Cruise credit amount for cancelled sailings through March 31

[StarSeven7]

I get the idea behind this, I really do.

But somebody sailing on March 21 gets 125%, and DCL canceled their cruise at 9 days out.

I canceled my March 14 sailing at 3 days out, and was only offered 100%.

How do you square that?

I don't mean to sound like this is a huge problem amidst what is going on. It's not, and we are happy to be rebooked when we are ... But put yourself in our shoes. If you cancelled based on what's going on in the world, and the next day Disney changed the rules, resulting in you missing out on $4,000, how would you feel?

I haven't heard anybody who is actually in my position say "I understand and have no issues with it." A few hundred bucks wouldn't bother me. But it's hard to just shrug off a $4,000 difference.

I completely understand why you feel frustrated and I'm sure I would feel frustrated if I were in your same situation! However, I still understand why there's a different compensation for those who were cancelled against their will. Once they had already flown to FL, those people were no longer able to get a refund on their flights. And most probably had a hotel stay that could no longer be refunded. And they probably are having to add extra hotel nights as they're scrambling to find a new flight home earlier (at a higher cost) OR they're having to shell out more money to pay for additional hotel nights until their original flight departure date. I think this has been a huge hassle and stressful for everyone but to be scrambling around trying to change flights and add hotel nights while you're already on vacation is, in my opinion, more inconvenient.

My friend was supposed to sail on the Monday Dream departure. They waited until DCL cancelled. They were actually going to cancel that night anyways but DCL cancelled before they got the chance so they got a 125% future cruise credit. They were supposed to fly down today but they were able to cancel their flights at the last minute so they never had to leave their house. If their cruise had departed today they wouldn't have been so lucky and they would've already been in FL. They also would have been offered 150% future cruise credit for their trouble. But they're happy with their situation because they weren't trying to figure all this out on the fly in FL.

 

[mlayman7]

Respectfully disagree.

This is an unprecedented situation where conditions changed rapidly every single day all week. Any attempt to compare it to previous situations is apples and oranges.

The fact that so many travel companies are allowing a huge amount of flexibility (see Princess Cruises example in post above) is proof of this.

We're also not talking about $100, but 25-50% of a DCL cruise fare ... Literally thousands of dollars.

DCL has created winners and losers based on the date/time you decided to cancel in the midst of a WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC where the government explicitly advised US citizens to not get on cruise ships.

So while I understand your argument, I do not think it is a fair one given the incredibly unique circumstances.

I hope DCL is able to come up with a solution that rectifies this, and look forward to hearing what others find out.

I do not believe this is a winners and losers situation. We were going to do the 3/21 cruise up until Disney decided to cancel. You could have had our same mentality, cruise if the cruise was going to happen since a rebooking date within 1 year was not going to work for us. You chose to rebook early when the opportunity opened up. It is not your fault you made that decision, not Disney's either. I still wish we could have made the cruise but glad Disney made the decision for us. If we decided to cancel early, that would have been My decision, not Disney's. You won because you got to cancel without penalty. I won because we did not have to go on the cruise with everything happening while also getting a longer period to rebook and some extra credit for a future cruise. Disney lost in both circumstances but will win overall because it needed to happen and will not lose customers because they did the right thing even if it was mostly a forced decision.

 

[TreeFalls]

I do not believe this is a winners and losers situation. We were going to do the 3/21 cruise up until Disney decided to cancel. You could have had our same mentality, cruise if the cruise was going to happen since a rebooking date within 1 year was not going to work for us. You chose to rebook early when the opportunity opened up. It is not your fault you made that decision, not Disney's either. I still wish we could have made the cruise but glad Disney made the decision for us. If we decided to cancel early, that would have been My decision, not Disney's. You won because you got to cancel without penalty. I won because we did not have to go on the cruise with everything happening while also getting a longer period to rebook and some extra credit for a future cruise. Disney lost in both circumstances but will win overall because it needed to happen and will not lose customers because they did the right thing even if it was mostly a forced decision.

