FCD no longer refunded if you cancel a cruise?

I just spotted a disturbing post on a Princess forum elsewhere. Has anyone else experienced this?

"Not sure if people are aware or if it's just an Australia thing but as of 3 weeks ago the rules of FCD has changed. It states that once you have applied it to your booking it is considered money and therefor subject to the terms and conditions of your passage contract. This is an important clause when you are dealing with cancellations. I cancelled a cruise for mid August and according to the new rules I am not entitled to get my FCD returned for future use. Fortunately my TA talked with Princess and was able to get ours returned as a one off. Do you think this new policy is a bit of a money grab from Princess? Do you think it will stop the problem of booked out cruises then around full payment cabins open up as people have pulled out?"

"Princess said it is effective immediately so I think their will be a lot of upset people especially if they have booked numerous cruises and intend to cancel some."

I currently have two unused FCDs, plus one that has been used as a deposit for a cruise next March. I've had no notification from Princess about any changes to the FCD rules. Surely they would have to notify people for such a major change, as the main benefit of the FCD is being able to cancel right up to final payment date and have the FCD returned to your Princess account.

I'll monitor the discussion on the other forum and post any other relevant info as it comes to light,

More info:

"I went to cancel my August cruise yesterday. We had one booked for July but decided it was too much to do one 14 day med then a 6 day break then go to the Baltic. I was there when my TA rang Princess. She was on the phone for ages trying to get them to return my FCD. It was then the Princess supervisor explained the new rules, effective immediately."

I posted info about this about two weeks ago.

The FCD is now lost if you cancel with in the cancellation penalty period.

In the past those with FCD were able to cancel right up until final payment and still have their FCD put back into their account, now the penalty is the loss of the FCD.

It is still able to be moved around as long as it is within the cancellation penalty times.

I just cancelled a cruise we had booked for December, I didnt realise the FCD had expired and they are sending the $200 back by cheque. Had I had left it till about July to cancel we would have lost the FCD.

I've just checked the emails I received when buying FCDs.

September 2015

" The FCD is fully refundable if your new booking is cancelled prior to final payment date, unless it is used in conjunction with a non-refundable deposit booking. "

April 2016 and September 2016

" Once applied to a booking, the FCD is considered money and is subject to the terms and conditions in the Passage contract. "

Interesting! The latter implies that if you cancel before Final Payment but within the period when deposits are non-refundable then you lose your FCD.

I must have missed that earlier discussion, Cheznandy.

They kept it very quiet, yet it appears it's been in place for at least a year. Perhaps nobody here had cancelled a cruise within the lose-deposit period.

I must have missed that earlier discussion, Cheznandy.

 

They kept it very quiet, yet it appears it's been in place for at least a year. Perhaps nobody here had cancelled a cruise within the lose-deposit period.

I know, I had always felt safe in the knowledge that I could cancel right up until final payment.

My princess holiday planner told me about it and I put the information in the CC Insurance thread........some posters had mentioned " thats why it is good to deposit with a FCD as there is no penalty" that is not the case anymore.

It is still a good deal, so long as you know when the 20% penalty date kicks in (loss of deposit, which now includes FCD) Final payment date has nothing to do with this. The penalty time starts about 6 months prior to the sail date, we usually have flights and hotels booked by then so are 100% going!!

I guess one advantage is it will stop people holding cabins and cancelling last minute:)

I know, I had always felt safe in the knowledge that I could cancel right up until final payment.

My princess holiday planner told me about it and I put the information in the CC Insurance thread........some posters had mentioned " thats why it is good to deposit with a FCD as there is no penalty" that is not the case anymore.

 

It is still a good deal, so long as you know when the 20% penalty date kicks in (loss of deposit, which now includes FCD) Final payment date has nothing to do with this. The penalty time starts about 6 months prior to the sail date, we usually have flights and hotels booked by then so are 100% going!!

I guess one advantage is it will stop people holding cabins and cancelling last minute:)

I cannot see it affecting me, as you say, generally flights would have been booked and as such insurance will cover any loses if we had to cancel.

I cannot see it affecting me, as you say, generally flights would have been booked and as such insurance will cover any loses if we had to cancel.

Thats it Mic. This morning when I cancelled the cruise, expecting the FCD to go back to the account, I knew it was before the penalty date, so called back when it wasnt there, but turns out it had expired.......serves me right for buying 2 in 2015 and not cruising enough:rolleyes:

I have one on our September cruise and one in "the bank".......see what the Majestic is offering;p

Thats it Mic. This morning when I cancelled the cruise, expecting the FCD to go back to the account, I knew it was before the penalty date, so called back when it wasnt there, but turns out it had expired.......serves me right for buying 2 in 2015 and not cruising enough:rolleyes:

 

I have one on our September cruise and one in "the bank".......see what the Majestic is offering;p

Yes, I look forward to seeing what is on offer. I think itinerary will be important as I think tendering will be an issue.

