Anyone Choosing A FCC Over A Cash Refund?

[Gregg]

I cancelled a bit after the “Peace of mind” policy was announced. A day later NCL suspends cruises, bumps the 100% FCC to 125% and also allows refunds. I just got off the phone with NCL and was told too bad, you cancelled before the suspension so no refunds and no 125%. I can understand if I canceled a month ago, but come on, one day later? Hopefully more people are in the same bind and enough complaints cause NCL to handle this properly on the third try. 

[Love my butler]

2 hours ago, Gregg said:

I cancelled a bit after the “Peace of mind” policy was announced. A day later NCL suspends cruises, bumps the 100% FCC to 125% and also allows refunds. I just got off the phone with NCL and was told too bad, you cancelled before the suspension so no refunds and no 125%. I can understand if I canceled a month ago, but come on, one day later? Hopefully more people are in the same bind and enough complaints cause NCL to handle this properly on the third try. 

I understand your issue but rules are rules.  You are asking for NCL to bend the rules.  Great, but where do they draw the line when bending the rules?  Everyone wants an exception.

 I believe this might come down to NCL needing every last nickel and dime to stay afloat.  Puns intended.

[knight2096]

3 hours ago, Gregg said:

I cancelled a bit after the “Peace of mind” policy was announced. A day later NCL suspends cruises, bumps the 100% FCC to 125% and also allows refunds. I just got off the phone with NCL and was told too bad, you cancelled before the suspension so no refunds and no 125%. I can understand if I canceled a month ago, but come on, one day later? Hopefully more people are in the same bind and enough complaints cause NCL to handle this properly on the third try. 

 You are 100 percent right, what NCL did was wrong. Many people were on cruises scheduled to leave this weekend. Those people had no choice, it was either take the FCC or lose everything, then just days later NCL offer refunds. That is just not right and NCL needs to do right by those people. At least give them the better credit if their not willing to give customers their money back. Other cruise lines are doing a much better job for their customers.

Edited March 14, 2020 by knight2096

[Gregg]

5 minutes ago, Love my butler said:

I understand your issue but rules are rules.  You are asking for NCL to bend the rules.  Great, but where do they draw the line when bending the rules?  Everyone wants an exception.

 I believe this might come down to NCL needing every last nickel and dime to stay afloat.  Puns intended.

I communicated to NCL both verbally and in writing my concerns over going on our cruise and asked for the ability to postpone. The response I received was they could not cancel and refund my cruise. I pointed out that I did not ask for a refund but instead wanted to cancel and use my payment on a future cruise. I was informed NCL would not do that and once again told no refunds (second time I was told no refunds when not asking for a refund). Fast forward to the “peace of mind” and now NCL is doing exactly what they told me they would not do. I guess that’s them bending the rules. I decided to cancel under these new terms because, first, it was the only option I had and second I was concerned they would flip flop and change the terms. After I canceled they changed their terms again, offering a larger FCC and a refund, remember I was told NCL wouldn’t do this just days earlier.  NCL showed no signs they were going to be accommodating when I first contacted them. The pure disregard I was shown when I asked, not for my money back, but just to be allowed to insure the safety of my family by delaying my cruise to a future date made it impossible for me to sit back and wait to see if NCL would do the right thing so I had to use the peace of mind offering when it was presented. 

[Love my butler]

2 hours ago, Gregg said:

I communicated to NCL both verbally and in writing my concerns over going on our cruise and asked for the ability to postpone. The response I received was they could not cancel and refund my cruise. I pointed out that I did not ask for a refund but instead wanted to cancel and use my payment on a future cruise. I was informed NCL would not do that and once again told no refunds (second time I was told no refunds when not asking for a refund). Fast forward to the “peace of mind” and now NCL is doing exactly what they told me they would not do. I guess that’s them bending the rules. I decided to cancel under these new terms because, first, it was the only option I had and second I was concerned they would flip flop and change the terms. After I canceled they changed their terms again, offering a larger FCC and a refund, remember I was told NCL wouldn’t do this just days earlier.  NCL showed no signs they were going to be accommodating when I first contacted them. The pure disregard I was shown when I asked, not for my money back, but just to be allowed to insure the safety of my family by delaying my cruise to a future date made it impossible for me to sit back and wait to see if NCL would do the right thing so I had to use the peace of mind offering when it was presented. 

