DCL CHaNGES PAYMENT DUE DATES

[mmouse37]

Just saw this...

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/disney-cruise-line-is-making-changes-to-final-payment-due-dates/

Thoughts??? It doesn't really affect me too much but it just stinks that you have a month less to make your final decision and one less month to save.

MJ

 

[Sytrace]

Just saw this...

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/disney-cruise-line-is-making-changes-to-final-payment-due-dates/

Thoughts??? It doesn't really affect me too much but it just stinks that you have a month less to make your final decision and one less month to save.

MJ

Interesting indeed...It does not affect me too much either as we always pay in full at 120 days anyway. But I can see where there might be issues for some folks. I would imagine this means that they will start releasing special rate cruises sooner then because now PIF has moved up to further out.

 

[Bonnie1222]

Thanks for sharing this, I hadn't seen it! thankfully they aren't making changes to cruises already booked. That would completely blow my budgeting for my next 3 trips.

 

[lklgoodman]

Thanks for sharing this, I hadn't seen it! thankfully they aren't making changes to cruises already booked. That would completely blow my budgeting for my next 3 trips.

At the end of the article it says it doesn't affect cruises that are already booked, last sentence from article:

Final payment date will not change for any existing reservations, unless changes are made to the sailing date or vacation package.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I'm guessing it's so that DCL can offer last minute rates not so last minute. You're locked in 4 months out so they can start offering the *GT rates 3 months out now to fill the ship.

 

[LYSE]

Gotta start penny pinching and pay for those new ships...

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

Interesting indeed...It does not affect me too much either as we always pay in full at 120 days anyway. But I can see where there might be issues for some folks. I would imagine this means that they will start releasing special rate cruises sooner then because now PIF has moved up to further out.

We do as well, since you have to PIF to do the online check-in and we are gold. But for silver, and especially new cruisers, that is a big difference!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Interesting indeed...It does not affect me too much either as we always pay in full at 120 days anyway. But I can see where there might be issues for some folks. I would imagine this means that they will start releasing special rate cruises sooner then because now PIF has moved up to further out.

I think this is the key. They have been releasing them earlier recently. We booked a *GT rate for mid Dec in July this year. I know some people on the sailing who booked day 1 cancelled and rebooked the *GT rate. New policy will eliminate that.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I like that they streamlined what was a rather confusing policy dependent on whether you were sailing a holiday, or from a US port or not, etc - but agree that it's sad to lose a month to change minds!

 

[cruiser21]

I think this means more last minute discounts in the future. Getting a vacation approved 4 months out...not always feasible.

 

[dclpluto]

I did post that it wouldnt effect me but it’s going to. We like to go some years during my wife’s birthday beginning of June. That means final payment will be in beginning of February. Where I work we don’t find out if we got our vacation until March 1. Someone with more time can bump you out. After march 1 it’s first come first serve. Unless we book a short cruise where it’s 90 days this doesn’t work for me. Oh well more money saved I guess

 

[DCLDVC1]

I think this is the key. They have been releasing them earlier recently. We booked a *GT rate for mid Dec in July this year. I know some people on the sailing who booked day 1 cancelled and rebooked the *GT rate. New policy will eliminate that.

DCL might finally be reaching their pricing tipping point.

 

[lizzyb]

I personally don't think this is a huge deal. They still have a great cancellation policy.

 

[Shanti]

I personally don't think this is a huge deal. They still have a great cancellation policy.

Really?

 

[lilsonicfan]

I personally don't think this is a huge deal. They still have a great cancellation policy.

Pretty comparable to many other cruise lines, maybe a little worse now. Princess lets you cancel cruises that are less than 30 days long up until the 75 day mark. NCL is more like the new Disney. MSC is 90 days for cruises under 15 days.

 

[Pens Fan]

Interesting indeed...It does not affect me too much either as we always pay in full at 120 days anyway. But I can see where there might be issues for some folks. I would imagine this means that they will start releasing special rate cruises sooner then because now PIF has moved up to further out.

Yep! It used to be very rare to see discounted rates prior to the PIF date, but we are beginning to see that more and more lately. I agree that having the ability to offer discounts earlier and still be after PIF is the motivation behind this change.

Personally, I don't care as we always pay our vacations off long before PIF, but I realize that's not the case for everyone. Some won't like it. I read a lot on Cruise Critic's NCL boards. When they made a similar change within the last year (their policy is almost identical to DCL's new one except that their suite deposits are refundable up to PIF), there were tons of complaints.

I also like the fact that it's simpler now. Before there were so many factors that determined the PIF date that it was hard to keep straight.

 

[Dug720]

Pretty comparable to many other cruise lines, maybe a little worse now. Princess lets you cancel cruises that are less than 30 days long up until the 75 day mark. NCL is more like the new Disney. MSC is 90 days for cruises under 15 days.

But many of them are now defaulting to non-refundable deposits - you have to specifically ask for a refundable deposit rate...which is almost always higher than the non-refundable deposit rate.

 

[TestingH2O]

I agree that this makes the policy so much clearer. A bit shorter, but overall I think it's a non-issue particularly since currently booked sailings aren't impacted.

 

[lilsonicfan]

But many of them are now defaulting to non-refundable deposits - you have to specifically ask for a refundable deposit rate...which is almost always higher than the non-refundable deposit rate.

That could well be true, though I booked with both NCL and MSC six months ago and there were no non-refundable deposit quotes at all. I did see that Princess does this. My MSC deposit is $99 per adult - you can't beat that.

 

[Dug720]

That could well be true, though I booked with both NCL and MSC six months ago and there were no non-refundable deposit quotes at all. I did see that Princess does this. My MSC deposit is $99 per adult - you can't beat that.

I know Princess and Royal Caribbean are doing it. I think Carnival has a non-refundable deposit option - but I don't think it defaults you into that. I was looking at NCL the other day (why I don't know...I do NOT want to be stuck on a ship with my principal and that is the only line she cruises) and I'm pretty sure that it was non-refundable and I'd have to opt out of it...but it could have been Princess also as I was looking at both.