Future Cruise Credit doesn't apply to deposit for RSSC

[Travlover]

Anyone realise that if you cancel RSSC due to Coronavirus (even in the affected area) and you get the money back in the form of Future Cruise Credit (FCC), that FCC doesnt apply to deposit payment and you still have to make additional 15% cash deposit when you make the reservation. This is totally unfair and pretty insensitive to clients. Other cruise liners at least Crystal, you can use FCC as deposit payment.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Travlover
Spelling

[SusieQft]

23 minutes ago, Travlover said:

Other cruise liners at least Crystal, you can use FCC as deposit payment.

Actually, Crystal's latest offer is that you can make a reduced deposit, basically the same amount as the administrative fee that will become a FCC if you cancel.  You cannot use your FCC to make the deposit, and you may not want to since you have to use the FCC all at once, and lose any unused balance.

 

Under normal circumstances, Regent's 15% deposit and final payment at 90 days are a better deal than Crystal's 25% deposit and final payment at 120 days or earlier.

 

The last few days have been a whirlwind of progressively better cancellation terms.  It is hard to keep up! 

Edited March 11, 2020 by SusieQft

[John117]

We are booked on the voyager departing 24th June from Venice which calls at 8 ports in Italy. Unless a miracle happens this won't go ahead with the present itinerary. I don't want a cruise round the Greek islands which seems to be what is happening to the Regent cruises being rescheduled for May 2020. Having read the Regent Reassurance I must say I am not reassured!! FCC will only be based on cruise only fares!!

In the UK we have booked a package with all the flights and transfers booked via Regent. The costs of these are not separately identified on our invoice as they are shown as "free" on the Regent publicity documents. There is government legislation covering package holidays in the UK called the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. These make it quite clear that the full cost of the package must be refunded. When I receive any details of changes to the cruise I have booked I will probably be pushing for a full refund not FCC.

Also in the UK our cruise is covered by an ATOL certificate which gives us protection if Regent stop trading. This certificate is only valid for the cruise booked. If Regent hang onto your money for FCC we will not be covered if Regent stop trading and will be in the pot with all the other creditors - no thank you!!

[Emdee]

This is really not fair. The cruise I am looking to replace is more expensive but the principle is unfair.

[papaflamingo]

4 hours ago, Travlover said:

Anyone realise that if you cancel RSSC due to Coronavirus (even in the affected area) and you get the money back in the form of Future Cruise Credit (FCC), that FCC doesnt apply to deposit payment and you still have to make additional 15% cash deposit when you make the reservation. This is totally unfair and pretty insensitive to clients. Other cruise liners at least Crystal, you can use FCC as deposit payment.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I'm not sure I fully understand your point.  Are you saying that if you cancel a $10,000 cruise, get a $10,000 Future Cruise Credit, you are charged an additional 15%?  

We cancelled a cruise last year, changed to another, and the entire deposit simply switched over. Since the cruise we cancelled was more expensive than the cruise we changed to, we simply paid "over" the required deposit.  Not sure what you have run into, but am interested as we are thinking of postponing our cruise until next year.  Any way you could be more detailed?  It certainly is looking like we may be in the same boat (pun not intended). 

[Portolan]

5 hours ago, Travlover said:

Anyone realise that if you cancel RSSC due to Coronavirus (even in the affected area) and you get the money back in the form of Future Cruise Credit (FCC), that FCC doesnt apply to deposit payment and you still have to make additional 15% cash deposit when you make the reservation. This is totally unfair and pretty insensitive to clients. Other cruise liners at least Crystal, you can use FCC as deposit payment.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

Two pieces of information would help here:

 

1) Where are you based?  As has been discussed in other threads, there are different terms applicable in different places, at least US versus UK.

 

2) What's your source of information?  TA?, direct call to Regent?  Have you actually cancelled under the Reassurance policy and rebooked with new deposit money required?  As was noted upthread, things have changed several times in just a few days, so until this has actually been applied in practice, I'd give it some time to see what happens.

[Sharle]

from my experience with a FCC from the Mar 1 cruise that we cancelled before they cancelled it and gave refunds.

 

We received cash back for the taxes.

We received full FCC for everything else.

Had to use it all on one cruise. (I'm seeing on some posts that Regent is allowing you to split it but that was not our experience)

found a cruise that we wanted. Credited the FCC up to the amount of the  "cruise only" fare. Owe still the rest which I think amounts to the airfare and taxes. 

Had to pay a deposit but it was not based on the full cost of the cruise. Just  the amount that we owed in cash.

[forgap]

I wonder if the reduced deposit ($500 pp) for a new booking is still in effect for anticipated cruises within a month of embarkation?   If you then cancel within 48 hours, does that negate the benefit?  

[kelseys nan]

My cruise is due to depart 04/10 so this will not apply to me even though I have to pay final balance early June, unless anyone knows different 

[shuguley]

Our TA told us that when we transferred to another future cruise it could take Regent several weeks to calculate the exact amount of the FCC.  This was due to the complicity of taxes, fees, etc. on the old booking and the overwhelming volume of requests.  Also this is new ground for Regent so I am sure they are struggling to deal with so many unforeseen challenges.

