aholter66

7 minutes ago, CJinSF said:

 

I also filed a complaint with the FMC. Here's the instructions for what to do: https://www.fmc.gov/commission-advisory-for-cruise-passengers-june-17-2020/

 

They replied with an email asking me to fill out a form, so you don't have to put too much detail in the initial email. After I filled out and returned the form, I was assigned a case worker and case number. Nothing else has happened, though.

 

They currently have an open investigation of the cruise lines regarding refunds. You can read about it, and also provide input: https://www.fmc.gov/fact-finding-30/

Yup, that's what I did.  Thanks CJ.

·       Cruise Ship – Island Princess

·       Initial Booking Date – February 14, 2019

·       Travel Agent Involved - No

·       Scheduled Sail Date – June 25, 2020

·       Date of Full Payment – February 14, 2020

·       My Cancellation Date – March 7, 2020

·       Cancellation Type – Cash Refund

·       Cruise Cancellation Date of the Cruise – Well, its sailing has been cancelled now, but I am uncertain just when – Sometime in April or May - Probably Phase 2

·       Credit Card Disputes Filed – May 7, 2020 (Chase $10,000 and Barclays $10,748)

·       Federal Maritime Commission Complaint Filed – June 8, 2020

·       Contacts by Princess – None

·       Excursion Refunds – All received, within one week of cancellation

·       Future Cruise Credits – None received or expected

·       Time since cancellation – 111 Days

·       Cruise Fare Refunds -   $20,748 due, fully received

Good news on my end.  We received the balance due on the Barclays credit card last evening, and on the Chase credit card this morning.  I have cancelled both disputes.  Barclays will send us a check within 7-10 days (I had to ask - Business or calendar - I have learned some things in this process).  Chase is a bit more complicated, but we should receive the actual funds in 5-7 days with direct deposit into my account.

As to the future, no cruises for us without a vaccine. Flights are also very, very unlikely.  BArclays card will be replaced because of their poor dispute process.  We have cruised a lot, but this was to be our first Princess cruise.  COVID or not, their processes seem to be a mess, although they seem to be beginning to straighten it out.  We have decided to never make full payment on a cruise until the last possible day.  We are also unlikely to ever cruise with Princess, but for the right itinerary or price, we'd probably back off that statement.  🙂 

Best of luck to the rest of you.

2 hours ago, pompeii said:

Would you mind saying which card this is?  I disputed on my Princess Barclaycard in early May, and although I have provisional credits on my account, they say it could take up to 90 days for a final decision. I wondered if Barclay was finding in favor of the customer on these disputes...

While my Chase charge seemed to be processing similar to others - they issue you a temporary credit for the charge, they contact the vendor and give them two billing cycles to respond, after which your credit becomes permanent - my Barclays card didn't work the same way.

They see that I have a charge.  They report that the charge either had a card present and valid security card, or was run through the system correctly.  That's it.  Case closed once they validated that I made the purchase.  So I had to round up all of my materials and send to them on an appeal.  This relationship will probably not last long after I receive my refund.

Cut my post too soon.

Last week the Princess representative provided some encouragement.  This week, not so much.  I was scheduled for a June 25 cruise.  I cancelled on March 7 - before the CLIA started cancelling gobs of cruises.  Now 89 days after cancellation.  The representative indicated that they were now only processing in strict sail date order, and that as far as she knew, they were processing as fast as they can, but were handling early May.  Early May.  Frustrated.  I submitted Disputes to both of the involved credit card companies on May 9th.  I guess I'll create some more documentation by throwing out another email inquiry to Princess.

53 minutes ago, SunLakesBob said:

How do you challenge a CC charge from months ago?

Get your statement that has the charge on it, so you have the date and the amount.  If you used multiple cards, get multiple statements.

Call the customer service number and have your account numbers available.

Ask for the disputes people.

Disputes will ask you to explain, ask you about the date and amount of the transaction(s), and then ask you what contact you have made with the vendor  that has given rise to the dispute.

Sometimes it goes fast with them.  Sometimes not.

I cancelled March 7.  Princess is to refund me $20,000+.  I opened a dispute on May 9th.

