FUTURE CRUISE CREDIT????

[sparkers]

I recently spoke with a friend and was talking about the frustration I was experiencing with FCC and Royal. If you have used your FCC on a cruise and then that cruise also got canceled you have to call them to reissue it. Because now you have the original FCC and any additional amount from the cruise that was canceled that now becomes another FCC. Then if you think they will reissue you may find out you were wrong and need to call them again. Then it might need to be researched by resolutions and then you need to call again to have it reissued. I could go on and on about all of the confusion and frustration with this. It shouldn't be this difficult and I can only wonder how many don't even know what they have out there. When all is said and done I suspect there will be money out there that I am unaware of. Yes they SOMETIMES send an email but often they don't. My friend said that with NCL all you have to do is go into your account and all your FCC amounts and where they are used is posted. Now why can't Royal also do this? It would take away all the frustration and confusion and cut down on staff costs to spend countless hours on the phone trying to resolve this with us.

[KevinJ]

To add to the confusion, their math doesn't always add up. I've had refunds not match what I paid, I've had balances on invoices not add up, and FCCs that I can't figure out how they came up with the total they had. I've got to the point if I can keep the discrepancy below 100$ I've been more or less happy. 

[Sharla]

Disney is much much much much easier too- FCC is tied to your Castaway Club numbers and shows up with you book. Royal needs to take a lesson from other cruise lines on this matter. 

[Neesa]

My frustration has never been higher then  right now, thank goodness I have Sharla in my corner. I can't even get excited for the newest offerings my booked sailing is canceled for third time after being reinstated, I paid the balance a week before it was due BUT my almost 5,000 FCC while taken (the balances reflect this) they are not applied to the sailing NOR can they locate them. Seriously my FCC tethered monies are just gone they keep literally taking monies and "loosing them" it is so unbelievable.  FCC clearly state to be used for a future sailing not taken by Royal and incinerated or lost. I wish now I had taken the refunds in hindsight but I had so much faith in this company, my family has given them our support the entire time, I am literally making myself sick over this. please, send prayers and positive thoughts, and Sharla is feverishly working every day to find my monies. I feel so duped.

[Baked Alaska]

@Neesa How has all this worked out? I've been away (Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks) and am just getting caught up!

[Neesa]

Good to hear you have had some time away. No still no resolution. Even Sharla escalated and has gotten no where. I know they are really busy getting the non US sailings going but this is bad. Poor treatment of an existing customer. I guess they figure they already have my monies but no the 5000.00 in FCC is still no where to be found. It's infuriating. Thanks for checking back, DCL Wish I'm on my way.....

[Sharla]

@Neesa well at least getting a new booking number for the one sailing has worked thus far! No more auto-cancels!

[Neesa]

3 hours ago, Neesa said:

 No still no resolution. Even Sharla escalated and has gotten no where. 

Oh, @Sharla is literally on it EVERY DAY!! I don't want to seem like the non resolution is tethered to her efforts, she is on fire.. staying in touch with me and reaching out on my behalf more than I can count.. conversing with everyone she can, she has been awesome. And yes at least no more auto cancellations.  My ONLY comfort in dealing with this is knowing Sharla is in my corner.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Neesa
Sharla is the best!

[MMiles04]

I'm beyond frustrated. I've spoken to 4 reps who all have different answers on what my refund is. I'm telling them what it should be.

Now I'm being shorted by $400...ugh

[Neesa]

@MMiles04 so sad, seems oh so familiar. Their math is also an issue. One of my cancelled sailings I paid balance with earned FCC that was from a previous cancellation at 125% but I didn't want to pay the balance on the next as I knew it was being cancelled so I CWC cancelled, they only refunded up to 100% and kept the 25% I had previously earned. Now an additional 5,000 is still taken but missing. It gives me little confidence in this FCC program. 

[Cruise Pirate]

I was and still having the issue too with FCC and not adding up. I finally called my travel agent, American Express Travel, and said I want an audit of ALL my credit card transactions mapped up to current and future cruises. Oh boy, I was on a 3 way call with them and RC and right now I have a dedicated person at RC looking over all my bookings since this crap started last year and reviewing where all my $$ went and being reviewed for what I got back in FCC. She is even saying what she is finding is a mess and needs days to unravel it and get the fixes approved.

I have over $4k in CC transactions for a cruise and they said that I should only get back $3k in FCC even with the 125% added. This does not make any sense why they can't calculate this correctly.

[smokeybandit]

You booked a 2020 cruise in 1999?

What ship, Delorean of the Seas?

[twangster]

2 hours ago, Duane Fulton said:

In Dec 1999 I booked a cruise set to sail in 2020. paid in full with a credit card. RC cancelled the cruise, we switched it for another cruise which RC then cancelled. We were within the guide lines to receive a refund $1049.38. RC told us very clearly that if they cancelled a cruise, we would get a full refund. -- THEY cancelled, not us. DO NOT want a FCC which as far as I'm concerned is next to useless. Last month, after about a year, they gave me a refund -- $76.56 "out of $1049.38". Maybe they'll refund a little more next month. GOOD LUCK getting RC to part with promised refunds. They have a lot of excuses. NOT happy with them - won't sail with them again.   Duane Fulton

The amount refunded could be related to taxes and port fees.  Those are always refunded regardless who cancels the cruise.   Perhaps those were not refunded in full at the time.

