New Hypothetical question FCC?

[deep1]

Ok ... Been moving stuff and booking some new things. Always thinking ahead... Now a new question pops in that I need help with.

After all my cancellations, and problems getting refunds I went FCC on a biggie and booked using it another biggie (my central focus if you will). Thats Harmony 7 night two balconies and an Itinerary I love!...Little problem... November 1, 2020.... Now... Its quite likely that one won't go (I'm being real).  Will I have the ability to do a refund being that the  fare part was done using FCC?  Or, does it have to come back as FCC at 100% (not 125% because I already got it and used it on this one).We're talking fare... The deposit, taxes and fees I paid cash for and I guess that gets refunded like other times???? The reason I'm wondering is multi part... The older teen we are traveling with  likely won't be able to make trips after this spring as she will be butt deep in college... I could use it for paying off her part of a trip I booked for April but there will be  load left over. Then what? Does that leftover just get lost? I try to be a nice guy and go FCC route but every time I turn around I find I can't really use it. I paid for it but only the one who can use it is the one it was originally intended for? 

[Lovetocruise2002]

If the cruise gets cancelled by Royal, you will have the option to get refunded back (or get 125% FCC) on the portion you paid out of pocket.  Cruise fare only. Taxes and fees always come back as a refund. 
 

The portion that you paid for using previous FCCs will be re-issued to you as a  new FCC.

If you use FCC to pay for your April 2021 cruise, and there is some remaining, the remaining portion will not be lost, it will be re-issued to you after you have completed your April sailing.

Royal has loosened the restrictions a bit on the FCCs in that sometimes (depending on who you get) they will now let you combine it. Also, as long as it is the same party travelling, it doesn’t really matter whose name is on the FCC, they will apply it to the reservation as a whole. 

That being said, FCCs are still restrictive so be careful how many you take.

[Dad2Cue]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That being said, FCCs are still restrictive to be careful how many you take.

So far, I have a "manageable number" of FCCs.  However, that assumes that cruises will resume at some point --- hopefully in the near future.  As the months of cruise cancellations add up,  the window for using FCCs is getting smaller before they expire. Also, I don't need to be the first person to return to cruising so I have applied my large FCC to a distant cruise in August 2021.  I'm not too sure when my FCC expires but I think it is the end of 2021.  If I accumulate more FCCs then I need to seriously start considering a B2B cruise.  My guess is that Royal will need to extend the expiration dates eventually but then the survival of the company comes into play.  

I find that the "dollar amount" of the future cruise credit is more of a problem.  When the value of the FCC exceeds the cost of the future cruise, you have to wait until after the first cruise and apply the remainder to another cruise.  I've already decided to upgrade to a GS just to be able to use the entire FCC on one cruise.

My other dilemma is that I now have 5 future cruises booked in the next 15 months.  I used to be a 1-2 cruise per year person.

[WAAAYTOOO]

All of the above....plus, they no longer allow FCC's to be placed on cruises that have been paid in full (essentially resulting in a CC refund).  That is a particular problem for me, as so many of our future cruises are casino comps, and casino comps must be paid in full when they are booked.  So even though I have 17 cruise booked between Nov. 2020 and April 2022, there are a limited number of them toward which I can apply an FCC.  And my BIGGEST peeve about FCC's is that they only allow you to apply 1 FCC per person per booking so if I have a small FCC (which I do....from the cancelled May Majesty sailing) and I apply it to one of my big $$ Star Class cruises, then that cruise becomes off limits for any other FCC's.  Unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately), I do not have the problem that @Dad2Cue has...my FCC NEVER covers the entire cruise fare.  I would love to be able to apply more than 1 per person/per cruise.

So....unless they start allowing us to

• use FCC's on paid in full cruises

AND

• allow us to apply more than 1 FCC per person/per cruise

 I will not be taking ANY more FCC's.

[Dad2Cue]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

All of the above....plus, they no longer allow FCC's to be placed on cruises that have been paid in full (essentially resulting in a CC refund).

I didn't know about that ... thanks.  I did manage to do that with my very first FCC and received a $1000 CC refund from a previously paid in full cruise.  That was nice.

I think I can deal with getting a FCC on another couple of cruises that I have booked nonrefundable and have only paid the deposit.  Now I just need to L&S those cruises before the final payment date or else I might get stuck with another big FCC if I decide to cancel later.  That is another thing I don't completely understand ... if I make the final payment does just the deposit become the FCC and does the remainder of the cruise fare get refunded??  I don't really want to make any final payments just to find out.

One "good" thing is that prices on future cruises seem to be much higher so it becomes easier to apply the full amount of the FCC.

[deep1]

One f the questions I'm having a hard tome finding an answer to is that the daughter will likely not be joining us at least for a few years... Its my understanding is that though I paid for it, it is "assigned to her and can only be used  by her"???? As I said if I use it to pay for her fare on the April trip, roughly half will be left out flapping in the breeze.... Something else is coming to mind where I could use it up and that would be a lift and shift to dates she would likely be free from college... Is it allowed to lift and shift a cruise paid for by fcc? Paid in Full???

 

 

[Dad2Cue]

4 hours ago, deep1 said:

Is it allowed to lift and shift a cruise paid for by fcc? Paid in Full???

I think that is allowed.  I "rescheduled" a paid in full cruise that was largely paid for with a FCC.  I say "rescheduled" because it was booked refundable so there was no restriction on date, cruise length, itinerary, etc.   A L&S can only be one year later + or - 30 days and limited to similar itinerary, same length, etc.

It took awhile so if you are calling Royal be prepared to be on hold for a long time.

[deep1]

2 hours ago, Dad2Cue said:

I think that is allowed.  I did "reschedule" a paid in full cruise that was largely paid for with a FCC.  I say "rescheduled" because it was booked refundable so there was no restriction on date, cruise length, itinerary, etc.   A L&S can only be one year later + or - 30 days and limited to similar itinerary, same length, etc.

It took awhile so if you are calling Royal be prepared to be on hold for a long time.

The hold the other night was 40 mins for new booking... I can live with that...  There are a couple same itinerary trips  next year in that same month. Does it have to be same departure port? Or can it be a near one?

 

[Dad2Cue]

7 hours ago, crisgold52 said:

It never takes more than 5 mins to get thru unless you're talking about an escalation to RSS? Never press EXT for existing reservations just press EXT for making new booking or travel agent support

@deep1 I got right through to a royal vacation planner to reschedule the cruise but then the post cruise dept had to move the FCC.  Actually the royal vacation planner was in communication with the post cruise dept and that was when I was placed on hold.  The royal vacation planner did apologize occasionally for the delay because he was having trouble getting through to the post cruise department.  I'm not really sure why I was placed on hold because they didn't seem to need me for anything except to announce at the end that they got everything done.  I said thank-you and that was the end of the call.

I have done a pure L&S that didn't involve a FCC and that seemed to be quick and easy so moving the FCC must be more of a challenge..

As for which cruises qualify for a L&S that is for Royal to decide.  They seem pretty flexible  but it might depend on what Royal rep handles your call. It seems like a second opinion never hurts if you don't like the first answer