Cancellation done right… Kudos to Princess

[RickT]

I will be cross posting this in the Celebrity forum.

 

I understand 18 months have past since Covid threw the Cruise Industry a huge curve ball so perhaps things have changed but I want to discuss my Celebrity vs. Princess handling of a cruise cancellation.  
 

I had a March 2021 New Zealand cruise booked with Celebrity and not surprisingly it was cancelled due to Covid,  My cruise did not allow any Lift and Shift because Celebrity had nothing similar to offer for 2022.  There was a cruise in March 2022 that was one day longer but that was not an option due to the different length.  I spoke with X and said I would pay the per diem upgrade but was told no. My option was to cancel and receive a refund or leave my deposit with them and get a 25% bonus.  Unfortunately the March 2022 cruise was almost  30% more expensive so IMHO that wasn’t an option.

 

Looking for a replacement cruise I found a similar 2022 itinerary on Princess very close to the original Celebrity price (with similar perks) so booked that and crossed my fingers.

 

I recently received notification that my March 2022 New Zealand cruise on Princess was cancelled due to Covid cases in Australia and New Zealand.  Princess graciously offer to move my booking to two different cruises in 2023 (same price, perks, etc) even though they were two days longer in length (and the current booking price was significantly greater than I was paying).  
 

IMHO the Princess process was more customer friendly and driven towards making me a happy/loyal customer than the Celebrity policy.  Perhaps Celebrity has changed how they handle cancellations but if not they could learn a few things from Princess.

 

I still love Celebrity…. But based on this experience will lean toward Princess in the future.

Edited July 31, 2021 by RickT

[wallyj]

I have sailed a lot on Princess and have had too many cancellations starting with my cut short Sapphire cruise last Feb 2020. Princess is late to the game in offering ‘replacement’ sailings as it is a fairly recent option for certain cancellations. Royal offered ‘lift and shift’ very early on. Princess initially only offered FCC or refund.
 

Hopefully, future cancellations will be minimal with comparable replacements offered.

 

I am happy I was offered the 2023 replacement SYD/LA on the Majestic when Princess decided it was going to redeploy the Emerald 2022 SYD/LA . 2023 is one day longer and as Majestic does not have ‘Oceanview’ cabins, Princess upgraded us to a Balcony. This was a great outcome for a cancellation. Hoping I will still be in a position to travel one year later.

 

Good to hear a positive story.

[caribill]

15 hours ago, wallyj said:

Princess is late to the game in offering ‘replacement’ sailings as it is a fairly recent option for certain cancellations.

 

Correct.

 

My three cancelled Princess cruises for July and December of 2020 and March of 2022 had no such replacement offers.

 

Even the bonus FCCs offers for cancelled cruises have changed a lot, from 25% when cruises first were being cancelled to 100% and then recently to 10%.

[Coral]

Princess was not as smooth in the beginning either.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Coral

[Thrak]

16 hours ago, RickT said:

I recently received notification that my March 2022 New Zealand cruise on Princess was cancelled due to Covid cases in Australia and New Zealand.  Princess graciously offer to move my booking to two different cruises in 2023 (same price, perks, etc) even though they were two days longer in length (and the current booking price was significantly greater than I was paying).  

 

We are booked for 26 days B2B2B Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania in January 2022. I keep waiting to hear that the cruises have been cancelled but haven't heard a thing. Now I hear that your cruise months later has been cancelled. GAH! This makes no sense to me at all. I wish Princess would just acknowledge that our cruises won't sail and cancel them. If they would offer us a move over like they offered you we would jump on it. Congratulations on your move over offer. It sounds like they are treating you right.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Thrak

[2 cruises a year]

43 minutes ago, caribill said:

Correct.

 

My three cancelled Princess cruises for July and December of 2020 and March of 2022 had no such replacement offers.

 

Even the bonus FCCs offers for cancelled cruises have changed a lot, from 25% when cruises first were being cancelled to 100% and then recently to 10%.

I think that too many people were booking cruises knowing that they would be cancelled and building up to "free cruises".  Princess had to do something to still be nice but not taken advantage of.  They have an awful lot of "free" (or partially free) cabins out there.

Edited July 31, 2021 by 2 cruises a year

[LACruiser88]

A few months back our 2023, Sydney to LA, 27 day cruise on the Emerald was cancelled.  Princess moved us over to basically the same cruise on the Majestic, 28 days, in April 0f 2023.  At that time, the Majestic cruise was $2,000 pp more for the same cabin.   We were very happy with the way they handled this cancellation.

[RonPaula]

There are “feel good” stories and “horror” stories on all the cruise lines. I will continue to use itinerary and ship to select a cruise. Once we get past the COVID issues, customer service will be a useful marker.

[JF - retired RRT]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Correct.

 

My three cancelled Princess cruises for July and December of 2020 and March of 2022 had no such replacement offers.

 

Even the bonus FCCs offers for cancelled cruises have changed a lot, from 25% when cruises first were being cancelled to 100% and then recently to 10%.

Maybe the reason PCL didn't offer "lift & shift" was because no one knew what was going to happen in the future. If it had been offered, they would have had to do it over & over again due to how long this pandemic has lasted.

[caribill]

30 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Maybe the reason PCL didn't offer "lift & shift" was because no one knew what was going to happen in the future. If it had been offered, they would have had to do it over & over again due to how long this pandemic has lasted.

 

a) That did not stop Royal Caribbean from offering "lift & shift" from the beginning. That retained customers and kept the cash from flowing back as a refund.

