As COVID-19 continues to impact communities and businesses, we understand that time is of the essence when it comes to tending to your clients. We have made some enhancements to our automation tools to help you avoid longer hold times on the phone. We thank you for your continued support and patience through this challenging time. And we look forward to crafting more vacation memories together soon.

Automation Assets:

Latte Guide
Automation Toolkit
Automation Highlights
Best Price Guarantee

NEW: FCC Enhancements:

We are thrilled to announce that we have brand-new enhancements to share with you, launching today! You can now redeem your clients’ Cruise with Confidence, Global Sailing Suspension, and Non-Refundable Deposit Program Future Cruise Credits instantly. Yes, you read that right! This new method provides you with more visibility into the price and promotions on the booking, and confirmation of the application of certificates. Talk about a win, win for your accounting and for your clients.

Additionally, you are now able to submit multiple FCCs, should your clients have more than one in their name, as well as share the value of FCCs across multiple clients in the same booking. You have asked and we have listened!

FCC Redemption
Latte
Espresso

Onboard Credit Descriptors:

Now, you and your clients will have greater visibility into the type of OBC applied to reservations as a brief description will accompany each OBC applied to your clients’ bookings. For example, if a client took advantage of our Best Price Guarantee policy offering an OBC within final payment, the new description will now reflect as “Best Price Guarantee Onboard Credit” on the invoice. Provided below is an example of how it will display.

Remaining Balance FCCs:

Enhancements have been made to the existing FCC process where any balance remaining on an FCC no longer has to await the return of the existing cruise vacation before applying the balance to a future/new reservation. That means the same FCC can now be redeemed on 2 active bookings! Once a portion of the FCC is applied to a reservation, the remaining balance FCC will be generated and, in turn, sent to your client for use as they wish. Please note that any FCC with a pending balance from the past few months will now be run through this process, with an anticipated completion date for all by end-of-October.

CruisingPower Feature: Request Travel Protection for your Groups

How to book travel protection for group bookings within CruisingPower:

  • Log in to CruisingPower.com
  • Hover over the “Booking Tools” menu item then click “Group Travel”
  • Click “Request Group Travel Protection”
  • Select the booking(s) for which travel protection is being requested
  • If the state of residency has not already been added, select the clients’ state of residency from the drop down
  • Click “Begin Request”
  • Review the request then click “Submit”
Updated: Automation Highlights Flyer

Refund History in Espresso

After requesting a refund for your clients through the Cruise with Confidence online form, access the booking in Espresso to track the status on both an individual and group booking. We’ve made it easier than ever by creating two new flyers, linked below, to guide you through the process. In addition, we have created a new one-pager highlighting all of the great automation features available for you to leverage. As you know, our mantra here at Royal Caribbean is continuous improvement, so we plan to keep enhancing the various platforms to make your job of planning priceless vacation memories as seamless as possible.

FIT Refund History
Group Refund History

Insight Tool Updates:

  • New columns for:
    • “Agency Name”
    • “Group ID” to show the associated Group Shell to the booking
    • “Status” showing the status of the associated certificate (Active, Inactive, Redeemed, Expired)
    • “Issued Date” showing the date the certificate was issued.
    • “Redeemed Date” showing the date the certificate was redeemed

FCC Details Added to Booking Confirmation:

Recently added, guests and travel partners can view a Booking Confirmation and easily see all FCCs that have been applied to the reservation.  Just below the “Booking Charges” section, a list of redeemed Future Cruise Credit numbers and the amount applied at the guest level is now featured, specific to that particular reservation.  (Appears on both Guest & Trade versions)

Vicki’s Automation Tips!

Refund Request Steps.

As promised during my Coffee Talk yesterday, I’m going to spend the next few days detailing our automation tools designed to make your jobs easier, which we know is important during these challenging times. I’d like to start with refunds. For your clients affected by our global suspension, remember that their FCC option has more value at 125% of the fare paid. However, should they prefer a full refund, I want to remind you that your clients still have this option. To request refunds on your clients’ behalf, please access the “Cruise with Confidence” tab hosted on CruisingPower.com under “Brand Programs & News.” Once submitted, the refund can be expected within approximately 45 days.

Tracking Refund.

Yesterday I wrote about the steps needed to request a refund. Now I’d like to talk about how to track it. After requesting a refund for your clients through the Cruise with Confidence online form, access the booking in Espresso and use service history to track the status on either an individual or group booking. We’ve made it easier than ever by creating two new flyers to guide you through the process. In addition, we have created a new one-pager highlighting all of the great automation features available to you. Click here to check them out.

Opting in for Cruise with Confidence.

Our Cruise with Confidence policy continues to ensure your clients have peace of mind when it comes to their next vacation. As a reminder, for bookings made on or before August 1, 2020, they can cancel up to 48-hours prior to their cruise in exchange for 100% Future Cruise Credits valid for sailings through April 2022. To request these 100% FCCs on your clients’ behalf, please access the “Cruise with Confidence” tab hosted on CruisingPower.com under “Brand Programs & News.”

FCC like a PRO.

I’m hearing about more and more people out there who are ready to take to the seas once again. So make sure you’re staying in touch with your clients holding Future Cruise Certificates to check in and see if they’re ready to plan. If the time is right, redeem your clients’ FCCs on a new booking by accessing the Coupon Redemption tool hosted on CruisingPower.com under “Booking Tools.” Enter your client’s new reservation and select “Future Cruise Certificate” as the coupon type. You’ll need their FCC certificate number. Once submitted the FCCs can take up to 14 days to be applied.

You Have the Insight.

The past two Tips, I’ve talked about requesting and redeeming FCCs for your clients. Here’s one more Tip on the subject — this time about keeping track of clients who hold FCCs, as well as unused NextCruise bookings. I’ve written in the past about the value of the Royal Caribbean “Insight” tool. This is what you’ll want to use. You can find it on CruisingPower.com. Under the “Booking Tools” dropdown menu, select “Insight” and select Future Cruise Credits. You can then “Export to Excel” to easily view a complete list of applicable clients and all pertinent information. If you don’t have access to Insight, please contact your agency administrator. If you haven’t used it in a while, you’ll also notice some fantastic new updates that make viewing even simpler.

Access Granted.

Wrapping up my series on Royal Caribbean automation tools designed for your benefit, let’s conclude with a new feature that allows you to access sailed groups. This stemmed from our valued travel partners’ feedback. Previously, once the group’s sailing date had passed, travel advisors were unable to access groups of completed sailings. Now, for active status groups, you can through Espresso. You’ll be able to view the service history and check the status of your client’s refund.