Cancellation Questions

[Cindy]

There’s a slight (probably about 20%) chance my husband will have to cancel our cruise next month. We have good insurance, but this will be a not-covered work reason (new job). I still plan to go since we’re traveling with family and friends, and we’re already at 50% penalty — I don’t want to just throw the whole trip and money away!

 

If my husband has to cancel, I will keep our cabin, but I think there will be some money I can get back for my husband’s port fees, gratuities, Shore Excursions, and other pre-paid stuff. Is that right? Is there a deadline for notifying Princess? There won’t be any insurance benefit to notifying early, but I wondered about the other things. We really hope it doesn’t come to cancellation, but I want to be prepared if it does.

 

If I could find somebody who wants to fly to Seattle for a free cruise is that a possibility? I’m not sure who could get away at the last minute, but could we change one person in the cabin? If so, do you know what the deadline is for that?

 

Thanks for your help!

[cherylandtk]

Yes, you can substitute one person on your booking; there may be a small charge to do so at this point.

 

If you don’t find a sub, rather than cancel your husband, look at the penalty imposed versus your up charge if you were to get charged the single supplement.  For many people it is more economical to just have your husband be a no show.

[fishywood]

If you pre-paid the gratuities or purchased any shore excursions through the Cruise Personalizer you have to cancel them before the closing date for changes to the personalizer. Cancelling pre-paid excursions onboard does not result in a refund to the method of payment but an onboard credit. Which in his case will be to a shipboard account that doesn't exist. Even if somebody else paid for them once the excursion tickets are issued the OBC only goes to the name on the ticket. Which is a non-person if he is a no-show.

[denmarks]

I do not understand why someone would say to just have a no show. By changing from a double to a single you save the port fees for one. I have even at times had a lower fare than the double rate.

[Cindy]

Thanks! 

 

I really don’t think it will come to a cancellation, but I wanted to gather information just in case. The company making the job offer is big on work-life balance and has a great reputation in that area. I think the more likely outcome is we cancel our pre-cruise trip to reduce the number of days my DH will be gone.

[cherylandtk]

1 hour ago, denmarks said:

I do not understand why someone would say to just have a no show. By changing from a double to a single you save the port fees for one. I have even at times had a lower fare than the double rate.

Because the remaining person’s fare will be 

refigured to a single supplement rate. Essentially paying two fares PLUS whatever is assessed as the penalty percentage (20-100%). The port fees and taxes are refunded either way.

[denmarks]

19 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

Because the remaining person’s fare will be 

refigured to a single supplement rate. Essentially paying two fares PLUS whatever is assessed as the penalty percentage (20-100%). The port fees and taxes are refunded either way.

 

I did not know that the penalty would take place since you are still paying the full fare.

[JF - retired RRT]

29 minutes ago, denmarks said:

 

I did not know that the penalty would take place since you are still paying the full fare.

That's not the way Princess looks at it.

If he's a no show, they paid 2 fares and used one.

If he cancels, she pays twice as much as for one, but it's considered 1 fare. Thus the cancellation penalty would be in effect.

[Cindy]

2 hours ago, cherylandtk said:

Because the remaining person’s fare will be 

refigured to a single supplement rate. Essentially paying two fares PLUS whatever is assessed as the penalty percentage (20-100%). The port fees and taxes are refunded either way.

 

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That's not the way Princess looks at it.

If he's a no show, they paid 2 fares and used one.

If he cancels, she pays twice as much as for one, but it's considered 1 fare. Thus the cancellation penalty would be in effect.

 

I always understood single supplement to mean I would pay a double fare less the second person’s port fees. Is that not correct? I know that was my experience as a single on RCI, and my mom’s experience as a single on HAL. Cherylandtk, are you saying a 100% senior supplement would mean paying 300%? That’s crazy!

 

When I do a dummy booking for a single passenger on my cruise, the total comes up as 2X the cruise fare minus one person’s port fees. If there was a penalty charge, would it show up on the booking page?

[JF - retired RRT]

3 minutes ago, Cindy said:

When I do a dummy booking for a single passenger on my cruise, the total comes up as 2X the cruise fare minus one person’s port fees. 

