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Another FCC and deposit question


Smurfy

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Since my June sailing got cancelled, I'm going to put a new deposit down on an August sailing. The FCC will cover the cost of the new cruise, so my agent said we could request a refund of that deposit ($750). Instead of requesting a refund, can I use it in the cruise planner or as OBC? 

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Your better off to wait till the actually issue the FCC then rebook. If you deposit 

you will only get a credit for future cruise not an actual onboard credit so it can’t be used except to deposit on another cruise. My agent was able to call RCCL and 

reserve my cabin on my new cruise and when we are emailed the FCC from RCCL she will complete the booking. It’s my understanding the will refund back taxes from original booking so taxes will have to be paid on the new booking. Hope this helps and if anyone with more knowledge has info I welcome that as well. The knowledge of this group has made unsettling times a bit better for me. 

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6 minutes ago, JSHEA said:

Your better off to wait till the actually issue the FCC then rebook. If you deposit 

you will only get a credit for future cruise not an actual onboard credit so it can’t be used except to deposit on another cruise. My agent was able to call RCCL and 

reserve my cabin on my new cruise and when we are emailed the FCC from RCCL she will complete the booking. It’s my understanding the will refund back taxes from original booking so taxes will have to be paid on the new booking. Hope this helps and if anyone with more knowledge has info I welcome that as well. The knowledge of this group has made unsettling times a bit better for me. 

Are you saying that I won't get the full 125% FCC? My agent said that I had to put a deposit down on the new cruise before the FCC can be added.

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Wondering the same thing!  The cruise we are hoping to book to replace our canceled May 30th sailing is almost exactly the same cost.  the taxes and port fees refund will almost cover the $1,000 deposit on next years booking.   If I book next year’s cruise now and put down the $1,000 deposit and then use the FCC to pay off the remaining balance, we’d much prefer to have the left over money available in the Cruise Planner.  It’s probably not going to be much but at least we’d be guaranteed to use it!

Hoping the experts in the forum will weigh in for the best strategy to make that happen! 

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4 hours ago, Smurfy said:

Are you saying that I won't get the full 125% FCC? My agent said that I had to put a deposit down on the new cruise before the FCC can be added.

This what confusing imo...some have said they gotten their cabin place on hold by a TA & when the FCC cleared, they were able to apply the full amount of the FCC to the fare, plus paid whatever remaining balance, if any, w/o paying a deposit...I have seen someone site Matt's page & a few posters on facebook, as proof of this. Some have also said the complete opposite...they still had to apply a deposit even after the cabin was placed on hold by a TA. Which is which?

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15 hours ago, FoxboroCruiser said:

Wondering the same thing!  The cruise we are hoping to book to replace our canceled May 30th sailing is almost exactly the same cost.  the taxes and port fees refund will almost cover the $1,000 deposit on next years booking.   If I book next year’s cruise now and put down the $1,000 deposit and then use the FCC to pay off the remaining balance, we’d much prefer to have the left over money available in the Cruise Planner.  It’s probably not going to be much but at least we’d be guaranteed to use it!

Hoping the experts in the forum will weigh in for the best strategy to make that happen! 

If you put down the deposit, then use FCC to pay the balance and it's more than that balance, you'll receive a new FCC for the remaining balance.  It would not go on your account as OBC.

Example: New cruise is $2500, and you have $2000 FCC.  You put down the $1000 deposit and use FCC to cover the balance.  You would be issued a new FCC for $500 to be used towards a future cruise.  

I don't know if you opted in or not, but you did have the ability on your canceled sailing to fill out a form and get 125% of your cruise planner purchases converted to OBC to be used on a future sailing.  But that is totally different from your FCC.

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9 hours ago, codyh21 said:

If you put down the deposit, then use FCC to pay the balance and it's more than that balance, you'll receive a new FCC for the remaining balance.  It would not go on your account as OBC.

Example: New cruise is $2500, and you have $2000 FCC.  You put down the $1000 deposit and use FCC to cover the balance.  You would be issued a new FCC for $500 to be used towards a future cruise.  

I don't know if you opted in or not, but you did have the ability on your canceled sailing to fill out a form and get 125% of your cruise planner purchases converted to OBC to be used on a future sailing.  But that is totally different from your FCC.

I just called Royal to verify, and this isn't accurate. The remaining deposit amount would be refunded. 

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52 minutes ago, Smurfy said:

I just called Royal to verify, and this isn't accurate. The remaining deposit amount would be refunded. 

Let me first say that FCC rules and policies are constantly changing and catered towards certain situations so what worked for one-person last month may not be the same for someone else; therefore expect to hear different answers.  No matter what, any FCC can never be used towards OBC.  Royal offered (in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of cancellation) 125% OBC for cruise planner purchases made for the cancelled sailings.  In both of those instances, it had to be to accepted by a certain date or it would be automatically refunded back to you.   I believe in your case, your deposits will be refunded back to you after your FCC has been applied to the sailing.  Any amounts left over after that will be reissued as a new FCC but only after the sailing has been completed.  I hope this clears up some of the confusion.  

