Did DCL mess up? Got an unbelievable deal on 2013 Fantasy Cruise

[hbg4]

I got that special deal too. Thought that maybe the ship was selling out of cabins fast so went to check on the availability on the late March 2013 cruise to find that the price had gone up from $2352 to $4527 for 3 people in a cat 8A. I thought that my TA had made a typo error with my OBCs, until I searched on this forum. Now I know I was one of the lucky ones. Hope DCL honors these prices. I'll definately be going on this cruise no matter the airfare.

 

[ldo]

I looked @ 8:15am for a 4 day on the DREAM for 3/24/13 and it was $4300 for 5 persons in OV---I said forget it! Then, for kicks, I logged back on and looked at 7 day Carib. on the Fantasy and the 3/23/13 cruise was the cheapest in March--$3700--less than the 4 day Dream. I was so freaked out, I held it immediately and forgot to even chose a cabin! They were all gone 15 minutes later, when I called to try to change our cabin number. I debated verandah for $400 more--but just booked the OV, as we never use the balcony.
When I paid deposit 1 hour later online, screen said "congrats, you've booked your cruise for $6400!" I had the email confirm for $3700 and printed out the page---2 hours later, DCL got it fixed back to the $3700.Elaine

 

[HallsofVA]

Wow! That explains why my TA had gotten me such a great rate on the 3/30/13 Fantasy cruise in a 9A cabin - 1/2 the price of any other Fantasy cruise we'd booked. Unfortunately, I'd meant to have her book the 3/23/13 cruise before Easter, but gave her the wrong date in my effort to get her my dates before getting on a plane.

I'd had her move the reservation before I'd seen what rate she'd secured once I realized I'd given her the wrong date. Wish I'd known that it was a blip as I'd originally thought about booking the back to back cruise, but ended up booking the 3/23 and the Christmas cruise instead.

 

[ranidayz]

Yes, you got one of the "glitch" cruises. There were a couple yesterday that were showing very low prices. I think DCL figured it out because by 11:00 am the prices had doubled.

Lucky you!

I think we got one of the 'reverse glitch cruises' because when we booked, the prices were already double what they should have been

 

[lbgraves]

Wow! That explains why my TA had gotten me such a great rate on the 3/30/13 Fantasy cruise in a 9A cabin - 1/2 the price of any other Fantasy cruise we'd booked. Unfortunately, I'd meant to have her book the 3/23/13 cruise before Easter, but gave her the wrong date in my effort to get her my dates before getting on a plane.

I'd had her move the reservation before I'd seen what rate she'd secured once I realized I'd given her the wrong date. Wish I'd known that it was a blip as I'd originally thought about booking the back to back cruise, but ended up booking the 3/23 and the Christmas cruise instead.

Sorry you missed the pricing, but glad that we will be seeing you again on the Fantasy.

 

[Mtinkerbell5189]

I wanted 3/23 all along and really wish I booked myself because I could have done it first thing. Instead my ta booked for me and I didn't get the glitch. Very disappointed and still kicking myself I didn't get it because this is the date of the cruise I have been dreaming of for over a year. People who are saying the booked and then got an email with it cheeper, was this today?

 

[over50visits]

Sounds like DCL made a mistake, and those who found it took advantage of it. Like finding a price tag that's obviously wrong in a store and insisting they honor that price. I don't know...I suppose DCL will absorb the loss, but doesn't seem right if that is what happened. Oh well, just musing, maybe not important.

 

[Tink113]

Sounds like DCL made a mistake, and those who found it took advantage of it. Like finding a price tag that's obviously wrong in a store and insisting they honor that price. I don't know...I suppose DCL will absorb the loss, but doesn't seem right if that is what happened. Oh well, just musing, maybe not important.

Wait a sec... It's not very fair to assume that any of us took advantage of DCL. I for one, did not "know" that they had made an error. I saw a great price, I called to book it! I called to make my reservation and even asked the CM about the great pricing and the first thing she said was "well, it is the first day of booking. Prices are always lower today". OK - seems reasonable to me. It's not like I made a big fuss and insisted they honor the pricing (not saying I wouldn't have. I might have... but I didn't). They simply honored the pricing without it ever being discussed. I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to call and insist they charge me over $2K more. They would think I was crazy and would try to talk me out of it.

