Don't Give your Money to Princess

[mickey]

We were booked on two segments of the Pacific Princess World cruise. Our segments began on March 14 in Sydney and April 15 in Singapore. We gave a $6,331.80 deposit in July. We were out of town this past weekend when we received a call about a family situation that will make it impossible for us to take the trip. We had lined up travel insurance through a company that we use (not Princess) and had not purchased it yet, since our final payment wasn't due until Dec. 14. I called Princess today to cancel and was told I would receive a refund, but received an email stating that they were going to keep the full deposit. We had until Nov. 15 to cancel, but didn't receive the phone call until the 16. I tried to speak to someone, but all I got was an automaton in " Customer Relations." We were on a guarantee

with no airfare...no visas were purchased and no shore excursions were posted until two weeks ago and they are incomplete. Princess is keeping $6,31.80 for putting our name on a list. If you plan to do a World Cruise, go elsewhere. There is no world cruise desk, no service, no customer relations. I was told to email my complaints to Princess Customer Relations. I told them I wanted to send a hard copy and I was given an address for Customer relations in California. I asked if I could put it to someone's attention and was told they looked at all letters....which means that my letter will get the same attention as someone complaining about the hot dog at lunch. I know many of you will say I should have purchased travel insurance at time of the booking. Princess is keeping the full amount for calling about 35-40 hours past the deadline.

[Erinchita]

Sorry about the family situation that made you have to cancel your trip. :(

 

If your complaint is what I think it is, which is that they won't refund your deposit after the cutoff date, then I don't think you'll find much sympathy on here. The deadline is clearly stated...

 

Best of luck to you in finding a resolution that makes you happy.

[laughing husky]

anyone who spends that kind of money for a deposit on an expensive trip needs to spend a couple of hundred bucks on trip cancellation insurance.....at the time of deposit.....

[billet]

Sorry to hear about your dilemma. What a shame you did not purchase the insurance in time especially with $6k hanging out to dry. The Princess contract is very clear about deadlines so I am not sure what the complaint is. I would call Princess again and be as cool, calm and pleasant as possible and plead your case.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Normal UK conditions no refunds.

 

However just ask for the booking to be transfered to a future cruise,

 

Fine will be around $100

 

yours Shogun

[Toto2Kansas]

OUCH! That is terrible that you missed the cancellation date. But Princess has cancellation dates listed on the website for reference, along with it being in the brochures, and they seem to be real sticklers to those dates.

 

I am truely sorry you missed the refund date, but being out of town isn't a valid excuse, it is up to you to cancel within the aloted time.

 

Sorry you are facing a family situation, I hope everything works out for you.

Again, not being mean here, but you can't blame Princess because you didn't cancel within the time allowed, and as already mentioned, didn't take out insurance when booking to cover things like this, IMHO!

 

Whatever line you book with next, be it Princess or someone else, it is a tough lesson to be learned, and a very expensive one. :(

[gertz]

A few things I don't understand.

Is this a UK booking, if so just do what Shogun says. Perhaps if it is a USA booking you can ask Princess to do the same thing.

I've never had anything close to this happening so don't truly know how to respond but clearly you had control of this and sadly you dropped the ball not Princess.

That being said However, Princess is not in the business of stiffing passengers and certainly calmer heads should be able to come to some amicable agreement. Inflammatory remarks will get you little sympathy here and probably nothing from Princess. MO.

[sirwired]

I'm not sure what Princess was supposed to do here that they failed to do. You canceled your cruise after the date for a full refund of the deposit passed. Yes, the deposit was a lot of money, but Princess does not hide the cancellation penalties, and they are there for a reason.

 

This is exactly the sort of thing trip insurance is for, and I guess next time you'll buy it at time of deposit instead of final payment.

 

SirWired

[septrack]

I must be missing something here. If the sailing dates are next March, how is the OP past the deadline date. Did I read the rules are tighter for the world cruises? Or are the rules stricter for UK buyers? Best of Luck!

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm not sure what Princess was supposed to do here that they failed to do. You canceled your cruise after the date for a full refund of the deposit passed. Yes, the deposit was a lot of money, but Princess does not hide the cancellation penalties, and they are there for a reason.

 

This is exactly the sort of thing trip insurance is for, and I guess next time you'll buy it at time of deposit instead of final payment.

 

SirWired

 

Actually not quite correct. Some deposits are not refundable at all in a couple of countries.

[Toto2Kansas]

I must be missing something here. If the sailing dates are next March, how is the OP past the deadline date. Did I read the rules are tighter for the world cruises? Or are the rules stricter for UK buyers? Best of Luck!

 

See the passenger contract here: http://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/index.jsp

Section #6.

30+ day cruises, or world cruises, the cancellation date is 120 days prior. ;)

[caribill]

For world cruise segments, there is 100% refund up until 120 days before the cruise.

 

For 90-119 days before the cruise, the penalty is the brochure deposit amount.

 

For 64-89 days, the penalty is 50% of the total charges.

 

If the B2B was made as two bookings, the 2nd segment does not hit the 120 days until December 16 and should be fully refundabe. The first segment is now within the brochure deposit amount penalty period.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Sorry you had to cancel. I do hope you take Shogun's advice and apply the deposit to a future booking. At least that way, your deposit is not lost.

