Cancellations Turned into FCC - What have you done with Insurance?

We are anticipating cancellation of our May Navigator cruise. I believe we will have three options - get our money back, turn into FCC which will have to be used on a single cruise, or opportunity to just move booking to 2022 identical itinerary. I apparently had the wrong impression that if we chose the last option, we could still cancel and get our $100K+ payment back if we decided to cancel prior to the cancellation deadline for the 2022 cruise; I have learned that if we take this option it will all be considered FCC and not refundable.

So, what do we do about insurance? The insurance with coverage for pre-existing is over $5K.

If Regent cancels the cruise and we take the first option we can get the whole insurance policy cancelled and premium returned to us; no issues.

With the second option, is cancellation insurance useful anymore since the money is all FCC which can never be returned? Has anyone had experience with purchasing insurance for a cruise paid for with just FCC? Should we just cancel existing policy and start over? If so, what is considered initial payment date?

Is the third option even worthwhile? If 2022 itinerary is 15% more expensive but they give us 25% bonus FCC is it not better just to get full FCC and then use it to book 2022 cruise? Has anyone had similar experience for cancelled World Cruises or Grand Voyages or, truthfully, and cruise where Regent offered you the next years (nearly) identical cruise?

All feedback really welcome; this is a lot of money and I don't want to screw up.

Marc

Marc, you are paid in full for a cruise not sailing until May? That’s a boatload of money to be tied up for yet another year. You should inquire of the insurance company if they would roll that policy over to another trip. It seems to me that FCC has the same value as the cash paid to obtain it? I have/ had insurance on our now 2x cancelled Flower Power cruise but the insurance was rolled over each time to the new dates. If they will do that for you, some of your options might be more attractive?

But for your kinda $$, if it was me I would opt for my money back , eat the insurance premium if I had to and cross my fingers for another chance in 2022. My choice may be impacted by the sheer number (8) of cancelled trip we have endured since last March. Let us know what happens.
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Helen

Marc, Unless there has been a recent change, your FCC doesn't have to be used on a single cruise. Our FCC from the 2020 WC has been used toward different cruises, some of which have been cancelled ,FCC is returned to our account and is still floating waiting for us to decide where to use it next.
Jim

Jim, do you carry insurance on any of your cruises? If so, has insurance company considered FCC insurable for cancellation?

My recommendation is get your money back into your pocket. Then you can decide to take whichever cruise you want once you know its going to sail and you're OK with any restrictions.

So there is no one that has insurance covering cruises that are paid for with FCC?

Don't want to post anything here that is incorrect and the scenario can vary with different insurance companies. This is so COMPLICATED Marc and you need to run this by YOUR insurance company and ask them how they handle FCC's if you are fully insured. Definitely an FCC can be split amongst different bookings and forwarded to future bookings regardless if the cruise lines or you cancel a booking.

Agree with Ngaire, ask your insurance company. I would imagine that what is now, or about to become , a commonplace occurrence was heretofore an unusual scenario and possibly not addressed specifically in many policies. But I would argue that you have insured the value of your trip against loss of same for covered reasons. Ergo in my opinion your “loss” would be the cash equivalent of the FCC since quite obviously an insurance company cannot otherwise make you whole. Good luck.
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Helen

Ngaire and Helen, thanks! The real question is cancelling of new cruise prior to penalty period just because we want to cancel or for some covered reason. We will see after Regent makes us their offer.

Marc

Moot point, Regent stopped offering FCC as an option; today's cancellations result in refund of all cash and return FCCs so that they can be used later.

I found that out as well this morning and was surprised. No more FCC but all cash refunds. Total change to all the previous cancellations where the emphasis was on the FCC promotion. The ones I got this morning did have a price match to a similar cruise.

Ngaire, were the price matches handled as FCC or cash (i.e., do you still have a chance to cancel before penalty period of new cruise and get your money back)?

No clarity on that on the notice Marc but my instinct tells me that would not be a problem. Not an official answer here by Regent but how I believe this would be handled. I do not see any reason it would be any different.

The booking is simply a transfer of money and FCC (if applicable) to a new booking and cancellation terms would be the exactly the same as all other bookings on that date.

If cancelled by the guest at a later date the cash paid you can get a refund if there was an FCC that FCC is transferred to another booking or put back in your file for future use. The validity of the FCC might be the only question if the new booking is cancelled within a time frame that the FCC would be so close to the expiration date it may not be able to be used.