For those with Cruises after May 31

[DCLDVC1]

Please don't let this still be going on in May 2021.

This too shall pass like H1N1, Ebola, swine flu, etc.

 

[LAX]

We are cruising from Alaska on 8/3 and just wish Disney would extend the last-minute cancellation through the whole summer. It’s not fair our 120 day mark is approaching and we don’t have all the info we need to make a decision.

If I were before the PIF deadline (ie: no penalty), I would cancel in a heart beat. Mine is in June, so just missed the cut-off for the flexible cancellation policy (thru May 31 for now), but already beyond PIF. If DCL doesn't expand the cancellation policy to cruises at least in early summer, I stand to lose at least the deposit. Based on available information now, I won't risk it even for an August itinerary (I might be more risk averse than you are, though). Plus, people on other threads are saying that there is a good chance you can cancel now penalty free and end up getting a discount if the situation improves enough to be safe to cruise again later in the summer.

LAX

 

[dclpluto]

Tease a deep breathe and relax

 

[Astrogal]

We had a cruise all booked/mostly paid for, when my dad was diagnosed with Lymphoma a couple years ago. We had the normal travel insurance for the cruise, flights etc. A doctors note, stating that he had just been diagnosed with cancer, and would be unable to go on the cruise due to starting treatment, was sufficient for the insurance company to reimburse us 100% on pre-trip health issues. So cancel-for-any-reason likely wouldn't be necessary in your situation (though you'll need to look through your policy/contact the insurance company to make sure)

Edit to say: they reimbursed us for all 6 people, not just my dad.

I just called my trip insurance and you are correct. I am to provide a doctor's note and file a claim. Since we are far out enough from June 1st sail date, they will only have to reimburse our deposit and flights.

 

[lanejudy]

To start another thread ... We have an Alaska cruise set to leave 6/1. We have to fly through Toronto onto Vancouver. We do have Disney insurance (that is another whole story) and booked through Disney Air. Our overall cruise is around $15K. If I understand everything since we are aleady PIF, we will only get back 75% of this total cost if we cancel? Is that the current state with all of the DCL updates?


Any insights on what you are going to do?

Thanks~

If your cruise is 6/1 - I believe that puts you into just the first phase of the cancellation penalty where you only lose the deposit (presumably 20% unless you used an OBB). As a PP mentioned above, all taxes and port fees are refunded, along with the rest of the cruise fare.

Where the DCL "cancel for any reason" kicks in, is that you get the ~80% reimbursement from DCL. Then submit the penalty amount to the insurance, who will likely deny the claim. Once the insurance denies the claim, then you contact DCL again and get set-up for a credit towards a future cruise. That credit will be equal to 75% of the non-refunded amount (so 75% of the ~20% cruise fare).

It's important to remember that the vacation protection coverage offered through DCL has 2 parts: first is the traditional insurance, which is not CFAR coverage; the second part is a credit from DCL once the insurance denies your claim. You do have to go through the process of submitting a claim and having it denied before the "cancel for any reason" credit kicks in.

Good luck and I hope you get to enjoy your cruise!

ETA: to adjust for the correct cancellation penalty​

 

[MarkLT1]

I just called my trip insurance and you are correct. I am to provide a doctor's note and file a claim. Since we are far out enough from June 1st sail date, they will only have to reimburse our deposit and flights.

So glad to hear it worked out with your travel insurance. Wishing the best for your dad in his cancer fight.

 

[Astrogal]

If your cruise is 6/1 - I believe that puts you into the second phase of the cancellation penalty where you lose 50% of the cruise fare. As a PP mentioned above, all taxes and port fees are refunded, along with 50% of the cruise fare.

Where the DCL "cancel for any reason" kicks in, is that you get the 50% reimbursement from DCL. Then submit the penalty amount to the insurance, who will likely deny the claim. Once the insurance denies the claim, then you contact DCL again and get set-up for a credit towards a future cruise. That credit will be equal to 75% of the non-refunded amount (so 75% of the 50% cruise fare).

