Dad2Cue

I was thinking of driving to Charlotte, NC because of getting a nonstop flight to San Juan, PR just in case my scheduled cruise happens in January. My back-up plan would be a visit to my sister. She lives in the Orangeburg area. A warm day in January here would be 32 degrees because some of the snow might melt.

@SteveinSC My sister lives in South Carolina so maybe it is time to visit her. In January, SC should be warmer than here. Unfortunately, last I checked SC is covid bright red and my state is only pink.

I like the company. The covid environment is what worries me. I don't see the earnings side of the P/E ratio improving anytime soon unless an effective vaccine emerges. I personally don't want to contribute anymore to their earnings until something changes. My bet is that many people feel that way. My other concern is that the product is going to change and I'm not sure how well I will like it when it does. I'm probably the average loyal guy --- it may just depend on how well I extrapolate to the rest of their customers --- not just their loyal customers. For me, it is more about whether my FCC will be worthless or not. Royal is giving out too many IOUs --- sad but true.

That is the situation I currently have. I got a Cruise with Confidence FCC back in April 2020. It is interesting that there are 2 kinds of FCCs. At first I applied my FCC to a cruise this Nov 2020 that was booked refundable. The cruise in Nov is looking doubtful so I was able to "reschedule" and made it an Alaska cruise in Aug 2021. I put the FCC way into the future so I wouldn't have to mess with it for awhile. Now we have 2 other cruises booked before the Alaska cruise in August. We also have 1 cruise for Jan 2022. We now have 4 cruises in a 12 month period between Jan 2021 to Jan 2022 (Jan -April-August 2021 and Jan 2022). That is much more than the 1 maybe 2 cruises per year that we usually do. The FCC is fine where it is on the August Alaska cruise but I'm worried about getting more FCC's before I use up the first FCC. I dislike booking a cruise but only getting FCCs in return. I don't mind calling RC but only if I know exactly what I want to do. When the final payment date approaches, the decisions get really tough. I don't like juggling FCC's either.

@crisgold52 This may be a rookie question. Under what circumstances was this done? For example: booked refundable or non-refundable deposit only before final payment date or after final payment date and deposit + additional payment all refunded you cancelled cruise or royal cancelled cruise There seems to be so many different scenarios and I'm never sure what happens in each case. In general, I would always rather receive a refund and not a FCC. It is always a difficult decision when final payment date approaches. Should I cancel before the final payment date and take a FCC for the deposit amount since the deposit is nonrefundable?? Should I go ahead and make the final payment and hope Royal cancels the cruise and request a refund?? Worst case seems like if I make the final payment and then I decide to cancel such that I get a large FCC that I may never use.

I have just walked up and asked about making a reservation later in the evening or later in the week. Then I ask where is a good place to have lunch. The Head waiter has said, "if you are interested in lunch we currently have a special for 50% off." I think it might depend on how busy it is but I have never seen it too busy on embarkation day for lunch.

I have never done guaranteed but I've mostly heard about good results. The $500 would be very tempting to try a guaranteed cabin but I'm sure it is a gamble. I have always liked the cabins I have picked but I have an upgrade tendency that is hard to reverse. I have heard that people have had upgrades when purchasing a guaranteed cabin. The guarantee is that the cabin level will be no lower. ? I have also heard of obstructed views.?

I just did a lift and shift for a Jan 2021 cruise to a Jan 2022 cruise. April 2021 to April 2022 may not work because even January was a gray area. I kept another booking for Jan 2021 but as things get closer to the final payment date, I may L&S that cruise too. That way I will do a back 2 back in 2022 if need be. Hopefully the L&S rules will be extended past the August deadline. The cruise fare for the 2021 cruise was much less than the same cruise in 2022. A L&S is definitely something to consider because it saves a lot of worry and the price protection feature is great.

What new format are we talking about? I'm using a chromebook and the web site seems the same to me.

I agree that they try to make things right. It would be interesting to know if travel agents would agree also. They must have a tough job being the person in the middle. I haven't had any extra refunds being dispersed. However, I have on several occasions done an online mock booking in order to know exactly what the final cost should be. When I call in to make the reservation, I get quoted an amount that can be several hundred dollars less than I anticipate. Usually the discrepancy is that taxes and fees are less than what is listed online. I always get a bit nervous about doing a reprice later on because I think they will correct the "error". Oddly, they always keep the same amount for taxes and fees no matter how many times I reprice. Just the fact that they do a reprice says something. Also, those 30% and 60% discounts seem to be overly generous. I can never figure out how they calculate those!

