Timeframe for Refund from Princess

[Aus Traveller]

24 minutes ago, Rhonbru said:

my understanding is that if the cruise starts or finishs in australia the gratuities are included in the price.....but other cruises in other parts of the world the gratuities are extra.

The cruise has to start and finish in Australia to have the gratuities automatically included for Aust & NZ residents. If it is a re-location (for instance trans-Pacific), the currency is US$ and gratuities apply.

[voluntr57]

50 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The cruise has to start and finish in Australia to have the gratuities automatically included for Aust & NZ residents. If it is a re-location (for instance trans-Pacific), the currency is US$ and gratuities apply.

I've  done a Princess cruise from Perth to Singapore (one way) and it was in Australian dollars with no gratuities added. 

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, voluntr57 said:

I've  done a Princess cruise from Perth to Singapore (one way) and it was in Australian dollars with no gratuities added. 

Was it a relocation or was the ship continuing to be based in Australia?

[voluntr57]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

Was it a relocation or was the ship continuing to be based in Australia?

It was returning to Perth.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, voluntr57 said:

It was returning to Perth.

That's the explanation. "It was returning to Perth". Your cruise wasn't a relocation. From what I have seen, relocation cruises are in US$ with gratuities.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[voluntr57]

4 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

That's the explanation. "It was returning to Perth". Your cruise wasn't a relocation. From what I have seen, relocation cruises are in US$ with gratuities.

But you said a cruise has to start AND end in Australia to have gratuities included. My cruise ended in Singapore. The following cruise returned to Australia.

[possum52]

39 minutes ago, voluntr57 said:

But you said a cruise has to start AND end in Australia to have gratuities included. My cruise ended in Singapore. The following cruise returned to Australia.

I think that the fact the ship was returning to Australia is the key to the fact you didn't have to pay gratuities. We cruised from Sydney to Singapore on Diamond Princess and as it was a relocation cruise and that the Diamond was not returning to Australia, paid gratuities and paid in $US on board. Maybe the wording Aus Traveller used should have been if the ship returns to Australia instead of the cruise has to start and end in Australia/NZ.

 

Leigh

Edited December 22, 2019 by possum52

[voluntr57]

18 minutes ago, possum52 said:

I think that the fact the ship was returning to Australia is the key to the fact you didn't have to pay gratuities. We cruised from Sydney to Singapore on Diamond Princess and as it was a relocation cruise and that the Diamond was not returning to Australia, paid gratuities and paid in $US on board. Maybe the wording Aus Traveller used should have been if the ship returns to Australia instead of the cruise has to start and end in Australia/NZ.

 

Leigh

I really wasn't trying to be argumentative, I was just trying to point out that not every cruise that's in Australian dollars and with gratuities included starts and ends in Australia. But you're right Leigh, it's just the wording and your definition makes perfect sense.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, voluntr57 said:

I really wasn't trying to be argumentative, I was just trying to point out that not every cruise that's in Australian dollars and with gratuities included starts and ends in Australia. But you're right Leigh, it's just the wording and your definition makes perfect sense.

The usual definition used by Princess is "starts and ends in Australia", but you are correct that there are some cruises on Australian-based ships that do not fit that definition. I was on one on the Sun Princess last year - Fremantle to Singapore. The main point was that the Sun Princess is an Australian-based ship.

 

The point Possum52 and I are making is that Princess ships that visit seasonally, operate under US currency and gratuity-system on their re-location cruises, whereas the Australian-based ships have AUD and no gratuities.