Are FCC's issued for a March 2020 Cruise being extended? They were originally set to expire in Dec 2020.

[DebMA]

Hello, 

We had a Holland America Line (HAL) Panama cruise set for March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.  We got Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) but their rules say that the new cruise has to be booked by Dec 2020 (very soon) and the cruise has to be taken by Dec 2021.  We are still not willing to take the risk in 2021. Does anyone know if HAL has extended these original FCC rules to go into 2022???  We currently have a cruise booked for April 2022 but so far have not been able to apply our FCC's with HAL.  We will have to cancel if we can't use our credit, due to the cost of this cruise, and we'll lose that money!!  I have written to HAL but so far have not gotten a response. Thanks for any suggestions!

[kazu]

40 minutes ago, DebMA said:

Hello, 

We had a Holland America Line (HAL) Panama cruise set for March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.  We got Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) but their rules say that the new cruise has to be booked by Dec 2020 (very soon) and the cruise has to be taken by Dec 2021.  We are still not willing to take the risk in 2021. Does anyone know if HAL has extended these original FCC rules to go into 2022???  We currently have a cruise booked for April 2022 but so far have not been able to apply our FCC's with HAL.  We will have to cancel if we can't use our credit, due to the cost of this cruise, and we'll lose that money!!  I have written to HAL but so far have not gotten a response. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

I haven’t heard anything about the FCC’s being extended but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were.

 

Your terms may change on your current FCC.  It might be worth checking every so often (just log into the HAL site and you can view your FCC and it’s terms and conditions).

[tjcox9]

Carnival, the line, not the corporation extended their deadline for booking yesterday until May 2021. It seems that when one of the lines in the corporation announces a change, the others are not far behind in making a similar change..........but who knows??

[fatcat04]

I just saw the Carnival news on Cruise Radio. Hopefully this means all Carnival brands follow suit. From the article I read " Carnival has altered the terms of those about-to-expire credits. The new Future Cruise Credit booking extension now gives guests until May 31, 2021, to book a cruise that must sail by no later than April 30, 2023."

[ski ww]

We're in the same boat, so to speak. Hope they do extend it.

[Crazy For Cats]

3 hours ago, DebMA said:

Hello, 

We had a Holland America Line (HAL) Panama cruise set for March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.  We got Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) but their rules say that the new cruise has to be booked by Dec 2020 (very soon) and the cruise has to be taken by Dec 2021.  We are still not willing to take the risk in 2021. Does anyone know if HAL has extended these original FCC rules to go into 2022???  We currently have a cruise booked for April 2022 but so far have not been able to apply our FCC's with HAL.  We will have to cancel if we can't use our credit, due to the cost of this cruise, and we'll lose that money!!  I have written to HAL but so far have not gotten a response. Thanks for any suggestions!

We had our March Zuiderdam  cruise cancelled too.  Initially we took FCC and applied them to cruises that subsequently got cancelled.  I then asked for a refund of original amounts paid, not trusting the ever changing status of FCC.  It took about 90 days but we did receive refunds.

[Jersey42]

5 hours ago, DebMA said:

Hello, 

We had a Holland America Line (HAL) Panama cruise set for March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.  We got Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) but their rules say that the new cruise has to be booked by Dec 2020 (very soon) and the cruise has to be taken by Dec 2021.  We are still not willing to take the risk in 2021. Does anyone know if HAL has extended these original FCC rules to go into 2022???  We currently have a cruise booked for April 2022 but so far have not been able to apply our FCC's with HAL.  We will have to cancel if we can't use our credit, due to the cost of this cruise, and we'll lose that money!!  I have written to HAL but so far have not gotten a response. Thanks for any suggestions!

We cancelled our March 2020 Panama Canal cruise and are in your situation.  Same book by and sail by dates on the FCCs.  I called HAL last week and asked "what happens if we book a cruise and HAL cancels the cruise?"  I was told we would get the FCCs back and the book by and sail by dates would be extended.  No guarantees on how long they would be extended, but I was told it would be at least a year.  I then called my travel agent and asked the same question. He gave me essentially the same answer although he prefaced his response with "my understanding is ..."   He also said not to expect any bonus FCCs (i.e. no 125%). 

