What's the time period for getting an excess OBC refund check after a cruise?

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on a 25 day Island Princess cruise which ended Feb 4th, almost 9 weeks ago, and have not received a check from Bottom Line yet for the refundable OBC that was on our account when the cruise ended. We contacted Bottom Line today and they haven't received anything from Princess yet. We, in turn, sent Princess an email this morning to try to find out what the status is. Anyone know what the average time period is for getting that refund check?

[oskidunker]

Good luck with that

[dog]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were on a 25 day Island Princess cruise which ended Feb 4th, almost 9 weeks ago, and have not received a check from Bottom Line yet for the refundable OBC that was on our account when the cruise ended. We contacted Bottom Line today and they haven't received anything from Princess yet. We, in turn, sent Princess an email this morning to try to find out what the status is. Anyone know what the average time period is for getting that refund check?

I don’t think there is any average time period for any refunds in these times. Call Princess maybe you will get an idea 

[voljeep]

90 days - when you're hot, you're hot ...

[pilot]

We got off the Regal on February 9 and received our check from Bottomline Technologies for our refundable OBC on March 20. 

[pilot]

34 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Good luck with that

Why would you say that?

[oskidunker]

No one who’s cruise was cancelled March 12 has received a refund. The Cruise line is hoarding money. Likely 60 days or more to get a refund if anything. I would dispute on your credit card, assuming you did not pay your final bill with cash. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by oskidunker

[StLouisCruisers]

58 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were on a 25 day Island Princess cruise which ended Feb 4th, almost 9 weeks ago, and have not received a check from Bottom Line yet for the refundable OBC that was on our account when the cruise ended. We contacted Bottom Line today and they haven't received anything from Princess yet. We, in turn, sent Princess an email this morning to try to find out what the status is. Anyone know what the average time period is for getting that refund check?

 

Ken the cruiser isn't talking about a cancellation refund check.  He is asking about a refund of unused refundable OBC from his Jan.-Feb. cruise.  Ken you should have heard from BottomLine Technology in 4 - 6 weeks.  Since you haven't heard from them yet, it's time to call Princess and have someone look into it.  They will need to do an audit.  

[Ken the cruiser]

15 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

No one who’s cruise was cancelled March 12 has received a refund. The Cruise line is hoarding money. Likely 60 days or more to get a refund if anything. I would dispute on your credit card, assuming you did not pay your final bill with cash. 

I'm not quite sure what you are referring to. Our cruise finished successfully on Feb 4th and we had an excess of $130 refundable OBC in our account which was supposed to be refunded to us in a reasonable amount of time. Since the COVID-19 issue didn't impact cruises until early March, about 5 weeks after our cruise ended, we were just wondering what the normal processing time was for a OBC refund.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

normal processing time

or new normal ? 4-6 weeks just became 8-12 weeks

[franktown]

I have always received my excess OBC refunds in 4 to 6 weeks.  If Bottomline hasn't received anything I would call Princess.

[geoherb]

Send Princess a message through the customer care page on the Princess website.

 

I had a problem on my Island Princess cruises last summer. I don't know if your cruise was just one cruise or back-to-back cruises. In my case, what they did on the ship in regards to my refundable onboard credit did not transfer to land. I ended up receiving a goodwill credit instead of a check.

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, geoherb said:

Send Princess a message through the customer care page on the Princess website.

 

I had a problem on my Island Princess cruises last summer. I don't know if your cruise was just one cruise or back-to-back cruises. In my case, what they did on the ship in regards to my refundable onboard credit did not transfer to land. I ended up receiving a goodwill credit instead of a check.

It was a single leg rather than a b2b. We sent an email yesterday via the customer care page and our now just waiting for a response. In the meantime, how can we determine if it was converted to a goodwill credit? Would it be listed somewhere in our online account?

[PescadoAmarillo]

We are still awaiting checks from cruises ended 12/27/19 and 2/12/20. DH is prodding me to call again tomorrow. We are also owed almost $3000 in FCD refunds. DH has told  me to cancel the few we still have remaining and try to get everything back. He’s simply done with Princess for awhile, I guess. 

[neverbeenhere]

As for expiring FCDs, I am thinking they could give a bonus to extend the period a couple more years. Maybe $10 to $20 per. 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by neverbeenhere

[MplsYogini]

We're still waiting for our refund from our cruise that ended on January 25, 2020.  I spoke to an individual at Princess that said that all refunds that had not been processed are now being handled by the same in-house group that's handling the cancellations (instead of Bottom Line), and could take another 30-60 days.

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, MplsYogini said:

We're still waiting for our refund from our cruise that ended on January 25, 2020.  I spoke to an individual at Princess that said that all refunds that had not been processed are now being handled by the same in-house group that's handling the cancellations (instead of Bottom Line), and could take another 30-60 days.

Thanks for the update and we're fine with that. Maybe they'll give us the option of a cash refund OR 125% of our refund as OBC on our next cruise, which we would definitely opt for.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Ken the cruiser

[RLK33853]

For the past couple of years we usually waited between 4 to 6 weeks for our refunded OBC.  I might add that we live in Canada so this probably adds to the delay.

