Will FCC be our way around?

[Extra Kim]

We have four cruises booked with Royal, they were booked through a TA. One in September 2020 and three as a B2B2B (S2S2S) in March - April 2021.

The TA have gone into reconstruction to see if it can be saved. 

Now to our problem, we have paid all cruises in full and Royal have got our payment from the TA. But now Royal has cancelled two of our sailings. Since the second cruise that got cancelled was in the middle of the B2B2B, we want to cancel all three and re-book to a B2B2B on Explorer instead. Normaly this wouldn't be a problem since this was booked as a package, but now our TA say that they can't change any bookings since they have started the reconstruction.

 

We would like to get a refund, but if we opt for the refund Royal will make the refund to our TA. If they refund to our TA, we might never see the money.

 

Should we take the FCC and wait until after September, when the time for the reconstruction of the TA is done? When the reconstruction is done or our TA have gone out of business, the plan is that we then ask Royal to change the FCC back into a refund. Would that be a way to get our money back?

We are talking about $17 000 in total and we don't want to loose that kind of money.

 

We live in Sweden and I do understand that the rules and laws might be different compared to the U.S.

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

We have four cruises booked with Royal, they were booked through a TA. One in September 2020 and three as a B2B2B (S2S2S) in March - April 2021.

The TA have gone into reconstruction to see if it can be saved. 

Now to our problem, we have paid all cruises in full and Royal have got our payment from the TA. But now Royal has cancelled two of our sailings. Since the second cruise that got cancelled was in the middle of the B2B2B, we want to cancel all three and re-book to a B2B2B on Explorer instead. Normaly this wouldn't be a problem since this was booked as a package, but now our TA say that they can't change any bookings since they have started the reconstruction.

 

We would like to get a refund, but if we opt for the refund Royal will make the refund to our TA. If they refund to our TA, we might never see the money.

 

Should we take the FCC and wait until after September, when the time for the reconstruction of the TA is done? When the reconstruction is done or our TA have gone out of business, the plan is that we then ask Royal to change the FCC back into a refund. Would that be a way to get our money back?

We are talking about $17 000 in total and we don't want to loose that kind of money.

 

We live in Sweden and I do understand that the rules and laws might be different compared to the U.S.

You are correct, the rules are very different.  I would call Royal and explain the supituation and ask they the reservation gets released back to you. 

[Extra Kim]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are correct, the rules are very different.  I would call Royal and explain the supituation and ask they the reservation gets released back to you. 

It doesn't matter if reservation gets released back, since the refund always goes to the one who paid it, in this case the TA.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, Extra Kim said:

It doesn't matter if reservation gets released back, since the refund always goes to the one who paid it, in this case the TA.

Having your TA go into a restructuring could change that.  The only way to know what your options are is to call Royal.

[Extra Kim]

We have talked to Royal, as long as the TA are still in busniess they will refund the money to the TA.

[Extra Kim]

During my last call to Royal they told me to just wait and not do anything. They will give us a FCC and if we want to change that to a refund in the future, we will be able to. The port fees and taxes will be sent to the TA, looks like it might be lost if the TA goes out of busniess. 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

Is Royal still protecting the TA's for cancelled cruises?  If so, I wonder if Royal pays the TA's faster than they send refunds to the passengers.

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Extra Kim said:

They will give us a FCC and if we want to change that to a refund in the future, we will be able to.

Don't trust them on that - get your refund now.

[ipeeinthepool]

7 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Don't trust them on that - get your refund now.

 

Always good advice.

[Extra Kim]

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Don't trust them on that - get your refund now.

 

Just now, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Always good advice.

We CAN'T do that. 

[ipeeinthepool]

6 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

 

We CAN'T do that. 

 

You said they would give you an FCC and you could request a refund in the future.  If they gave me a FCC today, I would request a refund tomorrow.

[Extra Kim]

Yes but you are missing the point, as long as our TA are in reconstruction they won't refund us even if Royal refund them. They will keep the money until the reconstruction is over or they go out of busniess. The reconstruction will be done in September, if they survive we can then choose to change the FCC into a refund. If they go out of busniess, our FCC will still be valid and Royal would make the refund directly to us. As long as our TA are in busniess, Royal can't do the refund directly to us.

