner in that case. 😁

[Cruise Raider]

18 hours ago, CallyCruzer said:

Thank you. It’s frustrating that I can’t speak to anyone at Princess but have to wait for a reply email.  I am used to Celebrity refunding immediately on my credit card.  

 

Did you try calling BottomLine Technologies?  They can tell you if the check has been issued or not.  Included a link to them in a previous post.  

[CallyCruzer]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Did you try calling BottomLine Technologies?  They can tell you if the check has been issued or not.  Included a link to them in a previous post.  

I did not know about them. Will look for your previous post. Thank you. 

[Cruise Raider]

10 minutes ago, CallyCruzer said:

I did not know about them. Will look for your previous post. Thank you. 

 

Post #6 ....

They were so customer service oriented and at least you will know if it is a mail problem or a technical problem with the issuance of the check.  You can start there ... and they answer their phones pronto!  

[BigGuy25]

On 12/23/2019 at 12:35 PM, MissP22 said:

A better idea is to use it on the ship & not have to worry about getting anything back a month or so later. 

With all of the onboard credit deals that Princess offers along with travel agent OBC and the OBC you get from shareholder credits, future cruise credits, etc., you can often end up with so much OBC that spending it all is just wasteful!!  We’ve had two recent cruises with almost $2,000 of OBC (plus free gratuities) and after enjoying cocktails, spa services, specialty dining, and some shopping ... we still had a lot left over!