Refund of portion of prepaid gratuities

[lovedecruise]

Hi, what is the procedure if you miss a day of your cruise due to not being able to board the ship?  This was caused by bad weather and the ship couldn’t make it into Port. To compensate for the missed day and night Princess gave us a  token goodwill non refundable credit to cover extra expenses, refunded some of the Government Port tax and gave a missed day refund to cover the portion of the cruise we missed. As our crew appreciation wasn’t included in our fare, we prepaid the gratuities before we boarded. Should we be entitled to a refund for the missed day if it was due to a weather event?  We asked at Guest services but she just said no,  because it was out of their control.  We don’t mind the crew getting the extra $$$ but is this the norm?  

[AZjohn]

1 hour ago, lovedecruise said:

To compensate for the missed day and night Princess gave us a  token goodwill non refundable credit to cover extra expenses,

How much $ was that?
 

1 hour ago, lovedecruise said:

we prepaid the gratuities before we boarded. Should we be entitled to a refund for the missed day if it was due to a weather event?  

Are you asking for one day of crew gratuity back?
 

Did you purchase cruise insurance?

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

I am surprised that you would get anything back under those circumstances. Not getting into port due to weather is an act of God and normally that kind of delay is never considered the fault of the cruise line, ferry company etc.

 

The fact that Princess is refunding anything I think it pretty good IMO.

[lovedecruise]

Thanks for your reply. Has never happened to us before so just wondered what the policy was as we were rather surprised too. 

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, lovedecruise said:

As our crew appreciation wasn’t included in our fare, we prepaid the gratuities before we boarded. Should we be entitled to a refund for the missed day if it was due to a weather event?  

You should be but I think you'll have a slight fight to get it. Why did you prepay gratuities anyway? Paying them on the ship amounts to the same $$, so why bother? 

[rickays]

I would think that you should get refund on CA for the missed day.  Those who didn't pre pay would not have been charged for the day they were not onboard.  I wonder if the people who were onboard for the extra day got charged an extra days CA???

[Mary loves to travel]

hmmm.   With Princess's accounting methods, doesn't the prepaid gratuities show as a credit, then the daily charge appears each day?    If so, it works out that you will only be charged for the days you were onboard.    Look at your account & see.

 

Mary

[beg3yrs]

I just looked at a recent folio and with prepaid gratuities there are zero entries regarding gratuities. No credit and no debit.

[Mary loves to travel]

2 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I just looked at a recent folio and with prepaid gratuities there are zero entries regarding gratuities. No credit and no debit.

Ah, I see.    Yet another reason for us to not prepay gratuities….

 

To your original question:  Yes, given that Princess was unable to get into your original boarding port , causing you to lose a day, you should be refunded for the full day of your cruise - including gratuity.   
Of course, the fine print in your contract will carry more sway than my opinion 😉

[beg3yrs]

5 minutes ago, Mary loves to travel said:

Ah, I see.    Yet another reason for us to not prepay gratuities….

 

To your original question:  Yes, given that Princess was unable to get into your original boarding port , causing you to lose a day, you should be refunded for the full day of your cruise - including gratuity.   
Of course, the fine print in your contract will carry more sway than my opinion 😉

Need a clarification here. I assumed by prepaid gratuities you were referring to the Plus or Premier packages which include gratuities. If you're speaking of paying them yourself ahead of time, I have no first-hand knowledge of how they do that accounting.

 

Personally I would not pay gratuities ahead of time if I didn't have a package regardless of the accounting. I try to hold onto my money until it must be paid out. I do understand that there are some folks that for various personal reasons would like to pay in advance.

Edited November 2, 2023 by beg3yrs

[2MellowCruisers]

I don't know about the OP but we always prepay gratuities if we don't buy the plus package.  We also prepay shore excursions if any.  We like to pay as much in advance, at our leisure, so we don't end up with a large bill after the cruise.  We know and understand the arguments against this but to us it is a great feeling to walk off the ship after a nice vacation and know that no credit card bill will be coming in the mail.

 

I would assume that you should get a credit for the gratuities since the ship could not dock but I wish I could speak for Princess. 😁  We have never had a problem with refunds in the past, but have not had this issue come up for us.  I'm curious about the outcome.  Let us know how this works out.

 

Good luck and I hope you have/had smooth sailing for the rest of your cruise.

[MissP22]

I can't quite grasp the concept of prepaying anything before it's billed. 

