$250 down payment, when "already" paid in full?????

[beshears]

I am going to ask this question, and I have a feeling Carnival may not like it, and will not publish it on here, so I will go "another route" to get my question/message out.

 

There were 8 of us that were to be cruising this past Sunday, or yesterday and had NOT cancelled out, but because of the Coronaviris, Carnival cancelled the cruise, which we understand. My PVP with Carnival told me we had the "choice" of getting a full refund back, or using the ALL the money that was paid out in FULL, as well as OBC.  When I talked with my PVP, she told me we could get a room that is the same cost, or more, which we had no problem with.  The problem..............they want $250.00 as a down payment for this next cruise, and NOT refundable!!! This does NOT make sense.  We have the money to pay for the next cruise completely, but they STILL want $250.00 down additionally.  This is just putting MORE money back in Carnival's pocket.  If you have heard/seen anything about this, please give me your thoughts on it.

[mnp75]

I had to cancel the same cruise, my wife is a teacher. I had to cancel/FCC my Horizon cruise that was for this week. Put a hold on March 2021 Mardi Gras and had that booking info ready when I called Carnival. Still has to pay my $250 deposit for the new cruise. Prices are almost even and  still haven't got all the money credited to new cruise yet. Have no clue what my balance will be!

Edited March 16, 2020 by mnp75
info

[firefly333]

I'm booked rcl not ccl, but we too have to make the down payment and wait for the fcc.

 

Once we get the fcc we can then apply it, including to the down payment.

 

At least you get obc with the offer. You also got $300 obc for not cancelling which we also didnt get.

 

Carnival didnt choose to cancel you, they were forced to imo 

 

Not much sympathy.... you are getting $600 obc, rcl is giving 125 % and no obc, and prices are rising to where I cant rebook for what I paid.

 

Sorry no sympathy... dont like having to pay the new down payment myself. But it's what it is, or cancel and take the refund. If I cant rebook, it's looking like I will have to take the refund. I'm booked april 26, haven't been cancelled yet. Watching rcl prices rise as people rebook.

[Doggielover68]

Something doesn't seem right here. I struggled a bit to get my cruise rescheduled and mine wasn't one of the cancelled ones. I rebooked on the same ship, same itinerary, and same room category and didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. 

 

Remember they don't care about the cost of the room, it's all about the category. I would suggest finding out exactly which category room you have and book the same or higher. Maybe a different agent will be more knowledgeable.

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Doggielover68

[firefly333]

13 minutes ago, Doggielover68 said:

Something doesn't seem right here. I struggled a bit to get my cruise rescheduled and mine wasn't one of the cancelled ones. I rebooked on the same ship, same itinerary, and same room category and didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. 

 

Remember they don't care about the cost of the room, it's all about the category. I would suggest finding out exactly which category room you have and book the same or higher. Maybe a different agent will be more knowledgeable.

 

Idk about carnival, but it's taking rcl a bit to issue the new fcc as so many cruises got cancelled. 

 

Maybe if you cancel easier to move than if you are dealing with a cruise that got cancelled and you get a bonus fcc to rebook, idk. .. ?

 

Or rcl is just taking longer to issue the new fcc on the cruises that got cancelled, heard wait time went from 3 now 4 weeks. 

[lostsoulcruiser]

1 hour ago, beshears said:

I am going to ask this question, and I have a feeling Carnival may not like it, and will not publish it on here, so I will go "another route" to get my question/message out.

 

There were 8 of us that were to be cruising this past Sunday, or yesterday and had NOT cancelled out, but because of the Coronaviris, Carnival cancelled the cruise, which we understand. My PVP with Carnival told me we had the "choice" of getting a full refund back, or using the ALL the money that was paid out in FULL, as well as OBC.  When I talked with my PVP, she told me we could get a room that is the same cost, or more, which we had no problem with.  The problem..............they want $250.00 as a down payment for this next cruise, and NOT refundable!!! This does NOT make sense.  We have the money to pay for the next cruise completely, but they STILL want $250.00 down additionally.  This is just putting MORE money back in Carnival's pocket.  If you have heard/seen anything about this, please give me your thoughts on it.