 

2020 has been more in the range of 4 to 9 weeks.  For example we got off the Star on January 27th, 2020 and the Coral on March 5th.  We just received our refunds this week (April 7th) for both cruises.  Almost weird that cruises ending over 5 weeks apart were refunded at the same time but I'm sure they are very busy.

[PescadoAmarillo]

On 4/7/2020 at 8:03 PM, PescadoAmarillo said:

We are still awaiting checks from cruises ended 12/27/19 and 2/12/20. DH is prodding me to call again tomorrow. We are also owed almost $3000 in FCD refunds. DH has told  me to cancel the few we still have remaining and try to get everything back. He’s simply done with Princess for awhile, I guess. 

Another week, another phone call to Princess. This time I was told that, although a request for the refund for the refundable OBC for our cruise ending 12/27/19 has been sent to that department, it wasn’t sent until the third week in February, so technically we are still within 60 days timeframe. However, the emails I’ve sent containing our final on board spending statement for the cruise ended 2/12/20 have not even been sent to the correct person (despite having that person's name in the Subject line, and despite having received the standard confirmation that Princess had received the emails), and so I had to send it again yesterday. Therefore, 60 days hasn’t even started for that refund.
 

Why I have to send my spending statement to Princess three times when this is all supposed to be automatic, I do not understand. Why I am at the back of the line behind everyone requesting refunds for events that occurred after 2/12/20, I do not understand. But I hope Princess understands that we have cancelled every one of our upcoming cruises with them and will not book any new ones until we are rightfully reimbursed, regardless of what happens with COVID-19. Yes, this is a hill I will die on. 

[sandybeaches44]

18 hours ago, MplsYogini said:

We're still waiting for our refund from our cruise that ended on January 25, 2020.  I spoke to an individual at Princess that said that all refunds that had not been processed are now being handled by the same in-house group that's handling the cancellations (instead of Bottom Line), and could take another 30-60 days.

We're still waiting for our refund for refundable OBC too.  After speaking with Princess, I was told to send an email to Customer Relations at Princess with our Booking #, Cabin #, etc.  I Received their automatic reply stating that  response to guests will be in the order that they are received.

 

It was great meeting you at the Meet and Greet.  Thanks again for the picture of myself and Captain Tuvo.

 

Sandi

 

[MplsYogini]

4 hours ago, sandybeaches44 said:

It was great meeting you at the Meet and Greet.  Thanks again for the picture of myself and Captain Tuvo.

 

Sandi

 

 

It was great meeting you, too.  You're welcome for the picture.  I would love to sail with Captain Tuvo again!  🤩

[hillslife]

They are very slow these days with all going on.   Our cruise ended in January. Got a partial check March 20.. I emailed Customer Relations.. they disputed they owed me more.. I sent them copies of my final folio and the called me yesterday and said rest of the refund would be here in approximately 60 more days !!

 

Tip.. save your final folio showing the refundable OBC 

[Pierlesscruisers]

On 4/6/2020 at 12:19 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We were on a 25 day Island Princess cruise which ended Feb 4th, almost 9 weeks ago, and have not received a check from Bottom Line yet for the refundable OBC that was on our account when the cruise ended. We contacted Bottom Line today and they haven't received anything from Princess yet. We, in turn, sent Princess an email this morning to try to find out what the status is. Anyone know what the average time period is for getting that refund check?

 

I've gotten refunds anywhere from a couple of weeks to 6-8 weeks after the cruise. My personal rationale for the wide range of times is that it is due to the number of refund checks needing processing by the companies being serviced by Bottomline Technology (the company that processes the refunds) which means that it depends on the number of checks to process as well as the number of employees available at Bottomline.  Right now, that number might be unusually large.

 

Just my guess, however.

 

Tom

[StLouisCruisers]

4 hours ago, hillslife said:

They are very slow these days with all going on.   Our cruise ended in January. Got a partial check March 20.. I emailed Customer Relations.. they disputed they owed me more.. I sent them copies of my final folio and the called me yesterday and said rest of the refund would be here in approximately 60 more days !!

 

Tip.. save your final folio showing the refundable OBC 

 

Great tip.  It's important you keep that final folio.  Once we were expecting about $300 and after many weeks called to find out where the refund was.  They said well what about this bar charge for $312 by "John Doe" at the end of your cruise?  We said who is "John Doe"?  And how did that charge get on our account?  We sent them a copy of our final folio, they did an audit and decided it was a mistaken charge to our account (duh!) and sent out the check immediately.  If we hadn't called I don't know what would have happened.  Maybe charge our credit card $12?

[Chicagobearfan]

We got off the Crown Princess on February 25th after 3 weeks of sailing and had about $700 refundable OBC due.  I was pleasantly surprised when a check from Bottomline arrived in the mail by March 20.  Our friends that travelled with us received theirs at the same time.  I guess we were really lucky for such a quick turnaround.  I would definitely contact Princess since Bottomline has no record of your refund.  Good Luck!