 

[Kirbo]

Sounds like DCL made a mistake, and those who found it took advantage of it. Like finding a price tag that's obviously wrong in a store and insisting they honor that price. I don't know...I suppose DCL will absorb the loss, but doesn't seem right if that is what happened. Oh well, just musing, maybe not important.

I got the glitch pricing and I didn't know . I'm a play by the rules person. I also didn't realize it was Easter week. I was looking for the cheapest week and that was what I found. I booked it asap as I was worried it'd sell out at that price. But it wasn't so cheap that I thought it was a glitch. So I take offense that you think that we took advantage of something knowingly. I didn't look at the other rooms (I jumped on the 11C), so I didn't know anything was amiss.

I didn't get any idea of a problem until an hour later when I went to pay the deposit and it took the money and said thank you for booking the $4700 cruise . I had already told the girls about it and we were all so excited. I was devastated to tell them we couldn't go. I took them to school and then called DCL. They honored the original price that I'd booked at (and received a confirmation email for). But it wasn't at all clear to me that it was a mistake.

I thought we were just lucky to be able to book whatever week was cheapest.

 

[over50visits]

Absolutely no offense intended at all, I don't know what happened when anyone in particular booked.

 

[over50visits]

They would think I was crazy and would try to talk me out of it.

I bet you're right about that! Disney's pretty good about honoring their commitments, even when accidental. A good story to tell.

 

[ldo]

I did not know it was a "wrong" price when I booked at 8:30am. I thought that maybe most cruisers had earlier spring breaks--or that someone in DCL's marketing was not in tune with when Easter was. In Feb 2010, I booked 8 persons in 2 cabins for $3500 on a 4 day DREAM Easter 2011 cruise-about the same PP per day charge--so I just assumed they had miscalculated what the demand for the last weeks of March would be. And, the DCL rep told me that cabins were booking up like crazy--so, maybe it was not a glitch, but a supply-demand thing and they reached the next tier of pricing?

 

[over50visits]

And, the DCL rep told me that cabins were booking up like crazy--so, maybe it was not a glitch, but a supply-demand thing and they reached the next tier of pricing?

That could well have been, also. There have been some crazy posts about price jumps all over the place during a single day of booking. Makes you want to check often, search around, and jump on a good deal.

 

[luv2sleep]

I did not know it was a "wrong" price when I booked at 8:30am. I thought that maybe most cruisers had earlier spring breaks--or that someone in DCL's marketing was not in tune with when Easter was. In Feb 2010, I booked 8 persons in 2 cabins for $3500 on a 4 day DREAM Easter 2011 cruise-about the same PP per day charge--so I just assumed they had miscalculated what the demand for the last weeks of March would be. And, the DCL rep told me that cabins were booking up like crazy--so, maybe it was not a glitch, but a supply-demand thing and they reached the next tier of pricing?

This is what I'm thinking too.

Question: When P&G CC members have had the opportunity to book first are they able to at much lower prices (such as these) before everyone else? Just wondering if the 'next tier' is what we were all seeing hours after opening and if the whole thing is just a function of being some of the first ppl to book and not the function of a glitch.

 

[luv2sleep]

I also didn't think I was doing something wrong. This is my first time booking a Disney cruise. I just saw a good price and jumped on it. The week we are going is not the typical spring break week as its the first week of April (the trip starts the last day of March). I initially wanted June/July but quickly booked March because it was much cheaper.

 

[Anal Annie]

I am so jealous that so many of you already know when your spring break will be in 2013. Our school system bounces around from the week before Easter to the week after Easter so until they post the school calendar for 2012-13 I have no idea which week they'll pick. They won't publish the calendar until next spring. I have looked at past years but Easter flip flops around so much I can't pin point a pattern. Looks like if Easter is the 3rd week of March they have break the week after. And if it's in April then it's the week before. But I can't figure out which side of the fence March 31 falls on. I just looked and the Cat 7A's are still less than the August 7A's. My luck I would guess at the wrong week tho. I know the semester ends near the end of March (this year it's the 29th) and they have state MSA testing in March too so I'm sure they probably try to avoid messing with that stuff.

