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

[HuskyGal]

I’m supposed to cruise next Saturday and am reconsidering now based on the Grand Princess. Twenty one people tested positive so far and NINETEEN of those are crew members

When I first started reading your comment I thought you were saying you wanted to cancel your Disney cruise to book a cruise on the grand princess.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have been on hold with DCL on and off for three hours to rebook. At first, the CM didn't have authority to postpone our cruise without the $300pp charge, then he had authorization, and now I've been on hold again forever. Is anyone getting through? Maybe it's better for me to hang up and call back. But if it's going to result in another 3 hours, that would be even more maddening.

This is exactly why I "give up control" (as some say), and let my TA handle it. I simply send her an email and she sends me confirmations. It couldn't get any easier. I don't have hours to sit on hold. Even if I did, I'd still have my TA handle it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is correct. We are scheduled to go out on the Dream on Monday 03/09. For the 03/09 cruise, over 300 people cancelled yesterday that were booked to be onboard with a large group from a company. When I looked at available staterooms a few mins ago, all those rooms are still showing unavailable even though I know they are in fact cancelled and empty. I thought DCL would be offering last minute discounts to get people on the cruise since about 15% of the cruise cancelled yesterday in one swoop. But appearances are that the cruise is booked up (even though it's very empty) so no discounted rates.

The latest one can book a cruise is 3 days before sailing due to Homeland Security rules. I believe they get a passenger list for every sailing. We once booked 30 mins prior to DCL closing phone lines on the 3rd day prior. What a rush. We are not usually so spur of the moment people but the opportunity presented itself and the stars aligned.

We can't all see what DCL sees. Perhaps new reservation volume has plummeted and they know they can't fill that many cabins overnight. They might as well not make it appear on their website that the ships are emptying out. This is all just a guess on my part. Perhaps I'm way off.

 

[SBMCT01]

We are sailing on the April 11th fantasy and I had moved a couple weeks ago from a family ocean view to a verandah 4a gty stateroom because if we did get quarantined I didn’t want to be stuck without access to fresh air with 5 people in a small room. My kids are 15, 12 & 10 so it would get cramped quickly. Well I’ve been checking daily for my room assignment, and today I got an email from the concierge team that we were given a complementary upgrade to a concierge family ocean view veranda!!’ So excited, it was a $13k difference for concierge when I changed from ocean view to veranda which was only $950, which was worth my peace of mind. Unless we are sick we fully intend to sail. We are in South Florida so we are a quick drive to Port Canaveral. But it’s nice to know if we have to change last minute we can, so thanks Disney!! The concierge when I spoke to him said he did notice we had sailed a lot with DCL we have 8 under our belt this one will make 9, so maybe this helped with the Pixie Dust!! Any business is vulnerable with this virus threat and we just have to roll with the punches and make the best decisions we can with the current information.

That is awesome for you. We are on the same sailing and watching this closely and was thinking the same thing regarding the verandah. Did you press for this or out of the blue while waiting for the guaranteed room assignment they gave the upgrade?

 

[princesscinderella]

That is awesome for you. We are on the same sailing and watching this closely and was thinking the same thing regarding the verandah. Did you press for this or out of the blue while waiting for the guaranteed room assignment they gave the upgrade?

It was totally out of the blue, just an email sent to my inbox asking me to call the concierge team to confirm the upgrade, by the end of the day.

 

[SBMCT01]

It was totally out of the blue, just an email sent to my inbox asking me to call the concierge team to confirm the upgrade, by the end of the day.

You originally switched to a guarantee or had selected a room?

 

[smmco]

Just an aside... As one of those that just PIF the July 1st Greek Isles, this is a bit of a slap in the face to us. Would have been nice to have had that 30 day PIF as well...

You will still be able to get a full refund.

 

[tidefan]

You will still be able to get a full refund.

No, a full FCC, but if we can’t get on the next years Greek Isles, we’ll have too much in FCC...

 

[smmco]

I am not sure why, but I am blown away with some of the comments and replies. Disney is not responsible for this virus. Your VACATION does not constitute an emergency. We were all offered insurance. 12 months to rebook is generous and not required. Everyone should make the personal decision of what is best for their individual and specific circumstances. If things stay as they are, I will be traveling 3/30 on the Dream. If there are significant changes, I am thankful Disney has given us until the day before to make changes. In the grand scheme of things, I truly hope people realize how ridiculous they sound. #hopeIgetacredit

I totally agree. DCL is not obligated to do anything. I think this is very generous on their part. The same posters that have been complaining for days that DCL should do something are still complaining. For God's sake, you have a year to rebook. Figure it out.!

The cruise executives are meeting at the White House tomorrow I wonder if that has something to do with the policy change today.

 

[princesscinderella]

You originally switched to a guarantee or had selected a room?

I had an family Ocean view with a room number booked since last May, as we wanted to try it out, we usually sail verandah. About 3 weeks ago I called to see if there were any verandah’s available after watch the saga of the princess cruise quarantine. They said they only had gty but it would be a 4a cabin, the cost to upgrade was $950 which is what I would have paid when I booked last May and had chosen a verandah instead of an ocean view. So we were still waiting for our room number to be assigned. I got my luggage tags yesterday with a fill in the blank cabin number. Not sure how or why we got upgraded but we are excited. We do spend a ton of money at Disney like most of the disboard members, we are also DVC members with 5 home resorts.