If you can't afford something, prepaying a bill doesn't make it more affordable. 😆 

[2MellowCruisers]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

I can't quite grasp the concept of prepaying anything before it's billed. 

If you can't afford something, prepaying a bill doesn't make it more affordable. 😆 

For us it has absolutely nothing to do with being able to afford it.  Without going into financial details, it is more about budgeting and a satisfaction of of coming off a vacation with no bills due.  And I will say that when budgeting, sometimes paying in bits at a time for a cruise instead of one lump sum, does make it more affordable.  We all have our own ways of doing things that work for us but not for others and that is a good thing. 😆

[MissP22]

30 minutes ago, 2MellowCruisers said:

For us it has absolutely nothing to do with being able to afford it.  Without going into financial details, it is more about budgeting and a satisfaction of of coming off a vacation with no bills due.  And I will say that when budgeting, sometimes paying in bits at a time for a cruise instead of one lump sum, does make it more affordable.  We all have our own ways of doing things that work for us but not for others and that is a good thing. 😆

I suppose.

Princess is very accommodating in taking you money either way.

[2MellowCruisers]

2 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I suppose.

Princess is very accommodating in taking you money either way.

That is for sure! 🤣

[Ombud]

10 hours ago, MissP22 said:

13 hours ago, lovedecruise said:

As our crew appreciation wasn’t included in our fare, we prepaid the gratuities before we boarded. Should we be entitled to a refund for the missed day if it was due to a weather event?  

You should be but I think you'll have a slight fight to get it. Why did you prepay gratuities anyway? Paying them on the ship amounts to the same $$, so why bother? 

Sometimes there's a valid reason. My April 2024 cruise was booked in early 2020 before the pause. Everything has been repeatedly rolled over until it can finally go: pre-embark gratuities $14.50 pd / pre-embark specialty dining $29 .... yeah I'm pre-paying $304.50 + booking 2 nights in Sabatinis (1 = nc promo, 1 = $29 inc tips). Or I could just pay onboard (CA = $16 pd × 21 days, SD = $35×2 + 18% gratuity less $29 credit). Small benefit for them holding my $$s + FCD for 4 years. It's the principle not the $$s

[PescadoAmarillo]

11 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

I am surprised that you would get anything back under those circumstances. Not getting into port due to weather is an act of God and normally that kind of delay is never considered the fault of the cruise line, ferry company etc.

 

The fact that Princess is refunding anything I think it pretty good IMO.

My understanding is that the OP was delayed in boarding the ship because it couldn’t make it into the disembarkation port on the usual turnaround day. I think this just happened in Auckland. They incurred extra charges related to the delay, and missed one day of their cruise. This is not the usual “missing a port due to bad weather” scenario. 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

4 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

My understanding is that the OP was delayed in boarding the ship because it couldn’t make it into the disembarkation port on the usual turnaround day. I think this just happened in Auckland. They incurred extra charges related to the delay, and missed one day of their cruise. This is not the usual “missing a port due to bad weather” scenario. 

I understand that but it is a weather related delay so I am surprised, but pleased, that they refunded anything to be honest. 🙂 

[lovedecruise]

Thanks for your replies. Just have an update and are impressed that Princess did refund our lost day, our port fees and taxes and also a day of prepaid gratuities. These gratuities weren’t part of a package. We were surprised to receive it as we had been told differently by a crew member at guest services. We know they probably weren’t obliged to refund but it was a lovely gesture of goodwill. Good on you Princess. 

[Fortunate 2 travel]

On 11/2/2023 at 1:16 PM, MissP22 said:

I can't quite grasp the concept of prepaying anything before it's billed. 

If you can't afford something, prepaying a bill doesn't make it more affordable. 😆 

You have to pay for shore excursions when you book them.  

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

You have to pay for shore excursions when you book them.  

I suppose that's slightly different, but if you cancel you still get your money credited to your account before you leave the ship. correct? 

[Ombud]

14 hours ago, lovedecruise said:

Thanks for your replies. Just have an update and are impressed that Princess did refund our lost day, our port fees and taxes and also a day of prepaid gratuities. These gratuities weren’t part of a package. We were surprised to receive it as we had been told differently by a crew member at guest services. We know they probably weren’t obliged to refund but it was a lovely gesture of goodwill. Good on you Princess. 

$16 pp buys a lot of good press.