FCC - What can I use it on?

[frc330]

Will most likely have a FCC due to canceled cruise. What - exactly- can I use that toward?  Is it only base cruise fare or can it cover taxes, port charges, etc?  Also, I have a cruise on deposit already for 2021 - could I apply to that cruise?  Are there blackout dates? Assume anything left over is reissued.  Thank you in advance

[bonvoyagie]

Considering they are giving you FCC for everything you have paid towards your current cruise, they will be applied to the cruise you book in the future. I had some FCC under the old system and they applied some of it to the fare and the rest as "Savings" so it indirectly covered taxes, port fees, etc but they still showed as line items - including the grats on the beverage and dining pkgs. Now mind you the cruise is not until next year so I only have a deposit in the game right now.

[bigmacksmom]

So I just used my FCC to book another cruise. First, yes you can apply it to the cruise you already have booked...I did, and I upgraded our room. It covered everything....the deposit, fees, taxes, everything. I also have some leftover and was told I could use it for shore excursions and specialty dining. I didn't ask about spa credits as I don't use the spa. Only thing is you have to call to book these items to use the credit. You can't do it online. 

[Freckles_51]

We have re-booked through our TA.

It seems that the FCC's are split, 100% and 25% bonus

Apparently the 25% bonus FCC must be applied to guest fare only, cannot be used for anything else. Where is that written?

 

In our new booking:

Passengers 3 and 4 could not apply the 25% FCC to the guest fare, because they sail "free"

 

Fine then, we will use their 25% bonus FCC for shore excursions

Nope! "not allowed" says NCL agent, to which we responded "FAQs say FCC can be used for any purchase except OBC, does not specifically say 25% bonus FCC can only be applied to guest fare"

 

"25% is a discount not FCC", says the NCL agent.  Wait, what? In the letter, and in FAQ's, it is called FCC.

 

"OK then, passengers 1 & 2 will accept the 125% FCC, while 3 and 4 want a refund". Nope! not allowed.

So passengers 3 and 4 are stuck with FCC that must be applied to yet another cruise that they will likely never use. They are teens, one of them a friend.

(I should add that their 100% FCC is applied to the new booking)

 

TA is escalating this issue but not sure if it will be resolved.

 

Oh well, although annoying, we are grateful for 20% discount plus 25% FCC off passengers 1 & 2 guest fare, and were able to get more Free at sea stuff than our previous suspended sailing, with a little left over in passengers 1 & 2 accounts for shore excursions, although we will likely have to fork out more depending on what we book.

 

Fingers crossed our December sailing will be a go.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Freckles_51

[San10s]

1 hour ago, Freckles_51 said:

 They are teens, one of them a friend.

(I should add that their 100% FCC is applied to the new booking)

 

 

Are your teens under the age of 18?  I have 2 grandkids on a cruise... one is 17 and one 5 years old.  Are they really issuing FCC to minors and little ones?  Neither of them can book a cruise themselves of course.  Why shouldn't the person who paid their fare receive the FCC in their name (even if there are no bonus discounts)?  That certainly does not seem fair.  Maybe getting a total cash / credit card refund is a better option for us?

[Freckles_51]

4 minutes ago, San10s said:

 

Are your teens under the age of 18?  I have 2 grandkids on a cruise... one is 17 and one 5 years old.  Are they really issuing FCC to minors and little ones?  Neither of them can book a cruise themselves of course.  Why shouldn't the person who paid their fare receive the FCC in their name (even if there are no bonus discounts)?  That certainly does not seem fair.  Maybe getting a total cash / credit card refund is a better option for us?

 

They are 15 and 16. Yes they issued FCCs in their names.

It seems to be only the 25% FCC that is the problem. We were able to use the teens' 100% FCC as deposit on the booking.

 

NCL agent told our TA that all four 25% FCC's had been applied.  Problem is you don't see it on the confirmation, 20% discount and 25% bonus FCC are all applied and only the result is shown under "Guest Fare". TA was told that the amount under "savings" was the 25% but it wasn't.  "savings" is the amount for the current 30% off sale.  It took me a while to figure out how they had calculated everything.

 

One of the FAQs is regarding one person on a booking wanting 125% FCC while another on same booking wants refund, the answer they gave is that they are working on a solution. You could question them on that.  We still got their 100% so I guess it works out to be the same.

 

Hope that helps.

[San10s]

26 minutes ago, Freckles_51 said:

One of the FAQs is regarding one person on a booking wanting 125% FCC while another on same booking wants refund, the answer they gave is that they are working on a solution. You could question them on that.  We still got their 100% so I guess it works out to be the same.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Yes.  Thank you so much!

