CLARIFICATION on the fine lines of FCC - may not be so great

[bandp407]

We like many are on the fence about cancelling a sailing the end of the month.  Not possible yet to reach HAL , but have read on the Celebrity site about this issue. We have a sailing on them the end of June.  Does anyone know if it is true that once you receive FCC for a cancelled trip under the new guidelines and apply it to a future cruise the following would apply. If it becomes necessary due to illness, etc., to cancel that future sailing you LOOSE all of that money??  Thought about taking insurance but have seen posts stating that the insurance companies would not cover it as the FCC used has NO cash value. So if all is correct we would LOOSE all of our money ???. In our case and for many within full payment this is a whole lot of $$$$.    

If anyone who has cancelled and understands & can confirm  all of this, we would appreciate the feedback as to whether or not this is correct. 

 

HAL - if by any chance you see this and can reply it would answer many a question. Its impossible to get through on the phones.  

 

Many thanks!

 

[KAKcruiser]

A HAL rep told me that the FCC would be reinstated to your mariner number if you cancel a replacement cruise.  You would still have to book another cruise before December 31, 2020.  I would verify this information before you book the first cruise.

[thinfool]

4 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

A HAL rep told me that the FCC would be reinstated to your mariner number if you cancel a replacement cruise.  You would still have to book another cruise before December 31, 2020.  I would verify this information before you book the first cruise.

Here is the statement on the official HAL blog on the HAL website.  Read it carefully as there is a major faux paus...as written it is impossible to implement without some form of time travel....

Any cancellation will receive a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for the amount of the paid fare which can be used for another cruise in 2020 or 2021. The FCC must be booked by Dec. 31, 2020, and the cancellation must be made with a minimum of 72 hours in advance of departure date but no later than March 31, 2020. However, guests booked between now and March 9, 2020 may also cancel under this new policy despite being within 72 hours

Edited March 11, 2020 by thinfool

[fatcat04]

4 minutes ago, thinfool said:

I believe it is December 31, 2021.

I thought you had to book using the FCC by Dec 31, 2020 and take the booked cruise by Dec 31, 2021.

edit:

Here is the text of the email:

• Any cancellation will receive a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for the amount of your cancellation fee, which can be used for another cruise in 2020 or 2021.
• The FCC must be booked by December 31, 2020. This applies to bookings on spring 2020 Land+Sea Journeys and cruises for all destinations.

Edited March 11, 2020 by fatcat04

[Cruising-along]

This part of the email from Ashford would give me pause.  "FCCs are nonrefundable, non-transferrable and do not have to be used on the same destination that was cancelled."  Does that mean if you have to cancel the cruise you use the FCC for, you lose that money?

 

[fatcat04]

16 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

This part of the email from Ashford would give me pause.  "FCCs are nonrefundable, non-transferrable and do not have to be used on the same destination that was cancelled."  Does that mean if you have to cancel the cruise you use the FCC for, you lose that money?

 

While I would double and triple check anything a HAL phone rep tells you, or better yet get an email... it has been reported that the FCC funds from C-virus FCC funded cruises should they also be cancelled will essentially be refunded back to the FCC's Mariner's account to be used on a booking made before Dec. 31, 2020 so no loss unless you just fail to use the funds before the deadline.

Edited March 11, 2020 by fatcat04

[DaveOKC]

I cancelled yesterday and was in the 50% penalty phase.  I received a credit card refund for 50% of the base fare PLUS the port fees and taxes.  The rest of the amount I have paid was put into the FCC funds to be used on a future cruise.  I was not able to apply these funds to an existing reservation, as I was told that it will take up to 2 weeks to process everything.  I am not sure that everyone at HAL is on the same page on this new program.

 

 

 

[bandp407]

Cruising-along - exactly my question. Say you book a Nov 2020 sailing with your FCC and due to the “flu” are unable to travel. Can you take the FCC from that booking and move it to a Nov 2021 sailing or will you loose it. THAT IS A HUGE!

 

[Vict0riann]

I read the "non-transferable" bit to mean you couldn't transfer it to another person.  But definitely it needs confirming with your PCC or TA.  Also, there is nothing about it having to be used for a new booking in the letter.

