Temporary Cancellation Policy Announced

[SJunie]

I have an awesome TA! She was on the phone all day with her customers dealing with this, and she finally got back to me and helped me cancel the cruise. Just in the nick of time. We ended up with a FCC that is 75% of what the cruise cost, and the rest is going back on my credit card.

Really appreciate Princess doing the right thing for their customers.

[azbirdmom]

3 hours ago, cujosmom said:

We purchased seat upgrades to Economy Plus for $500 directly through United after the EZ Air flight had been ticketed. I assume Princess will not be responsible for our upgrades. My Questions are: When Princess cancels the air what happens to our upgraded seats? I am assuming they will go "poof" as soon as EZ cancels the seats and we will be out $500. Has anyone else had any experience with independently purchased upgrades and a canceled EZ Air flight? I plan on contacting United this weekend to see if they will refund our upgraded seats also but was hoping someone has had some experience in this matter and how it turned out.  Thanks.

 

Hopefully you kept the email confirmation that you received after you upgraded your seats.  But if you don't have it, I would go to the United website and pull up the reservation while it is still active.  Send the receipt to yourself via email.  That should have the ticket numbers and the details of what  you paid for the upgrades.  Then after Princess cancels everything, go to the United site and request a refund following the process specified there.  You can attach screen shots of the details of the upgrade transaction for proof but it may not be necessary.  It's fairly easy to do and it may take a week or so but they respond to each request made.  I will likely do that very soon myself as I just upgraded our May EZair United flights this past week and now we are most likely going to cancel that cruise.

[lahore]

6 hours ago, lahore said:

For people in Australia:

 

If you’re wondering what will happen when you try to get through here is my experience. 

Last night, the same minute that the email arrived I got through on Chat after a five minute wait.  The person on chat said I couldn’t cancel over chat because it’s not encrypted so had to phone this morning (Saturday).  The call centre in Sydney is open 8-4 today (Sat).   Phoned this morning at 9am (slept in).  45 minute wait.  Call centre person sounded extremely confused and contradicted herself three times before admitting that they were inundated and not coping very well.  She told me she has to enter a code because they are not allowed to cancel (huh?) and that I won’t get an email, but then later told me I will get an email.  Don’t ask me to explain, she couldn’t, clearly she was learning as she went or - more worryingly - making it up as she went. After going around in circles and her becoming more and more embarassed/defensive I figured she had entered the code and all I can do now is wait to see the credits appear on my account.  If they haven’t shown up in ten days I’ll call back.  

 

Further to this - I must now congratulate the service person on the phone at Princess in Australia.  She got back to me late today and said that this morning when she spoke to me they didn’t know what had hit them but during the day she learned and she therefore updated me and also sent me an email.  Kudos to her and to Princess.  

[MadManOfBethesda]

4 hours ago, SJunie said:

Really appreciate Princess doing the right thing for their customers.

 

LOL

 

You don't really believe that Princess (or any of the other cruise lines) implementing this policy had anything whatsoever to do with trying to do the right thing for their customers, do you?

 

They just made a business decision knowing full well that if they didn't liberalize their cancellation policy, most of their future bookings would simply dry up.

 

Their customers' financial well-being was not a consideration at all.

[WNcruiser]

Celebrity is allowing passengers to cancel or rebook all cruises through July 2020 with only a 48 hour notice and a 100% FCC. I think that is very generous and would love Princess to follow suit. Having to make a decision 6 weeks before a cruise is difficult when things are changing on a daily basis.  

Edited March 7, 2020 by WNcruiser

[Maui Girl]

16 hours ago, tonit964 said:

I knew it. 😊

Uggh 😔.  I’m glad they corrected this OBC issue but I think we are still screwed.  Our cruise is tomorrow March 8th but our cruisetour started March 2nd! 

[MissP22]

4 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

 

LOL

 

You don't really believe that Princess (or any of the other cruise lines) implementing this policy had anything whatsoever to do with trying to do the right thing for their customers, do you?

 

They just made a business decision knowing full well that if they didn't liberalize their cancellation policy, most of their future bookings would simply dry up.

 

Their customers' financial well-being was not a consideration at all.

I really believe that statement. It's all what public image the cruise line wants to create for future bookings. At this point all the cruise ship industry seems to be in trouble for the near future. I'm reading the 2/3 of the people surveyed wouldn't take a free cruise if offered.

