Last Day to Cancel Your Add-ons for Cash Refund instead of FCC

[CarolinaMamma]

Our family of 5 is booked on Epic April 4, 2020. I’m not sure if we will go or cancel yet, but thanks to a tip here, I called NCL today and cancelled the add-ons that we had pre-paid for to get a refund to my credit card. If you want until after the “Peace of Mind” policy goes into effect, these pre-paid add-ones will be part of your FCC. If we do end up going on the cruise, we can always add these things back in, though there is a slight increase in the DSC. The wait time was less than two minutes, so NCL must be fully staffed up to deal with the calls. 

 

Here’s what we are getting a refund for:

 

Prepaid DSC (5 ppl): $630.00

Included Specialty Dining Package Service Charge (2 ppl): $39.60

Included Beverage Package service charge (2 ppl): $277.20

Upgrade to Premium Plus Beverage Package (2 ppl): $487.20

3-meal Specialty Dining Package (3 ppl): $356.40

Soda Package (3 ppl): $200.34

 

Total: $1,990.74

 

Given the uncertainty with the FCC, this was well worth ten minutes of my time. 

 

[erin21497]

Why is today the last day to cancel add ons? I should be able to call anytime before sailing to cancel add ons as those are always refundable. Then I could call the next day (or whenever) to cancel the cruise and get FCC...?


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[ahoyle77]

Wait...I can get cash refund for my included free upgrades?  I guess just the dining package and beverage gratuity?  And cash refund for my prepaid service charges?

[CarolinaMamma]

12 minutes ago, erin21497 said:

Why is today the last day to cancel add ons? I should be able to call anytime before sailing to cancel add ons as those are always refundable. Then I could call the next day (or whenever) to cancel the cruise and get FCC...?


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According to the new policy, the “refund” for these items will be part of the FCC. https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/book-with-confidence

[CarolinaMamma]

2 minutes ago, ahoyle77 said:

Wait...I can get cash refund for my included free upgrades?  I guess just the dining package and beverage gratuity?  And cash refund for my prepaid service charges?

You can get a cash refund for the required service charges that you paid on those upgrades. 
 

in our case, we have 5 people in our cabin. Guest 1 and 2 got free specialty dining and beverage packages, but we had to pay service charges on those. We bought dining packages and soda packages for guests 3, 4 and 5 and were able to get a refund on those. 

[erdoran]

Nothing said if you can REQUEST a cash refund; however, from NCL FAQ-so you can decide how important it is to you to ensure these are refunded as cash, vs risking them being FCC only:

 

The following will be applied to the FCC:

• Cruise fare
• Flight arrangements booked through Norwegian Cruise Line
• Any ancillary items sold by Norwegian Cruise Line except Onboard Credits (OBC)
  • Ancillary items such as flowers, dining or beverage packages, among others.
• Prepaid service charges

• Upon cancellation, will guests be credited for any pre-cruise purchases such as beverage packages, shore excursions, etc.?

  Yes, all pre-cruise purchases will be included in the FCC issued.

[CarolinaMamma]

3 minutes ago, erdoran said:

Nothing said if you can REQUEST a cash refund; however, from NCL FAQ-so you can decide how important it is to you to ensure these are refunded as cash, vs risking them being FCC only:

 

The following will be applied to the FCC:

• Cruise fare
• Flight arrangements booked through Norwegian Cruise Line
• Any ancillary items sold by Norwegian Cruise Line except Onboard Credits (OBC)
  • Ancillary items such as flowers, dining or beverage packages, among others.
• Prepaid service charges

• Upon cancellation, will guests be credited for any pre-cruise purchases such as beverage packages, shore excursions, etc.?

  Yes, all pre-cruise purchases will be included in the FCC issued.

Yes, it could be that you can cancel these items, get a cash refund, then wait a couple of dats and cancel the cruise for the FCC. Since that’s not specifically spelled out anywhere, I wanted to make sure I cancelled the add-one before the new policy went into effect. 

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for pointing this out!   I just made a 5 minute phone call to get my prepaid DSC back.  The very nice agent said it would be back on my card in 7-10 business days.    We haven't made a decision to cancel or not yet, but today is a good day to get a cash refund of things pre-paid.     

 

If you call, please make a point of thanking the agent who works with you.  They have to be very concerned for their jobs.  I have four cruises booked over the next 14 months and I hope the cruise industry doesn't tank through all this.  

 

[Zippeedee]

Thank you!! I just cancelled my water package, spa pass, unlimited internet and prepaid gratuities. $1118! I'd rather have the cash at this point even if I don't have to cancel my April cruise. I'll just put it all back on then.

[apple314]

Just called to cancel Thermal Suite Spa package.  I had assumed that I could call and cancel that anytime up to when we decided to cancel.  The cruise was booked thru online TA so there would have been two different calls either way.  But I’d rather have some cash back right now and be safe then sorry since it does seem like my April spurge vacation money is going to be tied up in FCC for the short term possible long term depending on when we can travel again.  

[Newfun4me]

Thanks for posting!  I'm expecting that we will go as our cruise sails on May 31, but just in case, I'm calling to get all the cash back I can, as well.  Appreciate the heads up!

