Are Your Post Disney Cruise Charges Correct? (A Warning)

[Daniel Z]

I never thought Disney made mistakes, never-mind one like this, but am glad I double checked my post-Cruise charges. At the end of a lovely Mediterranean cruise this September we visited the re-booking desk, nothing out of the ordinary for most cruisers. Once we returned home we noticed deposit charges not only for our next cruise, but notice you were paying the way for not one but two other reservations. As an aside, I wish I had the budget for the stateroom one of the two booked as it cost nearly ten times what we could afford ourselves.

I've always given Disney the benefit of the doubt, and thought I simple smile-filled conversation on the phone would fix the problem. Nope! Nearly a week later and we just received an email from accounting insisting that the mistake was us. Worryingly, they shared the full details of the other guests and their travel dates. If this was Disney's mistake, and I was them I wouldn't want my personal details shared. Has anyone had a similar experience? I share mainly as a warning/reminder to follow cruise to double check those charges.

 

[Quellman]

So I guess they cancelled out the other reservations at your request?
This means in about a few weeks we'll see a post from someone saying "Disney cancelled our reservation we made while on board without telling us" when it was you who cancelled them!

Sorry you had a bad time with this and hope it didn't over draw your funding source, I would be really upset if that were the case. I always check my bill before I leave a Disney hotel a Disney ship or anywhere else. Better to take care of it then and there than dealing with it after the fact! Be happy you noticed it!

 

[Ofinn]

So I guess they cancelled out the other reservations at your request?
This means in about a few weeks we'll see a post from someone saying "Disney cancelled our reservation we made while on board without telling us" when it was you who cancelled them!

Sorry you had a bad time with this and hope it didn't over draw your funding source, I would be really upset if that were the case. I always check my bill before I leave a Disney hotel a Disney ship or anywhere else. Better to take care of it then and there than dealing with it after the fact! Be happy you noticed it!

Reservations dont go to your shipboard account just your credit card on file. Unless you check your cc account before you disembark you wouldnt know.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I never thought Disney made mistakes, never-mind one like this, but am glad I double checked my post-Cruise charges. At the end of a lovely Mediterranean cruise this September we visited the re-booking desk, nothing out of the ordinary for most cruisers. Once we returned home we noticed deposit charges not only for our next cruise, but notice you were paying the way for not one but two other reservations. As an aside, I wish I had the budget for the stateroom one of the two booked as it cost nearly ten times what we could afford ourselves.

I've always given Disney the benefit of the doubt, and thought I simple smile-filled conversation on the phone would fix the problem. Nope! Nearly a week later and we just received an email from accounting insisting that the mistake was us. Worryingly, they shared the full details of the other guests and their travel dates. If this was Disney's mistake, and I was them I wouldn't want my personal details shared. Has anyone had a similar experience? I share mainly as a warning/reminder to follow cruise to double check those charges.

Considering you're only able to book one cruise (2 cabins on that cruise) per booking, how exactly did the accounting department explain how you were able to book 3 cruises?

I would escalate this to the highest levels - they have breached their clients privacy and made grievous financial errors that they are not taking responsibility for.

 

[PlanoNana]

And I would certainly contact my credit card company and challenge the charges.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So did they refuse to remove the charges? They need to get on the horn to those other people and get THEIR payment info so they don't lose their onboard booKing discount. And they need to reimburse you! Why would they make a big deal of this? Just fix it!

 

[klbrow11]

Never had that happen. But I do check things like this very carefully. You just never know. So sorry you are going through this and not getting it settled in a timely manner.

 

[AquaDame]

Nearly a week later and we just received an email from accounting insisting that the mistake was us. Worryingly, they shared the full details of the other guests and their travel dates. If this was Disney's mistake, and I was them I wouldn't want my personal details shared. Has anyone had a similar experience? I share mainly as a warning/reminder to follow cruise to double check those charges.

Everyone makes mistakes, Disney included, but this is just baffling. I have never heard of them refusing to refund money so far out even if it WAS legit, nevermind that it isn't (unless someone booked a cruise in the very near future on your CC?)

I have never had anything like it happen to me on DCL, no.

 

[gismo1554]

Sorry to hear this but thank you for sharing! Hopefully this will get resolved somehow! Seems crazy

 

[bumbershoot]

Nearly a week later and we just received an email from accounting insisting that the mistake was us. Worryingly, they shared the full details of the other guests and their travel dates.


...I share mainly as a warning/reminder to follow cruise to double check those charges.

So is there any resolution to all of this? Saying that you're posting for us to doublecheck makes it sound like you're done with the situation, but you can't possibly be.

How could you mistakenly charge deposits for cruises to other people on your CC? How are they explaining this?

 

[joni4122]

Similar situation happened to us on the Wonder a couple years ago. Rebooking desk was always busy so we dropped a card in the box to have them book a placeholder when they had time. It is correct that these charges do not appear on your shipboard account. I later checked my credit card and the charge had been made but there was no record or email confirmation of a reservation for us. Turns out my credit card was charged for someone else's deposit. It wasn't one quick phone call to resolve, either. Customer service had to communicate back and forth with the ship and it took about two weeks for the reservation to be straightened out. It also involved a supervisor having to override my reservation to make us eligible for onboard booking credit because, technically, my reservation wasn't made until I was off the ship. It all worked out in the end but, I agree, as with all purchases, check your receipts and credit cards carefully. Everyone, even Disney, does make mistakes.

