Transfer Fee

[Bopperdoodle]

I was told by my travel agency that we would have to pay an $85/per person transfer fee to reschedule our trip. Has anyone else had to do this? Maybe it was because it was inside the cancellation date. I haven't received an itemized bill, but they did make me pay the fee, plus the additional money for the higher rate of the room at the moment we had to transfered. Just curious.

 

[ivanova]

if you are within the cancellation time frame of your cruise (60-90 days depending on when you booked and what category you booked) there may be a fee charged by DCL because in essence you're canceling that cruise and rebooking another (just transferring the monies you've paid).

If you are not within DCL's cancellation period, then your TA is charging you.

I would get clarification from the TA to be sure, but my guess is that it is a DCL charge.

 

[Bopperdoodle]

I probably didn't word that right. We were booked a year in advance for a 4 night Cat. 4. We had to cancel or transfer two days before the cruise because of my fathers death. My insurance company said it would be 3-6 weeks before we got our money back from the cruise, so we transfered to the closest available date. We had to go with a 3 night cat. 5 and pay the extra cost. I was just curious if there was a charge when you book early and then change your sail date. Thanks for the info.

 

[ivanova]

Wow, if 2 days before the cruise all you got dinged with was $85 per person, then you probably did alright for yourself.

I would still have the TA state flat out that the transfer fee is charged by DCL and not the TA.

 

[pdarrah]

If you have travel insurance, you should be able to get them to cover the fees since a death of a close family member is usually covered.

pdarrah

 

[Bopperdoodle]

I wish it was only $85/per person transfer fee (4 people $340)) that we had to pay. But, we were charged $963 that had to be paid right at that moment. I guess just because of the time of year. I think the insurance will pay the transfer fee. I just received all the paper work that has to be filled out. They need a copy of the Death Certificate, a paper filled out by his physician, Power of Attorney's signature, copies of all my payments for the cruise and I have to send them my unused tickets. It could have been worse. It's just time consuming and hard to come up with the extra cash. I would have liked to have the same amount of days on the cruise. It's strange to pay more and get less. Anyway, we're looking forward to our Cruise. We need some time away.

 

[Jsme]

We almost had to transfer last October. I was told the fee for transferring was one fee of $85, not $85 per person. Yes and you must pay the difference. To be honest I was not thrilled at having to do this either. BUT....
Try to remember you might be transferring to a more expensive time of cruising. If Disney did not do this many people would book and then transfer later for a more expensive time without ever paying the normal pricing. Such as a fall cruise transferred to a summer or Christmas cruise. I know I would be upset if I book in December and paid the Christmas rate to find out the people sharing by table had orginially booked a cruise in October for half the price then did a transfer to December without ever incurring the price difference. If you look at it this way it is easier to understand. This is how I was able to deal with what might have occurred to us. Hope this helps you out.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Based on my experience and understanding, if you change your sail date after documents have been printed, you will be charged an $85 PER PERSON fee (and that includes infants that are basically sailing for free - you're only charged taxes and port fees for infants).

A few years ago, we had booked a last minute trip directly with DCL for the off season (they were having a special for Cat 11 on 3 and 4 day cruises). For two adults and an infant, the total cost was on the order of $1000.

At the last minute, we got sick and called DCL to see what we could do. Because it was already Saturday (and the boat left Sunday), we couldn't get any answers regarding what insurance could do for us (the insurance company is not open on the weekends). The only options DCL would offer was come sick or pay a $255 fee to move the cruise to the following week (the fare was the same because the special was still in effect).

 

[Bopperdoodle]

You were very lucky that your price stayed the same. When we rescheduled it was only 2 weeks later. The price really goes up from the end of May to June. I think I'm mostly dissappointed about losing a day and paying so much more. I really wish Disney had a 5 day Cruise. I think 5 days would be perfect.

 

[paulmc80]

According to my travel agent the $85 fee is per person to change to another cruise after documents have been processed.
I would imagine that having trip insurance would cover up to the cost of the original cruise due to this type of circumstance.

 

[Regina]

Bopperdoodle, I'm very sorry about the loss of your father.

The fee that you were charged is imposed by Disney and it is per person. It was that high due to it being so close to your sail date.

I hope that you enjoy your cruise.

 

[Jsme]

We were only charge $85 period. Not per person. I do not know if things have changed or if Disney juat felt real sorry for us, but that was the only difference. This was last year during the many hurricanes and I think the CM felt sorry for me because our TA was not interesting in helping us. My DH was sent to Florida to work for 3 1/2 months and we were told our cruise might have to be cancelled due to the emergency in Florida. Maybe the CM felt like my family had been thru quite a bit she only charged us $85 for all of us. We orginially changed then were able to switch back to the same cruise and the same stateroom. The CM held our orginal room until we knew what was going ot happen. We were charged the $85 dollars on our Disney Visa but it was refunded to us.