Hang on or cancel?

[softballpooh]

We booked a Merrytime Nov 2020 cruise last September (2019). We did a preemptive move to Feb 2021 at the start of the pandemic knowing it was likely our family wouldn't be comfortable sailing this fall. As the summer went on we moved it again to May 2021 thinking surely this will all be over. However, I'm not so sure I want to be on the first round of sailings if they continue to be pushed out into spring. So now we're discussing if we should move again to next November 2021 for the Merrytime sailing which would be our original plan for this year.

However, this means DCL will be sitting with our deposits for almost 2 years. Should we make the move to next fall since the money has already been allocated or do we cancel and wait it out to rebook when we feel most comfortable cruising again? I know no one has a magic answer on when/what sailings will be like, I'm just considering the finances with DCL holding onto our money for that long when we could keep it ourselves. I guess there's also the possibility that if DCL cancels then we could get the 125% credit, but I have my doubts that they will continue that offer and it's likely that they will be sailing again in the spring.

Thoughts?

 

[ajo]

You're the only person who can really answer because it depends on your comfort level with sailing and with having your money sitting with DCL. There are certainly folks who have cancelled and are waiting until they feel comfortable cruising again before booking anything. There are also folks who have multiple cruises booked in the coming months/year and are hoping to sail. And probably everything in between.

 

[AgentMama]

Our family has made the decision to pull all money back for travel that we can. Not knowing how the various travel industries are going to fair, we decided not to leave our money at risk where possible. But as the previous poster said, you'll have to make the decision best for your family.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thoughts?

I can't address DCL specifically, but we had a river cruise booked for last April. It was canceled early in the shutdown (March). At that time our options were to take a full refund, or transfer our reservation to any other trip in 2020 (with extra perks). We opted to move the trip to a land trip in Ireland for October. As final payment loomed for the October trip, we called and asked if we could move our reservation to next April's river cruise (same one we were first booked on), and we were allowed to do so. Since the original reservation was made in Nov 2019, that means they're going to have had hold of our money for almost a year and a half. We've already decided, if that cruise gets canceled we're going to go for the refund next time.

We also had a 3 month RV trip to Canada booked for this summer (group caravan). With the border closure, the trip was canceled, and we had the option to transfer the booking to next year (same trip) for the same price. That's where we're at now. We made the original booking Aug 2018, so they've had our money for a long time now. I'm not sure whether that trip will go, but will make decisions on that later.

 

[JM23457]

We booked a Merrytime Nov 2020 cruise last September (2019). We did a preemptive move to Feb 2021 at the start of the pandemic knowing it was likely our family wouldn't be comfortable sailing this fall. As the summer went on we moved it again to May 2021 thinking surely this will all be over. However, I'm not so sure I want to be on the first round of sailings if they continue to be pushed out into spring. So now we're discussing if we should move again to next November 2021 for the Merrytime sailing which would be our original plan for this year.

However, this means DCL will be sitting with our deposits for almost 2 years. Should we make the move to next fall since the money has already been allocated or do we cancel and wait it out to rebook when we feel most comfortable cruising again? I know no one has a magic answer on when/what sailings will be like, I'm just considering the finances with DCL holding onto our money for that long when we could keep it ourselves. I guess there's also the possibility that if DCL cancels then we could get the 125% credit, but I have my doubts that they will continue that offer and it's likely that they will be sailing again in the spring.

It's a toss-up as to what pricing might be like as time passes for fall 2021. If all goes well with the virus & economy, prices might steadily rise between now & then. If the economy is still in bad shape, it's possible that last-minute GT rates might become widely available as those cruises approach. And right now, there is also no way to know what the cruise experience will be like in late 2021. So many unknowns.

Go with your own mind & gut on this one. That's all any of us can really do. My mind & gut told me to wait until late 2021 to cruise, so we now have a Christmas week cruise booked for 2021. I was able to use an FCC for it, though, and that really helped with the price. Without the FCC, I would have chosen a refund and just waited it out.

 

[Clojel]

Definitely a personal choice. We took the FCC from our cancelled November cruise and booked a Dec 2021 cruise. DH doesn’t love that DCL gets to keep our money an extra 13 months but the way I look at it, when December 2021 comes around, it’s going to feel like a free cruise bc we paid for it so long ago! Plus, we’ll have a fairly substantial on board credit so we can play fast and loose with the spending on the ship

 

[SL6827]

I had a cruise booked for May 2021 and went ahead and cancelled it. I will not be getting on any cruise ship until there is a working vaccine available. I was concerned what might happen if DCL was to go under or sorts, so I put in for a refund. Now my nearly three grand is all on DGCards so I still wonder if there is a possibility that I could some how still lose those funds. Who knows? It really has me second guessing saving up a good bit of vacay money through a certain brand's gift cards.

 

[softballpooh]

Thanks, all, for taking the time to share your thoughts! I'll discuss further with my family, but leaning toward a refund and rebooking when I know we will all feel comfortable sailing again.

 

[JM23457]

Now my nearly three grand is all on DGCards so I still wonder if there is a possibility that I could some how still lose those funds. Who knows? It really has me second guessing saving up a good bit of vacay money through a certain brand's gift cards.

I tried the gift card thing once, putting a few thousand on them to save a little money for a cruise. Never again. It's been well over a year and I still have to hang onto some of the card numbers, due to cruise changes & cancellations, etc. I can't wait until it's all spent & I never have to deal with them again. Just not worth the hassle imo.

