Cancellation Fee for booking reinstatement

[darnoc23]

Hello, 

We had a cruise booked for November.  I forgot to add make the payment due and my cruise was cancelled at 12am this morning.  I contacted Princess as soon I saw the cancellation.  They reinstated my booking however for a higher price. They also mentioned that the cancellation fee would still be charged. All of the passengers are elite/platinum members.  Is this usually the case for reinstatement?  It looks like reinstatement is basically rebooking the cruise at the current rate and the previous cruise is still considered cancelled with the cancellation fee.  Any insight on how I can get the cancellation fee waived and possibly still get the original price?  TIA. 

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, darnoc23 said:

Hello, 

We had a cruise booked for November.  I forgot to add make the payment due and my cruise was cancelled at 12am this morning.  I contacted Princess as soon I saw the cancellation.  They reinstated my booking however for a higher price. They also mentioned that the cancellation fee would still be charged. All of the passengers are elite/platinum members.  Is this usually the case for reinstatement?  It looks like reinstatement is basically rebooking the cruise at the current rate and the previous cruise is still considered cancelled with the cancellation fee.  Any insight on how I can get the cancellation fee waived and possibly still get the original price?  TIA. 

I don’t see how you could get the original price since you let the final payment date go by. Did you have insurance on the original cruise ?  

[darnoc23]

I signed up for insurance, however Princess stated that because I did not pay the balance I cannot use the insurance.  

[NavyVeteran]

2 hours ago, darnoc23 said:

I signed up for insurance, however Princess stated that because I did not pay the balance I cannot use the insurance.  

If you did not pay for the insurance, then you did not have the insurance. If you choose to pay for the insurance before final payment, then you would be covered. They clearly state that the insurance does not take effect until it is paid for. I often pay for the insurance prior to final payment because of the sixty-day lookback provision on pre-existing conditions.

However, the cost of the insurance would probably have been larger than the cancellation penalty at final payment (the deposit), so it wouldn't have made any sense to use it anyway.

[beg3yrs]

This is why we have big stars on our fridge calendar about a week before payment due. We also have reminders pop up on our phones and it's already entered in our financial software to make the payment. The penalty for forgetting is so nasty!

[capriccio]

This can be avoided by using a TA who schedules payment 2 weeks before the Princess final payment due date in order to 1) ensure you don't forget and 2) allow time to fix any problems on your end or on the cruise line's end. In the case of our TA she sends the reminder about 18 days in advance and the 2 weeks in advance payment is not hard and fast.  For example, I've asked for a couple of days delay to push the payment into the next credit card cycle without any issue.