Changing names on the reservation?

[kpros]

Has anyone else run into this situation? I ended up making 3 reservations for the Fl to CA repo cruise on the first day. At the time of the reservations, I wasn't sure who would be using reservations 2 and 3 (the DW and I were using reservation 1). DU said that it wouldn't matter because the names could be changed anytime without a problem (as long as the reservation wasn't paid for in full).

Once the dust settled, I sent DU the information for the new names on reservation 2 and 3. Now I find out that DCL will not make the changes because a deposit was already made on these two reservations. The original reservations had to be cancelled and new reservations entered (at todays price). Now, it only made $200 difference on reservation #3, but it raised the price of reservation #2 by $1000 (great way to get more income for DCL).

Has anyone else run into this situation? Have you had either DU or DCL change the names on a reservation without a price increase (not just add people, but actually change the names on the reservation)?

Needless to say, I'm rather upset with the situation. If I had known that the names couldn't have been changed once the deposit was made, I would have delayed making the deposit until I had all the correct info (I had the people confirmed within 24 hours).

Thanks in advance for any info.

Ken

 

[LibertyBelle]

I worked at DCL's reservation center and that is NOT true.. I would have DU talk to someone higher than the res agent... we changed names on reservations quite frequently without having to change anything else. It is a simply delete and add. I can see your frustration as just reading your post made me cringe...

 

[lkohawaii]

Hi I talked directly with DCL. I had made a reservation with them and then ended up finding a better deal with Costco Travel. My friend at the time couldn't get as good a deal and wanted to take over my original DCL reservation. I had to call and make the change and the girl on the phone quoted me that days price. So, like you my friend would have had to pay $700 more. She ended up calling Costco travel and getting a good deal. I would say call Costco Travel....but be prepared to wait 40 min or more.

 

[kpros]

FYI - This is a copy of the E-mail I sent DCL this morning.


I recently participated in the “reservation rush” for the 14 day repositioning cruise from Florida to California. To say that the process was difficult and disheartening is an understatement, but I finally got through and made a reservation. I, like many other people, ended up with several reservations on that first day after the smoke cleared. Dreams Unlimited was working on a reservation, I was on the computer trying to get through, and my wife had a phone in both hands trying to get to the DCL reservation desk.

As it turns out, I was able to finally make a reservation online (#22012xxx) at about 11:30am (pacific). Later that day, Dreams Unlimited notified us that they had also made a reservation for us (#22014xxx) (at a higher price). I then asked Dreams Unlimited about changing the names on the reservation that they made because at that point I had several people (family members) who were interested in going on the cruise but didn’t want to fight the reservation battle. Dreams Unlimited said that DCL had always allowed them to change the names on existing reservations as long as the reservation was not “paid in full”. Based upon this information, I made the deposit on the Dreams Unlimited reservation (#22014xxx) (knowing that I would have someone for this reservation in a day or two). A day later, my brother-in-law decided to take the reservation.

On Friday of “reservation rush week”, I found out that my Mother and Sister would also like to go on the cruise. I then got online and made reservation for them (#22018xxx), but still in my name because I was the only one with both the time and the Internet connection to make the reservation. That reservation was much more expensive because of the room rate increases.

My ultimate goal was to wait until the dust cleared, transfer the two reservations I had made online to Dreams Unlimited, and change the names on the extra two reservations since Dreams Unlimited had said that DCL had always allowed this type of change.

Well, yesterday I got some very disturbing news. Dreams Unlimited informed me that DCL would not accept the name changes on the existing reservations. And that new reservations would have to be made at the current price. While this only changed the price of one reservation by $200 (#22018xxx to #22039xxx), it changed the price of the other by $1,060 (#22014xxx to #22039xxx).

I’m very disappointed that DCL will not allow name changes to existing reservations, especially for family members. I’m also very disappointed that DCL would apparently change this rule (or at least start enforcing it) without prior warning to Dreams Unlimited. If I had known that I wouldn’t have been able to change the names at a later date, I would have been more aggressive in getting the names correct in the first place. Your enforcement of this “rule” has now cost my family $1,260. I guess as a Disney stockholder I should be happy about your efforts to increase income. But as a Disney consumer (this will be our 5th Disney Cruise) I am very disappointed in your rigid policies regarding name changes on reservations.

Ken

 

[lkohawaii]

Ken,
It'll be interesting to see what Disney says. One of the outside agents told me that Disney was happy we were cancelling rooms because they could now make more money. My friend and I are just happy to have saved so much money with Costco Travel. We're waiting for our confirmation papers...hope they come in and soon.

 

[SandraLee]

DCL had such a disaster in booking the reposition cruises. That said, here is what I understand to the changing of names.

You can change every name on the reservation EXCEPT the one name. I had this discussion with Donna on the Magic when I rebooked one time. I wasn't sure if my parents would like to come on a cruise with us, so I booked 2 rooms -- one in my name and one in my DH's name. Donna said if the parents ended up coming, we would not be able to move my name into DH's room, but we could ADD anyone we wished.

Sort-of makes sense, I guess. If you want to maximize the booking $$s. Kind-of the same racket the airlines participate in -- If *I* bought the ticket and own the ticket, why can't I change the name to someone else?

 

[kpros]

SandraLee

I can understand DCLs position (sort of), but what bugs me the most is that it appears (based upon DU statements) that DCL let them make these types of changes in the past. So I made decisions based upon that past history. Now they change their position (or decide to enforce the rule) without warning.

