Placeholder Cancelled?

[Madame]

Drop the card at the end of the cruise! Gives you a few extra days as well!

True, but you’re already off the ship and if they make a mistake you have no recourse.

 

[Ravenne]

Yes & I think that’s where many of us run into problems: we can’t check our CC acct until we’ve arrived back in PC since we don’t have Internet access. Might be better if they did put it on the shipboard acct.

I think the best way to ensure it went through is to go book it in person, and get that confirmation number(s) right away. Of course, that defeats the purpose of the convenience of dropping the form off and letting CMs take care of it. Even then it can be a pain. I had one CM just say, "alright, you're good to go" to which I said, "is there a confirmation number?" "Oh, it'll be emailed to you." Uh, no sir, I want the number now. It's not that hard. I'll write it on my hand right now if you can't spare a piece of paper, but I want that number, and he reluctantly gave it to me as if it was excessively troublesome. It's not that preposterous to ask for a receipt for a transaction you just made.

Then I had another CM who automatically wrote the confirmation number out on an actual DCL placeholder card, along with the last 4 digits of the gift card I used for the PH for record keeping.

Guess us guests need to get creative in finding ways to document these things if we're going to utilize Disney's conveniences.

 

[lovewdwfun]

I think the best way to ensure it went through is to go book it in person, and get that confirmation number(s) right away. Of course, that defeats the purpose of the convenience of dropping the form off and letting CMs take care of it.

OP here - I actually did book in person! And got the confirmation number and email with no cancellation email which is why this was bizarre. One room went through (charged) and the other didn’t (apparently) even though I got confirmations for both. This was my first time booking a placeholder so it didn’t send off any alarm bells when I saw one charge. The whole situation was strange.

 

[Lisa F]

OP here - I actually did book in person! And got the confirmation number and email with no cancellation email which is why this was bizarre. One room went through (charged) and the other didn’t (apparently) even though I got confirmations for both. This was my first time booking a placeholder so it didn’t send off any alarm bells when I saw one charge. The whole situation was strange.

it's pretty strange how hard they made it for you - you'd think they would bend over backwards to take your money. I mean, I feel like if there is any chance a mistake was made that they would just give the person the benefit of the doubt and keep a happy repeat cruiser happy!

 

[Ravenne]

OP here - I actually did book in person! And got the confirmation number and email with no cancellation email which is why this was bizarre. One room went through (charged) and the other didn’t (apparently) even though I got confirmations for both. This was my first time booking a placeholder so it didn’t send off any alarm bells when I saw one charge. The whole situation was strange.

I know you did, and I think you did everything right to cya. Disney dropped the ball. I'm glad they ended up doing right by you, but can you imagine if you'd just dropped the PH form off and let them take care of it? Ugh!

I usually book PH with gift cards, so that's another thing that I'll need to check to make sure they did take the funds out and did it right. And if using a TA, contact them to make sure it went through too. Ugh. It shouldn't be this hard to tell someone you want to go back and give them more money.

 

[NaturalNine]

crazy that a future cruise desk even exists, with the app and wifi on ship, should just be a matter of logging in and self booking the placeholder / cruise, entering the confirmation number of your current cruise.

saves Disney the cost of employing somebody, more convenient for the end user, and less chance of user error

 

[siddda618]

Something like this happened to me on my cruise this past July. I dropped my placeholder request card in the box while on the cruise to avoid the super long lines at the booking desk, and there's a place on the form that says something like "charge the card linked to my shipboard account." So I chose that option. I went to guest services later to ask if the placeholder charge would be on my room account and they said no and that my credit card will be charged directly once the placeholder is booked. I got the confirmations of my placeholders by email a couple of days after we disembarked. Great! Then my TA called DCL a couple weeks later to have my placeholders transferred to her, and DCL said they were cancelled for non-payment. WHAT??? So my fault for not looking closely at the confirmations but on the teeny tiny line where it said "money received" it said "$0." I called DCL and they said that they gave me seven days to pay the deposit, and since I didn't they cancelled my placeholders. Well that wasn't anywhere in the confirmation, and I would not have found out about the cancellation if my TA hadn't called! But the DCL staff was super nice and said he would talk to his manager and put me on hold. When he came back on the line he said he found out if the placeholder request cards are not processed onboard (e.g., there are too many of them to process on the ship), then the placeholder request cards are given to the booking office onshore. And the onshore office does not have access to any credit card information for guests. So since I didn't actually write out my credit card information on the placeholder request card and just checked the "charge the card linked to my shipboard account" option, the onshore office did not have my credit card information. He reinstated my placeholders for me, and I gave him my credit card information over the phone for the deposits. LESSONS TO SELF: write credit card information on placeholder request card or stand in line for booking desk and make sure I'm charged, and check the teeny tiny lines on my confirmations, and check my credit card statements for the charges, and confirm with my TA that the placeholders have been booked under her. Whew!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

crazy that a future cruise desk even exists, with the app and wifi on ship, should just be a matter of logging in and self booking the placeholder / cruise, entering the confirmation number of your current cruise.

saves Disney the cost of employing somebody, more convenient for the end user, and less chance of user error

This might work for placeholders where you have cruisers who understand the system, but the future cruise operation involves much more than just processing placeholders. If you are booking an actual cruise and need to compare pricing on different staterooms, or booking multiple staterooms and want to explore location or connecting room options, or you want to compare different cruises before actually booking, etc. Placeholders are just a part of what these cast members handle. That’s why it can take so long for a single transaction when you’re waiting in line to book onboard on opening day for your booking category. We were on the WBPC on Monday, March 4th, when our booking window opened for the newly announced summer 2020 itineraries that included multiple Greek islands options after a few years of DCL not cruising there. This was a very busy tome for the future cruise planners, indeed.

