Plain English Description of the Princess Platinum Plan

[Rick&Jeannie]

First of all...I have seen references to "CFAR" in regards to Princess.  Is this the same thing as the Platinum Plan?

 

If not...how do you "add" CFAR onto whatever you have (Princess plan).

 

(I'm only interested in CFAR at this point...I understand all of the other benefits.)

Edited January 4, 2020 by Rick&Jeannie
Clarification

[Jersey42]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

First of all...I have seen references to "CFAR" in regards to Princess.  Is this the same thing as the Platinum Plan? If not...how do you "add" CFAR onto whatever you have (Princess plan).

 

(I'm only interested in CFAR at this point...I understand all of the other benefits.)

Princess Vacation Protection (Platinum Plan) includes Travel Insurance and Emergency Assistance benefits, which you say you understand.  It also includes a "Cancellation Fee Waiver Program" which includes CFAR provisions. You do not need to add CFAR to your Platinum plan as it is already included. 

 

In simple terms, if you cancel your trip for a covered reason, Princess will refund to you in cash the otherwise non-refundable value of your prepaid cruise vacation.  If you cancel for any other reason (CFAR), Princess will provide a travel credit equal to 100% of the non-refundable value of your cruise vacation prepaid to Princess Cruises and/or Princess Tours, for your use toward a future cruise vacation.

 

The devil is in the details, so be sure to read your policy. Here is a link with a summary and a place to download the policy details for your state:

https://affinitytravelcert.com/document/pdfs/PCT_Plt_Landing.html

Edited January 4, 2020 by Jersey42

[Rick&Jeannie]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Followup question: Is CFAR included in the "Standard" Princess plan?

[Jersey42]

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Followup question: Is CFAR included in the "Standard" Princess plan?

Yes, but the credit is 75% instead of 100%. Some of the other benefits are also reduced.

https://affinitytravelcert.com/document/pdfs/PCT_Std_Landing.html

[LoveThatCorgi]

Do the Princess plans include coverage of airfare purchased through EZAir?  Reading the policies, it sounds like they do...

 

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by LoveThatCorgi

[LDVinNC]

Yes, that is one of the benefits of booking your air travel through EZAir - assuming you buy the Princess travel protection.

[Jersey42]

13 hours ago, LoveThatCorgi said:

Do the Princess plans include coverage of airfare purchased through EZAir?  Reading the policies, it sounds like they do...

 

1 hour ago, LDVinNC said:

Yes, that is one of the benefits of booking your air travel through EZAir - assuming you buy the Princess travel protection.

@LDVinNC have you ever made a Princess CFAR claim this or do you know of someone who has done this?  I would hope that you are correct that EZAir expenses are covered.  I think a reasonable person would say it is covered because "I paid the airfare to Princess". But in my opinion, the wording in the Princess document is less clear than with some of the other cruise lines. One thing is they never mention EZAir.  The other thing is they refer to "cruise vacation", but never define that term.  Here is the Princess Platinum CFAR wording:

In the event that you choose to cancel for a reason not authorized above or for a reason that is otherwise restricted, at any time up until departure, and you have purchased Vacation Protection, Princess Cruises and/or Princess Tours will provide you a travel credit equal to 100% of the non-refundable value of your cruise vacation prepaid to Princess Cruises and/or Princess Tours, for your use toward a future cruise vacation.

So the questions are, if you paid Princess for air fare: 

• Do they consider EZAir part of your cruise vacation cost and if you cancel will the air fare be part of your travel credit? (You have already answered this as a Yes)
• Can the travel credit be used on a future trip toward EZAir, or can you only apply it to the cruise fare? Can you apply it to taxes/port fees or anything else?

Some of the other lines specifically mention airfare in their document. Celebrity for example, excludes "Flights by Celebrity" (their version of EZAir) from the CFAR benefit.

Edited February 4, 2020 by Jersey42

[LDVinNC]

Hmmm, I am no expert and should not have spoken as if I am. 

 

It is my understanding that EZAir is part of my "cruise vacation" so the airfare would be covered by the CFAR terms.  As to how any credit could/must be utilized, I do not know.

 

I would love to hear from someone who has taken advantage of the CFAR.  Perhaps this question should be posed on the Princess Forum.

[Jersey42]

18 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

Hmmm, I am no expert and should not have spoken as if I am. 

 

It is my understanding that EZAir is part of my "cruise vacation" so the airfare would be covered by the CFAR terms.  As to how any credit could/must be utilized, I do not know.

 

I would love to hear from someone who has taken advantage of the CFAR.  Perhaps this question should be posed on the Princess Forum.

Thanks for your insights.  I have looked at a bunch of these plans and sometimes I think the wording can be confusing to give the cruise line or insurance company an out.  Hopefully I am just being too cynical.  I think I will post this on the Princess forum.  It will get a lot more exposure to Princess cruisers and hopefully someone will have been through this before.

[Jersey42]

For whatever it's worth, I found this thread from August 2019.  There are some variations in responses, but it seems to indicate EZAir is indeed covered by Princess Vacation Protection, but some of the details on form of reimbursement may vary by airline.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2690551-how-does-ez-air-flexible-work-with-princess-cancel-for-any-reason-insurance/?tab=comments#comment-58204605

 

[Jersey42]

Just to update. I posted some of the questions on the Princess forum about CFAR and EZAir.  I did not get a lot of pertinent responses, but the two people who had put in a CFAR claim for a cruise with EZAir both received a combination of cash refunds and travel credits.  One canceled 30 days before the cruise and received a 50% cash and 50% credit which was exactly what they expected.  The other actually got a higher percentage of cash back than they expected.  They did not know why, but they were happy.  In both cases the EZAir credit was for future travel on the airline they had booked through EZAir. The credits expired in a year.  See the thread below.

 

 

[LoveThatCorgi]

21 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

Just to update. I posted some of the questions on the Princess forum about CFAR and EZAir.  I did not get a lot of pertinent responses, but the two people who had put in a CFAR claim for a cruise with EZAir both received a combination of cash refunds and travel credits.  One canceled 30 days before the cruise and received a 50% cash and 50% credit which was exactly what they expected.  The other actually got a higher percentage of cash back than they expected.  They did not know why, but they were happy.  In both cases the EZAir credit was for future travel on the airline they had booked through EZAir. The credits expired in a year.  See the thread below.

 

 

Thanks, Jersey42!