I was booked on the 3/23 cruise and had no intention of going, but we chose to wait it out longer because we preferred a refund because the 12 month window was difficult. We would have canceled by about 3/20. Now we might take the 125% credit. I'm cynical, but I think it's possible that DCL waited until that evening to cancel to maximize the chances that people who were planing to rebook 3/14 would already rebook, so they had to pay out less. And honestly, the extra compensation is really designed for those who planned to cruise, it's just that some of us got lucky with the timing.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I was booked on the 3/23 cruise and had no intention of going, but we chose to wait it out longer because we preferred a refund because the 12 month window was difficult. We would have canceled by about 3/20. Now we might take the 125% credit. I'm cynical, but I think it's possible that DCL waited until that evening to cancel to maximize the chances that people who were planing to rebook 3/14 would already rebook, so they had to pay out less. And honestly, the extra compensation is really designed for those who planned to cruise, it's just that some of us got lucky with the timing.

I disagree. Once that cruise went off the website to be ready for the sailing, I think they were still planning on sailing. Things changed and so did their response. I get what you're saying, but I don't think anyone at corporate DCL was playing cat and mouse. There likely weren't that many of us left that were still even sailing. The offer given probably isn't costing much more than the previous one in the grand scheme of things.

I also agree, having the choice taken away from me counts for something in regards to compensation. I believe there is a Bible parable about this... the laborers who worked all day but were paid the same as the ones who were hired for only an hour's work?

But I don't fault anyone asking for their compensation to be changed if they took the deal prior to the cancellation. I hope you get it, but if the answer is no, well, at least you had the choice to make and might I add, before the plethora of other people cancelling made the prices of future sailings rise.

That's right, the longer any of us take to make the decision to rebook, we risk the price of the new sailing rising. Given the numbers of people that will be rebooking, that could happen sooner, rather than later, particularly for sailings over school breaks.

 

[ray3127]

I do not believe this is a winners and losers situation. We were going to do the 3/21 cruise up until Disney decided to cancel. You could have had our same mentality, cruise if the cruise was going to happen since a rebooking date within 1 year was not going to work for us. You chose to rebook early when the opportunity opened up. It is not your fault you made that decision, not Disney's either. I still wish we could have made the cruise but glad Disney made the decision for us. If we decided to cancel early, that would have been My decision, not Disney's. You won because you got to cancel without penalty. I won because we did not have to go on the cruise with everything happening while also getting a longer period to rebook and some extra credit for a future cruise. Disney lost in both circumstances but will win overall because it needed to happen and will not lose customers because they did the right thing even if it was mostly a forced decision.

To be fair, you did have an extra week to decide. If we were on the 3/21 sailing, we wouldn't have felt pressured to make a decision this past week and would've waited as well.

We were flying down on Friday, so we really had to decide before Thursday night. Up until we decided to cancel, our thoughts were the same as yours: unless DCL cancels, we are going.

What happened this past week is unprecedented in any of our lifetimes, and led us to change our minds by Wednesday. Shame on us, apparently.

Again, I'll wait for somebody who is in my shoes to say "I'm fine with it." The chorus of "you made your choice" hasn't come from anybody who actually rebooked.

Re: note about prices increasing ... I've checked the prices on the cruises we were looking at rebooking since Wednesday, and they have not changed. Not saying that applies to all, but similar cruises next Feb. were unchanged.

Also note that just because we didn't fly down doesn't mean we are void of financial hardships. Flights on SW were extraordinarily expensive on these March dates, and we now have over $3,000 of travel funds that have to be used by September 25 ... and thus far, Southwest won't budge on that. Never mind that our other travel plans through September are "set", we aren't cruising again until February, and who knows if/when we will be able to travel "safely" again.

And a PP mentioned that Princess extended a new offer to cruisers who took a previous deal in light of the ever-changing circumstances.

