Electing FCC on cancelled cruise and forced to buy another future cruise deposit (FCD)

[Ready2go11]

I almost always purchase a future cruise deposit (FCD) when I am on board since it allows me to book a new cruise with no other deposit required and allows for extra onboard credit. When my May 2020 cruise was canceled, I elected the future cruise deposit option to get the extra 25%. I was then expecting that my taxes and fees would be returned to my credit card. They were, however; it was short $200.

 

When I called HAL about this, they said they could not tell me why it was short of what I was expecting on the phone and I had to contact my TA who could call HAL and then the TA could explain it to me. A few weeks later, after contacting my TA they finally received an answer from HAL, who said it was because I used the future cruise deposit for the cancelled cruise. 
 

Since the FCC option was provided as a credit in full for the cancelled cruise fare (including the previously paid for FCD the same as my other cash payments were for the cancelled cruise) they essentially forced me to purchase a new FCD. I already have 2 upcoming cruises booked and a handful of FCDs so I do not need to add more. The 25% extra FCC was generous to allow them to hold my money longer for the cancelled cruise funds but i am not willing to give them additional free loans. 
 

I feel like this is a tad underhanded since all communications about cancelled cruises said you would receive a refund or FCC with other taxes and fees refunded to the card it was charged to. I also am disappointed they couldn’t tell me this in the first place when I called HAL directly  
 

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Was anyone able to successfully challenge it? 
 

Thank you!
 

 

[DaveOKC]

On my cancellation my FCD went back into "inventory" and I was able to reuse it on a future cruise (which I recently did).  That way I was able to keep the "bonus" onboard credits from it.

 

 

[CJcruzer]

I requested that my FCD’s be returned as credit to my credit card.   In total I had 6 FCD’s returned this way (3 cancelled cruises, 1 FCD per cruise for each myself and my husband).

 

If FCD’s have been repurchased or returned to your Mariner account - just call Mariner Society and they will  be able to get that process of credit back to your card.

 

I am stilling holding onto FCD (one for myself, one for hubby) but do not feel the need to hang on to any more than that, at this point in time and uncertainty.

 

Carol

Edited July 11, 2020 by CJcruzer

[Mandalay1903]

On 5/6/2020 I had an August 2020 cruise cancelled by HAL (my 5th this year). My only payments on that cruise had been two FCDs (one for each of us) and two other FCCs from previously cancelled 2020 cruises. After the August cruise was cancelled I elected to have my FCD value doubled if I were to have it converted into FCCs. That's exactly what happened when my deposit was finally released last week, and I applied the doubled FCCs to a future new cruise during its booking process. (I am still awaiting the release of the two FCCs applied as payment to the cancelled August 2020 cruise.)

 

In February 2020 I had a March 2020 cruise cancelled by HAL. It was fully paid up, and I had used two FCDs as the deposit. Within a month of the cancellation, the entirety of the cruise payments including the FCDs, taxes and fees were refunded to my credit card. Of course, that was a different time...

[Ready2go11]

Thank you for the replies. It sounds like there is a lot of inconsistency which isn’t surprising giving the number of cruises that have been canceled, the variety of different situations and the duration of this event.
 

i will just be glad i am not the one who has to deal with mess- unhappy customers, stranded employees, the media portrayal, the financial impact and most importantly the underlying health and safety issues!

[Mandalay1903]

1 hour ago, Ready2go11 said:

i will just be glad i am not the one who has to deal with mess- unhappy customers, stranded employees, the media portrayal, the financial impact and most importantly the underlying health and safety issues!

"Roger" that!  And on top of it all, this has to be done short-staffed after all the furloughs and layoffs across HAL and the industry. My HAL Personal Cruise Consultant says that the remainder of her team is working from home and is limited to 32-hour work weeks.

 

When I booked a new 22-day cruise for January 2022, my PCC was kind enough to grant me some extra shipboard credit (a "Welcome Home Bonus") as if I had booked this cruise onboard or within 60 days of returning home from a cruise, which is my normal practice.  (I've had 5 cruises cancelled this year.)  Also, the HAL booking system allowed me to book this new cruise, which would normally have required $600 of deposit money, using only $200 of FCD and $400 of FCC.  My understanding is that FCCs usually can't be used as deposit money.

 

I think that in the long run there is a lot of goodwill from using a HAL PCC versus a TA as a middleman.