Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

We have a couple of cruises for January 2021 and will probably cancel soon before Princess.

so when is Princess gonna cancel those cruises ? when is the next round coming ? why, well, we all know why, does Princess still have cruises in November able to be booked for NZ and Australia ( pause 4 only went thru 10/31/20 for those cruises )

 

wanna gamble to double your 'deposit' - book one of those November cruises today ... book the most expensive cabin you can afford to have your money "tied up" until you can cruise again 

[ceilidh1]

Just now, Coral said:

I had a December 18 cruise booked. It didn't fall under the last pause. I just cancelled it as I didn't want to be thrown into another Pause and wait forever for a refund. My minimal refund ($100) and excursions ($80) was refunded within 10 days. I did cancel excursions first. I am not sure about you but even if your Hawaii cruise goes, I would not feel comfortable sailing in March. I would probably cancel it. I could care less about a double your deposit offer as I am not even sure I am going to use the FCC I received.

 

Yes - I just want this over. You would not believe what I had to sent to Princess to prove my case. Pretty bad treatment for an Elite cruiser.

I agree - the way this was handled on all counts was unacceptable. I expected better of Princess and was very disappointed.

 

I am 99.9% sure we won't sail in March - final payment is in January so I have some time to weigh the options. I don't want to cancel until my March sailing from THIS year has been squared away since I don't want any refund from NEXT year's cruise to look like it was from THIS year's cancellation. It's sad that I have to be concerned about this, but the disorganisation from Princess leaves me VERY concerned that the refunds could be misinterpreted! My cruise next March is already 60% paid for (2 weeks in a full suite, so a chunk of change) so I don't want to have to fight for that money back!

[Coral]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

so when is Princess gonna cancel those cruises ? when is the next round coming ? why, well, we all know why, does Princess still have cruises in November able to be booked for NZ and Australia ( pause 4 only went thru 10/31/20 for those cruises )

 

wanna gamble to double your 'deposit' - book one of those November cruises today ... book the most expensive cabin you can afford to have your money "tied up" until you can cruise again 

Not all of us are interested in double  your deposit. I don't want Princess holding on to my money at this point.

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, san diego sue said:

If you cancel before Princess does for the next round of cancellations, you get your refund right away. It is when we get caught up in the huge Princess cancels cruises that the big wait begins.  I cancelled in July for October cruises (before Princess cancelled) and my money was on my credit card in a few days. No bonus FCC but I just wanted my money back and got it.

We have a couple of cruises for January 2021 and will probably cancel soon before Princess.

I canceled my September cruise April 15th. This was before Pause 3. I was refunded (to gift cards) this week. So not necessarily 

[Coral]

1 minute ago, ceilidh1 said:

I agree - the way this was handled on all counts was unacceptable. I expected better of Princess and was very disappointed.

 

I am 99.9% sure we won't sail in March - final payment is in January so I have some time to weigh the options. I don't want to cancel until my March sailing from THIS year has been squared away since I don't want any refund from NEXT year's cruise to look like it was from THIS year's cancellation. It's sad that I have to be concerned about this, but the disorganisation from Princess leaves me VERY concerned that the refunds could be misinterpreted! My cruise next March is already 60% paid for (2 weeks in a full suite, so a chunk of change) so I don't want to have to fight for that money back!

Extremely valid point! I was waiting on a $178 refund from my April cruise (until this larger EZ Air issue came up). I didn't want to cancel my December cruise until that was resolved because the amounts were within $30. I was thinking the same way you are.

[voljeep]

26 minutes ago, Coral said:

Not all of us are interested in double  your deposit. I don't want Princess holding on to my money at this point.

having a choice is a beautiful thing, huh ?

[Squire5000]

33 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

If you cancel before Princess does for the next round of cancellations, you get your refund right away. It is when we get caught up in the huge Princess cancels cruises that the big wait begins.  I cancelled in July for October cruises (before Princess cancelled) and my money was on my credit card in a few days. No bonus FCC but I just wanted my money back and got it.

We have a couple of cruises for January 2021 and will probably cancel soon before Princess.

If you know you'e not going to sail, just cancel and get your money back. IMHO, the FCC is just a gimmick to keep your money.  I'm not going to  give interest free loans to Princess.  That's what bank are for.  I'm still on the fence as to whether some of these cruise ones will survive this thing.  

[Coral]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

having a choice is a beautiful thing, huh ?

I have seen enough of Princess having accounting issues - I would not trust Princess to do this correctly either. I know several who are fighting to get a correct FCC. If the company was making money, yea - but in this situation, I would not advise anyone to keep their money with Princess.

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Squire5000 said:

If you know you'e not going to sail, just cancel and get your money back. IMHO, the FCC is just a gimmick to keep your money.  I'm not going to  give interest free loans to Princess.  That's what bank are for.  I'm still on the fence as to whether some of these cruise ones will survive this thing.  

