If you do not like the new onboard booking policy....

[tweis]

can someone fill me in on the new policy? or direct me to where it is located? I just rebooked on board in June for next May 2014.. and i was planning on moving it to May 2015? just wanted to know if the new booking policy affects me? thanks!

The new booking policy affects everyone that has or will book onboard. Since you booked before the new policy went into affect, DCL is giving you until November 2015 to take your cruise. If you do not, you lose your OBB benefits. Everyone that has/will book onboard after the new policy went into affect, now has 18 months to cruise after making the booking. The thread below discusses the new policy in detail.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3198693

 

[mmouse37]

BCC this email address too!!!

http://allthingscruise.com/after-yo...ents/disney-cruise-line-complaint-department/

Curious..why bcc that website? Their info for DCL is over 2 years out of date.

MJ

 

[officereg]

I sent my email too.
We were hoping to use our OBB towards the end of 2016 when my youngest would not need the nursery. I hope my husband's schedule will allow us to use it prior to the end of 2015 per the requirement.

 

[yogibigdog]

Just giving this a little bump.

We need to keep those emails and comment cards going to DCL about the recent policy change.

Thank you!

 

[ilovepooh]

I sent mine yesterday and was told they are not considering changing the policy to 24 months!!! I am very disappointed as I pointed out in my email: wouldn't DCL want me to book while onboard and in the moment rather than let me walk away and MAYBE book a few years later?? Wouldn't they prefer my business every 24 months rather than every 3-4 years MAYBE??!! I think its foolish on their part!

 

[hgon76]

Got a very generic response as well. As much as the price increase & OBB changes bother me, it may be a chance for change, for us anyway. I've never considered another cruise line. Always have done Disney. But we have been researching & I think we may finally take the leap. My oldest is 18 & in college & has no interest in doing another Disney cruise. My youngest is 11 & will probably be 12-13 next time we cruise. I've read a lot about RCL being good for kids that age. Who knows? We may try it & come back to DCL. Or we may try it & wonder why we didn't try sooner.

 

[tinkerone]

i'm not knocking this, by all means send your letters however keep in mind it has never helped in the past. I think dcl feels that if they ride the wave out and let it run its course things will be okay.

this sort of outrage has happened before and will happen again and the idea to send off emails, letters and address it in the comments cards has happened before as well. I can think of several.

1) the change in the gold/silver/platinum rewards
2) the non smoking on verandas
3) the shorts/casual wear in the dinning rooms
4) gratuities automatically added to your onboard account
5) gratuities automatically added to your spa bill

i'm sure others can add to my list. my point is, it never hurts to send off notes of displeasure but once dcl has its mind made up, well, you better back your displeasure with $$s and it better be lots and lots of $$s or that will not matter either. plan to work around their new policy cause I don't see it changing back any time soon.

good luck to you all.

 

[mkdreams]

i'm not knocking this, by all means send your letters however keep in mind it has never helped in the past. I think dcl feels that if they ride the wave out and let it run its course things will be okay.

this sort of outrage has happened before and will happen again and the idea to send off emails, letters and address it in the comments cards has happened before as well. I can think of several.

1) the change in the gold/silver/platinum rewards
2) the non smoking on verandas
3) the shorts/casual wear in the dinning rooms
4) gratuities automatically added to your onboard account
5) gratuities automatically added to your spa bill

i'm sure others can add to my list. my point is, it never hurts to send off notes of displeasure but once dcl has its mind made up, well, you better back your displeasure with $$s and it better be lots and lots of $$s or that will not matter either. plan to work around their new policy cause I don't see it changing back any time soon.

good luck to you all.

It worked pretty good with Disney reversing back its alcohol policy and how much you can bring on board. Like you said it can't hurt.

 

[Jey12]

At first I received the generic response and today received this email.

Thank you for your e-mail.

I sincerely regret any disappointment with the recent change to the
Onboard Booking Offer. We constantly evaluate and monitor the Onboard
Sales Offer and occasionally make adjustments to ensure that we are
providing the best possible offerings to our guests while maintaining
the spirit of the program. The 18-month limit matches our typical window
of availability and we believe this timeframe is appropriate for this
particular offer.

Again, I truly regret any disappointment.


