Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[nho9504]

19 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I agree with you 100%, which is why it is so pointless and frustrating when all you are told is "It's taking longer due to our systems..." etc, etc. I did exactly as you did at the end of April and got pretty much the same info. I was told that my booking had not been tagged correctly and the customer relations rep tagged it and forwarded it to the correct department. A month later and still nothing. I've given up asking Princess for answers and have disputed with my credit card. Let them deal with Princess.

 

Had I booked it with our own CC I would have disputed it weeks ago.  Due to our unique situation I cannot dispute it because it is booked with Chase's loyalty travel dept's card.  The Customer Relations rep realized the situation after I explained to him.  He told me to just call Princess in 10 business days and asked straight forward , "where is my xxxxx refund?"   as he fully agrees had Princess not paid the travel agency, the travel agency would not be able to refund me.  There is no point to bug the travel agency while the source of information is Princess - when a refund is released.  Until I get that information, it is pointless to discuss when the travel agency can refund me the points used to pay for the cruise.

Edited May 27, 2020 by nho9504

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I agree with you 100%, which is why it is so pointless and frustrating when all you are told is "It's taking longer due to our systems..." etc, etc. I did exactly as you did at the end of April and got pretty much the same info. I was told that my booking had not been tagged correctly and the customer relations rep tagged it and forwarded it to the correct department. A month later and still nothing. I've given up asking Princess for answers and have disputed with my credit card. Let them deal with Princess.

I was told my booking "looked odd"..... Lovely.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, redtop101 said:

Can someone quickly tell me what are the dates considered as Pause 1, Pause 2, Pause 3 ?

Pause 1: cruises cancelled by Princess March 11th

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/global-ship-operations-pause.html

 

Pause 2: cruises cancelled by Princess April 14th 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/global-ship-operations-pause-extended.html

 

Pause 3: cruises cancelled by Princess May 6th 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/global-ship-operations-pause-2020-summer-season.html

[rickays]

Received refunds to both c/c used for March 21 Ruby today.  FCC received a couple of weeks ago.  Glad I got the refund without having to dispute c/c or hassle Princess.  Have further cruises that have been cancelled so will be waiting for refunds on those deposits.  Now waiting until I can cruise again. 😀 🛳️⚓

[Bay Cruiser]

Just received our refund today.  We chose Option 2 on March 13th

Grand Princess Hawaii 4/20 cruise

FFC received April 23

Full refund including port fees and insurance dated 5/21 posted to cc account today.

[Bay Cruiser]

Received our refund today for Grand Princess 4/20 cruise

Chose option 2 on March 13th

FFC received 4/23

Refund dated 5/21 posted to our cc account today.

 

[queenslander]

I received refunds for two cabins I had booked for April 8th. I received the deposits yesterday to one card and the rest to another card today. I waited patiently so I'm glad to get them now! Good luck everyone! Received 50% FCC's a couple of weeks ago. 

Edited May 27, 2020 by queenslander

[dchan865]

16 hours ago, nho9504 said:

The latest load down on what is going on.  Take it or leave it.

 

Just finished a lengthy talk with a nice rep at Customer Relations. 

 

Had to insist to the front line rep to get transfer to Customer Relations.  Also waited a very long time still nobody picked up when the front line rep used the mechanism that would tie to the guest profile / booking number.  Front line rep was nice enough to come back every now and then informing me she was still waiting for someone to pick up.  At the end she said she would just transfer me without info, so "you would need to tell them the booking number again."   This time it was rather quick I got a gentleman at Customer Relations.  He is super helpful by the way.

 

He looked at our booking, said there was one step missing so he could not do his part in requesting a refund - but he said it was a behind the scene, and definitely not anything I or the travel agency has caused it, but someone should have done that particular step, failed to do.  He said he could only "nudge" it via an email to the other end, to "please finish the missing step because this is a cruise in Pause 1, that the process should be wrapping up now."   His advice is to call back directly to Customer Relations in 10 business days and straight ask for him,  IF he is still around (they let go of some folks 2 weeks ago).  Else just ask the specific amount of my refund to anyone who would take the call.

