Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[mrsbillyp]

I booked my canceled May 9th Panama Canal sailing through Costco. I received the email from Princess with the cancelation form on March 12th, filling it out the same day for option #2 (100% refund plus 25% FCC). I did quickly get the confirmation email confirming receipt.
 

Then in March 31st (nearly 3 weeks later), Costco sends me an email saying action is needed and they need to know my Refund/FCC preferences. They provide their own form that reverses the option #s compared to Princess — I select option #1 (100% refund plus 25% FCC). I call Costco to find out why they waited 3 weeks to send something and inquire as to whether my original request to Princess will be processed or if I’m now at the back of the line because they will wait for Costco’s delayed form. She said they will process whichever one they come to first. She also said they were informed by Princess today that they have added back-office support and are hoping to get refunds processed close to the 30 day mark (vs. 60-90 days). We’ll see but it’s encouraging. The better timing estimate could also be related to their recent fundraising that may help with cash flow.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, mrsbillyp said:

I booked my canceled May 9th Panama Canal sailing through Costco. I received the email from Princess with the cancelation form on March 12th, filling it out the same day for option #2 (100% refund plus 25% FCC). I did quickly get the confirmation email confirming receipt.
 

Then in March 31st (nearly 3 weeks later), Costco sends me an email saying action is needed and they need to know my Refund/FCC preferences. They provide their own form that reverses the option #s compared to Princess — I select option #1 (100% refund plus 25% FCC). I call Costco to find out why they waited 3 weeks to send something and inquire as to whether my original request to Princess will be processed or if I’m now at the back of the line because they will wait for Costco’s delayed form. She said they will process whichever one they come to first. She also said they were informed by Princess today that they have added back-office support and are hoping to get refunds processed close to the 30 day mark (vs. 60-90 days). We’ll see but it’s encouraging. The better timing estimate could also be related to their recent fundraising that may help with cash flow.

Saudis picked up 8.2% yesterday --- correlation? 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, mrsbillyp said:

She also said they were informed by Princess today that they have added back-office support and are hoping to get refunds processed close to the 30 day mark (vs. 60-90 days). We’ll see but it’s encouraging. The better timing estimate could also be related to their recent fundraising that may help with cash flow.

My 30 day mark was yesterday 😞

[mrsbillyp]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

My 30 day mark was yesterday 😞

Keep us posted — I hope you (and, selfishly, all of us) see refunds and credits very soon!

[Paula_MacFan]

I just spoke to a rep who confirmed my refund was 'processed' on 3/18 but has not been 'sent back to the card'.  I work in banking so I know they are just making up terms to justify dragging their feet.  If it was truly 'processed' it would be back on the card in a couple days.  I think they are saying 'we internally acknowledge that we owe you this money, hence it is 'processed'' but that has no actual bearing on when the money will be returned.  I am only waiting on a small deposit but sympathize with those of you waiting on $$$.

 

Edit to say I talked to a very pleasant rep and I was just as pleasant with her.  No need to blame the reps when they have a very difficult job right now.  I just thanked her for verifying they acknowledge my refund and went on with my day 🙂

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Paula_MacFan

[Coral]

33 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I just spoke to a rep who confirmed my refund was 'processed' on 3/18 but has not been 'sent back to the card'.  I work in banking so I know they are just making up terms to justify dragging their feet.  If it was truly 'processed' it would be back on the card in a couple days.  I think they are saying 'we internally acknowledge that we owe you this money, hence it is 'processed'' but that has no actual bearing on when the money will be returned.  I am only waiting on a small deposit but sympathize with those of you waiting on $$$.

 

Edit to say I talked to a very pleasant rep and I was just as pleasant with her.  No need to blame the reps when they have a very difficult job right now.  I just thanked her for verifying they acknowledge my refund and went on with my day 🙂

 

I don't work in banking and have no clue if this is true but someone mentioned in another thread on another cruise line when doing large amounts of refunds, there are several steps involved to prevent fraud. 

 

Keep us posted also.

[azbirdmom]

13 minutes ago, Coral said:

I don't work in banking and have no clue if this is true but someone mentioned in another thread on another cruise line when doing large amounts of refunds, there are several steps involved to prevent fraud. 