 

[CM Dad]

crazy that a future cruise desk even exists, with the app and wifi on ship, should just be a matter of logging in and self booking the placeholder / cruise, entering the confirmation number of your current cruise.

saves Disney the cost of employing somebody, more convenient for the end user, and less chance of user error

I was onboard when the opened availability for Platinum cruisers for the latest Hawaii cruises. I was in the future cruise area at like 5AM with many other people waiting for Future cruise to open. Didn't realize that people not physically waiting could get added to the queue. Was able to book a room on the cruise, but all the handicap rooms that my wife could really use were sold out by then.

 

[Karin1984]

LESSONS TO SELF: write credit card information on placeholder request card

Please do not do this, don't write your credit card information on the card. Who knows how many people have access to those cards?
Credit card fraud is a real thing and I'm sure that even Disney has some rotten apples among its employees. It takes only one bad apple.

 

[Ravenne]

crazy that a future cruise desk even exists, with the app and wifi on ship, should just be a matter of logging in and self booking the placeholder / cruise, entering the confirmation number of your current cruise.

saves Disney the cost of employing somebody, more convenient for the end user, and less chance of user error

You would think a big company like Disney would have a better grasp on tech. They can't even accept their own gift cards in app to pay for food in the parks while plenty of other companies have been doing it for a long while. You can load, combine, reload, and place orders with a Starbucks gift card in their app, but Disney can't.

 

[NaturalNine]

This might work for placeholders where you have cruisers who understand the system, but the future cruise operation involves much more than just processing placeholders. If you are booking an actual cruise and need to compare pricing on different staterooms, or booking multiple staterooms and want to explore location or connecting room options, or you want to compare different cruises before actually booking, etc.

Isn’t that exactly what you can do online already? I know I did specifically this when booking my last cruise, directly through the DCL website

 

[NaturalNine]

You would think a big company like Disney would have a better grasp on tech. They can't even accept their own gift cards in app to pay for food in the parks while plenty of other companies have been doing it for a long while. You can load, combine, reload, and place orders with a Starbucks gift card in their app, but Disney can't.

100% agree

The lack of tech compared to other companies is staggering - even on ship the lack of being able to open your room using NFC on iPhone/Android, necessity to carry a “keycard” to charge things, lack of reliably fast internet

not to mention their own website and the oddities that go with it

disney are increasingly a tech company (Games, content streaming etc) - they should be able to innovate in these ways - booking a future cruise with the discount, online via a website or an app, whilst on a cruise, should be a no brainer

 

[Melissa S]

Always pays to speak up. I managed quality for a call center earlier in my career. My job was to correct behavior of agents who provided misinformation to customers. There are really good agents and there are terrible ones. If you get a terrible one you could be getting wrong information so always escalate but do it in a polite and respectful way or else you get on the “bad customer” list in their system.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Isn’t that exactly what you can do online already? I know I did specifically this when booking my last cruise, directly through the DCL website

But if you book through the website, you do not see all available staterooms in a particular booking category. Usually, you are shown about 8 staterooms. These may be on port side when you prefer starboard (I have not seen the opposite case, but we usually book early and the web site appears to default to port when staterooms are available there) so you might have to call anyway. Connecting rooms can be an additional factor that is quickly resolved by talking with a cast member rather than taking pot luck on the web site.

 

[FigmentSpark]

But if you book through the website, you do not see all available staterooms in a particular booking category. Usually, you are shown about 8 staterooms. These may be on port side when you prefer starboard (I have not seen the opposite case, but we usually book early and the web site appears to default to port when staterooms are available there) so you might have to call anyway. Connecting rooms can be an additional factor that is quickly resolved by talking with a cast member rather than taking pot luck on the web site.

Agreed. The website is good for price comparison, but if you have a preferred room or area, calling (or using a TA that will call for you) is the best option for getting real time availability and choice.

 

[siddda618]

Please do not do this, don't write your credit card information on the card. Who knows how many people have access to those cards?
Credit card fraud is a real thing and I'm sure that even Disney has some rotten apples among its employees. It takes only one bad apple.

I totally hear you. But there actually is a place on the form which asks for your credit card information so DCL is already soliciting it. Anyway, I think next time I will stand in line to be sure my placeholder is booked and deposit is paid.

 

[TestingH2O]

Anyway, I think next time I will stand in line to be sure my placeholder is booked and deposit is paid.

Luckily you can do the virtual queue from your app and not have to stop the rest of your planned activities.

 

[bumbershoot]

can you imagine if you'd just dropped the PH form off and let them take care of it?

My cousin had an issue with this after her first cruise. She got missed. She convinced them to book it as though it had worked out. She’s quite convincing.

Please do not do this, don't write your credit card information on the card. Who knows how many people have access to those cards?
Credit card fraud is a real thing and I'm sure that even Disney has some rotten apples among its employees. It takes only one bad apple.

Eh. Aren’t they dropped in a secure box? So it’s only certain people handling it, and a criminally-minded CM would be caught pretty quickly. And the cc company could deal with fraudulent charges.

 

[disneylove69]

If you submit the placeholder on the last night, I don't know that it makes it to your room charges. I think they just charge your card (or payment method).

They didnt charge my card til a week after the cruise.