Concierge and non-refundable deposit

[FSU Girl]

I was wondering if I booked a concierge room and then couldn't go, could I move the booking to a different sailing and have that deposit move over to that new room or would I just lose that money?

 

[princessmommyx3]

I have moved a concierge deposit to a different sail date before, but still a concierge room, no problem. But, it has been several years. I have also switched a concierge reservation to a non-concierge room on the same sailing, but my TA made it sound like DCL acted like they were doing us a favor, so YMMV on that one.

 

[undertheradar]

I was wondering if I booked a concierge room and then couldn't go, could I move the booking to a different sailing and have that deposit move over to that new room or would I just lose that money?

The unwritten rule has always been to never use the word Cancel.

 

[Trera]

We have done it before without any issue. One thing they wont do is apply the money to another cruise.

 

[Sytrace]

I was wondering if I booked a concierge room and then couldn't go, could I move the booking to a different sailing and have that deposit move over to that new room or would I just lose that money?

As long as you move the sail date and deposit to another concierge stateroom BEFORE final payment is due then you can transfer it. If you cancel, the deposit is lost. You can transfer it to another non concierge stateroom on the same sailing if you wanted to lose the benefits of concierge. Again before final payment.

 

[quickcat]

We have done exactly what Sytrace has said. Booked a concierge room then before final payment date, changed the sail date and the category to a balcony room instead of concierge with no problems.
The only way you lose your deposit is if you completely cancel.
Just make sure you do the changes before the final payment date.

 

[cats mom]

Per DCL terms changing your vacation date, or even names on a reservation = a cancellation, and the deposit for concierge level cabins is non refundable. So in the scenario presented official policy is you'd have to cancel the current booking (resulting in forfeiture of the entire deposit) and rebook.

If you have insurance through DCL their policy allows you to move 75% of the deposit amount to another cruise if you cancel for a reason not normally covered, so you'd just lose 25% of the deposit amount, although there is the sticky matter of DCL insurance not kicking in until after final payment has been made. I'm not sure how they handle that.

Of course this is per official terms, and Disney can and does make exceptions to official policy all the time. In fact I'm surprised at how often official policy and actual practice don't align at Disney. Maybe it's the whole improve the guest experience when you can culture?

Personally I've always felt I should be confident my plans wouldn't change before booking concierge level, but that's just me and my aversion to losing money and/or hoping someone at DCL would make an exception to official policy if I wanted to make a change. From the responses above it seems they're very lenient about the concierge deposit rule, so maybe I'll rethink the whole concierge level thing. LOL

 

[FSU Girl]

I'd love to book concierge for a future sailing, but right now things are iffy on when and if we can go so I'd hate to lose money. Wish their cancellation policy wasn't like that. I know for NCL I can cancel a Haven room and get everything back. It seems like if I transfer to a future sailing I won't lose it even though it's technically not policy? That would work. Thanks everyone!

 

[chrisnb]

I'd love to book concierge for a future sailing, but right now things are iffy on when and if we can go so I'd hate to lose money. Wish their cancellation policy wasn't like that. I know for NCL I can cancel a Haven room and get everything back. It seems like if I transfer to a future sailing I won't lose it even though it's technically not policy? That would work. Thanks everyone!

As long as you are before final payment Which is now 150 days out, you can change concierge sail date no problem, I have done it twice, just did it this week. Had booked a spring break cruise for 2020 and my kids school changed dates, so moved it to Greek isles cruise. The only catch if you change to less people, my plan was move that particular reservation to cruise with just my wife and I, but i would have lost my kids deposit.
chris

 

[FSU Girl]

As long as you are before final payment Which is now 150 days out, you can change concierge sail date no problem, I have done it twice, just did it this week. Had booked a spring break cruise for 2020 and my kids school changed dates, so moved it to Greek isles cruise. The only catch if you change to less people, my plan was move that particular reservation to cruise with just my wife and I, but i would have lost my kids deposit.
chris

Good to know, thank you!

 

[bumbershoot]

Per DCL terms changing your vacation date, or even names on a reservation = a cancellation

That’s definitely not how they actually behave.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

As others have said, as long as you move the $ to another sailing as opposed to cancelling, you shouldn’t lose the deposit. I specifically asked Costco about this as I recently booked my first concierge cruise. I assumed “non-refundable” meant any changes and you’re out the deposit $. But I think it just means Disney is keeping that money regardless of what you do with it. Costco confirmed that I could apply it to another cruise or stateroom if I needed to, so hopefully that is correct.

 

[FSU Girl]

As others have said, as long as you move the $ to another sailing as opposed to cancelling, you shouldn’t lose the deposit. I specifically asked Costco about this as I recently booked my first concierge cruise. I assumed “non-refundable” meant any changes and you’re out the deposit $. But I think it just means Disney is keeping that money regardless of what you do with it. Costco confirmed that I could apply it to another cruise or stateroom if I needed to, so hopefully that is correct.

That would make sense, since you aren't not sailing anymore you're just sailing at a different time so still giving them money.

 

[cats mom]

That’s definitely not how they actually behave.

True that. I do think it's always good to be aware of official policy. From the cruise contract:

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS
Changes to the vacation commencement date or changes of Guest names will be considered cancellations.

Suite and Concierge Staterooms: All Sailings
Days Prior to Vacation Commencement Date Fee Amount
90 days or more Deposit per Guest
89-56 days 50% of vacation price per Guest
55-30 days 75% of vacation price per Guest
29 days or less 100% of vacation price per Guest

So per the contract changing the sail date any time after booking should result in forfeiture of deposit for concierge level.

Based on all the experiences posted here that's clearly not what's actually happening.

It makes sense to me that it's better for DCL to switch the deposit to another date and keep a concierge level paying guest happy and on a future sailing instead of just keeping the deposit and possibly make the guest so angry they never sail DCL again. That's not how the contract reads though.

There have been times when DCL changed from doing what had been common practice to what official policy stated in the past. I'd hate to be the one assuming all would be fine and then get caught in one of those transitions. Thus why I pointed out official policy. But it sounds like it shouldn't be a huge concern on this topic.

l am surprised Costco would be giving out information that doesn't align with official policy. I have to call to make a change on a non concierge cabin in the next few days. I'll try to remember to ask and see what the DCL agent says.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Changing to a different cruise is only subject to penalty when you're within the "penalty phase", which is a certain number of days prior to the cruise (how many days varies by departure port, concierge vs. non-concierge status, & length of cruise). You can change dates and itineraries before that date without canceling the cruise. I've done this multiple times, even when paid in full.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Bumping this up because we're considering the NYC-San Juan Magic 5 day trip in 2020, but we might do a WDW parks trip instead. We might just book a regular verandah room so that we can take advantage of the 10% OBB discount, and so there is no cancellation penalty. How far out can you move a concierge booking to another cruise without penalty? Would I be able to move it into 2021 if we opted for WDW in the Fall of 2020?

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Bumping this up because we're considering the NYC-San Juan Magic 5 day trip in 2020, but we might do a WDW parks trip instead. We might just book a regular verandah room so that we can take advantage of the 10% OBB discount, and so there is no cancellation penalty. How far out can you move a concierge booking to another cruise without penalty? Would I be able to move it into 2021 if we opted for WDW in the Fall of 2020?

You can move it as far out as Disney has sailings available for booking. We once had to move a deposit shortly before final payment but didn't know when our new sailing would be. Our TA moved it to the latest available date that didn't require any additional deposit (something like 15 months in the future), then we moved it back up to an earlier sail date later.