So as of right now this is their stance on it. I responded to the email thanking them for the quick response and pointed out that you pretty much have to book between the months of mid Nov through July for there to actually be sail dates 18 months out while you are on the ship. And really Dec and Jan are questionable because they only release half of the year at a time and the 2nd half often isn't released until Jan or Feb. But these are their peak sailing times for the most part. I'm going to assume this is where the 18 month restriction is coming from and why they are hesitant to extend it to 24 months. I really think they are going to see a significant drop in onboard bookings, but as long as they don't see a drop in bookings in general I doubt this is going to change anytime soon. But I agree letting them know through emails and the comment cards is a great way to communicate our feelings and it sure can't hurt anything. I also responded with letting them know I wasn't disappointed since we usually vacation every year and it's too bad DCL won't be promised my vacation dollars every other year like they have been.

 

[tinkerone]

It worked pretty good with Disney reversing back its alcohol policy and how much you can bring on board. Like you said it can't hurt.

I remember that issue but I never did see where dcl had written it. I know it was posted on some facts threads but did dcl them selves actually announce this? maybe I just missed it.

I really do wish everyone the best with this, and it could happen. no one is going to loss anything and you may all gain something.

again, good luck with it, I wish you well.

 

[cgolf]

Moved this from the OBB email thread, ready to get flamed, but my cent and a half on the topic.

Probably get flamed for this, but we don't book a dummy dates, well not totally true when Hawaii came out we booked that once a slot opened and moved our Mexican riviera cruise to a 4 night Dream to save vacation time for the Hawaii cruise. That was not our intention when we originally booked, Hawaii just kind of happened. I get the feeling that the price increases in our off peak cruises could partially be because that is where some of the dummy dates are going because they would have a cheaper deposit. Personally that they allow you to do this in any window at all without penalty is pretty generous, not sure what other lines do. All I know is that the off peak prices have really jumped, not sure if it is due to the dummy dates or just general price gouging?

I understand this does cause issues for those that can't cruise every year, but if the dummy dates are driving prices up it kind of hoses you in a different way. From DCL's perspective if people hold and move at the latest date possible, they may have to offer what looked like a full fare room at an igt, ogt, or vgt rate and make less money, which from a profit stand point isn't all that great for DCL. Just food for thought.

Cgolf

Just wanted to add that our way to cruise so often is to utilize the off peak cruises with the OBB, which is why I hope they don't ever artificially fill up and drive the prices up because of an artificial demand. January 2015 is stupid right now, booking onboard last Friday for a 7 night Magic in an 11b was I believe only 300 to 400 less than what we could have done a fantasy veranda for this coming January, could be off a bit but pretty close, pricing is out of whack right now for some reason

 

[Jey12]

Moved this from the OBB email thread, ready to get flamed, but my cent and a half on the topic.

Probably get flamed for this, but we don't book a dummy dates, well not totally true when Hawaii came out we booked that once a slot opened and moved our Mexican riviera cruise to a 4 night Dream to save vacation time for the Hawaii cruise. That was not our intention when we originally booked, Hawaii just kind of happened. I get the feeling that the price increases in our off peak cruises could partially be because that is where some of the dummy dates are going because they would have a cheaper deposit. Personally that they allow you to do this in any window at all without penalty is pretty generous, not sure what other lines do. All I know is that the off peak prices have really jumped, not sure if it is due to the dummy dates or just general price gouging?

I understand this does cause issues for those that can't cruise every year, but if the dummy dates are driving prices up it kind of hoses you in a different way. From DCL's perspective if people hold and move at the latest date possible, they may have to offer what looked like a full fare room at an igt, ogt, or vgt rate and make less money, which from a profit stand point isn't all that great for DCL. Just food for thought.

Disney really leaves us no choice but to book a dummy date and we were following the rules and suggestions of the OBB policy when we booked. Even if the new standards had been in place on our cruise last month we still would have needed to book a dummy date since 2015 dates had not been released out to the full 18 months after our cruise. So even with the new policy Disney still has not eliminated the "problems" associated or thought to be associated with dummy bookings being moved at the last minute. We have a cruise on the books with DCL for Dec. 2014. We have no intention of taking that cruise. We want fall of 2015. Those aren't available. Only way to do that is book a dummy date and wait for the dates to be released to be able to decide when we want to cruise next.