I completely agree.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I have seen enough of Princess having accounting issues - I would not trust Princess to do this correctly either. I know several who are fighting to get a correct FCC. If the company was making money, yea - but in this situation, I would not advise anyone to keep their money with Princess.

and I'm not "advising" anyone to do anything - never said what anyone else "should" do ...

[Aulanis]

  Ok while the 120dayplus club is in full swing
I have encountered another small problem.
Since we got our FCCs I have been bombarded
with emails suggesting I rebook something.
Book with confidence etc  - not a chance but
book I did.    Through a TA and  as some of you
had FCCs automatically applied to a cruise when
you wanted/preferred to use it for a different cruise
I pre warned them that as we had more FCCs than 
the cruise we wanted to book AND  we had an FCD
that we did want to use to make sure that the FCD
was applied first and the FCCs for the balance.

I could have booked it myself but having foreseen
this possible snag  did it via our  TA .
and.....  I was right - it did go wrong  ended up paying
the full price for the cruise with FCCs then a further
£150  when the FCD was applied.

Not happy at all  - I have told the TA to sort it out

I know there is the " not all credits are combinable"
but hope Princess are not going to say that!
anyone else heard of this happening.

I have checked since we booked and the cruise is
the same price for the cabin we booked - it would
have to be a remarkable coincidence if when the
TA booked it had a mystery price rise  exactly £75pp.
 

[cherylandtk]

Aulanis, that is all something that should have been sorted by your TA at the time of booking.  But yes, they should be able to get it taken care of now....and the price will be whatever it was on the booking date, (Princess price less any TA discount difference)

[coo359a2]

Last week I booked a cruise for Dec 2021 with my TA.  She was on the phone with Princess so she  just did the bookings to grab the two cabins I wanted.  She applied our FCDs and Princess automatically used enough  FCCs (2 1/2) to pay for all but the port/tax fees.  She said it would be no problem to remove the FCCs if I wanted to - which I did.   So she had all the FCCs removed and they now show as active on my Circle Savings Account.  I'll use them once I know for sure that a cruise will definitely be go.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

  Ok while the 120dayplus club is in full swing
I have encountered another small problem.
Since we got our FCCs I have been bombarded
with emails suggesting I rebook something.
Book with confidence etc  - not a chance but
book I did.    Through a TA and  as some of you
had FCCs automatically applied to a cruise when
you wanted/preferred to use it for a different cruise
I pre warned them that as we had more FCCs than 
the cruise we wanted to book AND  we had an FCD
that we did want to use to make sure that the FCD
was applied first and the FCCs for the balance.

I could have booked it myself but having foreseen
this possible snag  did it via our  TA .
and.....  I was right - it did go wrong  ended up paying
the full price for the cruise with FCCs then a further
£150  when the FCD was applied.

Not happy at all  - I have told the TA to sort it out

I know there is the " not all credits are combinable"
but hope Princess are not going to say that!
anyone else heard of this happening.

I have checked since we booked and the cruise is
the same price for the cabin we booked - it would
have to be a remarkable coincidence if when the
TA booked it had a mystery price rise  exactly £75pp.
 

We ONLY put the FCDs down on our two future cruises.  Our TA says she "froze" the FCCs so they would not be applied now.  We are waiting for final payment to apply them. If the cruise is cancelled, we only have to wait for the $200 in FCDs to come back to us.
When/if we do apply the FCCs, the only $$$ we will owe are the taxes and fees, the discounted amount for Princess Patinum insurance and any transfers, airfare and other "extras".
I feel comfortable with that.
Hope it all works out.

[richstowe]

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

we had an FCD that we did want to use to make sure that the FCD
was applied first and the FCCs for the balance.

Why use the FCD first ? I thought the FCC's expire before the FCD's . 

Could somebody explain why it's better to use FCD's first .

[Aulanis]

I dont know if it is an explanation, but  our FCC and FCDs  expire a

year after  this cruise.

I they apply all the FCCs  then (in the UK) that pays everything as 

the port fees are included in the advertised price and in the price we pay.

 FCCs are applied automatically to the next cruise you book, but can

be moved to a previously booked cruise if you were waiting for the FCCs

 

However we wanted to use the FCDs so as to get the OBC   on this cruise.

In order to do this you have to apply it before the FCCs   else maybe,

as we did you end up paying an additional  £150  for the cruise.

 

I think it is PCs  booking site cant really handle it.  It is very difficult

in the UK to  contact PCUK   so the TA may have tried to book on line

put in our circle numbers and bingo it applied the FCCs.

 

I am waiting for a full response from our TA as to what happened.

Will post when I know.

Thanks all for the replies  I am now thinking to  reverse the FCCs  until

next April.  - that would actually fix the problem.

One reason for  using the FCCs  NOW   is I have no confidence in

anything cruise wise  and did think  just maybe Carnival  could mess with

the fleets and Island could go to  say P & O  and the FCCs not honored

whereas if they had been applied to a cruise there might be less

hassle.  Odd the things you can think when you have been fed lies and

more lies   for 4 months.  

