Bought a FCC - found out interesting info

[KAWS]

Now maybe some of you (or even a lot of you) know this, but I found out something new on my cruise this last week.

 

I went to the future cruise desk to buy a voucher to apply to my next cruise. I asked for one because that's all the TA says we need and that's all we used for the cruise that we just sailed on.

 

Kirk, the FCC guy, told me that as of this May, i.e., two months ago, Princess has "gotten wise" (his words) to people that buy 2 FCC's and then book one for themselves and one for their friends. So now we must use two of these per cabin if we want to get $100 for a balcony room, 7 day cruise. If we use only one, then it's only $50 because that's the amount per person.

 

I asked him a lot of questions about this. I told him that we had booked our current cruise using only 1 FCC and that our TA had told us we only needed to get 1 for our next. He said they have been sending notices out to TA's since May and perhaps ours hadn't received official notice yet, but that guaranteed she'd be told when she tried to apply only 1 FCC to our reservation.

 

I wound up buying 2 of them just to be sure. If we can still use one to get the $100 per cabin great, but they do state clearly "$50 per person" instead of per cabin like before.

 

Anyway, I wanted to share this info with you in case anyone was planning to apply a FCC now.

[never2late]

I just booked a cruise with Princess this morning RT Hawaii for 2011 over the phone -- used one future cruise credit and charged $100 on the credit card for my sweetie and got a confirmation thru e-mail. We both have $100 on-board credit for a 12 day cruise on the e-mailed confirmation. So if this is the new policy about splitting the OBC, it did not show up on the e-mail as such. Interesting.:)

[Toto2Kansas]

What has never made any sense to me about the FCC's, is that they state right on them that they are good for the first two passengers in the stateroom. If they didn't want you to use one for the first two passengers, not sure why they had it printed on them??????? In order to change the rules, they are going to have to come up with a new printing for the FCC receipt, as it is quite explicit and has been for years that one is all that is needed for the first two passengers in the same stateroom.

 

But then again, what you were told onboard, I have heard others repeat for years, but we still use only one FCC to book the both of us, which makes it all the more confusing.

[rdsqrl]

It sounds like what KAWS is saying is that the new FCCs do have a change in wording, if they now say "$50 per person" instead of "good for the first two passengers." KAWS, can you scan in and post your FCC?

Which, by the way, means that Princess is totally screwing single passengers by making them pay a double deposit, unless the FCC price for one person has dropped from $100 to $50.

[Toto2Kansas]

It sounds like what KAWS is saying is that the new FCCs do have a change in wording, if they now say "$50 per person" instead of "good for the first two passengers." KAWS, can you scan in and post your FCC?

 

Which, by the way, means that Princess is totally screwing single passengers by making them pay a double deposit, unless the FCC price for one person has dropped from $100 to $50.

 

Somehow I missed that last line in the OP, my confusion. :o But it sure would be nice to see how these new ones are worded, if the OP can scan one and post it that would be GREAT!

[Coral]

It sounds like what KAWS is saying is that the new FCCs do have a change in wording, if they now say "$50 per person" instead of "good for the first two passengers." KAWS, can you scan in and post your FCC?

Which, by the way, means that Princess is totally screwing single passengers by making them pay a double deposit, unless the FCC price for one person has dropped from $100 to $50.

 

I did 2 FCC on my June 28th sailing and there was not a change in wording.

[KAWS]

Here's what my FCC says:

 

Effective Date: July 20,2009

Sail By Date: July 19,2013

 

Dear Mrs Stumpf,

Thank you for choosing Princess Cruises.

 

This letter confirms that we have received payment for deposit in the amount of 100.00 USD

towards a future cruise with Princess.

 

When you have decided on your next cruise, please contact your travel agent to arrange your

booking. Your travel agent will assist you with final payment schedule, and any questions,

additions or changes you might have regarding your cruise. You may also contact Princess

directly by calling 1-8OO-PRINCESS. Upon making your full deposit towards your booking,

the appropriate shipboard credit will be applied.

Future Cruise Length Shipboard Credit*

7-9 Days $25 per person for Inside Categories. $50 per person for Outside

10 - 15 Days $75 per person for Inside Categories. $100 per person for Outside

16 + Days $125 per person for Inside Categories. $150 per person for Outside

 

Future Cruise Credit ID: xxxxxxxxxxx

Method of Payment: Credit Cardx xxx-xxxx-xxxx-4424

 

On behalf of Princess Cruises, we would like to thank you for choosing Princess and we look

forward to hosting you on board one of our ships in the near future.

 

If further assistance is necessary, please contact your travel agent or Princess Cruises at

1-8OO-PRINCESS.

