In-Transit Passengers Matter

[hpeabody]

There are many passengers whose cruises were underway when the first pause was announced.  We were put off ships in unexpected foreign ports to make our way home.  We are the cast aside, over looked and forgotten "In-Transit" group.  The speculation on social media about how our refunds are being/not being handled is quite disconcerting.  There are many long time loyal Princess cruisers in this group.  Few have received travel reimbursement from Princess.  On board we received letters with Princess's promises and options specific to our ship's situation. Our ship, Pacific Princess was disembarked in Fremantle, Australia March 21st, some passengers on other ships earlier, some later.  So we are all pretty much now nearing the 90 day mark since disembarkation and option request form submission.  Many in this group are owed potentially tens of thousands of dollars in cruise fare, bonus FCCs, shore excursions refunds, port fee refunds, refundable OBC checks and travel reimbursement, etc.  We are now seeing gleeful posts about refunds, FCCs, etc being received from Pause 2 cancellations.  This is upsetting and infuriating.   It seems to me that Princess is using the substantial money owed us to pay everyone else.  WHEN IS IT OUR TURN?

[dog]

I am very sorry to see this happening to you and others. 
 

[mnocket]

I can understand your anger.  Princess has raised cash, so it's no longer a matter of cash flow.  I'm guessing it's just a matter of limited staff and possibly (probably?) Princess prioritizing your category of refunds below others.  I really feel for people in your circumstances.  I came so close to being in a similar situation.  I returned from a 28-day cruise at the beginning of March - just as many of the ships that shared your experience departed. 

[Thrak]

Give 'em hell, Holly! Get on their case and call, call, call, and email, email, email. Hassle them on their FB presence. You should have been taken care of by now.

[hpeabody]

6 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Give 'em hell, Holly! Get on their case and call, call, call, and email, email, email. Hassle them on their FB presence. You should have been taken care of by now.

Princess is unresponsive and non communicative. 

[maggie777]

We are also in this category. We were on Sun Princess heading to Sydney when the cruise ended 2 days ahead of schedule. We spent a lot of money rebooking return flights. We also debarked with a large OBC on final invoice. These items total over $3000. We also have other lesser items owed such as prepaid shore excursions ( Visa charge ) for a cancelled Nov cruise. Emails and phone calls are not working! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[LouiseArtichoke]

We also are in this group of 2020 world cruisers who flew home from Fremantle.  Not a word from Princess except acknowledgement that they received our request for Option 2.  We are due many thousands of $$ in cash refund for cancelled portion of the cruise plus 125% of that in FCC.  We have booked part of the 2021 world cruise from Dubai to FLL, so hope FCC will eventually be applied to that.  I certainly hope the 2021 cruise is a "go" because I don't want to deal  with this refund stuff again!  

P.S.  If someone can put us on the Roll Call, we are Sharon & Paul from Corvallis, OR, cabin C422, DXB-FLL.  Thanks!

[hpeabody]

19 minutes ago, LouiseArtichoke said:

We also are in this group of 2020 world cruisers who flew home from Fremantle.  Not a word from Princess except acknowledgement that they received our request for Option 2.  We are due many thousands of $$ in cash refund for cancelled portion of the cruise plus 125% of that in FCC.  We have booked part of the 2021 world cruise from Dubai to FLL, so hope FCC will eventually be applied to that.  I certainly hope the 2021 cruise is a "go" because I don't want to deal  with this refund stuff again!  

P.S.  If someone can put us on the Roll Call, we are Sharon & Paul from Corvallis, OR, cabin C422, DXB-FLL.  Thanks!

Hi my fellow World Cruise 2020 passengers.  What a great cruise that was going to be, only to be foiled.

 

Here is a link to the Roll Call for the full 2021 Island Princess version (Nothing like our cruise was going to be)  I am booked, Venice to LA, but a big maybe.  Just click below link to go there

 

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by hpeabody

[pris993]

For those in this situation, I would guess Princess will respond to you eventually.   Given you were on a world cruise, few of us can even think about such an expensive cruise..  so you must be valued passengers in the cruise line business.   Have faith, would guess Princess will come through.  Good luck!!

[Coral]

Princess needs to deal with your situations NOW. You were the earliest affected.

 

This is getting ridiculous.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Coral

[Coral]

11 hours ago, pris993 said:

For those in this situation, I would guess Princess will respond to you eventually.   Given you were on a world cruise, few of us can even think about such an expensive cruise..  so you must be valued passengers in the cruise line business.   Have faith, would guess Princess will come through.  Good luck!!