Same thing happened to me.  I re-booked my 5/3/2020 cruise and ended up placing a $250 deposit on my October replacement.  I just applied the whole payment (I was fully paid at time of cancellation) to the future booking.  Now that the future cruise credit and refund has transferred over, I now overpaid for the October cruise and will take it as an on-board credit.  I suppose I could ask for a refund on the overage but we will spend it anyway.

BTW; look at your travel insurance if you purchased it through Carnival or some other company.  I had to ask for a refund for the May cruise while paying for the October cruise.  That is done through another company. 

This is all a function of their computer systems which is looking at your future cruise as an independent action (booking).

[Roger88]

As long as it happens to be your on board credit I wouldn't worry. Its basically that exact sum of money you spend on board. The only difference would be that now you will spend it as an on board credit. You can also try selling those credit with a random guy on a ship, I am sure you everyone knows how to get money out of the those gift cards. Anyway, If you don't mind bothering with this task, just relax and spend this money on something delicious on board.  

[J0urn3yman]

They can't book a cruise with FCC funds, they need a CC number or Cruise Voucher to book.

I cancelled my April 11 Panorama Cruise and they refunded 60% back to my CC and 40% went to FCC.

4 days later, I used my refunded amount to book on Mardi Grass (refunded amount was on my credit card by then),

My PVP applied the 40% FCC to my balance a day later. 

[bahacca]

Assuming the cruise you want to take isn't for a while, wait for a no or low deposit sale.

 

[crzndeb]

2 hours ago, bahacca said:

Assuming the cruise you want to take isn't for a while, wait for a no or low deposit sale.

 

Those are usually attached to Early Saver rates, and they may not want that, due to penalties associated with the rate fare.

[Illbcruzn4life]

Those are usually attached to Early Saver rates, and they may not want that, due to penalties associated with the rate fare.

I don’t see much other than early saver rates now. Haven’t seen a past guest rate in awhile


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[cruizergal70]

Sound like it's for accounting reasons. Keeping everything separate. Trying to move money between bookings could be a mess.

 

 

FYI, your first sentences doesn't make any sense. Why would you think Carnival would care about a random question posted online.

[Rudyard]

I rebooked my March 21st cruise for September today and wasn't asked for a deposit. Since we're switching from Dream to Freedom and were originally in a cove, we decided to go ahead and book into an OV instead so we wouldn't  have to pay any extra for a balcony since the cruise is a day longer. The FCC covered my cruise , and going down in cabin type made it cheaper than the original cruise so I'll be getting almost $200 extra OBC on top of the $300 Carnival was already going to give us. The PVP I talked to simply made the change and I got an e-mail a few minutes later with the new booking number showing paid in full. 

[jdixon0631]

We had a cruise on the 5day Paradise for 3/28/2020 Paid 955.22.  I sent in the form to cancel and receive 100%fcc and $300 obc. I called today and  Rescheduled for Ft Lauderdale Breeze Cruise 6day for $847. We received $108 for the difference we paid plus $300 for the cancelled March cruise. $ 408 obc. we never had to put a new deposit on the rebooked cruise.

Edited March 16, 2020 by jdixon0631

[vwrestler171]

Sadly, all FCCs require you to pay a new deposit, if you want the OBC.  Just get a refund and rebook the cruise you want, without the OBC

[jdixon0631]

35 minutes ago, vwrestler171 said:

Sadly, all FCCs require you to pay a new deposit, if you want the OBC.  Just get a refund and rebook the cruise you want, without the OBC

Not true, my old booking transferred all the money I paid in full. Plus $300 obc for cancelled cruise 3/28/20. The 3/28/20 cruise was $955.22 Rebooked for 10/8/20 for $847. Received $108 obc for the price difference and $300 Obc for cancelled cruise

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by jdixon0631

[beshears]

Oh my, thank you ALL for your responses.  As for WHY I thought CC might not put my question out, I know sometimes they are strict about some of the questions that are ask.  I'm glad this posting DID go through. 🙂

Yes, we did/do have insurance  to cover the 8 of us, but 3 had already gone to Florida, waiting for us, but then, the night before we were to fly in, and cruise a couple days later, we were notified that Carnival was cancelling the March 15th cruise. The insurance was taken out with TripInsuranceStore.  I have not contacted them, as the 3 others are still in Mexico, and I had taken the coverage for cruise/flight. I'm thinking for the rest of us, this is money in their pocket that they never had to cover for us, as we never left home.

