Extremely upset with DCL!

[katiel12]

I use the Touring Plans site. Here is the link: http://touringplans.com/disney-cruise-line/tools/fare-tracker

[mividajp]

Thanks Schmoo! I've never heard of Cruise Fish. I'm going to put that one in my cruise files. Do you know if those are DCL prices or from a particular travel company?

[Shmoo here]

Thanks Shmoo! I've never heard of Cruise Fish. I'm going to put that one in my cruise files. Do you know if those are DCL prices or from a particular travel company?

 

Don't know for sure, but I'm 98% sure they are DCL prices. DCL doesn't allow TAs to discount their prices.

 

And you don't have to join it to find the info. Just click on "Finder" and use the pull down menus on the left to find specific cruises. When you get to the price page for whatever cruise you're looking up, just hover over the price and it will show the opening day prices and subsequent increases by date.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Shmoo here

[Loonbeam]

You don't need to post to follow... You can just subscribe to the thread (under thread tools) and then see updates under User CP

 

Following...

[Loonbeam]

Unfortunately I have seen this on almost every other line too (RCCL and Cruises to Nowhere currently come to mind..) - it has to do with the fact a lot of them used home based agents, who have a habit of answering what they think people want to hear. I expect better from Disney normally but always have to remember that DCL is separate from the parks...

 

With that said, from a strictly contractual standpoint its going to be a tough win. Special events come under the clause in the passage contract about Disney being able to modify the sailing in pretty much any way without obligation. From a customer service standard, they should try to accommodate (even on board credit for the difference maybe), but it needs to be said that they are not required to...

 

Schmoo, if you don't mind me asking, are you a DCL rep? I've been around and around with DCL at this point and was told only DCL reps have access to that info. It's good to know. I appreciate you putting it up there.

 

At this point I'm getting disillusioned with DCL. I'm getting so much misinformation. They tell me one thing, I go to confirm it, find out it's not "exactly" true, call them back to let them know what I've found out and they start back tracking. They didn't say "that", I misunderstood and then there's a brand new excuse. At this point, it is what it is, we'll go on this cruise and enjoy our time together as a family.

 

I will say that unless we are completely blown away by DCL, we probably won't book another DCL cruise. I would rather somebody just tell me straight up what's going on, even if it's "No, we won't do it because we don't want to and don't have to" than making up some fake excuse they think will placate me.

 

Thanks for everybody's response and help. I'm ready to go on the cruise and soak up some sun and sea air

[Ex techie]

We were booked on the Fantasy for Sept 12-19. I recently found out through back channels that this is going to be a Halloween cruise. I called DCL directly and they confirmed that it was going to be a Halloween cruise.

 

We do NOT do Halloween. DCL has not officially announced what cruises are Halloween cruises. We booked this cruise in April.

 

I feel like Disney completely misrepresented our cruise and we should be able to switch our cruise without paying the difference between what we paid in April compared to what the cruise is now.

 

We want to switch our cruise to the sailing right before ours. We're not asking for an upgrade, we're not asking for OBC. We're just asking for the cruise that we were told we were buying. I didn't buy a Halloween cruise. Disney is refusing to budge.

 

This seems like a simple request to me. Why is Disney being so uncooperative? If I had bought a product from them on line and they shipped me a different product, then the mistake would have been corrected immediately with apologies.

 

What am I missing??

mividajp,

 

Sorry for my previous post.

 

But if your religious convictions or beliefs are so binding that you would move cruises, why did you book a cruise during a sector of the year when Halloween is celebrated without DCL officially publishing the dates of the HOTHS if it is so important that you not be onboard?

Surely the onus is on you to only book a cruise on dates that have been officially stated and comply with your religion and or view if you are so determined to not cruise on them and not the cruise lines responsibility?

 

And therefore why should the cruise line move you to another cruise (at their cost of lost revenue) because you choose not to sail on the now published dates?

 

I really do not understand your reference to a coffee mug and a sippy cup.

You are sailing on the dates you booked, on the ship you booked, on the itinerary you booked, so you are getting the product you booked.

All that has changed is the ship may look slightly different in some spaces (Atrium, deck stage), but you are not getting a sippy cup instead of a coffee mug.

You are getting a limited edition edition coffee mug for which you can ask for a full refund, and purchase the regular coffee mug at a later date.

 

I'm an Atheist, but if my personal views on something along the lines of your strong religious convictions and or beliefs are that adamant that you would change cruising dates, I fail to see why you didn't check, check and check again with a variety of sources everyday since you booked that the unannounced HOTHS dates had not been leaked or announced until just recently?

