Adding or removing passengers

[ozliz]

I am Australian and planning to book a local cruise on the wonder on opening day - super excited! There’s a family member that has joined me for two Disney cruises in the past and would love to join me again but is not sure yet. They wouldn’t be open to travelling on a cruise right now but in 12+ months they hope their health problems could improve such that they’d be up to cruising again.

My question is about whether/when to put their name on the booking. I’ve been caught out previously when adding a name to a booking as the cruise fare had increased so that person had to pay extra (which wasn’t how the DCL onboard agent had explained it to me but that’s another story). Now my question is, what would happen if, prior to final payment, I needed to remove the extra name and travel solo? Would they essentially cancel and rebook such that I would be paying a higher fare as it would be closer to sail date? If so it might be cheapest not to change the booking and just to have my family member no-show - is there a penalty for that?

I have cruised solo and know that the fare is essentially double but only paying passenger taxes for one person.

I tried asking DCL this question and they only answered my other two questions in the email, not this last more complicated question. I also thought about asking Dreams Unlimited but I’ll probably book myself so I don’t want to waste their TA’s time if I’m not following through with a booking. Hopefully some here have some experience of plans changing.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I am Australian and planning to book a local cruise on the wonder on opening day - super excited! There’s a family member that has joined me for two Disney cruises in the past and would love to join me again but is not sure yet. They wouldn’t be open to travelling on a cruise right now but in 12+ months they hope their health problems could improve such that they’d be up to cruising again.

My question is about whether/when to put their name on the booking. I’ve been caught out previously when adding a name to a booking as the cruise fare had increased so that person had to pay extra (which wasn’t how the DCL onboard agent had explained it to me but that’s another story). Now my question is, what would happen if, prior to final payment, I needed to remove the extra name and travel solo? Would they essentially cancel and rebook such that I would be paying a higher fare as it would be closer to sail date? If so it might be cheapest not to change the booking and just to have my family member no-show - is there a penalty for that?

I have cruised solo and know that the fare is essentially double but only paying passenger taxes for one person.

I tried asking DCL this question and they only answered my other two questions in the email, not this last more complicated question. I also thought about asking Dreams Unlimited but I’ll probably book myself so I don’t want to waste their TA’s time if I’m not following through with a booking. Hopefully some here have some experience of plans changing.

If you book both of you, and remove one of the names prior to final payment date (when penalties start), you'll get refunded the cancelled person's cost, plus taxes and fees. And, chances are you'll then be charged a single supplement fee. That's usually 100% of your cost, but no taxes or fees. I'm not sure whether they would refare your portion, or charge you what it would have been had you booked with single supplement at the original time.

If you just have the person be a no-show, the taxes and fees would be refunded, and you're covered for the single supplement fee.

 

[dwg]

Hopefully I am saying this correctly. Adding a person to booking at a later date could be iffy trying to book into the same room. It is not even a question of if the cruise is full. It is a question of is the life boat capacity full based on where the room is located.

 

[Annabell]

No penalty for a noshow and taxes will be refunded.

 

[ozliz]

Thanks all. I also followed up with DCL and they said shouldn’t change ‘too much’ when removing the second person but the wording wasn’t clear as to whether that was just the taxes or also a fare recalculation at the later date. I’m a little wary that DCL’s definition of ‘too much’ might be quite a lot bigger than mine as our exchange rate is pretty bad at the moment.