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Pre-paid excursion cancellation & refund timing

pettygirl

By pettygirl,
in Princess Cruises

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pettygirl

pettygirl

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Sailing for Spring Break 2023 with extended family - so plenty of advance time, but we need to cancel a pre-paid shore excursion, and rebook a different one.  

 

At some point in our research the excursion FAQ said 24 hours refund to CC on file, but now I see it reads: "all refunds will be processed in due course, but delays should be anticipated. Please allow us sufficient time to manage this process[...]"

 

I have trawled through the forums extensively and not really finding a specific answer: How long is it taking for just a normal refund of something booked well in advance? NOT a covid-, OBC-, or FCC-related refund?  Some of the experiences I read about refunds on Princess sound legit nightmarish, but a lot of these are post-cruise, covid-isolation, dealing with onboard overcharge disputes, etc.

 

If you've had just a regular refund of excursion, spa, or any other pre-booked fees recently - how long did it take?  Thanks!

 

 

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Mud_Shark

Mud_Shark

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Most such refunds are about 7 to 10 business days.  Have done it several times over the course of the past month as we re-fared a couple  back to back cruises that required us to cancel and rebook everything including excursions.

But on our November cruise when we changed our minds and cancelled one excursion to do a non Princess excursion, they never refunded us the money (we paid by credit card, not by OBC).  Instead they simply credited our account with the equivalent OBC.  We have all our plans and purchases pre-paid, so don't plan to use this OBC - so I hope we can get it back after the cruise.

Don

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PacnGoNow Holiday Sharing Rare

PacnGoNow

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8 hours ago, pettygirl said:

Sailing for Spring Break 2023 with extended family - so plenty of advance time, but we need to cancel a pre-paid shore excursion, and rebook a different one.  

 

At some point in our research the excursion FAQ said 24 hours refund to CC on file, but now I see it reads: "all refunds will be processed in due course, but delays should be anticipated. Please allow us sufficient time to manage this process[...]"

 

I have trawled through the forums extensively and not really finding a specific answer: How long is it taking for just a normal refund of something booked well in advance? NOT a covid-, OBC-, or FCC-related refund?  Some of the experiences I read about refunds on Princess sound legit nightmarish, but a lot of these are post-cruise, covid-isolation, dealing with onboard overcharge disputes, etc.

 

If you've had just a regular refund of excursion, spa, or any other pre-booked fees recently - how long did it take?  Thanks!

 

 

I have a lot of cruises booked.  I have cancelled and rebooked several excursions and onboard services purchases.  It usually is about 7 days before I see my refund back on my credit card, up to 10 days.

 

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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

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We cancelled an expensive excursion for a future cruise and replaced it with one at a 1/3rd of the price. I noticed on my credit card statements that only the expensive excursion was posted, but not the replacement lower cost excursion. That posted two months ago. I called this morning and was told the balance of the original cost of the more expensive excursion was being prepared to be refunded, minus the cost of the lower cost replacement. I asked when this might happen and was told there was no way to tell. So, theoretically I will eventually receive a refund (fingers crossed!!!), but no idea when. 

 

I am also fighting to get back a $58 refund for a cancelled Crown Grill reservation on that same upcoming cruise. It has been three months now. The last time I called about this I was told I had to get the refund from my TA as Princess says they will not help if a TA was used. Nope, unacceptable! I made the reservation through the Medallion app, not through my TA. He had nothing to do with the app's functionality nor the reservation made with it. That was all through Princess and it's app directly. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, and was repeatedly told she couldn't do that as I needed to talk to my TA. Eventually she put me on hold and after about 15 minutes came back with their solution - I had to send an email to CustomerRelations@PrincessCruises explaining the situation and requesting the refund.

 

I am NOT at all hopeful of a positive resolution. I have put in several hours on this already and it's now almost not worth any additional effort. Sigh. 

