Booking window

[Budzooka]

Booking window opened yesterday for 12 night Greek Isles. Stayed up to jump on at 12:01am to snag a Pallo brunch and port adventures. Not surprisingly, 2 of the 3 days for Palo were already sold out, but one had availability. Selected the guests and then just looped and was never able to select a time. Tried from laptop and phone with no luck.

DW worked on booking port adventures and could not get a page to load for any of the days. We went to bed 45 minutes later without anything booked.

She woke up in the middle of the night and tried again. Pallo brunches were now all sold out. Port adventures loaded but the available list to choose from was much smaller than the list that is on their website. We spent hours going through them all at each port to decide the one that we would enjoy the most and many of them were not even listed for booking. We ended up with adventures only booked for 4 of the 8 days.

So disappointing. We knew we were paying a premium for DCL but decided it was worth it because we knew what to expect after 3 stateside cruises. Second guessing that now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Port adventures loaded but the available list to choose from was much smaller than the list that is on their website. We spent hours going through them all at each port to decide the one that we would enjoy the most and many of them were not even listed for booking. We ended up with adventures only booked for 4 of the 8 days.

That part is completely normal for any cruise line. The list of port adventures is a comprehensive "here's a list of everything we might possibly offer on any given itinerary," it's not meant to be the list that they offer on EVERY itinerary. Many of the excursions are mutually exclusive, i.e. they can't possibly do Excursion X and Excursion Y on the same day.

I'm sorry about the rest of the technical issues, that's extremely frustrating.

 

[lanejudy]

I'd keep watching for the port adventures. Many aren't posting terribly far in advance simply due to questions or concerns about feasibility, requirements, vendor availability, etc.

 

[Budzooka]

That part is completely normal for any cruise line. The list of port adventures is a comprehensive "here's a list of everything we might possibly offer on any given itinerary," it's not meant to be the list that they offer on EVERY itinerary. Many of the excursions are mutually exclusive, i.e. they can't possibly do Excursion X and Excursion Y on the same day.

I'm sorry about the rest of the technical issues, that's extremely frustrating.

I didn’t see that anywhere on the site but maybe I overlooked it. Regardless, there should be a way to narrow the list to only view that will only be available for your cruise to not waste time preparing for the booking window. I had not run into this issue on my previous cruises.

 

[Budzooka]

I'd keep watching for the port adventures. Many aren't posting terribly far in advance simply due to questions or concerns about feasibility, requirements, vendor availability, etc.

That’s a good tip and definitely planning on that.

 

[BadPinkTink]

People need to have a bit of patience with the European cruises. DCL hasnt had a proper summer European season since 2019 and they havent even released the new polices and procedures.

And yes I would expect many of the port adventures to be very different to whats listed on the website and for port adventures that are currently booked to be cancelled. Many local venders may not even be still in business and there may be local restrictions and things outside DCL control.

Just because you have done USA based DCL cruises does not mean anything.

This summer 2022 European cruise season everything has changed from before and so much will be outside the control of DCL.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I didn’t see that anywhere on the site but maybe I overlooked it. Regardless, there should be a way to narrow the list to only view that will only be available for your cruise to not waste time preparing for the booking window. I had not run into this issue on my previous cruises.

There's no need to be beating down the doors to "prepare for the booking window." It's not like trying to get a dinner reservation at Space 220. I would advise not even starting to "shop" for excursions until the window opens.

 

[Budzooka]

People need to have a bit of patience with the European cruises. DCL hasnt had a proper summer European season since 2019 and they havent even released the new polices and procedures.

And yes I would expect many of the port adventures to be very different to whats listed on the website and for port adventures that are currently booked to be cancelled. Many local venders may not even be still in business and there may be local restrictions and things outside DCL control.

Just because you have done USA based DCL cruises does not mean anything.

This summer 2022 European cruise season everything has changed from before and so much will be outside the control of DCL.

Completely disagree with this unless they are going to adjust the price accordingly. I had a 25% FCC from a 2021 cruise and still had to come out of pocket to move to 2022. Charging a premium means expectations should be aligned.

 

[Budzooka]

There's no need to be beating down the doors to "prepare for the booking window." It's not like trying to get a dinner reservation at Space 220. I would advise not even starting to "shop" for excursions until the window opens.

Then why are so many port adventures already sold out on the day the window opens? All 9 excursions were sold out on the Sicily day and we couldn’t book anything. I understand concierge and gold book ahead of us and get first choice, but there was limited availability for silver on the first day.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Completely disagree with this unless they are going to adjust the price accordingly. I had a 25% FCC from a 2021 cruise and still had to come out of pocket to move to 2022. Charging a premium means expectations should be aligned.

Things are different in Europe, and DCL have no control over local restrictions and venders going out of business.

Also remember that when The Magic is in Europe , the ship is under European CDC jurisdiction, and not American CDC, so therefore testing, vaccine and mask rules may be different.

I had a September 2020 and a September 2021 DCL cancelled. You are not the only one who has had cancelled cruises.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Then why are so many port adventures already sold out on the day the window opens? All 9 excursions were sold out on the Sicily day and we couldn’t book anything. I understand concierge and gold book ahead of us and get first choice, but there was limited availability for silver on the first day.

They may not be actually sold out, but just not available yet. It is possible that DCL are still working with local venders to finalize port adventures and are listing them as sold out until they know for definite they will happen.

 

[lanejudy]

Then why are so many port adventures already sold out on the day the window opens?

Those may not have ever opened for booking yet. If you belong to a cruise group, you might try asking there if anyone was able to book those. I think DCL won't release port adventures for booking unless they have confirmation from the vendor that it should go.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Also if Americans havent been to Europe since 2019, there may be big changes to places you have previously visited. Covid hit Europe hard and so many businesses and tourist attractions closed. Also expect big price increases for hotels, transport and in local restaurants.

 

[Budzooka]

Things are different in Europe, and DCL have no control over local restrictions and venders going out of business.

Also remember that when The Magic is in Europe , the ship is under European CDC jurisdiction, and not American CDC, so therefore testing, vaccine and mask rules may be different.

I had a September 2020 and a September 2021 DCL cancelled. You are not the only one who has had cancelled cruises.

I’m not saying I am the only one that had a cruise cancelled. I am saying DCL has a self-imposed expectation with the price increases. If they have limited availability to vendors or a crummy IT department, that should be reflected in the price. I don’t give them a pass to price gouge because of circumstances from COVID.

 

[Budzooka]

They may not be actually sold out, but just not available yet. It is possible that DCL are still working with local venders to finalize port adventures and are listing them as sold out until they know for definite they will happen.

That’s a great point. Will definitely keep checking back.