 

The way the refund is process, is nothing as we were told, other than Pause 1would get finished before Pause 2 would start.  That is the only guide post.   It is not by sailing date, not by cancellation date, not by submitting the option form date.  None of these. 

Instead, each sailing is assigned to a person / or a group of persons, to process that particular sailing, then progress to the next assigned sailing once the prev assigned is finished.  Needless to say, there are people who work faster than others, and they move faster in their assignments - that is why we see the sailing dates that are taken care of are all over the place, without any discernible order - because there is really no sequence of any kind.

 

He emphasized a few times that if I was at Pause 2,  there is nothing he could help me now because Pause 2 would not start until all Pause 1 are processed.

 

There will soon be a Pause 4 - the Australia / New Zealand cruises will be canceled. 

 

He also said everyone is work from home for quite some time already but that does NOT affect how things are processed.  Though he said he wish work at home will be over in a few weeks.

 

 

 

Hope you are right about the a person/group that is processing a particular sailing.  A fellow cruiser that was supposed to be on the same cruise as ours got their CC refund recently. So hopefully we are not far behind.

 

 

[ROWSE]

19 hours ago, nho9504 said:

 

Pause 1 covers cruises start Mar 12 thru May 11.

 

Then there is another further suspension of operation from May 12 to June 30 IIRC.  That is Pause 2.

 

The latest is from Jul thru Oct with some going into Nov, as that is not universal.  That is Pause 3.

 

We will soon see Pause 4 - those Australia / New Zealand sailings still show as bookable for from Sept onward - not going to happen based on the Customer Relations rep I talked to this evening.

 

See Princess website for details.

 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/

From your post above I am interested in all the Customer Relations said about this Pause 4.

 

We have a January 24, 2021, Majestic Princess Austrailia/New Zealand booked.   You state these will be cancelled from September onward.  How far onward?  Till end of year or way farther into 2021?  

Any more information would be much appreciated!  

 

[By The Bay]

1 hour ago, ROWSE said:

From your post above I am interested in all the Customer Relations said about this Pause 4.

 

We have a January 24, 2021, Majestic Princess Austrailia/New Zealand booked.   You state these will be cancelled from September onward.  How far onward?  Till end of year or way farther into 2021?  

Any more information would be much appreciated!  

 

The ‘Proposed Tourism Restart Timetable’, which outlines planned return dates for domestic, regional and international travel, hospitability businesses, attractions and events in Australia/New Zealand.

[mfajxc99]

Hi guys,

 

I've placed a called to Princess this afternoon, got put on hold for 20 minutes then an agent came to the phone, I was waiting for her to read the regular scripts (working very hard to get us our refund blah blah blah), surprisingly,  she told me my refund was process last Friday (May 22, 2020) and should appear on my cc probably end of this week.   I didn't ask for the "Customer Relations" since end of this week is two days away, we shall see🤷‍♀️

My sail date was April 25, 2020, submitted the option # 2 on March 16, 2020.   

 

Janet 

[trvlwrld]

having trouble believing the sail date is how things are being processed...i am still on my roll call for April 4 sail date and a few received FCC and refunds about a month ago, and others - nothing...my PVP has looked at mine and says it is not going to be anytime soon...

[mistyPA]

On 5/24/2020 at 11:29 AM, dog said:

When you go to rebook, come back and let us know what happens 

Ok, so, I did go ahead and book a cruise for March 20, 21, Sky Princess. As much as it made sense to take the money back and move on to something else, we really, really enjoy cruising and decided to go for it. So we chose Option 1 - received FCC for 175% of canceled 4/4/20 cruise and was able to apply it to the total cruise fare. We chose not to do that, just in case we change our mind. We didn't want to lock into it. So, we did put a refundable deposit down and will apply remaining FCC when the time comes that we have to.

 

PLEASE make certain you monitor...

 

So what was interesting , as soon as they accessed my Captain's Circle number they applied the FCC to the booking, I had to request that they back the credits out until I made a firm decision on whether we were going or not. I told them I will let them know to apply FCC when the final payment is due and not before. Just checked my account and the updated cruise is there and the FCC are still there.

