The future cruise deposit paid for onboard

[sunsetme]

Please remind me what the benefits are, my husband paid for 2 of these in 2019 and with Covid I have the brain fog.

[CaliforniaDon]

Hey  -

I am not the BEST person to answer, but can get the ball rolling.  

$100, when used as a FCD (Future cruise deposit) is YOUR money that Princess holds.  If you don't use it, they will give it back - seems like 2 yrs later, but I'm not sure. 

 

That FCD - can be your deposit - in full.  By comparison, I just booked Celebrity, and paid $900  before I got off their website.  I always use  $100 FDC for me and $100 for wife, but not sure if BOTH are even needed.   So, cheap deposit.  THEN, if you use an FCD, you get an OBC (on-board credit) of a few bucks, depending on cruise length.  Our next trip:   $200 paid, our gift on-board? $ $50 each to spend on our 10 day trip. (more for a longer trip)

 

OR, you can leave the money in your bank for a year or 2 and get a few pennies interest.

SO, good idea to get one  or two PP (per person) when you are on a cruise.

At worst, you can get it back.

[sunsetme]

thanks, the obc $50 for a 10 day seems low, but okay.

[capriccio]

This is from the on-line form when searching "Future Cruise Deposit" on the Princess website:

 

• Make a low, refundable deposit and get FREE on board spending money!
• For a fully-refundable deposit of only $100 or £75 per person, earn up to $300 per stateroom to spend on board on your next cruise.
• Take two years to select your next cruise.
• Your preferred Travel Advisor or Cruise Vacation Planner back home can help complete your booking.

The Future Cruise Deposit, and will be automatically refunded if not applied to a new booking created within two years from date of purchase.  The form is dated 2/2020 so I don't know if that 2 year period has been extended.

 

Only one Future Cruise Deposit per person applied to a booking will provide onboard spending money.

 
Cruise Length      Balcony/Mini-Suite/Suite       Interior/Oceanview
17 – 44 days                 $150                                  $125
11 – 16 days                 $100                                     $75
7 – 10 days                     $50                                     $25
3 – 6 days                       $25                                     $15

[brisalta]

50 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

thanks, the obc $50 for a 10 day seems low, but okay.

 

It is a lot better rate of return than leaving the $100 in the bank,

[brisalta]

7 minutes ago, capriccio said:

This is from the on-line form when searching "Future Cruise Deposit" on the Princess website:

 

• Make a low, refundable deposit and get FREE on board spending money!
• For a fully-refundable deposit of only $100 or £75 per person, earn up to $300 per stateroom to spend on board on your next cruise.
• Take two years to select your next cruise.
• Your preferred Travel Advisor or Cruise Vacation Planner back home can help complete your booking.

The Future Cruise Deposit, and will be automatically refunded if not applied to a new booking created within two years from date of purchase.  The form is dated 2/2020 so I don't know if that 2 year period has been extended.

 

Only one Future Cruise Deposit per person applied to a booking will provide onboard spending money.

 
Cruise Length      Balcony/Mini-Suite/Suite       Interior/Oceanview
17 – 44 days                 $150                                  $125
11 – 16 days                 $100                                     $75
7 – 10 days                     $50                                     $25
3 – 6 days                       $25                                     $15

 

The amounts of OBC are per person per FCD.

Edited November 8, 2021 by brisalta

[mtnlvr53]

We signed up for a future cruise in early 2019, booked a cruise for 2020,(cancelled)booked another one for 2021(cancelled) booked another later in 2021(alaska) cancelled, booked another one for Alaska 2022. Finally today, I booked a shore excursion for Juneau and our $50 a piece came off our shore excursion. So Princess, in effect has had our money since Feb 2019! Hopefully, we get to go to Alaska this summer.

[shellbeachjim]

One change with the FCDs is how you obtain them. You used to have to submit a form with the Future Cruise Consultant on board whose had to enter it into Princess’s system and eventually you received a confirmation. It was a very manual process. Now you order them on the Medallion app while on board and there is no interaction with the Future Cruise Consultant required. We loaded up on FCCs on our cruise in September and it took just a couple of minutes. 

[dog]

I bought FCD on-board ship in Dec 2019. Expiry is March 2022. 
If not used by expiry they might extend date to use by. In the past they sent me a check when I did not use one by expiry. A check because the credit card used to pay for FCD was no longer in use 

[caribill]

17 minutes ago, dog said:

If not used by expiry they might extend date to use by.

 

You need to contact Princess before the FCD expires to request an extension.

 

If the first rep you speak with says "no," call; again and ask a different rep. Repeat as needed.

[dog]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

You need to contact Princess before the FCD expires to request an extension.

 

If the first rep you speak with says "no," call; again and ask a different rep. Repeat as needed.

That makes since, however in my case, Princess cancelled

the cruise I applied this FCD to and automatically extended it from use by March 2021 to March 2022. 

