Balsam12

3 hours ago, SarahD112 said:

 I cancelled that sailing

There is your problem in one short sentence... YOU were the one that cancelled the booking, nor Royal Caribbean.

If they allowed you to then get 125% on the subsequent booking, everyone would just start cancelling and using the FCC to rebook a cruise for just after the current cancellation period. If that cruise goes ahead, great, but if it doesn't they then get 125%.

Rinse and repeat, and eventually you end up with two cruises for the price of one...

3 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I still can’t believe ANYone is choosing FCC, when given a choice.

Guess what... we chose the FCC.

If you have another cruise already booked with deposit paid, but Final payment is not until October, it makes sense to just have the FCC sitting there. If RC goes bust, it doesn't matter if you're waiting on a cash refund or sitting on FCC.... you go on the list of creditors hoping to get some part of your money back. If this silly situation is still going on in October, we put the FCC on our already booked cruise, and our financial situation has not changed.

My concern at the moment is that we have not seen the Port fees, nor have we seen the refunds for Cruise Planner purchases.

6 hours ago, irzero said:

Lol such as where? Asia?

Good luck selling cruises to Asia with no flights.

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Wow. Did you ever think that people who are not American might want to go on a cruise?

Did you not think that in countries other than the US, one can cruise without having an international destination? 

Here's an example. New Zealand and Australia look like they are dealing with the virus much more effectively than other countries. Smaller population, large area, easier to isolate etc. When these countries are declared free of the virus, what's to stop citizens from those countries going on cruises that don't go to other countries?

The same could happen in Asia. If Japan were clear, there could be cruises just for Japanese citizens, that only go to Japanese ports. No flying involved.

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

And if they do raise the drink prices I won't be buying either the package or individual drinks.

So you will go the entire cruise without a drink?

Something about cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind...

3 hours ago, irzero said:

Lol it's worse in the EU. Talking September October

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There are still other parts of the world.... some that are doing a much better job of dealing with this issue.

16 hours ago, irzero said:

Not really. 

 

Just a rally to their TA's. Who right now arent earning any money. 

 

they have another 100 days minimum to get through yet lol

 

Interesting... the 100 day bit is only related to the USA. 

Just forget about the rest of the world because they don't count.

SCTI allowed me to change the dates to our new cruise booked for December. The new dates came out slighlty more expensive as it's a longer cruise, but they waived the extra charge.

Can't really ask for more than that.

2 hours ago, cb at sea said:

Just like every other business, they are NOT taking IN any money....how are they going to PAY OUT funds?  If you stop getting paid, you might be able to pay your regular bills for a couple months, if you're a saver.....business operates pretty much the same, only "saving" isn't what business does...they "reinvest", so there are few piles of cash sitting around....they DEPEND on PAYMENTS in order to make their "paid-outs"......

This is true, however you missed the part where Royal's normal outgoings are also reduced.

I pay for a Drink package. Royal now don't need to buy the drinks. 

The supplies they normally need are no longer required. They are using less fuel, and they're definitely not paying port fees.

I'm certainly not suggesting they have stacks of money lying around, but money paid for things like shore excursions, drinks packages etc should be able to be refunded as it normally is. Cruise fares are a different story.

I actually haven't even bothered trying to contact Royal Caribbean at this point.

Our cruise was for 27 March out of Sydney on Radiance. The cruise before ours on Radiance actually boarded and went through Muster Drill before being told it was cancelled.

I cancelled something from the Cruise Planner on 13 March, and that refund showed up in our bank account today. I cancelled everything else from the cruise planner on 15 March, so hopefully that will show up in the next day or so.

We have booked a replacement cruise on Ovation for December 2020. It's a longer cruise on a newer ship, so is slightly more expensive. We had to put up $400 deposit to book this, but the 125% credit from our Radiance sailing still won't totally cover the final payment. We're not worried if it takes a bit of time for the FCC to come through, as it will all go to the new booking anyway.

The only thing we're interested in now is the OBC we had for booking the Radiance sailing with Next Cruise while we were onboard a previous cruise. From what I read online, that should be reapplied to our new booking. I asked our TA, but she wasn't sure, and said she would look into it when the FCC comes through. Hopefully it works out, but at the end of the day, it was $200 USD, so in the overall cost of the cruise, it's not a huge thing.

Thankfully, our airfares for the cancelled cruise have been given back to us as credit, so we have rebooked them for the new cruise, and our accommodation both before and after the cruise has been refunded in full. Even out travel insurance company allowed us to change the dates of our policy to fit with the new cruise at no cost.

We look at this as a huge disappointment as we were really looking forward to the cruise, and a bit of an inconvenience having to rebook everything, but at the end of the day, none of the companies involved caused this to happen, and none of them wanted it to happen. Other than a bit of a wait for refunds/credit from RCI, there's nothing else any one could do.