It's important to remember that the vacation protection coverage offered through DCL has 2 parts: first is the traditional insurance, which is not CFAR coverage; the second part is a credit from DCL once the insurance denies your claim. You do have to go through the process of submitting a claim and having it denied before the "cancel for any reason" credit kicks in.

Good luck and I hope you get to enjoy your cruise!

I may be wrong since I haven't reached my TA yet but 6/1 is still within the lose the deposit region. 6/1 is 84 days away.

119-56 days

Deposit per Guest

 

[lanejudy]

I may be wrong since I haven't reached my TA yet but 6/1 is still within the lose the deposit region. 6/1 is 84 days away.

119-56 days

Deposit per Guest

Yes, i was reading the wrong chart! thank you for pointing that out. I fixed my prior post.

 

[momoftwins]

I just called DCL to understand our option. As I said, our cruise is 6/1 and cost us approx $15K (air and cruise). I wanted to understand my options now since the CDC had said they not recommend anyone with a preexisting condition to cruise. I have asthma. It is well controled. From Disney's perspective, we could put in a claim for approx $3500 of our costs. There are no provisions right now for domestic after 5/31 or any changes based on the latest CDC advise. They told me to call Disney Insurance. I did call them. They indicated even though I have a preexisting condition, most likely I would be denied coverage. She agreed asthmatic patients are at a higher risk, but since I have had no exacerbations in the last 60 days - it would not be covered. Or course they said, everything is up in the air at this moment trying to determine how/if the new CDC advisory would impact any determinations with the cruiseline itself or insurance.

Disney did if the current rules are amended for cruises post 5/31, I could rebook. For us, this was a grad gift for our kids out of grad school. It it highly inlikely we could round them both up next year -at the same time - for a new cruise. Disney did say, my husband and I could rebook but any balances would go to an onboard credit. I do not think my DH and me would use up the whole $15K. They said we would lose any balance not used. So just an update for everyone. In case of the Credit Card approach on things, Disney Visa does not offer travel insurance.

 

[Gentry2004]

I just called DCL to understand our option. As I said, our cruise is 6/1 and cost us approx $15K (air and cruise). I wanted to understand my options now since the CDC had said they not recommend anyone with a preexisting condition to cruise. I have asthma. It is well controled. From Disney's perspective, we could put in a claim for approx $3500 of our costs. There are no provisions right now for domestic after 5/31 or any changes based on the latest CDC advise. They told me to call Disney Insurance. I did call them. They indicated even though I have a preexisting condition, most likely I would be denied coverage. She agreed asthmatic patients are at a higher risk, but since I have had no exacerbations in the last 60 days - it would not be covered. Or course they said, everything is up in the air at this moment trying to determine how/if the new CDC advisory would impact any determinations with the cruiseline itself or insurance.

Disney did if the current rules are amended for cruises post 5/31, I could rebook. For us, this was a grad gift for our kids out of grad school. It it highly inlikely we could round them both up next year -at the same time - for a new cruise. Disney did say, my husband and I could rebook but any balances would go to an onboard credit. I do not think my DH and me would use up the whole $15K. They said we would lose any balance not used. So just an update for everyone. In case of the Credit Card approach on things, Disney Visa does not offer travel insurance.

Couldn't you get everything but your deposit back to your original form of payment, then file the Disney insurance for 75% of the deposit? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[cedman77]

We're on board the Fantasy 6/20 for 7 night Western cruise. I called DCL we have until 4/25 to either request a refund or move the funds to another cruise before we move into 50% penalty. We already lost our deposit, but since we booked with our place holder, our deposit isn't as much as it would have without it. We're standing by and waiting to see if DCL will amend their cancellation policy again. We didn't purchase any insurance

 

[lanejudy]

They told me to call Disney Insurance. I did call them. They indicated even though I have a preexisting condition, most likely I would be denied coverage.

