Using multiple FCD's on one new booking?

[dfrohman]

I booked a cruise yesterday for a party of 3 and we all had 3 FCD's waiting to be used. I was under the impression that you could only use 1 FCD per booking or 1 per person if you wanted. The HAL agent saw we had 9 total among the three in our party and applied them all. We have a few cruises booked in the not so distant future so I can replenish our supply of FCD's if I want so I agreed to using the money I had already spent to pay down the balance remaining on the booking by applying all 9. The only weird thing other than being able to do this at all, is that is doesn't look like we got the OBC that usually comes with the use of a FCD.

 

Has anyone done this before and is it normal not to get all of the OBC for the 9 FCD's used? Or do I need to call back and request it? 

[crystalspin]

The number of FCDs allowed and in fact needed (AFAIK) depends on the length of voyage, with three being the max. We applied three (each) to a 24-day sailing and somewhat later moved them to the 35-day Voyage of the Vikings, losing the OBC.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It's not a problem using multiple FCD,  But you will only get one OBC per guest per Booking. I always clean house of FCD just before we board a ship . And always buy more on the ship.

[dfrohman]

2 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

It's not a problem using multiple FCD,  But you will only get one OBC per guest per Booking. I always clean house of FCD just before we board a ship . And always buy more on the ship.

That makes sense. I think that is what I show. We do another cruise in a month. I will buy more then. 

[RBB]

18 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

It's not a problem using multiple FCD,  But you will only get one OBC per guest per Booking. I always clean house of FCD just before we board a ship . And always buy more on the ship.

    If you lose the OBC on extra OBC's used on a single cruise, what is the advantage of buying them in the first place?  Any other benefits involved?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 minutes ago, RBB said:

    If you lose the OBC on extra OBC's used on a single cruise, what is the advantage of buying them in the first place?  Any other benefits involved?

If you book a cruise off the ship you can use them for a deposit $100 per person.

When you use them you get a extra OBC.

[RBB]

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

If you book a cruise off the ship you can use them for a deposit $100 per person.

When you use them you get a extra OBC.

   But you get both of those with just one FCD; is there any additional advantage to using two or three of them on a single cruise?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

23 minutes ago, RBB said:

   But you get both of those with just one FCD; is there any additional advantage to using two or three of them on a single cruise?

No you will only get one OBC per person per Cruise

I like having at least 2 per person at home in case I book something when I am home.

[RuthC]

23 minutes ago, RBB said:

   But you get both of those with just one FCD; is there any additional advantage to using two or three of them on a single cruise?

You can use more than one FCD to 'top off' a deposit that requires more than one. That saves adding extra money to the deposit when HAL already has your funds. Then, when you next cruise, you can replace the spent FCD with new ones. That will extend the 'use by' expiration dates vs. the ones used. 

[RBB]

    Thanks for the answers & clarifications.

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, RBB said:

    If you lose the OBC on extra OBC's used on a single cruise, what is the advantage of buying them in the first place?  Any other benefits involved?

By using 3x2 FCDs on those long cruises I mentioned above, while the total price is the same, only $600 of our money is tied up in the meantime, instead of $3500!

 

I didn't get it either, for a long time, but after DH retired and we started booking several cruises way out, I saw the light!

[shadow 123]

20 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

It's not a problem using multiple FCD,  But you will only get one OBC per guest per Booking. I always clean house of FCD just before we board a ship . And always buy more on the ship.

What is FCD please?

[crystalspin]

34 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

What is FCD please?

Future Cruise Deposit, as opposed to FCC -- Future Cruise Credit.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

38 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

What is FCD please?

Future Cruise Deposit

[dfrohman]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

You can use more than one FCD to 'top off' a deposit that requires more than one. That saves adding extra money to the deposit when HAL already has your funds. Then, when you next cruise, you can replace the spent FCD with new ones. That will extend the 'use by' expiration dates vs. the ones used. 

This is in essence what I did. Although I didn't need the extra deposit since they were doing $50 deposits already. I just reduced the balance due at final payment date. They have my $900 already and I am going on another cruise later this month and can buy more FCD's with a later "expiration date". I figured, why not?