 

Also, was told that I wouldn't get taxes refunded to our cc unless we requested it. So, I spoke with someone at Princess today and was told that there has been a refund made to my cc today. It should hit over the next several days. I did check cc today and it hasn't hit yet, will continue to monitor and will send an update once I get it.

[mistyPA]

On 5/24/2020 at 10:30 AM, lx200gps said:

That's very interesting, and I'd love to get more feedback/confirmations on this. We have tons of FCC from our cancelled April trip, and are toying with using some of it to book the Enchanted this November. Does this statement mean that we could use some of our FCCs to pay for the deposit, IOW could we book a new trip with NO cash changing hands?

So, after picking the cruise and calling to book, Princess applied the full amount of FCC to the new cruise. I had to specifically ask to have the FCC backed out until we were firmly committed to the cruise. So, we are holding the reservation with a refundable deposit.

[mistyPA]

On 5/25/2020 at 9:23 AM, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

First off, I thought for Option 1 they are putting port fees and taxes in a "holding account" for your future cruises???

 

 

So, I was told this by several people, but I was told by Princess agent today when I booked cruise for next March that they had credited by cc the above mentioned fees. I will monitor and will update. 

 

I did not speak to anyone about having the money refunded. If it has happened, it occurred without my requesting it. Just fyi

[nho9504]

4 hours ago, ROWSE said:

From your post above I am interested in all the Customer Relations said about this Pause 4.

 

We have a January 24, 2021, Majestic Princess Austrailia/New Zealand booked.   You state these will be cancelled from September onward.  How far onward?  Till end of year or way farther into 2021?  

Any more information would be much appreciated!  

 

 

He did not give the specifics but what you can do is to monitor the Scheduled to Reopen dates by Australia and New Zealand - because if the ports are not open for cruise ships, the cruises of course have to be canceled. 

[nho9504]

8 hours ago, dchan865 said:

 

Hope you are right about the a person/group that is processing a particular sailing.  A fellow cruiser that was supposed to be on the same cruise as ours got their CC refund recently. So hopefully we are not far behind.

 

 

 

I am told by the Customer Relations rep on how the refund is processed when I asked why cruises behind ours in Mid to Late Apr, even the first week of May, have seen FCC / Refunds while our Apr11 still being "In Process".  He explained to me the handling is by sailing, all independently.   The more competent / more thorough employees would get things done correctly on first attempt, versus those who are less competent / less detailed minded counterparts.  Also when mistakes were made, it meant start all over and therefore delayed the process.

 

Obviously whoever is responsible handling our booking, made a major mistake by "forgetting" a particular step which prevents the refund being processed.  Actually he said it prevented him to further assist me - until that particular step was done.  He did not tell me exactly what step it was.  Our booking cannot be simpler as it is a straight forward cruise only booking, nothing add-on, no prepaid, no air - just the cabin only.  I cannot see anything simpler than that - yet, the person who handled it still managed to mess up...  Go figure.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, mistyPA said:

So, after picking the cruise and calling to book, Princess applied the full amount of FCC to the new cruise. I had to specifically ask to have the FCC backed out until we were firmly committed to the cruise. So, we are holding the reservation with a refundable deposit.

 

I just repriced a booking that I've had for well over a year and when my TA called in for the price drop, Princess automatically applied my FCCs to that booking.  She asked if I'd like to have them removed.  At first I told her it was ok because I was planning on going on that cruise.  Then, I just read a recent article that the cruise will most likely be canceled.  Considering how long it took Princess to provide those FCCs, I'd rather not go through that again so, just requested my TA remove them as she first offered to do.  If they are up and running by the time of my final payment, I will just reapply them.  

That poor TA ... she must be rolling her eyes every time she sees my email address come up!  I need to send her something really nice!!  

[Ombud]

21 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I just repriced a booking that I've had for well over a year and when my TA called in for the price drop, Princess automatically applied my FCCs to that booking.  She asked if I'd like to have them removed.  At first I told her it was ok because I was planning on going on that cruise.  Then, I just read a recent article that the cruise will most likely be canceled.  Considering how long it took Princess to provide those FCCs, I'd rather not go through that again so, just requested my TA remove them as she first offered to do.  If they are up and running by the time of my final payment, I will just reapply them.  

