DCL website survey: willingness to prepay for port adventures/adult dining

[mom4fun]

You already can pre pay. You simply add up your costs and call and have it added to your onboard account.

 

[Shanti]

I was on the DCL website today and a survey popped up. Other than basic website and demographic questions, this was the only question on the survey:

If Disney Cruise Line required payment at the time of reservation of the activity, which of the following, if any, would you be willing to reserve and pay for in advance of your cruise?

Specialty Dining (Palo/Remy)
Port Adventure
None of the Above

I selected both Specialty Dining and Port Adventure. The next question asked me to select why I would be willing to prepay. These reasons included: I know I want to do the activity; I can afford to pay now; I want to know my expenses ahead of time; I want to pay over time; I think I can get a refund if I cancel; and other.

Makes me wonder if DCL is considering offering/requiring prepayment for port adventures and adult dining??

I wouldn't like it, because if a Port Adventure is cancelled, you'll be waiting for a refund instead of just never being charged at all. Then you'd have to track your account after the cruise to make sure the refund showed up, & get in touch with DCL if it didn't...Uh uh.

I'm also concerned that DCL might choose not to apply OBC to these pre-paid charges. Then you'd be stuck having to use it to buy things on the ship you might not really want. Can totally imagine that happening and don't like the prospect of it at all.

Cruise fares already have to be paid in full months in advance. I don't want to be forced to pay for the incidentals in advance, too.

 

[Billinaz]

I have all our tips, cabana, and extra money put on the shipboard account before we cruise. I add them using the standard gift form that I fax to DCL. When we get onboard we have everything paid for and some money for shipboard purchases already on the account.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I just finished a DCL on line survey about the EBTA, prepaying for these things was not asked.

 

[Ravenne]

I don't like it as this would not allow one to use OBC towards Port Adventures.

Very good point!
At first I was thinking, well, I already do pre-pay in a way, because I budget the amount, get gcs for it, and use DVA, but the OBC didn't occur to me. I'm the only drinker in my party, and I just don't think I'd drink $200 worth in a week. I don't drink that much. I suppose we could drop $200 on souvenirs. Or photos. But you can't use OBC to pre-pay for the photos either, huh?

I would be ok with pre-paying if they didn't require a credit card, but things like gcs, DVA, or Visa rewards card would be accepted.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I have not been a fan of all the required prepaying on RCI leading up to our Oasis cruise next weekend. There are definite pros and cons to it, however. Personally, I prefer to have the flexibility to change my plans without the potential hassles of refunds if I change my mind or there is a problem. The practice of budgeting those expenses so that the bill is paid without sticker shock has worked well for me.

 

[Crmaur03]

The nice thing about waiting to pay for them is one: I've just played thousands of dollars for a cruise, and so it's would be nice to be able to wait a while before forking over more money. Two: it really allows you to change your mind if your not in love with it or find something better. Three: using obc for them instead of cash. I went on a cruise last year with a different line and hated that I had to pre pay.

 

[Dug720]

I just finished a DCL on line survey about the EBTA, prepaying for these things was not asked.

This was the survey that pops up on the website when browsing. Not a post-cruise survey.

 

[Dug720]

I have not been a fan of all the required prepaying on RCI leading up to our Oasis cruise next weekend. There are definite pros and cons to it, however. Personally, I prefer to have the flexibility to change my plans without the potential hassles of refunds if I change my mind or there is a problem. The practice of budgeting those expenses so that the bill is paid without sticker shock has worked well for me.

The nice thing about waiting to pay for them is one: I've just played thousands of dollars for a cruise, and so it's would be nice to be able to wait a while before forking over more money. Two: it really allows you to change your mind if your not in love with it or find something better. Three: using obc for them instead of cash. I went on a cruise last year with a different line and hated that I had to pre pay.

I have never had a "hassle" with getting a refund if I cancel. It appears in my account in a few days, no problems at all.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Royal Caribbean does let you spend the OBC in advance to pay for excursions or specialty dining, so I assume if DCL implements this, it will work in a similar way.

Never assume. Most major cruise lines do not allow OBC to be used for pre-purchased excursions/items.

 

[diznymom]

Another vote for we would not like it.

I do put enough OBC on our account to cover everything, but that is MY choice. If everything is charged ahead of time, I don't want to worry about refunds. It is supposed to be a vacation. Having to track down refunds is not my idea of a vacation.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Never assume. Most major cruise lines do not allow OBC to be used for pre-purchased excursions/items.

