Would you take 125 %FCC or 100% money back from Celebrity?

[MarLieb]

No question for me - cash.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, az_tchr said:

If I wanted to book a cruise out two years would take the FCC and book it. You do not need to use the FCC only book soon.

Does seem X will need to allow extra year as if the cruising hold lasts say 2 more months they will need 2 years to accommodate the many thousands with FCC.

I meant to say more than two years out.  If a cruise is bookable I have already booked it.

 

Another reason to take the cash is if you end up booking with another line.  For instance I don't prefer the X Tahiti itinerary,  I would much prefer the Princess itinerary.  

 

Cash gives you more flexibility unless you see something that you could use the FCC  on TODAY.

Edited March 15, 2020 by NMTraveller

[Fouremco]

3 hours ago, BP99 said:

Hi,

I filled out the form for a refund also.
HOWEVER, there was NO confirmation email that they received it.

The online form states they will send one!

Others on CC also did not receive a confirmation email.

One person followed up by phone (took 3 hours) and

posted that the confirmation (not the refund) will take 2 weeks. HUH!!!

Why are they stalling???

 

I don't think that this is a question of stalling but one of not having the necessary personnel and IT capacity to acknowledge receipt in a more timely fashion.

 

Many of the companies with whom I communicate generate an automated receipt that I receive within seconds of having submitted something to them. This is a pretty basic business practice, but apparently not one that Celebrity has adopted.

[tartantiara]

We have quite a large amount of FCC coming for our recently cancelled cruise . We have a b/b booked for October so phoned our agent to see if we can apply it to these cruises but was told it can only be applied to one cruise. None of the b/b cruises are more than the FCC  so we will lose out . I think we would be better to take the cash

Edited March 15, 2020 by tartantiara
Spelling

[mafig]

We opted for the refund.

Supposed to see it refunded to our credit card within 30 days.

 

I just hope they're better at this than mailing out luggage tags.  It usually takes me a couple of times filling out that form until it "takes."

[jerryd1]

6 minutes ago, tartantiara said:

We have quite a large amount of FCC coming for our recently cancelled cruise . We have a b/b booked for October so phoned our agent to see if we can apply it to these cruises but was told it can only be applied to one cruise. None of the b/b cruises are more than the FCC  so we will lose out . I think we would be better to take the cash

Your agent doesn't agree with the particulars on the Celebrity website.  It says ...

 

Q. What if you want to use your Future Cruise Credit on a cruise that’s not the same price as the original booking?

A. Just like any Future Cruise Credit, you will be responsible for paying the difference between the new cruise fare and the amount of the Future Cruise Credit (if any). 

If you apply the FCC on a cruise that’s less
expensive, a new Future Cruise Credit will be issued for the balance, opening yet another great opportunity to cruise with us again.

[treehugr]

My wife and I, with friends, are booked on the 4/11 Equinox sailing, which is currently barely not on the chopping block of cancelled cruises. That stated we’re fully anticipating things to rapidly change and additional cancellations coming soon.

 

If cancelled, obviously we would be faced with a full refund or 125% FCC. The FCC seems tempting, but once I looked at the same sailing in the near future and a year away, we asked why would anyone take the FCC? For the same cruise (off season) / cabin / perks the same cruise was 2k more in September than what we paid, and 4.5k more in April 2021 (2 more days though). Keep in mind we were only able to get these “bargains” with elite / 55+ / military discounts applied…lucky for us.

 

Call me crazy, but this pricing structure seems geared towards grabbing the money we paid for one cruise already and practically soaking us for another in the future cruise booking (1 cruise for the price of 2). From my own perspective, when faced with current events and PR nightmare, this pricing doesn’t appear to wise when a business needs to keep cash in hand.

 

We love Celebrity, but for us this is a no brainer. Why would anyone take the FCC with those prices? We have many other options available to us for our hard earned $. Curious others thoughts? Anyone that took the FCC that has already booked / or looking to book with FCC?

[hiccups]

That was why we decided on the refund.  The same cruise we've had cancelled, with the same perks (but less OBC because we booked during the Veteran's Day sale) was double the price for the same sailing next year.

