Is this right? - Princess advises they use Refundable OBC first before using Non-refundable OBC

[beg3yrs]

I would love to know just how you can read your folio / account statement and tell whether refundable or non-refundable OBC is being used during the cruise.

 

From what I read with my folios is a running total of debits and credits. Both kinds of OBC are simply added to the credits and all my charges go to debits. Everything is lumped together as far as credits and debits go and then at the end of the cruise, if you have more debits than credits you are charged to make them balance. Otherwise, I have no experience with having more credits than debits!

 

Anyway, as it's all a running total during the cruise, there's no accounting for which of your types of credits are being charged. Maybe at the end, if you have less debits than credits there's some accounting but I've never had the pleasure of dealing with that!

 

Anyone have an example of how to tell?

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 5/28/2024 at 1:32 AM, beg3yrs said:

Just like paying taxes, at the end of the cruise I'd rather owe them a little bit rather than have them owe me.

I know it's a pain in the butt, but why not keep tabs on your spending. I have always whatever cruise I have been on managed to find a quiet 10 minutes to look at my onboard spending. This year in theory it shouldn't be as difficult as we have the Plus Package so no drinks to worry about paying for. As for the OBC we are getting it has turned out to be a bit more complicated. Why ? well at the outset of booking the cruise we got $300 OBC, I then believe I booked an excursion which took most or all the OBC, then the excursion was cancelled due to the port of call being removed from the itinerary. Add to this a further port was removed and although two ports in France rather than one in Canada and one in the USA were introduced Princess gave us a further $100 OBC. So my OBC on the website shows $300, but from what I understand the extra $100 plus the 10% discount from additional excursions will be added once onboard. So I'd hazard a guess at $450 total OBC. Whilst in the grand scheme of things that's not a huge sum. But given that apart from some duty free booze, a handbag for the wife most probably  there won't be much we spend additionally onboard. We are also pretty fervent shoppers when in the States. We are hopefully doing Hudson Yards in New York on the first day there. We also have lined a shopping mall in Canada and one for Brest in France.

[Musky Ike]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I would love to know just how you can read your folio / account statement and tell whether refundable or non-refundable OBC is being used during the cruise.

 

From what I read with my folios is a running total of debits and credits. Both kinds of OBC are simply added to the credits and all my charges go to debits. Everything is lumped together as far as credits and debits go and then at the end of the cruise, if you have more debits than credits you are charged to make them balance. Otherwise, I have no experience with having more credits than debits!

 

Anyway, as it's all a running total during the cruise, there's no accounting for which of your types of credits are being charged. Maybe at the end, if you have less debits than credits there's some accounting but I've never had the pleasure of dealing with that!

 

Anyone have an example of how to tell?

Never had to worry about leftover credit either😉But I seem to recall that when I checked the folio onboard it listed how Mutch was refundable or not at the bottom. I could be wrong. 

[cheezenip]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, key39 said:

Thank you Cheezenip for sharing your experience. I was just off Princess Discovery and experienced the exact same thing as you stated. 

 

This completely sux.

I'm sorry you are going through the same situation. Use my post as an accelerated guide to reaching the proper channels. A few additional points I'll bring up now:

1) I requested that the lady who resolved my problem send an e-mail up the chain of command so they could see the multiple weak links where the system was broken (no one following-up by e-mail, poor customer service from the outsourced Philippine call center, fixing the darn accounting system problem aboard Discovery Princess, etc). Needless to say Discovery is still plagued with the software problem based on your experience.

2) I recently booked a future cruise with a new TA who use to work for Princess as a customer service representative who dealt with problems the outsourced people couldn't handle.  I went over my situation with her and she was not surprised. She sarcastically said it wouldn't change because Corporate management is indifferent preferring to focus on budget cuts and penny pinching strategies to  maximize profits.

3) Speaking of problems, my future booking has an unauthorized and unexplained wine charge that I cannot remove myself on the website (I DON'T even drink). My TA is trying to fix the problem with Princess as well as get a price adjustment as as my cabin rate has dropped in $. All her CSR contacts have quit and she's having problems with customer service who seem to be clueless.

