7 Night Sailings Turned into 4 Night

[sethschroeder]

My comment was not made with BVI/USVI rules in mind. Just that in general, if DCL required vaccines right now, it would exclude too many children, and include only tweens and teens.

Except that is the decision DCL was just presented with. 12+ or 16+ to get in to USVI or BVI with no requirement for younger children to be vaccinated.

It would hurt them too much financially. If they wait until 5-11 can be vaccinated, they would then only be excluding preschoolers which is still a lot of families but perhaps worth the sacrifice to be able to have only vaccinated people onboard.

Except no one and I mean no one I have come across is saying anyone under 12 would need to be vaccinated. When people are talking about vaccination requirements they are stating within the current safety guidelines of who can be vaccinated. So 5-11 was NEVER included in any of the discussion.

Example in the UK vaccinations are required for anyone 18+ in order to sail. This would have meant for the US based on these port stops a vaccination requirement of 12+ or 16+ based on the ports they wanted to still make. So if Disney wanted to require vaccinations they could right now and have visited Caribbean ports just like some other cruise lines. Instead they didn't and avoided needing to require vaccination.

So I am not sure how you are crafting an idea that DCL is just waiting on 5-11 or 2-11 or 0-11 ages being allowed to vaccinate before requiring it. Disney has already shown in the UK they are fine breaking out age groups and the rules they need to hit for foreign ports vary but are ages that can already be vaccinated.

 

[Cheburashka]

Any remaining balance from the OBC just assign to the serving staff and room stewards?

Using a large unspent OBC as an over-the-top gratuity is a nice act of charity, but it's hardly getting value back for the cruiser, which is the point of the OBC, to compensate the customer for their cruise being shortened.

 

[mcd2745]

Its truly baffling to me that anyone can have trouble spending a few hundred dollars OBC. We just got off the initial 4-nt on the Dream and would have had all that OBC spent before the end of day 2 - and we are not big drinkers.

 

[cvjw]

At best it's going to "freeze rates" for those who picked that option. I'm scared of what the rates will be in 2023 when they try to compensate for a 17 months pause.

I just priced out my 7 night cruise on the fantasy in September of 2022. I booked on silver opening day. It is now $300 more. The extra 25% off more than makes up for a $300 difference. 25% off the current cruise price is over $1000 in savings.

 

[orum]

Its truly baffling to me that anyone can have trouble spending a few hundred dollars OBC. We just got off the initial 4-nt on the Dream and would have had all that OBC spent before the end of day 2 - and we are not big drinkers.

The bulk of our credit for our 7 day cruise would likely have gone to excursions. Without them, we haven't really spent much additional while on the boat. Maybe a snack while watching a movie (no food right now in theater) and some gift shop purchases.

 

[sethschroeder]

Its truly baffling to me that anyone can have trouble spending a few hundred dollars OBC. We just got off the initial 4-nt on the Dream and would have had all that OBC spent before the end of day 2 - and we are not big drinkers.

What did you spend it on?

Without Palo I think we spent like $50 total on a 7 night cruise on the ship which was like 2 specialty drinks and popcorn a couple times for the movies.

I just priced out my 7 night cruise on the fantasy in September of 2022. I booked on silver opening day. It is now $300 more. The extra 25% off more than makes up for a $300 difference. 25% off the current cruise price is over $1000 in savings.

The 25% doesn't stack though with the onboard booking discount does it? So its not 25% its really just an extra 15%. Still nice but not as great as it sounds initially especially when you are dropping half your vacation, need to deal with flight changes, car rentals, ect.

 

[orum]

What did you spend it on?

Without Palo I think we spent like $50 total on a 7 night cruise on the ship which was like 2 specialty drinks and popcorn a couple times for the movies.



The 25% doesn't stack though with the onboard booking discount does it? So its not 25% its really just an extra 15%. Still nice but not as great as it sounds initially especially when you are dropping half your vacation, need to deal with flight changes, car rentals, ect.

I agree on the on board spending. I won't be bringing any wine on board this trip (we usually bring a bottle for the stateroom), and will likely buy a few more things in the gift shop.

I was fortunate that my flights went from 27,500 per person round trip to 15,000 per person round trip (using the new cruise dates).

 

[lovedisneycruise]

Its truly baffling to me that anyone can have trouble spending a few hundred dollars OBC. We just got off the initial 4-nt on the Dream and would have had all that OBC spent before the end of day 2 - and we are not big drinkers.

THIS. I don’t drink, but I am a complete sucker for roaming through the gift shops over and over. I love the t-shirts, ballcaps, and especially themed glasses or cups. I also love handbags, wallets, backpacks, throws... I’d be treating myself to one of the cute loungefly backpacks with part of this credit.

 

[Cheburashka]

We usually buy a few t-shirts & other momentos in the gift shop, spend money on Bingo, and have a meal at Palo. That's about it for our spending onboard. I think it's very individual how much a person spends. Not everyone is a shopper or a drinker, or a Bingo enthusiast. It's totally possible to have a great DCL cruise and not spend any money onboard at all.

