Future cruise credit BEFORE upgrading

[alliecat44]

Sooo, I noticed a big price drop on my balcony cabin for my upcoming 16-day Hawaii to Alaska on the Spirit. I’m traveling with a dear friend from professional school and we haven’t seen each other in five years! Exciting girls trip!! 
 

I really really wanted to give my friend the suite experience, since she has only been on one other cruise on another cruise line. We put in bids for suites. 
 

however, I noticed that suite availability through mock bookings suddenly decreased dramatically. My friend and I talked, and we agreed we could spend a certain amount to upgrade outright as long as we were able to get a decent future cruise credit on the price drop of our balcony. 
 

Long story short, when I called a week ago, there was only ONE suite left in inventory. It was apparently booked while I was on hold with the cruise consultant and disappeared. He sent an email to the appropriate department about the FCC and told us we should hear back via email within 7 days. 
 

Meanwhile, we kept stalking suite availability. Two more phone calls and I finally snagged the last suite available—while still waiting to hear back about our FCC. It’s a forward-facing, which I am not too excited about, but the other perks make it worth it. (Surprisingly, we did not receive any additional specialty dining or internet minutes with the upgrade from BA to SE, either-and our sailing is 16 days.) 

 

Anyways, it’s been 7 days and I am still waiting to hear about a FCC. I hope I did not screw this up and that we get one. From what I have read here, I think the FCC is an independent decision—but couldn’t find much on a similar scenario. 
 

I will post here if/when I hear about the decision regarding FCC to hopefully help other people in the future. 🙂 

[julig22]

I wouldn't count on it.  Upgrades and FCC used to be an either/or. Logically, the FCC is for the difference between what you paid and the current cost of your cabin.  Since you upgraded, they would look at the current cost of your cabin - and if you paid for the upgrade, you paid at the prevailing rate.  Also, if there are no cabins available they usually don't offer fcc.

But anything is possible.  

[alliecat44]

Update: day 8 and no contact re: FCC. 
 

I have seen on these boards and in social media groups that passengers received a FCC, and then went on to upgrade. I imagine my upgrade request was too close in time to when the FCC email was sent, but I was worried the one available suite would be gone by the time the FCC request came through. Sigh. Does anyone know if you are notified if a request for FCC due to a price drop is rejected? Or is it just radio silence? 

[Panhandle Couple]

37 minutes ago, alliecat44 said:

Update: day 8 and no contact re: FCC. 
 

I have seen on these boards and in social media groups that passengers received a FCC, and then went on to upgrade. I imagine my upgrade request was too close in time to when the FCC email was sent, but I was worried the one available suite would be gone by the time the FCC request came through. Sigh. Does anyone know if you are notified if a request for FCC due to a price drop is rejected? Or is it just radio silence? 

We did our FCC (due to large price drop) last year, and went through an emailed form found on the NCL web site.  It took over a week before we heard back (by email), and did get the credit.  It was after the 120 final payment, but maybe 60 days before sailing.  We didn't upgrade, but used the FCC for another cruise.

 

 It is probably too late for the email process for you, I just wanted to point that out for any future possibilities.

[Arizona]

We've had a price drop twice on our June Med cruise. They wouldn't do anything for us on the 2nd price drop. They said they only give the option of an upgrade or FCC once. That's disappointing. 

[alliecat44]

Update: after ten days, received an email that request for FCC was rejected “because there was no price drop at the time of your booking.” 
 

I believe they must have been looking at the suite cost when I upgraded, not the original balcony cost and the new balcony cost. 
 

So, the timing did screw me over—but based on the above posters’ experiences, it might have been rejected anyway. 
 

Happy sailing!