Confusion Around Cancellation due to not making the Final Payment

[SJunie]

When we booked our March, 2022 cruise, the Princess rep had told us that the deposit was fully refundable should we decide to cancel the cruise. Once we make the final payment, we would be subjected to the cancellation fees. She had said that if we don't make the final payment by the due date, the booking would get cancelled automatically, and the deposit would be refunded back to us.

 

Well, yesterday was the final payment due date. We decided to cancel, and I tried calling Princess, but got cut off while on hold for almost an hour. By the time I called back, they had closed for the day. Princess doesn't allow you to cancel your bookings online.

 

This morning, I checked my account, and see that the booking was still there even though I had missed the final payment deadline. There were big red letters that said, "Final Payment due by Dec 10, 2021 or booking will be cancelled."

 

I called Princess and was told that as it is now Dec 11th, I am subjected to a $500 cancellation fee for the booking! The matter had to get escalated to a supervisor before I was told that they won't penalize me this time. 

 

This is my first time dealing directly with Princess for a cruise. Is this how they do things?

[Coral]

First - I am glad you got your money back.

 

Yes - most lines do things this way. Princess is not alone.

 

Be very careful about final payment and penalties after regardless of who you book with.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Coral

[Drews_Cruise]

Deadlines are enforced on all the lines.  I wouldn’t wait until the last day to cancel a cruise.  Glad Princess bent the rules for you.

 

 

[Steelers36]

I think the only auto-cancel with no penalty might be the courtesy hold.

 

Sure, a booking where FP is not made is going to eventually cancel out.  But Princess is probably trying to do guests a favor by not immediately cancelling just after midnight of FP day.  In case there was an oversight or some issue making FP. 

 

I agree if no intent to cruise, cancel out proactively ahead of the deadline.

[cruisingrob21]

Was $500 more than your deposit?

[caribill]

Many people book directly with Princess.

 

With hour plus times on hold in addition to not being available some days of the week, Princess makes it hard to either cancel or call to make final payment at the deadline date.

[Hlitner]

12 hours ago, SJunie said:

When we booked our March, 2022 cruise, the Princess rep had told us that the deposit was fully refundable should we decide to cancel the cruise. Once we make the final payment, we would be subjected to the cancellation fees. She had said that if we don't make the final payment by the due date, the booking would get cancelled automatically, and the deposit would be refunded back to us.

 

Well, yesterday was the final payment due date. We decided to cancel, and I tried calling Princess, but got cut off while on hold for almost an hour. By the time I called back, they had closed for the day. Princess doesn't allow you to cancel your bookings online.

 

This morning, I checked my account, and see that the booking was still there even though I had missed the final payment deadline. There were big red letters that said, "Final Payment due by Dec 10, 2021 or booking will be cancelled."

 

I called Princess and was told that as it is now Dec 11th, I am subjected to a $500 cancellation fee for the booking! The matter had to get escalated to a supervisor before I was told that they won't penalize me this time. 

 

This is my first time dealing directly with Princess for a cruise. Is this how they do things?

With all due respect it sounds like Princess was simply following the terms of your booking.  The fact that you chose to wait until the last minute to cancel was your choice and not wise in this era of shaky customer service (try calling an airline).  Using a decent cruise/travel agent not only avoids the hassles with waiting on hold, but will generally save you money if you actually do cruise.

 

Hank

[mpdog42]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

Many people book directly with Princess.

 

With hour plus times on hold in addition to not being available some days of the week, Princess makes it hard to either cancel or call to make final payment at the deadline date.

My TA told me that Princess is one of the most difficult cruise lines for him to deal with..just Saying😀

[Coral]

35 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

With all due respect it sounds like Princess was simply following the terms of your booking.  The fact that you chose to wait until the last minute to cancel was your choice and not wise in this era of shaky customer service (try calling an airline).  Using a decent cruise/travel agent not only avoids the hassles with waiting on hold, but will generally save you money if you actually do cruise.

 

Hank

Travel agents can easily cancel online with out having to call.

[Outerdog]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

Travel agents can easily cancel online with out having to call.

 

So there is no real reason they can't allow pax to do the same except to be difficult and try to trap people.

[Coral]

Just now, Outerdog said:

 

So there is no real reason they can't allow pax to do the same except to be difficult and try to trap people.

Yes. 

 

I was irritated I had to call SiriusXM radio to cancel the other day. I could do everything else online except for cancelling..... Irritating. 

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

Many people book directly with Princess.

 

With hour plus times on hold in addition to not being available some days of the week, Princess makes it hard to either cancel or call to make final payment at the deadline date.

If a guest books directly with Princess, there is no need to call to make a payment.  Just do it online using Cruise Personalizer.

[Steelers36]

46 minutes ago, Coral said:

Yes. 

