Canceled your cruise, got FCC, now what...?

[enymarsh]

So, many of us, booked on Celebrity ships for early January watched in dismay as reports continued to spread about masks not being worn indoors, about crew members testing positive (apparently not having worn their masks) and itineraries and onboard activities either being canceled or changed, etc.  On our roll call for Jan.4th sailing of the Silhouette, someone asked if we could start a thread to share information and our experiences as we navigate through the redemption process of using our FCC's.  Anyone done this yet?  Anyone have information to share?

[Jim_Iain]

I've navigated it before and found it is easy to do.    The FCC's can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months or more to arrive.   You receive them as an e-mail either directly to you or to your agent.   Once you ave a certificate (they are issued in each person's name and can not be used except by that person). 

 

From this link you can  book a new cruise with the FCC or apply it to an existing reservation. 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/future-cruise-credit

[wendycook22]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've navigated it before and found it is easy to do.    The FCC's can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months or more to arrive.   You receive them as an e-mail either directly to you or to your agent.   Once you ave a certificate (they are issued in each person's name and can not be used except by that person). 

 

From this link you can  book a new cruise with the FCC or apply it to an existing reservation. 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/future-cruise-credit

Do you know if you have to use the same TA/company or may you take your FCC to a new company/agent? (Liked to your loyalty account)

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I really do not like you have to use it within a year 

FCCs issued under the new Cruise with Confidence program must be redeemed by May 31, 2022, and can be used on sailings departing on or before December 31, 2022, or one year from their original sailing date, whichever is later.

also if you book with Choice Air , do they refund that amount of money back to or is it a FCC ? 

[sealegs2018]

I wouldn't mind using the FCC within a year, but the clock should start when we receive the email with the FCC in it.  Especially when it can take from 6 weeks to months to receive the FCC.  It's a poor business approach to state that the customer has a max of a year to use the FCC, but you get it weeks/months after qualifying for it.  

[chucknmarilyn]

8 minutes ago, sealegs2018 said:

I wouldn't mind using the FCC within a year, but the clock should start when we receive the email with the FCC in it.  Especially when it can take from 6 weeks to months to receive the FCC.  It's a poor business approach to state that the customer has a max of a year to use the FCC, but you get it weeks/months after qualifying for it.  

You (or your travel agent) can call them if you have a cruise you want to go ahead and apply it to. I just did that this morning.

[enymarsh]

55 minutes ago, chucknmarilyn said:

You (or your travel agent) can call them if you have a cruise you want to go ahead and apply it to. I just did that this morning.

Thanks! Super useful information!

[prish]

We just received our FCC for our cancelled December 11 Apex sailing and the validity is April 30, not May 31. Is this a mistake or a new policy, do I need to check with Celebrity and get the validity extended to by a month? 
 

We want to wait and see how the situation evolves before booking another cruise, fingers crossed the validity on all FCCs will be extended again as in the past. As things stand we probably won’t cruise anytime before October. If I have to, will probably book something, to transfer to next year later on…

[Arizona Wildcat]

Everything except your cruise fare is refunded to the payment card.  This usually includes airfare, but it is subject to the airline rules - most not all give refunds.

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

15 minutes ago, prish said:

We just received our FCC for our cancelled December 11 Apex sailing and the validity is April 30, not May 31. Is this a mistake or a new policy, do I need to check with Celebrity and get the validity extended to by a month? 
 

We want to wait and see how the situation evolves before booking another cruise, fingers crossed the validity on all FCCs will be extended again as in the past. As things stand we probably won’t cruise anytime before October. If I have to, will probably book something, to transfer to next year later on…

Seems you have not read the CURRENT FCC policy.  It changed a while ago to 31 May.

[publicpersona]

13 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Everything except your cruise fare is refunded to the payment card. 

 

In my case, I'm wondering which payment card. Used one for deposit, one for final payment (which included Air2Sea), one when I had to change flights and they charged me the difference. The reason I will be anxiously waiting to see is because two of the three were Amex cards with offers.

[Peggy Tuten]

I'm confused about what happens to your flight payment (done through Flights by Celebrity) after final payment is made.  I may have to change an April reservation after final payment is made in a few weeks.  Since it's a fairly substantial amount - international airfare, I'd prefer not to have as FCC but as a refund or apply to a future reservation. I can't find anything about this on the Celebrity website.  TIA

[Jim_Iain]

18 hours ago, wendycook22 said:

Do you know if you have to use the same TA/company or may you take your FCC to a new company/agent? (Liked to your loyalty account)

You do not need to use the same agent.   I applied a couple myself to a reservation by a new agent.   I also used to create a new booking and then transferred to new agent.

[Jim_Iain]

20 minutes ago, Peggy Tuten said:

I'm confused about what happens to your flight payment (done through Flights by Celebrity) after final payment is made.  I may have to change an April reservation after final payment is made in a few weeks.  Since it's a fairly substantial amount - international airfare, I'd prefer not to have as FCC but as a refund or apply to a future reservation. I can't find anything about this on the Celebrity website.  TIA

Many flights are fully refundable by Flights by Celebrity but  a $200 pp after final payment will apply. Non-refundable fares will generally receive a credit with airlines less the $200 pp fee.    I believe the credit has to be used in a year.

