Using the left over FCC?

[RCIfan1912]

We moved our Oasis cruise in May to Sept and then that was cancelled so we "L & S" to August 2021 using FCC. We have 1,200 FCC left over. As I understand we can't use that or even apply it to a cruise till after our August 2021 cruise. Is that correct? Like if we wanted to take a nice short cruise in say May 2021 before our next scheduled cruise in August. Was looking at a few short Canada 4-5 day Freedom OTS cruises from NJ. If we can't use the left over FCC then its a no go for us. Thanks for any help.

 

[JohnK6404]

Yes, you are correct. You are supposed to receive an e-mail with a new FCC certificate number for the FCC balance once the cruise you applied the bulk of your FCC to is completed. For us, we have to wait until we complete our 4/24/21 Symphony sailing before we'll get the balance of our FCC. I read somewhere on the forum that the deadline/expiration date to apply the balance of the FCC is extended based on when the new FCC certificate is issued.

 

[RCIfan1912]

2 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Yes, you are correct. You are supposed to receive an e-mail with a new FCC certificate number once the cruise you applied the bulk of your FCC to is completed. For us, we have to wait until we complete our 4/24/21 Symphony sailing before we'll get the balance of our FCC. I read somewhere on the forum that the deadline/expiration date to apply the balance of the FCC is extended based on when the new FCC certificate is issued.

 

Oh man that policy kinda stinks. It would have been fun to do a nice short cruise before the cruise we have been looking forward to on Oasis for over a year and by the time we do that cruise 2 plus years with all the cancellations. I hope they change that policy. How long do you even have to use up all that FCC? I hope its through 2022 because we aren't sailing till August 2021 and then we need to use the rest of the FCC so I hope we have time. I'm getting a nice raise in February too so I was hoping to start booking suites or at least once just to see the difference. 

[Dad2Cue]

33 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Oh man that policy kinda stinks.

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.

[RCIfan1912]

11 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

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.

So when do we have to use it by? Do we have to choose a cruise before a certain date or just have it booked by a certain date? Gonna be looking at cruises in 2022 when the full schedule is released.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Each FCC has an independent expiration date.  The rules are very fluid right now.  In the past, an FCC that was “removed” from a cruise (for any number of reasons), reverted to its original expiration date but with current circumstances, they have been changing those expiration rules.  I think “it depends” is probably the best answer to your question, at the moment.

[Dad2Cue]

27 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

So when do we have to use it by? Do we have to choose a cruise before a certain date or just have it booked by a certain date? Gonna be looking at cruises in 2022 when the full schedule is released.

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.

[RCIfan1912]

22 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

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.

 

25 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Each FCC has an independent expiration date.  The rules are very fluid right now.  In the past, an FCC that was “removed” from a cruise (for any number of reasons), reverted to its original expiration date but with current circumstances, they have been changing those expiration rules.  I think “it depends” is probably the best answer to your question, at the moment.

Thanks, its all a bit confusing. I guess I'll shoot off an email to John at MEI to see what the rules are or how this works. I really hate to bother him, its been such a pain in the butt for him and all TA's. 

[RCIfan1912]

Does it make any difference that we used FCC to move our cancelled May cruise to Sept which of course is now cancelled and we "Lift and shifted" that cruise to August 2021? Any special rules in a situation like that? I mean the August 2021 Oasis cruise is a "lift and shift" that was paid for with FCC. Yeah I'm dizzy 

[Dad2Cue]

32 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Thanks, its all a bit confusing. I guess I'll shoot off an email to John at MEI to see what the rules are or how this works. I really hate to bother him, its been such a pain in the butt for him and all TA's. 

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.

[Dad2Cue]

6 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Does it make any difference that we used FCC to move our cancelled May cruise to Sept which of course is now cancelled and we "Lift and shifted" that cruise to August 2021? Any special rules in a situation like that? I mean the August 2021 Oasis cruise is a "lift and shift" that was paid for with FCC. Yeah I'm dizzy 

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.

[RCIfan1912]

23 hours ago, Dad2Cue said:

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'm trying to find out just how all this works. Unfortunately like everything that has to do with the Royal Caribbean website you can't find the info you need. That website really stinks. 

