Dissappointed with DCL Customer Service!

[HappilyEverAfter80]

If you called asking if there are upgrades available for a fee and DCL said no then I understand you'd be upset... but to expect a price adjustment or a free upgrade months after you first booked is just unreasonable in my opinion.
We booked GT rates before and yes for us they were lower than opening day prices for the same category.. but we booked 50-60 days out and had no control over room. DCL could and did put us anywhere within our category.
So there are pluses and minuses. We also preferred to sail Eastern Caribbean but only Western had the GT rates. We were willing to accept the terms. You accepted different terms and for that had a lot more control over your booking.
I really hope you will have a wonderful cruise and if verandah is something you really want then try upgrading at the pier. Yes there is a fee but I hear it's a good deal when available.
Happy sailing

 

[mmouse37]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I posted to see if maybe I'm looking at it all wrong, and I see you think I am. I disagree with the term freebie though. The difference in what I paid and the verandah sale was a few hundred dollars (not chump change considering how much more expensive a Disney cruise is). When I buy something retail and it goes on sale, customer service will refund me the difference. Guess Disney doesn't feel they need to make the customer feel good.

I know you are not feeling the love right now but if the new fare was because of one of the last minute restricted fares then DCL is following policy. If the new price was indeed just a fare drop then DCL would refund the difference but I think what you are seeing is a *GT restricted fare which is for new bookings only.

If you did want to take advantage of the newer price you would have to cancel your existing booking, take the penalty and rebook at the current fare. Sometimes this is worthwhile if the saving is that great. Sometimes it is not. You would have to price out the cancel penalty to see if it was worth it.

Again, if you did want to upgrade at the port there is no "fee" to upgrade, just the difference in price they set for your cabin to the cabin you want. Upgrades at the port are usually cheaper than they would be if you upgraded before you got to the port.

You can't really compare cruise pricing to retail. You have to compare it more to air travel where the airlines do not give you a refund or upgrade you just because the fare went down. With the last minute restricted fares you can't pick your cabin, you can't cancel and you would have to pay in full at time of booking. As already mentioned those fares are introduced last minute to entice NEW bookings to fill the ship.

Hopes this helps somewhat to explain why they can't just let you take advantage of the new price. It is the luck of the draw if they will offer those last minute rates. Some people only book those rates last minute and some book full price and hope their cruise doesn't come out with last minute deals (they they can't take advantage of). It is all in the timing. If you book early you get what cabin you want if you wait for a deal you will be assigned a cabin by Disney.

MJ

 

[Sytrace]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I posted to see if maybe I'm looking at it all wrong, and I see you think I am. I disagree with the term freebie though. The difference in what I paid and the verandah sale was a few hundred dollars (not chump change considering how much more expensive a Disney cruise is). When I buy something retail and it goes on sale, customer service will refund me the difference. Guess Disney doesn't feel they need to make the customer feel good.

Actually, if you buy something in a store you have a certain time frame to get a price adjustment if it goes on sale (two weeks as a general rule)
You would not be able to purchase something in January and get an adjustment several months later.
However, if it was something you are willing to return totally and then repurchase at the discounted rate and that is assuming they still had the product at the discounted rate and had stock of that product, then by all means as long as you had the receipt showing the price you paid for it, then you could do that.
But in the case of cruises (and other travel industry businesses) it does not work out that way.

If you seriously wanted to cancel your cruise for the current rate, you would absorb the cost cancelling the Oceanview reservation 2 days before sailing AND you would have to book a whole new cruise for the verandah "sale " rate. You would not be able to transfer any payments, deposits or discounts(like OBB discount perhaps) and you would probably want to fle an insurance claim to recoup some possible credit for a future cruise (not the new one you would be booking of course but ANOTHER future cruise up to one year of the cancelled cruise reservation)
So, in that respect, returning an item for a price adjustment at a department store (or anywhere for that matter is not comparable to returning a cruise for a price adjustment.

 

[mevelandry]

It sucks. In an ideal world we could buy an option that permits us to upgrade if the price drops or upon availability (like some hotel chains do).

That being said, if you can afford it, you should try to upgrade at check-in. It's not going to be free but maybe you'll feel like you are getting more bang for your bucks.