I'm "wondering" if switching to a different ship, with possibly same/some of the itinerary might make a difference?  I know the Horizon was an expensive ship, and maybe like someone posted here, if we went to another ship with about the same itinerary, STILL using the Carnival PVP, maybe she/Carnival would not be asking for a new down payment.

[dave_k58]

11 hours ago, beshears said:

I am going to ask this question, and I have a feeling Carnival may not like it, and will not publish it on here, so I will go "another route" to get my question/message out.

 

There were 8 of us that were to be cruising this past Sunday, or yesterday and had NOT cancelled out, but because of the Coronaviris, Carnival cancelled the cruise, which we understand. My PVP with Carnival told me we had the "choice" of getting a full refund back, or using the ALL the money that was paid out in FULL, as well as OBC.  When I talked with my PVP, she told me we could get a room that is the same cost, or more, which we had no problem with.  The problem..............they want $250.00 as a down payment for this next cruise, and NOT refundable!!! This does NOT make sense.  We have the money to pay for the next cruise completely, but they STILL want $250.00 down additionally.  This is just putting MORE money back in Carnival's pocket.  If you have heard/seen anything about this, please give me your thoughts on it.

 We had two cabins - and opted for the FCC plus $600/cabin.  Our TA said it took a while to process the FCC which we understood. We wanted to book the same cruise that was cancelled on June 6 out of Long Beach.  They told me I need $1400 down payment. Now I want to just get the full refund for the cabins. Hope I can do this.  $1400 deposit when the refund would have just about paid for the cruise. Not happy about this. 

[farler05]

My understanding from my PVP is that the cruise fare will be given as FCC.  Taxes, port fees, gratuities & Cheers will be refunded.  We booked a cruise for Spring Break 2021 yesterday.  We also had to make a deposit because our FCC is not yet approved, so there isn't any money to move.  We could have waited & used the money that will be refunded (taxes, port fees, etc) towards the deposit when everything was approved.  We chose to go ahead & book now, not take a chance on what we wanted being gone.  

The letter cancelling the cruise & advising us of our options is clear that you cannot use the FCC towards the deposit.  Look at the bottom of the letter.

[SRQbeachgirl]

13 minutes ago, farler05 said:

My understanding from my PVP is that the cruise fare will be given as FCC.  Taxes, port fees, gratuities & Cheers will be refunded.  

 

That's not what happened with us. Granted, the Carnival rep told us that's what would happen, but that's not the reality. We were booked for a May 25 cruise. We cancelled it on and booked a July 18 cruise. We had to pay a deposit on the new booking. The rep said that the full cruise fare (paid in full) from the previous cruise (over $3,300) would be applied to the new booking and that anything remaining would be given as OBC.

 

What actually happened is that they applied only the cancellation penalty ($709) to the new booking and left us in limbo waiting to get a refund of over $2,600, which they tell me has processed but has not shown up in my bank account yet. I just hope it shows up before the new booking's final payment due date (April 19).

Edited March 17, 2020 by SRQbeachgirl

[farler05]

22 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

That's not what happened with us. Granted, the Carnival rep told us that's what would happen, but that's not the reality. We were booked for a May 25 cruise. We cancelled it on and booked a July 18 cruise. We had to pay a deposit on the new booking. The rep said that the full cruise fare (paid in full) from the previous cruise (over $3,300) would be applied to the new booking and that anything remaining would be given as OBC.

 

What actually happened is that they applied only the cancellation penalty ($709) to the new booking and left us in limbo waiting to get a refund of over $2,600, which they tell me has processed but has not shown up in my bank account yet. I just hope it shows up before the new booking's final payment due date (April 19).

The difference could be that you cancelled your cruise while mine was cancelled by Carnival.

[beshears]

It looks like one PVP does one thing, and another PVP does something else.  I do understand that the FCC cannot be used as a down payment that the PVP is asking for.  I just don't understand why they are asking for a "down payment" when the FCC covers ALL the cost of the room that would be rebooked! Now if I put the $250.00 down, and they applied ALL of my FCC,  (I understand it might take a while to do this, and the $250.00 is to hold the room) and I got back the $250 from the FCC eventually, then I would have no problem.