I had to cancel 2 future cruises. PCL still hasn't refunded anything to me. What should I do?

[NeutralNovice]

Note: I booked these cruises through Princess Players Club.  They were complimentary but I had to pay taxes, fees, and a $200/person  Deposit which would become Cruise Credit during the sailing.  Initially, the deposits were non-refundable but when I called the Players Club phone number to cancel, they said they would waive the non-refundable fee and refund me in full.  They said it would take 10-15 business days to get a refund.

 

Around Day 25, I still haven't received a refund so I contacted the PCL regular line but since I booked this through Princess Players Club, they said I had to contact them.  I did and they said that there are delays in sending refunds and that it might take up to 30-days.  I also sent an e-mail to which they replied, 3 days later, that the refund was still in process.

 

Now we are well past 30 Days and I still haven't yet received a refund.  I am thinking about disputing the charges with my credit card company (Chase) but I am unsure if they will even do it for me since the cruises were booked months ago and there's a 90-Day Dispute time limit.

 

Any ideas?

[Rick&Jeannie]

If they gave you a threshold time of 30 days and you are now past that, I personally would call back and hold their feet to the fire.  At any rate...stay on them until they do what they're supposed to do.

 

If no joy there then contact your credit card company and at least ask them what they recommend.

[Coffeeluvr05]

I finally had to file a dispute with my cc to get my refund on transfers we cancelled more than a month before our cruise that we took in February.  I just cannot tell you the hours upon hours I spent trying to get it taken care of.  I could no longer sit on hold with my TA to have them sit on hold with Princess to be told it will be 3-5 or 7-10 days.  Something is wrong in their finance department!

[NeutralNovice]

Yeah, I shouldn't have to be on hold for hours to get my refund when I have already been on hold or had to follow up more than once.  I just hope doing this won't ban me from cruising with them in the future but then again, they aren't the only game in town so maybe I should move on.

 

Thanks for your replies!

[lodinayr]

7 hours ago, NeutralNovice said:

Yeah, I shouldn't have to be on hold for hours to get my refund when I have already been on hold or had to follow up more than once.  I just hope doing this won't ban me from cruising with them in the future but then again, they aren't the only game in town so maybe I should move on.

 

Thanks for your replies!

I’m in the exact same situation.  Cancelled two Players Club cruises over two weeks ago.  Still waiting for refunds of about $8k!

[Coffeeluvr05]

13 hours ago, NeutralNovice said:

Yeah, I shouldn't have to be on hold for hours to get my refund when I have already been on hold or had to follow up more than once.  I just hope doing this won't ban me from cruising with them in the future but then again, they aren't the only game in town so maybe I should move on.

 

Thanks for your replies!

I don't think Princess can afford to ban anyone from cruising right now, can they?  Don't get me wrong, I do love Princess ships for cruising, but I just have not been happy with the customer service of late.  Something has gone awry and I sure hope it gets fixed.

[rj59]

With full employment, it's difficult for them to find people, no doubt, and are trying to cut corners to try to recoup some of the many millions they lost during shutdowns and operating their ships at less than 50% for 9 months or so. Still, if you consider yourself an upscale cruise line, then your customer service should reflect that. For instance, when I canceled cruises on Carnival I got US-based help within half an hour, and had my refund within a week. On my last Princess cancellation, even with insurance, it took me over an hour to get a person who I could barely understand, who spent another hour with a supervisor to ask about insurance FCC, and then he relayed false information, that I'd have to file an insurance claim. If I do book again on Princess, I'm going to go to a local TA and make sure I can get a response promptly through email--the online TA I used only offers a call back service, meaning having to spend all day near my phone, only to not get a call back until 6 am the next morning. The problems with poor customer service should have been resolved after the end of most canceled cruises and omicron fears, so it's just very scary when you think of all ships in operation and going up to near full capacity. The further nightmare will be the Alaska season, if Canada continues to require 1-day antigen tests, so there will be a lot of people turned away at the pier. I'm leaving on a coastal to Vancouver in 2 weeks, and I wouldn't have even known about the requirement had I not read it on here. There's also been no attempt to let me know about the ArriveCAN app requirements, which will also be a nightmare to get done for 3000-4000 people each cruise, many without phones and many more unable to work unfamiliar apps. 

[Jadn13]

I would double check that it has successfully been pushed through to get credit card reimbursement.

-I cancelled in December and received my $200 non refundable deposit (X3) as FCC (check your account) 

quickly along with excursions refunded (different dept) 
-2 Weeks ago I called to follow up about taxes and fees and was told it was never pushed through for a refund.

-I fixed that situation and was told that refunds automatically get put in a queue and you just wait your turn

- Refunds  have bern taking longer than 2 weeks for awhile now closer to 2 months 

[Coffeeluvr05]

Just an update on my CC dispute...My CC company resolved it and I received my refund.  I would never have done this had it not been months and numerous phone calls without resolution.  

[suzyed]

It's a mess!  They put FCC back on our account after we cancelled with the Cruise With Confidence policy. There is no explanation with the amounts...do they include the FCC we booked our cruise with? Do they include the insurance premium?  Do they include what was charged on our credit card?  There is no way of knowing what the amounts represent!  I also used Princess Gift Cards($2000) toward my cruise....I was told to save the cards in case I need a refund, which I did. So far, 2 MONTHS after cancelling, the amounts are still not back on my gift cards...the credit card has not gotten any refund on it except for the port taxes. 
I booked with a TA and she has been trying to talk to Princess to decipher all this and is put on hold for hours...never gets through.  
We were so excited to become Elite and we love Princess but the 3 cruises we have booked with them may be our last.  I'm just so frustrated!