I am guessing these are some loyal customers they are soon to lose if they haven't already. Sad because they booked expensive cruises.

[pris993]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I am guessing these are some loyal customers they are soon to lose if they haven't already. Sad because they booked expensive cruises.

No business wants to lose loyal customers.  My sister was booked on a cruise that was cancelled, she got a full refund from Princess.   She got a refund already for air from Singapore airlines, but is still waiting for a $6000 ticket refiund from United.  Cruise and air were cancelled in Feb.    So all of this takes time.

[azbirdmom]

Sorry to hear that the in transit folks are still waiting for reimbursement.  You should be at the front of the line since you were forced to spend more than you had intended for unexpected expenses.  If you've tried calling Princess to no avail, it might be worth it to reach out to a consumer advocate in your state or local media.  I wouldn't normally suggest that but I know that they do bring unwanted attention to companies which generally prompts quicker actions.  Hope your situation is resolved soon.

[npcl]

Have the people that left their luggage on the Pacific for Princess to ship home ever gotten their luggage?

[pcur]

On 6/15/2020 at 11:15 AM, hpeabody said:

There are many passengers whose cruises were underway when the first pause was announced.  We were put off ships in unexpected foreign ports to make our way home.  We are the cast aside, over looked and forgotten "In-Transit" group.  The speculation on social media about how our refunds are being/not being handled is quite disconcerting.  There are many long time loyal Princess cruisers in this group.  Few have received travel reimbursement from Princess.  On board we received letters with Princess's promises and options specific to our ship's situation. Our ship, Pacific Princess was disembarked in Fremantle, Australia March 21st, some passengers on other ships earlier, some later.  So we are all pretty much now nearing the 90 day mark since disembarkation and option request form submission.  Many in this group are owed potentially tens of thousands of dollars in cruise fare, bonus FCCs, shore excursions refunds, port fee refunds, refundable OBC checks and travel reimbursement, etc.  We are now seeing gleeful posts about refunds, FCCs, etc being received from Pause 2 cancellations.  This is upsetting and infuriating.   It seems to me that Princess is using the substantial money owed us to pay everyone else.  WHEN IS IT OUR TURN?

Instead of waiting for Princess, gather up all your documentation, and scan it into one pdf file. Log in online with your credit card bank and open a secure message.  Summarize what happened, ask them to read the attached pdf file, and tell them you wan the charges reversed for whatever charges went through on that card.  Identify the charges specifically in your message:  date, amount, identifying info. 

 

Give them 10 days to process it, as they are short staffed, too.  Then, call and discuss the whole thing with them.  You will want to talk to the Disputes department.

 

I did this just recently over an Airbnb deposit that I argued with Airbnb for 10 long days using online chat with them.  They refused to refund my deposit.  I did what I've described above, and Chase bank put a temporary credit on my card the next day.  

 

THAT got Airbnb's attention, and they contacted me again.  They refunded the deposit within 3 working days, and then waited another while I graciously contacted Chase and asked them to reverse the temporary credit.  Airbnb was pretty worried about it, because they were technically out $4,800 in the meantime.  But, I'm reasonable, and did it quickly for them.  

 

Don't wait any longer for Princess:  do a chargeback on your credit card.

Edited June 17, 2020 by pcur

[hpeabody]

@pcur  I attempted to initiate a dispute/claim with Chase about May 9, 2020.  Have had one thing after another with no success getting dispute/claim in process more than a month later.  I know they are slammed with all kinds of dispute/claims right now.  Mine is not straight forward at all and I don't think they really know what to do, so I get pushed aside and they do not do anything.  At one point they closed the case not in my favor saying something like the "Disputed charges are valid"  They never even told me the case had been closed, but that is what those words meant.  I had to start over again, so I am currently back at square 1 with Chase.  This is my first poor experience with Chase, I have been a happy customer for years.

[pcur]

22 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

@pcur  I attempted to initiate a dispute/claim with Chase about May 9, 2020.  Have had one thing after another with no success getting dispute/claim in process more than a month later.  I know they are slammed with all kinds of dispute/claims right now.  Mine is not straight forward at all and I don't think they really know what to do, so I get pushed aside and they do not do anything.  At one point they closed the case not in my favor saying something like the "Disputed charges are valid"  They never even told me the case had been closed, but that is what those words meant.  I had to start over again, so I am currently back at square 1 with Chase.  This is my first poor experience with Chase, I have been a happy customer for years.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that you received part of what you paid for.  But, anything that you did not receive, and are due a full refund, you should be able to have a chargeback.  Try for more detailed documentation if you have it  for each individual item that was charged.  Shore excursions is a good example.

