Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[Slotown]

On 6/12/2020 at 6:15 AM, Ombud said:

Unfortunately this may be the case where 'ask 3 Princess employees get 4 answers' BUT I heard that if you do not specifically request a refund you get FCC

That was my understanding also.  Must file form and request option 2 for refund

[Coral]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

 

 

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

I did cancel before Princess cancelled and was willing to take the responsibility. I do have to say Princess waited too long for their pause. It was unsafe where I was traveling to and I could not count on Princess to do the right thing. In the news as 2 Princess ships that were having COVID-19 issues. I got an email from Princess offering me money if I continued on with my voyage. It was not safe to do so and I cancelled. Princess should have learned from the Diamond Princess and the other ship - Grand? that had issues.

 

Can you imagine if they had not done their 60 day pause when they did? Things would have been far worse. Imagine all of the transatlantic ships getting ready to go in March and April with people arriving on the ship with COVID-19?

 

Cruise ships were unprepared for the pandemic and it shows. I just wish they had done pause earlier when the Diamond Princess was having issues. It would have been the right thing to do.

[cherylandtk]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

 

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

I would be THRILLED if Princess honored the standard cancellation terms on my booking.  We specifically cancelled early knowing we were foregoing any percent of fare FCCs but wishing to minimize our out of pocket costs.  We cancelled at 64 days prior to the cruise which put us in the deposit amount as the penalty.  Our deposit was $2.  
 

It is now 89 days after we cancelled and Princess has given us nothing.

[EZ1]

Waiting now 70 days for our Princess refund!! Already have gotten refunds from Royal in 11-20 days &  refunds from Carnival in 30-45 days!! But did get an emailed confirmation of my refund request & they said they were being processed in order of sailing date(our canceled cruise was Jun27)!!

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by EZ1

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

 

I am going to take a wild guess that you didn't book a cruise that was cancelled by Princess as part of the first pause.  Those who have been posting with the most frequency here who cancelled just before the pause announcement did so after getting a special offer to cancel and get all of their cancellation fees set up as FCC with the balance refunded.  And then Princess cancelled all of these cruises within a week of sending out that offer.  They  cancelled the PVP that we had paid for which meant we could not claim anything and instead allowed us to elect to receive the amount we paid as entirely FCCs + a bonus or a full refund with a lower amount of bonus FCCs.  Then they delayed... and delayed... and delayed...  They haven't even lived up to the first offer that they made let alone the more generous offer.  Those were the terms we cancelled under and these terms were clearly stated in documents provided by Princess.  That is the reality.

[Roger88]

It will all depend on how and under what circumstances your refund has been processed. If you cancelled  the cruise before the official announcement, I doubt you will get back your money. If it has happend later or on the same day when the cruise was cancelled or it has been cancelled by the company itself then you might have some problems proving that the cancellation has been justify. Sometimes they just offer FFC credits or gift cards but never real money 

[azbirdmom]

15 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

I would be THRILLED if Princess honored the standard cancellation terms on my booking.  We specifically cancelled early knowing we were foregoing any percent of fare FCCs but wishing to minimize our out of pocket costs.  We cancelled at 64 days prior to the cruise which put us in the deposit amount as the penalty.  Our deposit was $2.  
 

It is now 89 days after we cancelled and Princess has given us nothing.

 

When Princess calculated our partial refund, the deposit they used was the standard 10%.  We used FCDs so I had thought that the deposit deducted would have been $200 for both of us but I understand that they use 10% to determine cancellation fees regardless of what you actually deposited.  At some point we will get that back, at least I hope we will!

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

It will all depend on how and under what circumstances your refund has been processed. If you cancelled  the cruise before the official announcement, I doubt you will get back your money. If it has happend later or on the same day when the cruise was cancelled or it has been cancelled by the company itself then you might have some problems proving that the cancellation has been justify. Sometimes they just offer FFC credits or gift cards but never real money 

In my situation, they cancelled on March 12th for all cruises in the next 60 days. They offered real full refunds (or FCC) to anyone who cancelled from February 4th to March 12th.

 

There was another situation before that, that they allowed those who cancelled the Diamond or Sapphire Princess (not sure which) - that they went retroactive to those who cancelled several weeks earlier because, they realized they made a mistake and it was unsafe to travel there.

[cherylandtk]

4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

When Princess calculated our partial refund, the deposit they used was the standard 10%.  We used FCDs so I had thought that the deposit deducted would have been $200 for both of us but I understand that they use 10% to determine cancellation fees regardless of what you actually deposited.  At some point we will get that back, at least I hope we will!