 

[softballpooh]

Our family has made the decision to pull all money back for travel that we can. Not knowing how the various travel industries are going to fair, we decided not to leave our money at risk where possible. But as the previous poster said, you'll have to make the decision best for your family.

I think you've hit on what I've been feeling. Prior to this week when I moved the trip to the new dates, I didn't really have concerns about travel "big picture". However, not knowing what changes will be made on the ship and what may or may not happen in terms of entertainment has caused me to take pause. When we do sail again, especially in the next year, it's definitely going to be different than what we experienced on our two prior DCL trips.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

When our Italy/Greece cruise was canceled back in May, I took the refund. The similar cruise for the following year was about the same amount of money when released so I deposited on that. That amount of money is all I was comfortable leaving with DCL in these times. I will be cancelling before my PIF date in February if things with the pandemic have not improved. The extra savings was not worth it to me. Only you can decide. Things for us are just too uncertain.

 

[Top_S]

Have a late July 2021 already booked and you're welcome to join us ( https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...cruise-iii-aboard-the-disney-fantasy-in-2021/ ). In June an incredibly cheap MTO fare popped up for September so I booked that also. The September sailing was canceled and I received the 125% FCC and used it to rebook for late November 2020. If that one is cancelled, I'll probably just roll the credit onto the July 2021 voyage.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We had a June fantasy cruise booked and took the refund. And an October cruise cancelled and took the refund. But we did sign up for the May 2021 transatlantic from Florida to Barcelona. So they have our deposit for that. We are hoping to go.

 

[deliela999]

We're booked to be on the Dream for Christmas. We're holding out closer to PIF in late September, but we've already agreed if we cancel we're getting a refund and waiting until we feel comfortable cruising...and flying to get there. We booked on opening day and have been so excited for this trip and at this point I'm pretty sure we'll cancel but we're majorly disappointed. My daughter is going to be crushed. It is all on gift cards, but we'll go again so I'm not as concerned about that. We don't want to be tied by their timeline and their rules. When we're comfortable we'll probably do a GTY and go soon. We booked on opening day and I've been watching the price since. For the 3 of us it was about $6500 and last I checked had gone up like $20.

 

[JM23457]

We booked on opening day and I've been watching the price since. For the 3 of us it was about $6500 and last I checked had gone up like $20.

I've noticed that holiday Dream class cruises often don't go up in price nearly as much as many other cruise types. Maybe because they're so expensive to begin with.

 

[softballpooh]

We're booked to be on the Dream for Christmas. We're holding out closer to PIF in late September, but we've already agreed if we cancel we're getting a refund and waiting until we feel comfortable cruising...and flying to get there. We booked on opening day and have been so excited for this trip and at this point I'm pretty sure we'll cancel but we're majorly disappointed. My daughter is going to be crushed. It is all on gift cards, but we'll go again so I'm not as concerned about that. We don't want to be tied by their timeline and their rules. When we're comfortable we'll probably do a GTY and go soon. We booked on opening day and I've been watching the price since. For the 3 of us it was about $6500 and last I checked had gone up like $20.

Goodness, this made me have a "duh" moment! This whole time I wasn't even incorporating my level of comfort with flying (which is not at all) currently. And we typically fly to Florida since it's an easy SW nonstop flight. I need to price out the difference of possible trips we would consider moving to and see how the prices have changed. Thanks!

 

[deliela999]

Goodness, this made me have a "duh" moment! This whole time I wasn't even incorporating my level of comfort with flying (which is not at all) currently. And we typically fly to Florida since it's an easy SW nonstop flight. I need to price out the difference of possible trips we would consider moving to and see how the prices have changed. Thanks!

Same here, 2 hour direct flight (Indianapolis) and done. It would be 2 days each way driving plus stops in who knows how many random bathrooms along the way.

 

[cvjw]

Goodness, this made me have a "duh" moment! This whole time I wasn't even incorporating my level of comfort with flying (which is not at all) currently. And we typically fly to Florida since it's an easy SW nonstop flight. I need to price out the difference of possible trips we would consider moving to and see how the prices have changed. Thanks!

Just an FYI on southwest flights - booked my son on direct flights to/from Atlanta - Orlando next month. Flights have already changed about 6 times - flights cancelled, times changed, etc. Finally had to cancel when his direct 1.5 hour flight turned into a 6 hour flight thru Houston. Seems like southwest flights are a mess right now. His flights started out perfect and turned into a jumbled disaster.

OP, we are in the same boat with our May 2021 cruise. It was rebooked from our cancelled May 2020 cruise. We rolled all our credit into the May cruise, and will have to decide if we are comfortable with how cruising will be before our PIF date. We really, really, really want to sail, so we will hang on until the last minute to make the decision!

 

[grantclaire]

Hi, I am having the same debate, hang on or cancel! Our 3 day cruise in March was cancelled, We rebooked using the FCC to a 7 day cruise for March 21. On the PIF date will have to pay the balance which is in December. Thinking about waiting for winter 22 release date and moving things back a year, I know I will most likely loose the FCC but will have less money tied up with DCL.

 

[mmmears]

I canceled. I didn't want my money tied up with DCL, and I knew our cruise was going to get canceled anyway. No regrets here, other than the fact that I'm still really sad about this summer's canceled vacation.