 

Call Chase again, put the phone on speaker, do something else, and wait for them to come on the line.  I had to do that.  Then, ask for an explanation, and go over all the charges (be ready with dates and amounts) to see if any of them can be charged back.  Make sure Chase has a copy of anything Princess gave you that documented what they have agreed to do on their end.

 

If you are in touch with any of the other passengers, you might want to explore a class action lawsuit. 

 

You might also try to sign up with this Princess facebook page about refunds and FCC's:

https://www.facebook.com/PrincessCruises/posts/10158498362569060

 

Good luck.

Edited June 17, 2020 by pcur

[hpeabody]

@pcur  I submitted all the details to Chase May 12th and re-sent May 19th and again June 8th.  All I have gotten is the case closed secure letter that came on May 23rd.  They tell me they do not talk details on the phone, it is all done by submitting information as requested and secure letter, only.  All they will say on the phone is it is "under review" and I just have to wait for some kind of response. 

 

I tried a post on the Princess Cruises FB page about a month ago and they chose not to respond.  I find it difficult at this stage to see all the gleeful posts about people who had cruises late in 2020 and Pause 2 getting their refunds, FCCs, etc.  In the end, my participation in social media is not going to make my refund happen anyway. 

 

BTW, thank you for taking such an interest in my situation.  It is very frustrating and infuriating.

[dog]

6 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

 

 

I tried a post on the Princess Cruises FB page about a month ago and they chose not to respond.  I find it difficult at this stage to see all the gleeful posts about people who had cruises late in 2020 and Pause 2 getting their refunds, FCCs, etc.  In the end, my participation in social media is not going to make my refund happen anyway. It is very frustrating and infuriating.

I think you are right about that.  You are getting a lot of support here. Hope it gets settled for you soon. This has been so unfair. 

[hpeabody]

@dog Thank You

[Shaver John]

We were on the Coral, where we only got half the cruise, and ended up leaving in Argentina on the 20th of March, and we are also still waiting for refunds and FCC. 

[HappyCruiserettu]

On 6/15/2020 at 5:00 PM, maggie777 said:

We are also in this category. We were on Sun Princess heading to Sydney when the cruise ended 2 days ahead of schedule. We spent a lot of money rebooking return flights. We also debarked with a large OBC on final invoice. These items total over $3000. We also have other lesser items owed such as prepaid shore excursions ( Visa charge ) for a cancelled Nov cruise. Emails and phone calls are not working! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

March on Princess Headquarters in Santa Clarita, maybe?

 

[pcur]

6 hours ago, hpeabody said:

@pcur  I submitted all the details to Chase May 12th and re-sent May 19th and again June 8th.  All I have gotten is the case closed secure letter that came on May 23rd.  They tell me they do not talk details on the phone, it is all done by submitting information as requested and secure letter, only.  All they will say on the phone is it is "under review" and I just have to wait for some kind of response. 

 

I tried a post on the Princess Cruises FB page about a month ago and they chose not to respond.  I find it difficult at this stage to see all the gleeful posts about people who had cruises late in 2020 and Pause 2 getting their refunds, FCCs, etc.  In the end, my participation in social media is not going to make my refund happen anyway. 

 

BTW, thank you for taking such an interest in my situation.  It is very frustrating and infuriating.

You are welcome.  I felt your pain, literally. 

 

Funny, but when I gave Chase that 10 days, and then called them up, and asked to talk to the Disputes department, then was on hold for near the rest of my life, they did open up my documentation and read it while I was on the phone with them.  Make sure you are talking to the correct department, and not just Customer Service.

[pcur]

5 hours ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

March on Princess Headquarters in Santa Clarita, maybe?

 

I was thinking a call to the local NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. news stations in the Santa Clarita area would be ideal.

[Coral]

7 hours ago, hpeabody said:

@pcur  I submitted all the details to Chase May 12th and re-sent May 19th and again June 8th.  All I have gotten is the case closed secure letter that came on May 23rd.  They tell me they do not talk details on the phone, it is all done by submitting information as requested and secure letter, only.  All they will say on the phone is it is "under review" and I just have to wait for some kind of response. 

 

 

Chase spent 40 minutes on the phone documenting everything. They told me not to send anything in until they received a denial from Princess.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Coral