Extension of FCC

[bennybear]

Hello,  I am wondering if anyone has had any luck getting extensions on FCC past 2022?  With the ongoing Omicrom,  I am hoping next year might be better? 

[AFNavigator]

3 hours ago, bennybear said:

Hello,  I am wondering if anyone has had any luck getting extensions on FCC past 2022?  With the ongoing Omicrom,  I am hoping next year might be better? 

I was able to get an extension from Dec 31 21 to Jan 10 22 for when the FCC needed to be used to book a cruise...but it still was only applicable on a 2022 cruise.  The only reason they extended our FCC booking cutoff to Jan 10th was that I tried multiple times to book the last week of 2021 but HAL's actual working days and hours that week were much shorter than posted.

[fatcat04]

I was told in by the office of the President of HAL that our FCCs from March 2020 will not be further extended past Dec 31, 2022 for both book and sail by. I was thankful for that extension as our daughter is 4 so literally can not step foot on a HAL ship atm. She turns 5 later this year and hopefully by then things will be more settled. Otherwise, if we still deem it too risky, we have resigned ourselves to just losing a great deal of money. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by fatcat04

[OlsSalt]

17 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

........ Otherwise, if we still deem it too risky, we have resigned ourselves to just losing a great deal of money. 

 

Same situation - and now CDC is demanding a booster to be "fully vaccinated" so it looks like we will be also making a significant donation to the HAL welfare fund.  We tried to get an extension beyond 2022 to no avail as well. 

 

I wonder how much FCC value HAL is now carrying on their books? And how much forfeiture value. Some one recently mentioned FCC can be transferred to another Mariner's account so there is that option, if this can be confirmed. 

 

If this is true, I am thinking about sending kids (vaxxed, but not yet "fully vaxxed") on a short cruise so they can become Mariners and then transferring our full and very nice FCC to them. 

[SilvertoGold]

Our TA is saying that HAL is extending the date in a very, very few cases.

[OlsSalt]

27 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Our TA is saying that HAL is extending the date in a very, very few cases.

 

I wonder what the extension criteria is, or does your TA have a special relationship they want to honor? We tried the Five Star pitch plus we have a huge number of cruise credits well beyond five start status accumulated over our 600 plus days.

 

But that did nothing for us - we have about three cancelled cruises since this began - first one was a wonderful Maasdam In Depth Sea of Cortez expedition (cancelled and ship sold), then a TA that included the Normandy Beaches, (cancelled) and Azores (oops, pre-volcano); and finally the last cancelled was Alaska Land Cruise - can't meet the current  vaxx requirements. Each one ratcheted up the amount of cash put into the the new reservation demands. Bummer. 

[boze9999]

Hopefully HAL will follow Delta Airlines - they just extended all their deposited airline dollar credits through 2023 and can be used for 2024 bookings! Now that is customer service!

[SilvertoGold]

4 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

I wonder what the extension criteria is, or does your TA have a special relationship they want to honor? We tried the Five Star pitch plus we have a huge number of cruise credits well beyond five start status accumulated over our 600 plus days.

 

But that did nothing for us - we have about three cancelled cruises since this began - first one was a wonderful Maasdam In Depth Sea of Cortez expedition (cancelled and ship sold), then a TA that included the Normandy Beaches, (cancelled) and Azores (oops, pre-volcano); and finally the last cancelled was Alaska Land Cruise - can't meet the current  vaxx requirements. Each one ratcheted up the amount of cash put into the the new reservation demands. Bummer. 

Not sure how the TA managed to get extensions for a very few of their clients. They do book a lot for HAL, probably more than for the other lines combined and have done so for a long time. If we have to try to get an extension, I wonder if our Platinum status will help :)   I doubt it, actually.  

[StLouisCruisers]

My TA is asking for an extension for our FCC to move it to a Jan. 3, 2023 cruise, three crummy days later.  So far this afternoon they said no.  I wish we knew how those few lucky people got theirs extended.

[OlsSalt]

50 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

My TA is asking for an extension for our FCC to move it to a Jan. 3, 2023 cruise, three crummy days later.  So far this afternoon they said no.  I wish we knew how those few lucky people got theirs extended.

 

We had the same experience - we just needed a few weeks into 2023 extension , but no go either. I can see why they want to wrap this "pre-paid" cruise element up and get back to real cash flow.

 

But still ...............(insert whine). But the way things are going, it may be a lot longer before they drop the vaccination requirement so we are out of luck anyway. 

