Question about cancelling excursions

[Hammergirl]

I have cancelled 2 excursions for my September cruise. I cancelled them through the website and have not gotten any email saying they were cancelled nor have I seen a refund show up. When I look under my excursions, they are no longer listed, so I know they were cancelled. I have chatted with Princess and they tell me they are not showing under my excursions and they cannot confirm if they were ever there. They just tell me that I should receive an email and a refund will come.

 

This is my first time taking a princess cruise so I am wondering if this is normal? My card was charged immediately when I booked the excursions. Can anyone tell me their experience with cancelling excursions and when/if they got emails and refunds?

 

Thanks!

Edited April 2, 2023 by Hammergirl

[Italy52]

@Hammergirl.  I have cancelled excursions in the past but do not remember ever receiving a notice from Princess stating there were cancelled.  Whenever I book an excursion I always print out my Travel Summary right away as it will show that I booked an excursion --- this is my proof should I ever have problems with Princess.  Also, if I paid by credit card, I keep a copy of the email that Princess sends stating I booked an excursion and the cost that my credit card was charged.  I don't know when you cancelled your excursions --- it does take some time for a refund.  Sometimes, the refund is fast and sometimes it is anywhere from 7-14 days.  Good luck, hope your refund comes soon.

[Hammergirl]

Just now, Italy52 said:

@Hammergirl.  I have cancelled excursions in the past but do not remember ever receiving a notice from Princess stating there were cancelled.  Whenever I book an excursion I always print out my Travel Summary right away as it will show that I booked an excursion --- this is my proof should I ever have problems with Princess.  Also, if I paid by credit card, I keep a copy of the email that Princess sends stating I booked an excursion and the cost that my credit card was charged.  I don't know when you cancelled your excursions --- it does take some time for a refund.  Sometimes, the refund is fast and sometimes it is anywhere from 7-14 days.  Good luck, hope your refund comes soon.

Perfect - thank you! This is the information I was looking for! I do have the emails stating what I paid, and my credit card shows that as well. I failed to print my excursions reservations until after I cancelled the first one. But I did print it out after that so had the other 3. 

[azbirdmom]

On March 14th we received the "Emergency Notification" below when Princess cancelled some of our excursions for an upcoming cruise.  And as of right now we don't have our refund yet.  I think they have a bit of a backlog on refunds again.

 

[Italy52]

@azbirdmomAt least you got notification.  I had one of our tours cancelled by Princess because we were no longer going to that port (Monterey).  I didn't receive any notification, it just fell off of our excursion listing.  I am taking all of our paperwork with me when we go on the cruise April 8th just in case there is a problem.

[Hammergirl]

8 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

On March 14th we received the "Emergency Notification" below when Princess cancelled some of our excursions for an upcoming cruise.  And as of right now we don't have our refund yet.  I think they have a bit of a backlog on refunds again.

 

Yikes, that's not good.

[azbirdmom]

Just now, Italy52 said:

@azbirdmomAt least you got notification.  I had one of our tours cancelled by Princess because we were no longer going to that port (Monterey).  I didn't receive any notification, it just fell off of our excursion listing.  I am taking all of our paperwork with me when we go on the cruise April 8th just in case there is a problem.

 Well that stinks!  I hope that it isn't too much of a hassle to get your money back.  And yes, you are wise to save and take the paperwork.  Every time I reserve an excursion I save a new Travel Summary to a folder that I create on my desktop which contains all of my trip documents.  I also keep the emailed receipts from Princess.  It does come in handy when you need to support the necessity of a refund, etc.

[Italy52]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 Well that stinks!  I hope that it isn't too much of a hassle to get your money back.  And yes, you are wise to save and take the paperwork.  Every time I reserve an excursion I save a new Travel Summary to a folder that I create on my desktop which contains all of my trip documents.  I also keep the emailed receipts from Princess.  It does come in handy when you need to support the necessity of a refund, etc.

Great minds think alike!

[Coral]

I have cancelled excursions before. I had to call Princess to get a refund. They kept telling me it would show up as OBC on the cruise. I told them I wanted a refund. They then said "doesn't everyone want OBC?". I was like "no -  please refund my card". And then it was refunded. I believe if I had not called, it would have shown up as OBC on the ship and eventually refunded to me.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Coral

[Italy52]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have cancelled excursions before. I had to call Princess to get a refund. They kept telling me it would show up as OBC on the cruise. I told them I wanted a refund. They then said "doesn't everyone want OBC?". I was like "no -  please refund my card". And then it was refunded. I believe if I had not called, it would have shown up as OBC on the ship and eventually refunded to me.

Good to know, Coral -- thanks.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, Italy52 said:

Good to know, Coral -- thanks.

Not sure if it was related to how close the cruise was but still. If I cancel, it should be automatically refunded. It wasn't.

[BettyCruiser]

When I've canceled excursions well in advance of the cruise I never received an email confirmation and I found the amount of time for the refund depended on the card I had used. When I used a Citi Visa it took 10-14 days, lately I've been using a Delta AMX and I see the refund the following day. 