DCL-offered insurance does not have a pre-existing condition waiver. Regardless, I don't even think a PEC waiver will cover if there's a general recommendation not to travel, only if you are actually ill at the time of travel as diagnosed by a medical professional (or recently hospitalized and discharged with instructions not to travel, etc.).

... our cruise is 6/1 and cost us approx $15K (air and cruise). ... From Disney's perspective, we could put in a claim for approx $3500 of our costs. ...

Are you sure this is are correct? I'm not sure how the air impacts the figures so maybe that's how they came up with $3500. Your penalty right now should be the deposit. So 20% of $15K is $3K - and you would be refunded $12K (back to credit card or gift card, however you made payment). You could then submit to insurance about the $3K - and expect them to deny the claim. At that point you again contact DCL now with documentation that the insurance denied your claim, and DCL will give a future credit of 75% (or is it 70%?) of that $3K. So you would have a future credit that you and your husband could use within a year. Actual out-of-pocket loss is under $1K. Not a fun amount to lose, but in context that is much better than losing all or most of the $15K to a future cruise credit that you don't think you can use.

Disney Visa does have some limited travel coverage, but I don't believe it would help for this situation. I think it's more like lost luggage or something. Very hard to find that information because it's buried way deep within the fine print.

Good luck!

 

[Grandstander1]

I currently have an Alaska cruise departing 08/31. I live in Vancouver so I haven't needed to make travel arrangements. I'm looking at canceling at the moment. As both Canadian and U.S. governments are now advising against cruise travel. I don't have trip insurance yet, as I only have my refundable deposit down with the final payment due in early May. Rather than tie the money up with Disney, I would rather just hold on to it and drop the booking. The 10% discount for onboard booking and cruise credit will be lost, but that's OK with me.
I have never used Disney Vacation insurance because any insurance that doesn't cover the full amount is just weird to me. I purchase travel insurance for all my trips, but currently, a couple of companies (Manulife, TuGo) have started to advise that Covid 19 related cancellations/interruptions will not be covered as Covid 19 is now a "known issue" so for me, another thing to consider. I would have to make sure any insurance purchased would cover any losses due to Covid 19.
I have until late April to cancel penalty-free I will continue to monitor the situation. A vaccine couldn't come soon enough.

 

[momoftwins]

DCL-offered insurance does not have a pre-existing condition waiver. Regardless, I don't even think a PEC waiver will cover if there's a general recommendation not to travel, only if you are actually ill at the time of travel as diagnosed by a medical professional (or recently hospitalized and discharged with instructions not to travel, etc.).


Are you sure this is are correct? I'm not sure how the air impacts the figures so maybe that's how they came up with $3500. Your penalty right now should be the deposit. So 20% of $15K is $3K - and you would be refunded $12K (back to credit card or gift card, however you made payment). You could then submit to insurance about the $3K - and expect them to deny the claim. At that point you again contact DCL now with documentation that the insurance denied your claim, and DCL will give a future credit of 75% (or is it 70%?) of that $3K. So you would have a future credit that you and your husband could use within a year. Actual out-of-pocket loss is under $1K. Not a fun amount to lose, but in context that is much better than losing all or most of the $15K to a future cruise credit that you don't think you can use.

Disney Visa does have some limited travel coverage, but I don't believe it would help for this situation. I think it's more like lost luggage or something. Very hard to find that information because it's buried way deep within the fine print.

For us we have $2471 for Air and $1014 for Deposit. We do have nonrefundable air so I do not know how that will work - but I do agree with you on the $3500 for the claim. I thought DCL said since we are past the 5/31 date, they would let us rebook but since we have paid in full we would have to use that money which totals $15K. He said those funds could be used by my DH and me, since my kids could not go on the next cruise. Maybe I misunderstood. I cannot do anything right now away since they have said nothing about the 6/1 + cruisers.