[strickerj]

I tried switching to the same itinerary in 2023 as I have now for 2022, and I was quite surprised they wouldn't budge - it isn't like the airlines where we canceled for a credit; we did HAL a favor by accepting the FCC in lieu of a refund, based on the good faith assumption that we could use it once things returned to normal. Not to mention, you'd think they'd be happy to hold onto your money for another year and free up your spot this year for a new paying customer. For us to accept a significantly different experience or lose the full fare we've paid is absurd.

[bennybear]

I too understand that they want to clear these off the books.  But omicrom came out of nowhere and with new travel advisories 2022 is not looking good.  Good will is important, I do hope they will consider that as well.   And the credits will get people to spend more than they may have otherwise.  

[AFNavigator]

11 minutes ago, bennybear said:

I too understand that they want to clear these off the books.  But omicrom came out of nowhere and with new travel advisories 2022 is not looking good.  Good will is important, I do hope they will consider that as well.   And the credits will get people to spend more than they may have otherwise.  

Hopefully that is the case.  HAL has been rolling forward its flexible cancellation policy about every 90 days for well over a year.  Perhaps they will do so soon with the December 2022 FCC cutoff due to travel advisories lasting longer than earlier anticipated.

[fatcat04]

2 hours ago, bennybear said:

I too understand that they want to clear these off the books.  But omicrom came out of nowhere and with new travel advisories 2022 is not looking good.  Good will is important, I do hope they will consider that as well.   And the credits will get people to spend more than they may have otherwise.  

I too hope. It's not like we WON'T spend that money should they extend that small good will to us loyal folks who have hung in there "hell or high water" booking cruise after cancelled cruise. Some of us just can't cruise at the moment. My 4 yo daughter alone has near $1k in FCC she can't use due to HALs own policy. She isn't allowed on one of their ships atm and won't be until she is vaccinated, worst case at 5. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by fatcat04

[LocoLoco1]

My HAL gal sez my FCC’s will work becuz my intended cruise extends INTO 2023, starting in Dec 2022.   We’ll see.. 

[VMax1700]

59 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

My HAL gal sez my FCC’s will work becuz my intended cruise extends INTO 2023, starting in Dec 2022.   We’ll see.. 

Of course they will.  FCC/FCD are based on 'Sail by' date.  Once you embark before 1st Jan 2023 you are good.

[LocoLoco1]

I had a TON of FCC’s from a 48-day they cancelled. Now I gotta burn em up. Could be a kerfuffle if late 2022 cruises for guests with FCC’s get cancelled. 

[cruisemover]

Could the FCC be "extended" by booking a cruise sailing by the expiry date, then cancelling it under the COVID-19 Flexible Cancellation policy for a new FCC? If cancelled on the last day (2022-09-30), the new FCC should be valid until 2023-09-30.

[bennybear]

11 hours ago, cruisemover said:

Could the FCC be "extended" by booking a cruise sailing by the expiry date, then cancelling it under the COVID-19 Flexible Cancellation policy for a new FCC? If cancelled on the last day (2022-09-30), the new FCC should be valid until 2023-09-30.

Good question, not sure if that would work or if the original expiry would still apply? 

[Hlitner]

On 1/21/2022 at 5:54 PM, OlsSalt said:

 

I wonder what the extension criteria is, or does your TA have a special relationship they want to honor? We tried the Five Star pitch plus we have a huge number of cruise credits well beyond five start status accumulated over our 600 plus days.

 

But that did nothing for us - we have about three cancelled cruises since this began - first one was a wonderful Maasdam In Depth Sea of Cortez expedition (cancelled and ship sold), then a TA that included the Normandy Beaches, (cancelled) and Azores (oops, pre-volcano); and finally the last cancelled was Alaska Land Cruise - can't meet the current  vaxx requirements. Each one ratcheted up the amount of cash put into the the new reservation demands. Bummer. 

Just an amusing comment relayed to us by a very high volume cruise agent.  She says HAL is more likely to do nice things for cruise newbies (1 or 2 Star) then 4 or 5 Star.  The theory is that if you are a 4-5 Star Mariner you are already hooked on the cruise line so no need to cut you breaks.  But if you are a newbie they want to reel you in :).  Whether this is really true I cannot say, but I do recall getting some decent upgrades our first few HAL cruises.  Now that we are 5 Star Mariners we sometimes get upsell offers that would end up costing us more than the original fare :).

 

Hank

[strickerj]

5 hours ago, bennybear said:

Good question, not sure if that would work or if the original expiry would still apply? 

I canceled a cruise booked with FCC and the original FCC expiration date applied, though this was early last year, when it was done manually by the phone agents.

[canadarocks]

Just wanted to share that I managed to get the FCC that was expiring December 31 2022 applied to our January 4 2023 cruise. Very impressed by the PCC Holland America assigned me. She went to bat for us, even though we booked with an independent TA.