Future Cruise Credit Enhancements

We understand how important Future Cruise Credits (FCC) are for both you and your clients. That is why we have enhanced the functionality of POLAR Online by replacing Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) that were issued in relation to COVID-19 with Future Cruise Credit Payments (FCCPs). There will still be goodwill FCCs issued to your customers where applicable.

What’s different?
FCCPs apply a payment to a booking, whereas FCCs apply a discount to a booking. Future Cruise Credit Payments bring a number of benefits and added flexibility;

  • You can view each passenger’s FCCP balance and, for the first time, you will be able to change the amount applied to a new booking.
  • FCCPs can be used to pay for a deposit.
  • You will be able to split an FCCP between guests on the same booking.
  • Enables your customer to purchase Holiday Package add-ons such as Regional Flights, Flight Upgrades and hotel

What do you need to do?
There is no action required for you or your clients. You will simply notice a change in the POLAR Online functionality as COVID-19 related FCCs are migrated to FCCPs. The value of the FCC will remain exactly the same as it is transferred over to an FCCP. If an FCC is currently bonded then the FCCP will also remain bonded.

We will not be issuing new booking confirmations, however if you request a new booking confirmation then you will see the FCCP showing as a payment rather than the previous FCC showing as a discount. The cruise fare payable by your client remains the same. As your clients won’t notice any changes from FCC to FCCP, we’re not issuing any dedicated communications, but we wanted to make our travel advisor partners aware of the changes so you will continue to feel confident using our systems and can make the most of the additional flexibility. We will continue to refer to FCCPs as ‘Future Cruise Credits’ within all of our communications to guests and ask that you also continue to use ‘Future Cruise Credits’ in any communications with your clients.

Using an FCCP
As usual, please use your client’s loyalty numbers when you perform the availability check. You will now see a new FCC button at the bottom of the pricing screen. When you select the new button, it will show you which FCCPs have automatically been applied to each guest.

The FCCP will be displayed under ‘amount received’ in the ‘payment section’ during the booking journey. Post-booking, any FCCP applied to the booking will show in the ‘Payment History’ section. The Pricing Screen will continue to display the cruise fare and any air supplements or package add‑ons.

It’s important to note that because an FCCP is a payment, rather than a discount, it will change the way it calculates the deposit amount. For example, the FCC reduces the fare and then calculates the relevant deposit percentage. When a booking has an FCCP on it, it will calculate the deposit based on the gross fare of the cruise. The extra cost of the deposit will be covered by the FCCP. You will not be required to amend or collect any differences in deposit that may now occur on existing bookings.

For new bookings, the booking confirmations will look slightly different. There will be the normal 'Miscellaneous' line which will highlight any non-COVID-19 related FCCs and there will be a new section which shows any FCCPs used on the booking, which will be shown separate from any monies received.

If a guest cancels a booking using an FCCP, standard cancellation terms will apply and any fees will be deducted from the FCCP (and then following that from any additional payments made if applicable).

FCCP's will remain fully commissionable.

For additional information and support, please watch our training video and learn more on GoSeabourn.com.