That poor TA ... she must be rolling her eyes every time she sees my email address come up!  I need to send her something really nice!!  

I cancelled my September 4th cruise right before Princess did. I had 537 FCC paid on it, got that 537 FCC back this morning. So it's only 3 weeks to get access to previously applied FCCs on a cancelled cruise. 

[Baby_Bear]

1 hour ago, nho9504 said:

 

I am told by the Customer Relations rep on how the refund is processed when I asked why cruises behind ours in Mid to Late Apr, even the first week of May, have seen FCC / Refunds while our Apr11 still being "In Process".  He explained to me the handling is by sailing, all independently.   The more competent / more thorough employees would get things done correctly on first attempt, versus those who are less competent / less detailed minded counterparts.  Also when mistakes were made, it meant start all over and therefore delayed the process.

 

Obviously whoever is responsible handling our booking, made a major mistake by "forgetting" a particular step which prevents the refund being processed.  Actually he said it prevented him to further assist me - until that particular step was done.  He did not tell me exactly what step it was.  Our booking cannot be simpler as it is a straight forward cruise only booking, nothing add-on, no prepaid, no air - just the cabin only.  I cannot see anything simpler than that - yet, the person who handled it still managed to mess up...  Go figure.

Your post makes me glad I chose to dispute the charge on my credit card. Mine was a plain vanilla cruise only booking as well. Cancelled on March 9th, no action on refund yet. I am amazed that something like a refund which should be straightforward, apparently takes months to figure out in the Princess world and key steps are missed along the way. Capital One credited my account for the full amount of the cruise fare (including the $200 deposit) within 48 hours of filing the dispute. If Princess does refund me in this lifetime (we were booked for May 16), I know Capital one will take care of any reconciliation required. 

[DavidandHeather]

We cancelled our booking on 24th March for our 16th August sailing on Grand Princess and post cruise tour. Our decision to cancel as we could see what was coming, very upsetting to do so as it was for our 10th anniversary of getting married on the Grand. Owed in excess of £12k in cruise fares, flights, bookings etc, was told we would receive our refunds within 60 days, it's now 65 days and not seen a penny returned and I am getting concerned. Spoke to princess and I appreciate they are struggling with processing all the refunds  we had anticipated mass cancellations and that's why we made the decision to proactively cancel early. Anyone on here got any idea when we might get our money back? We are in the UK as the answer may be country dependent.

[Aulanis]

Welcome to Cruise Critic

Hi - not many Brits on here  but the answers problems feedback seems universal  in that

there does not ever appear to have been a system to cope. What is said by princess depends

on when it was said and who said it.  

Did you book direct or through a TA?    Was everything  Cruise  Post cruise tour flights   all

booked through Princess or did you do some yourselves.

If you booked through Princess  have you had a written (email) response to your cancellation.

 There is a UK section on Cruise critic but its not very active.

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/forum/543-uk-cruising/

 

there should also be a roll call for your cruise there is a 3 post one for 15th ?  

If that date is wrong if you confirm  I will look for a link for you.

Alaska cruises dont have many posts for some reason, probably there is nothing

that people want to arrange outside the cruise.

 

Refunds mainly only started happening mid april and have picked up last week.

Mine is a mess- I wont go into details.

[travelhound]

On 5/26/2020 at 9:34 PM, rickays said:

Received refunds to both c/c used for March 21 Ruby today.  FCC received a couple of weeks ago.  Glad I got the refund without having to dispute c/c or hassle Princess.  Have further cruises that have been cancelled so will be waiting for refunds on those deposits.  Now waiting until I can cruise again. 😀 🛳️⚓

The refunds seem to be coming now, and we are also anxious to sail again 🙂

 

[DavidandHeather]

Booked direct with princess for cruise, post cruise tour, flights, on board packages and tours.

[Roger88]

When the refund is issued it goes on the card with which the original payment has been made. It does not care whether it was a credit or debit card. Unless you paid with cash, you will get your refund on a credit card if it was your desired way of paying. I heard its quite complicated to do otherwise due to some internal bank regulations and their inner policies with cruise companies