 

[lbgraves]

Monday when the paper was posted with the dates and cruises I knew that I wanted to book an eastern and I knew that after Alaska this past summer, I didn't want to take the kids out of school so that left 6/15 & 6/29 for the 5 week summer break [year round school] or 3/9 & 3/23, with 3/23 being the best since their 3 week spring break ends the Tuesday after Easter and that is the 31st in 2013. The 9th would be the day after they get out of school. I looked at 6/29 first because that is when our friends could go and that was $6300 for a cat 9A. I couldn't transfer the reservation online so I called at 8 am and waited 2 minutes. While waiting I looked up the 3/23 cruise and was shocked at the price. I know that holiday weeks have always had higher prices because more kids are out of school. I asked the rep what price he had for the 3/23. When it was the same I told him that it has to be a mistake and if they discovered it was would my cruise be cancelled because that is the week that I had wanted to book. We talked about what an amazing deal it was with the price being half of the June cruise. I first booked one of the big rooms with the divider to book it and lock in the price -- the rep's suggestion and I wasn't going to tell him not to book it. After he got the confirmation locked in, he looked up the veranda rooms and transferred the reservation to that.

There were so many rooms available when I talked to the agent. At 11 when I looked again categories were disappearing and the prices were up. The fact that it is a spring break week, with the week after also being considered spring break, could explain why the date filled up and prices increased so quickly.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

How about you call the cruise 'Goofys Glitchers Glorious Getaway'?

 

[Dancing_Nancy]

I got the deal too

Logged onto dcl website early Tuesday morning and even posted on DIS asking if anyone knew why the 3/23/13 fares were so much cheaper. Then I quickly went back and held one as soon as I could. Later put the deposit down after talking with a CM on the phone. She told me it was a glitch and that I was one of the lucky ones! Feel like I hit the lottery.

2 adults, 3 kids (10, 7, 4), cat 4d (deluxe with verandah)
$4200

I held one for some friends and they gave me the same deal
2 adults, 1 kid (4), (ocean view with navigators verandah)
$2499

Thank you Disney!!!

 

[FabFivePA]

Sounds like DCL made a mistake, and those who found it took advantage of it. Like finding a price tag that's obviously wrong in a store and insisting they honor that price. I don't know...I suppose DCL will absorb the loss, but doesn't seem right if that is what happened. Oh well, just musing, maybe not important.

Absolutely no offense intended at all, I don't know what happened when anyone in particular booked.

Making the first statement and then saying, but no offense is not an out. Your original statement is judgmental and unfair. And I choose to take offense.

We wanted to cruise in Jan, when I saw the pricing for Jan I figured a bunch of people had already booked that morning and I missed out on the 'opening' pricing. We've only cruised once on KSF and I am by no means an expert at what Disney does with their pricing. I scrolled through Feb and Mar and saw the pricing for 3/23... it was definitely surprising at how much lower it was, but hearing people talk on the boards about opening day my first thought was, why is no one booking this cruise? I even joked to my TA.. what's wrong with this one? LOL I looked up Easter 2013 and saw it was the 31st, the day AFTER this cruise returns... so I thought.. they must not think anyone will want on this cruise since most kids will probably be off school the following week.

Even on this thread when I wondered if it was a mistake after booking when I saw the price jump ( http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2819082&page=2 )someone commented

It's jumping because more and more folks are booking. The other dates started out just as cheap. So I assume that after Sunday, many bookings will open up again!

Made sense to me, until I saw it go to double the price and be in line with all of the others. Then it became a, this must have been an error.... by then it was all booked and confirmed and Disney is doing the honest thing by honoring those prices.

Others got fantastic deals on concierge for other weeks I mentioned that to the TA as well and her thought was that because the other cabins were selling faster the concierge price hadn't gone up yet, but seems those may have also been an error. Others got verandahs cheaper than inside rooms for various weeks.

Now, writing all this, not sure why I felt the need to justify what happened to anyone, but I do feel safe speaking for everyone that we jumped on a great deal regardless of what week was booked, especially with having all of a minute to try and process the prices on opening morning and grab what was best and TA's and DCL agents who were given practically no notice prices were opening, so even they didn't think there were errors that early.

No one went up to the cash register forcing anyone to ring up a $500 iPad for $5 because the zeros were worn off.