You were told what they could do with the rules that were in place at the time.  The rules change all the time.  I have sympathy, but everyone wants an exception from the rules for something.  If everyone gets an exception, why do we have rules at all?

[Joyce898]

I've learned a few things about booking vacations from this experience

 

1. Don't book until you have to. i.e. opt to pay for gratuities until you have to.

2. Be patient.  Don't rush to action a refund/cancellation.  Situation may change every day to your benefit.  Information is key. try to get as much information as possible, which is why these forums are great

3. I will rather take the refund. cash is king and better in my pocket.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Joyce898

[Waquoit]

On 3/13/2020 at 8:23 PM, Double Jack said:

Like Steve Miller sang "Take the money and run"

I was ambivalent about my cruise even before the virus. Now I just want out. Straight cash, homie!

Edited March 16, 2020 by Waquoit
spelling

[sverigecruiser]

On 3/14/2020 at 4:55 PM, susanf31 said:

No, for the following reasons.

 

They get to keep your money for the next year or so - it's like giving them an interst free loan.

 

You are locked in to booking with NCL in the future. What if another cruiseline has a better cruise/deal?  Your money is tied up with NCL so you have fewer options.

 

Lastly, God forbid, they declare bankrupcy due to all of this. Your cruise credit will be worthless.  Best to have your money in YOUR pocket, not theirs, while we move through all of this Coronavirus uncertainity.

 

I should probably take the cash right now but it's probably better if many take the cruise credit. The risk of them going bankrupt is probably bigger if lots of people want cash right now.

 

Maybe they can move all ships to a rich country which can rent them as hospitals until they can use them as cruise ships again? (Abu Dhabi? Saudiarabia? Norway?) 

[lanceholt]

21 hours ago, Joyce898 said:

I've learned a few things about booking vacations from this experience

 

1. Don't book until you have to. i.e. opt to pay for gratuities until you have to.

2. Be patient.  Don't rush to action a refund/cancellation.  Situation may change every day to your benefit.  Information is key. try to get as much information as possible, which is why these forums are great

3. I will rather take the refund. cash is king and better in my pocket.

We waited it out as we didn't want to cancel too early.  We are taking the FCC and hope to have it go towards an April 2021 Transatlantic.....we were to be on the April 9 Transatlantic on the Star this year.  

 

[meatball_nyc]

Waiting for NCL to cancel our July Bermuda Encore cruise. It’s just a matter of time. 

Too bad. So sad.  

[Sand and Seas]

I'm still not sure about Cash or FCC.  I have three upcoming cruises starting in late October and I do feel positive about them.  Just not sure how the FCC can be applied for my CAS bookings.

 

I am happy that Hilton was a very easy refund of my 'Advance Purchase'  (supposedly not refundable) reservation.   So maybe just taking the Cash refund from NCL will be less worrisome than trying to figure out how they will let me apply a FCC to a CAS booking.   

 

I am holding out to see if Delta will cancel my flight which might give me more options with them.  Currently, I would have to figure out what to book $1000 of airfare on before Dec 31st.  (My Oct airfare is paid).

[littlelulu01]

There’s a lot of things in life that are different right now. Hopefully the cruise lines will be back to normal soon and we can go back to complaining about the simple stuff like 100% vs 125% fcc’s and the lobsters or lack of. 

Edited March 18, 2020 by littlelulu01

[kent1941]

Take the cash

That’s what I did. I’m expecting in the next few months a chapter 11/re-organization with future cruise credit worth very little


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[adamnoone]

1 hour ago, kent1941 said:

Take the cash

That’s what I did. I’m expecting in the next few months a chapter 11/re-organization with future cruise credit worth very little


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Did you get a refund already? When was your cruise scheduled for?