 

[KMovies]

$100 Regular Price Sweater:

Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL
Colors: Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Brown, Black, White, Cream, Pink, Orange

Choice size and color.

Pay $20 now and then $80 later - feel free to return it and get a full refund before we bill you the final payment.

$50 XL GT restricted Price Sweater (only offered in the event we don't sell out Regular Price Sweaters):

We'll ship whichever size sweater is left which is at least an XL or larger; and whichever color is left

Pay $50 now - no exchanges, refunds.


Which of these offers will you choice if you want an XL Red Sweater? If you want it, pay $100 but some people may get it at $50 if they wait. The *GT fees are kind of like a "clearance" sale. End of season, just a few items left, we'll sell what is left at lower pricing.

 

[Bree]

Cancelling the cruise and rebooking for a sailing that leaves tomorrow is pointless. The OP is within the time frame where they will lose their entire fare.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We just booked our first Royal Caribbean cruise in the med. DCL prices are on steriods here. 1 week later the cruise had dropped by £450 ( $600 ) and now included free wifi we had not pif only a deposit of £300. I rang up annoyed saying my wife was told this amazing buy one get one free offer we got that ran 'only until end of Sep' was not onky extended but enchanced! We were told tough. The only thing we could do was cancel, loose the £300 rebook and be £150 better off with free wifi...

Not a great first impression. But now I know that I will expect it next time. Once you book with RC that's the price even if you have only paid a deposit. Maybe this is true for DCL as well and I am niave? I guess like others have said I don't expect an item to be the same price before and after christmas. It was misleading the 'only until end of sep' offer though then it never ended.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We just booked our first Royal Caribbean cruise in the med. DCL prices are on steriods here. 1 week later the cruise had dropped by £450 ( $600 ) and now included free wifi we had not pif only a deposit of £300. I rang up annoyed saying my wife was told this amazing buy one get one free offer we got that ran 'only until end of Sep' was not onky extended but enchanced! We were told tough. The only thing we could do was cancel, loose the £300 rebook and be £150 better off with free wifi...

Not a great first impression. But now I know that I will expect it next time. Once you book with RC that's the price even if you have only paid a deposit. Maybe this is true for DCL as well and I am niave? I guess like others have said I don't expect an item to be the same price before and after christmas. It was misleading the 'only until end of sep' offer though then it never ended.

Rules are different for British and Australian guests based on the laws of your country. Deposits for any cruise line booked through a British or Australian travel agency or directly through the cruise corporation have a non refundable deposit. That goes for all cruise lines.

 

[Dug720]

We just booked our first Royal Caribbean cruise in the med. DCL prices are on steriods here. 1 week later the cruise had dropped by £450 ( $600 ) and now included free wifi we had not pif only a deposit of £300. I rang up annoyed saying my wife was told this amazing buy one get one free offer we got that ran 'only until end of Sep' was not onky extended but enchanced! We were told tough. The only thing we could do was cancel, loose the £300 rebook and be £150 better off with free wifi...

Not a great first impression. But now I know that I will expect it next time. Once you book with RC that's the price even if you have only paid a deposit. Maybe this is true for DCL as well and I am niave? I guess like others have said I don't expect an item to be the same price before and after christmas. It was misleading the 'only until end of sep' offer though then it never ended.

I do know that RCCL has different rules for U.K. bookings and those deposits are non-refundable and restrictions are super tough on changes.

FWIW, I was a US-based booking (as I live here), and they STILL would not change my category when the price for a higher category was lower than what I paid because it was "New Bookings Only". I did manage to call one time when for a split second it hadn't been coded as such, but by the time the agent hit the button to finalize it it had been coded "new bookings only" and even her talking extensively to her supervisor (she three-wayed the call so I could hear what she was saying) they were unable to do anything.

That is why I really try to go by the philosophy of "book the cabin I will be happy with at a price I accept". So when I couldn't get the bonus of a balcony, I was a little disappointed, but I reminded myself that I was just fine with my ocean view I had booked.

 

[KMovies]

I once saw that the price of a DCL vacation went down and they repriced it; however, that was before the final payment date and still in the 100% refund window.