 

Warmest Regards, Kirk

Future Cruise Sales

Golden Princess

* This offer applies to the frst two passengers in stateroom only - and is not applicable to upper berth passengers. Credit may only be used on a single voyage and expires at the end of that voyage. Any unused portion of shipboard credit is not redeemable for cash. This offer is available to new future bookings only and is non-transferable. More than two future

cruise deposits can be applied to the same booking, however the shipboard credit is only available once per person per booking. Multiple onboard credits cannot be redeemed by single occupancy passengers. Your future cruise deposit is fully refiundable if cancelled prior to final payment except for voyages 20 days and longer. Deposit for voyages 20 days and longer

is refundable up to 120 days prior to cailing date. If you do not use your future cruise deposit in the allocated four years, it will automatically be refunded back in the form it was purchased. This offer is not combinable with world cruises, cruise night promotions or any other non-public fare.

 

 

So, from what Kirk told me and from what this seems to be saying is that the credit for a 7 day cruise is $50 pp to a maximum of $100 per cabin. You would then need to use two FCC to get both $50 credits for that cabin.



If we can still use just the one FCC for our next booking, then fine. We can use the second one for another cruise that we'll take in 2012 but I'd still be ticked if their sales rep on board did not get his facts straight before he told me absolutely that things had "changed in May to what we are doing now".

[cactusrose]

This is the same as it has always read.

[KAWS]

*****! I even went BACK to him the next day to confirm things because I told him that I had only wanted one certificate. He explicitly told me that Princess had recently "gotten wise" to what cruisers were doing to get their friends credit too and had changed things just this last May AND that they were advising TA's about this too.

 

That totally burns my backside that he would say all that to me if it's a blatant lie and we can still just use the one FCC. It's not the stupid $100 extra dollars that we spent on something useless - it's the principle of the thing. :mad::mad:

 

I'm going to be speaking with my TA this week to get this applied to my current booking (another thing he said I couldn't do even though TA said we could) and I'll post back how things went.

 

That guy should NOT be handing out incorrect information!

[Colo Cruiser]

Now maybe some of you (or even a lot of you) know this, but I found out something new on my cruise this last week.

 

I went to the future cruise desk to buy a voucher to apply to my next cruise. I asked for one because that's all the TA says we need and that's all we used for the cruise that we just sailed on.

 

Kirk, the FCC guy, told me that as of this May, i.e., two months ago, Princess has "gotten wise" (his words) to people that buy 2 FCC's and then book one for themselves and one for their friends. So now we must use two of these per cabin if we want to get $100 for a balcony room, 7 day cruise. If we use only one, then it's only $50 because that's the amount per person.

 

I asked him a lot of questions about this. I told him that we had booked our current cruise using only 1 FCC and that our TA had told us we only needed to get 1 for our next. He said they have been sending notices out to TA's since May and perhaps ours hadn't received official notice yet, but that guaranteed she'd be told when she tried to apply only 1 FCC to our reservation.

 

I wound up buying 2 of them just to be sure. If we can still use one to get the $100 per cabin great, but they do state clearly "$50 per person" instead of per cabin like before.

 

Anyway, I wanted to share this info with you in case anyone was planning to apply a FCC now.

 

Is that Kirk from the Golden?

If it is he is not very knowledgeable or personable.

 

They have been saying they would change this for the past 2 years, lets see if they actually do it.

[Toto2Kansas]

Kaws, that is exactly how my FCC's from all years past have read (I have one right in front of me). And they still say they are applicable to the first two passengers in the stateroom.

So, I don't see anything different, it is the same as it has been all along.

 

The bottom fine print is what tells is all, as it states: This offer applies to the frst two passengers in stateroom only - and is not applicable to upper berth passengers Exactly as it has stated in the past.

 

They better get someone typing up some new FCC's if they plan to change these rules. (although it doesn't really matter for us, unless we are short on FCC's and find more cruises to book for the future. We usually buy two each on every cruise just in case they change the rules. Once they are stock piled, we book whatever we want. ;))

[Colo Cruiser]

Here is another recent thread on the subject.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1017430&highlight=fcc

[KAWS]

Is that Kirk from the Golden?

If it is he is not very knowledgeable or personable.

 

They have been saying they would change this for the past 2 years, lets see if they actually do it.

 

Yes, it is him - one and the same. And while he came up with those very convincing lines, you're certainly right in that he was NOT very personable. Geesh - to not be very nice even when pax are buying...........hmmmmmmm makes ya wonder doesn't it?

 

But I did bloody believe what he said to me. That's probably what's making me so mad is that I believed him!

[Toto2Kansas]

This is definitely not the first report where a future cruise consultant tried to pass along this kind of misinformation. Maybe he had a quota to meet? lol

 

If they change the rules about FCC's, they are going to have to change the receipt to read differently.

 

Look at it this way, your next cruise you can put both FCC's down if you like, and you will have $200 taken off for final payment instead of $100.

But I know what you mean, you feel like you were dooped! :(

[KAWS]

Here is another recent thread on the subject.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1017430&highlight=fcc

 

Thanks for this link. I read the postings and there's just as much confusion there as is going on in my head.

 

Seems to me that the cruise rep tells the pax whatever they wish and of course we believe what they say. Go figure.

 

But perhaps what he was telling me as the Gospel, was in fact, what Princess' intentions for the FCC are/were. I'll just hang on to the second one and then when we go on our next one (2011) I will buy exactly ONE more so that our friends can get the same OBC for the 2012 trip that we're planning to take.

