Final Payment / Cruise cancellation

[cscream13]

I am having trouble finding the answer to this question and I know one of the veterans on here will be able to help..... I had a cruise booked for this fall (the WBTA) and held on to it right to the point that final payment was due, and ultimately decided that the dates could not work -- major bummer. On the date of final payment, I was traveling for work, and rather than call and affirmatively cancel the reservation, I just didn't call in final payment. I was under the assumption that if you do not make final payment by the final payment date, then the reservation is automatically cancelled. I went into my DCL reservations a few days later and, sure enough, the reservation has disappeared.

NOW, the critical point is that I thought when the reservation auto-cancelled, that the deposit would be refunded. I thought you only forfeited the deposit (or more) if you cancelled after the final payment date and after final payment was made. My TA is trying to tell me that I forfeited the deposit because I did not cancel the reservation prior to the final payment date. I am hoping she is mistaken, and if so, I am happy to call Disney and sort it out --- or try to argue/bargain that they transfer the deposit to another cruise date, which is what I had been planning, but we've been slow in deciding between Eastern v. Western.

Does anyone know from experience or otherwise if I lose the deposit if I do not affirmatively cancel prior to the final payment date?

TIA!! I am concerned that this was an expensive lesson to learn....

 

[wilkeliza]

I would call and ask but it is quite possible by not calling your forfeited your final deposit. Since you have a TA you really should have been able to cancel by just emailing them and saying you want to cancel since your TA would have needed to process it not Disney.

 

[lanejudy]

Sorry, but I think you should have communicated your plans before the PIF date. It sounds like you intentionally did not make contact to officially cancel (or push forward) the reservation prior to the final payment date. Instead you opted to allow that date to pass without making payment or other any other contact to change the date. DCL did automatically cancel since the reservation was not paid in full, but they didn't cancel it until after the PIF date, therefore putting you into the penalty phase.

I'm unsure what you expected -- your post seems to indicate you had 2 different expectations: that the funds would be automatically refunded when canceled, or that you would be allowed to push the deposit forward to another date even after PIF. Honestly, it sounds like an expensive lesson learned not to be aware of payment deadlines.

You can certainly call to plead your case but I'd consider it pixie dust if they agree to refund the forfeited deposit.

 

[wherespluto]

i think it all may depend on what type of room you had (concierge vs regular, restricted vs non-restricted). In addition, I know that some TA charge a cancellation fee. Is your TA saying that Disney will not refund the fee?

The way I read it is that failure to meet the payment schedule will result in cancellation. Then you are entitled to a refund if it is within x timeframe based on the cancellation policy outlined in the T&Cs.

Personally, I would call and not try to plead the case. But simply state my reservation was cancelled by not PIF, and it was x days from the cruise date and based on the cancellation policy, I expected to have x refunded. If your timelines meet what is outlined, then you should get a refund unless the TA is the one not refunding your money.

Should you have called and cancelled, I totally think so. But that is water under the bridge at this point. Hopefully, you will be able to get your money back.

 

[apathetic]

Directly from DCL site: "Cancellations may be made by telephone or in writing."

You didn't cancel by phone or writing, so you likely lost your deposit. After the PIF you forfeit your deposit, which is the case here.

 

[ILovePixieDust]

Personally, I would call and not try to plead the case. But simply state my reservation was cancelled by not PIF, and it was x days from the cruise date and based on the cancellation policy, I expected to have x refunded. If your timelines meet what is outlined, then you should get a refund unless the TA is the one not refunding your money.

If they had called and cancelled BY the PIF date then the deposit is refundable. Because OP did not call nor did they pay the cruise in full by the PIF date, Disney then cancels the reservation because the PIF day has passed with no word from customer. Thus, when the cruise is cancelled it is PASSED the PIF date. By this time, according to the cancellation policy, the deposit is forfeit unfortunately.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Expensive lesson, but yes, I believe you have lost your deposit by not canceling before the PIF date. In order to receive a refund, you need to have contacted DCL to tell them you were cancelling. Since you were using a TA, I'm not sure why you didn't have your TA call to cancel.