We understand that RCI customer service is probably getting hammered by stressed and impatient people at the moment, so trying to call them unless there is a huge urgency would be a waste of time. Even emails will take longer than usual for a reply. Not worth me getting stressed sitting on hold, especially as most call centres in the Philippines have been shut down anyway.

Chill out, see how things pan out, and if they don't work out as you thought they should, contact RCI then.

6 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

I am sure ships will be sailing in Oct.  

Make up your mind...

In your previous post, you said it was a good bet your October cruises will be cancelled.

54 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

 and it was instantly applied to our cruise we have booked for next Oct. That cruise is a 21 night B2B on Allure,  I would think it is a good bet that both of those cruise will be cancelled and a new FCC will be issued. 

Wow.

You're definitely on the pessimistic side aren't you? 

Here's another thought to keep your pessimism going... If ships are not sailing by next October, there will be no cruise industry left to use FCC.

19 hours ago, jeremyosborne81 said:

I'm assuming they will cancel WELL before the 48 hour cancellation period. But if not, I would invoke that and not lose anything.

Fair enough. As long as they are still offering 100% , I won't argue with your reasoning, so no, you don't actually stand to lose anything.

Point taken as I missed it earlier 😕

On 3/17/2020 at 10:16 PM, jeremyosborne81 said:

1. With 48 hour cancellation policy. No problem.

If the aim of the booking is to get another 125% FCC when Royal cancels the sailing, then you cancelling 48 hours prior defeats the purpose. If YOU cancel a booking, you only get 100%, not the 125% if THEY cancel it.

This is why I said, that if you want to play this game, you need to be prepared to actually take the cruise.

56 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Sure but what happens when you have paid for that cruise in full and Royal decides to wait until the 12th to cancel leaving you know option but to cancel 48 hours beforehand taking a 100% FCC or Royal changes their offer and only offers a 100% FCC instead of 125%

1. If you are not prepared to go on the cruise, the don't try this. If you are prepared to go on the cruise, then it won't matter if Royal waits until the last minute to cancel.

2. If they do cancel and you only get the 100% FCC, then you haven't lost anything.

16 minutes ago, davekathy said:

If you take the FCC do you have to cruise by 31 December 2021 or  just book another cruise by 31 December 2021 and cruise sometime in 2020? 

Maybe that post needs an edit.... 

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

They are not interchangeable. 

Cheers.

A bit of a bummer, but such is life.

Does anyone know if the FFC can be used on Celebrity as well as RCI?

 

How far out is your cruise?

Do you have travel insurance?

When did you book the cruise?

Did they note the $100 cancellation fee at the time of booking?

There is a lack of details in your post, which makes it hard to determine if your TA is doing the right thing or not.

Kindly provide all the details so the rest of us can give an educated opinion.

27 minutes ago, akke29 said:

 

Any idea on more specific timing?  I'm booked in Sep 2020 from Japan to Singapore.  Curious I'll sail before/after refurb. 

I would suggest you will be the last cruise before dry dock, which is likely to be in Singapore. She would then sail from Singapore to Brisbane to commence her season there.

3 hours ago, aberfoylespring said:

 

My question is, what will happen if only one guest in the room purchased "the key"? 

I would suggest that if you only purchased it for your self, your cruise may not be very enjoyable when your wife realises you will be on board before her, and enjoying the Chops lunch while she fights with the mayhem of Windjammer 😀

Are we talking about only what is spent while onboard, or are you including pre-cruise purchases?

If you're only talking about onboard, our last cruise we spent about $70. One photo and a few souvenirs. Everything else (drinks, dining, tours) was purchased pre-cruise.

Am I worried about it?

From the view of being worried about actually contracting the virus, absolutely not. The number of people contracting it on cruise ships is extremely low, and for most people, it's not going to kill you anyway. If I had immune system issues, or were elderly, or had very young children, I would probably be more concerned. As a relatively fit and healthy adult, at worst I would be ill for a while.

From the view of it impacting on my cruise, maybe mildly concerned. Our cruise is in 25 days. It is from Sydney, Australia to New Zealand on Radiance. The ship has not been to any countries of concern for at least a month, as the stop in Bali last week was cancelled. Australia and New Zealand don't have major concerns about the virus. Worst case scenario, we sail and are denied disembarkation at NZ ports, so we have an 11 night sightseeing cruise (with a beverage package). Not what we paid for, but still a cruise and a lot of fun.

If we were cruising in some other parts of the world, my concern would definitely be higher, especially if this is declared as a "pandemic", which would mean travel insurance cover is null and void if the cruise is cancelled.

I agree. Radiance isn't the type of ship they would put waterslides etc on. Maybe some changes to bars or dining options, but otherwise pretty much a routine maintenance. 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

The ship makes up contests for customers - you have to design an enclosure (with minimal materials) to protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a fairly high point.

Ahhh.... that does sound interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for it on our next cruise.

Cheers

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Has anyone ever participated or watched an egg drop on an Oasis ship?

 

 

Can someone please explain what this is?