 

[brovol]

For those of you who already booked with the FCC, how did the additional 20% discount (the one on top of the 25% FCC) work?  When I am looking online, and doing a booking, once everything is totaled, can I just deduct 20% to estimate what my cost will be?  And I assume since payment is by credit that NCL already owes us, we dont need to place a deposit?  

 

Then, if we wish to cancel the booking prior to what would be the final payment date, do I get the FCC back?  If the price for my cruise goes down, do we get that back in FCC?  Or do they have some caveats which prohibit adjustments when NCL lowers the price on the cruise?

[Freckles_51]

For those of you who already booked with the FCC, how did the additional 20% discount (the one on top of the 25% FCC) work? 

See below

When I am looking online, and doing a booking, once everything is totaled, can I just deduct 20% to estimate what my cost will be?

No.

When looking online and doing a booking, once you have selected cabin and free at sea options, click on "view details" below the total cost, you will see something like this: 

 

 

(Ignore the "Now" amount, that is 30% off sale, but your 30% off is calculated AFTER 20% is deducted.)

 

20% is deducted from the "Cruise fare" (the amount crossed out in red)

25% bonus FCC is deducted after 20%

The result will be shown on your confirmation as "Guest Fare"

Taxes Fees Port expenses listed as usual

The next line item on Confirmation is "savings".  This is the 30% discount.  It is calculated on the cruise fare after the 20% has been deducted, but before the 25% FCC is applied.

 

And I assume since payment is by credit that NCL already owes us, we dont need to place a deposit?  

Correct, assuming the FCC amount is enough to cover the required deposit.

 

Then, if we wish to cancel the booking prior to what would be the final payment date, do I get the FCC back? 

Yes according to the FAQs

 

If the price for my cruise goes down, do we get that back in FCC?  Or do they have some caveats which prohibit adjustments when NCL lowers the price on the cruise?

Cannot answer that, I guess time will tell.

 

 

[brovol]

5 minutes ago, Freckles_51 said:

For those of you who already booked with the FCC, how did the additional 20% discount (the one on top of the 25% FCC) work? 

See below

When I am looking online, and doing a booking, once everything is totaled, can I just deduct 20% to estimate what my cost will be?

No.

When looking online and doing a booking, once you have selected cabin and free at sea options, click on "view details" below the total cost, you will see something like this: 

 

 

(Ignore the "Now" amount, that is 30% off sale, but your 30% off is calculated AFTER 20% is deducted.)

 

20% is deducted from the "Cruise fare" (the amount crossed out in red)

25% bonus FCC is deducted after 20%

The result will be shown on your confirmation as "Guest Fare"

Taxes Fees Port expenses listed as usual

The next line item on Confirmation is "savings".  This is the 30% discount.  It is calculated on the cruise fare after the 20% has been deducted, but before the 25% FCC is applied.

 

And I assume since payment is by credit that NCL already owes us, we dont need to place a deposit?  

Correct, assuming the FCC amount is enough to cover the required deposit.

 

Then, if we wish to cancel the booking prior to what would be the final payment date, do I get the FCC back? 

Yes according to the FAQs

 

If the price for my cruise goes down, do we get that back in FCC?  Or do they have some caveats which prohibit adjustments when NCL lowers the price on the cruise?

Cannot answer that, I guess time will tell.

 

Thank you for that answer!

 

[SAPMAN]

Freckles 51,  Good post.  I had thought (hoped?) that the 20% off would be after the NOW fare of 30% off.  But guess that is incorrect.   I will ask before booking the net cost and see if it computes.

[Freckles_51]

43 minutes ago, SAPMAN said:

Freckles 51,  Good post.  I had thought (hoped?) that the 20% off would be after the NOW fare of 30% off.  But guess that is incorrect.   I will ask before booking the net cost and see if it computes.

 

Doesn't it work out to be the same amount in $$$$ either way?

The way it is shown on the Confirmation invoice is not straight forward though, because they do not show the full fare, the 20% discount, or the 25% FCC. They just show the result of those deductions as "Guest Fare", and the 30% as a "Savings" deduction.

 

[SAPMAN]

53 minutes ago, Freckles_51 said:

 

Doesn't it work out to be the same amount in $$$$ either way?

The way it is shown on the Confirmation invoice is not straight forward though, because they do not show the full fare, the 20% discount, or the 25% FCC. They just show the result of those deductions as "Guest Fare", and the 30% as a "Savings" deduction.

 

Still confused.  Maybe some of the numbers  in your example are missing?  What is final price before adding in the Tax and port fees which I think are never discounted?