 

My days with Princess may be to coming to an end.....they really need to remove JP from his CEO position!!

 

Good luck!!

Edited July 31 by cheezenip

[peagreenid]

My experience with this recently occurred on the Royal Princess in April.  We had an amount of Refundable credit that inclued the refund of the 10% of our excursions from being elite and a little more.  This totaled about $60  We also had about $45 per person that was refunded as an overpayment of port charges.  The port charges refund wasn't listed as refundable or non-refundable.  If it is an overpayment then it should be refundable. We had a crazy amount of onboard credit.  We tried to pull some out through the casino, but the casino made it really difficult.  We pulled some through my husbands account and they told him that if he did it again they would lock his account completely.     I was trying to leave no money on the table.  I went to the customer service desk twice.  Showed them the $45 per person credit and specifically asked if it was refundable. They responded yes, that it was because it was an overpayment.  I asked why it wasn't listed as refundable and she said she didn't know but that it would be sorted out and they would send us a check after the cruise was over. I explained my concerns because I didn't want to leave the money behind. She told me no worries, we would get the full amount.  When we received our check from Princess it was only for the $60 (or the AUD equivalent) so we ate the rest.  So, I believe that they handle overpayments and refunds differently then they would gifts or the credit back from the excursions.  I clearly don't think this is right.  But it is obvious they are trying to circumvent giving every passenger their $45 credit.  

[cheezenip]

1 hour ago, peagreenid said:

... so we ate the rest.  So, I believe that they handle overpayments and refunds differently then they would gifts or the credit back from the excursions.  I clearly don't think this is right.  But it is obvious they are trying to circumvent giving every passenger their <deleted>  credit...

Sorry you experienced this. Very well written.

 

[jean-lynd]

We only had about $130 in onboard credit. I think it was all nonrefundable. We had about $60 left on the last day of our cruise so I went to the casino and put the $60 into a video poker machine. I played for a few minutes and then went to the cashier and received what was left in cash. Great way to get our money! I hope this helps!

[Wishing on a star]

I have emailed the three top executives listed in the post earlier in this thread.

Got one response, by somebody who seems clueless...  Have played telephone tag and emailed here twice.  Telling her that we are contacting Princess as a CONCERN, and simply want this forwarded to the correct department.

Probably ZERO action taken here.

 

If directly contacting the top three executives does not even get any return response,  then I do not know what else we can do.  Except for openly realize the company that we are now dealing with, and make decisions on future bookings accordingly.

 

If this does continue, to where it might be considered, well, less than 'legal',  then reporting to the correct regulatory agency could be a next step????

 

Luckily, we only have $50. currently at risk on our upcoming cruise.

Believe this, I will spend every cent onboard before I let Corporate embezzle it.

Edited August 1 by Wishing on a star

[IrieBajan54]

That stinks! Guess I get lucky though since I only book Princess Standard so my shareholder and TA OBC would cover gratuities with some left over for specialty coffees and maybe a few beers.

Edited August 1 by IrieBajan54
correction

[Ombud]

@IrieBajan54 This new policy is concerning as I've got hundreds more than i need in January, maybe I'll upgrade to Plus

Edited August 28 by Ombud

[latebloomer56]

We bad no issue receiving our refundable OBC in 2022? They used the $75.00 non refundable first on board. We received two separate checks a couple weeks after our cruise one in each name not sure why but the total was correct.

The non has been taken before our $500.00 was added to our October cruise. The non was used on booked excursion when I booked it, these were paid before our gifted OBC was added to the booking. I watch our account you never know but have been lucky I guess few minor things were cleared up immediately.

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 8/1/2024 at 10:07 PM, Wishing on a star said:

I have emailed the three top executives listed in the post earlier in this thread.

Got one response, by somebody who seems clueless...  Have played telephone tag and emailed here twice.  Telling her that we are contacting Princess as a CONCERN, and simply want this forwarded to the correct department.

Probably ZERO action taken here.

 

If directly contacting the top three executives does not even get any return response,  then I do not know what else we can do.  Except for openly realize the company that we are now dealing with, and make decisions on future bookings accordingly.