[lanzie99]

After waiting 150 days, we have finally got all our money back, including deposit which took an additional 2 months. Our cruise was for the end of April. I am assuming my FCC is accurate, not sure if we will cruise with Princess again. My notes on all the back and forth conversations can be deposed of. It really takes patience and perseverance.  Let’s hope everyone that a solution to this pandemic will happen sooner rather than later and we can get back to our normal travels.

[cruzsnooze]

    Here's what I learned, the hard way about my FCC's. I went to book a cruise and it takes all your FCC"s up to the cruise fare (not port fee or taxes). It only applies it to your fare and puts the balance back in your FCC account. It  doesn't and won't cover your travel mate be it a spouse or roomie. So you cannot pay with FCC"s if you want to treat a child or friend or anyone else. 

  Next thing I learned is the FCC cannot be split up to different cruises. The booking takes the FCC up to the full fare. I wanted to book 2 cruises with the FCC using half for each cruise so's not to have to come up with any cash after the hassle of getting refunds or credits. I'm planning one cruise with a friend who has no FCC so they have to pay.  I have all this extra FCC still in my account. So it doesn't go towards paying towards the cabins total fare only my fare. 

[Ombud]

Here's how my PVP applied them across 3 cruises. Only XTC××× is paid off in full. I still owe for the cruise fare on the other 2 (I'm hoping they'll drop in price as they're a LOT higher than they were this year) 

Maybe ask your PVP to put some back in your bank for another cruise?

 

And yeah, they don't cover insurance (which dropped to $39), port fees, & taxes and cannot transfer. 1 kid has 826.50 and the other only has 241.50 so I'll owe for them. Their original fare was 1075 / I got 1068. So close

Edited August 24, 2020 by Ombud

[caribill]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

    Here's what I learned, the hard way about my FCC's. I went to book a cruise and it takes all your FCC"s up to the cruise fare (not port fee or taxes). It only applies it to your fare and puts the balance back in your FCC account. It  doesn't and won't cover your travel mate be it a spouse or roomie. So you cannot pay with FCC"s if you want to treat a child or friend or anyone else. 

 

Correct. The FCCs are in your name and can only be used in your name. However, if your travel mate is the same one as on the cancelled cruise, he/she should have FCCs to use on the new booking.

 

Works the same with airlines. If you cancel the flight, your credit is only for use in your name.

 

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

  Next thing I learned is the FCC cannot be split up to different cruises. The booking takes the FCC up to the full fare. I wanted to book 2 cruises with the FCC using half for each cruise so's not to have to come up with any cash after the hassle of getting refunds or credits.

 

Nobody gets just one FCC, If you had paid in full, you get one FCC for what you paid and a 2nd FCC for the bonus 25%. The amounts are not even, but you can apply each to a different cruise if you wish.

 

If you had only paid a deposit (not paid in full), then you get two FCCs of equal value, one for the amount of the deposit (minimum $100) and an equal amount as a bonus FCC. You can apply each to a different cruise if you wish.

[Aulanis]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

Nobody gets just one FCC,

 

Unless it was for a cruise cancelled while you were on it ?  in which case   

different terms might apply.

At least that is the case if you take Cash refund plus  % FCC.

[cruzsnooze]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

 

If you had only paid a deposit (not paid in full), then you get two FCCs of equal value, one for the amount of the deposit (minimum $100) and an equal amount as a bonus FCC. You can apply each to a different cruise if you wish.

I tried to use of the one of  FCC's and it took the entire cruise fare which dipped into the second FCC.  I have 2 FCC's of equal amount from a double deposit.

[Ombud]

5 hours ago, Aulanis said:

 

Unless it was for a cruise cancelled while you were on it ?  in which case   

different terms might apply.

At least that is the case if you take Cash refund plus  % FCC.

Yes in my case it depended on which cruise it was issued under. 1 got 1 for 3/22/20 & 2 for 03/29/20 but didn't have to put the entire amount on any cruise and none of them could be used as a deposit. 

 

That's what's so confusing. 3 pre-pause periods + 3 pauses add up to what might be 6 'rules:' (1) not part of a pause but after February (2) Pause 1 Option 1 (3) Pause 1 Option 2 (4) Pause 2 (5) Pause 3 (6?) Cancellations between pauses ..... no wonder everyone at 1-800-Princess is so mixed up 😳

[vino100]

Well today is my lucky day. I finally have all my $ returned. It only took princess 164 days since my canceled cruise. If anyone is still waiting,  there will be $ aT the end of the long wait. 

[cruzluvr2]

Friends of ours finally got their $$ back this weekend from a canceled May 30 cruise. The weird thing to me was that my DH and I received ours over 2 months ago. My thought is that ours was one amount returned to one credit card. Theirs was two credit cards, differing amounts for insurance, and one with a referral reward. She would have been a new cruiser, not sure that will happen after this fiasco.