 

I was irritated I had to call SiriusXM radio to cancel the other day. I could do everything else online except for cancelling..... Irritating. 

That's pretty normal - their Retention Dept wants a chance to make you an offer you may accept.  Every year I call them and my cable/internet and my cellular providers to re-quote me a better deal and don't just accept whatever the renewal rate is when anniversary is up.

 

Not sure with Princess as I don't think they are doing the same thing as the communication and streaming providers.  It should be easy to cancel a booking with no payment on it at least.  It could cut down on the phone volumes.  Service used to be very good with Princess, but they are clearly under-staffed (either on purpose or they are one of the employer's we hear about these days that cannot fill job openings).

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

With all due respect it sounds like Princess was simply following the terms of your booking.  The fact that you chose to wait until the last minute to cancel was your choice and not wise in this era of shaky customer service (try calling an airline).  Using a decent cruise/travel agent not only avoids the hassles with waiting on hold, but will generally save you money if you actually do cruise.

 

Hank

And in addition, many TAs will give you a final payment date a few days before that of the cruise line. In your case when you would get through to your TA a day late, it would still actually be early per the cruise line and therefore be no problem.

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Not sure with Princess as I don't think they are doing the same thing as the communication and streaming providers.  It should be easy to cancel a booking with no payment on it at least.  It could cut down on the phone volumes.  Service used to be very good with Princess, but they are clearly under-staffed (either on purpose or they are one of the employer's we hear about these days that cannot fill job openings).

I know someone who works for a sister line. She was furloughed and lost her job last year. She was recently called back temporarily and is hoping it will then go permanent. So my guess is it is not due to unable to fill job openings.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Coral

[dweeb]

9 hours ago, Hlitner said:

With all due respect it sounds like Princess was simply following the terms of your booking.  The fact that you chose to wait until the last minute to cancel was your choice and not wise in this era of shaky customer service (try calling an airline).  Using a decent cruise/travel agent not only avoids the hassles with waiting on hold, but will generally save you money if you actually do cruise.

 

Hank

With all do respect Hank, The OP was simply following the terms of their  booking.   It is not the OP's fault that Princess has chosen to have fewer people available to answer the phones during normal business hours.  It's a business decision that Princess management has made.  The OP did call and try to cancel during the timeframe per the booking contract.  

 

Would it be fair for Princess to not answer the phones for a day, and say, "sorry that you couldn't get through" but still charge a penalty?  How about two days?  maybe three?  

 

OP made a good faith effort to cancel, Princess did not hold up their end of the contract by not answering the phone.  

 

I agree that using a TA may make cancelling easier, but that is a personal choice and shouldn't be made just to be able to cancel a booking.

[donaldsc]

One should never wait until the very last day to cancel a cruise.  This is even more important now with what is going on in the cruise industry.

 

DON

[suzyed]

On 12/11/2021 at 9:31 PM, Drews_Cruise said:

Deadlines are enforced on all the lines.  I wouldn’t wait until the last day to cancel a cruise.  Glad Princess bent the rules for you.

 

 

And if you "let your booking expire" by not paying on the due date on MSC they keep your deposit.  

[Ombud]

On 12/11/2021 at 9:03 PM, SJunie said:

Princess doesn't allow you to cancel your bookings online.

No but they do allow you to cancel via the chat line which has a much MUCH shorter wait time (a few minutes instead of hours). I suggest that you (& others) try that way. 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Ombud
Typo

[SJunie]

On 12/13/2021 at 4:40 AM, Ombud said:

No but they do allow you to cancel via the chat line which has a much MUCH shorter wait time (a few minutes instead of hours). I suggest that you (& others) try that way. 

 

 

I did try the online chat option, too. Even though it was during their working hours, there was a message that the online chat was not available and to call their CS number. 

 

This was a good learning experience for us, and thank you for all the feedback. Now, I have to wait who knows how long to see that deposit refunded back to my credit card...

[Ombud]

Yeah. I've had to try to connect to it a few times too before getting in. Perhaps they only hold a few in queue.  But once I get in line, its a short wait

[CPCruisers]

This happened to me back in November and I am pleased to say the $500.00 deposit has been credited to my Future Cruise Credit. It took about 4 weeks and I am fine with a FFC.

 I was just happy I did not lose it completely. 

[nocl]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:14 AM, caribill said:

Many people book directly with Princess.

 

With hour plus times on hold in addition to not being available some days of the week, Princess makes it hard to either cancel or call to make final payment at the deadline date.

You can always make final payment through the web site.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, nocl said:

You can always make final payment through the web site.

I think only if you book directly with Princess?

[ontheweb]

21 minutes ago, suzyed said:

I think only if you book directly with Princess?

If they did not book directly with Princess, they would not be needing to call Princess. They would be calling their TA instead and letting him or her deal with the phone hold problem!