DVC Cruise Ressie Change Penalty Question

[tig82174]

Hey all....

Hopefully someone here can help me with this question....I tried to call DVC today on my lunch hour from work but apparently so did everyone else in creation because I was on hold and couldn't get through to an operator before I had to get off the phone!

Hopefully someone here can answer this question, however.

I am booked for two adults using our DVC points for a May 2009 cruise. I think I need to change the reservation if I can, however, by removing one of the people registered to my cabin and replacing them with another adult. (We are sailing with another cabin and we're doing some passenger re-arranging)

At the bottom of my confirmation letter it states that any changes to the reservation "including name changes or adding passengers" would count as cancelling the reservation and it woudl need to rebooked with the changes and any cancellation penalty would apply.

Does anyone know what, if any, the penalty would actually be for me to change one of the people on my reservation? And because it is technically cancelling and rebooking the trip---is there a chance that I will lose my cabin? (Losing the cabin is not something we can risk because we're intentionally booked in an adjoining cabin wiht another cabin from our travel party).

Thanks in advance for your insights and expertise!!

 

[CarolAnnC]

I am going to speculate that you will not incur penalties to rebook a person at this point in your cabin for May 2009. You will however, be subject to another $95 booking fee to do this.

If you were closer to sail date, there may be penalties, but there should not be at 10 months out.

 

[pjpoohbear]

I am booked for two adults using our DVC points for a May 2009 cruise. I think I need to change the reservation if I can, however, by removing one of the people registered to my cabin and replacing them with another adult. (We are sailing with another cabin and we're doing some passenger re-arranging)

Why not do a informal movement of bodies once on the ship. This is done by many families who are sailing in more then one cabin. A big concern with this option is lifejackets and lifeboat placement, best to check about that aspect.

Also, if you booked before the fuel surcharge, any change could bring that fee into play as well. Any time DVC has to call DCL and make a change there can be a "fee". As for bags getting to the proper rooms, just put the tags on the luggage of the persons you want in the room.

What happens if you want to re-arrange again before the cruise date?

Pj

 

[tig82174]

Why not do a informal movement of bodies once on the ship. This is done by many families who are sailing in more then one cabin. A big concern with this option is lifejackets and lifeboat placement, best to check about that aspect.

Also, if you booked before the fuel surcharge, any change could bring that fee into play as well. Any time DVC has to call DCL and make a change there can be a "fee". As for bags getting to the proper rooms, just put the tags on the luggage of the persons you want in the room.

What happens if you want to re-arrange again before the cruise date?

Pj

No you're right...that's exactly the plan actually. The issue is that my partner and I are castaway members and we booked ourselves in our DVC cabin. On this cruise, however, we are taking my parents as their 40th Wedding anniversary gift...and we're taking our niece, too. (She's the only grandchild and has never been to WDW so it's really a gift for both her AND my mother to be able to share this.) So in our second cabin (connected to ours) is my mother, father, and niece-----however all three of them are first time cruisers. We were already planning on actually sleeping in our current room arrangement (well---letting my niece hop back and forth however she likes)....BUT we wanted to try to switch it so that we could put one Castaway Club cruiser in each cabin to open up the 90day online booking window for both cabins.

The cruise we booked for them is going to be a popular one...because it is the podcast cruise (completely unintentionally)...so we're just afraid that they will get locked out of everything if they have to wait until the 75 day window.....but I think we've decided we're just going to chance it and leave our ressies the way they are. If we don't get our top pick for excursions we'll survive!

Thanks for the info!

 

[eva]

No you're right...that's exactly the plan actually. The issue is that my partner and I are castaway members and we booked ourselves in our DVC cabin. On this cruise, however, we are taking my parents as their 40th Wedding anniversary gift...and we're taking our niece, too. (She's the only grandchild and has never been to WDW so it's really a gift for both her AND my mother to be able to share this.) So in our second cabin (connected to ours) is my mother, father, and niece-----however all three of them are first time cruisers. We were already planning on actually sleeping in our current room arrangement (well---letting my niece hop back and forth however she likes)....BUT we wanted to try to switch it so that we could put one Castaway Club cruiser in each cabin to open up the 90day online booking window for both cabins.

The cruise we booked for them is going to be a popular one...because it is the podcast cruise (completely unintentionally)...so we're just afraid that they will get locked out of everything if they have to wait until the 75 day window.....but I think we've decided we're just going to chance it and leave our ressies the way they are. If we don't get our top pick for excursions we'll survive!

Thanks for the info!

Hi tig82174! We are on that cruise too! And I had no idea it was the podcast cruise either! Since we booked with DVC points we won't be able to take part in the great things they have planned. But maybe we'll see some of you around the ship.

Back to your post. I believe that you can link your reservations together by calling DCL. When you do this you can make the Palo reservation at 90 days out for everyone. We did this a couple years ago and it worked for us. DH and I were CC members, but DMIL and DD were not. They shared a cabin and we just linked the reservations together for seating in the main dining rooms and for Palo. Hopefully you can still do this. I know we did it two or three years ago with no problem.

 

[tig82174]

Hi tig82174! We are on that cruise too! And I had no idea it was the podcast cruise either! Since we booked with DVC points we won't be able to take part in the great things they have planned. But maybe we'll see some of you around the ship.

Back to your post. I believe that you can link your reservations together by calling DCL. When you do this you can make the Palo reservation at 90 days out for everyone. We did this a couple years ago and it worked for us. DH and I were CC members, but DMIL and DD were not. They shared a cabin and we just linked the reservations together for seating in the main dining rooms and for Palo. Hopefully you can still do this. I know we did it two or three years ago with no problem.

Hey there! Yeah we booked it by "accident" too....so we aren't going to be able to do any of hte fun podcast stuff either....but that's OK because my poor parents wouldn't know a podcast if it fell out of the sky and hit them on the head! This trip is mostly about their anniversary and taking them on their first cruise EVER...and being with my 11 year old niece when she experiences WDW AND her first cruise (especially a DCL cruise)!

Ironically another great couple who are DISers and great friends of ours also booked this cruise (because they're huge podcast fans). So it should be a fun and lively bunch aboard the ship!!!

I haven't actually officially even joined the thread for that trip yet.....we have a cruise in Sept. of this year and I'm really active with that group right now...but I'll probably start lurking and posting on the podcast cruise thread when we get back!