Princess keeping money

[Literacy Lady]

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how I can get Princess to apply money I gave them for a cruise I had to cancel due to COVID. I've tried calling my TA  has tried calling. I've emailed customer service (a misnomer) and two executives. This all started May 19, and so far no one has seen fit to answer my queries. 

 

I was told I had a year to apply the money, so why aren't they answering? Any suggestions??

 

Cathy

[Lady Arwen]

Did you cancel before or after final payment?  Did you pay in full or just the deposit?  Did you have cancellation insurance with Princess or other insurance company?  What was the conversation with Princess when you cancelled?  Were you able to apply Cancel For Any Reason coverage?  Did you receive FCC or were you promised a credit back to your original payment method?  All these questions factor into your situation so please give us a little more info.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Our experience with Princess is that they immediately apply any FCCs in your Captains Circle account to the very next cruise you book, whether you want them to or not, so I suspect there is an issue with the FCCs. Do you have a log in for your Captains Circle account online?  If not, I suggest you set one up and you will see all of your FCCs in there, which is what you generally get when a cruise is cancelled.  If there are no FCCs, your issue is not that they won’t apply it to the cruise, but that there is nothing to apply. 

[dog]

1 hour ago, Literacy Lady said:

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how I can get Princess to apply money I gave them for a cruise I had to cancel due to COVID. I've tried calling my TA  has tried calling. I've emailed customer service (a misnomer) and two executives. This all started May 19, and so far no one has seen fit to answer my queries. 

 

I was told I had a year to apply the money, so why aren't they answering? Any suggestions??

 

Cathy

Do you want to apply your payment to a cruise you have on hold?

if so, see above post to look in your Personalizer and see if your payment shows as FC

when I cancelled before final payment my FCC were given back to my account within a couple of days, but the additional money I paid ( early) has no t been returned to my credit card yet- this usually takes 2-4 weeks.

phone & speak to a Supervisor or ask for a PVP to be assigned to help you.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Literacy Lady said:

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion on how I can get Princess to apply money I gave them for a cruise I had to cancel due to COVID. I've tried calling my TA  has tried calling. I've emailed customer service (a misnomer) and two executives. This all started May 19, and so far no one has seen fit to answer my queries. 

 

I was told I had a year to apply the money, so why aren't they answering? Any suggestions??

 

Cathy

 

I had to recently cancel a cruise due to CoVid and everything hit my account two days ago.  It took less than two weeks to get all my funds back.  CoVid cases are handled differently.  They show up as FCCs.  As others have mentioned, check your online account.  

[Literacy Lady]

Thanks for all your replies. My TA has been monitoring my account and nothing has shown up in my account. So far, I've been stonewalled by Princess. I can't understand their business model. 

[JeffT237]

51 minutes ago, Literacy Lady said:

So far, I've been stonewalled by Princess. I can't understand their business model. 

I have not yet any received any response from princess despite my many queries with them.  I've been given timelines from customer service that have all come and gone.  Frustrating.  Different issue but same company, do not understand their model either.

[Daniel A]

57 minutes ago, Literacy Lady said:

Thanks for all your replies. My TA has been monitoring my account and nothing has shown up in my account. So far, I've been stonewalled by Princess. I can't understand their business model. 

You may not understand what is being said.  Usually, a TA does not have access to a Captain's Circle account.  You need to set up a Captain's Circle Savings Account using Princess' website.  Once there, you should be able to view any credits you have.

[dog]

I ‘ve found when Princess owes me FCC or money back to my credit card- if I put a cruise on hold ( free hold), I have noticed some movement on my refunds.

FCC can be applied now, back from Blue to Platinum, refund to credit card this morning.

 

also, I did this yesterday & filled in the survey that popped up. Reported that my recent issues using the site over the weekend- all my issues were corrected this morning.

 

could all be a co incidence.

[Literacy Lady]

I have been checking my Captain's Club account. The money is there, but it is not being applied to my booked cruise. My cruise is after the expiration date of my monies. What I've been asking for and what they aren't replying to is to extend my monies to cover this new cruise. I was told that they were extending cruise credits by a year. I've offered to pay for the whole cruise prior to the expiration of my money, but still no response.