Don't get me started on United Airlines. I cancelled our flights back in April along with our cruise. United made absolutely no effort to refund anything. They simply directed me to their website to request a refund. In order to request a refund "I had to cancel the flight first" and then request the refund. The very instant that I cancelled a future flight credit was generated. Then the refund request was denied because they claimed that I cancelled the flight. I could somewhat understand except they were making daily changes to my flight that resulted in five connecting flights and tripling the time to reach my destination. United maintained there wasn't a "significant disruption" to my original itinerary even though some connections were impossible and one segment was cancelled. I'm in the final stages of a credit card dispute and it seems certain my temporary credit will be finalized soon and I will have a full undisputed refund. It took awhile but RC made everything right 2 months ago. Given all the complaints about RC, I can only say the United Airlines makes RC look good.

I don't know if this is related or not. It seems as if everything depends on whether it is booked "refundable" or "non-refundable". Then it just depends on if you cancel BEFORE the final payment date or AFTER the final payment date. This seems to create four entirely different scenarios so I never know for sure what happens in each case. To make it even more complicated. What if you book as a non-refundable DEPOSIT but pay everything in full before the final payment date. If you cancel before the final payment date---do you get a FCC for the deposit and does the additional money get refunded??? It is enough to make my head explode.

I'm the same but only $6,000 at risk spread between 4 different cruises between January 2021 to January 2022. Two of the cruises were supposed to happen in 2020. I just hope, things are better in 2021. Everything seems like a gamble these days.

I got the right person because they told me what I should do with the FCC. Everything worked out because the cruise that the FCC was applied to was refundable. I have since "rescheduled" that cruise to August 2021. There wasn't any L&S restrictions and I could "reschedule" to any ship, any time, and any itinerary. I like the idea of a Funds Maintenance Transfer instead of FCCs.

Why did you get a cash refund? I cancelled a cruise after the final payment date and got a 100% FCC because of cruise with confidence rules. Had I waited another week when Royal cancelled the cruise, I could have gotten a 100% CC refund. I applied the FCC to another previously booked cruise that was paid in full and refundable. Applying the FCC resulted in a large overpayment so that resulted in a CC refund.

Your cruise was lifted and shifted which adds a whole new level of complexity to the equation. I don't know the answer. It was the reason I upgraded to a suite just to use my entire FCC because that seemed to simplify it somewhat. Plus, I'm excited about a suite since it will be an anniversary cruise. If our January 2021 cruise and our April 2021 cruises happen we will be diamond level AND a suite for the August 2021 cruise. I'm still perplexed by the lift and shift part. I've got one of those too but that comes later. It is hard to juggle four cruises in 2021. However, two of the cruises were supposed to be in 2020.

I was thinking of a military style parachute jump landing on the pool deck of the ship. I did that a few times in Holland but never did land in the target area.

I was booked (not anymore) on the Allure TA on Nov 1st from Barcelona to Miami. Florida, in general, doesn't seem like they will be ready to go anytime soon. As for the Nov 1st Anthem TA from Southampton --- New York is looking better but I doubt they will welcome cruise ships anytime soon. New York and New Jersey have mandatory 14 day quarantines for citizens coming from 26 states including my own state. If I was on that ship, I would likely fly out of Newark going to London. I wonder if I would face 14 day quarantines coming and going! Perhaps a quarantine in the UK as well.

I don't know exactly what happens in that case. I suspect it is still in Royal's system but don't count on that.

I have never seen my FCC. I'm not even sure what the expiration date is. I have no physical evidence that it exists except that it was applied to my 2021 Alaska cruise and it made my cruise fare look really cheap. Royal says it is in their system. I suspect they want people to eventually forget about the FCC or accidentally let it expire.

If you have applied the FCC to an August 2021 cruise you need to complete that cruise first. Then the remainder of the FCC will be reissued which may take a couple of months. Then, I think it just depends on what the expiration date of the reissued FCC will be. The rules change all the time so you may need to wait until then to see what Royal decides what the expiration date will be ...probably though the end of 2022 would be my guess. However, I agree with @WAAAYTOOO that it could revert to the original FCC expiration date.

Yes it does stink ... however, I'm well into Suite Land just so I can use all of the FCC on one cruise! I just hope the Alaska 2021 cruise on Quantum happens.

@crisgold52 I'm retired ... it has become my hobby to call Royal to see how FCCs work. It isn't what I would call "transparent". I wouldn't hold it against any travel agent if they don't understand it. It is true what you say about the FCC being taken off in order to get the cruise repriced. It can be done!! I would add that you need to keep good records because once the FCC is applied, it is hard to tell if there was a price decrease. A FCC obliterates the actual pricing. It would be nice if they itemized the FCC to show that it really exists instead of showing a super cheap cruise fare.

Do you have any other FCCs, refunds, credit card disputes, or future flight credits to keep you busy?

@Pooch My first cruises were on Freedom class ships (all three) and then worked up to the larger Quantum and Oasis class ships. All of them are very nice. Now when I see @Matt pictures below --- I think the smaller ships look very tempting.