Hopefully the cruise lines recover, and at some point, we'll see some prices that we're willing to pay.

[cruisetonowhere10]

I also have a 4/11 cruise and will take a cash refund if offered.  The next cruise I’m really looking at is in 2021 and actually has gone down in price but it’s a 14 day and would not be with my kids (who would have fcc to use.). Too complicated with schedules to be certain we wouldn’t be throwing money away.

[jelayne]

We did, and will apply it to one of our booked cruises.  I have been watching prices on our 7 future booking, I check prices 2-3 times a week & have for years.  5 have not increased in price since late December.  1 AQ is sold out so can’t check and I’ve grabbed a group pricing on the other but I think it has gone up about $500 pp regular prices

 

None are Caribbean cruises which many like so pricing activity may different on those.

[tartantiara]

23 minutes ago, jerryd1 said:

Your agent doesn't agree with the particulars on the Celebrity website.  It says ...

 

Q. What if you want to use your Future Cruise Credit on a cruise that’s not the same price as the original booking?

A. Just like any Future Cruise Credit, you will be responsible for paying the difference between the new cruise fare and the amount of the Future Cruise Credit (if any). 

If you apply the FCC on a cruise that’s less
expensive, a new Future Cruise Credit will be issued for the balance, opening yet another great opportunity to cruise with us again.

Thank you I will email them and point this out. It seems a shame not to take advantage of the extra 25% when I know I will definitely use it  

[pixiedust777]

If our 4/13 is cancelled I will take the refund. 
A FCC would be greater than what we owe on the next cruise we already have a deposit on and to book a similar cruise same time next year would cost us an extra 40%.

 

[henry1005]

Also, it seems that one could take the 125% FCC and later decide to opt for the cash refund...unless you are worried about Celebrity not honoring in the future (seems very unlikely) the 25% bonus makes sense--especially if you have other cruises later this year or next.

 

Here's the excerpt posted on another thread: "In order to compensate you for this cancellation, all booked guests will automatically receive a 125% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) valid until December 31^st, 2021.  Should you prefer a 100% refund to your original method of payment you may contact us anytime up until the expiration date of your FCC.  To avoid waiting on the phone to cancel, please click here and we will get the process started for you.

 

Thoughts?

[Georgia_Peaches]

We will also take the refund.  I imagine prices will continue to increase in an effort to make up for lost revenue.  We have a panama canal cruise booked for March 2021...if Celebrity would allow me to apply a 125% FFC to that already booked cruise, I would likely do that.  At this point I don't really know what policy they are honoring as far as cruises that are already booked.

[Blue_Flame]

Can anyone please explain how FCC’s are applied to an existing booking? Do you expect it to show as a payment toward your balance? Or will it be used to reduce your original fare?
 

The reason I ask, is that my only experience with FCC was when I had to cancel a non-refundable deposit of $500. Celebrity kept $200 and gave me $300 FCC. I called my TA and had it applied to an existing booking for later this year. But instead of showing a $300 payment toward that cruise, Celebrity lowered my base fare by $300. By doing that, the OBC from my TA also lowered a bit. 
 

It didn’t make a huge difference on that sailing, but if I will be faced with making a decision with thousands of dollars involved (we have a 4/11 sailing) I would want to know If the FCC would be applied as a payment or used to reduce the base fare. 
 

Do FCC’s have different redemption rules depending on the reason they were issued?

[maggie.1008]

We are canceling our Hawaii cruise next month. AQ class cabin is twice as much next May. 

[TeaBag]

18 hours ago, SusieV said:

I'm holding out for a higher offer. 125% is not enough when they normally give full refund + full fcc. I'd even be happy with 200% FCC.

Wow!  And you are sitting comfortably in your home!  We are being offered the same and we are sailing in rings off the coast of San Antonio, Chile where thy will not allow us to dock even thought there are no sick people on board.  We were supposed to sail on to Vancouver.  The confusion and disorganization on board here is a disgrace.  We finally got through to UA last night and booked a flight home 6AM Monday which cost nearly as much as our AQ fare on this 15 day cruise, San Antonio to San Diego.  As time passes we fear we will have to cancel it.

I will be taking the cash. 

