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FCC and Price Drops


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We got FCC from a cruise from missing CoCo Cay due to Dorian.  The FCC said that we must apply it within the year and so while paying off another cruise, we applied the FCC to our cruise in August.  

When they applied the FCC, they simply adjusted the base price to account for the amount.  This is good for insurance reasons (as if it showed as a separate entry, our existing coverage wouldn't have covered us).  However, I'm thinking we should have waiting since I assume now price drops are out as it's unlikely our cruise will drop below the adjusted price.

Is this correct?  Or do we compare current price on mock booking vs our price before the FCC was applied?

e.g. if our cruise cost $1000 and we got $300 FCC, then our new price is $700.  

Then if the new sale cost is $900, then no price drop.  If we had waited, then our price would have been $900 - 300 when we applied the FCC = $600.

Or....do they adjust our original price to $900 and then can reapply the $300?

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2 minutes ago, Flacruiser99 said:

Yes you should have applied it to the cruise you were paying off.

Yeah...I see that now.  ☹️  And I could have too as we had a year to apply the FCC, but this cruise was within the year.

Guess on the good side, a price drop against our original price was unlikely anyways (and we at least already applied KSF)....but now 100% not possible.

 

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Here's a truly bizarre FCC rule that few know about.  You can actually apply an FCC to a paid-in-full cruise.  I thought maybe I was misunderstanding when my Michelle first told me this but she actually applied our (much maligned) Oasis FCC to a future cruise that had already been paid in full.  The full value of the FCC ended up being a credit on our credit card.  I was very surprised that they actually allowed this, but they did.  So while they say that the FCC has no cash value, it actually CAN be, in a way...it can go to your CC as a credit.  ALMOST the same as getting cash back.

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44 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Here's a truly bizarre FCC rule that few know about.  You can actually apply an FCC to a paid-in-full cruise.

Yes, I just found this out about a month ago.  I had a FCC that took longer to process than usual.  Because I didn't apply it until a few days before final payment, I would have missed final payment if I waited for the FCC to be applied.  In the end, I had to pay final payment and then wait for a refund back onto my CC after the FCC was applied.  All worked out but it made me nervous.

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I have managed to get price drops with FCC involved but you need to keep detailed notes.  I keep every invoice, before FCC, after FCC, after price drops, after cabin changes, etc.  Using them I can build a complete timeline of the transaction.

The trick with looking for price drops going forward is to know what your cruise cost was before FCC reduced it.  That is the magic number to use when comparing current pricing.  If the cruise cost $1,000 and you applied a $200 FCC the $1,000 remains the benchmark to use for price drop comparison.  

If you do try to claim a price drop you have to be very persistent on mentioning the FCC.  "Before my FCC was applied this was my cruise fare and now it's cheaper".  If they push back tell them to remove the FCC and make it available for another cruise, then adjust the price.  This usually causes them to apply the price adjustment since they know you will get it one way or another and removing the FCC, adjusting the price, re-applying the FCC is more work for them.  

Yes, you can move FCC after you have applied it.  As long as another sailing qualifies for the dates involved you can have them un-apply an FCC and apply it to a different sailing or just return the FCC to it's unused status and keep it like that for a week or more.    

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The other reason to keep detailed notes about FCC is because you never know what's going to happen.  

When the crane fell on Oasis my cruise was cancelled.  I had used an FCC for that cruise.  With detailed notes I was able to get the original FCC reinstated plus get the full refund offer and new FCC for the full amount, not the FCC reduced amount.  Without detailed notes you end up having to accept whatever their wonky calculator comes up with.

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5 minutes ago, twangster said:

I have managed to get price drops with FCC involved but you need to keep detailed notes.  I keep every invoice, before FCC, after FCC, after price drops, after cabin changes, etc.  Using them I can build a complete timeline of the transaction.

The trick with looking for price drops going forward is to know what your cruise cost was before FCC reduced it.  That is the magic number to use when comparing current pricing.  If the cruise cost $1,000 and you applied a $200 FCC the $1,000 remains the benchmark to use for price drop comparison.  

If you do try to claim a price drop you have to be very insistent on mentioning the FCC.  "Before my FCC was applied this was my cruise fare and now it's cheaper".  If they push back tell them to remove the FCC and make it available for another cruise, then adjust the price.  This usually causes them to apply the price adjustment since they know you will get it one way or another and removing the FCC, adjusting the price, re-applying the FCC is more work for them.  

Yes, you can move FCC after you have applied it.  As long as another sailing qualifies for the dates involved you can have them un-apply an FCC and apply it to a different sailing or just return the FCC to it's unused status and keep it like that for a week or more.    

Thanks!  So in other words, we can compare the current price to the price before applying the FCC.  In my example above then, I'm comparing $900 to $1000.

I know the price, and keep every invoice numbered in order. 

The only part I'm not sure on, is the bolded text below.  Our FCC had no cruise date for applying the FCC, just that we had to apply it within a year.

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11 minutes ago, ellcee said:

this is timely for me.

@twangster @WAAAYTOOO @Lovetocruise2002

Just canceled a cruise for 2021. I'll get FCC. Can that be applied to 2020 (already booked) cruises? or does "future" mean after 2021?

Any cruise before the date on the FCC.  Even if you have fully paid off a cruise that boards next week, you can apply FCC to it and you'll get a credit card refund for your "overpayment".

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