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33 minutes ago, Mr. Candyman said:

Let me first say that FCC rules and policies are constantly changing and catered towards certain situations so what worked for one-person last month may not be the same for someone else; therefore expect to hear different answers.  No matter what, any FCC can never be used towards OBC.  Royal offered (in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of cancellation) 125% OBC for cruise planner purchases made for the cancelled sailings.  In both of those instances, it had to be to accepted by a certain date or it would be automatically refunded back to you.   I believe in your case, your deposits will be refunded back to you after your FCC has been applied to the sailing.  Any amounts left over after that will be reissued as a new FCC but only after the sailing has been completed.  I hope this clears up some of the confusion.  

I realize rules are always changing. I was just clarifying about the deposit, not the OBC. ?

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2 hours ago, Smurfy said:

I realize rules are always changing. I was just clarifying about the deposit, not the OBC. ?

I think as previously mentioned, it appears everything is changing so frequently it's hard to keep up.  If what you mentioned is the case, I hadn't heard that.  We ended up taking the 100% refund vs the 125% FCC as we're drydocked due to my work until early next year and I'm just not sure what our year will look like.  Either way, hope you get re-booked and get to sail again soon!

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You can't get FCC switched over to OBC.

The current process is you have to put up a deposit to create a reservation for which the FCC can be applied to.  They can't create a reservation in the system until that deposit is issued.

You'll front the deposit amount now and when the FCC is applied the deposit gets used to pay any remaining cruisefare that wasn't covered by the FCC and then the port fees and taxes, prepaid grats if you opted into that, travel insurance/protection if you opted into that.  Anything left of the deposit after that gets refunded to the form of payment that you used.

Simple example, you have a $1000 FCC coming.  You book a new cruise that's $1000 total (of which $850 is cruisefare, $150 in taxes/fees).  The deposit is $250.

You put that $250 deposit on your credit card.  You have a remaining balance on paper of $750 owed for the cruise ($1000 - $250 deposit).  The FCC comes and gets applied.  Since only $850 is cruisefare, they will only apply $850 of the FCC to this cruise.  (The remaining FCC for $150 gets reissued after you sail on this new booked cruise).  FCC is applied and all that's remaining for you to pay is the $150 in taxes/fees.  But you've already put up $250 in cash!  That $250 gets applied to the taxes/fees to cover them and you end up with $100 left over that's refunded back to you to the card you used for making the deposit.

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It really puts people in a bind who had a summer (June) cruise cancelled, and want to rebook another summer cruise (July) using their FCC.  Since the final payment date is basically "now" and I won't get my FCC until May sometime, there is nothing I can do, at this point opting for the refund might be my best bet (but I hate giving up that extra 25%).

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Yes - a TA can put the reservation on hold for you until May 31st.... but the FCC will end up covering the cruise fare and not port charges taxes and fees - so you will end up paying for those on the cruise even if you have a FCC that is more than your cruise.  if you don't use the FCC you will get the remaining amount back to you in the form of FCC AFTER your cruise (within 30 days).

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7 minutes ago, AnnetteJackson said:

Yes - a TA can put the reservation on hold for you until May 31st.... but the FCC will end up covering the cruise fare and not port charges taxes and fees - so you will end up paying for those on the cruise even if you have a FCC that is more than your cruise.  if you don't use the FCC you will get the remaining amount back to you in the form of FCC AFTER your cruise (within 30 days).

I think what is messing me up is that the final payment for the July cruise is now....so I can't wait until May 31st to pay the balance with FCC.

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1 minute ago, Buzzard05 said:

I think what is messing me up is that the final payment for the July cruise is now....so I can't wait until May 31st to pay the balance with FCC.

This goes back to the numerous times people have said on this blog, they can instantly charge your cc, it's so fast that the minute they hit charge my app "dings" indicating a charge was put thru and my money has been taken away from me instantly.  So with that in mind, I have a very hard time with the process they have in place.  It seems like its from the stone age.  Why can't they front the funds from the FCC they know they are going to have to issue. Wait a minute that crazy talk! 

We are never gonna win folks.  

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Just now, RBRSKI said:

This goes back to the numerous times people have said on this blog, they can instantly charge your cc, it's so fast that the minute they hit charge my app "dings" indicating a charge was put thru and my money has been taken away from me instantly.  So with that in mind, I have a very hard time with the process they have in place.  It seems like its from the stone age.  Why can't they front the funds from the FCC they know they are going to have to issue. Wait a minute that crazy talk! 

We are never gonna win folks.  

Agreed.  You would think after all of this and the negative press cruising in general got, they would want to make it as easy as possible to get people back on their ships.  As it is now, I'm probably just going to opt for the refund and choose a summer cruise based on price whether it be with Royal or not.

