DCL shows that they CAN cancel cruises for no reason - Wonder's 12/9/12 and on

[jrm11697]

Sorry if this has been answered but what will they do to the Magic during the 'big drydock'? Im guessing they will renovate staterooms and give the ship the features of the Dream. I haven't been on a Disney cruise since May '06 so I know very little about them now.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Sorry if this has been answered but what will they do to the Magic during the 'big drydock'? Im guessing they will renovate staterooms and give the ship the features of the Dream. I haven't been on a Disney cruise since May '06 so I know very little about them now.

As DCL has not announced this "big drydock", it is still speculation. As is most everything on this thread.

 

[kngtrtn]

I find this to be a horrible situation - I'm not affected but it is making me wonder if DCL will ever be the company they were - where they are truly customer oriented.

They do get us with the terms and conditions!

Here is what it says:

Right to Change Itinerary/Detention
Disney Cruise Line may in its sole discretion and without prior notice change, substitute, postpone, cancel or deviate from any scheduled sailing, itinerary or call at any port, and may substitute another vessel for the ship, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage incurred by a Guest as a result of any such change, substitution, postponement, cancellation or deviation.

Kind of looks like cruise clients may really need a passenger bill of rights similar to what was eventually added for airlines when they got just to ....................

 

[DiMitch]

I find this to be a horrible situation - I'm not affected but it is making me wonder if DCL will ever be the company they were - where they are truly customer oriented.

They do get us with the terms and conditions!

Here is what it says:

Right to Change Itinerary/Detention
Disney Cruise Line may in its sole discretion and without prior notice change, substitute, postpone, cancel or deviate from any scheduled sailing, itinerary or call at any port, and may substitute another vessel for the ship, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage incurred by a Guest as a result of any such change, substitution, postponement, cancellation or deviation.

Kind of looks like cruise clients may really need a passenger bill of rights similar to what was eventually added for airlines when they got just to ....................

Ya I guess so...I didn't realize airlines had something different...because I actually brought that up when talking to Customer service at DCL...mentioning that when you get bumped off a flight, not only does the airline put you on the next available flight (even if it is with a different airline) they often also give you credit for a future flight. I think the least Disney should be doing is offering us another cruise at the same time of year for the same price that we booked at. I booked super super early....got a secret porthole stateroom for $5000. Can't get that anywhere now!!!!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Ya I guess so...I didn't realize airlines had something different...because I actually brought that up when talking to Customer service at DCL...mentioning that when you get bumped off a flight, not only does the airline put you on the next available flight (even if it is with a different airline) they often also give you credit for a future flight. I think the least Disney should be doing is offering us another cruise at the same time of year for the same price that we booked at. I booked super super early....got a secret porthole stateroom for $5000. Can't get that anywhere now!!!!

The airlines have to give compensation because of Federal regulations. Cruise lines do not fall under US Federal Authority. There is also a difference between a CANCELLED flight and being bumped. If you are on a flight that is cancelled due to weather, you get nothing from the airline. If the flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons, then they do have to put you on the next flight that they can. However your being bumped from flight one does not mean you will get on flight 2, they do not have to put other passengers off for you to get a seat. The LEAST DCL can do is NOTHING. They can refund the monies that people have paid and say sorry. What they did was allow people the opportunity to rebook and give an onboard credit. As far as allowing you to book at the same price, well, the other ships have already had cabins sold and are probably not at the lowest price level. Are you saying that another passenger should be cancelled so that you (thoses who are affected) can book the cabin at a lower rate. NO matter what they do, a lot of people will be unhappy.

 

[kngtrtn]

The LEAST DCL can do is NOTHING. They can refund the monies that people have paid and say sorry. What they did was allow people the opportunity to rebook and give an onboard credit. As far as allowing you to book at the same price, well, the other ships have already had cabins sold and are probably not at the lowest price level. Are you saying that another passenger should be cancelled so that you (thoses who are affected) can book the cabin at a lower rate. NO matter what they do, a lot of people will be unhappy.

You are right under the current rules as written - The LEAST DCL can do is NOTHING!

Which is what the airlines used to do before they were forced to do better.

No - DCL would not have to cancel other guests - just offer staterooms that are not yet booked on a similar cruise for the contracted price.

I do not follow the cancel other passengers logic - sorry?