 

[cscream13]

If they had called and cancelled BY the PIF date then the deposit is refundable. Because OP did not call nor did they pay the cruise in full by the PIF date, Disney then cancels the reservation because the PIF day has passed with no word from customer. Thus, when the cruise is cancelled it is PASSED the PIF date. By this time, according to the cancellation policy, the deposit is forfeit unfortunately.

I think this is the most succinct and understandable explanation I've heard so far. I agree with everyone who said I should not have simply done nothing -- that was obviously not "Plan A" and it was a bad confluence of factors, but it is what it is at this point. I do still believe that the wording of the cancellation policy is ambiguous and nonsensical. The policy says that if you do not make final payment, then the reservation is automatically cancelled. If DCL is going to auto-cancel you at the PIF deadline for failure to make final payment, then it makes no sense that they would keep your deposit. They aren't holding the room for you at that point -- what is the difference between me cancelling on the PIF date and DCL auto-cancelling an hour after the PIF date? I don't see why the latter event results in forfeiture of the deposit, other than being Draconian for the sake of being Draconian.

FWIW, I do have a call in to DCL and my TA -- I'll update here in case anyone is interested in the ultimate outcome. Thanks for the input of those who responded -- it is interesting, if nothing else, to hear others' takes on the issue.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

They probably make a lot of money with situations like this. I've seen my insurance decline a dentist appt because by hours I was under my 6 months increments for coverage unfortunately computers work down to a millisecond so when you have til 2359 to make payment at 0001 the next day it's the next day when it got cancelled like others said sad but true.

 

[PAGA2003]

It definitely cannot hurt to call and ask. I actually just went through this same situation this week though it was with Celebrity. We decided to cancel our Bermuda cruise a couple months ago because we aren't ready to leave our daughter for that long quite yet after she got sick while we left her for a short trip in March. I logged on and attempted to cancel our cruise but the website was not working. Unfortunately, with it not working I neglected to try again until it was 2 days past our paid in full date. I called and explained the situation and they were extremely accommodating and refunded our deposit. I told my husband that wonderful experience with their customer service has now pretty much guaranteed we will be sailing with them in the future on another itinerary!

 

[JAM113]

We had an issue with the final payment for the WBTA also, but our intention was not to cancel. I just mixed up the dates. A week prior, I called to cancel a placeholder date and instead of issuing a refund, I asked if they could apply that to our WBTA cruise, which they did with no problem. When I didn't make the final payment as scheduled, we got an email in the early hours of the morning advising that our cruise was cancelled, and a statement showing a loss of the initial deposit, but an amount owed to us for the $200 "payment" I made. We were fortunatly pixie dusted and are cruising as scheduled. Good luck with your situation.

 

[Adam Lane]

I think this is the most succinct and understandable explanation I've heard so far. I agree with everyone who said I should not have simply done nothing -- that was obviously not "Plan A" and it was a bad confluence of factors, but it is what it is at this point. I do still believe that the wording of the cancellation policy is ambiguous and nonsensical. The policy says that if you do not make final payment, then the reservation is automatically cancelled. If DCL is going to auto-cancel you at the PIF deadline for failure to make final payment, then it makes no sense that they would keep your deposit. They aren't holding the room for you at that point -- what is the difference between me cancelling on the PIF date and DCL auto-cancelling an hour after the PIF date? I don't see why the latter event results in forfeiture of the deposit, other than being Draconian for the sake of being Draconian.

FWIW, I do have a call in to DCL and my TA -- I'll update here in case anyone is interested in the ultimate outcome. Thanks for the input of those who responded -- it is interesting, if nothing else, to hear others' takes on the issue.

What was the outcome??? Im not seeing an update here. Im in the exact same situation.