If you have future cruise credits (or “FCCs”), you’re not alone – many have been issued since March 2020, when cruise lines began rescheduling cruises due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, what’s a future cruise credit? It’s like
a credit you receive from a retail store when you have
to return something you purchased there. In place of a cash
refund, FCCs let you apply the cost of a cruise you can’t take to a future cruise
on the same line.
Today, fewer cruises are
being rescheduled due to the pandemic, but some lines
are still issuing FCCs to passengers who are unable to board a
ship when pre-boarding tests come
back positive for COVID.
If you have FCCs, carefully check
their expiration dates; once they expire, they’re gone
forever. And, many COVID-related FCCs will begin
to expire on Dec. 31, 2021. Note that you don’t have to
sail by the expiration date of your FCCs; you just have to
use them to book a future cruise.
Here are more helpful things to know about FCCs:
FCCs are usually issued within a few weeks after a
cruise cancellation or a denied boarding due to a
positive COVID test result. The cruise line will email information about
the credits to the address you provided when you booked the cruise.
If you’re a member of the cruise line’s loyalty program,
the credits should also show up in
your loyalty account.
The ways you can use your FCCs varies by cruise
line. Some let you apply credits to the balance due on a
future cruise that you already booked; others let you
use credits only for a newly-booked
cruise. Some lines let you divide FCCs up in order to
apply them to more than one future cruise. Note that most cruise lines do
not let you transfer your FCCs to another person.
If you use FCCs to book a new cruise
and find that you have some credits left over, you might be able
to use them to pay for extras like beverage packages,
shore excursions, gratuities for the crew or even flights to and from
the port. If by some bit of bad luck a cruise you pay for with
FCCs is cancelled, you’ll probably be able to use the
credits again.
Be sure to ask Anita, your professional travel advisor, for assistance to
make sure you receive the best value for your future cruise credits.
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