We recently did a Viking River Cruise. We had an onboard credit from our TA that could not be applied to gratuities or pre-purchased excursions. We ended up spending virtually the entire credit on Viling-logoed merchandise that we didn't really need. My bar bill was very small, since beer and wine were included at lunch and dinner, and most of the excusions we wanted were also included.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Never assume. Most major cruise lines do not allow OBC to be used for pre-purchased excursions/items.

You're right every cruise line will be different, but Royal Caribbean does allow the OBC to be used toward pre-cruise purchases such as excursions and drink package. This is fairly recent, but they do allow it.
When we logged into our cruise planner the OBC was showing and when we bought our drink package it asked us if we want to use the OBC towards it.

 

[Dug720]

You're right every cruise line will be different, but Royal Caribbean does allow the OBC to be used toward pre-cruise purchases such as excursions and drink package. This is fairly recent, but they do allow it.
When we logged into our cruise planner the OBC was showing and when we bought our drink package it asked us if we want to use the OBC towards it.

Celebrity does as well - though they are under the RCCL umbrella. Again, it's the OBC that comes from booking promotions that can be used, not that from the TA. I thought in most cases the OBC from a TA was considered refundable, so if that is the case you wouldn't HAVE to spend it as it would be refunded to your method of account settlement, right?

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Celebrity does as well - though they are under the RCCL umbrella. Again, it's the OBC that comes from booking promotions that can be used, not that from the TA. I thought in most cases the OBC from a TA was considered refundable, so if that is the case you wouldn't HAVE to spend it as it would be refunded to your method of account settlement, right?

Oh so if you have OBC from a TA can't use that ahead of time anyway...
Didn't know that.
We had OBC as part of the booking promo which Royal often seems to have.
They will probably also let you use the OBC that you get by booking your next cruise on board with them...

 

[Dug720]

Oh so if you have OBC from a TA can't use that ahead of time anyway...
Didn't know that.
We had OBC as part of the booking promo which Royal often seems to have.
They will probably also let you use the OBC that you get by booking your next cruise on board with them...

As I understand it, that's correct. Because the OBC from the TA is put in the same category as "onboard gifts" whereas the OBC from the cruise line is promotional. Also, if you cancel, the promotional OBC just goes back to them whereas the OBC from the TA would have to be refunded somehow if it was used in advance and the cruise was cancelled.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

As I understand it, that's correct. Because the OBC from the TA is put in the same category as "onboard gifts" whereas the OBC from the cruise line is promotional. Also, if you cancel, the promotional OBC just goes back to them whereas the OBC from the TA would have to be refunded somehow if it was used in advance and the cruise was cancelled.

Makes sense thanks

 

[Trera]

Let me first start by saying that we are platinum and normally don't have any problem getting the excursions, meet and greets or dining reservations we want.

That being said, I would be for prepaying as I feel that there are many that book excursions, cabanas, restaurant reservations based on the fact that they are free at the time of booking and can be cancelled at any time up until right before the cruise. This makes it much tougher for silvers and first timers to get activities as many of the platinum and gold cruisers are "holding" them to see if they really want them.

If prepayment were to be a requirement, I think people would think harder about booking exactly what they wanted to do so they wouldn't be out of pocket excursion money for 2 or 3 months while they fine tune their personal itineraries.

I remember what it was like trying to get excursions 90 days out and I don't want to book something just because I might do it. We have been on enough cruises to know what we want to do. At 120 days we reserve our Palo, book a cabana if available, get tickets for the princess meets and any other things we like to do and leave the rest alone.

Just my opinion.

 

[diznymom]

I finally got the survey

 

[owensamo]

We branched out to a Celebrity cruise last year, and I was actually pretty annoyed that any pre-booked excursions were paid at the time of booking - being Platinum on DCL, I guess I was spoiled with not having to pay for something I haven't done yet! We didn't pre-book anything, but did have a fair amount of OBC so just booked a couple of excursions when we got on the ship with no problems.

We liked the cruise enough to book another - but now they've allowed you to start using the Celebrity-issued OBC to pre-pay things, which is awesome! We can see exactly how much OBC we have, and can apply it towards excursions, dinner or drink packages, etc. We've already allocated our funds, and it helped us not to have to worry about running around to get things booked the day we get there - and we're not out very much additional money! Kind of a win-win in my book.

That said, we very rarely have OBC on DCL. Without having money to pre-allocate (and only really having Palo/Remy or excursions to spend it on), I don't see it as a big benefit. The money is better sitting in an interest-bearing account until I have to pay it off - which is 6 months after the cruise if it's on my Disney Visa. So better off in my pocket than theirs!