Edited by sloopsailor
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PacnGoNow

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1 hour ago, sloopsailor said:

We cancelled an expensive excursion for a future cruise and replaced it with one at a 1/3rd of the price. I noticed on my credit card statements that only the expensive excursion was posted, but not the replacement lower cost excursion. That posted two months ago. I called this morning and was told the balance of the original cost of the more expensive excursion was being prepared to be refunded, minus the cost of the lower cost replacement. I asked when this might happen and was told there was no way to tell. So, theoretically I will eventually receive a refund (fingers crossed!!!), but no idea when. 

 

I am also fighting to get back a $58 refund for a cancelled Crown Grill reservation on that same upcoming cruise. It has been three months now. The last time I called about this I was told I had to get the refund from my TA as Princess says they will not help if a TA was used. Nope, unacceptable! I made the reservation through the Medallion app, not through my TA. He had nothing to do with the app's functionality nor the reservation made with it. That was all through Princess and it's app directly. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, and was repeatedly told she couldn't do that as I needed to talk to my TA. Eventually she put me on hold and after about 15 minutes came back with their solution - I had to send an email to CustomerRelations@PrincessCruises explaining the situation and requesting the refund.

 

I am NOT at all hopeful of a positive resolution. I have put in several hours on this already and it's now almost not worth any additional effort. Sigh. 

Were these both cancelled pre cruise, or once you were OB?

The pre cruise ones should not take that long.  I have cancelled and rebooked excursions, SD, onboard services stuff and it has only taken 7-10 days.

 

OB, has taken much longer, because they process the refunds, then to accounting, yada yada.  Still 3 mos is really a long time.  I would definitely send a message to customer relations.

 


 

 

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sloopsailor

sloopsailor

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2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Were these both cancelled pre cruise, or once you were OB?

The pre cruise ones should not take that long.  I have cancelled and rebooked excursions, SD, onboard services stuff and it has only taken 7-10 days.

 

OB, has taken much longer, because they process the refunds, then to accounting, yada yada.  Still 3 mos is really a long time.  I would definitely send a message to customer relations.

 

Both were several months pre-cruise. I'm not worried yet. Will wait to see what happens in the next couple of months. There is still time before the cruise. But still disappointed with the lack of follow through by Princess. 

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pettygirl

pettygirl

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Posted (edited)

OP here.  😇

 

My particular pre-paid excursion was cancelled online 9/17 (a Saturday), so I was prepared to start the clock on the Monday (9/19).  Once I clicked 'cancel' on each pax line, the reservation disappeared from my booking.  Did this for the 3 in our stateroom, but didn't get an email notification of cancellation for any of us.  

 

Surprisingly, my refund showed up today, 9/21 (Weds)! 🤩

 

Based on other people's experience of refunds being applied to other excursions, AND Princess' own FAQ, I did not rebook another excursion at the time.  Just didn't want to have wires crossed.  But I am about to, now that the refund has gone through and no need to dispute moving forward.

 

Just wanted to memorialize for the boards that this type of refund - booking and cancelling months in advance, with NO OBC or FCC involved, and no other open excursions to apply a refund to - seems only to take a few days, but annoyingly without any proof of cancellation other than the excursion disappearing from the booking page.  YMMV.

 

Thanks to all who offered insight!

Edited by pettygirl
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caribill

caribill

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When an excursion is cancelled while on board, the refund shows up as OBC on the on board account.

 

At the end of the cruise if there is a positive balance on the account and it is more than $25, a few weeks after the cruise a check will be mailed with that balance. ($25 or less can be refunded on board before youy leave the ship.)

 

Note that will be a check, not a refund to a credit card.

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PRINCESS Sweet Pea

PRINCESS Sweet Pea

Posted
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I know that this is nothing compared to some of the excursions mentioned.   But, does anybody have any insight on how this would work.  If we booked a Bungalow on Princess Cays, and then decided to cancel that and change to Sanctuary, of it is available to book for the length of the cruise when we board, could there be any issue with that?

