Douglas Berry books a Princess cruise online and pays for the fare and travel insurance with his credit card. But then Princess cancels his cruise and charges him a $3,718 cancellation fee. Can it do that?
Q: I booked an 11-day coastal cruise from Seattle to San Diego on the Majestic Princess. I made the reservation online and gave Princess my credit card information for the fare and travel insurance.
Princess confirmed my booking and charged my card for the fare, not the insurance. The next day, I received a “shortfall notice” that the travel insurance charge must be paid by the end of the day. Since it was 10 p.m., I called the provided number, but only reached voicemail with no option to leave a message.
At 12:24 a.m., I received a “cancellation notification.” When I called Princess, a representative said the reservation was cancelled and couldn’t be reinstated. Princess also charged me a $3,718 cancellation fee.
I disputed the fare charge with my credit card company, but Princess contested the chargeback. Can you help me get this fee removed? — Douglas Berry, Sumner, Wash.
A: Princess Cruise Lines shouldn’t have cancelled your reservation and charged you a cancellation fee. You did everything right by providing your credit card information for the fare and the insurance. It seems their system failed to process the insurance payment. That’s not your fault.
You followed the instructions on the shortfall notice, but could not reach anyone because the cruise line’s office was closed. It’s unacceptable for the cruise line to cancel your reservation just a few hours later, without allowing you to rectify the situation.
When you disputed the charge with your credit card company, Princess unfairly contested the reversal, claiming you had cancelled the reservation. How absurd.
What went wrong? It looks like Princess was trying to process your card, but couldn’t. Credit cards use sophisticated but fallible fraud detection algorithms to pick up problematic charges. It’s possible that your credit card allowed the first Princess charge but blocked the second one, believing it was fraudulent. You can ensure that doesn’t happen by calling your bank to let them know you’re about to make a big purchase that could get flagged.
You could have appealed to a Princess manager. My website, Elliott.org, lists contacts for Princess Cruise Lines executives.
I contacted Princess Cruises on your behalf, and they agreed to waive the cancellation fees and refund your money.
So what happened? Although the cruise line wouldn’t tell me, you heard from a representative who offered you a few details. “When they finally looked at what happened with our reservation, it was obvious the problem was their automated reservation system,” you told me.
It’s a shame that it took my intervention to get Princess Cruises to do the right thing. If this ever happens to you, don’t accept a cancellation fee. Escalate your case to a supervisor or executive and stay with it until they return your money.
By Christopher Elliott
BIO:
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. You can email him at [email protected] or contact him on his site.
© 2025 Christopher Elliott.