In the past (and who knows if that still applies) the auto refund system calculates the 10% penalty automatically.  Then when they process the refund the penalty amount is adjusted to the actual deposit amount.  I don’t know if this was a manual adjustment or what, but it never took more than a couple of days.  

[CJinSF]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

I would be interested to hear what others think about the situation!

 

I have all of your questions and more. So does the Federal Maritime Commission, one of the few U.S. government agencies that have any jurisdiction over cruise ships. See this story about what they're investigating: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/fmc-investigation-hones-cruise-line-refund-policies

 

If anyone would like to add your own experience to this investigation, you can do so in 2 ways:

 

1. Email Commissioner Sola at ff30@fmc.gov with your personal story and what you think should be done about cruise line refund practices.

 

2. File a consumer complaint with the agency, asking them to help resolve your issue. You can do so by emailing a brief description of your issue to complaints@fmc.gov . You don't need to share all details in your initial email, as they will send you back a form to fill out.

 

I have done both of these things, as well as file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General. My patience ran out a long time ago.

[azbirdmom]

34 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

In the past (and who knows if that still applies) the auto refund system calculates the 10% penalty automatically.  Then when they process the refund the penalty amount is adjusted to the actual deposit amount.  I don’t know if this was a manual adjustment or what, but it never took more than a couple of days.  

 

I think they shut down auto refunds right after our's was generated so it very well could be that is what killed any corrections.  That and the fact that a different cancellation policy was rolled out.

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I think they shut down auto refunds right after our's was generated so it very well could be that is what killed any corrections.  That and the fact that a different cancellation policy was rolled out.

I think I cancelled before you (or the same day) and it was turned off for me. I think you are lucky yours got through. It was sort of sporadic around that time.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coral

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I think I cancelled before you (or the same day) and it was turned off for me. I think you are lucky yours got through. It was sort of sporadic around that time.

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

I don't think she did anything different. It makes no sense.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coral

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I don't think she did anything different. It makes no sense.

 

Unless something about your transaction triggered manual processing to begin with.  We used one credit card for the whole thing.  No excursions or other on board purchases needed to be refunded.  We had already cancelled those on 3/8 as we were fairly certain that we would cancel the cruise and these refunds appeared on the credit card on 3/10.  I guess it isn't worth it to speculate - your final sentence above is probably the most accurate statement on this whole situation - it makes no sense!

[ceilidh1]

11 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

It's all over the place - I cancelled March 10th and got nothing. My client was cancelled March 9th and got the refundable portion back 4 days later. No rhyme or reason.

[Conal4749]

I don’t think it’s based on the date the cancellation was made but on sailing date.  We also cancelled 3/6 for a 5/16 sailing.  We are supposedly in the group to be refunded shortly.  As of today I was told that they have started working on this group.  At the time we cancelled we verbally told Princess we wanted a refund.  We didn’t have to fill anything out as it was prior to their cancelling any cruises.  We have had many conversations with various levels of representatives at PCL.  Always same story and “please be patient”.  Based on what I’ve seen on this site our refund should be coming in the next couple of weeks.  🤞🤞🤞

 

we did in the meantime deposit a cruise for 2021.   After some thought we decided to cancel and “wait and see”.  The refund for that deposit came back to our credit card within a few days, so I’m assuming it was handled by the regular system at PCL.

[ceilidh1]

2 minutes ago, Conal4749 said:

I don’t think it’s based on the date the cancellation was made but on sailing date.  We also cancelled 3/6 for a 5/16 sailing.  We are supposedly in the group to be refunded shortly.  As of today I was told that they have started working on this group.  At the time we cancelled we verbally told Princess we wanted a refund.  We didn’t have to fill anything out as it was prior to their cancelling any cruises.  We have had many conversations with various levels of representatives at PCL.  Always same story and “please be patient”.  Based on what I’ve seen on this site our refund should be coming in the next couple of weeks.  🤞🤞🤞

 

we did in the meantime deposit a cruise for 2021.   After some thought we decided to cancel and “wait and see”.  The refund for that deposit came back to our credit card within a few days, so I’m assuming it was handled by the regular system at PCL.

Nah, it's not based on anything really. My sailing date was March 14th, so if that was truly how they were processing mine would have been among the first done! The reps are still saying it's by sailing date but the VP of sales confirmed in a TA webinar that this was NOT the case.

[Coral]

22 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Unless something about your transaction triggered manual processing to begin with.  We used one credit card for the whole thing.  No excursions or other on board purchases needed to be refunded.  We had already cancelled those on 3/8 as we were fairly certain that we would cancel the cruise and these refunds appeared on the credit card on 3/10.  I guess it isn't worth it to speculate - your final sentence above is probably the most accurate statement on this whole situation - it makes no sense!