I'm sure those numbers are skewed somewhat for shock value but nevertheless. 

[ellie1145]

We received the email last night.

Glad it’s good news for some of you. At least it gives you the choice of going on the cruise or not.

As Brits it is a totally useless offer.

Our cruise is at the end of May, on Caribbean Princess.

To cancel would mean a huge loss in airfares and hotel accommodation already booked and although we have travel insurance (never travel without it!) as Princess is not cancelling the cruise we would not get a refund of those costs, as our flights would not be covered if there is no travel advisory warning against flying to Miami.

In any case, future cruise credit means our money is tied up in Princess long term, and at the moment I can’t envisage wanting to book any cruise in the near future as the same thing could happen, and we would be mad to book any more flights or hotels.

So we have no choice. Unless and until our government advise against flying to the US, and unless Princess cancel our cruise, we will have to go on it whatever happens.

We are very much looking forward to this cruise, but can see the situation escalating as more and more of the Caribbean Islands, and elsewhere in the world, decide they don’t want cruise ships docking, which is quite understandable.

We love cruising, and are very sad at the bad press it’s getting. We know that hygiene onboard ships is unrivalled in the travel industry, but mistakes were certainly made keeping Diamond in quarantine. It was a disaster waiting to happen. That was not the fault of Princess. It was the Japanese authorities who made the decisions, bad though they were.

We feel for those on Grand Princess and hope they soon get back on terra firma, although Trump’s comments that he wants them to stay onboard are seriously worrying.

So for now we can do nothing but sit and wait and hope.

[amajaa]

We have the same problem as above. We are due to sail out of LA next week to Hawaii. I phoned our TA and after a while got a phone call back with the answer that we would only receive £600 each in cruise credits . We would lose the airfare,  transfers and hotel for the night before money. We also would not get any of the port taxes etc. £600 seems a tiny amount compared to the cost we paid. The TA must have a big mark up on this one.

[Coral]

17 hours ago, nho9504 said:

 

Ours is even weirder.

 

We are to be on the Sky Apr 11 transatlantic, onto St. Petersburg.  We hold HKSAR passports as dual nationality.  The HKSAR passport allows 14 days Visa Free entry to Russia, up to 90 days in total in any 6 rolling months.  So we were all set or so we thought.

 

Then Russia suspends entry of Chinese citizens incl HKSAR and MacaoSAR effective Feb 18th.  So we had to get a Deviation of Itinerary from Princess, also lost our intra Europe post cruise flights which are St. Petersburg - Zurich - Nice where we would spend 6 days, then Nice back to Zurich, 6 days to visit Italy (Lombardy! ) before flying back Zurich to Miami.  Since we can no longer enter Russia, the intra-Europe flights are down the drain because Swiss Air only has travel waiver up to Mar 31st with our travel on May 6th, after 5 days at St. Petersburg.

 

The Deviation Request was quickly approved (took 2 days in all), back in Feb.  We were to modify everything post cruise from flights to hotels due to the  departure city would be from Tallinn instead of St. Petersburg - the fares have noticeable differences, plus we lose 5 days in St.Petersburg so the hotels need to realign.  Thankfully we opted to wait till 3rd week of March to decide on the new plan post cruise...

 

Then of course the situations are getting worse by the day.  We may not go any more.

 

I do not know how the future cruise credit would be handled - does it incl the taxes paid?  I would prefer it is including the taxes and not separately handled.

 

We booked this as a point redemption thru Chase bank's Ultimate Reward travel dept,  the payment was made with our points and the Loyalty Travel paid Princess used its corporate credit card.  If the taxes are refunded to the credit card that would be Loyalty Travel's corporate card.  We then need to get them convert the $ into points to put back to our account.  Lots of follow up things I do not look forward to at all.

 

The reason to book the cruise this way is that using points we essentially "pay" 33.33% less than using a credit card because the points can be redeemed as cash at 1c per pt, or used to book travel at 1.5c per pt worth, with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card benefits.

 

I also do not know if you must apply the future cruise credit to a future cruise right at the time you cancel the current one,  or you can decide which cruise you would like to go before Dec 31st, 2021.

 

Anyone has prior experience on this type of future cruise credit booking can enlighten me?  Thanks a lot.

Yes - you have a lot more going on. I am guessing someone has answered this.