As I said they are well within thier rights as written in the terms and conditions - it is just not very customer friendly!

 

[DiMitch]

The airlines have to give compensation because of Federal regulations. Cruise lines do not fall under US Federal Authority. There is also a difference between a CANCELLED flight and being bumped. If you are on a flight that is cancelled due to weather, you get nothing from the airline. If the flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons, then they do have to put you on the next flight that they can. However your being bumped from flight one does not mean you will get on flight 2, they do not have to put other passengers off for you to get a seat. The LEAST DCL can do is NOTHING. They can refund the monies that people have paid and say sorry. What they did was allow people the opportunity to rebook and give an onboard credit. As far as allowing you to book at the same price, well, the other ships have already had cabins sold and are probably not at the lowest price level. Are you saying that another passenger should be cancelled so that you (thoses who are affected) can book the cabin at a lower rate. NO matter what they do, a lot of people will be unhappy.

That is not what I am asking DCL to do at all....obviously we don't want other's affected...I have already expressed to Disney that I am more than willing to either 1) get on another cruise going anywhere Disney Sails over Christmas week 2012 for the same price....or 2) wait for a future Christmas sailing 2013...2014...even 2015 for the same price....(which you know is unlikely with inflation.. I too am trying to compromise here....I am not just trying to be an *** about it...I am trying to come up with a fair compromise for people who's CHRISTMAS DREAMS have been slashed by the company that advertises DREAMS COME TRUE! You know I understand that you are probably here to mediate and buffer....but a great many people here have really been negativatly affected...and this is a way to vent and blow off some steam. That poor person that had a wedding booked...I mean come on. REALLY!!!! isn''t that worth a little more than $500 shipboard credit? THeir wedding cake probably cost that much.

 

[DiMitch]

You are right under the current rules as written - The LEAST DCL can do is NOTHING!

Which is what the airlines used to do before they were forced to do better.

No - DCL would not have to cancel other guests - just offer staterooms that are not yet booked on a similar cruise for the contracted price.

I do not follow the cancel other passengers logic - sorry?

As I said they are well within thier rights as written in the terms and conditions - it is just not very customer friendly!

Here here!!!!! glad you are on board with that... See my next post...I told Disney I was more than happy to wait a few years for a similar cruise at the same price....I was NOT asking them to bump other people off....how ridiculous!

 

[lucky1]

I feel your pain and it really stinks, but I think they have learned because they are offering OBC if you move your cruise. We were scheduled the 10 Night 2009 Magic cruise NYE cruise when they cancelled and made it 2 5 night Holiday cruises. (It was to celebrate 2 birthdays and it would not work on the 5 night cruises) That was the 8 months before the cruise and I heard about it first on the DIS and had my TA contact DCL. We had to find a cruise to move to and only after she asked for something did they offer a small OBC. I was so upset because we had so much planned for this vacation, I sent an email to the customer Service email on the DCL website. I did get a call from the head of customer service, but it was more to let me know he knew how disappointed I was in their option to make the change, but really there wasn't anything they could do. The only thing they offered was the small OBC and moved me to another cruise. I understand that those of us booked on that 10 night cruise, we all offered different amounts and some probably got nothing at all.

So disappointed that they have not offered any alternatives during that time period or come out with their 2013 dates for Magic and Wonder.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

DCL has made it very clear that they will try to maximize profits from each and every sailing, including taking extreme measures (allowing chartering of the ship, cancelling dates, etc.) rather than take a loss.

This is an apt demonstration of the laws of supply and demand-they have a very limited number of spaces compared to the other cruise conglomerates and they are quite popular. Accordingly, they are able to absorb the bad will engendered by these kinds of shenanigans and feel that's an acceptable loss compared to sailing a half empty ship.

To paraphrase Lily Tomlin's old routine--"We don't care. We don't have to. We're Disney Cruise Line!"

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Lucky1, do you recall if DCL would've let you keep your stateroom if you stuck with the 2 five night cruises? And would they have charged you more for the two cruises rather than the one original cruise? Just trying to get a feel for what has happened in the past. I realize that 2 five nights are not equal to the 10 night in terms of value for the ports. I'm just wondering if they even let you keep the b2b or were you outright canceled and having to start over like we Wonder cruisers are.

