Using FCC via an agent (UK)

[MX-Drew]

I have 50% FCC awarded due to a cruise being cancelled last minute way back at the start of this pandemic. A total of £2250, I have gone to book a cruise via an agent at a cost of £4664 and Celebrity are saying I can only use £2072 as it can't be used on taxes or gratuities (which I understand) but are taxes and gratuities really about 50% of a cruise? 

 

Who is conning me here the agent or Celebrity? I think Celebrity so I use the last bit of the FCC on another cruise which I won't do as they refused to take it against a cruise that was already booked even though the T&Cs say you can.

 

It is a shame as this is my first and now last time sailing with them (I was only booking this to use the FCC which I may now cancel and forget the FCC as it was a bonus anyway), I shall cancel my 2022 cruise with them as it is only a small deposit and I don't want to give them the satisfaction of having more of my money. 

 

Anyone have any experience of this?

[chemmo]

Why not phone Celebrity direct and try to book the same cruise through them and see how that works out?

 

Nothing to loose...

 

We have had no issues whatsoever applying FCC to cruises on a few occasions now. However, we prefer to book direct rather than through a TA. 

 

Please post back how you get on...

[MX-Drew]

1 minute ago, chemmo said:

Why not phone Celebrity direct and try to book the same cruise through them and see how that works out?

 

Nothing to loose...

 

We have had no issues whatsoever applying FCC to cruises on a few occasions now. However, we prefer to book direct rather than through a TA. 

 

Please post back how you get on...

I should have added that I went through an agent as I had a deposit credit with them that I want to use as well. 

I have told the agent how I feel, so I'm giving them a chance before I phone Celebrity.

 

I will keep in touch with you all.

[chemmo]

Sorry...just reread your post and I am a little confused. Have you already committed yourself now through this TA?

 

[MX-Drew]

Just now, chemmo said:

Sorry...just reread your post and I am a little confused. Have you already committed yourself now through this TA?

 

Yes due to the deposit credit I had with them on another cancelled cruise and stay tailor made.

[emmas gran]

Call Celebrity UK 0800 953 5828

[chemmo]

10 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Yes due to the deposit credit I had with them on another cancelled cruise and stay tailor made.

 

We have cruised Celebrity for years, love the on board product and usually find them very reasonable if any issues arise.  Don’t judge them before you step on board!

 

If I was you I would ask your TA for a full breakdown of your pricing then either you will understand it or can ask your TA to take it further. 

[MX-Drew]

3 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

We have cruised Celebrity for years, love the on board product and usually find them very reasonable if any issues arise.  Don’t judge them before you step on board!

 

If I was you I would ask your TA for a full breakdown of your pricing then either you will understand it or can ask your TA to take it further. 

I have gone back to the TA and asked them to look into the matter, if I get no joy from them I will go to Celebrity. 

I just wondered if anyone had had this problem.

[MX-Drew]

13 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

Call Celebrity UK 0800 953 5828

Thanks, I will after giving the TA a chance.

[sandancer]

In my experience as soon as you mention that you booked through a travel agent, Celebrity won’t talk to you. 

[MX-Drew]

12 minutes ago, sandancer said:

In my experience as soon as you mention that you booked through a travel agent, Celebrity won’t talk to you. 

Good point all travel companies are like that. I think I will just ask a general question first, along the lines of how much of a FCC can I use on one booking and go from there.

Better yet I will email so I have it in writing.

Edited November 17, 2020 by MX-Drew

[rachiem]

I had a bit of trouble adding FCC's to a booking as the UK system can only add one per person. Anything else needed to be done by the Miami accounts office apparently?

Maybe they can adjust this "up the line" for you?

[sandancer]

We have a cruise in April which may well be cancelled. If it is we definitely will not take FCCs. Just get our money back and move on. 

[MX-Drew]

9 minutes ago, rachiem said:

I had a bit of trouble adding FCC's to a booking as the UK system can only add one per person. Anything else needed to be done by the Miami accounts office apparently?

Maybe they can adjust this "up the line" for you?

Interesting but I only have one FCC per person. I just feel either Celebrity or my cold TA thinks they can get me to book another cruise by leaving me some credit, well for the amount it is they can forget it.

I feel an email to the CEO coming again! After all that is how I got the FCCs in the first place.

Edited November 17, 2020 by MX-Drew

[MX-Drew]

4 minutes ago, sandancer said:

We have a cruise in April which may well be cancelled. If it is we definitely will not take FCCs. Just get our money back and move on. 

Wise choice, I got my money back and 50% FCC so I can't complain really.

