Coronavirus and DCL Megathread - Suspension of Departures for the fleet until early November. Booking only available from early December.

[lilmc]

I’m sure this has been asked before, but I’ve missed it being discussed: we were a 125% credit cancelled cruise in March, rebooked Aug 1st, if that gets cancelled as well, are thoughts that it will be 125% again?

 

[Blues Image]

I’m sure this has been asked before, but I’ve missed it being discussed: we were a 125% credit cancelled cruise in March, rebooked Aug 1st, if that gets cancelled as well, are thoughts that it will be 125% again?

No. You never get more than 125% of your original fare.

 

[gismo1554]

Wow, that sounds very lenient! We got an email that they wouldn't cover unless you had the extra policy before January 30th (is that when the WHO declared it a pandemic?), we didn't have it, so far we've only lost the one hotel, which isn't too bad for us (all the DLP trips that got cancelled from under us, more then cover that) and we're still waiting for the response from the hotel if they maybe will allow us to move the booking. Already discussed with my husband, that if we ever get kids, we're getting the extra policy

Yeah I was surprised if I'm honest but that's what it claims. It says as "Following extensive consultation with our insurer we are pleased to inform you that all trips you currently have booked are covered for cancellation that is both necessary and reasonable due to coronavirus.... In addition when traveling to a country where no FCO advise against travelling exists before departing the UK your trip will have cover for any valid medical claims caused by coronavirus". It is also says that if you are due to renew the policy then they are pleased to confirm that the cover will extend to the new policy as long as there's been no break in cover. Definitely will be renewing with them this summer

 

[K8T]

Yeah I was surprised if I'm honest but that's what it claims. It says as "Following extensive consultation with our insurer we are pleased to inform you that all trips you currently have booked are covered for cancellation that is both necessary and reasonable due to coronavirus.... In addition when traveling to a country where no FCO advise against travelling exists before departing the UK your trip will have cover for any valid medical claims caused by coronavirus". It is also says that if you are due to renew the policy then they are pleased to confirm that the cover will extend to the new policy as long as there's been no break in cover. Definitely will be renewing with them this summer

Can I ask which company you are with?

 

[T & R]

No. You never get more than 125% of your original fare.

What if your second booking costs more and you had to pay out of pocket in addition to the 125% received from first booking? Doesn't seem right that if the 2nd booking is cancelled, you would only get 125% of the first cheaper booking.

 

[gismo1554]

Can I ask which company you are with?

So this was with Coverwise. Honestly was shocked it was so good as it wasn't an expensive policy but I will be renewing with them to keep this bonus!

Also I agree with T & R that I'm not sure how things could work with the 125% extra if you have booked and then paid extra so say cruise originally cost $1000 (just doing for ease of maths) and then you rebooked on a $2000 room they would need to either not give the 125% on the next cruise at all so you would only get $2000 or somehow work out the 125% of the $750 extra you have paid and then add this to the $1250 of the original 125%. The second way would be very very messy and the first seems a little unfair. I think its about $200 that you would be loosing out on by having rebooked the first time and paying the extra if my maths is right. I have a feeling until this happens and someone reports we wont be able to work out which way it goes but I feel they will do the 125% of whatever you have currently paid to make the maths simple rather than trying to adjust.

 

[tink2020]

We got the FCC email today for our 9-night southern. Has anyone had experience rebooking with the credit, but to a lower fare cruise? Is the remainder of the credit kept on file or forfeited?

 

[harriet2]

We got the FCC email today for our 9-night southern. Has anyone had experience rebooking with the credit, but to a lower fare cruise? Is the remainder of the credit kept on file or forfeited?

It will be obb

 

[tink2020]

It will be obb

Thanks so much! I did check in with them, and got the same information - with some additional info.

In our case, we were booked on quite a pricey itinerary. To change to any itinerary in the coming months, we’d have still had $8,000 leftover. Even doing our worst, that’s a hefty onboard credit

The FCC can be split over any number of sailings within the 15-month window. I wanted to share, in case that helps anyone else!

 

[DIS_MIKE]

Thanks so much! I did check in with them, and got the same information - with some additional info.

In our case, we were booked on quite a pricey itinerary. To change to any itinerary in the coming months, we’d have still had $8,000 leftover. Even doing our worst, that’s a hefty onboard credit

The FCC can be split over any number of sailings within the 15-month window. I wanted to share, in case that helps anyone else!

With that amount of OBC......they should let you steer the ship!

 

[FigmentSpark]

Thanks so much! I did check in with them, and got the same information - with some additional info.

In our case, we were booked on quite a pricey itinerary. To change to any itinerary in the coming months, we’d have still had $8,000 leftover. Even doing our worst, that’s a hefty onboard credit

The FCC can be split over any number of sailings within the 15-month window. I wanted to share, in case that helps anyone else!

I was told that credit can be used for anything you can book with DCL, including airfare, insurance and even a successive land WDW portion IF you book the land portion through DCL (not WDW). That might help you spend some money.

 

[tink2020]

With that amount of OBC......they should let you steer the ship!