Edited March 15, 2020 by TeaBag

[sippican]

We will take the FCC if our 4/25 sailing is cancelled and apply it to two bookings we have for next year. Being unable to afford the, or find an acceptable cabin on the transpacific for 2021, we have booked it for 2022 (of course knowing there will be no compensation or credit applied).

[jerryd1]

15 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

We were supposed to sail on to Vancouver. 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by jerryd1

[NJ Gal]

When we cancelled B/B on the Apex,  it was one refund on Monday--a combination of FCC and some cash to credit card. When the cancellation officially went thru Tuesday morning,  the refund then was 100% FCC, not what we were told Monday.  Things are changing day by day & NOT in the favor of the passengers.  If they require those 70 + to have a DR letter to board, it will be difficult to use the FCC by the end of 2021. 

[treehugr]

One of the other items we discussed in our small group is what would an FCC would worth should a cruise-line file for bankruptcy protection. Not that I'm suggesting such a thing would ever happen with these big conglomerates we currently have. But in light of the recent market sell off, what would be the break point at which such a thing would ever be considered by a cruise line?  Would an FCC still be required to be honored? 

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, treehugr said:

My wife and I, with friends, are booked on the 4/11 Equinox sailing, which is currently barely not on the chopping block of cancelled cruises. That stated we’re fully anticipating things to rapidly change and additional cancellations coming soon.

 

If cancelled, obviously we would be faced with a full refund or 125% FCC. The FCC seems tempting, but once I looked at the same sailing in the near future and a year away, we asked why would anyone take the FCC? For the same cruise (off season) / cabin / perks the same cruise was 2k more in September than what we paid, and 4.5k more in April 2021 (2 more days though). Keep in mind we were only able to get these “bargains” with elite / 55+ / military discounts applied…lucky for us.

 

Call me crazy, but this pricing structure seems geared towards grabbing the money we paid for one cruise already and practically soaking us for another in the future cruise booking (1 cruise for the price of 2). From my own perspective, when faced with current events and PR nightmare, this pricing doesn’t appear to wise when a business needs to keep cash in hand.

 

We love Celebrity, but for us this is a no brainer. Why would anyone take the FCC with those prices? We have many other options available to us for our hard earned $. Curious others thoughts? Anyone that took the FCC that has already booked / or looking to book with FCC?

Obvious to me, ... as you pointed out, you got 'a bargain', maybe another one will pop up before too long.

 

bon voyage

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

I also have a 4/11 cruise and will take a cash refund if offered.  The next cruise I’m really looking at is in 2021 and actually has gone down in price but it’s a 14 day and would not be with my kids (who would have fcc to use.). Too complicated with schedules to be certain we wouldn’t be throwing money away.

You may want to consider paying for a 'refundable deposit' to hold and as time got closer and you see one way or the other how things will shake out, cancel and re-book at last minute i.e. 75 - 60 days out or altogether.

 

bon voyage

[SunNFunCruzer]

4 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Obvious to me, ... as you pointed out, you got 'a bargain', maybe another one will pop up before too long.

 

bon voyage

 

 

I think she was being funny/sarcastic with her use of the word "bargain" since the prices are so much higher even with her discount.

 

The benefit of the refund, in my eyes, is that you can then actually hunt a bargain on any line and are not tied to rebooking on X.

 

 

[poffles]

The future could be interesting times for cruising as well as for travel in general.  Cruise pricing has already been a game of numbers so one has to expect the cost to go up for sure with perhaps no benefits at all.  FCC value may end up being far from 'like for like' when the time comes to use it.

 

Before all of this happened, I booked a cruise for April 2021, a 12 night Caribbean.  The cost for a veranda with drinks and 400 OBC ($US) was $5400 CAD total for 2 people.  Interestingly since this was booked (last October) the price has been slowly increasing and I was already fascinated by this .. couple months it was 6K .. then it was 7K .... now I look and current cost is $9100 CAD ... OMG. I know that time of year can be peak time and it is likely getting pretty booked but that is crazy and I don't know if the affects of COVID-19 are really in play for this cost so I am afraid the future might out-price my wallet.

 

Then there is the worst case of bankruptcy as others have stated but I choose to be optimistic that it won't end up there.