 

b) Princess did suggest you could take the same cruise a year later at a higher price. So if people did that, Princess would have to do it again if the new cruise had to be cancelled due to the pandemic lasting. Seems to be the same amount of redoing effort compared to having permitted "lift & shift."

 

Cruise Critic comments from RCI customers essentially said "Great, still can do that cruise at a later date at no increase in price." Happy comments.

 

Cruise Critic comments from Princess customers essentially said "I would rather get a cash refund than book the same cruise at a higher price." Not so happy comments.

[cr8tiv1]

My (our) Sea of Cortez cruise scheduled for May 6, 2020 was cancelled due to pandemic.  We were not offered a "lift & shift" for several reasons (how long would pandemic last? / few cruises to Sea of Cortez scheduled...etc).  

 

Instead we were offered 100% plus 50% Future Cruise Credits.  Unfortunately, we had three in the cabin so our base fare was lower (divided evenly/lol).

 

I rebooked this same cruise for 2022.  My base fare was actually lower than the shared fare when I made the new booking.  The price today is very inflated.  The FCC more than pays for this cruise and then some left over.

 

On the other hand, I was offered a "lift and shift" offer for a cruise that was suppose to happen 2021 to 2022.  Base fare is much less than current fare.  But it is only on deposit so there are no FCC's offered.

 

Fares are all over the place.  Much has to do with all the FCC floating around (in my opinion).  

 

[alibabacruisers]

Hi, newcomer to Princess and have a question that maybe someone can help me with.  If we book a cruise later in 2022, and they cancel do you get a refund or FCC or what?  We had used a TA last year for a cruise that was cancelled by them and they offered a cruise in the following year, which did not suit us or a refund.  We just are interested to know if they always give you the option of refund as well as other options.  Also, what if they cancel before or after the final payment...does that affect what they offer?  Thank you in advance!

Edited September 5, 2021 by alibabacruisers

[Ombud]

When this whole pandemic started, I had 2 fully paid cruises (3/2020 Grand Princess), 1 with just a FCD deposit (HK -> Australia) plus 4k in gift cards to cover it. All OC category. That turned into: 

Plus I've gone from an average of 300 OBC -> 600 OBC, previous bookings were primarily in outside rooms -> now all balconies. I'm fine

 

That refund was for myself & 2 grandkids (fare, prepaid gratuities,  internet in a mini-suite) .... wasn't too sure when they'd sail again. So I decided to pocket a little over 3k

 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Ombud

[Ombud]

4 hours ago, alibabacruisers said:

Hi, newcomer to Princess and have a question that maybe someone can help me with.  If we book a cruise later in 2022, and they cancel do you get a refund or FCC or what?  We had used a TA last year for a cruise that was cancelled by them and they offered a cruise in the following year, which did not suit us or a refund.  We just are interested to know if they always give you the option of refund as well as other options.  Also, what if they cancel before or after the final payment...does that affect what they offer?  Thank you in advance!

Outside of 1st cancelation I've taken FCC + credit card refund of insurance, taxes / fees / port expenses.  And yes, it's always been my choice not theirs. Currently (and perhaps always) it really doesn't matter when it's canceled. Expect incentives to decrease as their cash flow improves (I just canceled one -- a California Coastal -- and expect nothing other than my FCC deposit back. Dumping everything on the TA as a holding spot until I know what I'm doing)

Edited September 5, 2021 by Ombud

[Ombud]

6 hours ago, Ombud said:

Outside of 1st cancelation I've taken FCC + credit card refund of insurance, taxes / fees / port expenses.  And yes, it's always been my choice not theirs. Currently (and perhaps always) it really doesn't matter when it's canceled. Expect incentives to decrease as their cash flow improves (I just canceled one -- a California Coastal -- and expect nothing other than my FCC deposit back. Dumping everything on the TA as a holding spot until I know what I'm doing)

Caveat:: cruises booked with FCC only got FCC + OBC if Princess cancels. Anyway that's how my last 4 went

[Grego]

I'm glad the OP had a good experience with Princess and that's the message there.

[trvlwrld]

The problem I see is that instead of a consistent uniform policy on how things were handled (refunds, FFC, FCD, etc) it was a hodge-podge.   Depending on who you talked to on what day in what office, made quite a difference on how and when people got their money back...it still is not consistent——I speak from a personal experience just last week!   Finally got it straightened out, but it took 2 calls and 3 different departments to get it done.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Same here, we have a Move over cruise booked from a Princess cancelled cruise.

Its in 6 weeks, so not much time. 

Seems were the last to book ANYTHING for our move over cruise cuz Princess still has Both, New & Cancelled cruises on our Personalizers, and only the Cancelled cruise on our Medallions. 

I've emailed, & had a few calls in including (2) one hour calls last week, to TRY to get it straightened out.

It seems a Simple task.🤔

 

Thanks to taking MoveOver cruise, weve had to book flights, which initially we didn't need. 

Now an itinerary change. Testing changes..... WE have been going above & beyond to Make

it work!

So, I've been reading Other cruiseline boards, and appears a couple of them are doing covid testing

at the pier for everybody.  Seems thats working. 

Yet Princess doesn't do that.... too much work?

 

We been trying to go with the flow.... Princess is Not making it easy for many of us.

Especially when we see how its being handled better elsewhere.

 

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

Princess is Not making it easy for many of us.

Covid / CDC / CSO is making it hard on everyone -> Cruise lines & cruisers

4 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

... policy on how things were handled (refunds, FFC, FCD, etc) it was a hodge-podge.   Depending on

the anticipated length of shutdown and 2nd guessing CDC / states (ie: Florida) / covid variant progression

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Ombud