Edited March 11, 2020 by Vict0riann

[fatcat04]

Also of note: If you do rebook BEFORE your FCC is processed and credited to your Mariner account (approx 2 weeks), you will be responsible for the entirety of the deposit necessary to secure your new cruise. They can't just take it on faith.

 

How this worked for us is they immediately credited our taxes/port fees from the cancelled cruise to the deposit for the new booking as that would have been refunded to our credit card anyway but we had to make up the difference in the deposit on our credit card before the hold on the cruise cabins expired. This is not a huge deal to us as the cruise was about 2x the cost of the old fare so our FCC will get eaten up completely and we will end up spending the money anyway down the line. BUT if you are booking something near or at the same price, you are better off waiting until the FCC is applied before you book so that can be applied first.

 

None of this was made clear during the cancellation/booking process but my PCC emailed me all the details along with the need for further funds for the deposit and I made the rest of th deposit payment online without issue.

 

Also FCC funds can ONLY be used for base fare charges, nothing else. No taxes/port charges I would assume is what is implied by that.

 

I also sent her a few questions concerning our possibly lost for good OBC from our old style FCD and asked her if indeed the FCC can be credited back to our Mariner account once again should Heaven forbid we have to cancel this new cruise before final payment thanks to the virus or whatever.

Edited March 11, 2020 by fatcat04

[kazu]

1 hour ago, fatcat04 said:

I also sent her a few questions concerning our possibly lost for good OBC from our old style FCD and asked her if indeed the FCC can be credited back to our Mariner account once again should Heaven forbid we have to cancel this new cruise before final payment thanks to the virus or whatever.

 

Forgive me if I have misread but am I understanding that you think we might get our old FCD’s back that we used to book our cancelled cruises?

 

I thought they were forfeit after final payment.  If we can get them back (especially with the way the new FCD’s are set up) that would be nearly too good to be true.

Let us know what you find out please.  Thanks 🙂 

[fatcat04]

8 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Forgive me if I have misread but am I understanding that you think we might get our old FCD’s back that we used to book our cancelled cruises?

 

I thought they were forfeit after final payment.  If we can get them back (especially with the way the new FCD’s are set up) that would be nearly too good to be true.

Let us know what you find out please.  Thanks 🙂 

Will do. 👍I figured what's the harm in asking considering the circumstances. Ours were the old kind from before the change so hate to lose them. 

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

Will do. 👍I figured what's the harm in asking considering the circumstances. Ours were the old kind from before the change so hate to lose them. 

 

Thanks.  Mine was too and I figured it was gone but I’d happily keep it if it were possible 😉   I’ve lost enough on this cancelled cruise 😞 

[crystalspin]

4 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

This part of the email from Ashford would give me pause.  "FCCs are nonrefundable, non-transferrable and do not have to be used on the same destination that was cancelled."  Does that mean if you have to cancel the cruise you use the FCC for, you lose that money?

 

"Nonrefundable" I think means you can't exchange them for cash. 

[john2003]

This is all so complicated.  My TA spoke to HAL today. They will deduct the cost of our cancellation policy from the FCC they will issue. Maybe I am missing something but it seems to me that because I paid for the cancellation policy I am paying for part of my own cancellation whereas those that didn't get fully supported by HAL. 

Is this correct?

[Cruising-along]

8 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

"Nonrefundable" I think means you can't exchange them for cash. 

Thanks.  I hoped it didn't mean that if you had to cancel the cruise you booked with it that you couldn't use it on a different cruise.  Just curious, as of now it doesn't affect me, but it's good to know. 

[kazu]

17 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

"Nonrefundable" I think means you can't exchange them for cash. 

 

Thanks.  I thought it meant one time use only.  Like a plane ticket.  If you don’t go you forfeit.  I hope you are right and it can be used for a different cruise if you have to re-book.  Who knows how long this pandemic will go on?  And bookings have to be done before the end of the year 😞 

[3rdGenCunarder]

57 minutes ago, john2003 said:

This is all so complicated.  My TA spoke to HAL today. They will deduct the cost of our cancellation policy from the FCC they will issue. Maybe I am missing something but it seems to me that because I paid for the cancellation policy I am paying for part of my own cancellation whereas those that didn't get fully supported by HAL. 

Is this correct?

 

I think HAL is talking about your total cost including the insurance, and refunding only the cruise fare, not the insurance. People who didn't buy HAL's insurance would also be getting the cruise fare, same as you, not more.