 

If this does continue, to where it might be considered, well, less than 'legal',  then reporting to the correct regulatory agency could be a next step????

 

Luckily, we only have $50. currently at risk on our upcoming cruise.

Believe this, I will spend every cent onboard before I let Corporate embezzle it.

These emails probably go to a secretary who reads them and then bins them. Doubt very much a top exec reads travellers emails.

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

@IrieBajan54 This new policy is concerning as I've got hundreds more than i need in January, maybe I'll upgrade to Plus

What new policy?  So far we have 1 report a few months back saying that they used refundable first. A couple that had issues with the amount of their refund in different ways. Several that have stated that their nonrefundable was used first, as has been our experience. All i see is a couple of individual problems, not a policy change.

[mcbridm]

On 5/26/2024 at 8:23 PM, Tripmode33 said:

Having done 30 Princess cruises, I was sure that where you had both Refundable and Non-refundable OBC on your folio account, they would use up the non-refundable first. If any refundable unspent, you would receive a refund.

 

However, after two ports were cancelled during our March cruise, we were given refundable OBC for port charges refund. We were careful, as always, to spend our non-refundable OBC.

 

I am now arguing with Princess re the refund of Refundable credit which we expected.

 

This is their exact wording on last email:

 

"Where there is a combination of refundable and non-refundable credits, in all instances when there is both, the system will automatically draw against the refundable first. Only once all the refundable onboard credit is used, does the system then draw on the non-refundable component."

 

 

 

Is this correct?

Business sense call for Princess to use the Refundable funds first and the nonrefundable last.  It's your responsibility to ensure all funds are used.  Try buying Casino Credits and cashing them out for dollars!  I do it on every cruise...  I would rather end up with charges to my Credit Card than leave funds in a nonrefundable account! 

[Josie201]

So confusing.  I have a large OBC coming from my TA - over $1000.  I already have premium and a couple shore excursions paid.  Not sure what I would spend the OBC on - are people now saying that it will be non-refundable?  So I would need to do the casino thing which I have never done as I've never had to worry about refundable OBC coming back to me. 

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

What new policy?  So far we have 1 report a few months back saying that they used refundable first. A couple that had issues with the amount of their refund in different ways. Several that have stated that their nonrefundable was used first, as has been our experience. All i see is a couple of individual problems, not a policy change.

I thought my experience last November  (Enchanted TA) was an isolated experience that my CVP corrected by giving me the like amount in (non)refundable OBC on my April cruise but with a handful reporting similar instances on just 1 thread on just 1 social media site (?? How many others aren't here experiencing this??) I'm not sure. Then there's that email response. 

 

So probability is that it's refundable first but with over 1k in nonrefundable OBC on the 18 day January cruise just thinking things thru

 

Yes it makes sense from a business standpoint to use refundable first but I am not looking out for CCL's bottom line

 

 

Edited August 28 by Ombud

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, mcbridm said:

Business sense call for Princess to use the Refundable funds first and the nonrefundable last.  It's your responsibility to ensure all funds are used.  Try buying Casino Credits and cashing them out for dollars!  I do it on every cruise...  I would rather end up with charges to my Credit Card than leave funds in a nonrefundable account! 

Does it really make sense to alienate customers?

[mcbridm]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Does it really make sense to alienate customers?

Yes, if those alienated are the few that don't bother to check rules and procedures.  Nonrefundable OBC is "FREE" Money, not something that you deposited into your account.  Yours is the only complaint I have heard, about how the Cruise line runs their OBC program.  Most cruisers know how to work the program and make certain to use the funds before disembarkation.  If cruise lines start getting inundated with complaints on how the free money was treated, they may decide to do away with the program!   My recommendation:  Let this be a lesson, quit complaining, and do it correct the next time!

[Wishing on a star]

I hope somebody recently or currently onboard can report back here.

 

There have been several mentions of this, not just one single person.

I have been hoping that current cruisers would report back.

WHICH onboard credit is being used first.

Maybe the dead-air here is a good thing?  Maybe this has been ironed out?

 

No, it is clear to me that any policy that allows a company to refuse to refund money paid by the customer for refundable goods/services/reservations is very very wrong. 