Yes, I look forward to seeing what is on offer. I think itinerary will be important as I think tendering will be an issue.

Thats when those lttle black cards come in handy;)

I know, I had always felt safe in the knowledge that I could cancel right up until final payment.

That plus the fact that you get your money back if you don't use it.

It is still a good deal, so long as you know when the 20% penalty date kicks in (loss of deposit, which now includes FCD) Final payment date has nothing to do with this. The penalty time starts about 6 months prior to the sail date, we usually have flights and hotels booked by then so are 100% going!!

I guess one advantage is it will stop people holding cabins and cancelling last minute:)

Yes, still worth getting FCDs but it does mean you have to ensure you have travel insurance well in advance or wear the $100pp loss.

It's annoying that they've kept so quiet about this change. Sure, it was in the FCD letters but if you'd been buying FCDs before the change in the wording you may not have picked up the change - I didn't.

Thats when those lttle black cards come in handy;)

Indeed Chez, except on cruises like we did last year on Island Princess - Panama Canal, 1000 Elites on board out of 2200 pax. The Elites had to get tender tickets and were not happy, the black card did not get tender priority on that one. We did shorex so did not have get tickets anyway.:D

As was pointed out by Goldie on talk back this morning...we are all at the mercy of the merchants when "conditions apply" and we just put up with it.

Thats when those lttle black cards come in handy;)

Yes they do, but so many people have them now.

Indeed Chez, except on cruises like we did last year on Island Princess - Panama Canal, 1000 Elites on board out of 2200 pax. The Elites had to get tender tickets and were not happy, the black card did not get tender priority on that one. We did shorex so did not have get tickets anyway.:D

The FDC's we just purchased on our South American cruise have the same statement: "once you have applied it to your booking it is considered money and therefor subject to the terms and conditions of your passage contract."

As far as I recall this has always been the case. When the passage contract says full refund up to the final payment date the FDC is re-deposited if cancelled before that date. When the booking has a non-refundable deposit you lose it if the cruise is cancelled, or cancelled and re-booked. It has been our experience with both refundable and non refundable deposits that when you cancel and re-book to take advantage of a different promo the FDC's have been reused.

No, the original wording was:

The FCD is fully refundable if your new booking is cancelled prior to final payment date, unless it is used in conjunction witha non-refundable deposit booking.

The change occurred sometime between October 2015 and April 2016.

On another note, FCD with on board spending in US $, now applied as AU$. On our last cruise in March, the spending money was converted from US into AU, from 75 to 93.50 AU. Not the case for my next booking. Anyone else has this experience as well? This is the first time, waiting for an explanation from my Princess consultant.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

As the Princess ships in Australian waters are using AUD, the OBC is paid as AUD.

As the Princess ships in Australian waters are using AUD, the OBC is paid as AUD.

We are aware of this, but have previously received the on board spending converted into Au dollars. They must have woken up.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We recently had to cancel our cruise, our TA had very stern words with Princess when the FCD

didn't come back, the upshot was that the $200 is being sent back but it is no longer a FCD.

She said shegot very angry with them as she ha not received any notification about the changes.:mad:

We recently had to cancel our cruise, our TA had very stern words with Princess when the FCD

didn't come back, the upshot was that the $200 is being sent back but it is no longer a FCD.

She said shegot very angry with them as she ha not received any notification about the changes.:mad:

We recently had to cancel our cruise, our TA had very stern words with Princess when the FCD

didn't come back, the upshot was that the $200 is being sent back but it is no longer a FCD.

She said shegot very angry with them as she ha not received any notification about the changes.:mad:

Was it because your FCD was out of date (over two years) or did you cancel your cruise within the 20% cancellation period?

We just cancelled a cruise and the $200 (for both of us) is being sent back to us as it was out of date in January 2017 and we were unable to transfer it to another cruise.......had we have cancelled in the penalty period I was told the FCD is treated like cash deposit and we lose it.

Just asking so it is clear what the new policy is.

It wasn't out of date cheznandy, my TA was told they changed the rules the day before

she cancelled. We will probably still lose the $200 as I can't see us cruising any time soon

as the Doctors can't find out what I wrong with my DH. Don't get me started on the Medica

system, this has been going on for 5 months and still counting.:(