Refunds time frame for cancelled excursions.

[Hamwen3839]

Just returned from Majestic cruise to NZ where we missed the first two ports due to weather. We had booked two ship excursions pre cruise for those ports using credit card ( over $600). The money was shown on our final statement as a refundable credit but we were told onboard that it would not be refunded to our credit card but rather a cheque would be received “ in due course”.That cheque would come from “head office”.

This seemed unreasonable to me as we paid by credit card but now have to wait who knows how long to get refunded.

Anyone have experience with this arrangement and how long did it take to receive cheque?

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

Generally, any refundable OBC (over $25) will be refunded via another company.  It will arrive by check…do not throw away without opening.  Someone will chime in on name on envelope. 

[t&atravel]

Bottomline technologies will be the return address and it usually takes 6-8 weeks.

[Paula_MacFan]

We missed a port in January on the Regal and we got our refund for the missed excursion within 2 weeks after arriving home.  

 

Edit to say I just realized you are in Australia so your refund time may be different.  I also wish they would refund to the original payment source (credit card) instead of mailing a paper check.  It seems so old school. 

Edited March 19 by Paula_MacFan

[NavyVeteran]

28 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We missed a port in January on the Regal and we got our refund for the missed excursion within 2 weeks after arriving home.  

 

Edit to say I just realized you are in Australia so your refund time may be different.  I also wish they would refund to the original payment source (credit card) instead of mailing a paper check.  It seems so old school. 

Refunding to the original credit card would not always work well. When an excursion is cancelled onboard, the refund goes on your cruise folio. The credit card payment goes on your cruise folio. You may have multiple sources of refundable OBC that came from different places. They just have a total amount of refundable OBC being refunded - it is not any specific refundable OBC so it's not from any specific credit card payment.

Also once you are onboard, the payment belongs to the passenger - not to the payer. If you pay for another passenger's excursion which is then cancelled, the refund goes to the passenger with the cancelled excursion - not to the person who purchased it. This is very clear in Princess's terms.

Example: Suppose a passenger has two excursions for $100 each purchased on two different credit cards owned by two different people. Both cancelled onboard for $200 refundable OBC. Then passenger purchases another excursion onboard spending $100 of the OBC. Leaving $100 refundable. Who should get the refund? With Princess's current policy, there is no question - the passenger gets the refund. With the suggestion of the original credit card, which credit card should be refunded? How would they decide? It wouldn't work.

[Hamwen3839]

Thanks everyone. I suspected it would not be a quick refund process especially as we are in Australia. It just seemed to me that if only one credit card was used to pay for all excursions it could simply be refunded to that card.No one would dispute payment.

[Arizona Wildcat]

22 minutes ago, Hamwen3839 said:

Thanks everyone. I suspected it would not be a quick refund process especially as we are in Australia. It just seemed to me that if only one credit card was used to pay for all excursions it could simply be refunded to that card.No one would dispute payment.

The rules for Australia are different from the rest of the World.  I would guess it would be the same as Celebrity which took 3 weeks on a Australian cruise precovid.

PS agree with you.  Should have been almost instant and automatic. 

[Tranquility Base]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Generally, any refundable OBC (over $25) will be refunded via another company.  It will arrive by check…do not throw away without opening.  Someone will chime in on name on envelope. 

As you say "Generally".

In an slowly increasing number of countries, cheques are only to be found as a historical exhibit in a museum.

For passengers from those countries all Princess refunds are handled electronically.

Australia's current plan is to cease cheque use this decade.

[LeeW]

Just watch out for the Bottomline envelope - it looks like junk mail.

[Hamwen3839]

Further to this thread , we were told on the ship we would receive a cheque and some people here have confirmed that. However today we received an email from HKSB Refunds dept in the UK ? Saying they will be processing our refund and we need to provide a registration number. We do not have this. The email appears genuine, it has the exact amount we are due and have doubled tapped on heading and it seems correct. However we cannot progress this without a registration number.

wondering if anyone recently has received a cheque refund OR contact from HKSB ?

[EDVM96]

On 3/19/2024 at 2:40 AM, t&atravel said:

Bottomline technologies will be the return address and it usually takes 6-8 weeks.

My record was 7 months. Back in 2022. But the money came.