[Biker19]

27 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

As long as our TA are in business, Royal can't do the refund directly to us.

Talk about a messed up situation. You could see if RCI calls your bluff when you call them requesting the refund directly and say your TA went out of business.

[Extra Kim]

Since there's laws controlling a reconstruction in Sweden, they can't just trust our words without doing a check with the TA.

[LeeW]

Sounds like you are safest with Royal having your money right now.  If you request a refund from the middle cruise FCC it would go back to the TA.  So would the FCC from the separate cruise.  Maybe you could use the two FCC to book part of the B2B2B on Explorer?  Not sure about your rules but over here you just have to put down deposits this far out and not pay for the full cruises.  Maybe instead of applying FCC from both people (2 times 2 cruises) you could apply two to B1, one to B2 and one to B3?  This would make sure the FCC can't go back to the existing TA.

[Extra Kim]

I have been a bit inexplicit. At first our TA made it sound like they could transfer the whole B2B2B booking to a B2B2B on Explorer and it sounded great. No need for any money to go back from Royal to the TA. We feelt that our money would be safer in the hands of Royal and thought that we had found a way to maybe save them.

But it turned out that this wasn't the case, they can't make any changes to our bookings. What they did was that they made a reservation on Explorer, this needs to be confirmed no later then the 15th of August. That's not going to happen, if we would make a totaly new booking, we would do it without involving the TA. With how the cruising world are right now, we just want our money back. Looks like FCC is the best option for that to happen, but who knows?

[LeeW]

In the US you can apply your FCC either by yourself (calling RCI) or with a different travel agent.  We are doing much the same thing with a current set of FCC, but we have a B2B cancelled set that we want to apply to a B2B2B next year.  Shouldn't be a big deal although we might have to pay a deposit on the third cruise (have asked TA but no answer yet if she can apply 2 FCC on once cruise and 1 FCC on each of the other cruises).  Getting your money back is tougher than getting a new booking.  Good luck with your TA issues!

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, LeeW said:

In the US you can apply your FCC either by yourself (calling RCI) or with a different travel agent.  We are doing much the same thing with a current set of FCC, but we have a B2B cancelled set that we want to apply to a B2B2B next year.  Shouldn't be a big deal although we might have to pay a deposit on the third cruise (have asked TA but no answer yet if she can apply 2 FCC on once cruise and 1 FCC on each of the other cruises).  Getting your money back is tougher than getting a new booking.  Good luck with your TA issues!

You can only apply one a FCC per person to a cruise. 

[Extra Kim]

Time will tell how our TA will handle this.

[not-enough-cruising]

Take home lesson here is never is a TA that makes the payment on your behalf, with the agency we use our payments go directly

from my AMEX to RCCL. 

 

I hope all parties involved are able to rectify your situation. 

[Extra Kim]

It works different in Sweden. 

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, Extra Kim said:

It works different in Sweden. 

 

Does Sweden require some kind of travel insurance to protect the customers in these type of situations?

[Roger88]

33 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Does Sweden require some kind of travel insurance to protect the customers in these type of situations?

I think this kind of situation should be taken care of by the customer himself when getting an insurance plan. I wouldn't try to save on insurance these days. Its better to get some platinum full coverage plan and just feel safe in case of any situation. You never know what situation you can get into, so its better to be fully covered.. especially when you travel far away abroad 

[Extra Kim]

We do have insurance, but since the TA are in a reconstruction that mess up the "rules". The company are still in busniess, but every transaction that had been made before they went into reconstruction are "locked" in the reconstruction.

[ipeeinthepool]

7 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

We do have insurance, but since the TA are in a reconstruction that mess up the "rules". The company are still in busniess, but every transaction that had been made before they went into reconstruction are "locked" in the reconstruction.

 

I'm sorry that things are in disarray at the moment and you would like to make future plans but if you have insurance will you eventually be reimbursed for any payments that are not refunded by the TA or the cruise line?