 

With that information we ended up booking two 7 day cruises for about the same total price as the one cancelled Panama Canal cruise.  One is for November 2021 which we really hope will sail.  The other is for April 2021.  We  don't expect the April cruise to happen.  If it doesn't we should have our FCCs extended.  On the slim chance that it does sail, we will definitely go if we have the vaccine.  If not we will make a decision then, but we will probably go anyway.

 

We drive to the port, so flights are not an issue for us.

[regnig]

Another slightly different question about FCC due to Covid cancelations.  While cruising 02/20 we booked an 03/22 cruise using the FCD as deposit. Needless to say that cruise has been canceled. Wording on the 11/20/20 email from HAL informing us of such and offering the FCC has me just a bit confused.

In part it reads .... "you will receive double the amount deposited (as a FCC)...... This credit will waive the required deposit on your next booking on a voyage up to 29 days in length."  The mail goes on to say "THE FUTURE CRUISE CREDITS ARE VALID FOR 12 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF ISSUE AND MAY BE USED TO BOOK SAILINGS DEPARTING THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022."  (caps are HAL's not mine) 

 

My question is... is the DATE OF ISSUE the day HAL puts them in my account , which they have not yet done, or the date we bought the original FCD and booked our now canceled cruise?  We want to book a cruise for 3/22 and just were trying to figure out by what date that booking must be made.  

[Horizon chaser 1957]

13 minutes ago, regnig said:

Another slightly different question about FCC due to Covid cancelations.  While cruising 02/20 we booked an 03/22 cruise using the FCD as deposit. Needless to say that cruise has been canceled. Wording on the 11/20/20 email from HAL informing us of such and offering the FCC has me just a bit confused.

In part it reads .... "you will receive double the amount deposited (as a FCC)...... This credit will waive the required deposit on your next booking on a voyage up to 29 days in length."  The mail goes on to say "THE FUTURE CRUISE CREDITS ARE VALID FOR 12 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF ISSUE AND MAY BE USED TO BOOK SAILINGS DEPARTING THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022."  (caps are HAL's not mine) 

 

My question is... is the DATE OF ISSUE the day HAL puts them in my account , which they have not yet done, or the date we bought the original FCD and booked our now canceled cruise?  We want to book a cruise for 3/22 and just were trying to figure out by what date that booking must be made.  

When one of our Rotterdam cruises was cancelled, it took months for the FCC to show up in our account. However, we were able to book another Canada New England cruise with no deposit because of the FCC that was coming. The newly booked cruise was cancelled by HAL before the FCC showed up in the account. When it did finally appear, the new ‘book by’ date was one year from the day it showed up in our account. That suits me just fine.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Horizon chaser 1957

[regnig]

Thanks for answering my question Horizon chaser

[Ine]

We also hope HAL will extend the validity of the FCC. We got our FCC due to the canceled transatlantic sailing Nieuw Amsterdam in April 2020. Ours will expire on December 2020.

With that many sailing canceled for 2021 and/or changed itinary the choice it limited.

Besides that my husband will have heart surgery one of these days, so booking a future cruise isnot our priority at the moment.

 RCCL has extended the validity of their FCC.

Quote:

Emails have been sent to guests who had future cruise credits to inform them of this change.

"We know options have been more limited than normal and you may not have had the opportunity to use your Future Cruise Credit (FCC). Not to worry though! We want to make sure your credits don't go unused, so we've decided to extend your Future Cruise Credit until December 31st, 2021." Unquote

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Ine

[Btimmer]

I just checked my online account and there's now about $1300 posted there which has to be booked by 9/21/2021 for a cruise sailing by 12/31/2022.  That's a reasonable extension of time for me given what we know today about the virus.  I never received any email about the time extensions.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Btimmer

[Ine]

We just noticed that also our FCC are extended by booking before July 28 2021. So happy with this. By then we will have a better choice in cruises. Hopefully by then my husbands health is o.k. again. Thanks HAL!

 

[basilseal]

I just checked my account and my FCC is still expiring on Dec. 31 2020.  Hopefully they will extend it.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

3 minutes ago, basilseal said:

I just checked my account and my FCC is still expiring on Dec. 31 2020.  Hopefully they will extend it.

Call your TA right away. If you don’t have one, call HAL. If they won’t extend the expiry date, book something before December 31. At this point, you can take advantage of the flexible cancellation policy. Cancel in January, and when the FCC is deposited back in your Mariner account it will have a new one year expiry date.