 

I assume taxes will be refunded and not included in FCC. You don't have to decide what cruise right away.

 

Sorry about Russia. I didn't realize your Chinese passport gets you in with out a visa. Or used to. There are soccer matches in Russia this summer (June I believe) that allows people to get in with out a visa.

 

Good luck.

[MissP22]

20 minutes ago, ellie1145 said:

We are very much looking forward to this cruise, but can see the situation escalating as more and more of the Caribbean Islands, and elsewhere in the world, decide they don’t want cruise ships docking, which is quite understandable.

The only good point is that if your denied stopping at one island there are others to choose from so the cruise won't be a total loss- unless someone comes down with the virus on the ship.

You're just have to keep on open mind about the itinerary. 

[pedirn]

I have a question that I haven’t seen covered.  If it has been asked then I apologize as I missed it.   If we decide to cancel our up coming cruise we will end up with a FCC of about $14,000.   I know this has to be used for travel by Dec 31, 2021 but does it have to be used on one cruise or can I apply it to more than one?  This FCC would be from a 29 day Australia trip which only happens once a year so not sure I would book it for next year but I can see us going on a few cruises going from FLL as we live less than an hour from the port.   TIA

[LDVinNC]

40 minutes ago, pedirn said:

I have a question that I haven’t seen covered.  If it has been asked then I apologize as I missed it.   If we decide to cancel our up coming cruise we will end up with a FCC of about $14,000.   I know this has to be used for travel by Dec 31, 2021 but does it have to be used on one cruise or can I apply it to more than one?  This FCC would be from a 29 day Australia trip which only happens once a year so not sure I would book it for next year but I can see us going on a few cruises going from FLL as we live less than an hour from the port.   TIA

 

Same question here.  We may be cancelling a 28 day Hawaii/French Polynesia trip and since we splurged on a suite (trip of a lifetime - hah) we will end up with a very large credit as well.  We would not try to book it next year since we understand prices have gone way up.  So, I guess we'd take a couple of Caribbean cruises if the FCC can be used on more than one cruise.  If not, we will lose a whole lot of money.

[ellie1145]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

The only good point is that if your denied stopping at one island there are others to choose from so the cruise won't be a total loss- unless someone comes down with the virus on the ship.

You're just have to keep on open mind about the itinerary. 

We are very lucky that we have visited the islands many times, so missing a port or ports, is not an issue. We cruise mainly to be on a ship and to meet people, visiting these islands is a bonus, and we won’t be broken hearted if some turn us away. We also are happy with sea days, but that won’t suit everyone. Many people cruise specifically to visit certain  places, although, as we know, if you are so set on seeing a particular place then cruising may not be the best answer, as itineraries can change for many reasons, not just Coronavirus.

 

For those whose trip is a once in a lifetime, or who have never visited these places it will be very sad.

[deltaqueenie]

While this policy is a step in the right direction. IMO it doesn’t seem “generous” especially after reviewing RCL and NCL...

[jenf22]

1 hour ago, deltaqueenie said:

While this policy is a step in the right direction. IMO it doesn’t seem “generous” especially after reviewing RCL and NCL...

I agree.  I saw NCL's announcement last night and was hoping Princess would update their offers this morning.  We're on a June 9 British Isles.  I was happy they moved our PIF up to 60 days but honestly I was already using 60 days as my cancellation point since we only paid a $200 deposit and I was ok losing that.  I really hope in the next month the virus calms WAY down or Princess gets on board with the other big players.

 

I looked at a similar British Isles cruise for next year and it's over $3000 more than what we paid for this year.  A lot of that is because we can get a Balcony Deluxe on Regal but we'd have to get a Mini Suite on Crown because we are family of 3.

Edited March 7, 2020 by jenf22

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Agree.  Princess cancellation policy is Not that generous.  Especially compared to Others.

 

In the meantime, Princess needs a simple way to Cancel upcoming cruises online!

 

Can't Princess Install a Cancel button on our Cruise personalizer, so we don't have to call?

Wait times are horrendous already.

[PrincessLuver]

On 3/6/2020 at 7:09 AM, Coral said:

I agree. Given the circumstance, I am glad Princess made a decision and it frees up some who are traveling and bought different insurance or no insurance. This is unique circumstances.