This is correct.

Although, occasionally there's a special and the single fare is a little less than 2X.

[weedpindle]

Do you not have insurance that covers 'cancel for any reason"

[cherylandtk]

Single fare/supplement is correctly described above.  The issue is when one person (out of two booked) cancels.  If after final payment some of that person’s fare is refunded while the rest is retained as penalty, up to 100%.  If anything was refunded, the remaining person is almost always re-fared at the current single rate.  And sometimes even when nothing was refunded; in essence causing up to three fares (less taxes/fees) to be paid for one person to travel.  

 

In this sort of case, it is less costly to not cancel and just have him be a no-show. His taxes/fees usually are refunded onboard, and the wife is not charged with a single supplement, so no extra payment is incurred.

 

As for insurance; third party CFAR is not 100%, so there is a loss there. If Princess, the husband would receive a credit, the wife would be refared to the single rate.  Again, three paid fares, with credit for one.  Wife still pays two fares to cruise solo. It works if he can use the credit. If not, wife can still cruise solo on two fares with him as a no show, and no issues with using the credit later.  

Edited July 12, 2019 by cherylandtk

[Times Prince]

Check the cruise contract and FAQ's.  There is a timeframe before the cruise where substitutions are not allowed as Princess must submit a list of passengers to a government agency.   I may be wrong, but I think it was in the last week before the cruise date.

Seeing as you said your cruise was next month (Aug?) you could be coming up to that deadline.

[Cindy]

3 hours ago, weedpindle said:

Do you not have insurance that covers 'cancel for any reason"

 

Our insurance covers having to work, but there are restrictions. This situation wouldn’t b covered.

[Cindy]

2 hours ago, cherylandtk said:

Single fare/supplement is correctly described above.  The issue is when one person (out of two booked) cancels.  If after final payment some of that person’s fare is refunded while the rest is retained as penalty, up to 100%.  If anything was refunded, the remaining person is almost always re-fared at the current single rate.  And sometimes even when nothing was refunded; in essence causing up to three fares (less taxes/fees) to be paid for one person to travel.  

 

In this sort of case, it is less costly to not cancel and just have him be a no-show. His taxes/fees usually are refunded onboard, and the wife is not charged with a single supplement, so no extra payment is incurred.

 

As for insurance; third party CFAR is not 100%, so there is a loss there. If Princess, the husband would receive a credit, the wife would be refared to the single rate.  Again, three paid fares, with credit for one.  Wife still pays two fares to cruise solo. It works if he can use the credit. If not, wife can still cruise solo on two fares with him as a no show, and no issues with using the credit later.  

 

Thank you! That makes sense...the penalty would be if we canceled my DH now, lost 50% of his fare to cancellation penalties, and I STILL had to pay the single rate. That would put me at 2.5 cruise fares. That’s certainly something to think about! 

 

I really don’t think it will come to cancellation, but I appreciate all the information! If my husband can’t go, I fully anticipate not getting any refund/credit and just getting his port fees returned. I’ll make sure I don’t pay more than double! Everything else can be cancelled on the Personalizer a few days in advance so it goes back to my credit card.

 

I’ll be sure to report back. As I said I think the most likely scenario is we will need to cancel our pre-cruise trip to Oregon but still go on the cruise. Time will tell!

[caa]

It sounds like he's still waiting for or negotiating the offer for the new job? I've hired lots of people who had vacations coming up and I've even been in the situation of starting a new job shortly before a vacation once myself, and it's really never been a problem to get the time off. Well, once there was a summer intern who wanted to take almost half the summer off, so that was a problem, but I assume your DH's situation is not anything like that! 

 

As an employer, I do want to know about these plans during the offer negotiation phase and not on the first day of work. I might delay the start date until after the vacation if it makes more sense for the business (e.g. if he'd only be there for a week and then be gone for 2+ weeks). Also, I would expect the new employee to offer to take this time off as unpaid, though I'd probably find a way to let him get at least a few days paid.

 

Good luck to your DH! I hope he gets the job.