Refund Status for canceled cruises: Retitled after merges

[dog]

Just now, dearinger said:

Ahh, I wasn’t clear. I had paid with my debit card and it was refunded back to my checking account. Everything with USAA seems to get processed a lot faster. 

Thank you! I never even thought of that. 

[joe d]

I am getting a little (really a lot) frustrated with the Princess refund policy. I realize that they are now saying that it could take up to 60 days, but the delay when I cancelled was only 30 days. I cancelled on the very first day and even if I was at the very back of the line I should have had my refund by now. I would like Princess to answer a few questions:

 

Are they not doing the refunds in the order that the requests  came in?

 

If not why not?

 

Why won’t they give us some kind of update on the status of the refunds? 

P.S. I am also owed a partial refund on my air for a February 20 transaction and have not received it either. 

[Mackenzie1]

Dearinger's refund came for a cruise that was later than mine, so Princess may not be refunding from the oldest cruise.  My cruise, which was canceled on March 12, was to leave on March 26.  I also filled out the form within minutes of having received it, and received a confirmation back from Princess within seconds.

[Mackenzie1]

18 hours ago, Roger88 said:

If you filed a refund a month ago, by now you should be getting your money back. It takes 40-90 days in most cases. I also heard that VAT is not included in that refunds. I wouldnt also expecting getting anything earlier than 40 days. If by June you didnt get your refund, I would suggest reading a contract and see what additional pennies you could get from them

 

Thanks.  If I may ask, did you learn this from Princess?  If so, that would be reassuring.

[LDVinNC]

On their website, the Q&A says 60 days.  We filed for our refund on March 12, so May 13th is the date we will file a dispute if the refund has not been received.

[trrn2016]

2 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

On their website, the Q&A says 60 days.  We filed for our refund on March 12, so May 13th is the date we will file a dispute if the refund has not been received.

Depending on what Princess Rep you talk to, they now say 60 business days. They told me it doesnt matter what the cancellation date is (3-5-20 for me), it is the oldest cruise first. Said they are just getting a cancellation team together! I dont believe anything they say.

[LDVinNC]

16 minutes ago, trrn2016 said:

 I dont believe anything they say.

 

Nor do I.

[billco]

 

32 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

On their website, the Q&A says 60 days.  We filed for our refund on March 12, so May 13th is the date we will file a dispute if the refund has not been received.

Pretty sure whenever a corporation says a number of days they mean business days. So, 60 business days from March 12 would be June 4, 2020. Add in Memorial Day  and that makes it June 5.

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/time/date-day.php

Edited April 12, 2020 by billco

[springfire]

Princess and the cruise lines are in trouble.  Who knows when the ships will start cruising, what new modifications will be needed for likely new regulations on these ships, which ports will even open for cruise ships, will enough cruisers even want to get back on a ship, will the ships be able to get enough quality crew members back.  With Princess being forced to cancel so many more cruises, deal with numerous lawsuits, we are all in a fight to get our money back.   Good luck to everyone in getting their money back and good luck to Princess.

[LDVinNC]

2 minutes ago, billco said:

 

Pretty sure whenever a corporation says a number of days they mean business days. So, 60 business days from March 12 would be June 4, 2020.

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/time/date-day.php

 

You are probably right that that is what they mean, BUT that is not what they say on their site.  If that is what they mean, that should be spelled out.  If I wait until June I am bumping up against my credit card's limit for filing a dispute.

[susantx3]

1 hour ago, springfire said:

Princess and the cruise lines are in trouble.  Who knows when the ships will start cruising, what new modifications will be needed for likely new regulations on these ships, which ports will even open for cruise ships, will enough cruisers even want to get back on a ship, will the ships be able to get enough quality crew members back.  With Princess being forced to cancel so many more cruises, deal with numerous lawsuits, we are all in a fight to get our money back.   Good luck to everyone in getting their money back and good luck to Princess.