 

I also agree, I bought Princess insurance. I think I should receive a refund for it or credit towards another cruise with what I paid for this.

 

If we use CFAR we will still get a percentage of the refund back in cash back.....their new policy only allows for full Future Cruise Credit...

[LDVinNC]

2 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

If we use CFAR we will still get a percentage of the refund back in cash back.....their new policy only allows for full Future Cruise Credit...

 

What percentage would you get back in cash?  My understanding is only FCC, but I sure hope you are correct.

[PrincessLuver]

47 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

 

What percentage would you get back in cash?  My understanding is only FCC, but I sure hope you are correct.

 

The way it worked for us was Princess fined us a cancelation fee of 50% (based on days from cruise) which was basically FCC and then AON funded our CC almost 50% minus the cost of the CFAR insurance premium.....I hope it still works that way.....

[PoohUnderstands]

16 hours ago, oskidunker said:

You should get a 100% cruise credit. No money. 

That is incorrect.  I just cancelled yesterday under the new cancellation policy.  My cruise was to leave on March 15th.  I had my Ezair tickets and all set to go.

This was the general breakdown of what I got.  First of all, I received the entire final payment amount back in some way.  This included my ezair, princess insurance, transfers, port fees, etc.  My cancellation fee was 82% of the total I had paid.  That amount is what I will get back on FCC.  The other 18% I received already this morning as a credit on my credit card.  Then there was an additional credit for the water and drink package I had purchased; then there was a third credit for the excursions I had paid for. So yes you do get cash back(some).

 

Pooh

[WNcruiser]

3 hours ago, deltaqueenie said:

While this policy is a step in the right direction. IMO it doesn’t seem “generous” especially after reviewing RCL and NCL...

Not only are most cruise lines offering the 48 hour cancellation period, they are offering it through July 2020 and September 2020. I really hope Princess follows their competitors. I would think less people might cancel with more time ...

[Jetstreamer]

6 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

As Brits it is a totally useless offer.

Our cruise is at the end of May, on Caribbean Princess.

To cancel would mean a huge loss in airfares and hotel accommodation already booked and although we have travel insurance (never travel without it!) as Princess is not cancelling the cruise we would not get a refund of those costs, as our flights would not be covered if there is no travel advisory warning against flying to Miami.

 

 

6 hours ago, amajaa said:

We have the same problem as above. We are due to sail out of LA next week to Hawaii. I phoned our TA and after a while got a phone call back with the answer that we would only receive £600 each in cruise credits . We would lose the airfare,  transfers and hotel for the night before money. We also would not get any of the port taxes etc. £600 seems a tiny amount compared to the cost we paid. The TA must have a big mark up on this one.

 

 

Check with your airline and keep checking with your airline.  Just like cruise lines, airlines are scrambling to protect their businesses and are starting to offer flexibility with regards to re-booking flights.  Right now BA and Virgin Atlantic's response won't help you, but other airlines now are offering free changes or 100% credit towards a future flight.  I predict in the coming weeks both BA and Virgin will update their policies to allow changes or cancellations to bookings made any time in the past and not just new bookings.  If you are flying with a US carrier you might already be in luck.

 

Re not getting taxes back, I believe these should be refunded to you as money back and not in the form of a FCC.  FCC only covers non-refundable elements.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I’m so thankful for the new policy! My friend and I aren’t canceling and are excited about the bonus OBC we get now. If it gets too bad, we appreciate having the peace of mind to be able to cancel. That said, whoa Royal and Celebrity took it to a whole new level with their 48 hour cancellation policy!! It would be very kind if Princess did the same. 

[amajaa]

1 hour ago, Jetstreamer said:

 

 

 

 

Check with your airline and keep checking with your airline.  Just like cruise lines, airlines are scrambling to protect their businesses and are starting to offer flexibility with regards to re-booking flights.  Right now BA and Virgin Atlantic's response won't help you, but other airlines now are offering free changes or 100% credit towards a future flight.  I predict in the coming weeks both BA and Virgin will update their policies to allow changes or cancellations to bookings made any time in the past and not just new bookings.  If you are flying with a US carrier you might already be in luck.

 

Re not getting taxes back, I believe these should be refunded to you as money back and not in the form of a FCC.  FCC only covers non-refundable elements.

Unfortunately our flights are booked with Virgin.

 

Our TA was adamant we would lose the taxes and port fees as well