Ken

 

[Shebbieal]

I booked thru DVC.

Last week my daughters employer rescinded her week off. She was the primary on that room. My nephew decided to go. I called DVC and it cost me $75 to change names, plus $35 to re-print the docs. DS is 26 and nephew is 20, so they also had to put my DH in the other room with 2 kids. DCL and DVC both told me whichever room we slept in was fine, the rooms are next to each other.

It kind of feaked me out cause we sail in 10 days!! The new docs came today WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sherry

 

[kpros]

Sherry

You know, it makes sense to have some sort of charge for reprinting the docs, and I can also understand the issue about age requirements for the holder of the room. In my case, it was just a simple change from our names to my Mom and Sister. No docs, no other issues - just a name change. It would take 60 seconds in the computer system. But that 60 seconds cost $200 in their case and $1060 in my Brother-in-laws case.

Ken

 

[Shebbieal]

Ken,

My point is it can be done, try again and speak to someone else.

I fully sympathize with you, it isn't gonna cost them a thing to simply change names. Best of luck to you!! Post the outcome please.

Sherry

 

[thiscloud]

i read in another thread that dcl doesn't care who's in a cabin as long as there's one adult accompanying any minors. so if you had each cabin's "primary passenger" (i don't know what the proper term is) assigned to someone who is definitely going. then you can add and change secondary passengers as much as you want (or maybe until final payment is made, or something).

then out of however many cabins and however many people you have, people can just stay in whatever cabins they want.

so in sandralee's case, she and her dh could stay in one cabin and her parents in another. i believe you can even get extra kttw cards made to access each other's rooms. the only potential problem with this is charging things to the kttw card.

 

[alicecr]

Since last year when I first started making reservations with DU they have ALWAYS told me lead name on reservation cannot be changed but other names can be. I changed names twice but never lead name. One time I was charged and the other time was so far out no charge was made. I have 6 cruises currently booked and each and every time DU has told me no change to lead name.

 

[Az Pirates]

That is the same info I was given. The 1st person on the reservation cannot change without cancelling and rebooking the whole reservation. Other name changes/additions are fine as long as there are still openings on the ship and the main name on the cabin does not change.

You have a former DCL reservation agent telling you that it IS possible though, so I wouldn't give up yet.

Good Luck getting it all taken care of to your satisfaction.

 

[kpros]

alicecr

It's funny because my DU person said that changing all the names wouldn't be a problem until the final payment was made. I still have that E-mail in my inbox.

As far as moving people around. In our case, that could have worked for two rooms, but I had three rooms with my name on them. So just moving the secondary names around wouldn't work.

No response from DCL yet. I wouldn't expect to hear from them until tomorrow (5/27) at the earliest.

Ken

 

[minnieandmickey]

It sounds as if you are the lead person on all of the reservations which maybe why you can't change. I really hope you can change the names, 200 dollars isn't good but 1000 dollars is even worse. Good luck, we are all behind you. This is a very informative thread I am glad you posted it. My husband has to bid for his vacation in February so there is a chance he won't be able to go. I thankfully made the reservation so I am the lead.

 

[alicecr]

Perhaps John at DU could be helpful in stating the policy re name change if someone would ask him. As I said before both Liz and Cathy from DU told me no change to lead name.

 

[Greysword]

Ken,

If you are the lead on all three rooms and you are going, why not just leave it and add the other party members to the room? DCL knows you are not going to actually stay in all three at once, and I am confident they book multiple rooms under one name frequently (especially for family reunions).

Try calling DCL directly with your reservation number, ask for a manager, and have him/her add the members of your party (family, friends, strangers) to the other rooms. heck, if I was goign with you I wouldn't care if the room was under your name. I would just give you the funds for it

Good luck!!

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

Chris, that sounds good in theory, but I think the problem is that Ken's name isn't just on the rooms as the person that booked the ressie, but as an occupant of each of those rooms because they were booked seperately.
Unfortunately I can understand DCL's point of view on this, especially for the repo and CA cruises. They didn't want someone booking multiple rooms under an early booking discount (if you can call those prices discounted) and then reselling those bookings to somebody else, ie. ebay. They knew, like we did, that those rooms were going to go fast on that first day, and thus, drive prices up. They also knew all those ressies wouldn't have deposits made, but the price would still be up. Ah, the almighty dollar and Disney.

Ken, good luck with your cabins. I have a sinking feeling that you're not going to get much help from DCL on this one. Especially since you've already 'accepted' the price increases. Good luck none the less and we'll keep our fingers crossed for you.

 

[kpros]

DMS_cruisers04

Good points all the way around, I can't argue with you on anything you say. And I really do understand the resale issue - it's just a drag to have something like this happen when you think you have everything figured out (and it's not like I'm trying to get away with anything). Like I said, if the rules had been clear to me up front (and I'm not sure who to get mad at - me, DU or DCL), I would have done things differently.

Ken

 

[thiscloud]

kpros, DU really tries to take care of their customers, as you can see from this DCL debacle: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=568147

since you have the email from the travel agent you dealt with, maybe you could PM WebmasterJohn or call DU and speak with a manager and see if they can work something out with you.

if it doesn't work out, since you'd be paying today's prices, you might want to try http://www.allseastravel.com or costco's travel agency (if you're a costco member). they usually price out at a few hundred dollars less than any other agency.