Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[SunLakesBob]

It is also frustrating when the bonuses of the Carnival Corporation Executives were published Maybe $35,000 doesn't matter to them but it does to those of us who are retired.

[cruisin_ppl]

 

We are also in a similar situation as some that cancelled before pause 1. 

We cancelled on Mar 11, 1 day before pause 1.

Our cruise was on the Regal - April 19 with a b2b on May 4
 

We received a refund to our CC of 50% fare + port fees and taxes to cover both cruises about 2 weeks after we cancelled.  So we are now waiting for the other 50% to be refunded.

 

We originally chose option 1 on Mar 12, but changed it to option 2 on May 5 when Princess sent an email encouraging us to take option 1.  I figured we had waited long enough. 

 

On May 26 we received an updated cancellation notice for both cruises that showed  cancellation fees = none.   No mention of our ezair flights on that notice. 
Still no FCC's showing on our accounts. 

 

According to Princess our payment has been processed and waiting for release to our CC.  Whether any of this is true ... who knows. 

 

94 days and still waiting. 

[voljeep]

23 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

. I would be interested to hear what others think about the situation!

unfortunately, this is nothing more that a cash-flow situation and preservation …  are there going to be feelings hurt and pissed off customers - of course … will some people "never cruise again" - of course, until they do …  and then there is the group that states , OK , it happens … when's my next cruise ??

 

I believe if Princess had just let the faucet flow on refunds, they would already be in some kind of bankruptcy / reorganization ...

and they still may be at some point in time depending on the number of lawsuits filed against them for Covid-19 - but how long will those take to settle … years, of course

 

now it is well known that I am not in the same situation as a lot of you with thousands of $$$ in limbo with no answers and Princess either not knowing themselves or unwilling to provide you with concrete answers … as this is a major fluid situation

which can change daily

 

Even before all this, it was kind of a running joke on Princess that if you called their customer service and didn't get the answer you were hoping / looking for, to just keep calling until you did … these Princess reps don't have answers … that's way up the line 

 

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

Edited June 13, 2020 by voljeep

[ceilidh1]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

unfortunately, this is nothing more that a cash-flow situation and preservation …  are there going to be feelings hurt and pissed off customers - of course … will some people "never cruise again" - of course, until they do …  and then there is the group that states , OK , it happens … when's my next cruise ??

 

I believe if Princess had just let the faucet flow on refunds, they would already be in some kind of bankruptcy / reorganization ...

and they still may be at some point in time depending on the number of lawsuits filed against them for Covid-19 - but how long will those take to settle … years, of course

 

now it is well known that I am not in the same situation as a lot of you with thousands of $$$ in limbo with no answers and Princess either not knowing themselves or unwilling to provide you with concrete answers … as this is a major fluid situation

which can change daily

 

Even before all this, it was kind of a running joke on Princess that if you called their customer service and didn't get the answer you were hoping / looking for, to just keep calling until you did … these Princess reps don't have answers … that's way up the line 

I agree with you 100% that this is a cash flow problem. I also do believe that the process is not simple and that the many options they presented made it become a manual, time-consuming task. I understand people are working from home in less than optimal conditions and others have been let go. I never thought the process would be fast or simple and was prepared to wait the 60+ days (actually, I'm over 90 now...). 

 

What I don't get is why those up the chain are not mitigating all the above factors and trying to at least appear as if they have things under control. It doesn't even need to be anything fancy of time consuming. Regular updates to their site or social media saying "we are working on it. This is what we have done so far", regular emails to those still waiting, even an email to confirm that the refund/FCC has been done (how hard can it be to send a confirmation if you are already in that person's booking?) This brings me back to my previous questions - do they not know or do they not care?

[Cruzinnana47]

I definitely hold the Princess AND Carnival Corp. hierachy responsible for this mess they have created.  The phone reps are not sufficiently trained and are on the front lines completely unprepared.   Have worked in customer service for many years, and this sure is a very poor example of it.  I was giving the cruiseline credit for having to deal with an unprecedented situation, but am all done being patient.  The rules re refunds/FCC's, etc., have changed so many times, I don't know what to believe.  And what happened to the "Holding Accounts"?  Last 2 times I called, the phone reps had no clue what I was talking about.

Who I really feel bad for are the crew members, ship officers, entertainers, service staff on all the ships.  But NO sympathy for the cruiseline bigwigs still receiving their paychecks and holding onto to our money as long as they can.

[DavidandHeather]

Finally had a call from a supervisor and a chance to explain our situation to them which is diffrent to most here as we cancelled before the normal 90 day final payment date but unfortunately after princess switched off the auto refund system, it was refreshing call with absolutely no bs and they listened to us and carefully explained the problems Princess are up against. Had we received such a call earlier we would not have become as worried or stressed, as a result we will give them a few extra days before we consider other action and our badly dented opinion of princess has become slightly less dented.

