Princess wont refund me for cancelled trip

[frugaltravel]

On 2/19/2020 at 5:46 PM, Aus Traveller said:

The main reason we feel travel insurance is necessary is to cover the cost of an accident or illness while on the trip and, worst of all, the need for medical evacuation.

 

We are able to use a 'free' travel insurance that comes with our credit card. We have to pay at least $250 of the cost of the trip on the card. If we have to claim, we have to pay the first $200. This type of insurance is available in Australia, but may not be available in other countries.

I have a US issued credit card with a similar benefit. No minimum charge required on my card to get coverage. I mainly have it for med evac Ana emergency medical but have used it for auto rental cousin damage waiver claim too.

[nho9504]

6 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

I have a US issued credit card with a similar benefit. No minimum charge required on my card to get coverage. I mainly have it for med evac Ana emergency medical but have used it for auto rental cousin damage waiver claim too.

 

We take long trips every year at least 2 to 3 times, both cruises + either pre or post land trips, or all land trips - always on our own never ship arranged tours.   We do NOT buy any travel insurance because we can easily self-insured. 

 

Unlike many people here shouting about "if you cannot afford insurance you should not go travel",  the key is not the affordability, it is in whether the premium is reasonable.  Too often they aint!

 

For those who live in US and have the creditworthyness to get a premium US credit card,, the travel-related insurance is provided by the premium card.

 

For those who have no idea, google the Med Evac coverage provided by AMEX Platinum card ($550 annual fee a year but with many benefits),  or the Chase Sapphire Reserve (also $550 annual fee a year, some unique perks AMEX Plat does not have but also has a capped MedEvac at $100K that AMEX Plat does not have cap on).

 

There are just enough coverage from US-issued credit cards, as well as INDEPENDENT available insurance that are far more "affordable" than what Princess provided - the "For Any Reason" is a marketing gimmick playing on people's psychology at a very high premium - roughly 25% on the insured amount - that is HUGE,, not to mention that the Princess one is in the form of future cruise credit, not really money refunded to you.  That is bunk in my opinion.

 

Those who live in US, you can find some much better and much more reasonably priced travel insurances that give excellent cover, esp the most feared medical expenses.   You can buy such policy for peace of mind in case you could easily fall, got sick, whatever, even during your day to day life. 

 

Feeling healthy is not the same as being really healthy.  On top of that, just how many of you over age of 70 can still do weight lifting / 30 to 60 min stationary biking / Nordic track etc?  If you can, you do NOT need insurance as those who cannot even walk a mile without feeling tiring... 

 

Trip interruption / cancellation from operators probably have a higher chance to happen than you suffer ill health if you are indeed a healthy person, not just feel being healthy.

 

Edited February 21, 2020 by nho9504

[frugaltravel]

1 hour ago, nho9504 said:

Unlike many people here shouting about "if you cannot afford insurance you should not go travel",  the key is not the affordability, it is in whether the premium is reasonable.  Too often they aint!

 

For those who live in US and have the creditworthyness to get a premium US credit card,, the travel-related insurance is provided by the premium card.

 

 

Great post and great points, not just the ones I quoted.  There is more than one way to skin the travel insurance cat and "you can't afford to go if you can't afford the travel insurance" is not one of them 🙂

[ano]

On 2/18/2020 at 7:22 PM, Veerraj said:

I am here, I didnt run away. I just returned from finishing 2 shifts. I work double shifts as I am a single income earner of a family of 6. I sincerely hope that Princess does refund me. I mean I worked double shifts to be able to book this trip for my family and I dont know about others of you on this forum but living pay cheque to pay cheque isnt easy. It took me 4 years to save up for this trip. I hope you guys can understand the distress this has been for me. I have lost money in hotel cancellation as well. Saving every penny has been difficult. If I had the luxury to afford for travel cancallation insurance I would have but if you look at my situation, things dont come easy. When you are the single income earner, you try and save every penny.  I hope you guys on this forum as well as Princess Crusies.

Don't feel bad. Everyone here will bring up the "cancel for any reason" insurance in hindsight as the solution to all problems, but the reality is this type of insurance is so expensive, VERY few people ever do buy it. I've priced a few times, and for the added cost, I might as well take another cruise. Typical trip insurance offered for a more reasonable price has so many exclusions that it wouldn't have helped you anyway. Your best bet is pursue this with Princess.  

[staygulf]

Our Asian cruise on Sapphire in April was cancelled about 10 days ago and we will be receiving a full refund of cruise plus flights from our TA and Princess have given us 25% FCC which we have just used against a booking for Sep 2021

[Veerraj]

4 hours ago, staygulf said:

Our Asian cruise on Sapphire in April was cancelled about 10 days ago and we will be receiving a full refund of cruise plus flights from our TA and Princess have given us 25% FCC which we have just used against a booking for Sep 2021

 

Hi staygulf that is awesome news. I am just wondering how the 25% FCC works?