Cruise Ship – Island Princess

Sail Date – June 25, 2020

My Cancellation Date – March 7, 2020

Cruise Cancellation Date – Well, its been cancelled now, but I am uncertain just when that happened

Time since cancellation – 84 Days

All excursions we had booked through the ship (and all non-ship) were refunded within a week.  The Cruise Fare has been a different story.  I call at least once per week.  Initially, payment was to be in fifteen days, then 15 working days, then 30 days, then 45 days, then 60 days, then up to 90 days. While I cancelled before the CLIA shut down of many cruises, I heard nothing.  Sometime in about late April, Princess began to indicate the processing order was by cruise date.  I have submitted disputes to both of my credit card companies.  This week there was a more positive update.  The representative indicated that my refund should be processed on 05/31 and I should see it on my credit card by June 4^th.  That would be 89 days.  We’ll see.

2 hours ago, aholter66 said:

Princess Cruises

Date Cancelled - March 7

Scheduled Sail Date - June 25

Princess Excursions Refunds Received - about $1,000 for excursions by March 15

Princess Passage Refunds Received - $0

 

Recent phone calls to Princess tell me they are processing in order of sail date, not cancellation.

 

I see Carnival furloughed over 800 today. Probably, with my luck, all from the refund processing group.

BTW - to add to situation, I cancelled, not Princess, they charged me $100 per person cancellation, 

1 hour ago, barb-ottawa said:

It's good to see that some people are seeing the refunds on their credit cards. I understand completely that it is going to take some time to clear all the accounts. But I find it frustrating to hear that people whose cruises were in April and May are getting their refunds and I have yet to see anything from my March 23rd cruise. What possible criteria are they using to issue refunds if not by date?

Princess Cruises

Date Cancelled - March 7

Scheduled Sail Date - June 25

Princess Excursions Refunds Received - about $1,000 for excursions by March 15

Princess Passage Refunds Received - $0

Recent phone calls to Princess tell me they are processing in order of sail date, not cancellation.

33 minutes ago, NHDOC said:

See my free advice above about credit card disputes.  You have the right to dispute the charges if they owe you the money and haven't paid it...you probably will get it back if you take it up with the credit card company. 

I saw it and I am on it right now.  Two credit cards involved which will add a little confusion.  Thank you for the counsel.

61 days from refund request – no refund yet.

I was booked on my first Princess Cruise back in 2019.  It was on the Island Princess for a 28-day Baltic Sea and Iceland cruise departing on June 23^rd.

When the COVID-19 thing surfaced, and Princess first announced their updated refund policy, I cancelled my voyage and was informed I had a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) or cash option.  I chose cash.  I was then informed that I should receive my $20,000 refund in 15 days – depending on my bank.  My cancellation email notice was dated March 7, 2020.  Princess later cancelled this cruise on their own.

The next day, credits started to show up on my credit card – credits for the excursions that I had booked during the cruise.  If fact, by the end of the first week, I had received a refund for all ship and non-ship excursions, pre-cruise hotels, and airline tickets.  The only refund that I had not received was for the cruise itself, from Princess.

The 15 days passed and I received no refund.  A call to Princess indicated that it was really 15 business days (That may have been what was said in the beginning.  I wasn’t paying as much attention then).  During that time window, there was a major cruise ship line announcement on cruise ship voyage cancellations (about March 13), dramatically increasing the number of people that would be seeking refunds.  On my next call, Princess informed me that because of higher volumes, it might be 20-30 business days.

I have kept calling Princess and the process seems to keep being adjusted, but still there is no payment.  The first process adjustment that I received said that the timeline had changed, due to the number of refund requests, and that it was now 60 days until payment would be received.  On the next call I said I understood the new explanation, but that it was hard to understand with my refund request coming in before the surge in requests, why it would still take up to 60 days.  The explanation was that they were now processing the requests in order of the ship's scheduled departure.

So I have continued t call every week, getting slightly different explanations.  Today was a big day.  It has now been 61 days since cancellation.  I called again.  This time the explanation is different.  First, I was referred to a statement on Refunds and Future Cruise Credits on their web site dated April 20, 2020.  They no longer commit to a 80 day period.  They just indicate it will happen sometime.

Frankly at this point, you can only conclude that Princess is being dishonest.  They have no money.  They have ours, and despite public pronouncements, they have no intention of returning it to us.  As time goes on, they appear to have invented new policies, explanations, and concepts on why no money can be returned. I find it doubtful that they ever will process a refund, and frankly don’t believe they will ever sail again.  All of the statements that they have made to me on refunds have turned out to not be true (This is a little more politic way of restating the dishonesty that I feel).  Please, please do not book any future reservations, you may well be throwing your money away.