[rachiem]

44 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Interesting but I only have one FCC per person. I just feel either Celebrity or my cold TA thinks they can get me to book another cruise by leaving me some credit, well for the amount it is they can forget it.

I feel an email to the CEO coming again! After all that is how I got the FCCs in the first place.

Seems odd..I only have experience with small Celebrity FCC's that were small deposits. I have NCL FCC's which can be used on the whole cruise. 

Even so there is no way that the taxes add up to 50% of the cruise price

Edited November 17, 2020 by rachiem

[MX-Drew]

On 11/17/2020 at 10:52 AM, emmas gran said:

Call Celebrity UK 0800 953 5828

Well as promised, I'm reporting back.

After speaking to the TA all they kept saying was FCC can't be used to pay port fees and taxes but it was clear that is not the whole answer, so a call to Celebrity gave me the answer and they admit a lot of people are getting caught out here. There are two more fees it does not cover, one I did not catch the name of but made sense at the time and the other sounded like "non comms". Anyway they assured me I had used the maximum amount of the FCC. Celebrity suggested I upgraded the cabin to a Sunset Veranda which I have done.

So fingers crossed we are back cruising by May next year.

 

[emmas gran]

Glad to help with the phone number, I also get the name of person who deals with my query and date/time my notes.

 

Liz

[MX-Drew]

5 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

Glad to help with the phone number, I also get the name of person who deals with my query and date/time my notes.

 

Liz

I usually do but it was a very bad line and I felt after about the third time of asking her name it was time to give up. lol

[jojo1966]

On 11/17/2020 at 11:54 AM, rachiem said:

I had a bit of trouble adding FCC's to a booking as the UK system can only add one per person. Anything else needed to be done by the Miami accounts office apparently?

Maybe they can adjust this "up the line" for you?

hi - intrigued about your statement about Uk system only being able to add one FCC per person ...i was led to believe you couldnt use more than one per person per booking anyway? are you suggesting that you can use more than one per person per booking by contacting head office?? thanks

[little britain]

10 minutes ago, jojo1966 said:

hi - intrigued about your statement about Uk system only being able to add one FCC per person ...i was led to believe you couldnt use more than one per person per booking anyway? are you suggesting that you can use more than one per person per booking by contacting head office?? thanks

No, it is one FCC per person.  They cannot be stacked.

 

@MX-Drew

Non Comms is the 'non commissionable cruise fare' which basically is a small (very small) percentage of the fare that the TA doesn't earn any commission on.  

[MX-Drew]

2 minutes ago, little britain said:

 

@MX-Drew

Non Comms is the 'non commissionable cruise fare' which basically is a small (very small) percentage of the fare that the TA doesn't earn any commission on.  

Thanks for that information, I wish I could remember the other item. That said I only had £89 per person left so when taking airfare, transfers, gratuities, drinks etc into account it would not take much more to get to the point where the bit a FCC can be used on is less than the amount I had.

It end well, an upgrade to the cabin (which I wanted but thought was not worth the cost) for just the remaining FCC as a good will gesture from Celebrity. 

Talking to customer services really changed my mind how I thought of them from my previous dealings. I wonder if they have changed their approach a little now people are booking again.

[rachiem]

15 hours ago, jojo1966 said:

hi - intrigued about your statement about Uk system only being able to add one FCC per person ...i was led to believe you couldnt use more than one per person per booking anyway? are you suggesting that you can use more than one per person per booking by contacting head office?? thanks

My situation was slightly different I think as they applied on OBC refund to my new cruise.

When I queried why I couldn't add my full refunded FCC, they had to get head office to do it (so the system can be over ridden) They may have done this as they made an error? I didn't realise that you couldn't have more than one as my TA had said that Celebrity Head Office would just apply the other for me as she couldn't do it in the UK

 

[chemmo]

21 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

Well as promised, I'm reporting back.

After speaking to the TA all they kept saying was FCC can't be used to pay port fees and taxes but it was clear that is not the whole answer, so a call to Celebrity gave me the answer and they admit a lot of people are getting caught out here. There are two more fees it does not cover, one I did not catch the name of but made sense at the time and the other sounded like "non comms". Anyway they assured me I had used the maximum amount of the FCC. Celebrity suggested I upgraded the cabin to a Sunset Veranda which I have done.

So fingers crossed we are back cruising by May next year.

 

 

So pleased everything worked out for you! Enjoy your ‘free’ cabin upgrade!

[mickey89]

On 11/17/2020 at 10:52 AM, emmas gran said:

Call Celebrity UK 0800 953 5828

Another Free Phone number for Celebrity Cruises UK - 0800-240-4259