 

They also let the Charge-backs get out of hand.  Banks are Leary of charge-backs over 1 percent and I am sure they are already well beyond that. 

[springfire]

11 minutes ago, susantx3 said:

 

They also let the Charge-backs get out of hand.  Banks are Leary of charge-backs over 1 percent and I am sure they are already well beyond that. 

Great point!  This is an ugly situation for everyone. 

[LDVinNC]

34 minutes ago, susantx3 said:

 

They also let the Charge-backs get out of hand.  Banks are Leary of charge-backs over 1 percent and I am sure they are already well beyond that. 

 

Not sure what this means.  Princess let the charge backs get out of hand? How, by delaying repayments?  And 1% of what?  I am curious.

[gadaboutgal]

50 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

 

Not sure what this means.  Princess let the charge backs get out of hand? How, by delaying repayments?  And 1% of what?  I am curious.

The merchant's banks take a deep look at companies that are having an over average amount of chargebacks.  Usually looking at the reliability of the company as far as fraud. In this case, I think the merchant banks and the customer banks are well aware of the situation.

[travelhound]

21 hours ago, dearinger said:

 

I booked through big online travel agent, so not direct. My bank (USAA) does post deposits earlier than any other bank I’ve ever had ( I get my paycheck two days early), so I have a feeling a lot of refunds will roll in next week. Also, before someone asks the question no we are not elite or platinum on Princess...

 

Edit: Also, of note I did fill out my form myself, but ended up calling my travel agent about something and they checked on my refund (this was a week after I filled out the form the first time) and they said that they had to fill out the form for me as well.... no clue if that is true. I ended up getting a second confirmation form. I don’t think that sped up this process or slowed it down, just anecdotal. 

I also booked through a big online TA.  They have been somewhat useless.  I filled out the form myself, selected option 2, and submitted it on March 12th. 

[ghstudio]

At this point, there is no reason to call Princess or even your TA if you have submitted the form and received a receipt.  You either will or won't get a refund and wringing your hands here won't get it any faster.  Like everyone else, I filed the form....Carnival has $6 billion.....my fare is less than that.....I'm just waiting.

[jwattle]

23 hours ago, Roger88 said:

If you filed a refund a month ago, by now you should be getting your money back. It takes 40-90 days in most cases. I also heard that VAT is not included in that refunds. I wouldnt also expecting getting anything earlier than 40 days. If by June you didnt get your refund, I would suggest reading a contract and see what additional pennies you could get from them

Unless you are positive of this, please don't post it; you previously posted that you "heard" that port fees and taxes wouldn't be refunded, and that was incorrect...please don't post rumors.

[weberman]

IMHO, I think CCL is having financial problems. (I don't want to sound like Doom and Gloom but read the following)

From reading the business news, stock traders don't seem to have much faith in CCL which is off about $44 a share from  its 52 week high and is now selling for $12.42 a share. So, I have lost about $2000 on my small holding of CCL.

RCL however is only off about $5 a share from its 52 week high and selling for about $40 a share.

Speculation and that is what it is, is that CCL will not be able to weather the virus shutdown. They still have fairly large expenses and more ships under construction and the general consensus seems to be CCL will not be able to attract significant passenger bookings until there is a vaccine.

I wish CCl all the best and hope they can recover in the short term. 

[remydiva]

22 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

At this point, there is no reason to call Princess or even your TA if you have submitted the form and received a receipt.  You either will or won't get a refund and wringing your hands here won't get it any faster.  Like everyone else, I filed the form....Carnival has $6 billion.....my fare is less than that.....I'm just waiting.

Scooch over .. I’ll sit beside you.. ok Not right beside...six feet away...and wait with you. 😊

 

[jimmieg]

42 minutes ago, weberman said:

IMHO, I think CCL is having financial problems. (I don't want to sound like Doom and Gloom but read the following)

From reading the business news, stock traders don't seem to have much faith in CCL which is off about $44 a share from  its 52 week high and is now selling for $12.42 a share. So, I have lost about $2000 on my small holding of CCL.