[dickinson]

18 minutes ago, DavidandHeather said:

Finally had a call from a supervisor and a chance to explain our situation to them which is diffrent to most here as we cancelled before the normal 90 day final payment date but unfortunately after princess switched off the auto refund system, it was refreshing call with absolutely no bs and they listened to us and carefully explained the problems Princess are up against. Had we received such a call earlier we would not have become as worried or stressed, as a result we will give them a few extra days before we consider other action and our badly dented opinion of princess has become slightly less dented.

 

So what did they say the problems Princess is up against?  What did they say to make you feel slightly better?

[DavidandHeather]

9 minutes ago, dickinson said:

 

So what did they say the problems Princess is up against?  What did they say to make you feel slightly better?

 

Will post an update by Wednesday but basically they listened and cut all the bs but only time will tell.

[Slotown]

On 6/12/2020 at 6:15 AM, Ombud said:

Unfortunately this may be the case where 'ask 3 Princess employees get 4 answers' BUT I heard that if you do not specifically request a refund you get FCC

That was my understanding also.  Must file form and request option 2 for refund

[Coral]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

 

 

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

I did cancel before Princess cancelled and was willing to take the responsibility. I do have to say Princess waited too long for their pause. It was unsafe where I was traveling to and I could not count on Princess to do the right thing. In the news as 2 Princess ships that were having COVID-19 issues. I got an email from Princess offering me money if I continued on with my voyage. It was not safe to do so and I cancelled. Princess should have learned from the Diamond Princess and the other ship - Grand? that had issues.

 

Can you imagine if they had not done their 60 day pause when they did? Things would have been far worse. Imagine all of the transatlantic ships getting ready to go in March and April with people arriving on the ship with COVID-19?

 

Cruise ships were unprepared for the pandemic and it shows. I just wish they had done pause earlier when the Diamond Princess was having issues. It would have been the right thing to do.

[cherylandtk]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

 

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

I would be THRILLED if Princess honored the standard cancellation terms on my booking.  We specifically cancelled early knowing we were foregoing any percent of fare FCCs but wishing to minimize our out of pocket costs.  We cancelled at 64 days prior to the cruise which put us in the deposit amount as the penalty.  Our deposit was $2.  
 

It is now 89 days after we cancelled and Princess has given us nothing.

[EZ1]

Waiting now 70 days for our Princess refund!! Already have gotten refunds from Royal in 11-20 days &  refunds from Carnival in 30-45 days!! But did get an emailed confirmation of my refund request & they said they were being processed in order of sailing date(our canceled cruise was Jun27)!!

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by EZ1

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

EDIT: and for all those that cancelled their cruise prior to Princess cancelling them … well, check the terms under which you booked … harsh, but in reality ...

 

I am going to take a wild guess that you didn't book a cruise that was cancelled by Princess as part of the first pause.  Those who have been posting with the most frequency here who cancelled just before the pause announcement did so after getting a special offer to cancel and get all of their cancellation fees set up as FCC with the balance refunded.  And then Princess cancelled all of these cruises within a week of sending out that offer.  They  cancelled the PVP that we had paid for which meant we could not claim anything and instead allowed us to elect to receive the amount we paid as entirely FCCs + a bonus or a full refund with a lower amount of bonus FCCs.  Then they delayed... and delayed... and delayed...  They haven't even lived up to the first offer that they made let alone the more generous offer.  Those were the terms we cancelled under and these terms were clearly stated in documents provided by Princess.  That is the reality.

[Roger88]

It will all depend on how and under what circumstances your refund has been processed. If you cancelled  the cruise before the official announcement, I doubt you will get back your money. If it has happend later or on the same day when the cruise was cancelled or it has been cancelled by the company itself then you might have some problems proving that the cancellation has been justify. Sometimes they just offer FFC credits or gift cards but never real money 

[azbirdmom]

15 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

I would be THRILLED if Princess honored the standard cancellation terms on my booking.  We specifically cancelled early knowing we were foregoing any percent of fare FCCs but wishing to minimize our out of pocket costs.  We cancelled at 64 days prior to the cruise which put us in the deposit amount as the penalty.  Our deposit was $2.  
 

It is now 89 days after we cancelled and Princess has given us nothing.

 

When Princess calculated our partial refund, the deposit they used was the standard 10%.  We used FCDs so I had thought that the deposit deducted would have been $200 for both of us but I understand that they use 10% to determine cancellation fees regardless of what you actually deposited.  At some point we will get that back, at least I hope we will!