 

Sorry if I caused a bit of a rukus. I was surprised at what Kirk had told me and thought it would be something that my fellow CCers should be aware of. If nothing else, it brought the issue to light once again.

[caribill]

Here's what my FCC says:

 

Future Cruise Length Shipboard Credit*

7-9 Days $25 per person for Inside Categories. $50 per person for Outside

10 - 15 Days $75 per person for Inside Categories. $100 per person for Outside

16 + Days $125 per person for Inside Categories. $150 per person for Outside

 

 

* This offer applies to the frst two passengers in stateroom only - and is not applicable to upper berth passengers. Credit may only be used on a single voyage and expires at the end of that voyage. Any unused portion of shipboard credit is not redeemable for cash. This offer is available to new future bookings only and is non-transferable. More than two future

cruise deposits can be applied to the same booking, however the shipboard credit is only available once per person per booking. Multiple onboard credits cannot be redeemed by single occupancy passengers. Your future cruise deposit is fully refiundable if cancelled prior to final payment except for voyages 20 days and longer. Deposit for voyages 20 days and longer

is refundable up to 120 days prior to cailing date. If you do not use your future cruise deposit in the allocated four years, it will automatically be refunded back in the form it was purchased. This offer is not combinable with world cruises, cruise night promotions or any other non-public fare.

 

 

 

Yes, that is what the FCC I purchased this May says. It is slightly different from the one I purchased last September.

 

First of all, last September there was no * after the words "Shipboard Credit." In fact, there was no * at all in the main text on the page.

 

Also, the wording on the bottom was different, but not in any way that would indicate you needed one FCC per person.

 

* This offer applies to the frst two passengers in stateroom only, and is not applicable to upper berth passengers. Persons with single occupancy will receive a single person portion. Onboard credit may only be used on a single voyage and expires at the end of that voyage. This offer or any unused portion is not redeemable for cash and is available to new bookings only. This offer is non-transferable. This offer is not combinable with World cruises.

Frankly, nothing in the old or new version says that a 2nd person can just put down a $100 at the time of booking. And the "first two passengers" statement really only says that onboard credit only goes to the first two in a stateroom.

[TracieABD]

We just returned from the Golden, and bought two FCCs. We never did find Kirk, though we looked for him several times. We finally gave up and put our requests in the slot. We received our letters in our stateroom later that evening. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:confused:

[shepp]

Problem is, seems to me, that the footnote in small type is thoroughly unclear, the sort of gobbledegook legalese that leaves room for either interpretation. When I booked back in June, I put down one FCC and an additional hundred, and got both OBCs. But as I read the document, there's actually no provision for doing that. I did ask a Princess phone rep before booking, but as we all know, there's a high potential for unreliability there, too.

[Iamcruzin]

You have to be one step ahead of some of these FCC reps. I purchased 3 on my last sailing this past May,2 under my name and 1 under my wife's name. We knew we were booking 2 staterooms for our next cruise. Our children weren't with us so I couldn't buy them one each.The rep suggested that we book an adult and a child in each room and pay the additional $100 for each child when we booked. Her words not mine. She also told us that they would also receive the OBC. She never mentioned that this would be the last time I could do this as Princess was changing the rules. I purchased the third in hopes that I would be able to book a bargain should it come up before my next cruise. I think that some of these Future Cruise Reps just want to sell as many as they can or they just don't want to take the time to explain all of the details. I happened to find one who knew her job and took the time to help.

[Pia1913]

We just returned from the Golden, and bought two FCCs. We never did find Kirk, though we looked for him several times. We finally gave up and put our requests in the slot. We received our letters in our stateroom later that evening. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:confused:

 

From what we've heard about Kirk, you really didn't want to find him. ;)

[jagsfan]

I've never purchased an FCC. Somebody tell me how it works. From what I'm reading

you get the amount taken off your cruise price when you booked, plus you get an

OBC. Is that right?

[TracieABD]

The $100 that you pay for the FCC can be used as the full deposit on your next cruise, and you get OBC in varying amounts. See post #7 for the specifics.:)

[TucsonRick]

Kirk, the FCC guy, told me that as of this May, i.e., two months ago, Princess has "gotten wise" (his words) to people that buy 2 FCC's and then book one for themselves and one for their friends.

This makes no sense as FCCs are non-transferable.

[mii]

This subject gives me some laughs. it seems like about every two weeks we get a thread about FCC's. It is really confusing when we on this board know more than the consultant's.:D Until I see it in writing from princess I still plan to buy FCC's but use one and pay the additional $100.00 for the other person.

 

Marilyn

[bhopal21]

We just returned from the Golden, and bought two FCCs. We never did find Kirk, though we looked for him several times. We finally gave up and put our requests in the slot. We received our letters in our stateroom later that evening. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:confused:

 

After the first time, that is what we have always done. Just pick up the forms fill them out and drop them in the box after hours. No need to talk to someone who knows less about the program than you do.:eek:

 

Until the language changes on the form, it is business as usual. One FCC and $100 will book any cabin with both receiving the OBC.

 

Mike:)