 

Last summer Princess canceled an excursion after we left home but before we boarded the ship, some on the roll call reported a refund I was given OBC. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

57 minutes ago, BettyCruiser said:

 lately I've been using a Delta AMX and I see the refund the following day. 

 

Same here...or the day after at the latest...

[pink845]

We booked an excursion and thought it was in CDN dollars while it was really in USD.  We are CDN so we really did not like the high USD price.  A few days later, upon learning this sad truth, we called to get it cancelled and the refund showed up on our credit card the very next day.  We had already made final payment on the cruise.   But I do remember when I enquired a few months back about excursions on another cruise which is still six months away and the cancellation conditions around excursions attached to that cruise, I was told that if there are other charges that still require payment, Princess does not refund the excursion money.  They use that excursion money towards the outstanding fare.  

[trinitygirl]

I am still waiting, several months later, to be refunded for a bunch of excursions that were cancelled when I cancelled a cruise back in January.  The princess reps said there was no evidence i had ever had any paid excursions on my folio, but I sent them the email receipt with the list of excursions and the price paid and my credit card statement, and they have acknowledged that I am owed a refund 'not to worry' - but despite I don't know how many phone calls and emails, here I am, still waiting for $2500 in refunds.... there is something very wrong, it seems to me, with Princess' admin processes.   I have an excursion I need to cancel for my July cruise, but I am going to wait until I am onboard and make sure it shows up as an OBC, rather than risk the current debacle happening again.

Edited April 3, 2023 by trinitygirl

[Hammergirl]

9 hours ago, pink845 said:

We booked an excursion and thought it was in CDN dollars while it was really in USD.  We are CDN so we really did not like the high USD price.  A few days later, upon learning this sad truth, we called to get it cancelled and the refund showed up on our credit card the very next day.  We had already made final payment on the cruise.   But I do remember when I enquired a few months back about excursions on another cruise which is still six months away and the cancellation conditions around excursions attached to that cruise, I was told that if there are other charges that still require payment, Princess does not refund the excursion money.  They use that excursion money towards the outstanding fare.  

I really hope this is not the case as we think we will be cancelling our cruise, which is why we are cancelling the excursions. My cruise is not until September and final payment not until June. I will have to call today as I used an AMEX and I am not seeing any refund yet. 

[Hammergirl]

7 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

I am still waiting, several months later, to be refunded for a bunch of excursions that were cancelled when I cancelled a cruise back in January.  The princess reps said there was no evidence i had ever had any paid excursions on my folio, but I sent them the email receipt with the list of excursions and the price paid and my credit card statement, and they have acknowledged that I am owed a refund 'not to worry' - but despite I don't know how many phone calls and emails, here I am, still waiting for $2500 in refunds.... there is something very wrong, it seems to me, with Princess' admin processes.   I have an excursion I need to cancel for my July cruise, but I am going to wait until I am onboard and make sure it shows up as an OBC, rather than risk the current debacle happening again.

I would be filing a chargeback for this. No way would I wait several months for something to be refunded.

[trinitygirl]

4 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

I would be filing a chargeback for this. No way would I wait several months for something to be refunded.

 

4 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

I would be filing a chargeback for this. No way would I wait several months for something to be refunded.

With the creditcard company?  Is there a time limit?  I figured since I paid those bills months ago, it was too late? 

[BettyCruiser]

14 hours ago, pink845 said:

 if there are other charges that still require payment, Princess does not refund the excursion money.  They use that excursion money towards the outstanding fare.  

 

I have not found this to be true. Although I always book via a TA and all my fare payments are processed by my TA. I have always gotten a refund for canceled excursion, spa, etc. 

[Hammergirl]

3 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

 

With the creditcard company?  Is there a time limit?  I figured since I paid those bills months ago, it was too late? 

You are not to late. I would contact your credit card company and tell them that Princess is giving you the run around and you wish to file a dispute against whatever charges they have not refunded you.

[floridacruiser14]

I have an excursion that was paid for with OBC, need to cancel so will it be refunded back to OBC? Don’t mind it going back to OBC just want to be sure that is how it will work.

[trinitygirl]

56 minutes ago, Hammergirl said:

You are not to late. I would contact your credit card company and tell them that Princess is giving you the run around and you wish to file a dispute against whatever charges they have not refunded you.

thanks! i am on hold with mastercard right now!  can't hurt to give it a go.

 

[trinitygirl]

hmmm.  first respond was a resounding No - December is too long ago.    I am hold to talk to a specialist service team.

[LynnSD]

We were on a 3 week cruise 9/22.   We made more than usual changes to excursions between cancellations, wait lists and changes to our original request.  
They do prefer to give OBC, but I was able to see everything on the invoice on the in-room TV.   
We got a refund for unused credit within 2 weeks of returning home.  

[trinitygirl]

28 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

hmmm.  first respond was a resounding No - December is too long ago.    I am hold to talk to a specialist service team.

but the second team were much more helpful!  no issues at all; i sent them the email chain from Princess promising a refund, and the man I spoke to said that usually they are able to resolve these kinds of issues within a fortnight.  Fingers crossed - and thanks for the suggestion!