*NEW?* All Guarantee Cabins Non-Refundable?

[caribill]

10 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I used two FCD's of $100 each bought on board a cruise. It is those that I am upset about losing as when I made the booking I was told that they were fully refundable up until final payment. No mention was ever made of their expiry date.

 

 

I had a booking for this year that included FCDs that expired after I made the booking.

 

I rebooked to change cabin category and the FCDs dropped off since they had expired and could not be applied to what was in effect a new booking. However the $200 that the two FCDs had cost were immediately refunded to the credit card I had used to purchase them.

 

For those of you who recently had the expired FCDs "lost", have you checked your credit card online to see if the FCDs did get refunded?

[PurpleTraveller]

7 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

I had a booking for this year that included FCDs that expired after I made the booking.

 

I rebooked to change cabin category and the FCDs dropped off since they had expired and could not be applied to what was in effect a new booking. However the $200 that the two FCDs had cost were immediately refunded to the credit card I had used to purchase them.

 

For those of you who recently had the expired FCDs "lost", have you checked your credit card online to see if the FCDs did get refunded?

 

I cancelled and rebooked my cruise on January 30. As of today I have not received a refund of $200 to my credit card that I used to purchase them.

 

[caribill]

5 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I cancelled and rebooked my cruise on January 30. As of today I have not received a refund of $200 to my credit card that I used to purchase them.

 

 

I rebooked on 1/13/23. The $200 was posted to my CC on 1/14/23.

[robncruise]

I don'.t recall how long before final payment the OP cancelled but my understanding is if a booking is cancelled between 90 and 180 days  prior to the cruise then the deposit is lost whether it is a FCD or cash deposit.

[caribill]

5 minutes ago, robncruise said:

I don'.t recall how long before final payment the OP cancelled but my understanding is if a booking is cancelled between 90 and 180 days  prior to the cruise then the deposit is lost whether it is a FCD or cash deposit.

 

Passage contract for the USA says that if you cancel 45 to 74 days before a cruise, the deposit amount is the cancellation fee. No cancellation fee for 75 or more days in advance of the cruise.

[robncruise]

Wow different T/c's . Our final payment  Aus/NZ date ( for cruises less than 24 days) is 90 days ( used to be 75 days  and the Passage contract on the app still says final payment is 75 days !!). Cancellation between  43 and 89 days prior is 25% of total cruise cost. 

[caribill]

58 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Passage contract for the USA says that if you cancel 45 to 74 days before a cruise, the deposit amount is the cancellation fee. No cancellation fee for 75 or more days in advance of the cruise.

 

Ignore above. That refers to cruises for 5 days or less.

 

Passage contract for the USA says for cruises 6 to 24 days that if you cancel 57 to 89 days before a cruise, the deposit amount is the cancellation fee. No cancellation fee for 90 or more days in advance of the cruise.

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, robncruise said:

I don'.t recall how long before final payment the OP cancelled but my understanding is if a booking is cancelled between 90 and 180 days  prior to the cruise then the deposit is lost whether it is a FCD or cash deposit.

 

I think you may have a good point. Even though I was told when I booked the cruise that the FCD's were fully refundable until final payment and then told that the reason they weren't being refunded was because they had expired, maybe it was really because I was cancelling and rebooking the cruise 123 days prior to the cruise. I just checked my deposit confirmation and the penalty phase starts at 180 days prior to the cruise. I didn't even think about the timing as I knew it was well before final payment and had been told that they were refundable up until final payment. It would be really good if they gave the correct information if they weren't refunded due to a penalty and it was nothing to do with them being expired. I might ring and ask if that was the real reason they weren't refunded and report back. Thanks. 😊

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

Passage contract for the USA says for cruises 6 to 24 days that if you cancel 57 to 89 days before a cruise, the deposit amount is the cancellation fee. No cancellation fee for 90 or more days in advance of the cruise.