 

The fact that somebody has had an issue with something as simple and basic as dining onboard is just not okay.  

Edited by PRINCESS Sweet Pea
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PacnGoNow

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Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

I know that this is nothing compared to some of the excursions mentioned.   But, does anybody have any insight on how this would work.  If we booked a Bungalow on Princess Cays, and then decided to cancel that and change to Sanctuary, of it is available to book for the length of the cruise when we board, could there be any issue with that?

 

The fact that somebody has had an issue with something as simple and basic as dining onboard is just not okay.  

It would still be 2 separate charges. They would refund the bungalow and that would go on your folio as available credit.  It usually shows up that day or the next day on your folio.

Then you would book the sanctuary and that would go against your folio as a charge.  It all comes out in the wash.

 

I try to do cancellations pre cruise, if I can, so it goes back on my CC usually pretty quickly.  
But, you probably want to see if the sanctuary is available once OB?

 

In that case, you’ll go to the sanctuary when you get OB to check availability. 

Edited by PacnGoNow
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azbirdmom Great Review Rare

azbirdmom

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I cancelled an excursion two days ago for an excursion booked for our cruise that is leaving 11 days later.  The email that I got when I paid the $99.90 balance indicated that excursions cancelled more than 5 days prior to embarkation would be refunded to the credit card used for payment.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the credit appeared today and it's not just a pending credit.  The bad news is that it was for $44.95 - exactly half of the amount I expected.  There are two of us traveling but the amount due was for just one of us as shareholder obc covered the other balance entirely.  Will see what our folio shows once onboard but I won't be happy if I need to chase this down after the cruise.

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caribill

caribill

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On 10/13/2022 at 4:46 PM, azbirdmom said:

 The bad news is that it was for $44.95 - exactly half of the amount I expected.  There are two of us traveling but the amount due was for just one of us as shareholder obc covered the other balance entirely.  Will see what our folio shows once onboard but I won't be happy if I need to chase this down after the cruise.

 

It should show up as available OBC on the cruise and should be available to spend on an excursion now if you wish..

 

But you do not have to wait, as you can contact Princess and ask how much OBC is currently available.

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PacnGoNow

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On 10/13/2022 at 5:46 PM, azbirdmom said:

I cancelled an excursion two days ago for an excursion booked for our cruise that is leaving 11 days later.  The email that I got when I paid the $99.90 balance indicated that excursions cancelled more than 5 days prior to embarkation would be refunded to the credit card used for payment.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the credit appeared today and it's not just a pending credit.  The bad news is that it was for $44.95 - exactly half of the amount I expected.  There are two of us traveling but the amount due was for just one of us as shareholder obc covered the other balance entirely.  Will see what our folio shows once onboard but I won't be happy if I need to chase this down after the cruise.

Yes, it should show as OBC once OB.  Did you check the payments area on the cruise personalizer?  Just wonder if it ever updates the balance for stock holder credit, if you use a portion of it pre cruise?  Probably not.

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azbirdmom

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15 hours ago, caribill said:

 

It should show up as available OBC on the cruise and should be available to spend on an excursion now if you wish..

 

But you do not have to wait, as you can contact Princess and ask how much OBC is currently available.

 

We found another excursion that we wanted to book and when we went to check out the rest of the $$ was there to use. Very odd but all is well now. 
 

5 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, it should show as OBC once OB.  Did you check the payments area on the cruise personalizer?  Just wonder if it ever updates the balance for stock holder credit, if you use a portion of it pre cruise?  Probably not.

 

The missing amount did not appear in payments nor anywhere else in the CP. But it was magically available to use when we purchased another excursion. 

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PacnGoNow

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4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

We found another excursion that we wanted to book and when we went to check out the rest of the $$ was there to use. Very odd but all is well now. 
 

 

The missing amount did not appear in payments nor anywhere else in the CP. But it was magically available to use when we purchased another excursion. 

Great!

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