Cancelled ports

[hctraveler]

Wondering how the excursions booked thru Princess are handled if the arrival in a port is cancelled. Is the cost refunded to the payment method or are you just stuck? Also what if the port becomes a tender port and I can't get on the tender due to being handicapped? Just asking as it seems there have been a lot of this going on this year.  Sailing to Alaska late August next year.

[david63]

5 minutes ago, hctraveler said:

Wondering how the excursions booked thru Princess are handled if the arrival in a port is cancelled. Is the cost refunded to the payment method

When we had an excursion cancelled due to missing a port the cost was refunded to our onboard account.

[Guindalf]

You will never have to bear the cost of a ship-bought excursion if the port is cancelled. If you've pre-paid, it will be refunded to your ship-board account and any surplus will be returned to you after the cruise.

 

Again, if the port is changed to a tender and you're unable to attend due to a handicap (I also use a scooter, which can't go on a tender), your payment will be refunded.

 

Both of the above are circumstances beyond your control and can be deemed as the 'fault' of the cruise line.

 

As for your comment 'it seems there have been a lot of this going on this year', no, it's no more than other years. It's just that no-one comes here to post that they went to all the ports they were supposed to!

 

[NavyVeteran]

The refund will go to your onboard account as refundable onboard credit - not to your original payment method. Any balance of refundable onboard credit remaining at the end of the cruise will be refunded by check after the cruise. 

[LRCruzr]

On 9/26/2023 at 10:14 AM, hctraveler said:

Wondering how the excursions booked thru Princess are handled if the arrival in a port is cancelled. Is the cost refunded to the payment method or are you just stuck? Also what if the port becomes a tender port and I can't get on the tender due to being handicapped? Just asking as it seems there have been a lot of this going on this year.  Sailing to Alaska late August next year.

you get the Port fees or difference in ON Board Credit

[theloo]

I have a related question, but involves possible increase of port fees.  Our tender port (for which I believe we paid no fees) was cancelled and Princess has substituted a port day.  Will they charge passengers any additional fee for the extra port day?

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, theloo said:

I have a related question, but involves possible increase of port fees.  Our tender port (for which I believe we paid no fees) was cancelled and Princess has substituted a port day.  Will they charge passengers any additional fee for the extra port day?

 

Just guessing but why would you not have to pay port fees for a tender port?  The ship still needs to use the port/dock to load/unload passengers.  That requires personnel and usage.

[david63]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

The ship still needs to use the port/dock to load/unload passengers.  That requires personnel and usage.

And pilot

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, theloo said:

I have a related question, but involves possible increase of port fees.  Our tender port (for which I believe we paid no fees) was cancelled and Princess has substituted a port day.  Will they charge passengers any additional fee for the extra port day?

In my experience, if a canceled port has been replaced with a sea day, I've gotten refunds of the port fees as OBC.  If a canceled port has been replaced with another port, I'm sure in theory (and in their contract) they could charge for the difference, but I have yet to see it.  I assume the cruise line treated it as if they canceled each other out and didn't charge extra or give OBC for the difference.  Your mileage may vary.

[Cruise Raider]

On 9/26/2023 at 7:14 AM, hctraveler said:

Wondering how the excursions booked thru Princess are handled if the arrival in a port is cancelled. Is the cost refunded to the payment method or are you just stuck? Also what if the port becomes a tender port and I can't get on the tender due to being handicapped? Just asking as it seems there have been a lot of this going on this year.  Sailing to Alaska late August next year.

You will definitely be refunded for your excursion as refundable OBC.  
None of the Alaska cruise offered by Princess for next August have any tender ports.  Each one of the ports have plenty of docking space, so I don’t think that should be much of a concern.  Even in Skagway, where they had a big rock slide, are back to docking all the ships vs running tenders.  
If you have a real concern, you can always cancel your excursion while on the cruise and get a full refund, especially due to a medical / physical exemption.  
 

[beg3yrs]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

You will definitely be refunded for your excursion as refundable OBC.  
....

Maybe this is a bit pedantic but the don't actually add refundable OBC to your folio. That would cause problems if you initially paid for the excursion with non-refundable Shareholder's Credit for example. What they will do is simply remove the excursion charge from your folio.

[Cruise Raider]

14 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Maybe this is a bit pedantic but the don't actually add refundable OBC to your folio. That would cause problems if you initially paid for the excursion with non-refundable Shareholder's Credit for example. What they will do is simply remove the excursion charge from your folio.

Oh yes .. if you bought it with non refundable OBC, it will be given back as non refundable OBC.  Thank you for that correction.  

[beg3yrs]

12 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Oh yes .. if you bought it with non refundable OBC, it will be given back as non refundable OBC.  Thank you for that correction.  

It's a small accounting difference but your folio contains all charges and credits, even those that were incurred before the cruise starts. The don't really "give back" your funds in the original form of payment as that would cause them so much work to try to determine just where those funds came from. What they do is simply remove the excursion charge from your folio and all balances out.