Refund of fully paid EZ Air flights if cancelled

[Thrak]

The subject pretty much says it all. We are considering cancelling our flight to Melbourne, Australia as well as our hotel reservation and, instead, adding 31 additional cruising days to sail from Fan Francisco to Melbourne rather than flying. I've never cancelled a flight that was paid in full so unsure about how well Princess handles the fee. To further complicate matters the cruise fare - including the EZ Air flight - was paid entirely using Princess Gift cards. The cards were electronic gift cards purchased through AARP.

 

It is my guess that Princess would, eventually, refund the cost of the flight and most likely do so by adding funds back to the gift cards but, again, I have no experience in this field and am hoping someone else does have experience and can advise me. If the funds were restored to the gift cards quickly would be able to use those funds toward booking the new cruise segments. If not, as long as they actually are restored I would still be able to use them to pay for our cruise next April.

 

Sooooooooooo........ does anybody have any actual experience with this sort of situation?

 

Edit: The flight is far enough out that there shouldn't be any change fee. I can't remember off the top of my head but I think flights changed or cancelled more than 45 days in advance are free from penalties. If this is correct - or incorrect - any corroboration or correction would be greatly appreciated.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Thrak

[Astro Flyer]

The EZair webpage shows you’re correct if booked with Flexible airfare:
 

• Flexibility to Change Flights – Cancel flexible airfare up to 45 days prior to departure with no fees. Plus, book flights now with no amount due until cruise final payment.

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel_transportation_faq/popup/PC_PC_ezair.html

 

For our Spring 2025 circumnavigation of Australia, instead of flying round-trip from LAX, will fly to Brisbane & then to Auckland at the end of our Australia cruise to sail Royal Princess 22 days back to LA…even better than flying premium. ☺️

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Astro Flyer

[SCX22]

I have done this for several of my parents bookings.  Hopefully you still have your Princess GCs, as you will need the GC numbers from those for future use.  The refund will go either of 2 ways and is all dependent on how the accounting office deals with the refund.  Either the entire amount will be refunded to one GC OR the refund amount will be parsed out each gift card based on how much was charged to each GC.  Lucky you if you get a refund in former rather than the latter scenario.  After 10 days, I got a hold of the CVP and asked her to give me the last 4 digits of the GC(s) that the refund was applied to.  I then double checked the info by going to the Princess GC balance website and checking the balance of the said GC(s).

[Thrak]

I have electronic copies of all the gift cards I purchased. I have those copies in multiple forms stored in multiple devices for redundancy. Additionally, I have printed copies of the cards even though they no longer have any current value attached. Perhaps I have overdone the caution regarding saving of the info but I'd rather have extra backups than not have the info if needed.

 

I'm happy to hear that this "should" work out. We still haven't decided to go this route as an additional 31 days added onto the existing bookings will mean a total of 63 days on Grand Princess and I'm not sure I'm ready for that length of time away from the comforts of my own home. My wife is far more "certain" that she wants to do this than am I. I simply don't know who well I would handle that much time on the ship.

 

As an additional issue I have a prescription that must be filled monthly and it is a restricted item. I don't know that I would be able to procure it in Australia based on a prescription issued in the US. I supposed it would be possible to have the prescription picked up by our daughter and then mailed to me but I'm then unsure if that's allowed by the Australian government and, if it is allowed, where the item would be mailed that I could collect it. Can a package be mailed to the ship? If not, is there the equivalent of "general delivery" where it could be mailed to a postal facility where I could, with proper identification, retrieve it while in port?

 

GAH! I really dislike not knowing what I'm doing!

[ebeluga]

Surely the world cruise pax must have an answer for your prescription question on an extended itinerary!

[AtlantaCruiser72]

as far as refunds - they will go back to the GC in order of most recently applied for the amount originally applied (provided air was paid in bulk with cruise fare).  Refunds generally post in 4-6 business days once the refund request is processed in their systems, though in some cases you may be best served to call and have them actually manually request the refund as the system does not always auto-trigger it in a reasonable time frame, especially when changing components and not fully cancelling.

[SCX22]

14 minutes ago, Thrak said:

As an additional issue I have a prescription that must be filled monthly and it is a restricted item. I don't know that I would be able to procure it in Australia based on a prescription issued in the US. I supposed it would be possible to have the prescription picked up by our daughter and then mailed to me but I'm then unsure if that's allowed by the Australian government and, if it is allowed, where the item would be mailed that I could collect it. Can a package be mailed to the ship? If not, is there the equivalent of "general delivery" where it could be mailed to a postal facility where I could, with proper identification, retrieve it while in port?

 

Not all countries abroad recognize prescriptions written by U.S. doctors.  U.S. doctors aren't licensed to practice medicine in other countries and the pharmacy has to right to refuse to fill.  In this case, you would have to get a local doctor to write you a prescription.  Wouldn't be a problem if you were going to Mexico.

Edited July 31, 2023 by SCX22

[Steelers36]

25 minutes ago, Thrak said:

As an additional issue I have a prescription that must be filled monthly and it is a restricted item.