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Call your TA right away. If you don’t have one, call HAL. If they won’t extend the expiry date, book something before December 31. At this point, you can take advantage of the flexible cancellation policy. Cancel in January, and when the FCC is deposited back in your Mariner account it will have a new one year expiry date.

 

That’s a brilliant suggestion.  Good to know too, in case something goes wrong with my booking next fall.  Hopefully, all will be good 🤞 

[ski ww]

17 hours ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Call your TA right away. If you don’t have one, call HAL. If they won’t extend the expiry date, book something before December 31. At this point, you can take advantage of the flexible cancellation policy. Cancel in January, and when the FCC is deposited back in your Mariner account it will have a new one year expiry date.

Thanks, good idea. Better to be pro active then waiting for something to happen. 

[Mandalay1903]

Better to use it and cancel, than to not use it and lose it.

[NCTribeFan]

With my Jan B2B being cancelled (which were a replacement for April Zaandam) and for which I couldn't apply that FCC (because they were "free" casino offers), I had my TA book me for Dec 2021.  I had only rec'd a cancellation email for one leg of Jan, but she gave them both booking numbers.  HAL told her that as soon as my "new" FCCs were in the system to call back and they'd apply them as well as the original.  The new FCCs appeared in my account in <48 hours.

 

Sure hope we're sailing in a year!  Well, I actually have 2 B2Bs before then (late April on MSC, October on Carnival) and keeping fingers crossed that I'll get the vaccine by then, but who knows?!?

[DaveOKC]

49 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

With my Jan B2B being cancelled (which were a replacement for April Zaandam) and for which I couldn't apply that FCC (because they were "free" casino offers), I had my TA book me for Dec 2021.  I had only rec'd a cancellation email for one leg of Jan, but she gave them both booking numbers.  HAL told her that as soon as my "new" FCCs were in the system to call back and they'd apply them as well as the original.  The new FCCs appeared in my account in <48 hours.

 

Sure hope we're sailing in a year!  Well, I actually have 2 B2Bs before then (late April on MSC, October on Carnival) and keeping fingers crossed that I'll get the vaccine by then, but who knows?!?

I had an almost identical situation and am still waiting on it.  Got a partial refund (FCC) right away but waiting on the much large amount to come through.

 

[NCTribeFan]

I imagine it will take several weeks for the taxes/fees to be refunded.  Got those back in June for Zaandam, so it was about 3 months.

[Mary229]

I would think any currently booked cruises fall under the Cruise with Confidence program which states

Once your Future Cruise Credit has been issued to your account, you have 12 months from date of issue to book another cruise (departing on or before December 31, 2022) using the credit.

 

HAL's cruise with confidence program

 

If not you could be slick by booking a cruise then cancelling thereby extending your dates

Edited December 4, 2020 by Mary229

[fatcat04]

Progress report.

I called our cruise consultant at HAL and she got us fixed up. Book by moved to 12/31/2021 and sail by to 12/31/2022.

 

Background.

Our FCCs were from a late March 2020 cruise WE cancelled in early March 2020 when they gave us that option before the pause started. That cruise was of course eventually cancelled by HAL. We had FCCs for 6 people, 3 of which have no cruises presently booked (ds, mom, and mil). Our cruise consultant had to go into the system and manually extend those 3 FCCs to book by 12/31/2021 and sail by 12/31/2022. The other 3 cruisers (myself, dh, and dd) have cruises booked, 1 of which the FCC was applied on (March 2021) and that cruise is being cancelled. Cruise consultant said a) to go fill out our form for this cancelled cruise making our preference (refund or FCC) known to HAL. This will expedite getting the FCCs that were applied to that cruise back in our account asap. Then b) when those FCCs get placed back in our Mariner accounts we need to call her and have her manually apply them to our new booked cruises. They can not be applied online. 

[dot73]

One of my FCCs expires on Dec 16, 2020.  I have been trying to get in touch with my HAL PCC for four days with no reply to email and phone message.  Is there anyone else I can call?  

[DaveOKC]

22 minutes ago, dot73 said:

One of my FCCs expires on Dec 16, 2020.  I have been trying to get in touch with my HAL PCC for four days with no reply to email and phone message.  Is there anyone else I can call?  

when you contact your PCC you should get another number to call (someone covering for them).  Also, I just called  800-355-3017 and dialed 0 for assistance - worked great.