One should NOT have to 'game the system' or use up moneys that they do not really intend to, just to avoid fraud, embezzlement, etc.

 

Wrong is WRONG.

 

As far as we know, the policy is that I can cancel Specialty Dining and be refunded.

If there are dubious and non-transparent policies that make that refund impossible.

That would not be okay.   We had to pay in advance for reservations, which are covered by Premier...  And, there should be absolutely NO circumstances where Princess 'keeps'  that money.

Edited August 28 by Wishing on a star

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, mcbridm said:

Yes, if those alienated are the few that don't bother to check rules and procedures.  Nonrefundable OBC is "FREE" Money, not something that you deposited into your account.  Yours is the only complaint I have heard, about how the Cruise line runs their OBC program.  Most cruisers know how to work the program and make certain to use the funds before disembarkation.  If cruise lines start getting inundated with complaints on how the free money was treated, they may decide to do away with the program!   My recommendation:  Let this be a lesson, quit complaining, and do it correct the next time!

Since I was not the one who started this thread, it is pretty obvious that I am not the only one.

[IrieBajan54]

I don't know what the policy is fleetwide or from cruise to cruise. However, my single experience on the Enchanted that ended last weekend, was as follows:

 

Looking at my folio on Day 2, I had a port charge credit, shareholder OBC and TA OBC.

Princess used port charge credit of about $14 and a couple of $ from shareholder OBC to satisfy Crew Appreciation fee for the first day. Then for the balance of the cruise, they deducted the daily CA $16 from remainder of shareholder credit. I did not use my refundable TA OBC and agent at GS told me it will be refunded by check.

 

There are certain TA's who ask their clients: Do you want OBC or would you like it deducted from total cruise cost? If available to you, the latter option may be helpful for some cruisers.

[voljeep]

On 7/31/2024 at 10:40 PM, peagreenid said:

We tried to pull some out through the casino, but the casino made it really difficult.  We pulled some through my husbands account and they told him that if he did it again they would lock his account completely.   

yep ...

[dreams_of_travel]

I was watching my folio while I was on a B2B on Grand Princess earlier this month.  They did not seem to differentiate between using refundable and non-refundable line items in any order.  I had to go to guest services twice to make sure I would get my refundable fees actually refunded.  I had refunds for port fees on each leg of the cruise.  But if you looked at the running tally, none of that showed as refundable.  The guest services person said it was a computer mistake, and yes, the port fees were refundable.  The first trip to the desk, they said it would be fixed overnight, and reflect properly.  Spoiler:  it was not.  The second time, the desk person went back and forth between the desk and back office, produced a corrected folio with my meager refund amount stating it would be refunded, and sent via check.  Had I not known that the refunded port fees should've been refunded to me, and took the folio at face value I would've not gotten those fund back.  That in itself seems a bit shady.  The folio was showing everything as non-refundable at the bottom of the page. 

[555]

On 5/27/2024 at 6:56 AM, dickinson said:

Do you know if this team is in the Philippine call center?  They are poorly trained.  If you had emailed customer relations then I would ask them when this policy changed as it is the reverse of what it has always been.  

Poorly trained isn't the word for it. Yesterday, a Philippine rep told me that in order to reserve a Specialty restaurant there would be a booking fee. I'm sure he just misinterpreted the new fee if they have for uncancelled reservations.

I feel sorry for the guy but I really wish they would screen their people a little better to see if they have a grasp of the English language. 

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

I thought my experience last November  (Enchanted TA) was an isolated experience that my CVP corrected by giving me the like amount in (non)refundable OBC on my April cruise but with a handful reporting similar instances on just 1 thread on just 1 social media site (?? How many others aren't here experiencing this??) I'm not sure. Then there's that email response. 

 

So probability is that it's refundable first but with over 1k in nonrefundable OBC on the 18 day January cruise just thinking things thru

 

Yes it makes sense from a business standpoint to use refundable first but I am not looking out for CCL's bottom line

 

 

You have 1 person the reported refundable first. The others have been a variety of issues with the amounts refunded. No two seem to be alike. Seem to be more tied to accounting entry errors, extraneous charges, etc than any change in policy concerning nonrefundable first.