That said: I do understand the greater inconvenience for those who were planning on sailing on 3/14. I would even agree that they deserve more compensation than somebody in my shoes.

How or why the 3/21 sailing gets more than us doesn't make any sense though. They had more time to play with; we were literally less than 2 days from flying, and 3 days from sailing when we made our choice. The 3/21 sailing was 9 days away, but they get 125%.

So perhaps a "middle ground" offer for those who rebooked prior to the cancellation, in consideration of the constantly evolving circumstances surrounding this virus, is appropriate.

But really, enough of that. I didn't come here asking if anybody thought it was fair. I asked if anybody was in my shoes, and if they'd had any luck with modified compensation from DCL due to the changing policies and ultimate cancellations last week. I know others have more pressing issues than this, so I don't want to bog down Costco or DCL's phone lines unnecessarily. If anybody finds out, please post. Thank you.

 

[StarSeven7]

THow or why the 3/21 sailing gets more than us doesn't make any sense though. They had more time to play with; we were literally less than 2 days from flying, and 3 days from sailing when we made our choice. The 3/21 sailing was 9 days away, but they get 125%.

So perhaps a "middle ground" offer for those who rebooked prior to the cancellation, in considering of the constantly evolving circumstances surrounding this virus, is appropriate.

That's definitely a fair point! I think there was someone - maybe on the big thread? that called DCL to inquire about getting the additional credit and they were waiting to hear back about it.

 

[TreeFalls]

I disagree. Once that cruise went off the website to be ready for the sailing, I think they were still planning on sailing. Things changed and so did their response. I get what you're saying, but I don't think anyone at corporate DCL was playing cat and mouse. There likely weren't that many of us left that were still even sailing. The offer given probably isn't costing much more than the previous one in the grand scheme of things.

I also agree, having the choice taken away from me counts for something in regards to compensation. I believe there is a Bible parable about this... the laborers who worked all day but were paid the same as the ones who were hired for only an hour's work?

But I don't fault anyone asking for their compensation to be changed if they took the deal prior to the cancellation. I hope you get it, but if the answer is no, well, at least you had the choice to make and might I add, before the plethora of other people cancelling made the prices of future sailings rise.

That's right, the longer any of us take to make the decision to rebook, we risk the price of the new sailing rising. Given the numbers of people that will be rebooking, that could happen sooner, rather than later, particularly for sailings over school breaks.

Yes, my theory that they waited on purpose is probably overblown. But I do think the 3/14 cruisers who waited until the last minute to cancel were exceptionally unlucky. I hope DCL will do something for them.

 

[RichVIII]

So my question is, will all of the cruises that are being canceled and rebooked cause the dynamic pricing (fuller ships later) cause the prices to rise and somewhat offset that credit? I am concerned if we hold out (we have an early May sailing) that by the time we rebook the other cruise, the costs will increase again? Does that make sense? I know they won't go much immediately this spring since they want to fill the ships again.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So my question is, will all of the cruises that are being canceled and rebooked cause the dynamic pricing (fuller ships later) cause the prices to rise and somewhat offset that credit? I am concerned if we hold out (we have an early May sailing) that by the time we rebook the other cruise, the costs will increase again? Does that make sense? I know they won't go much immediately this spring since they want to fill the ships again.

I think the only advantage is your 15 months is longer than my 15 months. So if you tried to book within the same timeframe as my 15 months, but you've had to wait 2 months to do it, then yes, I could see price increases. But then, maybe your compensation will be better, too.

 

[Husker Mike]

I suspect that the images of the Princess cruises in quarantine should be holding down demand from new customers. That being said, I suspect we're in for MONTHS of cancelled cruises - and May cruisers will have a few weeks notice that their cruise is cancelled. (My belief is that it will be summer before the boats can possibly return to service.)

It's very possible that Disney cannot accommodate all of their customers from this period. They may have to extend their period out further to be 18 or 24 months, which would then bring an additional ship into the mix.

