PJR184 Posted July 10, 2020 #1 Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) THE DISAPPEARING FUTURE CRUISE CREDIT. There must be thousands of us getting FCC for cancelled cruises. If you have FCC of, say, £3,000 for a cancelled trip you're probably expecting it to reduce the final cost of a replacement cruise you've booked by £3,000....right? Well, according to my online UK travel agent.....wrong! You'll need your maths head on to follow this, but persevere, it's fascinating! I've adjusted the actual numbers to try and keep it simple.... My agent routinely applies a 10% discount to cruise lines' basic fares excluding taxes and fees. So after an April cruise was cancelled, I booked a replacement for July next year and paid a deposit. Let's say the basic cruise fare was £5,000, and after the agent's 10% discount (£500) and my deposit (also £500) the balance payable was £ 4,000 plus taxes and fees. So far so good. A few days later, the confirmed FCC - value £3,000 - was applied by the agent and I got a new invoice. But, instead of the balance payable now being £1000 plus taxes and fees as I expected, it was £1,300! Why? Because the agent says that the T&C's of the FCC stipulate that it can only be applied to the basic cruise fare of £5,000. So they've reduced that to £2,000, deducted their 10% discount (now £200), applied my deposit (£500) and come up with a balance payable of £1,300 plus taxes and fees. Can any cruisers or travel agents out there tell me where the missing £300 of FCC has gone? Edited July 10, 2020 by PJR184 clarification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi13 Posted July 10, 2020 #2 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Welcome to cruise critic. FCV/FCC have terms & conditions that vary by cruise line, so what applies to 1 cruise line, doesn't apply to all. Your TA, reduced your discount from your expected 500 to 200, so nothing to do with the FCC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare VMax1700 Posted July 10, 2020 #3 Share Posted July 10, 2020 34 minutes ago, PJR184 said: My agent routinely applies a 10% discount to cruise lines' basic fares excluding taxes and fees They didn't apply 10% discount to the basic fare. They applied it to the nett amount of the fare after the deduction of the FCC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted July 10, 2020 #4 Share Posted July 10, 2020 probably your TA is only getting commission on the 2000 GBP so therefore the 10% discount will be less I do not see any problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJR184 Posted July 10, 2020 Author #5 Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) 13 minutes ago, LHT28 said: probably your TA is only getting commission on the 2000 GBP so therefore the 10% discount will be less I do not see any problem i should have said in my post that the cruise line, like most, is 'protecting' agents' commissions - i.e. it is paying commissions on fully paid cruises that were subsequently cancelled (which mine was) AND on the full basic fares of cruises partly paid for with FCC. Edited July 10, 2020 by PJR184 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted July 10, 2020 #6 Share Posted July 10, 2020 9 minutes ago, PJR184 said: i should have said in my post that the cruise line, like most, is 'protecting' agents' commissions - i.e. it is paying commissions on fully paid cruises that were subsequently cancelled (which mine was) AND on the full basic fares of cruises partly paid for with FCC. So the cruise line is protecting the commission on the cancelled cruise which you got the 3000 FCC for An now you booked a cruise for 5000 GBP I am understanding your correctly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJR184 Posted July 10, 2020 Author #7 Share Posted July 10, 2020 LHT28 - yes. It seems to me that the agents will profit from the missing £300 unless they re-think and re-invoice, which I hope they will. I wondered if anyone might know if other agents who give discounts are adopting this accounting practice despite the fact that most cruise lines have announced that they are 'protecting' agents' commissions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted July 10, 2020 #8 Share Posted July 10, 2020 14 minutes ago, PJR184 said: LHT28 - yes. It seems to me that the agents will profit from the missing £300 unless they re-think and re-invoice, which I hope they will. Maybe have a chat with your TA & see if they will up the ante But in the end it is their commission if they choose to share or not it is up to them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJR184 Posted July 10, 2020 Author #9 Share Posted July 10, 2020 LHT28 - I'm waiting for them to get back to me. The way I see it is that it's my FCC, not their commission! Effectively, it's a repayment of money that I paid out last year for which I got nothing in return. I fail to see why they should keep part of it for themselves on top of their protected normal commission on both cruises (and their non-refundable service fee on both cruises which I also forgot to mention in the original post). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi13 Posted July 10, 2020 #10 Share Posted July 10, 2020 17 minutes ago, PJR184 said: LHT28 - I'm waiting for them to get back to me. The way I see it is that it's my FCC, not their commission! Effectively, it's a repayment of money that I paid out last year for which I got nothing in return. I fail to see why they should keep part of it for themselves on top of their protected normal commission on both cruises (and their non-refundable service fee on both cruises which I also forgot to mention in the original post). Good luck getting it resolved, but might be time to check for a new TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted July 10, 2020 #11 Share Posted July 10, 2020 2 hours ago, PJR184 said: LHT28 - I'm waiting for them to get back to me. The way I see it is that it's my FCC, not their commission! Effectively, it's a repayment of money that I paid out last year for which I got nothing in return. I fail to see why they should keep part of it for themselves on top of their protected normal commission on both cruises (and their non-refundable service fee on both cruises which I also forgot to mention in the original post). The way I see it is the TA does not have to share their commission with you at all but if you think you deserve part their pay then I would certainly let them know they should work for less so you can get a discount Sorry I disagree with your theory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayfairers Posted July 11, 2020 #12 Share Posted July 11, 2020 21 hours ago, PJR184 said: LHT28 - I'm waiting for them to get back to me. The way I see it is that it's my FCC, not their commission! Effectively, it's a repayment of money that I paid out last year for which I got nothing in return. I fail to see why they should keep part of it for themselves on top of their protected normal commission on both cruises (and their non-refundable service fee on both cruises which I also forgot to mention in the original post). What happens if you book directly with the cruise ship? Do you get to use your full FCC? Oh, any chance the other 300FCC is still in your account to be used on a future cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi13 Posted July 11, 2020 #13 Share Posted July 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Wayfairers said: What happens if you book directly with the cruise ship? Do you get to use your full FCC? Oh, any chance the other 300FCC is still in your account to be used on a future cruise? The entire UKP 3,000 FCC was applied to the base fare by the cruise line. Rather than providing 10% discount on base fare, the TA only provided the 10% discount on the outstanding balance. If booking direct with the cruise line he would lose all TA discounts, so the balance would then be UKP 1,500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmoo here Posted July 11, 2020 #14 Share Posted July 11, 2020 On 7/10/2020 at 8:19 AM, PJR184 said: Why? Because the agent says that the T&C's of the FCC stipulate that it can only be applied to the basic cruise fare of £5,000. So they've reduced that to £2,000, deducted their 10% discount (now £200), applied my deposit (£500) and come up with a balance payable of £1,300 plus taxes and fees. I would expect that to be the way it works. FCC applied first and then any TA discounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJR184 Posted July 14, 2020 Author #15 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I am pleased to advise that the Travel Agent has now agreed with my views and re-calculated the invoice so I now get the full value of the FCC. So if it happens to you, take heart, press your case, and take no notice of any 'experts' on Cruise Critic who say you're wrong!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bull Posted July 18, 2020 #16 Share Posted July 18, 2020 News of interest to those who booked in the UK (I don't know whether it applies to EU, US, etc). This link refers to "package holidays", so you need to confirm that it includes cruises............. Those who have accepted refund credit notes (not vouchers) instead of cash refunds for ATOL-protected bookings will get their money back via ATOL's contingency fund even if their travel agent / operator goes belly-up https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53448181 JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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