 

I just checked my deposit confirmation and the penalty phase started at 180 days. There are different conditions in Australia compared to the USA. I didn't even think about a penalty period because I was told the FCD's were refundable until final payment. I cancelled and rebooked the cruise 123 days prior to the cruise and I think that robncruise may be correct that even though I was told that the FCD's were fully refundable until final payment, they possibly weren't refunded because of a penalty for cancelling less than 180 days prior to the cruise and it had nothing to do with the FCD's expiry date. There is still a contradiction in what I was told and what is written on the Princess website that FCD's are refundable until final payment and yet maybe will not be refunded if cancelling a cruise during the penalty period. I will ring to ask but no matter what the reason was for not being refunded the FCD's I have been given incorrect information by Princess somewhere along the line and I just wish that I could get the correct information all of the time to prevent any confusion.

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I just checked my deposit confirmation and the penalty phase started at 180 days. There are different conditions in Australia compared to the USA. I didn't even think about a penalty period because I was told the FCD's were refundable until final payment. I cancelled and rebooked the cruise 123 days prior to the cruise and I think that robncruise may be correct that even though I was told that the FCD's were fully refundable until final payment, they possibly weren't refunded because of a penalty for cancelling less than 180 days prior to the cruise and it had nothing to do with the FCD's expiry date. There is still a contradiction in what I was told and what is written on the Princess website that FCD's are refundable until final payment and yet maybe will not be refunded if cancelling a cruise during the penalty period. I will ring to ask but no matter what the reason was for not being refunded the FCD's I have been given incorrect information by Princess somewhere along the line and I just wish that I could get the correct information all of the time to prevent any confusion.

 

So if the only deposit on a cruise is the FCD and the cruise is canceled during the time frame when a cancelation penalty is enforced does this supercedes the penalty (refund deposit) or does it still happen (lose deposit which is only FCD)? Is that the question??

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

So if the only deposit on a cruise is the FCD and the cruise is canceled during the time frame when a cancelation penalty is enforced does this supercedes the penalty (refund deposit) or does it still happen (lose deposit which is only FCD)? Is that the question??

 

The deposit is lost, so if the deposit was the FCD, it is lost.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

The deposit is lost, so if the deposit was the FCD, it is lost.

So the point is to familiarize oneself with the T&C for the particular cruise & country. 

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I just checked my deposit confirmation and the penalty phase started at 180 days. There are different conditions in Australia compared to the USA. I didn't even think about a penalty period because I was told the FCD's were refundable until final payment. I cancelled and rebooked the cruise 123 days prior to the cruise and I think that robncruise may be correct that even though I was told that the FCD's were fully refundable until final payment, they possibly weren't refunded because of a penalty for cancelling less than 180 days prior to the cruise and it had nothing to do with the FCD's expiry date. There is still a contradiction in what I was told and what is written on the Princess website that FCD's are refundable until final payment and yet maybe will not be refunded if cancelling a cruise during the penalty period. I will ring to ask but no matter what the reason was for not being refunded the FCD's I have been given incorrect information by Princess somewhere along the line and I just wish that I could get the correct information all of the time to prevent any confusion.

 

Ahh, so we finally have the answer.  We don't have 180 day penalty period in North America.

 

[PurpleTraveller]

So after a lengthy phone call with Princess I have found the following  :

 

In Australia FCD's are NOT refundable up until final payment despite what it says on the Princess website or what I was told when purchasing them or what I was told when booking the original cruise.

 

 

The person I spoke to said he will pass on the feedback that the website is misleading and should be updated to reflect the terms of FCD's in Australia. He also apologised that I was given incorrect information by a number of Princess Customer Service Representatives.

 

When I cancelled my booking the value of my FCD's and FCC's added up to more than the penalty amount but I was not refunded the extra value because both the FCC's and FCD's had expired so the extra value was forfeited.

 

So I apologise for being foolish and not looking at my deposit confirmation to see when the penalty period started, though in my defence I was given incorrect information by a number of Princess Customer Service Representatives and honestly thought that my FCD's were refundable prior to final payment. Sorry to all ☹️

 

While I was talking to the Princess rep I asked him about refundable/non refundable deposits in Australia. At this point in time in Australia all deposits on cruises are refundable until the penalty period starts which is usually at 180 days prior to the cruise. He said that if non refundable deposits are introduced in Australia Princess will notify their customers and make it clear when booking.