Hi -

 

[momoftwins]

I currently have an Alaska cruise departing 08/31. I live in Vancouver so I haven't needed to make travel arrangements. I'm looking at canceling at the moment. As both Canadian and U.S. governments are now advising against cruise travel. I don't have trip insurance yet, as I only have my refundable deposit down with the final payment due in early May. Rather than tie the money up with Disney, I would rather just hold on to it and drop the booking. The 10% discount for onboard booking and cruise credit will be lost, but that's OK with me.
I have never used Disney Vacation insurance because any insurance that doesn't cover the full amount is just weird to me. I purchase travel insurance for all my trips, but currently, a couple of companies (Manulife, TuGo) have started to advise that Covid 19 related cancellations/interruptions will not be covered as Covid 19 is now a "known issue" so for me, another thing to consider. I would have to make sure any insurance purchased would cover any losses due to Covid 19.
I have until late April to cancel penalty-free I will continue to monitor the situation. A vaccine couldn't come soon enough.

I know about the insurance. Stupid me knows not to book insurance through Disney. However, it had been a while and I mentioned to the DCL reservtionist that I wanted cancel for no reason (I have had this with other insurers - my FIL in 92 so we never are sure). She said - no worries we have that. I said great this will save me a lot of trouble and went ahead and bought it. Well, lo and behold it is not what I wanted but my problem since I did not read the policy when they sent it.

 

[Trera]

We're on board the Fantasy 6/20 for 7 night Western cruise. I called DCL we have until 4/25 to either request a refund or move the funds to another cruise before we move into 50% penalty. We already lost our deposit, but since we booked with our place holder, our deposit isn't as much as it would have without it. We're standing by and waiting to see if DCL will amend their cancellation policy again. We didn't purchase any insurance

We are on the cruise right after you. Hate the idea of having to reschedule our cruise as we couldnt do one until 2021 and since we are a concierge 9 night cruise currently , we would have to do something longer to use up all the money we already paid. May just take the deposit loss and cancel if we have to. We have to make the choice in the next 3 weeks.

 

[DCLDVC1]

On a side note, Norwegian really stepped up with their cancellation policy.

 

[allashore]

We are on the cruise right after you. Hate the idea of having to reschedule our cruise as we couldnt do one until 2021 and since we are a concierge 9 night cruise currently , we would have to do something longer to use up all the money we already paid. May just take the deposit loss and cancel if we have to. We have to make the choice in the next 3 weeks.

I would wait as long as possible to cancel and lose a deposit. If you booked another cruise further out in 2021, wouldn't you lose the same amount of money if you decided not to go? I may be interpreting this wrong. I think in the next few weeks the cruise lines will have change reimbursement, or at least the ability rebook over a longer time period. Ships can not keep being quarantined, it's a ripple effect.
btw, last week u were looking for a server, please see that link. I did some more research and it looks like she has been with dcl for yrs.

 

[AZMermaid]

We are on the July 1 double dip. We found a cruise that works as a rebook in late sept, also a double dip and about $900 less with an extra day. But that involves 3 days off school (kids) and work for me (teacher) and more days off work for DH. It’s doable but not ideal. But the bigger hurdle is airline change fees. We are using miles there ($225 to reinstate, not awful) and united back... $800 in change fees. So $1000.... not to mention cancelling our two night DVC stay since we’d have to take the red eye the night before in Sept. So... we are waiting. We probably won’t cancel unless we have to... but we’ve looked at options.

 

[Trera]

We are on the July 1 double dip. We found a cruise that works as a rebook in late sept, also a double dip and about $900 less with an extra day. But that involves 3 days off school (kids) and work for me (teacher) and more days off work for DH. It’s doable but not ideal. But the bigger hurdle is airline change fees. We are using miles there ($225 to reinstate, not awful) and united back... $800 in change fees. So $1000.... not to mention cancelling our two night DVC stay since we’d have to take the red eye the night before in Sept. So... we are waiting. We probably won’t cancel unless we have to... but we’ve looked at options.

Plus you are now into hurricane season. Make sure you have insurance