I agree! There are five of us and it’s a verandah credit, but I can’t imagine how much people are dealing/working with who had these - or the european cruises(!) on a concierge booking

 

[tink2020]

I was told that credit can be used for anything you can book with DCL, including airfare, insurance and even a successive land WDW portion IF you book the land portion through DCL (not WDW). That might help you spend some money.

I ended up booking a 7-night replacement, and paying off/paying down other reservations. Definitely took the sting out of the cancelation.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

My July 20 cruise was officially cancelled today. We have a cruise booked for next summer. Is it possible to use the credit to pay for that? Or would I need to request a refund, wait until I see it on my credit card and then pay for next summer?

 

[Seamama]

There’s a lot of unfair things that have happened because of this virus. It’s not fair that Disney (and many other businesses) are losing money, either. They don’t legally owe us anything other than a full refund for a canceled cruise. With a refund, we have been made whole. The extra 25% is a nice gesture, even if it doesn’t cover all of the extra money that *we choose* to pay when we book again on a more expensive cruise. It’s no one’s fault, just one of the many crummy things about a pandemic.

What if your second booking costs more and you had to pay out of pocket in addition to the 125% received from first booking? Doesn't seem right that if the 2nd booking is cancelled, you would only get 125% of the first cheaper booking.

 

[Blues Image]

What if your second booking costs more and you had to pay out of pocket in addition to the 125% received from first booking? Doesn't seem right that if the 2nd booking is cancelled, you would only get 125% of the first cheaper booking.

Sorry, I should've been more clear. Basically, you will get back whatever you put in. If I paid 7,000 for my original fare, and Disney cancels, I get 125% of that as FCC, so 8,750. Let's say I realize that using the FCC, I can upgrade to a 10,000 cabin by adding in another 1,250. So I rebook on a second cruise and add 1,250. At this point I've put in 8,250 of my money. If Disney cancels that second cruise and I want a refund, I'll get back 8,250.

 

[Trera]

Thanks so much! I did check in with them, and got the same information - with some additional info.

In our case, we were booked on quite a pricey itinerary. To change to any itinerary in the coming months, we’d have still had $8,000 leftover. Even doing our worst, that’s a hefty onboard credit

The FCC can be split over any number of sailings within the 15-month window. I wanted to share, in case that helps anyone else!

we were on that cruise also. We ended up just cancelling and getting a refund.

Not sure how long it will be before we come back to cruising as our DD is a little older and we also like travel to other countries now that we have done some many cruises on DCL.

Good luck to everyone working through your DCL issues during this pandemic.

 

[T & R]

There’s a lot of unfair things that have happened because of this virus. It’s not fair that Disney (and many other businesses) are losing money, either. They don’t legally owe us anything other than a full refund for a canceled cruise. With a refund, we have been made whole. The extra 25% is a nice gesture, even if it doesn’t cover all of the extra money that *we choose* to pay when we book again on a more expensive cruise.

One of the many reasons why I do not use the term "fair" or "unfair". Most adults have no expectation of fairness in life.

On another note we all understand that the cancellation is through no fault of their own but I do not agree that refunding your money makes you whole, which is why they offer the 125%. I do not understand why airlines think this way as well. You pay for a service of getting from point A to point B. If they do not deliver and refund your money, you're not made whole because your left sitting in the terminal at point A with a pocket full of refund money. We had an expectation of service to be at point B rather than being left sitting at point A. Airlines usually shrug it off with a voucher or refund and act like they're doing you a favor but we didn't want nor pay for a voucher, we paid to get to a destination that they offered to do for a pre-paid price.
Also, most of us plan cruises a year+ out or more. When DCL cancels, you're doing a last minute re-book for a future cruise that is only 2 to 15 months out. We all know that many times the closer you wait to the cruise date the higher the price is. So when they give you 125%, they're just covering you for the last minute re-book increase in prices rather than lowering the prices of their upcoming cruises. They can keep the published rates of their upcoming cruises inflated high or even raise them.

 

[K8T]

Well we cancelled our 7 night Northern Europe cruise in August as PIF was tomorrow. DCL. were unable, or unwilling to give any reassurances that if we couldn’t get to the cruise due to lockdown again, or the airport closed, we would not incur any penalty for cancellation.

They also couldn’t tell us what would be in place by way of pools bring open, theatre shows etc.

So we have lost our OBC and our discount, as they wouldn’t let us move that, as it was up in October.

We had booked our flights, so are hoping to transfer those and we have booked 10 nights Northern Europe next year.
Maybe we should have had a gamble for the 125% FFC - but it’s a lot of money to lose even part of and so many variables.

 

[randumb0]

Well we cancelled our 7 night Northern Europe cruise in August as PIF was tomorrow. DCL. were unable, or unwilling to give any reassurances that if we couldn’t get to the cruise due to lockdown again, or the airport closed, we would not incur any penalty for cancellation.

They also couldn’t tell us what would be in place by way of pools bring open, theatre shows etc.

So we have lost our OBC and our discount, as they wouldn’t let us move that, as it was up in October.

We had booked our flights, so are hoping to transfer those and we have booked 10 nights Northern Europe next year.
Maybe we should have had a gamble for the 125% FFC - but it’s a lot of money to lose even part of and so many variables.

Makes sense. You had to do what was comfortable to you