 

Keep us posted also.

 

I don't doubt that but it is odd that the refund of onboard items was stopped as well.  Those were automatic - you cancel them and within two days they appear on your credit card statement.  I cancelled my onboard items purchased for my May 9th cruise on March 8th, two days before I cancelled the cruise (which Princess then cancelled two days later).  The credits did in fact appear on my credit card on March 10th.

 

I do think that Princess had to do something to stop the refunds for everything on or soon after the date they announced the pause.  Perhaps they continued to manually process the refunds / FCD according to the requested option, but they didn't go anywhere due to lack of funds.  If that is the case then it might mean that we all see the missing amounts very quickly when they are ready to pay.  I didn't think that for a while but the recent news reports and infusion of cash convinces me that was the case.  We shall see!

[oskidunker]

5 hours ago, Tophat4321 said:

I contacted my CC company yesterday and disputed charges. They set up dispute and credited my account which showed up this AM for those charges. They informed me that they only go back 90 days for disputes. Dispute need to be resolved by Princess in 60 days. Good news I keep the money in my account for the disputed charges.

I just disputed a charge made by Amtrak which I purchased in October 2019. Bank of America told me there is no time limit and credited me back $126.00. This after being on hold for an hour and a half with Amtrak and giving up. On line would only refund to old credit card Inno longer have bb if a credited my current card and charged back Amtrak. 
 

I also have tour I am going to dispute with a private company that is not responding to emails. Tour was fir Sept 2020:in Sanguenay. Booked with Sanguenay Tours. Be ware. 

[ceilidh1]

9 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I don't doubt that but it is odd that the refund of onboard items was stopped as well.  Those were automatic - you cancel them and within two days they appear on your credit card statement.  I cancelled my onboard items purchased for my May 9th cruise on March 8th, two days before I cancelled the cruise (which Princess then cancelled two days later).  The credits did in fact appear on my credit card on March 10th.

 

I do think that Princess had to do something to stop the refunds for everything on or soon after the date they announced the pause.  Perhaps they continued to manually process the refunds / FCD according to the requested option, but they didn't go anywhere due to lack of funds.  If that is the case then it might mean that we all see the missing amounts very quickly when they are ready to pay.  I didn't think that for a while but the recent news reports and infusion of cash convinces me that was the case.  We shall see!

Yes, I am still waiting for prepaid shore excursions and pre paid gratuities on top of the other refund. Day 28 and still nothing. Same thing for my cancelled Carnival cruise too.

[rebeltech8]

Hi guys, a lot of info here about when we should expect refunds, and reading through it all I am no closer to knowing when to expect it, so I called Princess tonight to get the low down. 
 

When I spoke to them, I was told 60 days, but it begs the question 60 days from when?  We were supposed to leave on the Emerald for Hawaii next Tuesday. So i told the Rep that we had applied for the refund in mid-March like everyone else so asked if we should expect the refund in mid-May... nope...  it is 60 days from our cruise that should have left on April 14th.  
 

I expressly asked... so that would make it June 14th then right?  She said it could be sooner but yes, about then. 
 

That puts a different spin on things for me... going to have to see if there are other options out there.

[BIGADORF]

I got a call today from Princess regarding a refund for my independent air fare for a Princess cancelled cruise. I had filled out a form for reimbursement, not realizing at the time, I had purchased separate air insurance. I had filed a separate claim with Princess approximately 30 days ago. I have since received the airfare back to my credit card for the flight from the insurance company. I informed the representative from Princess that I got my money back. I then asked the status of my refund for the actual cruise. She said that part of getting money back was being handled by a different group at Princess and could not get me a status update. When I mentioned the 30/60/90 day delay she said that it may be even a longer time frame.

[lhall85917]

2 minutes ago, rebeltech8 said:

Hi guys, a lot of info here about when we should expect refunds, and reading through it all I am no closer to knowing when to expect it, so I called Princess tonight to get the low down. 
 