 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

So after a lengthy phone call with Princess I have found the following  :

 

In Australia FCD's are NOT refundable up until final payment despite what it says on the Princess website or what I was told when purchasing them or what I was told when booking the original cruise.

 

 

The person I spoke to said he will pass on the feedback that the website is misleading and should be updated to reflect the terms of FCD's in Australia. He also apologised that I was given incorrect information by a number of Princess Customer Service Representatives.

 

When I cancelled my booking the value of my FCD's and FCC's added up to more than the penalty amount but I was not refunded the extra value because both the FCC's and FCD's had expired so the extra value was forfeited.

 

So I apologise for being foolish and not looking at my deposit confirmation to see when the penalty period started, though in my defence I was given incorrect information by a number of Princess Customer Service Representatives and honestly thought that my FCD's were refundable prior to final payment. Sorry to all ☹️

 

While I was talking to the Princess rep I asked him about refundable/non refundable deposits in Australia. At this point in time in Australia all deposits on cruises are refundable until the penalty period starts which is usually at 180 days prior to the cruise. He said that if non refundable deposits are introduced in Australia Princess will notify their customers and make it clear when booking.

 

I gather the bolded large-font section is something you copied from the Princess Australia webpages and reads like the North American terms/policy.  That section makes perfect sense.  I guess the real issue is that the Australian penalty period begins far, far earlier than the North American market period.  Are you saying that although your penalty period begins at 180 days out, the FP Date is not 180 days out?  In North America, we have no penalties until the FP Date for whatever voyage is booked.  And I know UK has more penalties than we do as well.

 

This is unfortunate, but Princess.com is just so full of inaccurate and incomplete documentation, it makes it very difficult for a guest to be up on everything that might affect them.

[PurpleTraveller]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I gather the bolded large-font section is something you copied from the Princess Australia webpages and reads like the North American terms/policy.  That section makes perfect sense.  I guess the real issue is that the Australian penalty period begins far, far earlier than the North American market period.  Are you saying that although your penalty period begins at 180 days out, the FP Date is not 180 days out?  In North America, we have no penalties until the FP Date for whatever voyage is booked.  And I know UK has more penalties than we do as well.

 

This is unfortunate, but Princess.com is just so full of inaccurate and incomplete documentation, it makes it very difficult for a guest to be up on everything that might affect them.

 

The bolded section comes from when I am on the Princess website and search for information about Future Cruise Deposits. When you search the term "Future Cruise Deposit" I think that you see the USA terms. The Princess rep I was speaking to agreed that it is misleading in regard to Australian terms for FCD's.

 

In Australia the penalty period starts at 180 days prior to the cruise and final payment is at 90 days prior to the cruise. Our terms are not as favourable as the USA.

 

If I have learnt anything from all this is to not take what I read on the website or what I am told on the phone as the correct facts. I have received so much misinformation from a number of Princess reps and it has taken me many phone calls to get to the truth of how FCD's are treated in Australia. It makes it very difficult to ascertain what is correct and what is not.

 

[robncruise]

As stated by others  tisjust another confusing/ incorrect/inconsistent piece of info on the website, Downunder we are not able to access US fares or T/C's  or so we think . Was reading through the passage contract on the app for my new booking and says that final payment is 75 days before sailing!  It is  a NZ sailing and final payment is due 90 days.  

[PurpleTraveller]

On 3/21/2023 at 1:48 PM, Steelers36 said:

This is unfortunate, but Princess.com is just so full of inaccurate and incomplete documentation, it makes it very difficult for a guest to be up on everything that might affect them.

 

I just wanted to report back that I received a reply to one of my emails to Princess with an apology for the delay in replying to me and as a gesture of goodwill as I was not given the correct or clear information when booking my original cruise, my two FCD's will be refunded to me. This is a very unexpected but welcome gesture from Princess and I am very appreciative. What excellent customer service and kudos to Princess!

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by PurpleTraveller