WARNING: SB not honoring our FCC

[Ubiquiti]

BACKGROUND:
Halfway through our Capetown to Singapore cruise in 2020-Feb/Mar, Covid-19 hit and all port calls were cancelled and we re-routed to West Australia. After 17 sea days, we disembarked in Fremantle.

 

Let's start with the un-varnished facts.

 

FACT 1:
Email from SB to me long after we disembarked, in response to an email I sent asking for clarification on exactly what FCC we had.

Names (except ours) deleted for privacy reasons.

 

[QUOTE]
June 22, 2020

Mr. Robert Clark

RE: Guest Care #1-1026077973
Booking: CQWJVQ

Dear Mr. Clark,

 

Thank you for your e-mail. We have the following Future Cruise Credits on file for you and Mrs. Clark. The credit amounts listed below are per person:

 

Amount        Book By        Sail By
$5,374.75     04March21      N/A
$342.66       03Apr21        N/A
$2,795.76     31Dec20        1Dec21

This comes to $8,513.17 total per person. While the credits must be added to a booking by the “Book By” date, note that two of these do not have a specific date by which your sailing needs to depart.
Thank you again for contacting us, and we look forward to welcoming you back on board very soon.
 
Best regards,

[Name deleted]
Special Advisor
Office of the President
[END QUOTE]

 

FACT 2:
Email from our TA after we had booked and paid our deposit on a cruise meeting the above conditions.
Names (except ours) deleted for privacy reasons.

[QUOTE]
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:04:46 -0600

 

Karen / Rob, 

 

I spoke with Seabourn on multiple occasions because the FCC in the amount of $5374.75 per person still had not been applied to your December 20, 2021 cruise on the Seabourn Quest. Each time I spoke with them they said there was an error in building the FCC's but they were going to be reissued.  However, our account rep just sent me the following information. 

 

"I had our FCC team do a thorough review and it looks like The Clarks did have more compensation then [name deleted]. 

However, this was caught and fixed in a recent audit. See below from my Supervisor Jen. Clarks extra FCC was canceled on October 5th. This was the breakdown that was given by our GR department for the Clarks. The highlighted FCC was wrong and has since been canceled. 

 

Amount         Book By     Sail By
$5,374.75     04March21    N/A
$342.66       03Apr21      N/A
$2,795.76     31Dec20      31Dec21

 

Here is a breakdown of the FCCs both Clarks and [Name deleted] truly have.

* CQWJVQ - Clark 
o $2,795.76 per person FCC - Compensation for Itinerary Change
o $342.66 per person FCC - Change Fee Reimbursement FCC

 

These FCCS for Clark have been applied to booking CCVQMK

* [Booking number deleted] - [Name deleted]
o $2399.88pp per person FCC - Compensation for Itinerary Change 

 

The FCCs are applied to guests Club account and are ready to use."

 

I am sorry to have to pass on such disappointing news, but it appears that they will not be honoring their original offer.  I realize that you booked the Seabourn Quest on December 20, 2021 (Booking # CCVQMK), with the intent of using the FCC promised in the email.   Please let me know if you have any
additional questions.  
 
[TA Name deleted]
[END QUOTE]

So fellow travellers, be warned. 

• Even if a FCC has been advised in writing from the "Office of the President", they apparently feel no obligation to honor that.
• Moreover, SB have no qualms in cancelling FCCs (in our case on Oct, 5) and feel no obligation to notify you, the customer. As I write this, SB has never contacted us about the FCC cancellation.

 

We have cancelled the Dec, 2021 cruise, and have figuratively torn up our SB Platinum loyalty cards. We will absolutely never sail them again. This was the last straw for us.

 

Tread your own path.

 

[westmount]

We were also on the Capetown to Singapore cruise, and have been going back and forth with Seabourn on an appropriate credit given the situation and changing stories that occurred during our cruise last spring. I tried to stress to them that 17 days at sea does not make a proper cruise, especially since we virtually went nowhere from the time we left the Seychelles u til we landed in Perth. 
  They should simply be giving everyone at least a 50% credit for that portion of the trip, but it’s been a difficult discussion up to now. 
  Given the fact that these passengers are probably Seabourn’s most loyal, I’m not sure why they have made this an adventure, but hopefully they will email us all one day and tell us how much they love us and want us to come back. It was a most difficult time to be sure, but the staff was wonderful, and the passengers simply happy to be healthy and staying safe. 
Good luck to everyone trying to go back to a normal life, either 2021, or 2022, we’ll get there

 

[cruiseej]

@Ubiquiti I would think your TA should be able to request an explanation for the computed FCCs. Although they were dealing with an unprecedented situation, they aren't just pulling numbers out of the air. I would want to know the basis for the FCC compensation for the 17 disrupted days of travel. Then there's a basis for judging if you were unfairly taken advantage of or not.  