RCL however is only off about $5 a share from its 52 week high and selling for about $40 a share.

Speculation and that is what it is, is that CCL will not be able to weather the virus shutdown. They still have fairly large expenses and more ships under construction and the general consensus seems to be CCL will not be able to attract significant passenger bookings until there is a vaccine.

I wish CCl all the best and hope they can recover in the short term. 

???  Best take a fresh look at RCI 2 yr drop.

 

[Mikel1733]

I'm concerned the announcements on April 14th, by the close of business might be more negative than we expect.  Hopefully its not an announcement of bankruptcy.

[travelhound]

1 hour ago, ghstudio said:

At this point, there is no reason to call Princess or even your TA if you have submitted the form and received a receipt.  You either will or won't get a refund and wringing your hands here won't get it any faster.  Like everyone else, I filed the form....Carnival has $6 billion.....my fare is less than that.....I'm just waiting.

Yup, I  suspect that we will not see a significant number of refunds until 60-90 days.  That said, it's still good to hear that some people have started to get refunds.  

 

[jondfk]

I'll offer a perspective.  We were on Grand for the ill fated February 21 voyage.  I've discussed that at length elsewhere so will only talk about the credit & FCC aspect here.

 

We were held on Grand until 4 days after our scheduled departure by which time we had been given word that our fare and onboard charges would be refunded and an FCC issued for our 'trouble'.

 

The onboard account was fully wiped.  Charges were limited to whatever Princess defined as "reasonable".

The refund to my credit card landed about the same time we stepped off the bus at Travis, literally within minutes, just dumb luck I think there's no way they timed it that close.

The FCC posted the following business day.

 

If we can assume they are offering similar compensation to passengers just off Coral, Pacific, Ruby and others AND prioritizing them in the same way, one can understand why un-sailed refunds might be at the bottom of a very large pile.  We're waiting on a substantial refund for an April 21 sailing and are eager to receive it, but frankly, it's only proper that those who have experienced actual impacts receive first priority.  

 

As for the prospect that Carnival will go bankrupt, no court in the world would let them go under with $6B cash on hand.  Those in line for refunds would be fairly high priority creditors in any case.  I'm as frustrated as anyone about the delay, but frankly have little worry that the refund will eventually arrive.  Might the FCC's expire before we can find something to book, perhaps.

[LDVinNC]

8 minutes ago, jondfk said:

 We're waiting on a substantial refund for an April 21 sailing and are eager to receive it, but frankly, it's only proper that those who have experienced actual impacts receive first priority.  

 

 

 

While I agree with you partly, yesterday we were scheduled to sail on the first day of a 42 day B2B cruise in a suite. This was to be a trip of a lifetime, and we saved long and hard to afford it.  Princess is holding enough of our money to buy a nice car.  I consider that an "actual impact". I am scared silly that we will never see that money.

[jondfk]

Just now, LDVinNC said:

 

While I agree with you partly, yesterday we were scheduled to sail on the first day of a 42 day B2B cruise in a suite. This was to be a trip of a lifetime, and we saved long and hard to afford it.  Princess is holding enough of our money to buy a nice car.  I consider that an "actual impact". I am scared silly that we will never see that money.

 

There's no doubt that Princess holding our money is an "actual impact".  On the other hand, let me assure you that planning a trip for 15 days, having it end up being 34 days with 20 of those spend locked in your room, is a different sort of impact.  I didn't intend to trivialize any of us waiting for money back, I only intended to give some sense of how refunds might be being prioritized, any offense was unintentional.  

 

I understand your fear and believe me I feel your pain, we too were booked in a suite for April, in addition we lost 3 weeks of income while at Travis and being delayed in disembarkation.  As I wrote, I have no real worry that the money won't come, and yes it would be great to have it sooner rather than later.  Here's hoping that the senior folks at Princess clearly understand that every day of delay undoubtedly looses future customers, some forever.