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Don't know if this helps you or not but my agent said she could out a hold on the room without a deposit . My FCC will cover my October replacement crusie in full including the deposit.

She also said I could out down $5 do have access to the cruise planner too but since I went for the 125% cruise planner credit there's so reason to look at that bc I won't be putting anymore of my money towards royal right now. Just what I already spent

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@RBRSKI Not really an apropos analogy. While a ventilator seems like (and is) a complicated piece of machinery, there are blueprints and parts available. The ventilators will all be the same. All refunds are not.....as people paid with prior FCCs, gift cards, visa, certificates etc. One refund is simple, refunding millions of people and vendors not so much. Look at the CARE act; it is simply just depositing money into accounts that have banking info available....how many dead people received funds? How many people the wrong amount? It would make the most sense for RCCI to avoid any negative press, which means if they could get you the refunds faster they would. But it is not just RCCI, I am waiting for a refund on Carnival and my best friend from NCL and Disney. This is a cruise line problem.

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10 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

@RBRSKI Not really an apropos analogy. While a ventilator seems like (and is) a complicated piece of machinery, there are blueprints and parts available. The ventilators will all be the same. All refunds are not.....as people paid with prior FCCs, gift cards, visa, certificates etc. One refund is simple, refunding millions of people and vendors not so much. Look at the CARE act; it is simply just depositing money into accounts that have banking info available....how many dead people received funds? How many people the wrong amount? It would make the most sense for RCCI to avoid any negative press, which means if they could get you the refunds faster they would. But it is not just RCCI, I am waiting for a refund on Carnival and my best friend from NCL and Disney. This is a cruise line problem.

I don't think this is an apropos analogy either.   I wouldn't compare a billion dollar corporation to the federal government (Anyone could have guessed the CARE act wasn't going to be smooth).   I agree with you though, this isn't just an RCL issue, it's across all cruise lines.  As someone that is familiar with software, this isn't that hard.  Refund to the method of payment.  There are blueprints for this also.  Many companies do it.  Southwest Airlines has refunded my money for certain things, points instantly returned to my account. They (cruise lines) chose to handle it manually.  Credit Cards are the easiest and should be automatic.  Re-issuing FCCs shouldn't be much more complicated.  Maybe a fraction of the transactions need to be manual.  Maybe this will be a wake-up call to change their system?  Or maybe not.

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9 hours ago, Kcusack89 said:

Don't know if this helps you or not but my agent said she could out a hold on the room without a deposit . My FCC will cover my October replacement crusie in full including the deposit.

She also said I could out down $5 do have access to the cruise planner too but since I went for the 125% cruise planner credit there's so reason to look at that bc I won't be putting anymore of my money towards royal right now. Just what I already spent

I think what is getting me, is that I am looking for another summer cruise in July and the final payment date is due now (or very soon).

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@Buzzard05 I personally don't see cruising back in July, it always struck me odd that Cruise with Confidence was available all the way to September 1st. To me that means RCCI believed cruising would be affected or interrupted until at least then. If you are on the fence about it...I would say wait. I think there will be awesome deals abound and in the event you can sail in July, a last minute fare should be affordable.

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OK maybe this is a better Analogy which may also be seen differently by others, but what's great about it is that it's all based on opinion.

Colleges and Universities would have never thought they would be refunding tuition or dorm fee's.  My son's university (which is not a small university), published how refunds would be processed with specific instructions, amounts, and dates.  They even had two options, which I am sure makes things more difficult for them.  Kinda like Royal.

This was requested a week ago and guess what!!!  Got an email yesterday that funds were deposited into my account this morning.  FLAWLESS! 

I honestly think something is going on with Royal.  And this feeling is only being fueled by the lack of communication, different explanations by agents, and lack of refunds. 

Just show me the "Money".  What movie? A little Friday Humor!   :1_grinning:

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I believe there is some level of business maneuvering here, but I think the sheer volume and lack of an automated process have a huge impact on response time. 26 ships, for 13 weeks, with assumed reservations at less than full capacity of 87000 per total fleet sailing, yields 1.13 million refunds to process. Note that cruise planner purchases are separate, we could be at 2.26 million transactions to process. Consider that some ships run twice a week, add in cruise with confidence, and handling new reservations and rebooking, that number could soar.  

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I hear ya, and understand to a certain extent. 

My concerns have moved from waiting patiently for our my money back to are we going to get it at all?  Your mind starts to wonder what the heck is going on! 

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a topic until more people report refunds have been issued.  

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@RBRSKI Definitely better but still vastly different as I view it about the process. Schools give back tuition on the daily..because students drop out often. Cruises keep your money, refunds are rare..I mean we pay months or years in advance to get the best rate. Since cruise fares are often sold at a detriment, it is safe to say RCCI tries to earn off the balance. Making the money tied up, add in the automatize process and boom...long processing time. Also it seems like they don't process until the date of the cruise, which they definitely should have disclosed.I hope everyone starts to receive their refunds soon.

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