 

[puffkin]

Not DCL, but I am having a similar issue with our DVC stay at BLT 2 weekends ago. We had a quick 2 night stay there on points before our cruise and since we were doing 2 buffet meals, the cost of the DDP made sense for us and I added and paid for it 3 weeks before our trip. At check in, they insisted I had a balance (the whole cost of the DDP) and wouldn't check us in until I paid it. I had my email confirmation from when I added it showing it was paid plus my credit card statement accessed on my phone (Disney Visa) showing the charge and it still took almost an hour for them to check us in (with VERY anxious kids waiting to get to Blizzard Beach) because I refused to pay for it again and then try to get it refunded later. I was ticked because this was no fault of my own. They did end up upgrading us to a lakeview room (from standard) but it really wasn't worth the hour of my time that I lost on such a short stay. So Disney does make these mistakes and doesn't always handle them as well as you would think!

 

[RedSox68]

I'm still trying to figure out how charges for two other reservations ended up on their shipboard account? Future cruise deposits and/or payments are never charged to the shipboard account, only to the credit card you provide

 

[mktt]

We had something similar happen to us.

We were on the Jan 30 Fantasy and when we got home we noticed reservation charges that we did not make. Disney acted as if we were trying to scam them into getting something for free when I called to resolve the issue. They never accepted any blame and to top it off they took an additional week to refund me the deposit.

On top of that, my credit card is Canadian funds so I lost money in the exchange (the amount in CAN$ charged to my Visa was greater than the amount refunded), and I had to fight with Visa to get that back.

I did notice that the reservation charged to my credit card, while for a 2017 date, was in the same cabin we were in the week we cruised. From that info I suspect the issue is one of human error at the onboard future booking desk.

It's crazy that if you want to buy anything on board you have to sign for it but if you want to book a $8000 cruise you don't have to sign anything.

 

[RedSox68]

We had something similar happen to us.

It's crazy that if you want to buy anything on board you have to sign for it but if you want to book a $8000 cruise you don't have to sign anything.

THIS. Every other cruise line we have sailed on that we booked future cruises had us sign a receipt and confirmation while at the booking desk. DCL is the only one who does not due that and these ridiculous mistakes are not only a sign of inefficiency, but of the fact they need to make sure the person they are charging is the person who actually wants the booking! And the fact that so many are saying DCL gave them such a hard time is beyond disappointing. Their customer service has shown signs of needing a reboot!

 

[kaseyC]

I'm still trying to figure out how charges for two other reservations ended up on their shipboard account? Future cruise deposits and/or payments are never charged to the shipboard account, only to the credit card you provide

Not sure where you are getting that from or why you're confused but the OP never said the reservations were on their shipboard account. They said they checked post-cruise charges once they were home and had deposits for 3 reservations charged to them.

 

[RedSox68]

Not sure where you are getting that from or why you're confused but the OP never said the reservations were on their shipboard account. They said they checked post-cruise charges once they were home and had deposits for 3 reservations charged to them.

Sorry, I did misread that -- I thought he mentioned his shipboard account. Never mind

 

[Pens Fan]

While Disney may sell a product filled with pixie dust, it's been my experience that when something goes wrong, accounting wise, the time and effort it takes to get it fixed is less than magical. Looking back over the years we have had several issues with errors made by Disney either over charging us, or not showing that we paid for something when in fact we did. It was always resolved in time, but often the amount of time involved was not what I would have expected from a company that prides itself on customer service. It's been my experience that the company is so large that it's a case of the right hand not knowing or understanding what the left hand is doing. Just finding the right department and person to resolve the problem can take hours (or days).

OP, I am sorry for what you are going through and I hope it gets resolved quickly.

 

[mktt]

THIS. Every other cruise line we have sailed on that we booked future cruises had us sign a receipt and confirmation while at the booking desk. DCL is the only one who does not due that and these ridiculous mistakes are not only a sign of inefficiency, but of the fact they need to make sure the person they are charging is the person who actually wants the booking! And the fact that so many are saying DCL gave them such a hard time is beyond disappointing. Their customer service has shown signs of needing a reboot!

I agree.
While we were and still are a bit steamed...(haven't used our 20% discount we got for the engine problems that week, also the original post got me to stop lurking and finally register and post)...at the same time we empathise with the poor lady at the onboard booking desk. Every night there were huge line ups to book onboard and they're dealing with spotty satellite internet connections. It has to be stressful for the staff and is definitely an environment where things can go wrong. You'd think there would be a better system in place, to account for the challenges of online booking during a cruise.

 

[Ofinn]

We had something similar happen to us.

We were on the Jan 30 Fantasy and when we got home we noticed reservation charges that we did not make. Disney acted as if we were trying to scam them into getting something for free when I called to resolve the issue. They never accepted any blame and to top it off they took an additional week to refund me the deposit.

On top of that, my credit card is Canadian funds so I lost money in the exchange (the amount in CAN$ charged to my Visa was greater than the amount refunded), and I had to fight with Visa to get that back.

I did notice that the reservation charged to my credit card, while for a 2017 date, was in the same cabin we were in the week we cruised. From that info I suspect the issue is one of human error at the onboard future booking desk.

It's crazy that if you want to buy anything on board you have to sign for it but if you want to book a $8000 cruise you don't have to sign anything.

I don't know if it was you or someone else that posted a similar story. I always check my CC account now before we disembark. I guess a way to avoid this happening would be to not put a cc on file, but just use cash. I can see how easily it would be for the cast members to charge it to the wrong room. Also they won't give you a print out now unless you ask. They email it to you, and most people aren't checking their emails on cruises.