 

It is the lack of response that I think is so wrong. I will continue to contact them even though almost a month has passed since my first contact.

 

Weren't cruise lines helped during COVID?

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, Literacy Lady said:

The money is there, but it is not being applied to my booked cruise. My cruise is after the expiration date of my monies. 

 

I was told that they were extending cruise credits by a year. 

Where did you see that FCCs were being extended?  I don't think that's correct.  If the expiration dates had been extended, any new expiration dates would be showing in the Captain's Circle Account.

 

You really should have told us that you are trying to apply FCCs to a cruise sailing after the FCCs expire.  It wouldn't have wasted our time on this.  My suggestion to you is if you want to get the use of your money, follow the rules and book a sailing before the expiration dates indicated in your Captain's Circle account.  (Probably before January 1, 2023)

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Daniel A

[dog]

Your TA should deal with it.  It does take some time usually,  I was told they cancel, charge a cancellation fee, return that fee as FCC. When you use cruise/ cancel with confidence policy.

 

we did not get all of our FCC back at the same time. Also part of it shows up in cabin mates account.

 

it is frustrating trying to hurry this up.

 

i don’t recommend payment in full as that is a longer delay in switching to FCC.

 

your TA earns $ to take care of this.

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, Literacy Lady said:

I have been checking my Captain's Club account. The money is there, but it is not being applied to my booked cruise. My cruise is after the expiration date of my monies.

That’s your problem then. No, as far as I know, Princess has remained firm on those expiration dates. I’m sure they want them turned into more revenue producing opportunities through on board spending sooner rather than later. They probably also want them off their balance sheet. 
 

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

You really should have told us that you are trying to apply FCCs to a cruise sailing after the FCCs expire.  It wouldn't have wasted our time on this. 

Nah, I’m on here every day for at least a few minutes. My time is not that valuable. 😉 I feel badly for the TAs who are expected to spend hours chasing these things for no additional income when, on this, at least, Princess has communicated the terms very well. 

[Daniel A]

26 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Nah, I’m on here every day for at least a few minutes. My time is not that valuable. 😉 I feel badly for the TAs who are expected to spend hours chasing these things for no additional income when, on this, at least, Princess has communicated the terms very well. 

I feel that at least I had been misled by withholding pertinent information (booking after expiration date).  I don't mind spending some time trying to help out a person who truly has a legitimate problem, I get offended if/when I discover that I was being duped all along.  

[caribill]

If this was a cruise cancelled by Princess due to Covid, almost all of those FCCs have a book by and sail by date of 12/31/22. (Some of those FCCs did have an extension to that date.)

 

Princess has been firm in not extending these dates. No exceptions.

 

If this is your situation, the FCCs were of two kinds. A refundable FCC for what you actually paid and a non-refundable FCC awarded to compensate for the cancellation.  If you cannot apply this for use this year, you ca=n at least rerqest the refundable FCC be refunded to you.

 

If, on the other hand, the FCCs are a result of you cancelling with the Covid-guarantee, then you have one year from the date of cancellation to use them. No extensions to that date.

[caribill]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:19 AM, Daniel A said:

You may not understand what is being said.  Usually, a TA does not have access to a Captain's Circle account.  You need to set up a Captain's Circle Savings Account using Princess' website.  Once there, you should be able to view any credits you have.

 

A TA may not have access to a CC account, but does have access to any FCCs one has.

[Literacy Lady]

Thanks for all your input. Sorry I didn't provide pertinent info at the get go, but I found out new information after posting. If it is a waste of your time, please don't respond then.

 

As for Princess' first response on the extension before I cancelled the original cruise, they said any monies paid would be extended a year. They didn't provide a date, so I assumed it would be a year from when I cancelled. That is my fault as I should have clarified the end date.

 

Regardless, thank you to all who provided helpful information. 

[LoveThatCorgi]

56 minutes ago, Literacy Lady said:

Thanks for all your input. Sorry I didn't provide pertinent info at the get go, but I found out new information after posting. If it is a waste of your time, please don't respond then.