 

We are sitting tight at this point to allow Regent to deal with the immediate requests to cancel and then later properly and accurately calculate FCC's.  They will get it all sorted out in the coming days and weeks.

Edited March 11, 2020 by shuguley

[Got2Cruise]

Unless the new cruise is less money it all gets even in the end. You get the credit for the entire amount you paid or am I missing something. 

[Travlover]

9 hours ago, SusieQft said:

Actually, Crystal's latest offer is that you can make a reduced deposit, basically the same amount as the administrative fee that will become a FCC if you cancel.  You cannot use your FCC to make the deposit, and you may not want to since you have to use the FCC all at once, and lose any unused balance.

 

Under normal circumstances, Regent's 15% deposit and final payment at 90 days are a better deal than Crystal's 25% deposit and final payment at 120 days or earlier.

 

The last few days have been a whirlwind of progressively better cancellation terms.  It is hard to keep up! 

Yes you are right, i think Crystal is the same about FCC cannot be used as deposit, but if they cancel the voyage guests get 100% full refund PLUS some 25%of cruise value in FCC.

[Travlover]

4 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

I'm not sure I fully understand your point.  Are you saying that if you cancel a $10,000 cruise, get a $10,000 Future Cruise Credit, you are charged an additional 15%?  

We cancelled a cruise last year, changed to another, and the entire deposit simply switched over. Since the cruise we cancelled was more expensive than the cruise we changed to, we simply paid "over" the required deposit.  Not sure what you have run into, but am interested as we are thinking of postponing our cruise until next year.  Any way you could be more detailed?  It certainly is looking like we may be in the same boat (pun not intended). 

Lets say you cancel a 10,000  usd cruise, you get 10,000 usd FCC, but regardless of the new cruise you book, you must pay 15% deposit in cash before applying FCC. So basically, if your new cruise fare is greater than the cancelled one, you are fine, but if your cruise fare is less  then you lose some amount.

[flossie009]

15 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

You get the credit for the entire amount you paid or am I missing something. 

Not in the UK. 

Under the UK version of the Regent Reassurance programme, Regent (UK) are providing the FCC for cruise only - they are deducting air, hotels etc (even though they probably have not yet paid for them in many cases) 😕

[Travlover]

4 hours ago, Portolan said:

 

Two pieces of information would help here:

 

1) Where are you based?  As has been discussed in other threads, there are different terms applicable in different places, at least US versus UK.

 

2) What's your source of information?  TA?, direct call to Regent?  Have you actually cancelled under the Reassurance policy and rebooked with new deposit money required?  As was noted upthread, things have changed several times in just a few days, so until this has actually been applied in practice, I'd give it some time to see what happens.

Am based in Asia and been in touch with RSSC rep directly. And even with the new cancellation policy, if you are stuck with decision whether to cancel and take full 100% FCC OR cancel and forego the percentage penalty fee, that penalty fee (such as 50%) is still not returned as FCC. 

[Travlover]

3 hours ago, kelseys nan said:

My cruise is due to depart 04/10 so this will not apply to me even though I have to pay final balance early June, unless anyone knows different 

I think you are fine.

[ronrick1943]

5 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

I'm not sure I fully understand your point.  Are you saying that if you cancel a $10,000 cruise, get a $10,000 Future Cruise Credit, you are charged an additional 15%?  

We cancelled a cruise last year, changed to another, and the entire deposit simply switched over. Since the cruise we cancelled was more expensive than the cruise we changed to, we simply paid "over" the required deposit.  Not sure what you have run into, but am interested as we are thinking of postponing our cruise until next year.  Any way you could be more detailed?  It certainly is looking like we may be in the same boat (pun not intended). 

This is what we did also.

[forgap]

I am thoroughly confused with this thread and the use of FCC.   Can you clarify the following issues based on US rules assuming a cruise fare of $25,000:

 

1).  Will the entire $25,000 be a FCC?

2).  Can the $25,000 FCC be spread over more than one cruise?

3).  Who calculates what part of the cruise is for taxes and port fees?  
4).  Are taxes and port fees refunded in cash? 
5).  Is the FCC only for one cruise at or below the $25,000 fare?

6).  Can the FCC be used for the deposit for the cruise fare?  
 

Finally, one issue is irritating me.   We booked a 24 day cruise which is listed as a single cruise on the website, although it is a b2b Cruise of 12 days each.  If we go ahead and take the cruise, our FCC of 25% is based only on the first segment.  We have one booking number, not two.   Seems like the new rules are stacked against us. 

[Portolan]

29 minutes ago, forgap said:

I am thoroughly confused with this thread and the use of FCC.   Can you clarify the following issues based on US rules assuming a cruise fare of $25,000:

 

1).  Will the entire $25,000 be a FCC?

2).  Can the $25,000 FCC be spread over more than one cruise?

3).  Who calculates what part of the cruise is for taxes and port fees?  
4).  Are taxes and port fees refunded in cash? 
5).  Is the FCC only for one cruise at or below the $25,000 fare?

