Requested 125% Cruise Planner Credit but given refund instead - happened to anybody else?

[wendyam76]

So another cruise was cancelled and I opted for the 125% Cruise Planner Credit as I have several other cruises planned and am always hopeful they will sail. I actually filled it out several times but tonight I got a email outlining a refund instead. Rather frustrating as I had over £1000 of items so the 25% extra would have been handy. Has this happened to anybody else? I know I spent ages emailing Royal Caribbean to get that sorted out when they took forever to issue FCCs but haven’t had a problem up to now with Celebrity. 
Wendy

[Fouremco]

Is a Cruise Planner Credit something unique to the UK? I've not heard the term before. I'm familiar with refunds and Future Cruise Credits, but not Cruise Planner Credits.

[wendyam76]

Not sure if UK specific but this was for items we had bought via the cruise planner - speciality dining, shore excursions etc. We were given the opportunity to opt into getting 125% credit rather than a refund. 
Wendy
 

Edited May 10, 2021 by wendyam76

[HskrCrsr]

49 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Is a Cruise Planner Credit something unique to the UK? I've not heard the term before. I'm familiar with refunds and Future Cruise Credits, but not Cruise Planner Credits.

I know the Cruise Planner Credit was offered in the USA. I received it for my cancelled cruise. X sent an email very similar to the one shown above. I requested and received the 125%, then came to understand that it was issued as Cruise Planner Credit only and cannot be applied to cruise fare. My next cruise is Galapagos so this would do me very little good. I called and X graciously converted it to a 100% refund. My experience was opposite OP's.

 

There is an FAQ section on this here, but it is under PCP (Pre-Cruise Purchases):

https://www.celebritycruises.com/travel-alert/frequently-asked-questions

 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, wendyam76 said:

Not sure if UK specific but this was for items we had bought via the cruise planner - speciality dining, shore excursions etc. We were given the opportunity to opt into getting 125% credit rather than a refund. 
Wendy
 

 

49 minutes ago, HskrCrsr said:

I know the Cruise Planner Credit was offered in the USA. I received it for my cancelled cruise. X sent an email very similar to the one shown above. I requested and received the 125%, then came to understand that it was issued as Cruise Planner Credit only and cannot be applied to cruise fare. My next cruise is Galapagos so this would do me very little good. I called and X graciously converted it to a 100% refund. My experience was opposite OP's.

 

There is an FAQ section on this here, but it is under PCP (Pre-Cruise Purchases):

https://www.celebritycruises.com/travel-alert/frequently-asked-questions

 

Thanks for your replies. OK, I think I understand now. As far as I can see, Celebrity doesn't actually use the term Cruise Planner Credit, either in the letter quoted by @wendyam76 or in the FAQ. In both cases, they refer simply to "onboard credit". As I said in my first post, that I was aware of and thought that CPC was something different.

 

Getting back to the original question, assuming that you had requested the OBC instead of a refund for those planner purchases by 22 April 2021, it sounds like Celebrity has erred. I's suggest that you pursue it with them and not let it go. As you say, 25% on over £1000 in purchases would definitely be handy.

 

Good luck!

[JsMom2]

Call in and ask for an FCC for the missing 25%. 

[uktog]

Wendyam  I had that issue with Azamara but the fault was a certain large UK online cruise company.  The problem only arose when I queried using the FCC but hadn't got the paperwork.  And this was 8 months after the cruise was cancelled.....it then appeared (although I cannot be sure)  that the agent had  told the cruise line I wanted a refund, had received it but had not paid it over to me.  

I was talking about this with my new agent and he said he had heard a company had done that with "regular cruisers".  The story went they got the cash credit which was bailing them out short term and were pretending you had an FCC.  Their hope was that by the time you went to use the FCC with them, their cash flow was different and they would make it look like you were using the credit all along.  I am not sure how true this was.....

[wendyam76]

Thank you all. Cruise planner credit came from the email heading - I was trying to distinguish it from the OBC we often get that isn’t refundable. 
All my bookings are direct with Celebrity @uktog- I wouldn’t be surprised at your thinking. I got in touch with my travel planner today and they can see it all in my notes so I am sure it will all be worked out. I was just interested to see if it had happened to others. I am sure I am not the only one to have multiple spreadsheets keeping track of all of this!

Wendy
 

[TeaBag]

I wish we could trade, Wendy.  I got an email when our cruise was cancelled saying that if I didn't reply by April 12 I would get cash sent to the CC I used.  So I didn't reply because I didn't want an FCC (nothing to use it on by the drop dead date).  i got an email about 2 weeks ago giving me the FCC.  i'll phone them and get it changed but I wish they would do what they say.

[downsmead]

I asked for the ‘cruise planner’ FCC but requested a refund for my cruise fare. 
I got both as a refund, but didn’t bother to follow it up, just accepted the refunds.

[wendyam76]

@TeaBagits so frustrating isn’t it. I have several cruises booked (fingers crossed!) and knew we’d use it as we can’t afford suites for those cruises. So we’ll do speciality restaurants instead.

[wendyam76]

1 minute ago, downsmead said:

I asked for the ‘cruise planner’ FCC but requested a refund for my cruise fare. 
I got both as a refund, but didn’t bother to follow it up, just accepted the refunds.

I might be wrong but I think to get the cruise planner one you have to get a cruise fare FCC too. 

[downsmead]

Quite possibly but the letter we received detailing our options did not specify this 🤷‍♀️.

[wendyam76]

1 minute ago, downsmead said:

Quite possibly but the letter we received detailing our options did not specify this 🤷‍♀️.

I think it was when I filled in the form that I spotted that.

[HskrCrsr]

5 hours ago, wendyam76 said:

I might be wrong but I think to get the cruise planner one you have to get a cruise fare FCC too. 

 

You are not wrong. They say

Do guests have to elect the 125% FCC to take advantage of the 125% PCP onboard credit benefit?

Yes. For guests to take advantage of the 125% PCP onboard credit, they must elect the 125% FCC for the cruise fare paid to Celebrity Cruises for the cancelled sailing. If a guest chooses to receive a cruise fare refund instead, they will not be eligible for the 125% OBC and will receive a 100% refund of PCP purchases.