 

[smmco]

No, a full FCC, but if we can’t get on the next years Greek Isles, we’ll have too much in FCC...

You can use it as an OBC.

 

[tidefan]

You can use it as an OBC.

I wonder if they would let us use it on more than one cruise...

 

[MomOTwins]

This reminds me why I love Disney. We are cruising in late May, already past PIF, and mother in law is immune compromised from cancer treatments. I am hopeful this will all have blown over for the most part before then, but if not, it is extraordinarily generous of Disney to let us reschedule up until the day before sailing! Just WOW! I was expecting to just have to be out thousands of dollars if it wasn't safe for her to travel.

 

[Ladybugx87]

I wonder if they would let us use it on more than one cruise...

They would almost have to!! I have a verandah and inside cabin both booked. It would cover multiple other cruises.

 

[tidefan]

They would almost have to!! I have a verandah and inside cabin both booked. It would cover multiple other cruises.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. This cruise, even for DCL standards, is a price outlier...

 

[MarkLT1]

So, it pains me to say, but I think the MarkLT1 clan will be tapping out, and postponing our cruise. If it was just my wife, kids, and I, we wouldn't be too concerned, but as I've indicated here (and in other threads) my dad who is going, would be extremely high risk if he caught COVID. He had a chat with his doctor today, who essentially said "For you, with your lung and immune issues, this would not be like the flu. We know how to treat the flu for people like you, and how to mitigate much of the risk through things like vaccines. This bug is entirely different in that regard, and with your complications, we don't know how to treat it well at all."

Then we got the news of the first COVID patient in our state, as well as the 21 people aboard the Grand Princess.. and well.. do you really want to worry like that on a vacation? This will be our second cancelled sailing in a row (the first was when he found out he had Lymphoma a couple years back), but we've got our eyes on another sailing in the fall, that has available staterooms. So it is just postponing... And I have to say, at this point, I am honestly relieved. We'll hold out a bit to see if there is some miraculous turnaround in the spread of this thing, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for that.

 

[Lisa F]

So, it pains me to say, but I think the MarkLT1 clan will be tapping out, and postponing our cruise. If it was just my wife, kids, and I, we wouldn't be too concerned, but as I've indicated here (and in other threads) my dad who is going, would be extremely high risk if he caught COVID. He had a chat with his doctor today, who essentially said "For you, with your lung and immune issues, this would not be like the flu. We know how to treat the flu for people like you, and how to mitigate much of the risk through things like vaccines. This bug is entirely different in that regard, and with your complications, we don't know how to treat it well at all."

Then we got the news of the first COVID patient in our state, as well as the 21 people aboard the Grand Princess.. and well.. do you really want to worry like that on a vacation? This will be our second cancelled sailing in a row (the first was when he found out he had Lymphoma a couple years back), but we've got our eyes on another sailing in the fall, that has available staterooms. So it is just postponing... And I have to say, at this point, I am honestly relieved. We'll hold out a bit to see if there is some miraculous turnaround in the spread of this thing, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for that.

I'm sorry for the postponement but glad your dad decided to heed his doctor's advice. Hopefully by the rebook date this will have long blown over and you can enjoy your family vacation without anything hanging over you. It will be worth the wait!

 

[mrsgthatsme]

Several silly questions from someone who has never used a GT rate... I know that normally, you are not able to switch to these rates once you have a PIF sailing booked. However, now that DCL is offering guests sailing prior to May 31 the chance to apply their payment to another cruise, I wondered if that still applied. I noticed that there is a great GT rate for rooms on our sailing in April and I would love it if we could move our family members currently in interior rooms into verandah rooms in the off chance there was a quarantine of any kind. Do you think there is any chance DCL would let us get the GT rate if we switched the interior rooms to verandahs? Also, on the Disney site the GT rates don't show up, I just saw them on the GT thread on disboards... is there some special way to access them on the Disney site?

 

[princesscinderella]

Several silly questions from someone who has never used a GT rate... I know that normally, you are not able to switch to these rates once you have a PIF sailing booked. However, now that DCL is offering guests sailing prior to May 31 the chance to apply their payment to another cruise, I wondered if that still applied. I noticed that there is a great GT rate for rooms on our sailing in April and I would love it if we could move our family members currently in interior rooms into verandah rooms in the off chance there was a quarantine of any kind. Do you think there is any chance DCL would let us get the GT rate if we switched the interior rooms to verandahs? Also, on the Disney site the GT rates don't show up, I just saw them on the GT thread on disboards... is there some special way to access them on the Disney site?

I’d say it’s worth a call to your travel agent or Disney as this is unprecedented territory in the cruise industry right now. Especially since there will be lots of cancellations for the cruises that are sailing in the next two months with the news today. They are going to be happy to keep as many guests onboard to keep revenue coming in.

 

[Jon Mraz]

Hey! I was wondering if you could update this chart after googling “normalcy bias”?

Not worried about Coronavirus at all.

Number of people in the U.S. killed annually by Coronavirus = 0
Number of people in the U.S. killed annually by taking selfie pic = 2
Number of people in the U.S. killed annually by vending machines falling on them = 13
Number of people in the U.S. killed annually by lightning = 31
Number of people in the U.S. killed annually by falling out of bed = 450

You get the point. You are more likely to die taking a selfie than by contracting the Coronavirus.