6).  Can the FCC be used for the deposit for the cruise fare?  
 

Finally, one issue is irritating me.   We booked a 24 day cruise which is listed as a single cruise on the website, although it is a b2b Cruise of 12 days each.  If we go ahead and take the cruise, our FCC of 25% is based only on the first segment.  We have one booking number, not two.   Seems like the new rules are stacked against us. 

 

7).  Are the payments for regent Choice excursions and culinary classes reimbursed in cash?  They should be as they could be cancelled right now for a cash refund, whether or not one takes the cruise.

[witt's end]

We are getting the port charges and shore excursions returned to our credit card. The rest sits as FCC.

I hope that helps.

[boblerm]

5 hours ago, forgap said:

I am thoroughly confused with this thread and the use of FCC.   Can you clarify the following issues based on US rules assuming a cruise fare of $25,000:

 

1).  Will the entire $25,000 be a FCC?

2).  Can the $25,000 FCC be spread over more than one cruise?

3).  Who calculates what part of the cruise is for taxes and port fees?  
4).  Are taxes and port fees refunded in cash? 
5).  Is the FCC only for one cruise at or below the $25,000 fare?

6).  Can the FCC be used for the deposit for the cruise fare?  
 

Finally, one issue is irritating me.   We booked a 24 day cruise which is listed as a single cruise on the website, although it is a b2b Cruise of 12 days each.  If we go ahead and take the cruise, our FCC of 25% is based only on the first segment.  We have one booking number, not two.   Seems like the new rules are stacked against us. 

Just got off the phone with my TA, as I could not wait one more minute to book another cruise.  Makes me feel marginally better for having to cancel.

The FCC is the original price minus tax and port charge.

Tax and port charges are refunded to you in the same method of payment that you paid with.

Regent calculates the tax and port charge, but I think it is a cut and dry number.

Assuming that the new cruise is more expensive, the deposit due is 15% of the difference.

Balance due on usual schedule of when balances are due.

 

So for , say, a 15,000 cancelled cruise, and 1000 tax and port charge, after you get the 1000 refund 14,000 is your FCC. If the new cruise is 20,000, you have an additional deposit of 15% of 6000, which by the process of higher mathematics is 900.

 

Sorry, I didn't ask what happens if the new cruise is less expensive than the FCC.

 

The irritating issue that you mention makes no sense to me, I can't understand why you wouldn't get the 25% of both segments.  Did you ask your TA?

 

 

[rcandkc]

38 minutes ago, boblerm said:

Just got off the phone with my TA, as I could not wait one more minute to book another cruise.  Makes me feel marginally better for having to cancel.

The FCC is the original price minus tax and port charge.

Tax and port charges are refunded to you in the same method of payment that you paid with.

Regent calculates the tax and port charge, but I think it is a cut and dry number.

Assuming that the new cruise is more expensive, the deposit due is 15% of the difference.

Balance due on usual schedule of when balances are due.

 

So for , say, a 15,000 cancelled cruise, and 1000 tax and port charge, after you get the 1000 refund 14,000 is your FCC. If the new cruise is 20,000, you have an additional deposit of 15% of 6000, which by the process of higher mathematics is 900.

 

Sorry, I didn't ask what happens if the new cruise is less expensive than the FCC.

 

The irritating issue that you mention makes no sense to me, I can't understand why you wouldn't get the 25% of both segments.  Did you ask your TA?

 

 

The process you explained is what my TA explained to me this morning.  All makes sense to me. 

[Portolan]

wrong thread

Edited March 12, 2020 by Portolan

[Got2Cruise]

8 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Not in the UK. 

Under the UK version of the Regent Reassurance programme, Regent (UK) are providing the FCC for cruise only - they are deducting air, hotels etc (even though they probably have not yet paid for them in many cases) 😕

Sorry to hear this. A very horrible situation all around. 

[forgap]

• 2 hours ago, boblerm said:

  Just got off the phone with my TA, as I could not wait one more minute to book another cruise.  Makes me feel marginally better for having to cancel.

  The FCC is the original price minus tax and port charge.

  Tax and port charges are refunded to you in the same method of payment that you paid with.

  Regent calculates the tax and port charge, but I think it is a cut and dry number.

  Assuming that the new cruise is more expensive, the deposit due is 15% of the difference.

  Balance due on usual schedule of when balances are due.

   

  So for , say, a 15,000 cancelled cruise, and 1000 tax and port charge, after you get the 1000 refund 14,000 is your FCC. If the new cruise is 20,000, you have an additional deposit of 15% of 6000, which by the process of higher mathematics is 900.

   

  Sorry, I didn't ask what happens if the new cruise is less expensive than the FCC.

   

  The irritating issue that you mention makes no sense to me, I can't understand why you wouldn't get the 25% of both segments.  Did you ask your TA?

   

   

  Thank you!  Re: the irritating issue was straight from the TA.  I am pushing back,  but at this point it may be a moot point as Regent May be forced to cancel.