Cgolf

i totally get and agree with what you're saying about the dummy dates so no flaming here. What I don't get is why does DCL allow dummy bookings if they are the real problem here? No other line that I'm aware of does the dummy bookings. They all offer vouchers that you must use within a certain time frame and that's usually 2 years or more from when you cruised. So my question is if the dummy dates are the problem and the reason prices are increasing then why not stop doing it? As many others have mentioned on this board why not offer a voucher that's tied to your CC number and put a time limit on using that voucher. If you don't, what you paid for the vouchers will be refunded. Seems to make a lot of sense to me to stop the dummy dates and utilize the voucher method that has been and is working for every other cruise line.

 

[cgolf]

i totally get and agree with what you're saying about the dummy dates so no flaming here. What I don't get is why does DCL allow dummy bookings if they are the real problem here? No other line that I'm aware of does the dummy bookings. They all offer vouchers that you must use within a certain time frame and that's usually 2 years or more from when you cruised. So my question is if the dummy dates are the problem and the reason prices are increasing then why not stop doing it? As many others have mentioned on this board why not offer a voucher that's tied to your CC number and put a time limit on using that voucher. If you don't, what you paid for the vouchers will be refunded. Seems to make a lot of sense to me to stop the dummy dates and utilize the voucher method that has been and is working for every other cruise line.

Someone on the thread I moved this from had the idea of a future booking payment that you could do onboard which is a great idea. This could lock you into the 10% OBB discount for some period of time without specifying a cruise date, DCL could just sit on the money and earn interest so time doesn't really matter, while not impacting the room inventory with dummy dates. This is a cool idea everyone should push DCL to do, I would guess this would work better for everyone, which of course means this idea would never fly

Cgolf

 

[tinkerone]

disney prides themselves on being unique. the want to do what no other cruise line does. they want to be ahead of the crowd and stand out. now, having said that, i want to point out that if they did indeed go to the voucher system they would be taking a step back and getting in line, if you will, with what the other cruise lines are doing. definitely not a disney move imo.

i just think it comes down to having an offer that IS different from the other guys and gives good value. this offer does, even with the tweaking they just gave it. its not going to be for everyone but nothing is and i bet the numbers on this, as far as anger goes, barely registers on the scale.
its just disney doing disney.

 

[tinkerone]

Someone on the thread I moved this from had the idea of a future booking payment that you could do onboard which is a great idea. This could lock you into the 10% OBB discount for some period of time without specifying a cruise date, DCL could just sit on the money and earn interest so time doesn't really matter, while not impacting the room inventory with dummy dates. This is a cool idea everyone should push DCL to do, I would guess this would work better for everyone, which of course means this idea would never fly

Cgolf

so how much would be the suggested deposit for the future booking payment? right now its 10% of cruise value but you wouldn't know the cruise value. so, do you make it $250 pp or $500 pp? do you lock in on a certain category? no matter where you go with this someone somewhere is going to have issues with it. 'there holding to much of my money for to long', 'i can't afford that pp', 'it shouldn't be so high'. do you get to change dates after you do pick your cruise and still keep the benefits? how many times do you get to change and still keep them? doesn't this take it right back to where it was with people changing dates willy nilly and dcl not knowing what will actually be sailed and what will be cancelled? lots of people would say great idea, lots would be writing letters.
this idea, while not horrible, does have holes as big as the grand canyon as well. you just can not make everyone happy.

 

[hgon76]

It worked pretty good with Disney reversing back its alcohol policy and how much you can bring on board. Like you said it can't hurt.

I remember that. It was right before I cruised that they had changed it. Very shortly after I saw all the emails being sent to DCL I got an email saying they were changing the policy back.

 

[cgolf]

so how much would be the suggested deposit for the future booking payment? right now its 10% of cruise value but you wouldn't know the cruise value. so, do you make it $250 pp or $500 pp? do you lock in on a certain category? no matter where you go with this someone somewhere is going to have issues with it. 'there holding to much of my money for to long', 'i can't afford that pp', 'it shouldn't be so high'. do you get to change dates after you do pick your cruise and still keep the benefits? how many times do you get to change and still keep them? doesn't this take it right back to where it was with people changing dates willy nilly and dcl not knowing what will actually be sailed and what will be cancelled? lots of people would say great idea, lots would be writing letters. this idea, while not horrible, does have holes as big as the grand canyon as well. you just can not make everyone happy.