[Neesa]

I haven't lifted & shifted yet, but I am booking a 4 night Mariner on Thanksgiving 2020 in the slim chance she sails. 2x CoCo Cay & Nassau out of Port Canaveral. I am paying for this with my last FCC from my previously cancelled Mariner sailing August 3, 2020 (the 125% FCC nightmare) If this sailing is also cancelled by RCCL I know I can only receive FCC not cash refund, (ugh can't be rid of this stuff) but is the FCC then returned with the additional 25% OR just the original FCC amount paid. Thanks so much,

Signed....I'm still so confused :)

[RCIfan1912]

7 minutes ago, Neesa said:

I haven't lifted & shifted yet, but I am booking a 4 night Mariner on Thanksgiving 2020 in the slim chance she sails. 2x CoCo Cay & Nassau out of Port Canaveral. I am paying for this with my last FCC from my previously cancelled Mariner sailing August 3, 2020 (the 125% FCC nightmare) If this sailing is also cancelled by RCCL I know I can only receive FCC not cash refund, (ugh can't be rid of this stuff) but is the FCC then returned with the additional 25% OR just the original FCC amount paid. Thanks so much,

Signed....I'm still so confused

Confused to say the least. I was told that we cannot use the leftover FCC till after our cruise next August which we all knew but how am I supposed to use that FCC if you only have a certain amount of time to use it and the cruise isn't till next August. It's all confusing to me. I guess I could book it before the rest of the FCC is issued after next next August's cruise and then use it to pay off the balance. It's still confusing to me. I don't like the rule you can't use the leftover FCC till after the next scheduled cruise that was paid for with FCC. Confused

[WAAAYTOOO]

5 minutes ago, Neesa said:

I haven't lifted & shifted yet, but I am booking a 4 night Mariner on Thanksgiving 2020 in the slim chance she sails. 2x CoCo Cay & Nassau out of Port Canaveral. I am paying for this with my last FCC from my previously cancelled Mariner sailing August 3, 2020 (the 125% FCC nightmare) If this sailing is also cancelled by RCCL I know I can only receive FCC not cash refund, (ugh can't be rid of this stuff) but is the FCC then returned with the additional 25% OR just the original FCC amount paid. Thanks so much,

Signed....I'm still so confused

If the cruise with the FCC applied gets cancelled, you will be reissued the original FCC in the original amount and any “new money” that you might have added to pay the cruise fare would be issued at 125%.  But wait....there’s more !  According to the last change they made (if I’m interpreting it correctly), you would receive a new, combined FCC for the combination of those 2 amounts.  This is slightly better than the old system when you would have received 2 separate FCCs.  Now they are combining them so at least you only get 1 now.  Of course, you can always request a cash refund for any “new money” and in that case, you would just get your original FCC back. If there is no “new money” then you’re basically back where you started. To the question that I think you were asking, no, they do not “double up” on the 125%.

[RCIfan1912]

4 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

If the cruise with the FCC applied gets cancelled, you will be reissued the original FCC in the original amount and any “new money” that you might have added to pay the cruise fare would be issued at 125%.  But wait....there’s more !  According to the last change they made (if I’m interpreting it correctly), you would receive a new, combined FCC for the combination of those 2 amounts.  This is slightly better than the old system when you would have received 2 separate FCCs.  Now they are combining them so at least you only get 1 now.  Of course, you can always request a cash refund for any “new money” and in that case, you would just get your original FCC back. If there is no “new money” then you’re basically back where you started. To the question that I think you were asking, no, they do not “double up” on the 125%.

Confused like I said, confused. 

[Dad2Cue]

37 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Confused like I said, confused. 

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.

[RCIfan1912]

7 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

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.

And my thinking was 2 cruises with the FCC, in the end I think you had the right idea. Go nuts on one cruise and get a suite I would not usually be able to afford. 

Although in February I'm getting a hefty raise at work and I want to start booking suites at some point. Anyway, I guess we'll figure out how to use the rest of the FCC. 

[Neesa]

@WAAAYTOOO you always clear things up for me! Thanks so much, RCCL should pay YOU a stipend for your always amazing explanations. Your the BEST!! Cheers to YOU :)

 

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Glad I was able to help, Denise.