I had cancelled the shore excursions a week earlier. Used 2 credit cards - one for air and one for the cruise. Cruise was booked at final payment. Air had to be booked after. It was pretty straight forward. No deposit. She cancelled it on the Princess booking system. There was nothing else that needed to be refunded.

[darknightsdespiser]

10 hours ago, Spurschick said:

Beyond irritated.

 

Called again yesterday regarding refund of excursions, drinks packages and internet that we cancelled before all the mass cancellations began in March.

 

Was told cruise was refunded to TA two weeks ago (even though we asked for refund as can’t get hold of TA so now probably going to have to do CC dispute to find that money).

 

That was a start but given we cancelled excursions etc weeks before the cruise was cancelled I asked why that had not been refunded. I was point blankly told we will not give you a date. I asked to escalate was told “this conversation is going nowhere”

 

i will call back again Monday🙄

 

How are you managing to get them to answer the phone?

[Spurschick]

19 minutes ago, darknightsdespiser said:

How are you managing to get them to answer the phone?

Princess are answering no issues there.

 

But really irritating update.

 

Got back through to supervisor at Princess today about my excursion refunds.

 

I had received a response from TA that they had not received the money from Princess so asked at the same time if they could give me more info so TA could try to track down. Supervisor told me person that told me the refund had been sent was looking at wrong screen and now it actually hasn’t been refunded despite being told previously exact date and amount that was supposedly refunded.

 

Talk about completely untrained and left hand not knowing what right hand is doing.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Spurschick

[cherylandtk]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

I don't think she did anything different. It makes no sense.

“No sense” is correct. We and a friend booked with our same TA for a cruise together.  Both cancelled with N on same day about two hours apart.  (64 days before cruise, one month before Princess cancelled and 89 days ago) Our booking received a cancellation notice, friend’s did not. Friend was able to access the Option 1/2 page using booking number, we never have.  Friend is due back fare + 25% FCC, we just get fare, per Princess and TA.  No explanation why different. Neither of us have received a dime from Princess, nor any FCC yet. 

[ringers0815]

6 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

 I would be interested to hear what others think about the situation!

 I guess I am not too upset with Princess because we used a credit card dispute to resolve our refund rather than wait endlessly and get more and more upset and worried. In April, about 30 days after canceling our March 10 cruise under the March 5 cancellation policy, we filed a dispute with our credit card company. It took only a few days for the cc company to do their investigation and resolve the dispute in our favor and make the credit on our card permanent. Compare that to the situation in Canada with airline tickets. Airlines in Canada do not have to refund any money for cancelled flights. They give out vouchers that can be used within a certain time frame. We were lucky that we had ezair with our cruise. We got part of that money back and part as FCC. I had 2 other air tickets for other trips that were cancelled because of covid. I only got airline vouchers for those. No refund. Who knows if we will ever be able to use the vouchers (or the FCC). At least with Princess we got some money back. I just hope that everybody can get their refund from Princess soon. 

[Coral]

23 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

“No sense” is correct. We and a friend booked with our same TA for a cruise together.  Both cancelled with N on same day about two hours apart.  (64 days before cruise, one month before Princess cancelled and 89 days ago) Our booking received a cancellation notice, friend’s did not. Friend was able to access the Option 1/2 page using booking number, we never have.  Friend is due back fare + 25% FCC, we just get fare, per Princess and TA.  No explanation why different. Neither of us have received a dime from Princess, nor any FCC yet. 

Wow. Two hours apart, same TA and same cruise.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Coral

[Bgwest]

4 hours ago, CJinSF said:

 

I have all of your questions and more. So does the Federal Maritime Commission, one of the few U.S. government agencies that have any jurisdiction over cruise ships. See this story about what they're investigating: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/fmc-investigation-hones-cruise-line-refund-policies

 

If anyone would like to add your own experience to this investigation, you can do so in 2 ways:

 

1. Email Commissioner Sola at ff30@fmc.gov with your personal story and what you think should be done about cruise line refund practices.

 

2. File a consumer complaint with the agency, asking them to help resolve your issue. You can do so by emailing a brief description of your issue to complaints@fmc.gov . You don't need to share all details in your initial email, as they will send you back a form to fill out.

 

I have done both of these things, as well as file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General. My patience ran out a long time ago.

Good for you! Finally someone offering something factual and substantive rather than the same hand ringing and gnashing of teeth from the same people over and over and over again ad nauseum.