Excursion Refund -OBC or Credit Card?

[phabric]

I am on a cruise Nov 9 with 2 ports in Israel.  Princess will probably cancel these ports due to the fighting.

 

I have the 2 day excursion paid by OBC and credit card.

 

Will the refund be by OBC or Credit Card?

[nnzz]

Probably?

[Snow cat]

On my last cruise in September, refunded to on board account, then post-cruise cheque sent to my home.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Snow cat

[david63]

When we had an excursion cancelled earlier this year the refund was back to our onboard account

[phabric]

18 minutes ago, phabric said:

I am on a cruise Nov 9 with 2 ports in Israel.  Princess will probably cancel these ports due to the fighting.

 

I have the 2 day excursion paid by OBC and credit card.

 

Will the refund be by OBC or Credit Card?

In Sept, I cancelled an excursion that I had paid only by credit card.  The refund went back to my credit card.

 

For my Israel excursion, I used both OBC and credit card.

 

That is why I am asking if refund will be by OBC or credit card.

[PacnGoNow]

18 minutes ago, phabric said:

I am on a cruise Nov 9 with 2 ports in Israel.  Princess will probably cancel these ports due to the fighting.

 

I have the 2 day excursion paid by OBC and credit card.

 

Will the refund be by OBC or Credit Card?

Depends on when it’s cancelled and how the payment was made.  
 

If you used OBC and CC to pay, it will probably go on your folio as OBC.  If you have any leftover, they send you a check.  If your OBC was refundable, that is.

 

I’ve found, even this can vary, depending on whom is processing the refund. 
 

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, phabric said:

In Sept, I cancelled an excursion that I had paid only by credit card.  The refund went back to my credit card.

 

For my Israel excursion, I used both OBC and credit card.

 

That is why I am asking if refund will be by OBC or credit card.

From an accounting point of view,

it SHOULD go back to original FOP, a refund of the amount paid by CC..back to the CC and the OBC amount on your folio as OBC.  But, they don’t always process it that way.

 

I’ve had excursions cancelled pre cruise and it went back to my CC, which I used.  During the sailing, an excursion was cancelled and it went on my account as refundable OBC.

 

I have not used a combination of payments for an excursion.

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Agreed.  This ^^^ *should* be the way it is handled...but I wouldn't hold my breath!

[voljeep]

It is 'cheaper' for Princess to refund as OBC instead of credit card transaction and the associated fee.

P is hoping you go ahead and spend the OBC on something, but if not, will process a paper check in about 6 weeks as per recent posters.

[phabric]

Who knows when Princess will decide to cancel the 2 Israel ports - before our cruise Nov 9 or while on board?

 

Some people on my Roll Call have private tours for both ports that will have to be cancelled.

 

I know I will be fully refunded since I have a Princess excursion.  It would be nice to know where to find the refund.

[phabric]

9 minutes ago, voljeep said:

It is 'cheaper' for Princess to refund as OBC instead of credit card transaction and the associated fee.

P is hoping you go ahead and spend the OBC on something, but if not, will process a paper check in about 6 weeks as per recent posters.

As a Canadian, if Princess sends a US cheque, I do not have a US banking account so will be charged $ to cash it.

 

I know it would be difficult for them to separate for an OBC refund and credit card refund.

 

Everything is paid for this cruise, excursions, dining, Plus.   If they give as OBC + the OBC that I have, I would have over $1,000 OBC.

Edited October 8, 2023 by phabric

[PacnGoNow]

27 minutes ago, phabric said:

As a Canadian, if Princess sends a US cheque, I do not have a US banking account so will be charged $ to cash it.

 

I know it would be difficult for them to separate for an OBC refund and credit card refund.

 

Everything is paid for this cruise, excursions, dining, Plus.   If they give as OBC + the OBC that I have, I would have over $1,000 OBC.

Maybe you’ll be able to use some of it, with the alternative port stops.

 

In my experience, they usually take a while to cancel and give you alternate ports.  TBF, it does take time to find alternate ports for the cruise lines and work it into their schedules.

 

Watch your credit card and excursion list, as sometimes they just cancel the excursion, without notice and a credit shows up on your CC.  Would be best for your situation.  Let us know.

