Paying for excursions

[mudd]

This is the first time we are thinking of doing excursions. When does Disney charge me for these, booked all excursions through Disney? If I need to cancel any of them, at what point do I have to have them cancelled by so not to be charged for them? Thank you for all assistance. I am sure that I have read about all of this somewhere, have read everything I could get a hold of and at overload and burn out stage.

 

[Dug720]

The charge usually hits your account the first night of the cruise.

Cancellations by you must be made 3 days prior to the start of the cruise to avoid a charge.*

*Obviously if the excursion is cancelled by DCL or the provider after the charge, you would be refunded.

 

[mudd]

thank you for your assistance.

 

[Dug720]

thank you for your assistance.

You're welcome!

 

[lklgoodman]

Quick follow up to what Dug already told you, if Disney has to cancel an excursion, you will be given a statement showing the amount that you were refunded. We had this happen on our last cruise. We were suppose to go to St. Maarten, but bad weather cancelled going there, found out when we arrived at the port. We had a statement waiting for us when we got to our cabin.

 

[CM Dad]

There are some excursions that you need to pay up front when you book (yes, this was through DCL) and are non-refundable, unless the excursion was cancelled due to weather, or by the operator. We had this for a private pontoon boat with captain for up to 10 people that we booked for Bermuda. I was surprised when we had to pay when we booked, rather than being charged to our stateroom on the cruise. Our daughter ended up in the hospital for most of the two days in Bermuda, so we were unable to do the boat and lost our money. My wife and I did have another excursion booked for the second day that we also had to cancel because we were taking care of the grandkids while their Dad was at the hospital with our daughter. DCL did refund the cost for this second excursion, which I assume they were not obligated to do. This was a much cheaper excursion so I wish they had refunded the boat instead

 

[Dug720]

There are some excursions that you need to pay up front when you book (yes, this was through DCL) and are non-refundable, unless the excursion was cancelled due to weather, or by the operator. We had this for a private pontoon boat with captain for up to 10 people that we booked for Bermuda. I was surprised when we had to pay when we booked, rather than being charged to our stateroom on the cruise. Our daughter ended up in the hospital for most of the two days in Bermuda, so we were unable to do the boat and lost our money. My wife and I did have another excursion booked for the second day that we also had to cancel because we were taking care of the grandkids while their Dad was at the hospital with our daughter. DCL did refund the cost for this second excursion, which I assume they were not obligated to do. This was a much cheaper excursion so I wish they had refunded the boat instead

Yes, something private I can understand. Those things are a ridiculous (IMHO) amount of money - and something where the operator is highly unlikely to find someone who walks up with that amount in their pockets just to see if it's available. He'd take a huge financial hit if that money was refunded - and if Disney demanded the money back on your behalf, they could well ruin their relationship with him and other private boat owners. IF there had been a waiting list for that private excursion, they MIGHT have been able to sell it to someone on that list - but I'd be surprised if many people were willing to shell out the cost of those after the cost of the cruise...especially last-minute.

A group excursion is far more likely to have walk-ups on the day-of and be able to sell those slots. And you are correct - Disney did not have to refund that money, but it was also likely much easier for THEM to fill that slot since it was cheaper.

Bottom line is read the fine print. Odds are if you're booking something private you may well have to pay in advance. (TBH, you're the first person I've heard of who booked something private through Disney. Most people who book private book on their own as well.)

 

[AgentMama]

If you book through outside vendors, the cost is typically due at the time you book. We tend not to book through DCL anymore as it is usually cheaper to book excursions directly. We're willing to accept the risk of missing the boat. I guess if we were booking something that was a full day and potentially tight on time to return to the ship, we would consider booking through Disney, but recently, we've preferred the cheaper options.

 

[LoveMickey]

I have a question about cancelling and the refund. Do you get an actual refund to your account, or do you get a credit on your account which you have to use for something else. When cruising with another line, our excursion was cancelled by the ship and they would only give us a credit on our account. They would not refund our monies. Thanks

 

[Dug720]

I have a question about cancelling and the refund. Do you get an actual refund to your account, or do you get a credit on your account which you have to use for something else. When cruising with another line, our excursion was cancelled by the ship and they would only give us a credit on our account. They would not refund our monies. Thanks

A credit on your account, but as long as it was not from a non-refundable source such as DCL OBC to begin with, anything remaining on your account will be refunded to the payment method on the account.

 

[CM Dad]

Bottom line is read the fine print. Odds are if you're booking something private you may well have to pay in advance. (TBH, you're the first person I've heard of who booked something private through Disney. Most people who book private book on their own as well.)

The one I booked was https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...-bermuda-private-pontoon-rental-with-captain/. Looks like they changed the wording in the "Know Before You Go" section. It now includes:

• All private boat bookings are nonrefundable.

• These tours are ordered per vessel. One person in your party places the order for the boat; the entire cost of the boat is charged to that person's shipboard account and cannot be divided up among the party.

When I booked this for the first Bermuda cruise, the entire cost of the cruise had to be paid at the time of the booking. I'm not sure if you can still cancel this 3 days before your cruise like other excursions without penalty. We didn't know we were going to have to cancel this until the day of the cruise when my daughter was first off the ship to go by ambulance to the hospital in Bermuda, so I wouldn't have canceled three days before anyway.

I have never taken on, but there are other excursion offered through DCL that are listed as "private", such as https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/nassau-bahamas-yacht-harbor-isand/. That one is almost 10X the cost as the Bermuda one I booked, but doesn't include the non-refundable wording.

 

[Dug720]

The one I booked was https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...-bermuda-private-pontoon-rental-with-captain/. Looks like they changed the wording in the "Know Before You Go" section. It now includes:

• All private boat bookings are nonrefundable.

• These tours are ordered per vessel. One person in your party places the order for the boat; the entire cost of the boat is charged to that person's shipboard account and cannot be divided up among the party.

When I booked this for the first Bermuda cruise, the entire cost of the cruise had to be paid at the time of the booking. I'm not sure if you can still cancel this 3 days before your cruise like other excursions without penalty. We didn't know we were going to have to cancel this until the day of the cruise when my daughter was first off the ship to go by ambulance to the hospital in Bermuda, so I wouldn't have canceled three days before anyway.

I have never taken on, but there are other excursion offered through DCL that are listed as "private", such as https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/nassau-bahamas-yacht-harbor-isand/. That one is almost 10X the cost as the Bermuda one I booked, but doesn't include the non-refundable wording.

I don't know. I've never looked at the private excursions as I'm usually solo and therefore none of those are appealing to me. (Nor is getting all involved in an online cruise group to get together and do one - I've had friends burned with that where the rest of the group banded together and wanted to change the itinerary...and announced it AFTER the excursion started so my friends were stuck with an excursion they didn't want.) I have zero issues with group excursions offered by the cruise ship, so I've never felt I needed to be exclusive anyway.

Bottom line is check the fine print on whatever you book.