Also not sure what you mean by 25%.  In my case, 25% of what I paid was added to the FCC which is, I thought, what I can apply to the total cost (at least that is shown in My Account at NCL site.  I did not think the 25% was deducted from any of the prices.

I thought 30% normal cruise discount from List Price and also 20% after that for the FCC bonus for booking by a certain date.

 

Also, I have seen 2 "book by" dates to get the 20% discount -  31 MARCH and 10 APRIL.  Not a bid deal, but April date gives me a week more to decide (my letter had March 31, but I also have an NCL letter with 10 April.

[Freckles_51]

7 minutes ago, SAPMAN said:

Still confused.  Maybe some of the numbers  in your example are missing?  What is final price before adding in the Tax and port fees which I think are never discounted?

Also not sure what you mean by 25%.  In my case, 25% of what I paid was added to the FCC which is, I thought, what I can apply to the total cost (at least that is shown in My Account at NCL site.  I did not think the 25% was deducted from any of the prices.

I thought 30% normal cruise discount from List Price and also 20% after that for the FCC bonus for booking by a certain date.

 

Also, I have seen 2 "book by" dates to get the 20% discount -  31 MARCH and 10 APRIL.  Not a bid deal, but April date gives me a week more to decide (my letter had March 31, but I also have an NCL letter with 10 April.

 

The poster asked how the 20% discount worked, when looking at an online booking. That is what I was trying to explain, based on my own experience when I rebooked. Yes it is confusing. They did deduct the bonus 25% FCC from the cruise fare. The remaining 100% FCC is available to apply to the total owing. That is my experience.

 

For the example in the image that I posted (not my booking), if calculated the same way they calculated mine: (lets assume original fare on cancelled booking was 1000, so the bonus 25% would be 250 for a total of 1250 FCC)

 

1578.53 (full fare)

-315.70 (20% discount)

--------------

1262.83

-250 (deduct the 25% portion of the FCC)

------------

1012.83

 

On the Confirmation invoice that you get from NCL it is shown like this:

"Guest Fare" 1012.83

"Taxes and Fees" 239.74

"Savings" -378.85   (this is 30% discount off 1262.83)

 

"Gross Total" 873.72

The remaining FCC (1000 in above example) is available to apply to the deposit/final payment.

 

I hope that explains it better.

 

My letter said book by April 10 for 20% discount.

 

[SAPMAN]

3 hours ago, Freckles_51 said:

 

 

Freckles51,   Now I do understand.  Seems like a complex, not user friendly, way they go about this.

 

I guess I thought the 25% of you original fare bonus was just part of the FCC and not handled separately.  Wow.

 

Thanks for all you detailed help.  I wish the cruise lines would post examples, much easier to understand.

 

 

[brovol]

11 hours ago, Freckles_51 said:

 

The poster asked how the 20% discount worked, when looking at an online booking. That is what I was trying to explain, based on my own experience when I rebooked. Yes it is confusing. They did deduct the bonus 25% FCC from the cruise fare. The remaining 100% FCC is available to apply to the total owing. That is my experience.

 

For the example in the image that I posted (not my booking), if calculated the same way they calculated mine: (lets assume original fare on cancelled booking was 1000, so the bonus 25% would be 250 for a total of 1250 FCC)

 

1578.53 (full fare)

-315.70 (20% discount)

--------------

1262.83

-250 (deduct the 25% portion of the FCC)

------------

1012.83

 

On the Confirmation invoice that you get from NCL it is shown like this:

"Guest Fare" 1012.83

"Taxes and Fees" 239.74

"Savings" -378.85   (this is 30% discount off 1262.83)

 

"Gross Total" 873.72

The remaining FCC (1000 in above example) is available to apply to the deposit/final payment.

 

I hope that explains it better.

 

My letter said book by April 10 for 20% discount.

 

I contacted my agent, who confirmed with NCL rep that you should take the current online pricing for the cruise fare alone (so in your example $1576.53, and then deduct the 25% portion of the FCC for each person (because they may be different), then deduct the 20% discount to that number, and that is the new cruise fare.  Then add taxes, fees, promotion gratuities, then subtotal, and deduct the main portion of the FCC for each person, and that is the bottom line.

 

We are rebooking the exact cruise we were supposed to do on March 29 (the Gettaway out of NOLA), but sailing March 28 2021, on the Breakaway out of NOLA (same ports of call).  Same Spa Minisuite, with the current promos, which are a bit better than we would have had this year, as the OBC is $280 for the cabin.  In the end we will have about $280 left over from the FCC.