 

 

 

 

[Abercrombie2019]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

As a Canadian, if Princess sends a US cheque, I do not have a US banking account so will be charged $ to cash it.

 

I know it would be difficult for them to separate for an OBC refund and credit card refund.

 

Everything is paid for this cruise, excursions, dining, Plus.   If they give as OBC + the OBC that I have, I would have over $1,000 OBC.

We bought all of our excursions prior to our British Isle cruise using non-refundable OBC and our credit card.  Princess cancelled our Louvre tour about a month before the cruise.  They refunded the non refundable OBC first and the remainder posted back to our CC.  Since we had all of our other excursions already booked and our specialty dining reservations made - there wasn’t really anything we could use the OBC for.  We had Plus, so CA was already paid.  We called and asked for the amount they refunded to OBC to be put back to our credit card.  Princess refunded the money within a couple of days.

[phabric]

Thanks for all the information.

 

It is a waiting game to see what Princess does, only 4 weeks to boarding.

 

I will  post what happens.

[NavyVeteran]

If you cancel less than five days before sailing, it goes into your shipboard account as OBC - no matter how you paid. If you paid by credit card, the credit card payment is refundable OBC. If you paid by OBC, you didn't actually pay yet - they just reseved the OBC, so you still have the original OBC.

 

It's different if you cancel more than five days before sailing. I cancelled some excursions paid for by a combination of credit card and OBC. They refund to OBC first. Remember they haven't actually charged your OBC yet - they've just reserved it. They refund to credit card only if the total cost of the remaining excursions is less than the total paid by credit card, and then they refund to credit card only the difference between the amount paid by credit card and the total cost of all of your booked excursions.

 

Note also that any shipboard OBC refund goes on the account of the passenger for whom the excursion was booked. It doesn't matter who paid for the excursion.

[phabric]

Yesterday, Princess cancelled our 2 Israel ports from our cruise with Santorini and Crete as replacement ports.

 

I had booked an excursion with OBC and Credit Card.  I was not sure how they were going to refund it.

 

Today, pending on my Visa is a full refund on my Credit Card.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

Yesterday, Princess cancelled our 2 Israel ports from our cruise with Santorini and Crete as replacement ports.

 

I had booked an excursion with OBC and Credit Card.  I was not sure how they were going to refund it.

 

Today, pending on my Visa is a full refund on my Credit Card.

 

 

That was nice.  Also, quick response.

[Guest ldtr]

On 10/8/2023 at 5:01 PM, phabric said:

I am on a cruise Nov 9 with 2 ports in Israel.  Princess will probably cancel these ports due to the fighting.

 

I have the 2 day excursion paid by OBC and credit card.

 

Will the refund be by OBC or Credit Card?

If an excursion is canceled up to 5 days before a cruise starts it gets refunded to Credit Card.

 

Within 5 days of cruise or onboard it is returned as refundable OBC.

 

Atleast that has been my experience.

[phabric]

14 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If an excursion is canceled up to 5 days before a cruise starts it gets refunded to Credit Card.

 

Within 5 days of cruise or onboard it is returned as refundable OBC.

 

Atleast that has been my experience.

I did not know when using both OBC and credit card how Princess would refund.  Princess had cancelled the 2 Israel ports this week.

 

Princess refunded the full amount on my credit card the next day after they cancelled.

Edited October 12, 2023 by phabric

[phabric]

17 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Nice to read as I have read (and posted above) that they will replenish/restore your original OBC balance before issuing a CC refund.  Perhaps this situation was handled as a special circumstance?  Hard to say?

 

As for USD - you travel obviously.  Why not open a USD savings account?  They cost nothing and you can acquire USD when you think the conversion rate is good and not when you have to.  Better rates with electronic conversions and not cash conversions.  Also, depending on your bank, you may have investment account options and better rates there again.  There are ways to "beat the bank" on USD conversion rates.  There are free USD CC's in Canada as well, but you likely know this.

thanks for the suggestion.

 

I had a US account with TD then they started charging a service charge so not worth it.  They were taken more than was in the account.  I get from a place near me with a lower rate than the bank, or purchase OBC with Princess.

Edited October 12, 2023 by phabric