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

It will all depend on how and under what circumstances your refund has been processed. If you cancelled  the cruise before the official announcement, I doubt you will get back your money. If it has happend later or on the same day when the cruise was cancelled or it has been cancelled by the company itself then you might have some problems proving that the cancellation has been justify. Sometimes they just offer FFC credits or gift cards but never real money 

In my situation, they cancelled on March 12th for all cruises in the next 60 days. They offered real full refunds (or FCC) to anyone who cancelled from February 4th to March 12th.

 

There was another situation before that, that they allowed those who cancelled the Diamond or Sapphire Princess (not sure which) - that they went retroactive to those who cancelled several weeks earlier because, they realized they made a mistake and it was unsafe to travel there.

[cherylandtk]

4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

When Princess calculated our partial refund, the deposit they used was the standard 10%.  We used FCDs so I had thought that the deposit deducted would have been $200 for both of us but I understand that they use 10% to determine cancellation fees regardless of what you actually deposited.  At some point we will get that back, at least I hope we will!

In the past (and who knows if that still applies) the auto refund system calculates the 10% penalty automatically.  Then when they process the refund the penalty amount is adjusted to the actual deposit amount.  I don’t know if this was a manual adjustment or what, but it never took more than a couple of days.  

[CJinSF]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

I would be interested to hear what others think about the situation!

 

I have all of your questions and more. So does the Federal Maritime Commission, one of the few U.S. government agencies that have any jurisdiction over cruise ships. See this story about what they're investigating: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/fmc-investigation-hones-cruise-line-refund-policies

 

If anyone would like to add your own experience to this investigation, you can do so in 2 ways:

 

1. Email Commissioner Sola at ff30@fmc.gov with your personal story and what you think should be done about cruise line refund practices.

 

2. File a consumer complaint with the agency, asking them to help resolve your issue. You can do so by emailing a brief description of your issue to complaints@fmc.gov . You don't need to share all details in your initial email, as they will send you back a form to fill out.

 

I have done both of these things, as well as file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General. My patience ran out a long time ago.

[azbirdmom]

34 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

In the past (and who knows if that still applies) the auto refund system calculates the 10% penalty automatically.  Then when they process the refund the penalty amount is adjusted to the actual deposit amount.  I don’t know if this was a manual adjustment or what, but it never took more than a couple of days.  

 

I think they shut down auto refunds right after our's was generated so it very well could be that is what killed any corrections.  That and the fact that a different cancellation policy was rolled out.

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I think they shut down auto refunds right after our's was generated so it very well could be that is what killed any corrections.  That and the fact that a different cancellation policy was rolled out.

I think I cancelled before you (or the same day) and it was turned off for me. I think you are lucky yours got through. It was sort of sporadic around that time.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coral

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I think I cancelled before you (or the same day) and it was turned off for me. I think you are lucky yours got through. It was sort of sporadic around that time.

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

I don't think she did anything different. It makes no sense.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Coral

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I don't think she did anything different. It makes no sense.

 

Unless something about your transaction triggered manual processing to begin with.  We used one credit card for the whole thing.  No excursions or other on board purchases needed to be refunded.  We had already cancelled those on 3/8 as we were fairly certain that we would cancel the cruise and these refunds appeared on the credit card on 3/10.  I guess it isn't worth it to speculate - your final sentence above is probably the most accurate statement on this whole situation - it makes no sense!

[ceilidh1]

11 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I'm recalling that you cancelled first on 3/6, then we cancelled on 3/10.  I still find it odd that your's didn't sail right through unless N processed our cancellations differently.  Agree that we were lucky to get most back by 3/14, but at day 95 we haven't gotten another dime returned since then and still no FCCs.

It's all over the place - I cancelled March 10th and got nothing. My client was cancelled March 9th and got the refundable portion back 4 days later. No rhyme or reason.

[Conal4749]

I don’t think it’s based on the date the cancellation was made but on sailing date.  We also cancelled 3/6 for a 5/16 sailing.  We are supposedly in the group to be refunded shortly.  As of today I was told that they have started working on this group.  At the time we cancelled we verbally told Princess we wanted a refund.  We didn’t have to fill anything out as it was prior to their cancelling any cruises.  We have had many conversations with various levels of representatives at PCL.  Always same story and “please be patient”.  Based on what I’ve seen on this site our refund should be coming in the next couple of weeks.  🤞🤞🤞

 

we did in the meantime deposit a cruise for 2021.   After some thought we decided to cancel and “wait and see”.  The refund for that deposit came back to our credit card within a few days, so I’m assuming it was handled by the regular system at PCL.