When I spoke to them, I was told 60 days, but it begs the question 60 days from when?  We were supposed to leave on the Emerald for Hawaii next Tuesday. So i told the Rep that we had applied for the refund in mid-March like everyone else so asked if we should expect the refund in mid-May... nope...  it is 60 days from our cruise that should have left on April 14th.  
 

I expressly asked... so that would make it June 14th then right?  She said it could be sooner but yes, about then. 
 

That puts a different spin on things for me... going to have to see if there are other options out there.

Our cruise was scheduled to leave on Feb 13 - nothing yet, getting VERY close to 60 days!

[travellovers2]

We canceled a cruise with a refundable $200 deposit. The person we spoke with said it would take 7-10 days to see the refund.

 

Then we get a call from the guy that is supposed to be our representative and he said that they cannot refund for 30-60 days after cancellation. I asked him why that long and he said "we are not going to hire more people just to refund money".  

 

But that does not make sense because when you book, they charge your credit card the same minute you finish booking, so why would they have to hire more people if this is done automatically. We have always seen the refund within 1-2 days of cancellation. So it's done automatically as well.

 

I told him that a lot of people on cruise critic are upset about this because some people are out of work and they need that money. His response " I don't care what people on cruise critic think"

 

Not the kind of response I expected from Princess, but that helps me narrow down who we will cruise with in the future when all this is over. We are Platinum on Princess so he should have thought twice about how to treat a returning guest.

 

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We decided not to wait any longer. I know those who took option #1 for a large FCC, are probably not waiting on a credit back to their card, unless it was for some of the pre-purchases. 

 

In our case, it was $3500 cruise, and they credited back $1500 or so when we cancelled. At that time, we were at the 50% penalty and two days before the option #1 & #2 came out. We took the option #2, in which they owed us about $2000 back, and a 25% FCC. Our T/A did contact Princess, and they seen where we were in their system with the option #2 in process.

 

We planned on letting them work this out, however I can find no reason to wait. The end result is I wait on Princess to credit our card, or I dispute it, and Citi credits my card. There was no agreement with the cancellation options, that we would not receive the 25% FCC, if we disputed the charge, so no reason to wait several more months.  We will have the credit back in 2-3 days and then will check our Princess accounts every once in a while to see if the 25% FCC shows up.

 

One reason we waited this long, is due to getting some credit back originally, and not sure how Citi would handle the dispute since it's all online, and you pick a charge to dispute. When I selected the charge, further down it ask if I was disputing the entire amount or if not, how much of it was being disputed. I calculated the difference, so once they credit that partial amount back, it will net to zero.

 

Just see no advantage to wait in our circumstance. We can't seem to get a correct answer for how long we may or may not have to dispute it.

[springfire]

Princess and the rest of the cruise lines are hemorrhaging cash as we all continue to  wait and hope for our cash refunds.   In the meantime, Princess will be canceling many more cruises and will continue to owe even more people refunds as more future cruises are canceled.  Just not sure they survive without some kind of bailout from the government.  It appears they have given up on giving people their refunds as it appears Princess has stopped any more refunds at this time.  Lousy situation for all of us. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by springfire

[Mackenzie1]

1 hour ago, springfire said:

Princess and the rest of the cruise lines are hemorrhaging cash as we all continue to  wait and hope for our cash refunds.   In the meantime, Princess will be canceling many more cruises and will continue to owe even more people refunds as more future cruises are canceled.  Just not sure they survive without some kind of bailout from the government.  It appears they have given up on giving people their refunds as it appears Princess has stopped any more refunds at this time.  Lousy situation for all of us. 

 

Yes, it is a lousy situation for us to be in.  A lot may depend on whether Princess gets up and running again.  If they do, they will need passengers, and hopefully, they will need to refund us so that we will be willing to cruise again.  By then, though, they may owe so much money to canceled passengers that they may not care to reimburse us even then.

[MarkieMark16]

From the Princess "FAQ" on cancelled cruises..  60 days from actual request for refund.  I'm at 25 right now.. 

 

1. How long will it take to get my refund or Future Cruise Credit (FCC)? 
   Given the volume of requests and the care being dedicated to ensure each one is handled accurately, it will take approximately 60 days for refunds and FCCs to be processed from the date we receive a guests preference. Please allow sufficient time for us to manage this process and know we are doing everything in our power to expedite where possible.