I would do a 200 dollar refundable deposit with a 24 month window that would give you 10% for any cruise and room class booked within that window, concierge would be excluded from the discount like it is now. If not used in 24 months the money would be refunded back. You could change dates till your heart is content within the 24 month window. I am not sure how the current igt, vgt, ogt rates are handled onboard, I assume that they would not get the 10% discount that would stay the same with this proposal.

Yes people could still move dates a lot if they wanted to, but in this scenario since the 24 month time frame doesn't renew you would be more likely to book a cruise and room you want, and the reason you would change would be driven by other factors, like happened to us when Hawaii became available. Sure there are holes in this, but probably not too many.

Cgolf

 

[TheLanes]

I would do a 200 dollar refundable deposit with a 24 month window that would give you 10% for any cruise and room class booked within that window, concierge would be excluded from the discount like it is now. If not used in 24 months the money would be refunded back. You could change dates till your heart is content within the 24 month window. I am not sure how the current igt, vgt, ogt rates are handled onboard, I assume that they would not get the 10% discount that would stay the same with this proposal. Yes people could still move dates a lot if they wanted to, but in this scenario since the 24 month time frame doesn't renew you would be more likely to book a cruise and room you want, and the reason you would change would be driven by other factors, like happened to us when Hawaii became available. Sure there are holes in this, but probably not too many. Cgolf

Ssshhhh!!!!!! That sounds reasonable to me, don't let the execs hear about it. I jest, but maybe they would listen if enough people complained AND added a suggestion like this.

 

[holula]

I would do a 200 dollar refundable deposit with a 24 month window that would give you 10% for any cruise and room class booked within that window, concierge would be excluded from the discount like it is now. If not used in 24 months the money would be refunded back. You could change dates till your heart is content within the 24 month window. I am not sure how the current igt, vgt, ogt rates are handled onboard, I assume that they would not get the 10% discount that would stay the same with this proposal. Yes people could still move dates a lot if they wanted to, but in this scenario since the 24 month time frame doesn't renew you would be more likely to book a cruise and room you want, and the reason you would change would be driven by other factors, like happened to us when Hawaii became available. Sure there are holes in this, but probably not too many. Cgolf

I would be so happy with this AND it makes sense. 24 months is a much better timeframe. I would even be happy with a non-refundable deposit as we cruise every 24 months at least. Or a $200 deposit that if you use within the 24 months you get the 10% off and the OBB and if you use it after the 24 months it's just a normal cruise.

The *GT rates don't get the current on board discount.

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Moved this from the OBB email thread, ready to get flamed, but my cent and a half on the topic.

Probably get flamed for this, but we don't book a dummy dates, well not totally true when Hawaii came out we booked that once a slot opened and moved our Mexican riviera cruise to a 4 night Dream to save vacation time for the Hawaii cruise. That was not our intention when we originally booked, Hawaii just kind of happened. I get the feeling that the price increases in our off peak cruises could partially be because that is where some of the dummy dates are going because they would have a cheaper deposit. Personally that they allow you to do this in any window at all without penalty is pretty generous, not sure what other lines do. All I know is that the off peak prices have really jumped, not sure if it is due to the dummy dates or just general price gouging?

I understand this does cause issues for those that can't cruise every year, but if the dummy dates are driving prices up it kind of hoses you in a different way. From DCL's perspective if people hold and move at the latest date possible, they may have to offer what looked like a full fare room at an igt, ogt, or vgt rate and make less money, which from a profit stand point isn't all that great for DCL. Just food for thought.

Cgolf

Just wanted to add that our way to cruise so often is to utilize the off peak cruises with the OBB, which is why I hope they don't ever artificially fill up and drive the prices up because of an artificial demand. January 2015 is stupid right now, booking onboard last Friday for a 7 night Magic in an 11b was I believe only 300 to 400 less than what we could have done a fantasy veranda for this coming January, could be off a bit but pretty close, pricing is out of whack right now for some reason