Is it based off you getting 25 percent of any future cruise ? Or you are getting 25 percent of what you would have spent on the cancelled cruise and using that amount towards the Future Cruise?

Also I know that you have already used it but was there an expiry to it as to when it can be used by?

 

I have yet to hear anything back on mine or even get an email.

[staygulf]

1 hour ago, Veerraj said:

 

Hi staygulf that is awesome news. I am just wondering how the 25% FCC works?

Is it based off you getting 25 percent of any future cruise ? Or you are getting 25 percent of what you would have spent on the cancelled cruise and using that amount towards the Future Cruise?

Also I know that you have already used it but was there an expiry to it as to when it can be used by?

 

I have yet to hear anything back on mine or even get an email.

We received an email cancelling the cruise on 15 February (the cruise was to commence on 16 April) and were told that the 25% FCC was to be used against any future cruise which sails by 28 February 2021 or against a current booking which has not been paid in full. The 25% is based on the price paid for the cancelled cruise. The credit appeared in my Captain's Circle account.

 

Coincidentally a special weekend deal arrived by email 2 days ago for a 24 night cruise in September 2021. I asked whether we could use the credit against that, given that it was outside the criteria, and they said yes. So we booked it today and the credit has been applied. I also asked whether, if we took another cruise this year, we could transfer the credit to that instead and they said yes.

 

So a win win situation seeing as how they were not obliged to offer anything.

 

 

[leck57]

7 hours ago, staygulf said:

Our Asian cruise on Sapphire in April was cancelled about 10 days ago and we will be receiving a full refund of cruise plus flights from our TA and Princess have given us 25% FCC which we have just used against a booking for Sep 2021

 

I think we were on the same cancelled cruise as you. We received the 25% FCC (about $1800) but I notice in my Princess account that to use it we have to sail by Feb 2021. I see you have used your FCC for Sept 2021 - did you not have the same deadline by which you had to use the FCC?

 

EDIT - forget it. I see you had another booking.

Edited February 23, 2020 by leck57

[staygulf]

5 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

I think we were on the same cancelled cruise as you. We received the 25% FCC (about $1800) but I notice in my Princess account that to use it we have to sail by Feb 2021. I see you have used your FCC for Sept 2021 - did you not have the same deadline by which you had to use the FCC?

 

EDIT - forget it. I see you had another booking.

No you're not quite right. We didn't have another booking, we only made it about 7 hours ago. I had to check with them that we could use it as the booking didn't exist when they gave us the credit

[leck57]

2 hours ago, Veerraj said:

 

I have yet to hear anything back on mine or even get an email.

 

I haven't received an email or anything from Princess about refunds (other than the initial cruise cancellation email) either which I find strange, however the refunds for ship excursions that I had booked were back in my account a few days ago. As for the FCC , check your Princess account as you will probably find it there. 

[leck57]

Just now, staygulf said:

No you're not quite right. We didn't have another booking, we only made it about 7 hours ago. I had to check with them that we could use it as the booking didn't exist when they gave us the credit

 Yeah thanks, I saw that in one of your later posts. I should have read the later posts before asking!

[ed01106]

On 2/19/2020 at 7:03 PM, Ombud said:

Umm ummm. I am obviously on the other side. I can afford 10k a year but that's on 4 cruises not 1. As a solo I need CFAR insurance and often use Platinum Princess as I get it upped as an elite benefit.  

 

I do understand OPs frustration but I've 'heard' and read that Princess will send those who canceled after January 20th a compensation pkg. 

 

OP if your TA isn't refunding the balance please contact Princess:

-> We will provide complete details to all guests booked on impacted voyages via email, Cruise Personalizer, or their travel advisor.

Also: 

Princess should refund 100% of the money on cruises they canceled. But that is not what they announced.  And if that is their plan they would have announced it already.  So my guess is the “compensation package “ is going to be less than that. 

[Daniel A]

7 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

Princess should refund 100% of the money on cruises they canceled. But that is not what they announced.  And if that is their plan they would have announced it already.  So my guess is the “compensation package “ is going to be less than that. 

 

8 hours ago, staygulf said:

Our Asian cruise on Sapphire in April was cancelled about 10 days ago and we will be receiving a full refund of cruise plus flights from our TA and Princess have given us 25% FCC which we have just used against a booking for Sep 2021

I think this discussion may be comparing apples to oranges.  I see where people have been notified of the compensation being offered to PAX whose cruise was cancelled by Princess while the PAX were still booked on that sailing.  The OP voluntarily cancelled before Princess cancelled the sailing so the compensation package may end up being different (or it may be the same...)  I just wouldn't presume to be getting the same compensation deal from Princess as others just yet.