[Petronillus]

On 12/2/2023 at 3:06 PM, crystalspin said:

Future Cruise Deposit, as opposed to FCC -- Future Cruise Credit.

 

I'm with shadow123. Would someone be so kind as to point me in the direction of a primer on FCDs versus FCCs? So far it's been a mystery I haven't been able to unlock.

[FlaMariner]

This is my understanding......

 

FCD Future Cruise Deposit....You buy it onboard and it is a deposit for a future yet to be booked HAL cruise...and comes with some OBC.  The deposit amount is low and if you do not use it after 4 years, it is refunded.

 

FCC Future Cruise Credit.....$$$ you are given by HAL to use to pay for future cruises because you got cancelled from Covid or some other calamaity.

 

I'm sure other's will come along with more details but that's the way I understand them....Love the FCD's.....glad I've spent all my FCCs.....

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, Petronillus said:

 FCDs versus FCCs? So far it's been a mystery I haven't been able to unlock.

What @FlaMariner said. FCC will expire, FCD is refundable. The original pandemic FCCs expiration was pushed off and pushed off and we finally used our Mar2020 'money' on a 29 Dec 2022 sailing, two days before it was going to be gone!

[Petronillus]

2 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

This is my understanding......

 

FCD Future Cruise Deposit....You buy it onboard and it is a deposit for a future yet to be booked HAL cruise...and comes with some OBC.  The deposit amount is low and if you do not use it after 4 years, it is refunded.

 

FCC Future Cruise Credit.....$$$ you are given by HAL to use to pay for future cruises because you got cancelled from Covid or some other calamaity.

 

I'm sure other's will come along with more details but that's the way I understand them....Love the FCD's.....glad I've spent all my FCCs.....

Thanks for the explanation. Obviously, from HAL's standpoint, having money "on account" is a form of stickiness that will come into play when one has to decide which cruise line to sail with next. It doesn't sound like the OBC associated with an FCD is so large as to make much of a difference, standing alone. Are there other benefits?

[Mary229]

I only buy $100s. Up until now they have allowed me to use a single $100 FCD and charge the remainder to my credit card.  For example if my deposit is $600 I use a $100 FCD and charge $500 to the credit card. 

[FlaMariner]

11 hours ago, Petronillus said:

It doesn't sound like the OBC associated with an FCD is so large as to make much of a difference, standing alone.

 

For us it is a positive and a no-brainer.....Why?

 

1). We know we will be booking a HAL cruise soon

2). The $100 deposit for the FCD (that's the ones we always end up buying) is much lower than the usual $300 deposit (or whatever the deposit might be...and never seem to like the rate when HAL has a low deposit promo anyway)

3). The free OBC = free money

4). If for some dreadful reason we do not use the FCD, the money comes back to us (4 years from when we bought it)

 

We consider it a plus and glad HAL offers it....And w/many things, YMMV.

[Tampa Girl]

15 hours ago, Petronillus said:

Thanks for the explanation. Obviously, from HAL's standpoint, having money "on account" is a form of stickiness that will come into play when one has to decide which cruise line to sail with next. It doesn't sound like the OBC associated with an FCD is so large as to make much of a difference, standing alone. Are there other benefits?

 

If there are no specials on deposit at the time you book, and that deposit is minimally $1,200, the advantage of a $100 FCD becomes quite apparent.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

16 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I only buy $100s. Up until now they have allowed me to use a single $100 FCD and charge the remainder to my credit card.  For example if my deposit is $600 I use a $100 FCD and charge $500 to the credit card. 

I do the same.

[Mandalay1903]

On 12/3/2023 at 5:00 PM, Mary229 said:

I only buy $100s. Up until now they have allowed me to use a single $100 FCD and charge the remainder to my credit card.  For example if my deposit is $600 I use a $100 FCD and charge $500 to the credit card. 

I do the same as well.

 

I have found that if we have multiple FCDs in my Mariner account and we book a new cruise, the system automatically applies all of the FCDs to our booking up to the amount of the required (and reduced) deposit. I need to tell my PCC that I only want one FCD applied to the new booking and I'll pay the rest in cash. He will need to either take action to prevent the additional FCDs from being applied, or reverse them later.