[Newfun4me]

1 hour ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Our family of 5 is booked on Epic April 4, 2020. I’m not sure if we will go or cancel yet, but thanks to a tip here, I called NCL today and cancelled the add-ons that we had pre-paid for to get a refund to my credit card. If you want until after the “Peace of Mind” policy goes into effect, these pre-paid add-ones will be part of your FCC. If we do end up going on the cruise, we can always add these things back in, though there is a slight increase in the DSC. The wait time was less than two minutes, so NCL must be fully staffed up to deal with the calls. 

 

Here’s what we are getting a refund for:

 

Prepaid DSC (5 ppl): $630.00

Included Specialty Dining Package Service Charge (2 ppl): $39.60

Included Beverage Package service charge (2 ppl): $277.20

Upgrade to Premium Plus Beverage Package (2 ppl): $487.20

3-meal Specialty Dining Package (3 ppl): $356.40

Soda Package (3 ppl): $200.34

 

Total: $1,990.74

 

Given the uncertainty with the FCC, this was well worth ten minutes of my time. 

 

So - question for you (and I know it might seem dumb) - I'm only canceling the pre-paid part of this, right?  Not giving up my chance to get the beverage package or specialty dining as a perk?

[CarolinaMamma]

2 minutes ago, Newfun4me said:

So - question for you (and I know it might seem dumb) - I'm only canceling the pre-paid part of this, right?  Not giving up my chance to get the beverage package or specialty dining as a perk?

Just the pre-paid add-on items. So if I go on my cruise, I still have the free beverage package and free specialty dining. I’ve just cancelled the service charges on them. 
 

I think the confusion on what I posted is because the free perks only apply to the first two guests in a cabin. We have 5 in our cabin, so my husband and I got specialty dining and beverage packages as free perks, but I bought specialty dining and soda packages for the kids. Hope that makes sense 

[CarolinaMamma]

40 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

 

If you call, please make a point of thanking the agent who works with you.  They have to be very concerned for their jobs.  I have four cruises booked over the next 14 months and I hope the cruise industry doesn't tank through all this.  

 

Yes! The agent I talked to was really nice. I thanked her and wished her luck with the volume of calls from unhappy or scared people that they are going to be getting over the next few days. 

[oracer]

Just did the same, Cruise Critic rocks.  I had $1000 worth of specialty dining and prepaid on that and she was very nice (as I was) 🙂 to refund that.  I had read the fine print about Ancillary Charges and thought no way of getting that in a refund.  I only have $15K now in cruise reservation to think through!

[2heatons]

I did this tonight as well. You have to be very specific with the agent, but they will do it with no problem. My agent did allude to the fact that I would get my taxes, fees, and port charges refunded and the actual fare would be the credit. Is this correct?


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[Penn Mom]

A BIG THANK YOU to CarolinaMamma!!!  I was able to get a refund for my prepaid gratuities.  😃

 

[jasoneats]

Thanks CarolinaMamma for posting this. I called just now. The agent originally said I could not subtract anything from my account after final payment. I was clear with him that other people in my same position had done the same thing today. He checked with his supervisor and came back on the line to tell me that, in fact, yes I could do that!  He did clarify that I would be paying a higher DSC if/when we do actually sail. 
 

it will be great to have these funds back in my bank account , especially if it ends up being many months before we do sail. 

[EBRB]

Thanks so much for posting this. I canceled our thermal spa passes yesterday but wasn't sure about the Free at Sea gratuities so I called back tonight on those. The agents I spoke to on each day couldn't have been nicer. We'll receive over $800 in refunds.

 

I'm really pleased with the way NCL is handling this situation. If they keep this up, they'll have a customer for life. Can't wait to sail once we beat this stupid virus!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

So we can get our beverage service charge refunded without canceling our “free” package?

 

We can’t cancel our shore excursion online?

[2heatons]

So we can get our beverage service charge refunded without canceling our “free” package?
 
We can’t cancel our shore excursion online?

Sort of. If you decide to go you just add back the free at sea. I had to call back to double check.


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[EBRB]

14 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

So we can get our beverage service charge refunded without canceling our “free” package?

 

We can’t cancel our shore excursion online?

I did have to cancel the beverage package and I went ahead and did the dining too even though that one was just a "cover charge" for Teppanyaki. I had to cancel the reservation first. I'm new to NCL so still learning how these packages work.

[jasperess]

So if we keep the specialty dining and beverage package gratuities, they would get rolled up into the FCC.  Would we then be able to use the FCC for the specialty dining and beverage package gratuities for a new cruise?

 

Can we still do the cancellations for refund tomorrow since we can't do the cancel/convert to FCC until March 11th?

[CherWolf]

Thank you for the reminder, CarolinaMama. I just took care of it.

[Cb2534]

CarolinaMamma - cruise critic hero of the day!  Thank you so much.   I was able to call and get a refund of $1100 for the gratuities and DSC that would have come back to me as a future cruise credit starting tomorrow.   YOU ROCK!!

 

NCL is open until midnight - I reached a customer service agent right away.  You can do this yourself even if you have a travel agent.  

 

Not sure if anyone has priced out future cruises avaialbe for purchase with the pending "cruise credits" but you won't be getting much for your dollar.  Prices on similar cruises in the fall and spring are priced 2 - 3 times higher than what I originally paid for our transatlantic due to depart NYC on 4/23.     A balcony cabin is running about $3000 per person on cruises in the fall and spring- outrageous!