[mickey]

I would love to apply it to a future cruise, but Princess says no. Not all,not half not even the portion that covered the Singapore to Rome segment that doesn't begin until next April 15.

Travel insurance is close to $2000 for this trip, that's why we were waiting to purchase it at the final payment. I know we were wrong. If only Princess could have offered some sort of credit, even a small one, it would have helped. You would like to think that cruise lines value their customers, especially in today's economy. Since it was only 35 to 40 hours past the deadline, I was hoping to be treated like a valued customer. I guess not.

[Minoushka]

If you booked with a CC perhaps they can help you .Call them

Ask for the transfer .Do be careful about bitching about Princess .In my experience they have Always been cooperative if you maintain a COOL head and not insulting .Keep asking to speak to higher ups until you solve this .Whatever you do do not get uppity or agressive .Also do not advertise the outcome of your dilemma if you get a positive one .Keep it to yourself .REMEMBER be calm

Good Luck

[DancingPersephone]

I also urge you to contact Princess again. Keep a cool head and don't be sarcastic or insulting.(I'm not saying that you have been) As long as the conversation is civil and you keep asking for more people to talk to, chances are you can get the money turned into a credit.

 

It also might take a few calls but in my experience something can always be done to solve situations like this.

[loovechocolate]

Sad to hear about your problem, but you can't blame Princess there are rules you should have spent $ on insurance. We only spend a small amount compared to you, but without insurance is madness

[Aplmac]

However just ask for the booking to be transferred to a future cruise,

 

Fine will be around $100 ===> Big deal...go for it!

That's what I was thinking

or at the very least a voucher for $5K usable against any future cruise/s ?

.

[CruisenLexie]

I think it is worth another call. It would not be the first time people have received a different answer when they call back. Maybe you will luck out on the second segment refund or obtaining a credit for a future cruise. I have never received bad customer support with Princess on the phone. Doesn't mean you always get the answer you like but they have always been helpful. Good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

Hope the family situation works out.

[bplazo]

That is alot of money to lose, I hope that the cruiseline will compromise with you.

 

Good luck.

[BOShappytraveler]

I'm very sorry to hear about the family situation. I hope it works out.

 

As far as the issue at hand, the best bet would be to ask for the credit to be transferred to a future cruise for the change fee.

 

I learned this lesson the hard way (not on a cruise) when I went to Europe earlier this year. There was a medical situation and we all need to return to the states earlier. The hotel that we booked had a non-refundable policy (even though we booked it less than 24 hours prior - we were extending a stay by another 2 days). Nothing worked, and I was SOL by over $500 (not to mention the airline change fees at $150/person).

 

Since then, I decided that I would 1) never book a hotel that has a non-cancellation policy (for my first cruise coming up, I booked one where I could still cancel up until 1 day prior). Even though I got a pretty good deal on my cruise, I also purchased the vacation insurance through princess at the time of purchase (something I normally wouldn't considered in the past). Hard lesson learned, but at least I know that if something comes up, I would only be out 25% (which is a slightly easier loss to swallow).

 

Be calm when you talk to the reps. The chances are that the policies are policies and that they're unlikely to make exceptions (so be prepared for it). I totally sympathize. Best of luck with everything.

[ilovetocruisetoo]

If the cruise isn't until March/April, can't you go ahead and go? What would keep you from going in 4 months???

[johnmik1]

Not knowing the reason for the cancellation,I wonder if insurance would have responded anyway.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I'm sorry you're in this situation. I won't bother lecturing on travel insurance...it's not a help to you, I know. I will, however, tell you that in December 2002 (which is admittedly a long time ago) we faced the same situation for a different reason and Princess did step up to the plate (after involving customer service supervision). We had just made final payment 3 days earlier for the second of our B2B French Polynesia cruises on the Tahitian Princess. So we were 13 days past final payment for the first cruise, and 3 days past for the second. DH phoned me that he had just gotten word that he was being called up for the war in Iraq. We had travel insurance, but being called to military action for a war wasn't covered. Our exposure was about $6500. I immediately called Princess and, after escalating to a supervisor, we were able to cancel without penalty.

 

So try again. It's possible that they might forgive the cancellation penalty (is it really the full deposit amount?), or at least allow you to apply any penalty to a future cruise. Good luck.

[Toto2Kansas]

I'm sorry you're in this situation. I won't bother lecturing on travel insurance...it's not a help to you, I know. I will, however, tell you that in December 2002 (which is admittedly a long time ago) we faced the same situation for a different reason and Princess did step up to the plate (after involving customer service supervision). We had just made final payment 3 days earlier for the second of our B2B French Polynesia cruises on the Tahitian Princess. So we were 13 days past final payment for the first cruise, and 3 days past for the second. DH phoned me that he had just gotten word that he was being called up for the war in Iraq. We had travel insurance, but being called to military action for a war wasn't covered. Our exposure was about $6500. I immediately called Princess and, after escalating to a supervisor, we were able to cancel without penalty.

 

So try again. It's possible that they might forgive the cancellation penalty (is it really the full deposit amount?), or at least allow you to apply any penalty to a future cruise. Good luck.

 

I agree it's worth a try, but I also have to say that things now are nothing like they were back in 2002, they seem to really be sticking to those rules now. :(