 

As for Princess' first response on the extension before I cancelled the original cruise, they said any monies paid would be extended a year. They didn't provide a date, so I assumed it would be a year from when I cancelled. That is my fault as I should have clarified the end date.

 

Regardless, thank you to all who provided helpful information. 

 

We had two FCC issued for our cancelled cruise in Summer 2020.  One was for the fare we paid, and the other was the 25% bonus/goodwill FCC.  Both originally were set to expire in December 2022.  We really wanted to apply the credits to a February 2023 booking.  Princess agreed to extend the FCC expiration for the paid fare, but they were very adamant that they wouldn't extend the goodwill FCC date.  I asked several times over several months just to be sure.  😉  So, instead of giving up the 25% goodwill FCC, we are going in December instead of February.  We had paid deposits to hold the February booking hoping for a change in policy, and our Vacation Planner was able to get those funds moved over to the December booking when we changed the date.  

[Guest ldtr]

when you say that you had to cancel due to Covid, do you mean that you canceled after final payment due to you or a member of your party contracting Covid. If so did you send the cruise line the required documentation, test results, etc?

Edited June 12, 2022 by ldtr

[dog]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

when you say that you had to cancel due to Covid, do you mean that you canceled after final payment due to you or a member of your party contracting Covid. If so did you send the cruise line the required documentation, test results, etc?

If you booked before May 31/22 and sail by September 30/22, you can cancel with confidence.  You will see a cancellation fee but it is returned to you as a FCC to use within a year from the date you cancelled.

 

I did this twice due to Covid concerns.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Literacy Lady said:

.

 

As for Princess' first response on the extension before I cancelled the original cruise, they said any monies paid would be extended a year. They didn't provide a date, so I assumed it would be a year from when I cancelled. That is my fault as I should have clarified the end date.

 

 

What was the date you cancelled?

 

If a year from then was after 12/31/22, then Princess should definitely allow you to use the FCCs until that promised year of use was up.

[Literacy Lady]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:04 AM, LoveThatCorgi said:

 

We had two FCC issued for our cancelled cruise in Summer 2020.  One was for the fare we paid, and the other was the 25% bonus/goodwill FCC.  Both originally were set to expire in December 2022.  We really wanted to apply the credits to a February 2023 booking.  Princess agreed to extend the FCC expiration for the paid fare, but they were very adamant that they wouldn't extend the goodwill FCC date.  I asked several times over several months just to be sure.  😉  So, instead of giving up the 25% goodwill FCC, we are going in December instead of February.  We had paid deposits to hold the February booking hoping for a change in policy, and our Vacation Planner was able to get those funds moved over to the December booking when we changed the date.  

This is very encouraging. I am only looking for the down payment of the fare to be applied. Have fun on your cruise.

[Literacy Lady]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:43 AM, ldtr said:

when you say that you had to cancel due to Covid, do you mean that you canceled after final payment due to you or a member of your party contracting Covid. If so did you send the cruise line the required documentation, test results, etc?

We canceled before final payment because the Princess Customer Service agent I talked to said I should cancel immediately before I got to final payment. At that time, she said that I had to use the deposit before the end of the year 2021. A couple of days later, Princess announced that your cruise deposts where good for another year. This is when I thought they meant a year from canceling. Again, that was my fault for presuming.

 

Thanks so much to everybody helping me. This means a lot.

[Literacy Lady]

On 6/12/2022 at 11:53 AM, dog said:

If you booked before May 31/22 and sail by September 30/22, you can cancel with confidence.  You will see a cancellation fee but it is returned to you as a FCC to use within a year from the date you cancelled.

 

I did this twice due to Covid concerns.

Thanks for this. I did book prior to May 31, 2022, but I cannot sail until March of 2023. I am asking Princess to apply my deposit to that cruise. So far, no response. I have contacted two executives of Princess to date, so I guess I have to go up a level. It has been over a month.

[Literacy Lady]

On 6/12/2022 at 12:38 PM, caribill said:

 

What was the date you cancelled?

 

If a year from then was after 12/31/22, then Princess should definitely allow you to use the FCCs until that promised year of use was up.

This is a good question. I need to check for the exact date I canceled. I know it was before any penalties took place. Thanks for pushing my thinking on this.