 

Trying to look at the facts you have shared dispassionately, you got a letter from a customer service representative which listed the credits showing on your account. As we all know, things were still being cobbled together imperfectly in those first three months that the world shut down. Someone posted those  $5,375 per person FCC credits to your account, you reasonably decided to use them for a future cruise, and are feeling understandably upset to find them now rescinded. Setting aside for a moment the disappointment of finding you have nearly $11,000 less in FCC than you thought, my question is simply: did they make an honest $11,000 mistake in your favor in June, or are they unfairly backtracking in October to take the credits away?

 

I'd be asking your TA to pursue with them an itemized statement or explanation of how the FCCs for your disrupted cruise were calculated. If they really did make an $11,000 error in your favor during trying times, I think it would be hard to expect them to honor it -- although they obviously could and should have handled communication about it better. In the case of your cruise, there is undoubtedly significant room for disagreement over what is "fair" compensation for your unfinished trip, but unless you know the basis for which you were compensated, it's hard to judge what's fair or unfair, what's right or wrong.

 

Please understand I'm not criticizing your reaction to what happened; just trying to offer an approach that might give you some peace going forward.

[sfvoyage]

I would echo the above reply that the key is to find out how the original FCCs had been calculated and if they were fair.  Mistakes do happen.

 

After all, airlines and hotels publish mistakes fares and rates regularly, and some travelers are fast and lucky enough to grab those fares before the mistakes are discovered and rectified.  Consequently, in many cases, the mistake fares are not honored.  Not to say that this is analogous to the OP's situation, but in general if all companies honor all their mistake fares all the time, some of them may go bankrupt, in the worse case scenario.

[Gercru]

Moreover, SB have no qualms in cancelling FCCs (in our case on Oct, 5) and feel no obligation to notify you, the customer

 

In my view, this attitude towards the customer justifies cancelling the cruise, no matter whether the promised FCC showed the correct amount. It is the company's very own duty to explain why the original FCC was not correct, and to inform the customer. 

It is just for this type of   negative experience with customer treatment that we decided, 4 years ago, to forget about  our 400+ days with Seabourn (most of which were good but became increasingly unpleasant) and turn to other cruise lines   -  not to our detriment...

[ON cruiser]

Just my "two cents" but, to the original poster: I would email (again) to the office of the President--and if you can find the name of the new president, I would also address it personally to that person as well as to the generic e-address that goes to the many factotums and others with limited authority. The email formula used to be first initial last name (all together, no dot) @seabourn.com 

 

In that email I would, just as you so well did above, set out the facts and what was represented to you re the credit amounts, which you subsequently learned second-hand were not being honoured. I would mention my number of days/cruises with Seabourn, and that unless the credits were honoured as they represented, you shall not be returning. I would also express dismay that nobody reached out to inform you of this change.  Let them know that your future business is up to them. I would also add my Seabourn loyalty number, especially if you are Platinum.  

 

In my view, as of later June when the original poster got his response, with the committment for specific credit from Seabourn, much of the original chaos had subsided and businesses the world over were getting their act together--so, for me, and it is just my opinion, I would not cut Seabourn any slack for a supposed "mistake". They had time to read and consider the original posters' email and send a supposedly considered reply with the details of his credits. If they got it wrong, in my view they now must swallow hard and honour it.  

 

If they choose not to honour it, there are, as a poster above noted, other luxury fish in the sea.

 

Please let us know how this works out. I am hopeful that Seabourn does the right thing and honours their promise (for this was their representation, in my view, upon which you should be able to rely, expecially as they never reached out to you to tell you, "oops, we got it wrong"; moreover, such a correction to be credible would have to be sent out PDQ). 

 

Good luck and happy sailing. 

Edited January 3, 2021 by ON cruiser
reference to loyalty number