 

There is also a $200 pp fee to change to a different date after final payment.   Maybe a good reason to book direct with airline prior to Final Payment and  cancel without fee.

 

Full Policy -

https://www.celebritycruises.com/flights-by-celebrity/terms-and-conditions

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[HS2BS]

I just checked our fcc received (we cancelled) this past Monday for the  Silhouette 12/13/21, and as prish had posted it says “use by 04/30/2022 and sail by 12/31/2022”. Travel agent said that is there new policy!

[prish]

14 minutes ago, HS2BS said:

I just checked our fcc received (we cancelled) this past Monday for the  Silhouette 12/13/21, and as prish had posted it says “use by 04/30/2022 and sail by 12/31/2022”. Travel agent said that is there new policy!

Yes, I too believe this is the new validity, the older policy was May 31. 
 

If I book some kind of placer for later this year, can I rebook for a 2023 sailing towards the end of the year? Another way of extending the FCC validity? Is this possible at all?

Edited January 12, 2022 by prish

[JaneStarr]

4 hours ago, chucknmarilyn said:

You (or your travel agent) can call them if you have a cruise you want to go ahead and apply it to. I just did that this morning.

Was this a FCC from a cruise that Celebrity had canceled or one canceled under Cruise With Confidence? That might make a difference in how Celebrity handles.

[Froufie]

I recently cancelled my upcoming January cruise and wanted to rebook to another ship/cruise end of March (in hopes that things may have settled down by then).

 

I called to cancel using the CWC policy (after final payment - was to cruise in 2 weeks) - I also had booked flights by celebrity - I understood these would also be refunded to my credit card (which they were but now asking airline to refund $$ for seats I purchased on my own).  If you cancel the flights BEFORE cruise cancellation yes there will be a cancellation fee - but not if you get the celebrity agent to do this along with the cancellation (she did it while I was on hold - calling FBC to cancel our flights).

 

The problem for me is the new cruise final payment day is January 20th and obviously getting my FCC issued in time would be a problem - after several calls to Celebrity and doing some online research I knew to ask for a supervisor or resolutions dept - the 'last' agent I dealt with seemed to get it and put me on hold to get a supervisor (and in the end called me back as after one hour on hold I was starting to fade!  LOL - but she was great!).

 

She came back  to let me know the supervisor arranged for an extended final payment date of Feb 2nd and said the FCC would be expedited so I could use them to put towards the cruise and then pay the balance remaining.  The only thing I was charged for were the taxes to reserve this new cruise.

 

I am highly doubtful I will get the FCC in time - but who knows - if not I will obviously be on the phone again with Celebrity on Feb 1st trying to get them to fix this and/or manually apply the FCC (which is what I have heard can be done? - anyone have experience with this?).

 

I assume if I cancel again I will get another/new FCC which I would have to use by March of next year?

[granddutchess]

We canceled our cruise which was the end of January 2022.  We are rebooking using our FCC for the end of March 2022 same ship and itinerary (why I booked the cruise to begin with).  Our travel agent got us an extended final payment date and Celebrity is expediting the FCC for the end of March sailing.  Thank goodness for our travel agent.  She has gone above and beyond as has Celebrity with this FCC.  Let's hope that things go smoothly.  

[prish]

4 hours ago, JaneStarr said:

Was this a FCC from a cruise that Celebrity had canceled or one canceled under Cruise With Confidence? That might make a difference in how Celebrity handles.

We cancelled under Cruise with Confidence, but I don’t believe there’s any difference with the FCCs Celebrity issues, except that you get 125% if it’s Celebrity who cancels the cruise.

[Oville]

We have a lot of FCC money.  We’ve put it off until November.  Fingers crossed we will go but…

[canderson]

1 hour ago, prish said:

We cancelled under Cruise with Confidence, but I don’t believe there’s any difference with the FCCs Celebrity issues, except that you get 125% if it’s Celebrity who cancels the cruise.

I think "handles" was in regard to the X air reservations, in which case, it can matter whether CWC vs. X cancellation.

[sn2792]

I’m still trying to get all of my FCC from a cruise I cancelled in June of 2021. I spent 4 hours on hold and they couldn’t help me and needed my TA to call. He was able to get them to figure out they shorted me $1100 in Nov. They were supposed to expedite it. Needless to say, wanted to apply it to a Feb 4th cruise, but couldn’t. Wanted to apply it to March cruise, but still not resolved before final payment was due. This is very frustrating. Hopefully, when we get back from our Feb cruise, my TA will have it resolved and we can apply it to an October cruise.

[paulajj]

I cancelled my January cruise in December. I booked non refundable but I received full amounts for airfare, taxes etc back on my credit card.

 

It took about 3 weeks to receive everything except the FCC. 
I was told it would take 40-60 days for that but I’m not gonna hold my breath. 

[Chrisfromco]

I just had my TA cancel our April 16th cruise on Summit this morning. (Non refundable $200 deposit) Celebrity told her I have until May 31st to book and April 2023 to sail.