Is this right? - Princess advises they use Refundable OBC first before using Non-refundable OBC

[Tripmode33]

Having done 30 Princess cruises, I was sure that where you had both Refundable and Non-refundable OBC on your folio account, they would use up the non-refundable first. If any refundable unspent, you would receive a refund.

 

However, after two ports were cancelled during our March cruise, we were given refundable OBC for port charges refund. We were careful, as always, to spend our non-refundable OBC.

 

I am now arguing with Princess re the refund of Refundable credit which we expected.

 

This is their exact wording on last email:

 

"Where there is a combination of refundable and non-refundable credits, in all instances when there is both, the system will automatically draw against the refundable first. Only once all the refundable onboard credit is used, does the system then draw on the non-refundable component."

 

 

 

Is this correct?

[Mud_Shark]

I certainly hope not!  Otherwise steer clear of gifting yourself or anyone else OBC that you actually pay for - you would never get it refunded if not used, unless you don't spend all the non refundable OBC as well.  That would make no sense.

[georgetheblue]

That sux.  I hope not.  I have very little non refundable OBC from Princess but a bunch from my TA.  In the past any unused TA OBC would be refunded by a check received in the mail 3-4 weeks after the cruise.  This policy will really screw me up.  All my excursions are paid in full along with my premier package.  I really don’t need jewelry so I hope i can still cash it out in the casino.

[walkingsoon]

That is the exact opposite of my experience. Who was this e-mail from? Perhaps they just confused the two terms.

[Cruisemeister2002]

To be honest I am not 100% up with refundable and non refundable. But I presume the refundable is money that the passenger put's into the pot to use as they feel fit when on a cruise. Whereas non refundable is OBC given by the cruise Company. Don't know if it's the same in the US as over here, but if you have a credit card/debts then the Company is supposed to reduce the debt on the highest interest rate first. I would think it totally unfair to take refundable credit first before taking non refundable. I would therefore make sure that I didn't have a total of refundable and non refundable that I was unable to use on a particular cruise. One thing I also find unsatisfactory is that where a husband/wife, partners travel together and one credit card is used for the cruise line to bill at the end of a cruise that both passengers receive OBC and that must be used by each partner as it is non refundable and lost if unused. Why can't the cruise lines just make the OBC so that there is not separate tabs for each person just one OBC. If it is assumed that each passenger is an individual why then accept a credit card that is in one persons name.

[dog]

I am not surprised.

The way my last FCD I used has not been returned.

Trying to explain to them that Princess cancelled the cruise and should return it for me to use again is like …???

 

I suggest everyone be careful dealing with the Future Cruise Dept on-board the ship- they gave out misinformation and to also go print out your folio on the last evening of the cruise.

 

good luck with this and thanks for the heads up.

[Tripmode33]

6 hours ago, walkingsoon said:

That is the exact opposite of my experience. Who was this e-mail from? Perhaps they just confused the two terms.

Princess Customer Service team. Another email today from them stating they had checked with their manager, and confirmed they definitely use Refundable OBC before beginning to use Non-refundable. I am sure this is incorrect, unless a very recent policy change.  I will pursue further.

[dickinson]

2 minutes ago, Tripmode33 said:

Princess Customer Service team. Another email today from them stating they had checked with their manager, and confirmed they definitely use Refundable OBC before beginning to use Non-refundable. I am sure this is incorrect, unless a very recent policy change.  I will pursue further.

Do you know if this team is in the Philippine call center?  They are poorly trained.  If you had emailed customer relations then I would ask them when this policy changed as it is the reverse of what it has always been.  

[skynight]

I would write a letter to John Padgett and send by the postal service. I would include copies of your on board folio and all the emails you received from customer service. Customer service is not up to the task.

From you signature it appears you are from Australia. Were you on an Australia based, Aust$ cruise? Maybe Princess, Australia has different rules than those here in the U.S.

 

 

[sandancer]

9 hours ago, georgetheblue said:

That sux.  I hope not.  I have very little non refundable OBC from Princess but a bunch from my TA.  In the past any unused TA OBC would be refunded by a check received in the mail 3-4 weeks after the cruise.  This policy will really screw me up.  All my excursions are paid in full along with my premier package.  I really don’t need jewelry so I hope i can still cash it out in the casino.

