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Downsides of Cruise with Confidence cancellation after final payment?


Chadster

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So I've got a bit of a dilemma and could use some collective wisdom, given the fact that Cruise With Confidence and the "cancel up to 48 hours before your cruise" policy is in play now. I just got my class schedule for October-November including the syllabus with due dates, and the week of Thanksgiving, I've got a giant milestone in my degree that needs to be completed that week. Major, as in not getting a check-plus-plus will push my potential graduation back a quarter. So, the week of Thanksgiving, it's likely I'll have final strongly-suggested (read: "mandatory") revisions in my hand from my professor -- and probably not much before that. Those revisions and final submission will be due the day the cruise returns to Orlando.

All this to ask: Since "Cruise With Confidence" is a thing currently, would you suggest I go ahead and make final payment this week and then cancel right before the cruise if it becomes necessary? Is there a downside to cancelling after final payment with CWC in effect?

I'm sitting here with my stomach in absolute knots. Needless to say, this particular timeline is the one I definitely didn't want to see... ?

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The only and possibly major downside is with 48hr CWC it will be a FCC. If you plan to reschedule, then by all means but if you are hoping for a refund or not giving an interest free loan, then I wouldn't make final payment. If you hope to be done with the project and plan to cruise then make final payment. Also I would probably just make final payment and cancel if need be so that when you graduate, you can have a congratulations cruise on the docket.

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The only downside is you have more money in play.  If you are comfortable that you will be able to apply all FCC by April 2022 for cruises sailed by September 2022 and you don't mind having large sums floating out there then there is little issue.

Those dates are not as far away as they used to be.  Make sure you will be able to comply with the FCC dates.  September 2022 is now just one year away.

The other potential downside is playing the FCC roulette wheel game.  You think you know how much your FCC should be but then what you get may leave you scratching your head.  

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Same answer….if you plan on being able to use FCC by the expiration date and not mind having that money tied up until then, you can make the final payment and then cancel if you must. It sounds like you’re not sure what the professor will consider as a likely time line. Maybe ask him/her what is recommended regarding the booked cruise dates. Maybe you will get a more concrete answer.?  Either way…good luck with both!

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I would talk to the professor first. Maybe you’ll get a better idea of the timeline and feel more comfortable making the decision. 
 

As others have said, if you can afford to keep that money in FCC limbo, then I’d wait until 48 hours to cancel. 
 

With that being said, I’d absolutely have a replacement cruise already in mind and if you can afford to put down a refundable deposit, I’d slap a deposit down on the replacement cruise. 
 

If you end up sailing the original, cancel the replacement and get your deposit back. If you have to cancel the original, your backup is already booked and apply your FCC to final payment. 

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26 minutes ago, BrianB said:

It sounds like you’re not sure what the professor will consider as a likely time line. Maybe ask him/her what is recommended regarding the booked cruise dates. Maybe you will get a more concrete answer.? 

I actually had to email my professor about something else, so I actually did throw in a question regarding the timeline of the new course, and now I wait. I didn't tell them that I was asking because of a vacation. ?

Also, if I were to cancel right before final payment, I know the deposit would be returned as an FCC (it was an NRD). But I applied other FCCs I received toward the balance as well. Would those come back as a combined FCC since credits were their initial form, or would it be refunded to my card?

I need to call and talk to my travel agent, I know, but it's past her business hours, and I feel like I've pestered her enough recently, so I was holding off on an email/message until tomorrow! ? Was just wanting some feedback from you knowledgeable folk so I could be a little more prepared in my decision-making.

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As someone who completed both their undergrad and graduates degrees while working full time and participating in a 24x7 on-call rotation, my suggestion is to NOT travel during the semester.  What little travel we did, was all between coursework and it as part of the sacrifices we made with our priorities, so your priorities could be different.  
 

however, if you’re asking here, then I think you’re subconsciously leaning towards canceling and looking for validation that it’s a good decision.

 

good luck with your decision.

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56 minutes ago, Reigert2008 said:

As someone who completed both their undergrad and graduates degrees while working full time and participating in a 24x7 on-call rotation, my suggestion is to NOT travel during the semester.  What little travel we did, was all between coursework and it as part of the sacrifices we made with our priorities, so your priorities could be different. 

They are not, and you're right. I mainly just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in my thought process with the FCCs and everything else...but it's looking like cancelling (sorry, Group Cruisers! ?is going to be the right call.

Especially since after reading a suggestion above, I was doing some "backup cruise" checking, and let's just say I stumbled into what could be one heck of a deal for spring to celebrate before diving into dissertation work. ?

I was just really conflicted because I wanted to hang out with an awesome group, but I know there'll be future opportunities! Will touch base with my travel guru at MEI and get things sorted!

Thanks to this group for being an awesome sounding board.

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10 hours ago, Chadster said:

They are not, and you're right. I mainly just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in my thought process with the FCCs and everything else...but it's looking like cancelling (sorry, Group Cruisers! ?is going to be the right call.

Especially since after reading a suggestion above, I was doing some "backup cruise" checking, and let's just say I stumbled into what could be one heck of a deal for spring to celebrate before diving into dissertation work. ?

I was just really conflicted because I wanted to hang out with an awesome group, but I know there'll be future opportunities! Will touch base with my travel guru at MEI and get things sorted!

Thanks to this group for being an awesome sounding board.

Keep in mind that the FCC takes some time to process, and the full payment deadline for a spring cruise may come up before it is processed.  My advice is to cancel now.  You can apply all but $100 of your deposit towards your new cruise.  $100 is not much to lose.

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By way of update/closure to say thanks again: I went ahead and cancelled before final payment was due; my TA is in the process of getting the FCCs I used and some OBC taken care of, which will be applied to the new cruise, a May sailing in a studio balcony cabin on Ovation to Alaska for less than my previous cruise! It's even a day longer, so that means more points. 

Thanks for all the feedback, everybody. This cruise is going to fit much better into my schedule, and the timeframe leaves extra room to get all the FCCs sorted and applied instead of worrying about final payment date approaching while still waiting for them.

Watch out, though, future group cruisers -- I'm keeping my eyes open to be amongst your numbers one day! ?

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