 

[Dug720]

I once saw that the price of a DCL vacation went down and they repriced it; however, that was before the final payment date and still in the 100% refund window.

BIG difference between that and the OP's situation.

 

[squirk]

We are Castaway members and there has been a price drop on our 11/5 Disney Magic sailing. Verandahs are now considerably less than our ocean view. Inquired to see if they could upgrade us because we are being penalized for having booked early. Was told No, but please check at the pier to see about upgrade...BUT FOR A FEE! That left me with such a bad impression of their customer service and not feeling the Magic.

I cannot agree with the idea that you are being "penalized" for booking early. You are still getting exactly what you paid for. As others have pointed out, those late-breaking reduced fares were never a given, and were only offered to "top off" the occupancy on the ship.

Yes, you could have waited until the last minute for this specific cruise and maybe saved some money, but you also would have run the risk of the ship filling up with no last-minute discounts, meaning either a.) you don't sail; b.) you pay prevailing non-discounted rates at the last minute, which would undoubtedly be much higher than if you had booked early; or c.) you get the "last dregs" in terms of stateroom category and location.

Finally, if you are flying into port, waiting until the last minute also means some potentially pricey last-minute airfares, too.

 

[Flossbolna]

Rules are different for British and Australian guests based on the laws of your country. Deposits for any cruise line booked through a British or Australian travel agency or directly through the cruise corporation have a non refundable deposit. That goes for all cruise lines.

However, DCL lets you book through the US site and under US conditions if you so wish (of course then you have to pay in US$, so you have the exchange rate problem). Most other cruise lines don't let you do that and restrict you to your country of residence's conditions.

 

[RedSox68]

Wonder if the original poster has any thoughts about the responses to their post.

Some of the comparisons and reasoning to this post are wonderful. I love the sweater ones.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I do know that RCCL has different rules for U.K. bookings and those deposits are non-refundable and restrictions are super tough on changes.

FWIW, I was a US-based booking (as I live here), and they STILL would not change my category when the price for a higher category was lower than what I paid because it was "New Bookings Only". I did manage to call one time when for a split second it hadn't been coded as such, but by the time the agent hit the button to finalize it it had been coded "new bookings only" and even her talking extensively to her supervisor (she three-wayed the call so I could hear what she was saying) they were unable to do anything.

That is why I really try to go by the philosophy of "book the cabin I will be happy with at a price I accept". So when I couldn't get the bonus of a balcony, I was a little disappointed, but I reminded myself that I was just fine with my ocean view I had booked.

That is a good way to look at it! We couldn't go on our Christmas DCL cruise due to me being in hospital and our insurance wouldn't cover it. We were out of the period where we would get any money back from DCL. But DCL out of good grace moved the cruise to September which we just enjoyed. They did not have to do that we were blown away by the pixie dust.

 

[undertheradar]

That is a good way to look at it! We couldn't go on our Christmas DCL cruise due to me being in hospital and our insurance wouldn't cover it. We were out of the period where we would get any money back from DCL. But DCL out of good grace moved the cruise to September which we just enjoyed. They did not have to do that we were blown away by the pixie dust.

You were very lucky! We had to cancel a cruise that was part of a b2b. We were concierge and we were out almost $2500. DCL would not do anything for us. Glad that they did something for you!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

You were very lucky! We had to cancel a cruise that was part of a b2b. We were concierge and we were out almost $2500. DCL would not do anything for us. Glad that they did something for you!

I am sorry to hear that. What a shame. It is hit and miss like upgrades I guess. I hope things have worked out for you since.

 

[RedSox68]

You were very lucky! We had to cancel a cruise that was part of a b2b. We were concierge and we were out almost $2500. DCL would not do anything for us. Glad that they did something for you!

Now that IS a reason to be disappointed in Disney. Even if they were only willing to move your reservation to another cruise, at least it would have been something.

 

[glnrcker]

Wow, I was busy packing and now that I'm back I HEAR YA and see the error of my ways!!! Thanks for all the replies!

 

[jetskigrl]

Wow, I was busy packing and now that I'm back I HEAR YA and see the error of my ways!!! Thanks for all the replies!

Have a wonderful cruise!!!!