I am sure I read somewhere that Princess have clamped down on the ability to cash out unused obc in the casino. We did it on our last Princess cruise (2022) as they would only refund us by cheque and if that was in US$ we would lose out on the cost of the currency exchange. 

[JamieLogical]

That was not my experience on the Enchanted this month. We had $100 of casino credit and $100 shareholder's benefit. Those were, of course, non-refundable. Then we received some refundable OBC for a canceled dinner reservation, a changed shore excursion, and a refund of port fees and taxes. At the end of the sailing, we were owed $58.11, which we received in the form of a check about a week later. Clearly, if our refundable OBC had been used first, we would have not received any kind of refund at all.

[ISABELLA]

We are on board of Sun Princess. Just checked our account. All charges are coming out of NRObc and Refundable is still untouched.  Guest services confirm that REf OBC will be mailed after the cruise.

[Bgwest]

2 hours ago, sandancer said:

I am sure I read somewhere that Princess have clamped down on the ability to cash out unused obc in the casino. We did it on our last Princess cruise (2022) as they would only refund us by cheque and if that was in US$ we would lose out on the cost of the currency exchange. 

Source please. 

[Coral]

This is insane. It has to be wrong.

[Cruise Raider]

Like the OP, I am surprised to hear this.  I recently went on a cruise from a move over offer, so I had a lot of refundable OBC along with some nonrefundable OBC.  Just last week, I received the balance of my refundable OBC in a check from Bottomline Technologies just last week.  They obviously used my non-refundable OBC first. 
 

[sandancer]

43 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Source please. 

Cruise critic but I have no idea when. Hopefully I’ve misread it. I’ll find out in a few weeks on our next Princess cruise. 

[Bgwest]

18 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Cruise critic but I have no idea when. Hopefully I’ve misread it. I’ll find out in a few weeks on our next Princess cruise. 

Please let us know what you find. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

18 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Cruise critic but I have no idea when. Hopefully I’ve misread it. I’ll find out in a few weeks on our next Princess cruise. 

Well, sadly...CC is NOT an infallible source unless it had actually pointed to (cited) the pertinent Princess policy.

[dog]

53 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Cruise critic but I have no idea when. Hopefully I’ve misread it. I’ll find out in a few weeks on our next Princess cruise. 

I read it too- a member posted it here- someone using casino recently.

[dog]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

This is insane. It has to be wrong.

Agree.

we are going to make sure we spend our OBC, as we usually do.

 

lack of consistency.

 

just got an email- and they say they will re instate my FCD from the Star TA they cancelled!  Like pulling teeth to get this back.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I'm currently on Coral doing the Australian world cruise. I checked my folio earlier today and all our non-refundable OBC has been used. We still have plenty of refundable OBC left though. 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, dog said:

 

 

just got an email- and they say they will re instate my FCD from the Star TA they cancelled!  Like pulling teeth to get this back.

How generous!!!!! They really need training.

[greenie082756]

We had refundable $$ left on our last 2 cruises. Granted it was under $50 and as of yet, have not received the check they usually send in the mail. Last cruise ended in March. 

 

I think there is some fancy accounting going on so that they balance the account out to zero and you get nothing. 

 

This is our experience. Never used to have a problem with getting refundable OBC back until now. So, I told the hubby we will get as close to zero as we can since that is obviously what they are trying to get the customers to do.

 

Also, military OBC used to be refundable and now it's not. I do not agree with this change. 

[sandancer]

2 hours ago, dog said:

I read it too- a member posted it here- someone using casino recently.

Glad to hear that. Don’t want to be spreading rumours. 
Just for info, P&O don’t allow obc to be used in the casino. Any money you gamble with is charged to the cabin and goes on the credit card at the end of the cruise. I assume it’s not like that on Princess. 

[NRWPA]

7 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

Princess Customer Service team. Another email today from them stating they had checked with their manager, and confirmed they definitely use Refundable OBC before beginning to use Non-refundable. I am sure this is incorrect, unless a very recent policy change.  I will pursue further.

I checked my records just to be sure, but at least on my Sky cruise in Feb 2023, I had a remaining $197 in refundable OBC that they sent to me in a check to my home about a month later. I have a record of the check being deposited. I can't imagine it would be the other way around.