Coronavirus and DCL Megathread - Suspension of Departures for the fleet until early November. Booking only available from early December.

I know, right? How is quick service on the dining plan affected?

They are supposedly (per TA email but not released on public site yet) giving us former free dining people 35% off room only if you move your trip to after September, but not eager for my kids to miss more school, and frankly, nothing close to free dining savings and not much better than the usual 25% room only discount. Ugh.

Also annoying that you would have to move your reservation... you mentioned August so its not like they won't be fairly open by the time you go. I get they want to send people to a less crowded time but I imagine a lot of people are going to cancel anyway. Many people seem unhappy with the idea of the shortened hours, having to wear masks, no parades or fireworks...maybe they have an estimated guess that some of those will come back by September?
 
How does everyone feel about if some August cruises will sail? I’m honestly hoping they cancel at this point, personally. What scares me is that I’m a Castaway only cruise, no actual foreign ports....
 
Also annoying that you would have to move your reservation... you mentioned August so its not like they won't be fairly open by the time you go. I get they want to send people to a less crowded time but I imagine a lot of people are going to cancel anyway. Many people seem unhappy with the idea of the shortened hours, having to wear masks, no parades or fireworks...maybe they have an estimated guess that some of those will come back by September?
Actually, I believe that Disney NEEDS people to cancel in July and August; Disney is not taking new hotel reservations, for example.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/tra...0200529-mz3k2ikcrve5lgir3t3xr4bw2q-story.html
I suspect that under the restrictions that Disney needs to operate under, they already have more guests than they can accommodate. So they are hoping many people will voluntarily delay trips or cancel entirely, as their worst case scenario is having people arrive at the World who they can't let in under these restrictions.

Maybe Disney will be allowed to increase guests down the line, but I wouldn't bet anything on it until we have a medical breakthrough available. And I suspect that until Disney is able to increase the number of people in the parks, we won't hear any word of cruises resuming.
 


If I was a gambler, I'd put a lot of money on all August cruises being canceled.
I'm set to cruise in August and I've come to accept that it will not be a go. This will end up being my second one that has been canceled and at this point....judging by how different WDW will be for the foreseable future there's no incentive for me to cruise right now.

I want to be a distant observer to see how DCL will handle things.
 


I'm set to cruise in August and I've come to accept that it will not be a go. This will end up being my second one that has been canceled and at this point....judging by how different WDW will be for the foreseable future there's no incentive for me to cruise right now.

I want to be a distant observer to see how DCL will handle things.

I am pretty sure our August cruise will be cancelled too. I was hopeful when Universal announced its reopening but Disney World’s announcement tells me they are not interested in really reopening. Doesn’t bode well for my Disney stock (or my sanity).
 
I knew my August Alaska cruise would be canceled but the announcement today made me really sad. :(

As for WDW, I don't know what else they could do. They have to open under certain conditions or not open at all. As a local, I'm really worried about the influx of tourists, and fear Universal is going to have a lot of problems with their opening.
 
I knew my August Alaska cruise would be canceled but the announcement today made me really sad. :(

As for WDW, I don't know what else they could do. They have to open under certain conditions or not open at all. As a local, I'm really worried about the influx of tourists, and fear Universal is going to have a lot of problems with their opening.
When is your cruise? How do you know it's cancelled? (have an August Magic cruise)
 
Ah, that, but they did that before and then it took DCL a long time to cancel those cruises (unfortunately), we're close to our PIF date and are going to move our cruise today, that's why I jumped in the idea of Alaskan cruises being cancelled by DCL.
 
We're scheduled to go on our first Disney cruise in September and anticipate it being canceled. We're just hoping that we're offered a discount to rebook. Disney cruises aren't cheap.
 
Ah, that, but they did that before and then it took DCL a long time to cancel those cruises (unfortunately), we're close to our PIF date and are going to move our cruise today, that's why I jumped in the idea of Alaskan cruises being cancelled by DCL.

When they did it before this was all still new so I hope that was what caused the delay... we'll see if they've gotten more efficient at it or still prefer to drag their heels.
 
I don't know all the logistics, but could Disney move the departure port for Alaska cruises to Seattle or even San Diego (probably have to add an extra sea day) since the Wonder is already there? It would definitely warrant no-penalty cancellations for current guests. Maybe that is just too much effort.
 
We just PIF for the 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Diego in late September as our PIF date is tomorrow. I'm curious everybody's thoughts on the likelihood of the following scenarios:

1. DCL cancels all cruises through the fall, we are offered a full refund or the 125% credit.
2. DCL operates but amenities are noticeably curtailed, i.e., no deck parties, no atrium parties, no character meets, limited club hours and capacity limitations in certain high traffic areas (Atrium, pool deck, Cabanas, etc.) Disney also runs ships at a reduced capacity (like 30-50%, similar to the theme parks) and takes volunteers to move to a latter cruise date like they are doing with WDW resort reservations.
3. DCL operates 100% normally by late September.

I lay these out in order of what I think is likely to happen. We're rolling the dice on either #1 or #2 to try and get the 125% credit. The last thing we want is to be "stuck" in a scenario like #2 but not be able to at least move our cruise to a later credit and retain all of what we paid. It's frustrating that the airlines have been more transparent than DCL about cancellation policies though the end of 2020. :/
 
I don't know all the logistics, but could Disney move the departure port for Alaska cruises to Seattle or even San Diego (probably have to add an extra sea day) since the Wonder is already there? It would definitely warrant no-penalty cancellations for current guests. Maybe that is just too much effort.
I don’t think so. DCL isn’t registered in the US, so they must hit at least 1 port not in the US. That’s why they have to go to Canada
 
Canada closed their port for large ships.

No just the ports, but Canadian waters as a whole.

Per this CBC article (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cruise-ship-october-1.5589821) :

QUOTE <bold added by me>

Large cruise ships won't be able to dock at any of Canada's ports until at least the fall as the federal government extends its safety measure to limit the number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Canada.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced the extension during a news conference on Friday morning. In March, Ottawa had announced a ban on cruise ships carrying more than 500 passengers until July 1.

Now, cruise ships with overnight accommodations carrying more than 100 people will be prohibited from operating in Canadian waters until Oct. 31. All other passenger vessels will have to follow regional health authority rules when it comes to timelines, said Garneau.

Beginning July 1, passenger vessels will be allowed to operate in inland rivers and lakes in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon, but vessels with the capacity to carry more than 12 people continued to be banned from entering Arctic coastal waters until the end of October, said the minister.

Companies caught violating the new rules could be fined up to $25,000 per day and individuals would be on the hook for $5,000.

END QUOTE
 

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