Transfer Down Payment

[l2alphmacchio]

Scenario
Freedom of the Seas 12/6/20 - 12/13/20
I booked the following rooms under my account and paid the down payment for all rooms on the same card.
Spacious Balcony Room #1 - Myself, Wife, Son, Daughter #1
Spacious Balcony Room #2 - Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Daughter #2
Spacious Balcony Room #3 - Aunt-in-law
The in-laws are all over 70 years old and have pre-existing health conditions and do not feel comfortable sailing any longer. They would like to cancel their reservations. My family would still like to sail, and understand that we need to book a larger room or multiple rooms to accommodate the 5 of us. The issue is, RCL will not allow us to transfer the non-refundable down payment from rooms #2 and #2 to room #1 (or whatever room(s) we choose when Daughter #2 joins us). RCL will only issue the credits to the names of the individuals in the rooms. Has anyone been through this process or had any luck? I don't see why the funds can't be transferred to me since I paid them all in one payment from my card under my account.

[Matt]

You're before final payment date, no? Why can't you cancel the people that aren't going?

[l2alphmacchio]

We are before final payment, but the in-laws do NOT want to cruise at all any longer. Therefore, when they cancel, they would lose the non-refundable down payment as they do not wish to carry it as a credit. RCL is telling me that the if cancellation credit goes into the individuals name that is on the room, not who paid it. Which is why this upsets me, as I paid the deposit on the same charge as mine form the same card. I would think that if the in-laws do not want to sail any longer, that the "credit" could go under my name since I was the one who paid for it.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Unfortunately, that is the way it works.  Better to cancel now while the only penalty is the non-refundable downpayment penalty.  If you wait until after final payment date, you will lose even more. 

Are you using a Travel Agent ?  I have heard of rare instances where a good TA can get them to change their minds in situations such as yours but it's very rare.  They truly do not care who paid...all transactions are based on the passenger, not who paid.  Unfortunately, this is a very common problem when 1 person books several rooms.

[AshleyDillo]

Quote

Spacious Balcony Room #1 - Myself, Wife, Son, Daughter #1
Spacious Balcony Room #2 - Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Daughter #2
Spacious Balcony Room #3 - Aunt-in-law

How about changing the FIL, MIL names on Room 2 to be the wife and daughter #1?  You have to keep at least one original party's name on a booking.  Daughter 1 is going to sail in the future, so that's the one original that remains.  Then the credits for room #2 will be in the wife and the two daughters:

New setup:

Spacious Balcony Room #1 - Myself, Wife, Son, Daughter #1
Spacious Balcony Room #2 - Wife, Daughter #1, Daughter #2
Spacious Balcony Room #3 - Aunt-in-law

You will only be out the deposit for room #3 at that point.  Then if you decide you cancel you will end up with the credits in your immediate family members' names only.

I know it sucks you can't do anything about that third one, but at least you may be able to shuffle around on the second room.  And if you do sail, then you will have the 2 room already.

[l2alphmacchio]

On 7/17/2020 at 11:38 AM, AshleyDillo said:

How about changing the FIL, MIL names on Room 2 to be the wife and daughter #1?  You have to keep at least one original party's name on a booking.  Daughter 1 is going to sail in the future, so that's the one original that remains.  Then the credits for room #2 will be in the wife and the two daughters:

New setup:

Spacious Balcony Room #1 - Myself, Wife, Son, Daughter #1
Spacious Balcony Room #2 - Wife, Daughter #1, Daughter #2
Spacious Balcony Room #3 - Aunt-in-law

You will only be out the deposit for room #3 at that point.  Then if you decide you cancel you will end up with the credits in your immediate family members' names only.

I know it sucks you can't do anything about that third one, but at least you may be able to shuffle around on the second room.  And if you do sail, then you will have the 2 room already.

So;

Room #1 - Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Son, Daughter #1

Room #2 - Myself, Wife, Daughter #2
Room #3 - Aunt-in-law

Cancel rooms 2 and 3, therefore myself, wife, and daughter #2 receive credits.
Call later to switch myself and wife into room #1, therefore the down payment remains in room #1 and my wife and I bring our credit with us.

Then switch to a larger room and add daughter #2 who also brings credit with her.

Only out the down payment for room #3.

Am I reading this correctly?

[AshleyDillo]

It really depends on what your intention is with this sailing.  Is your immediate family going to take the cruise if it still sails?  Or do you want to cancel the cruise using CWC and get the FCC for the deposit?

My suggestion is to switch the names on the bookings to someone that is likely to cruise in the future.  If future cruise credits are worthless to your in-laws, then you want to switch their names to members of your immediate family so that the credits will go in their names.  You will end up with multiple credits for whoever you end up double-booking in rooms 1 & 2, but as long as you plan on booking 2 future cruises, those credits won't go to waste.

The problem with remaining on the current sailing and booking a larger room that could hold all five of you is that you won't remain locked into the rate you currently  have for the cruise.  You will be pricing a room for 5 at the prevailing rates.

You also wouldn't be able to make a name change and then apply the FCC from a canceled room on that same sailing.