 

[SuzieQ521]

Is it true that cancellation fees as a future cruise credit are only for March and April bookings?

 

We booked our June 7th Alaska cruise in January and right now would be out the deposit...I was hoping at least to get that as a FCC if we did cancel.

 

Hopefully they will change that to apply to earlier bookings!

[bandp407]

3 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

Also of note: If you do rebook BEFORE your FCC is processed and credited to your Mariner account (approx 2 weeks), you will be responsible for the entirety of the deposit necessary to secure your new cruise. They can't just take it on faith.

 

How this worked for us is they immediately credited our taxes/port fees from the cancelled cruise to the deposit for the new booking as that would have been refunded to our credit card anyway but we had to make up the difference in the deposit on our credit card before the hold on the cruise cabins expired. This is not a huge deal to us as the cruise was about 2x the cost of the old fare so our FCC will get eaten up completely and we will end up spending the money anyway down the line. BUT if you are booking something near or at the same price, you are better off waiting until the FCC is applied before you book so that can be applied first.

 

None of this was made clear during the cancellation/booking process but my PCC emailed me all the details along with the need for further funds for the deposit and I made the rest of th deposit payment online without issue.

 

Also FCC funds can ONLY be used for base fare charges, nothing else. No taxes/port charges I would assume is what is implied by that.

 

I also sent her a few questions concerning our possibly lost for good OBC from our old style FCD and asked her if indeed the FCC can be credited back to our Mariner account once again should Heaven forbid we have to cancel this new cruise before final payment thanks to the virus or whatever.

OMG - I thought I  understood this whole thing but I am coming up with more questions. Our deposit & booking was done onboard last March.   Do we loose the OBC for booking onboard or will that be applied to the FCC  or new booking?  In our case we are within 100% cancellation. I understand it will take about 2weeks for the credits to show on our Mariner account. My thought is to use the future cruise deposit that we also booked last year for the new  booking . Otherwise I will loose my trip cancellation with my credit card. If a new deposit is made they will not cover any future cancellations on the rebooked cruise just in case it had to be cancelled.   This is really very complicated and I think we are all trying to cover our bases and loose as little as possible.  Thanks to all for the feedback. Hopefully we can help each other through this!

[Boatdrill]

7 minutes ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Is it true that cancellation fees as a future cruise credit are only for March and April bookings?

 

 

No. The offer includes cruises departing through May 31, 2020.

 

"For guests who booked prior to March 6 and decide to change their vacation plans, we will allow those booked on sailings between now [March 6]  and May 31, 2020 the option of cancelling their bookings (no later than March 31, 2020...)"   

[SuzieQ521]

1 minute ago, Boatdrill said:

No. The offer includes cruises departing through May 31, 2020.

 

"For guests who booked prior to March 6 and decide to change their vacation plans, we will allow those booked on sailings between now [March 6]  and May 31, 2020 the option of cancelling their bookings (no later than March 31, 2020...)"   

Thank you but our cruise is on June 7th. I am aware that full FCC will apply to cruises through May 31 but my question was that if we want a REFUND (of everything but our deposit since we are in penalty window), then we would not even get a FCC for our DEPOSIT since we booked this cruise in January? (at least, that's what the Costco agent told me after he spoke with a Holland agent).

 

Thanks for clarifying all this confusing stuff!

[Boatdrill]

I answered this question : "Is it true that cancellation fees as a future cruise credit are only for March and April bookings?" And the answer is no. Cruises through May 31, 2020 are included.  

 

Your June booking is under HAL's standard cancellation policy. There is no Future Cruise Credit to be  refunded to you, or applied to another cruise.    

Edited March 11, 2020 by Boatdrill

[SuzieQ521]

2 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

I answered this question : "Is it true that cancellation fees as a future cruise credit are only for March and April bookings?" And the answer is no. Cruises through May 31, 2020 are included.  

 

Your June booking is under HAL's standard cancellation policy. There is no Future Cruise Credit to be  refunded to you, or applied to another cruise.    

 

Oh I see now how I worded it...yes. If HAL extends this policy through June, then we would be covered.

 

Thank you.

[mrmoviezombie]

7 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

If HAL extends this policy through June

For June sailings they have delayed final payment to 60 days before the cruise. That was only updated in the computers in the last few days.