[ed01106]

1 minute ago, Daniel A said:

 

I think this discussion may be comparing apples to oranges.  I see where people have been notified of the compensation being offered to PAX whose cruise was cancelled by Princess while the PAX were still booked on that sailing.  The OP voluntarily cancelled before Princess cancelled the sailing so the compensation package may end up being different (or it may be the same...)  I just wouldn't presume to be getting the same compensation deal from Princess as others just yet.

I get that.  But Princess knew that their was a quarantined ship.  Knew that if a passenger canceled today they would get 50% back.  Knew they were going to eventually cancel the. trip, but waited a few more days so anyone with a lick of sense would cancel first.

[Veerraj]

2 hours ago, staygulf said:

We received an email cancelling the cruise on 15 February (the cruise was to commence on 16 April) and were told that the 25% FCC was to be used against any future cruise which sails by 28 February 2021 or against a current booking which has not been paid in full. The 25% is based on the price paid for the cancelled cruise. The credit appeared in my Captain's Circle account.

 

Coincidentally a special weekend deal arrived by email 2 days ago for a 24 night cruise in September 2021. I asked whether we could use the credit against that, given that it was outside the criteria, and they said yes. So we booked it today and the credit has been applied. I also asked whether, if we took another cruise this year, we could transfer the credit to that instead and they said yes.

 

So a win win situation seeing as how they were not obliged to offer anything.

 

 

That is awesome to hear. It seems like you cruise 3 to 4 times a year atleast.

Do you deal with an external travel agent or directly with a Princess agent ? It seems as if your agent responds to you faster and is very accommodating. I mean I am having a hard time even getting hold off someone from Princess. I have a specific agent assigned to me and it seems like each time I have to go through him. It seems like you got a very good agent serving you.

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, ed01106 said:

I get that.  But Princess knew that their was a quarantined ship.  Knew that if a passenger canceled today they would get 50% back.  Knew they were going to eventually cancel the. trip, but waited a few more days so anyone with a lick of sense would cancel first.

I don't think OP was booking a cruise on Diamond, the quarantined vessel.  More likely since OP stated the sailing was in March from Singapore it was either the Majestic or Sapphire which would have sailed from Singapore.  Those ships were not quarantined but they were running out of ports that would permit entry.  Princess was trying to set up alternative itineraries but they weren't going to work out so, Sapphire has discontinued all Asia sailings and will now concentrate on sailings from Australia.  It probably wasn't an easy decision to cancel more than 25 separate sailings for Sapphire and it must have taken some time to work out the details before they started cancelling.

 

Hopefully this will work out for most people but there will be some for whom nothing will suffice.  We just have to wait and see.

 

If this doesn't convince people to purchase all encompassing travel insurance then nothing will.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Daniel A

[staygulf]

20 minutes ago, Veerraj said:

That is awesome to hear. It seems like you cruise 3 to 4 times a year atleast.

Do you deal with an external travel agent or directly with a Princess agent ? It seems as if your agent responds to you faster and is very accommodating. I mean I am having a hard time even getting hold off someone from Princess. I have a specific agent assigned to me and it seems like each time I have to go through him. It seems like you got a very good agent serving you.

Over the years we have done around 45 cruises with a mix of bookings between TA and direct with cruiseline. I am in the UK so things might be slightly different. The cancelled cruise was through an online agent, one of the big cruise consolidators. They are supposed to refund our whole holiday cost, cruise fare plus flights within 14 days but I'm waiting to see whether that happens. Never again. Once they've got your money just try contacting them! The future cruise just booked was directly with Princess and for me that's the way forward.

[rattanchair]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:11 AM, Cindy said:

If you can’t afford to self-insure (lose the cost of the trip) because of a cancellation then you can’t afford the cruise. 

Dear Cind,

 And the others that 'like' replied: everyone that books a vacation can afford the loss, they would not have spent the money to begin with if they did not have it.  What everyone should insure is the unexpected catastrophic accident or medical occurrence that might occur any where outside the US, not covered by health insurance or medicare.

[weedpindle]

On 2/23/2020 at 5:02 PM, ed01106 said:

Princess should refund 100% of the money on cruises they canceled. But that is not what they announced.  And if that is their plan they would have announced it already.  So my guess is the “compensation package “ is going to be less than that. 

I bet that the compensation package will be not only the full cost of the cruise but added benefits (OBC,air, other costs). It's called goodwill.

[Daniel A]

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 5:02 PM, ed01106 said:

Princess should refund 100% of the money on cruises they canceled. But that is not what they announced.  And if that is their plan they would have announced it already.  So my guess is the “compensation package “ is going to be less than that. 

 

11 hours ago, weedpindle said:

I bet that the compensation package will be not only the full cost of the cruise but added benefits (OBC,air, other costs). It's called goodwill.