[Freckles_51]

5 minutes ago, brovol said:

I contacted my agent, who confirmed with NCL rep that you should take the current online pricing for the cruise fare alone (so in your example $1576.53, and then deduct the 25% portion of the FCC for each person (because they may be different), then deduct the 20% discount to that number, and that is the new cruise fare.  Then add taxes, fees, promotion gratuities, then subtotal, and deduct the main portion of the FCC for each person, and that is the bottom line.

 

We are rebooking the exact cruise we were supposed to do on March 29 (the Gettaway out of NOLA), but sailing March 28 2021, on the Breakaway out of NOLA (same ports of call).  Same Spa Minisuite, with the current promos, which are a bit better than we would have had this year, as the OBC is $280 for the cabin.  In the end we will have about $280 left over from the FCC.

 

When you have your booking confirmation I would be interested to know if they applied it that way (25% FCC first, then 20% of the result) because ours is definitely the opposite and the 20% works to be a better $$$ amount than what you were told.  I would argue that the 20% is a discount on the fare, whereas the FCC is a form of payment. Even the 30% discount current sale is deducted on the fare after 20% but before 25% FCC.

[brovol]

31 minutes ago, Freckles_51 said:

 

When you have your booking confirmation I would be interested to know if they applied it that way (25% FCC first, then 20% of the result) because ours is definitely the opposite and the 20% works to be a better $$$ amount than what you were told.  I would argue that the 20% is a discount on the fare, whereas the FCC is a form of payment. Even the 30% discount current sale is deducted on the fare after 20% but before 25% FCC.

Yes, your was is better for sure, so I do hope my agent got it wrong.  We will see. Kind of a pain in the rear to figure; either way, because you have to do it separately for each person if, like in my case, the FCC is i bit different for each person.

[Freckles_51]

Just now, brovol said:

Yes, your was is better for sure, so I do hope my agent got it wrong.  We will see. Kind of a pain in the rear to figure; either way, because you have to do it separately for each person if, like in my case, the FCC is i bit different for each person.

 

Same here... FCC was a bit different due to different shore excursion purchases. Good luck!

[brovol]

I just gave my agent the green light to book.  Had a bit of a tiff with her, because I questioned whether she got the calculation method right, based I what I read online.  She didn't like my insinuation.  LOL.  Ive booked over 25 cruises with her, and sent her countless others over the years, so she toned it down a bit when I told her, "hey, I'm just asking..."

[brovol]

Hard for me to discern right now without doing the math, but I think you were correct Freckles, because my FCC balance is quite a bit more than I expected.

[brovol]

This is how mine broke down, with totals, then guest 1 and then guest 2:

 

Guest Fare                                 3,418.41     1,698.59       1,719.82
Gov Tax/Port Exp/Fees           319.04        159.52          159.52
Savings                                     -1,469.40      -734.70        -734.70
Bev Srv Charge                         277.20           138.60        138.60
Din Srv Charge                           39.60             19.80          19.80
Gross Total                               2,584.85        1,281.81     1,303.04

 

Then I was advised:

1. The Guest Fare shown in line 1 includes the 25% FCC discount, so $391.95 for (me) and $370.72 for (my wife) has already been deducted.

2. Line 3 Savings:  This includes both the 30% discount being offered on the sailing as well as the 20% discount you are receiving for booking by 4/10/20. The agent said the system does not show the exact math.
3. The main part of the FCC was then applied to the "gross total", and in our case we were left with about $465 FCC on our Latitudes account.

[brovol]

....so, in short, I do think the 25% FCC WAS first applied, and then both the 30% current promotion, and the 20% extra discount offered to the cancelled cruisers (if booked before April 10) got applied.  Then taxes, fees, and service charges were added, all totaling what they list as the "gross total".  That total is offset by the rest of the FCC.

[Freckles_51]

1 hour ago, brovol said:

....so, in short, I do think the 25% FCC WAS first applied, and then both the 30% current promotion, and the 20% extra discount offered to the cancelled cruisers (if booked before April 10) got applied.  Then taxes, fees, and service charges were added, all totaling what they list as the "gross total".  That total is offset by the rest of the FCC.

 

It's hard to fathom how one agent can calculate it one way, and another agent calculates it differently.  I prefer the way they calculated mine ... lol

[brovol]

It wasn't my agent who did the calculation, it was NCL.  I think the confusion is that the prices on the NCL booking site have already applied the current 30% promotion, which is correct if you don't have the FCC cancelled cruise deals.  

 

Either way, we are pretty satisfied with where we ended up. I actually went immediately to my NCL account and purchased the unlimited streaming internet with some of the FCC we have left, because it is still cheaper than normal, and prepaid gratuities.  Its nice knowing everything is already paid for, even if we now have to wait a full year before sailing.  We have never had a cruise booked so far in advance.