July 2021–Any reason to pay off cruise?

[stout]

We have a July 2021 B2B booked on the Magic. It was moved from a similar B2B in July 2020. One leg has the OBC (10% and $200) with the 125% FCC and one leg has the FCC. I owe about $600 yet between the two. These cruises were all paid in gift cards. I know full well they will be cancelled. Our goal is move the OBC and FCC to summer 2022 if they allow that by the time our cruise is cancelled. I understand that even if I were to throw the extra $600 in cash at the cruises that I would not get the 125% of that payment because the FCC is one time only. Our cruise payment and cancellation deadline has been extended to 60 days prior to sail date.
Is there any reason at all/any benefit to us to pay off the cruises before DCL cancels them?

 

[Cheburashka]

We have a July 2021 B2B booked on the Magic. It was moved from a similar B2B in July 2020. One leg has the OBC (10% and $200) with the 125% FCC and one leg has the FCC. I owe about $600 yet between the two. These cruises were all paid in gift cards. I know full well they will be cancelled. Our goal is move the OBC and FCC to summer 2022 if they allow that by the time our cruise is cancelled. I understand that even if I were to throw the extra $600 in cash at the cruises that I would not get the 125% of that payment because the FCC is one time only. Our cruise payment and cancellation deadline has been extended to 60 days prior to sail date.
Is there any reason at all/any benefit to us to pay off the cruises before DCL cancels them?

Meh. It's questionable whether they will extend the 125% through the summer. Summer is a very profitable cruise season and allowing that would take away from badly needed summer profits, while also hollowing out bookings of spring 2022 cruises a bit. They also aren't going to allow the 125% to be used for sailings on the Wish, even if they do extend the credits into summer.

 

[To the honeypots]

We had similar situation and had a 2021 Alaska cruise booked that was rescheduled from 2020. Given we were booked on FCC, we did not pay anymore towards the balance. When our cruise was cancelled, the FCC was just redeposited for future use and we moved our OBB discount/credit to a 2022 cruise no issue. So, in my opinion since you are booked with a FCC already, I don’t see a point in paying in full until you have to as there is no discernible benefit to doing so.

 

[otten]

We have a July 2021 B2B booked on the Magic. It was moved from a similar B2B in July 2020. One leg has the OBC (10% and $200) with the 125% FCC and one leg has the FCC. I owe about $600 yet between the two. These cruises were all paid in gift cards. I know full well they will be cancelled. Our goal is move the OBC and FCC to summer 2022 if they allow that by the time our cruise is cancelled. I understand that even if I were to throw the extra $600 in cash at the cruises that I would not get the 125% of that payment because the FCC is one time only. Our cruise payment and cancellation deadline has been extended to 60 days prior to sail date.
Is there any reason at all/any benefit to us to pay off the cruises before DCL cancels them?

You have to be PIF to get FCC on a cancelled cruise but you also can’t get additional FCC on a cruise that was already paid for with previous FCC so in your case no I don’t think there is any point in paying in full.

 

[Intr3pid]

If you were going to sail, the benefit of full payment would be to start booking activities as soon as your silver/gold/plat booking window opened up.

If there is a TA involved, the benefit of not paying in full would be the ability to control the balance without having to cancel the booking. If a booking is paid in full and TA commissions are already paid out, you can't pull funds out of it without first cancelling it. This could be relevant in a couple of months when the summer 2022 itineraries come out (and Disney starts extending the FCCs into that season).

Finally, I know this is B2B (so not quite an issue), but if the cruises were spaced out in time, I would use as much FCC as possible on the earliest cruise that's going to sail. FCC have expiry dates; other forms of payments don't.

 

[lorimay]

Our payoff is March 8th for our July cruise if we want to book port adventures, etc, we have decided to pay it off and cross our fingers.
Its a cruise out of Rome and ending in Barcelona. We were 75% sure it would sail, but now we just don't know. I guess time will tell.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I think July 2021 will sail to Caribbean but magic is Europe, right? I suspect that will not, but it might. I would probably push it to a later cruise:

 

[Kevin Liu]

If Disney cancels the cruise don't you get a full refund regardless if you've PIF or not?

We have an April 2021 concierge booking which we will PIF in Feb, but my understanding is if the cruise gets cancelled we have option of 125% FCC OR a refund of the entire amount (including concierge deposit)

 

[Cheburashka]

If Disney cancels the cruise don't you get a full refund regardless if you've PIF or not?

We have an April 2021 concierge booking which we will PIF in Feb, but my understanding is if the cruise gets cancelled we have option of 125% FCC OR a refund of the entire amount (including concierge deposit)

Yes, they will always refund all of your out-of-pocket costs if they cancel on you. Being paid in full is only necessary if you want to be eligible for the 125% FCC.

 

[lorimay]

I think July 2021 will sail to Caribbean but magic is Europe, right? I suspect that will not, but it might. I would probably push it to a later cruise:

The Magic is still in Europe, she never came back. Some people feel that DCL may sail the cruises that are not out of U.S. ports due to the difference of following the CDC. But time will tell.
She has been in Dover for at least a month or longer.

 

[Thumper99]

If you were going to sail, the benefit of full payment would be to start booking activities as soon as your silver/gold/plat booking window opened up.

If there is a TA involved, the benefit of not paying in full would be the ability to control the balance without having to cancel the booking. If a booking is paid in full and TA commissions are already paid out, you can't pull funds out of it without first cancelling it. This could be relevant in a couple of months when the summer 2022 itineraries come out (and Disney starts extending the FCCs into that season).

Finally, I know this is B2B (so not quite an issue), but if the cruises were spaced out in time, I would use as much FCC as possible on the earliest cruise that's going to sail. FCC have expiry dates; other forms of payments don't.

This is confusing? Can you explain further. I know that if you PIF the TA is getting their commission (and if you are having them move cruises I fully think that is fair. They do way too much work with no payback when they book a cruise and the client cancels before PIF and right now these people aren’t getting paid and their businesses have been destroyed so I’m all for it) but if you moved a PIF to another cruise the TAs don’t get a second commission right?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The Magic is still in Europe, she never came back. Some people feel that DCL may sail the cruises that are not out of U.S. ports due to the difference of following the CDC. But time will tell.
She has been in Dover for at least a month or longer.

I read about that last night on another thread. You are right. It does look like dcl Europe May sail first. Great to hear, any sailing is great. But I am surprised! Probably shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore...

 

[tvguy]

If you are comfortable with the money being tied up, I see no issue with having a company of the strength of Disney having it. You seem to have a realistic view of the fact that your future cruise may be a whole lot more in the future than many would like. Some cruise lines are already canceling cruises in November, so who knows. https://news.yahoo.com/carnival-cruise-line-cancels-more-153008808.html

 

[Intr3pid]

This is confusing? Can you explain further. I know that if you PIF the TA is getting their commission (and if you are having them move cruises I fully think that is fair. They do way too much work with no payback when they book a cruise and the client cancels before PIF and right now these people aren’t getting paid and their businesses have been destroyed so I’m all for it) but if you moved a PIF to another cruise the TAs don’t get a second commission right?

If you have paid in full, the TA commissions have also been paid out. If you now want to move partial funds out of this PIF cruise into another cruise, the accounting gets dodgy. Whose account should the funds come out of, and should DCL ask the TA to repay? That's why they will ask you to cancel the booking first to send all funds back to their respective sources, and start afresh.