[dchan865]

Its really annoying that vendor takes your money and take them forever to refund you. I had to wait for many months to get refund back for my deposits and paid in full cruise from Princess during 2020. 

 

On couple of cancelled cruises, it took them forever too, so I file disputes with citicard and one was resolved 1 month later. However my 2nd one that disputed in April 2020 took a long time, it did not get  resolved in my favor until recently March 2022.  Now I have to wait for them to refund me for another cruise that was cancelled a month ago. We'll wait a little longer before doing another dispute.

[rbtan]

They can take up to 60 days to refund. This is all quite well explained. We've never had it take more than 30 days. I think there is often "more" to a story than is truly admitted to.

[suzyed]

4 hours ago, rbtan said:

They can take up to 60 days to refund. This is all quite well explained. We've never had it take more than 30 days. I think there is often "more" to a story than is truly admitted to.

There is no "more" to the story. I guess you are just lucky then!
Well we are beyond 60 days...cancelled 2/8.  Still haven't gotten our gift card monies back on the cards. And the FCCs we did get back we no explanation of what they cover.

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by suzyed

[mpdog42]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:52 PM, rj59 said:

With full employment, it's difficult for them to find people, no doubt, and are trying to cut corners to try to recoup some of the many millions they lost during shutdowns and operating their ships at less than 50% for 9 months or so. Still, if you consider yourself an upscale cruise line, then your customer service should reflect that. For instance, when I canceled cruises on Carnival I got US-based help within half an hour, and had my refund within a week. On my last Princess cancellation, even with insurance, it took me over an hour to get a person who I could barely understand, who spent another hour with a supervisor to ask about insurance FCC, and then he relayed false information, that I'd have to file an insurance claim. If I do book again on Princess, I'm going to go to a local TA and make sure I can get a response promptly through email--the online TA I used only offers a call back service, meaning having to spend all day near my phone, only to not get a call back until 6 am the next morning. The problems with poor customer service should have been resolved after the end of most canceled cruises and omicron fears, so it's just very scary when you think of all ships in operation and going up to near full capacity. The further nightmare will be the Alaska season, if Canada continues to require 1-day antigen tests, so there will be a lot of people turned away at the pier. I'm leaving on a coastal to Vancouver in 2 weeks, and I wouldn't have even known about the requirement had I not read it on here. There's also been no attempt to let me know about the ArriveCAN app requirements, which will also be a nightmare to get done for 3000-4000 people each cruise, many without phones and many more unable to work unfamiliar apps. 

My Ta doesn't even want to mess with princess Bookings...!!!

[suzyed]

Just now, mpdog42 said:

My Ta doesn't even want to mess with princess Bookings...!!!

And my TA has been trying to get Princess to provide explanations for our refunds.  She sits on hold for hours!  Of course we aren't her only clients....must be very frustrating for her too.

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

My two sisters had to cancel their booking with me.  Very complicated fare structure with 3.  My TA said that Princess would be returning about $500 (about 25%) to each sister and the rest would come from AON.  That sounded reasonable.  They cancelled in early March.  Still no credit on the cards.

 

I continued on with the cruise as a solo.  I had to pay upfront the solo supplement.  Now that I am back, I am planning on filing my claim with AON to recover my added cost.  

 

I am sure it will become more confusing before it is finally straightened out.  Wondering how long that will really take?????

 

Thank you OP for starting this thread.  I don't remember it being so complicated before (have done it twice).

[caribill]

Unlike payments which are processed immediately, every refund is carefully looked at to make sure it is legitimate and correct.

 

This takes time. And when Princess cancels a bunch of cruises at one time, the processing wait time can grow longer.

 

That does not excuse Princess for giving out incorrect promises of refund times.

[negn]

I was under the impression the $200 pp paid thru Players Club was not refundable .

[Jadn13]

4 hours ago, negn said:

I was under the impression the $200 pp paid thru Players Club was not refundable .

In normal times it is non refundable but the cruise with confidence  scheme  covered players club deposits. 
* I cancelled 3 cruises and all tbe deposits were  refunded as FCC 

 

[TracieABD]

I am at day 54 waiting for the refund.  It is maddening.  I am not quite sure what the hind up is, but I called and they can see-on their side- that the refund is due…  
 

I was told to be patient.  Seriously

[southerngirl4777]

I've been waiting for my $250 refundable deposit on the Discovery cruise that Princess canceled last September.  I have been promised a refund to my CC after several conversations with my TA.  I just spoke to him on the phone and he says that hopefully he recently was in contact with the right person, so maybe in a couple of weeks I will have my refund. Not very hopeful.

[dchan865]

On 4/16/2022 at 12:58 PM, southerngirl4777 said:

I've been waiting for my $250 refundable deposit on the Discovery cruise that Princess canceled last September.  I have been promised a refund to my CC after several conversations with my TA.  I just spoke to him on the phone and he says that hopefully he recently was in contact with the right person, so maybe in a couple of weeks I will have my refund. Not very hopeful.

Wow, that's a long time. You've got patience.  In the last couple of years I had  several Princess cruises cancelled(all were deposit before full payment and one was for full payment for a British isle cruise), they have dragged their feet on refund for many months. I understood their situation so gave them a little extra time. But after waiting a long time I went ahead and disputed it on my CC and eventually they were all settled in my favor. I just made sure I saved all the cancellation email and Princess public announcement in cases related to my cancelled cruise. So if CC company need evidence to support my dispute, I have it.