 

[MomOTwins]

I suspect that the images of the Princess cruises in quarantine should be holding down demand from new customers. That being said, I suspect we're in for MONTHS of cancelled cruises - and May cruisers will have a few weeks notice that their cruise is cancelled. (My belief is that it will be summer before the boats can possibly return to service.)

It's very possible that Disney cannot accommodate all of their customers from this period. They may have to extend their period out further to be 18 or 24 months, which would then bring an additional ship into the mix.

You may be right. I just got an email that my cruise was cancelled and it isn’t until May 25. But I also wonder if that might just be an email sent in error since the website still only says April. I guess I will be calling tomorrow to find out.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

I'm joining in here to watch what happens, though my situation is slightly different. I was scheduled to sail in late April, but was booted by Disney because we would be coming from Japan to sail. Let me state again that I was not allowed to sail by Disney's choice...not mine. We were rebooked for December at 100% credit. I argued with them at the time that wasn't fair and we weren't even offered the choice of a refund. While I understand and even appreciate that this is an unprecedented situation, I am feeling a little mistreated that I wasn't given the same options that are being given now to those that by their own choice are canceling. I emailed DCL today and will wait for a response.

 

[monkeydawn]

But somebody sailing on March 21 gets 125%, and DCL canceled their cruise at 9 days out.

I canceled my March 14 sailing at 3 days out, and was only offered 100%.

It was not their choice and it was your choice is how I square all of that. Since you made the choice, you presumably did so knowing the costs to you and still decided it was the right choice for you. Those sailing 3/21 might already be a heck of a lot closer to the non refundable timings on reservations as many people do choose to go out a week early to spend time at the parks (or where ever they are cruising from). Most wouldnt likely have been in transit, I do believe thats why the 3/14s got the extra credit. And most for 3/28 will not be within any non refundable timeline as most dont travel out 2 weeks bbefore a cruise. The way theyve structured it actually makes sense to me, they are trying to be fair to everyone (themselves included) with a mass policy. That isnt an easy task. I know it stinks and if I were in your situation I would probably ask for an exception (once things calm down a little), especially if I had non refundable costs.

Again, I'll wait for somebody who is in my shoes to say "I'm fine with it." The chorus of "you made your choice" hasn't come from anybody who actually rebooked.

I am not in your shoes but I plan on doing something that puts me in a worse financial position than simply rebooking because I feel like its my safest choice. Bird in the hand and all that. So I feel like our decisions are coming from the same place.

I am hopeful I can get through to Expedia in the next few days to cancel my cruise and receive my deposit back. The way MSC has handled things I dont trust to roll the dice and see if they will cancel and what I would get if they do cancel. Right now their website says you get FCC if they cancel, no option of a refund (in spite of my contract saying I am due a refund if they cancel). Some people are noting that cruises must be replaced with "like cruises" (and paying more if need be). I cant say that we will be able to cruise in the Med next summer for certain and, although the credit does extend to the end of 2021 I dont have a desire to tour the Med at any time other than spring/ summer. And spring is out due to work conflicts. Add to that the MSC has a history of making it hard/ impossible to use promotions due to something FUBAR and it just seems like a whole lot more stress than I need ATM. So I am making the choice to lose $400 and hopefully save $3600. And if those that held on get more than that, good for them. Not worth it to me! And it really feels to me that you made a similar choice and just having a bit of buyers remorse. Which I may have too depending on what they offer so I am not saying that dismissively.

While I understand and even appreciate that this is an unprecedented situation, I am feeling a little mistreated that I wasn't given the same options that are being given now to those that by their own choice are canceling. I emailed DCL today and will wait for a response.

Your situation really stinks too. Are those that are choosing to cancel now being offered a full cash refund? I missed that news if so. Otherwise it seems to me you did get the same offer, 100% FCC. Only select cruises that DCL is canceling are being offered more. Either way I wish you luck and hope you get a resolution that makes you feel less bad.