The only reason why FCC would be useless would be because you are choosing not to sail with them again.  That's a choice you are free to make.  FCC is quite useful to many of us.  

[disneyelisabeth]

I agree that FCC is incredibly difficult to keep track of, especially when you’ve had multiple cancellations. I’m super thankful that my travel agent (shoutout to @Sharla) is on top of it! I consider myself relatively organized, but it’s all pretty muddled in my mind at this point.

[twangster]

6 hours ago, disneyelisabeth said:

I agree that FCC is incredibly difficult to keep track of, especially when you’ve had multiple cancellations. I’m super thankful that my travel agent (shoutout to @Sharla) is on top of it! I consider myself relatively organized, but it’s all pretty muddled in my mind at this point.

Welcome to the message boards!

In these times a good TA has been a sweet blessing.  

[disneyelisabeth]

6 hours ago, twangster said:

Welcome to the message boards!

In these times a good TA has been a sweet blessing.  

Thank you! Glad to be here!

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, Duane Fulton said:

I am 78 with issues that prevent me from sailing again. The choice that I am "free to make" is , I want my money back like RC said RC said they would do if they cancelled -- which they said they would do. I booked a cruise, not a FCC with a 2 year expiration date. Why don't you loan me some cash if I promise to pay you back? Then you can "be free to choose" if you want an IOU back, or nothing.  Duane Fulton

When you stated "I will not sail with them again" it suggests you were planning to sail with someone else.  

It's regrettable that your situation precludes you from ever sailing again.

Having agreed to the terms and conditions when you booked the cruise and subsequently upon accepting the FCC from the first cancellation the lesson learned for others in a similar situation is to fully read and understand the options that are being presented.  When you agreed to move your money to the second cruise that was a choice and it has resulted in terms and conditions that do not include a refund.

I understand you just want your money back but choices were made that don't allow that.  

You can continue to repeat your story over and over but it won't change the outcome.

 

[teddy]

(Sorry)

[Plumlee2028]

29 minutes ago, Duane Fulton said:

Maybe the same thing will happen to you. It IS happening to a LOT of other people. Cruise lines are booking passengers for cruises that they know probably won't be sailing. They then issue them a FCC which they then turn around and cancel that cruise. Sounds to me like preparing for bankruptcy. And you, like most arrogant people, are making incorrect assumptions

This is a message board for fans/enthusiasts, not the company, so while understandable, venting about their policies (which have been quite clear since this pandemic started) won't help much here.  Lots of people here happen to have a wealth of knowledge and have been happy to share it.  My TA has stated he has had several customers previously booking with NCL booking with Royal due to their Pandemic related policies.  From what I have heard some of the tracking/management on the cruise line side for all of these is a little difficult to track (outdated software setup).  My FCCs from my may cancelled sailing are a little delayed, just due to volume.  Again, from my second/third hand accounts, their IT isn't built for this.  Thats understandable given no company builds their systems for never-before used policies based on cancelling 100% of their business for over a year.   

 That said, you're basically accusing a public company of fraud routinely on here.  Creating policies to try and hold cash, in a public-friendly (and transparent) way makes total sense during a 0% revenue environment. Yes, FCCs benefit them, but by adding 25% they are effectively attempting to provide "interest" on the money, which at 25% is certainly better than a bank account.   Its why the refunds always include taxes and fees, because those obviously never go to the bottom line, so keeping that money is a little messy from an accounting perspective. I work in the airline industry.  I train pilots, so I am not dealing with the public constantly, but my company instituted substantial cancellation flexibility both to drive bookings and bring some revenue in, and create a system/pathway to manage bookings through a credit system to avoid (more) cash going out the door every day.  Its just common sense, not "preparing for bankruptcy."  People speculate on my company going bankrupt every day, yet we haven't, and hopefully won't. 

Based on reading your previous accounts on all this, I was under the impression that somewhere along the line, someone, be it you, your group, whoever, took an FCC (you've used the word "voucher") which precludes future refunds.  That policy has been crystal clear since it was introduced early in the pandemic.

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, Duane Fulton said:

Maybe the same thing will happen to you. It IS happening to a LOT of other people. Cruise lines are booking passengers for cruises that they know probably won't be sailing. They then issue them a FCC which they then turn around and cancel that cruise. Sounds to me like preparing for bankruptcy. And you, like most arrogant people, are making incorrect assumptions

The only LOT of people seem to be those who didn't read the fine print. I get the impression you keep posting your story under anything to do with refunds or FCC because you are some sort of cautionary tale. But based on everything you have posted it is 100% your fault. The cruise lines are not booking passengers on fantastical cruises. They have every intention of sailing, not to mention nobody is forcing anyone to book anything. @twangster was not being arrogant, he surmised your issue and tried to help you further understand. Nobody has made any assumption, rather they keep trying to help you understand, keeping in mind this blog is no way affiliated with RCG, but you don't like what you hear and seem to snap off.

But I also had to call about an FCC, the name was wrong and when I tried to apply to another cruise it said invalid. Was on with RCG for about 45min until everything got sorted. So please check the spelling as well because it was off by just 2 letters and I almost lost out.

[SpeedNoodles]

This is going nowhere quickly.  It's time to move on.