[dearinger]

Received a call from Princess a while ago and it was fairly encouraging. The woman said that she reviewed my request for refund on my hotel, flight add-ons (uogrades], etc were approved and that she was going to pass this on and I would received a refund from Princess within 60 days from today. She could not comment on EZ-Air or my cruise fare refund. She apologized for the slowness in response but Princess was going to make it right and work as quick as possible to refund all of my requests. This was $600 for pre-cruise hotel and $300 for airfare upgrades. 

 

Anyway, I wanted to pass this on. It seems like they are slowing wading through requests. 

[nho9504]

The ONLY and TRUE reason for the refunds being so slow in coming or not yet come at all, is they dont have the money  to handle this when they still need the money to operate the ships floating at sea, sending crews home, manage the never-ending crisis on infectious Princess ships - isn't it standing out to y'all that a majority of infectious ships are Princess ships?  

 

Now with Carnival issued junk bonds and diluted its shares to borrow billions, hopefully we will see our own money in the next month or couple more months. 

 

For those who paid the cruises with your own credit cards, file a dispute with the banks - so far I have read all banks issued credits on canceled trips when the airlines / cruise lines are dragging on their refunds. 

 

What Princess has been doing, it totally wears out the initial goodwill earned by the accommodating policy.  I for one, would think twice next time to book a cruise - even we are Elite with Princess and 4 Mariners with HAL,  any brand owned by Carnival would NOT be on our next cruise consideration, until they prove themselves again.  They really are stupid in wasting all the goodwill because that would not help them to save any more money, but rather, cost them many future $ as people are getting quite fed up on such handling.  In short, we lose the trust on them. 

[trrn2016]

I called Princess today regarding the status of refunds. I talked with Joanne, a supervisor. According to her, they are "just now setting up the system to process the refunds"!! She said when they start making refunds, it will be with the oldest cruises first. It does not matter when you make the cancellation!!!! I am so frustrated. 

[oskidunker]

10 hours ago, travellovers2 said:

We canceled a cruise with a refundable $200 deposit. The person we spoke with said it would take 7-10 days to see the refund.

 

Then we get a call from the guy that is supposed to be our representative and he said that they cannot refund for 30-60 days after cancellation. I asked him why that long and he said "we are not going to hire more people just to refund money".  

 

But that does not make sense because when you book, they charge your credit card the same minute you finish booking, so why would they have to hire more people if this is done automatically. We have always seen the refund within 1-2 days of cancellation. So it's done automatically as well.

 

I told him that a lot of people on cruise critic are upset about this because some people are out of work and they need that money. His response " I don't care what people on cruise critic think"

 

Not the kind of response I expected from Princess, but that helps me narrow down who we will cruise with in the future when all this is over. We are Platinum on Princess so he should have thought twice about how to treat a returning guest.

 

Absolutely dispute this on your credit card now.. the Credit Card companies are bending over backwards to helppeople.

[Tak8]

I understand your frustration.  Given the reputation of some of the Princess call center reps I wouldn't be surprised if you got a hold of someone else and they told you it would be handled in the order they were received.  For now a waiting game.

[trrn2016]

1 minute ago, Tak8 said:

I understand your frustration.  Given the reputation of some of the Princess call center reps I wouldn't be surprised if you got a hold of someone else and they told you it would be handled in the order they were received.  For now a waiting game.

I was transferred to a supervisor. She told me this.

[bluesea321]

7 minutes ago, trrn2016 said:

I called Princess today regarding the status of refunds. I talked with Joanne, a supervisor. According to her, they are "just now setting up the system to process the refunds"!! She said when they start making refunds, it will be with the oldest cruises first. It does not matter when you make the cancellation!!!! I am so frustrated. 

 

Sounds like a runaround to me, they do not want to refund cruises.

[Mackenzie1]

Princess just concluded their equity, bond and note offerings, which raised over $6 billion in cash.  Hopefully, the refund system is only being set up now because they did not have the liquidity to start the refunds before they received these additional funds.