 

[MomOTwins]

It was not their choice and it was your choice is how I square all of that. Since you made the choice, you presumably did so knowing the costs to you and still decided it was the right choice for you.

This is exactly what I was trying to say, but you said it better. Everyone who was still booked on a cruise in the next 30 days had the same option to rebook voluntarily, and did not choose to for a reason. Maybe that reason was they had significant other costs that were non-refundable/non-transferable, inability to take vacation on other dates in the next 12 months, had booked the cruise at special rate/discount such that they could not afford a different cruise without that rate. Regardless of the reason, that choice was taken away from them.

I'd also just add, that per the cruise contract, Disney is actually obligated to fully refund all passengers if they cancel the cruise before the passengers have embarked. Whereas it is just the opposite if you are traveling within 14 days and you cancel the cruise; the default is that you are contractually obligated to forfeit 100% of the cruise fare with no refund or credit. So DCL has a bit of a different bargaining position under the contract--they are voluntarily allowing 100% cruise credit to people they don't have to offer anything to, and offering a 125%-150% to people to whom, by contract, they owe a full a refund, as an incentive for those people to rebook rather than taking the refund they are entitled to. Totally difference scenario, contractually.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

You may be right. I just got an email that my cruise was cancelled and it isn’t until May 25. But I also wonder if that might just be an email sent in error since the website still only says April. I guess I will be calling tomorrow to find out.

Also check the reservation number on that email. We got one with a reservation number for a cruise we completed last November on an entirely different ship and itinerary than we’re booked on next month. Definitely appears to be some computer errors popping up.

 

[gilsan]

You may be right. I just got an email that my cruise was cancelled and it isn’t until May 25. But I also wonder if that might just be an email sent in error since the website still only says April. I guess I will be calling tomorrow to find out.

Are you on the Wonder? With Canada closing ports they may be cancelling all the cruises to and from Vancouver.

 

[cruisehopeful]

You may be right. I just got an email that my cruise was cancelled and it isn’t until May 25.

Odd. My cruise is during the 30 day ban and I still haven't heard anything about it being canceled. I just checked DCL's website and when I view my booked cruises, I get the message that it's canceled and not to contact them until I get an email from them.

 

[justafigment27]

I think people on cruises impacted by cancellations who cancelled or changed before the cruises were actually cancelled by DCL SHOULD be offered the exact same options as those who waited and received full refunds or additional cruise credits. It just makes sense. People who cancelled early were trying to be proactive and it’s like they have been punished.

I was all set to cancel my 3/27/20 three night Dream, but on the last day to cancel and get my 25% refund, I decided to play chicken with DCL b/c things were not looking good and other cruise lines had already cancelled. The next day, DCL cancelled my cruise. I called this morning to get my 100% refund.

I was willing to take the gamble because there were no dates in the next 12 months that worked for me and my 25% refund would have only amounted to a bit under $900. Because Disney cancelled I was refunded 100% of everything - including the money I paid for trip insurance through DCL. Had this been a more expensive cruise, I don’t know if I would’ve been willing to gamble with that 25% refund - I may just have taken it to risk losing any more money.

 

[MomOTwins]

Also check the reservation number on that email. We got one with a reservation number for a cruise we completed last November on an entirely different ship and itinerary than we’re booked on next month. Definitely appears to be some computer errors popping up.

Yep that was it—it was an old cruise number! How weird.

 

[Gentry2004]

I'm joining in here to watch what happens, though my situation is slightly different. I was scheduled to sail in late April, but was booted by Disney because we would be coming from Japan to sail. Let me state again that I was not allowed to sail by Disney's choice...not mine. We were rebooked for December at 100% credit. I argued with them at the time that wasn't fair and we weren't even offered the choice of a refund. While I understand and even appreciate that this is an unprecedented situation, I am feeling a little mistreated that I wasn't given the same options that are being given now to those that by their own choice are canceling. I emailed DCL today and will wait for a response.

In your specific situation I fully agree you are owed a refund, and were even before the cancellations. Good luck.