[LACruiser88]

8 hours ago, shellbeachjim said:

One change with the FCDs is how you obtain them. You used to have to submit a form with the Future Cruise Consultant on board whose had to enter it into Princess’s system and eventually you received a confirmation. It was a very manual process. Now you order them on the Medallion app while on board and there is no interaction with the Future Cruise Consultant required. We loaded up on FCCs on our cruise in September and it took just a couple of minutes. 

We just did the same, currently on the Majestic...

[Steelers36]

14 hours ago, sunsetme said:

Please remind me what the benefits are, my husband paid for 2 of these in 2019 and with Covid I have the brain fog.

I would call Princess ASAP since your existing FCDs may already be expired.  Just ask for an extension and they will add on a year for sure - maybe two.

 

[geoherb]

I had an FCD that was going to expire in July. I called and Princess extended it for two years. When booking next month's cruise, I made sure to let my TA know which FCD to use. They appear in the order according to when they were purchased not when they expire, and my TA said she couldn't see the expiration dates. 

I purchased an additional one through the TV app on my Majestic cruise this past August. It was very easy. Since I usually don't book cruises way in advance, having three on hand works for me.

[paradiselivin1]

1 hour ago, dog said:

That makes since, however in my case, Princess cancelled

the cruise I applied this FCD to and automatically extended it from use by March 2021 to March 2022. 

Similar experience. Used an FCD for the 2021 WC (Princess cancelled); rolled to 2022 WC (Princess cancelled) and have rolled it to the 2023 WC. That thing must be at least 3 years+ old by now....

[TonyM99]

Think its worth while doing if you are likely to cruise with them again. The £75 pp just an be used as deposit (or part of) and you get OBC thrown in - So I look at it as minuscule loss of interest (pence or cents) to Free money onboard Like our upcoming cruise giving us $300 

[Cuedon]

9 minutes ago, TonyM99 said:

The £75 pp just an be used as deposit (or part of)

They can be applied towards deposit? I thought that FCCs (Are they the same as FCDs?) could only be applied towards cruise fare, thus excluding deposit and port fees/taxes.

[TonyM99]

4 minutes ago, Cuedon said:

They can be applied towards deposit? I thought that FCCs (Are they the same as FCDs?) could only be applied towards cruise fare, thus excluding deposit and port fees/taxes.

All I can say is that in the past I have used as the deposit and in fact at that time it covered the deposit 

[sunsetme]

fcd is not the same as FCC

[dog]

57 minutes ago, TonyM99 said:

All I can say is that in the past I have used as the deposit and in fact at that time it covered the deposit 

 

6 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

fcd is not the same as FCC

It is not the same for everyone. My FCC say on them that they cannot be used for deposits. 
others say their FCC could be used as deposit 

[lbfluffy]

I seem to remember if you book on board you can get a lower rate. Is that still true?

[geoherb]

4 minutes ago, lbfluffy said:

I seem to remember if you book on board you can get a lower rate. Is that still true?

 

Not that I know of. I've occasionally seen specials where Princess has offered double OBC for booking on a cruise, but that offer hasn't been made on my most recent cruises.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, lbfluffy said:

I seem to remember if you book on board you can get a lower rate. Is that still true?

The only way it is lower is because they create and use a FCD in effect.  You buy a FCD for $100.  You use that as a deposit to book a future cruise.  You earn OBC which - in effect - lowers your net cost of the voyage.  But you can just buy the FCD and book after you are home - or anytime before they expire. 

 

Booking on board gets you the same thing.  $100 deposit and the OBC (based on voyage length and cabin category).  

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, dog said:

 

It is not the same for everyone. My FCC say on them that they cannot be used for deposits. 
others say their FCC could be used as deposit 

Right - most FCC is simply cash in the bank of Princess from a cancelled cruise, a cruise that was shortened or otherwise affected.  As we all know, the Covid pauses resulted in a TON of FCC's going to guests, including bonus FCC if the guest elected the option in lieu of a cash refund.

 

FCD's are a special type of FCC, where the guest purchases them on board - and as the name implies, they are for use when booking the next, or future voyage.  Allows guest to make a minimum deposit and earn back interest on their money in the form of OBC.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Cuedon said:

They can be applied towards deposit? I thought that FCCs (Are they the same as FCDs?) could only be applied towards cruise fare, thus excluding deposit and port fees/taxes.

 

FCDs (Future Cruise Deposit) are purchased when on a cruise. For other than world cruises and world cruise segments, they can be used as your complete deposit until final payment. For world cruises and world cruise segments, they can be used to get a 3% fare discount and a reduced deposit. On board OBC is given with the use of an FCD, the amount varying by voyage length and type cabin booked.

 

FCCs (Future Cruise Credits) normally cannot be used towards a cruise deposit. However, some (but not all) of the FCCs issued during some of the pandemic voyage cancellations can be used towards the normal cruise booking deposit. If such a pandemic cancellation FCC was issued and was originally from an FCD, then you can request to have the OBC applied that would have been associated if an FCD had been used for a new booking.