I found after arriving in FL last Winter for three months that I had left my next medication supply of 90 days back home and was running out soon.  Local Walgreens and CVS cannot fill prescription from a Canadian MD, so I am thinking same issue in Oz for a US MD.  I had daughter mail it to me and no issue - but I was not on a ship.

 

My question is can you not get an extra-large refill quantity as a 1-off since you are traveling?  I would think your MD would do that for you, no?

[cr8tiv1]

@Thrak I bet you are grateful that you store copies everywhere.  Me too, but only because I can’t remember.

 

Call your insurance company. They may be able to forward you an extra refill for travel.  Or have them send it to Longs/aka cvs or Walgreens on the islands.  Oahu would be the easiest pick up location. Or Costco Iwelei (96817) or Sam’s Club/Walmart on Keeaumoku Street (96822…I think/Honolulu).

 

Give me a date you will be in Honolulu.  Might be able to work something out with you.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

I have electronic copies of all the gift cards I purchased. I have those copies in multiple forms stored in multiple devices for redundancy. Additionally, I have printed copies of the cards even though they no longer have any current value attached. Perhaps I have overdone the caution regarding saving of the info but I'd rather have extra backups than not have the info if needed.

 

Nope!  You handle it exactly as I do...electronic AND hardcopy.  You just never know!  I'm quite sure that there are *some* people who actually pitch all of that after they apply to their account.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

As an additional issue I have a prescription that must be filled monthly and it is a restricted item.

I use CVS.  On more than one occasion I have personally spoken to the pharmacist and explained what I was facing.  They *can* do a one-time early refill.  You *might* need to show them your travel docs...but I have not had to because my local people are aware that I travel a lot.  Just speak to them ahead of time (soon) so that they will be aware of what may be coming up.  They do have a bit of leeway in this.

[Thrak]

I think my best option may well be to have my daughter pick up the prescription and mail it to me. I just have to figure out where to have it mailed. Hawaii won't work as that would be too soon. I would need to collect it in Melbourne. Naturally it's the non-abusers who get screwed because of the jerks who just want to get high. I don't think my physician has an issue with a vacation fill but the pharmacy has become very "tight". They were put on probation a while back for "over-providing" certain medications even though they were filling valid prescriptions. I know there are a couple of local "doctors" who are pretty much pill mills so the pharmacists are paranoid.

 

 

[Thrak]

I'll figure out the logistics for the prescription. I'm basically pleased by the replies above regarding return of funds spent on a fully paid EZ Air flight. Now I just have to decide if I'm really going to do 63 days on Grand Princess. If we do drop the hammer on the extra days it will be quite different from our currently booked cruises. The ones we have booked are in a Caribe deck balcony with Plus. (Plus 50 on the first 14 days and Plus 60 on the remaining 4 day and 14 day segments.) If we do book the extra days it will also be 3 segments. 24 days, 2 days, and 5 days. All of those will be at Standard fare in inside cabins. Looking at availability we would have 24 days in one cabin and then have to move to a different cabin for the 2 day and 5 day segments which look to both be available in the same cabin. Then, of course, we would have to move again to the balcony on Caribe.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I'm jealous...

[Coral]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

 

As an additional issue I have a prescription that must be filled monthly and it is a restricted item. I don't know that I would be able to procure it in Australia based on a prescription issued in the US.

Nope. I could not get Canada to fill a US prescription.

[Hollyann]

I have had my pharmacy fill my prescription early on my insurance for a vacation before. It is definitely worth asking - no harm in it.

 

[dickinson]

@Thrak Keep in mind that mailing a prescription might not work because it is not a letter and could take a very long time from US to Australia. Also, being a restricted item the pharmacy may not allow her to pick it up because it is not hers.

[Bgwest]

On 7/31/2023 at 5:16 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

I'm jealous...

Jealous or envious? 😀

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, dickinson said:

@Thrak Keep in mind that mailing a prescription might not work because it is not a letter and could take a very long time from US to Australia. Also, being a restricted item the pharmacy may not allow her to pick it up because it is not hers.

 

Got it all covered. Took my bookings in when I saw my physician and he has called the pharmacy and cleared it with them to do a double prescription plus a few extra.

 

Even though our initial cruises were paid in full our TA said he was pretty sure Princess held onto the payment for the airfare until the last minute rather than ticketing the flights just because we had paid them off. Turns out he was right and he was able to have the funds for the flight to Melbourne transferred to the new bookings. 63 days on Grand Princess. Wow.

[dickinson]

@Thrak. Glad it worked for you!  I am so jealous!  I wish I could go on a long cruise but sadly I can't.  Short ones will have to do.  

[Cruise Raider]

36 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Got it all covered. Took my bookings in when I saw my physician and he has called the pharmacy and cleared it with them to do a double prescription plus a few extra.

 

Even though our initial cruises were paid in full our TA said he was pretty sure Princess held onto the payment for the airfare until the last minute rather than ticketing the flights just because we had paid them off. Turns out he was right and he was able to have the funds for the flight to Melbourne transferred to the new bookings. 63 days on Grand Princess. Wow.

 So glad that worked out for you!