 

["Got Disney"]

I hope they don't remove it from the port of LA was sooooo happy to have it brought here....hope they can come up with a different cruise for it in the winter....the other cruise lines sail from LA to Hawaii in the winter all the time...10 day cruises plus......the heck with Mexico...lets do Hawaii

 

[lucky1]

Lucky1, do you recall if DCL would've let you keep your stateroom if you stuck with the 2 five night cruises? And would they have charged you more for the two cruises rather than the one original cruise? Just trying to get a feel for what has happened in the past. I realize that 2 five nights are not equal to the 10 night in terms of value for the ports. I'm just wondering if they even let you keep the b2b or were you outright canceled and having to start over like we Wonder cruisers are.

Yes, anyone who was on the 10 night cruise could keep their stateroom. But for some people who booked day 1 (that was not us), it was a higher cost, but I am not sure if they made any different offers for them. We moved ours to the 7 night Wonder NYE cruise and unfortunately our original stateroom was not available, but then they came out with cat 12 pricing on that cruise and we took a risk and moved our original booking to another date and booked cat 12 and Since that cruise was not full, we would later be pixie dusted to the original stateroom as an upgrade.


I think the big difference is they have cruises identified to replace our cancelled cruise. They haven't identified any yet to the public, to allow you to keep your same room.

 

[TiggerAllie]

I think the big difference is they have cruises identified to replace our cancelled cruise. They haven't identified any yet to the public, to allow you to keep your same room.

That is exactly the problem. It's hard to know what to do when there are 2 still-unannounced options over the same timeframe.

 

[SanDeeKath]

When the Mariner of the Seas was pulled from LA unexpectedly at the end of 2010, they cancelled 2 months of sailings. They offered each person $250 onboard credit AND offered to book another sailing on any ship in the RCCL fleet for the SAME PRICE as what we were originally paying on the Mariner. We had a February 2011 cruise booked, which was cancelled. We rebooked at the February 2011 rate for Thanksgiving 2010 in the same cabin category! It was about $1000 off the regular TGiving rate AND we got a ton of OBC. It was the right way to do it and I remain loyal to RCCL for treating us nicely despite pulling a ship from LA.

I don't think the way Disney is handling this is the right way at all. They really should have had an announcement as to what they were doing with the WOnder and MAgic when they cancelled these sailings! After all, it's 1/2 of their fleet. RCCL has some 15 ships and they still managed to let us know what was happening (even knew that Mariner was being relocated to Galveston).

Katherine

 

[CruznLexi]

I too agree that what Disney is doing is very bad. If you are going to cancel sailings you need to give a reason but then it is Disney and you do not have too. I feel very bad for all the people who have been affected by this.

 

[KMovies]

While it would have been great to know exactly what they are doing, maybe DCL was still trying to put together the replacement cruises, but at the same time, didn't want to keep selling these cruises until they could finalize the alternatives.

They should have just stopped selling the cruises and left everything as is until they decided on the replacement cruises, but again, that would still leave people hanging until the new cruises were announced.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

They were still selling the cruises as of Saturday the 17th- at least it appeared available online, albeit only verandah rooms at a high price. Clearly a decision had been made by close of business Friday to cancel starting Monday. What a crock of crap to sell cruises they had no intention of sailing.

Katherine, ITA that how Royal handled those cancellations is the right way to do business. I would be loyal to them for that too. I think that DCL should give me my rate on at least another MR cruise in the same category. At this point they refuse to do so. Or, give me enough OBC to make up most of the difference in price. OBC costs them very little and it ensures you spend it on the ship. They can guarantee that I'm going to spend XXXX dollars with them (either through fare or in the shops/bars/spa etc), or, I can use my vacation budget not with DCL.

I had planned to cruise Christmas 2012 with DCL...but now, I'm looking at Aulani instead.

 

[RedSox68]

RE: Carnival -- my girlfriend (who is a devotee of Holland America) has taken two Carnival cruises out of Baltimore and raved about the ships, the staff and the food. She is in her 60's, so not a party girl by any means

As for 2013, just spoke to my TA and she said the Med/Europe is being bantered around quite a bit for the Magic and she thinks ressies will open in the next two weeks.

 

[socababy]

Has anyone checked if the Wonder still shows as being docked in the Caribbean in late 2012/2013? I'm still holding out a little hope for a PC cruise even though I would love for her to stay on the West Coast.