 

[mcd2745]

What did you spend it on?

Without Palo I think we spent like $50 total on a 7 night cruise on the ship which was like 2 specialty drinks and popcorn a couple times for the movies.

I was already factoring in the gratuities (however, i think they were officially posted on day 3). My wife always pre-orders the photo package, drink of the day at embarkation. Then on day 2 (sea day), we did Palo brunch for 3, a mixology tasting, and a drink at the lounge during Match Your Mate. Poof...$600 OBC would be gone.

I get some people may not typically spend much at all. But if you have the OBC, you can't figure out a way to splurge a little and treat yourselves?

 

[mevelandry]

I just priced out my 7 night cruise on the fantasy in September of 2022. I booked on silver opening day. It is now $300 more. The extra 25% off more than makes up for a $300 difference. 25% off the current cruise price is over $1000 in savings.

... It's $300... for now. We don't know how much it will be in a few months. A lot of cruise lines will try to make up for the lost revenue and I'm a 1000% confident DCL will do the same.

 

[byanks7]

How good of a deal this is will totally depend on how they calculate the prorated refund.

I also wish the 25% off was able to be used in 2023.
[/QUOTE]

Jewelry!

 

[Ladyfish77]

I think there are also a lot of issues with lack of cruise ship ports available. Caymans aren't open to any visitors until 2022 (and who knows when ships will be let in). Some ports will only allow ships with 100% vax (which leaves out any ship carrying kids). There are probably all sorts of hoops to jump through to change itinerary to different ports (scheduling, availability, etc) so I think DCL hands are tied in many ways due to so many variables.

I'm not thrilled that they are not extending the cancellation to match the uncertainty of the cruise itineraries. You can cancel through 3/22 but for those 2022 cruises there is no idea whether they will be modified or not. So while there may not be casinos on DCL you are definitely having to gamble on whether to keep or cancel by the end of this month (for cruises up to 7 months away).

 

[gotomu212]

Whats interesting to me is that with this Fantasy shortened cruise rollout is they are clearly getting away from the 125% FCC benefit when DCL has disrupted your cruise. If you want off they are giving you a refund but there’s no “bonus”. There is a bonus only if you stick with the sailing. I know there were many cruisers who kept their bookings in the hopes that they’d get that 125% FCC. There’s no longer an incentive to stick it out and they are moving away from flexible cancellations.

I had wondered at how all these FCCs would affect DCL. If they are making up the bulk of the 2022 bookings I can see where Disney wants to stem that and start clearing out bookings or 2022 will largely be financed with previous banked cash and not ”new” funds.

 

[AquaDame]

Count us on team 'not interested in another Bahama's cruise'. If our 7 night becomes a 4 night that doesn't go to Tortola then we're out. We're booked on the Wish in June, so we're already doing that itinerary in 2022.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Yes, but spending $600 ($200 for booking the original cruise on board + $400 for this change in itinerary) in on board credits without excursions seems tough to me for a 4 day cruise.

Counting photos, drinks, Palo/Remy and some merchandise, I could drop $600 in a two day cruise easily.

 

[grantclaire]

Whats interesting to me is that with this Fantasy shortened cruise rollout is they are clearly getting away from the 125% FCC benefit when DCL has disrupted your cruise. If you want off they are giving you a refund but there’s no “bonus”. There is a bonus only if you stick with the sailing. I know there were many cruisers who kept their bookings in the hopes that they’d get that 125% FCC. There’s no longer an incentive to stick it out and they are moving away from flexible cancellations.

I had wondered at how all these FCCs would affect DCL. If they are making up the bulk of the 2022 bookings I can see where Disney wants to stem that and start clearing out bookings or 2022 will largely be financed with previous banked cash and not ”new” funds.

I have a March cruise with FCC, if I change that cruise to another cruise in 2022 do you think I would lose my FCC?

 

[sethschroeder]

Counting photos, drinks, Palo/Remy and some merchandise, I could drop $600 in a two day cruise easily.

If you can get Remy and Palo though is the point. These are cruises which had 3 days of brunches and 7 nights of dinners which are now condensed to 4 nights and 1 sea day.

I had asked but never got an answer from concerige how will it be handled for those dinner reservations. I moved at this point to the Dream for a back to back.

 

[lanejudy]

I have a March cruise with FCC, if I change that cruise to another cruise in 2022 do you think I would lose my FCC?

I think you can change to any cruise through Sept. 2022 and still use the FCC.

 

[TinkerMouse]

If you can get Remy and Palo though is the point. These are cruises which had 3 days of brunches and 7 nights of dinners which are now condensed to 4 nights and 1 sea day.

I had asked but never got an answer from concerige how will it be handled for those dinner reservations. I moved at this point to the Dream for a back to back.

Today I was told by customer service via phone that all of our adult dining reservations will be deleted and we'll need to rebook.

At the moment they are converting all of our 7 night cruises into 4 nights and the dinner reservations will be a casualty of that programming. Still, there is a chance that once we're given access to our modified cruise reservations that some dinner/brunches will still be assigned. I was told to consider myself lucky if I see them listed in my plans.