Princess IS refunding 100% on cruises THEY cancelled.  Earlier you were quoting Princess' policy statement for instances where the PASSENGER canceled their booking.  They announced it on February 15, so they did announce it already - nine days before you made that post.  Here is what Princess stated on February 15:

 

"we have made the decision to cancel additional Asia voyages on Sapphire Princess and Majestic Princess. All booked guests will receive a full refund, back to the original form of payment, of their cruise fare, Princess Air, pre- and post-cruise hotel packages, prepaid shore excursions and other prepaid items, and taxes, fees, and port expenses. As these cruises have been cancelled so close to departure, each guest will also receive a Future Cruise Credit."

 

[mek]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:41 PM, geoherb said:

 

Actually you're the one who needs travel insurance more than those who can easily afford it. 

 

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

[ed01106]

9 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

Princess IS refunding 100% on cruises THEY cancelled.  Earlier you were quoting Princess' policy statement for instances where the PASSENGER canceled their booking.  They announced it on February 15, so they did announce it already - nine days before you made that post.  Here is what Princess stated on February 15:

 

"we have made the decision to cancel additional Asia voyages on Sapphire Princess and Majestic Princess. All booked guests will receive a full refund, back to the original form of payment, of their cruise fare, Princess Air, pre- and post-cruise hotel packages, prepaid shore excursions and other prepaid items, and taxes, fees, and port expenses. As these cruises have been cancelled so close to departure, each guest will also receive a Future Cruise Credit."

 

That is only for customers who did not self cancel.  There was many customers that between the time the quarantine began and Princess announced the cancellation of asian cruises that customers were in a situation where if the cancel today they get 50% back but if they wait and Princess doesn’t cancel they get 0%.  Princess says they are going to do something for those folks but haven’t said what. 

 

 

 

 

[Mapu]

On 2/18/2020 at 12:08 AM, Veerraj said:

Will never sail with them again. Our cruise is scheduled in March. In light of the coronavirus, I requested a refund/ future credit to cancel my trip. This is a huge cruise company yet when it comes to a global crisis like the spread of the virus, the company is money minded. Instead of taking precautions to cancel future sailings while the outbreak is in effect, they rip customers off by not refunding and customers are forced to cancel at their own cost. Customers are cancelling without a refund as a precaution to help stop the virus from spreading further. Yet this company is focussed on generating revenue at the cost of well being of its customers and the world in general. The diamond princess belonging to this same company is stuck holding coronavirus infected customers. How does it expect future sailings to happen as planned. Where is social responsibility?
 

The agent for Princess cruises told me numerous times that my only option is to cancel the trip and receive 50 percent refund. As sailing was 1 month away, I had no choice but to cancel the trip on Feb 12 2020. 2 days later Princess announced that they would be cancelling this sailing. When I contacted Princess about the other 50 percent refund, they have refused to respond to me. I think it is only fair if they refund my remaining 50 percent as the ship wont be sailing anyway on March 12th out of Singapore.

 

If I do not receive the remaining 50 percent as a consumer I will take this further as this is not fair and I urge other customers who cancelled their trip due to the virus to fight for a full refund.

I am not sure who you spoke to from Princess but as a travel agent I have talked to Customer Relations several times for information on two different bookings on the March 1st sailing of the Sapphire canceled by Princess on February 14th. One couple canceled their cruise on February 11th and will be given the same compensation as the couple that had not canceled but was waiting to see what Princess was going to do. A total refund of all money paid to Princess including insurance, plus a 50% future cruise credit has been issued  to the couple that had not canceled. The refunds for those who canceled after January 20th will take a few more weeks, future cruise credit of 50% will probably appear in accounts sooner as was the case for those where Princess canceled first. Full refunds will be issued to the credit card(s) used to pay for the cruise.

[Mapu]

Carnival Corp. has so far estimated that the disease outbreak will cost it $290 million to $342 million if Asia cruises are canceled through April. RCCL said on Feb. 13 that the 18 canceled sailings in Asia as of that date had already cost it $136 million, and it anticipates another $115 million hit to earnings if cruises are canceled through the end of April.

[ed01106]

8 minutes ago, Mapu said:

Carnival Corp. has so far estimated that the disease outbreak will cost it $290 million to $342 million if Asia cruises are canceled through April. RCCL said on Feb. 13 that the 18 canceled sailings in Asia as of that date had already cost it $136 million, and it anticipates another $115 million hit to earnings if cruises are canceled through the end of April.

The cruise lines should have taken out insurance against needing to cancel cruises due to disease.  It is the cruise lines own fault for thinking they could self insure this type of problem.  If this doesn't convince the cruise line to buy comprehensive business interruption insurance nothing will.  😀😀😀