 

ex techie

[thefamilyoffive]

OP,

 

We sailed a HOTHS cruise on the Dream last September. Except for the window clings and the tree in the atrium, there was little sign of it. There are so many activities are available during your cruise, the HOTHS would not have caused disruption of your cruise.

 

IMHO, you have reacted too quickly without knowing the full extent of the theming. While I understand you are upset, I don't see how you should expect DCL to move you to another, more expensive cruise, while honoring the pricing of your lower cost, off-season sailing. The pricing stays the same if you change categories on the same cruise, not if you change sailing dates. Imagine how many would try this if DCL were to allow no-cost changes due to dislike of theme, movies onboard, forecasted weather, endless possible scenarios.

 

Here's hoping that you have a fun family vacation and that you enjoy all the Mickey bars a weeklong cruise can provide.

[Kmangel]

mividajp,

 

 

 

if your religious convictions or beliefs are so binding that you would move cruises, why did you book a cruise during a sector of the year when Halloween is celebrated?

 

Halloween is on October 31.

 

I went on a Disney cruise mid October and I enjoyed all the decorations. I looked forward to dressing up as a pirate. It was a bit difficult at the time for me as I had only just broken my foot and was tooling around the ship on a scooter, but I still got dressed up as a pirate wench. No way was I going to miss out on any fun. However, if I had reserved a cruise in September, I wouldn't have had any notion that there would be Halloween decorations on board. I don't have any religious restrictions, but I do believe it is a bit over kill to pull out the decorations for any holiday months in advance. I am tired of seeing Christmas in August. IMO you don't really appreciate the decorations when you've been looking at them for months and months. Same with Halloween. I personally would prefer to see Halloween decorations only in October. Now if the decorations are fall themed related, I could go for that, but leave the jack-o-lanterns for October.

[Shmoo here]

OP,

 

We sailed a HOTHS cruise on the Dream last September. Except for the window clings and the tree in the atrium, there was little sign of it. ....

 

We, also were on the Dream last September. Besides the tree (which was a bare tree on embarkation, sprouting pumpkins by the end of the cruise) and the jack-o-lantern window decorations, there were spider-web designs on the front of the Guest Services desk as well as the Bon Voyage bar. And black and orange bunting with Mickey Pumpkin heads hung around the whole atrium (2 decks worth). Not to mention the "ghost host" who made many of the announcements onboard. Pretty hard to miss, IMO.

 

 

Halloween is on October 31.

 

...if I had reserved a cruise in September, I wouldn't have had any notion that there would be Halloween decorations on board. I don't have any religious restrictions, but I do believe it is a bit over kill to pull out the decorations for any holiday months in advance. I am tired of seeing Christmas in August. IMO you don't really appreciate the decorations when you've been looking at them for months and months. Same with Halloween. I personally would prefer to see Halloween decorations only in October. Now if the decorations are fall themed related, I could go for that, but leave the jack-o-lanterns for October.

 

This I agree with - October is plenty. We prefer the "regular" DCL cruises. Not the ones that are heavily themed.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Shmoo here

[skittl1321]

Halloween is on October 31.

 

But Disney is well known for celebrating Halloween way more than just on October 31.

[Ex techie]

Halloween is on October 31.

 

I went on a Disney cruise mid October and I enjoyed all the decorations. I looked forward to dressing up as a pirate. It was a bit difficult at the time for me as I had only just broken my foot and was tooling around the ship on a scooter, but I still got dressed up as a pirate wench. No way was I going to miss out on any fun. However, if I had reserved a cruise in September, I wouldn't have had any notion that there would be Halloween decorations on board. I don't have any religious restrictions, but I do believe it is a bit over kill to pull out the decorations for any holiday months in advance. I am tired of seeing Christmas in August. IMO you don't really appreciate the decorations when you've been looking at them for months and months. Same with Halloween. I personally would prefer to see Halloween decorations only in October. Now if the decorations are fall themed related, I could go for that, but leave the jack-o-lanterns for October.

 

I absolutely agree with you about how early seasonal celebration decorations are put up, and how it dilutes the appreciation of the day or period. However, not so much here, but if you visit the Disboards, all year round people post asking how early the Christmas decorations will be up and if in time for their cruise, so there is a demand for them to be up before Thanksgiving.

 

As I said before, if your religious convictions are that strong, why book a cruise before the dates are announced or cruise in that period of the year period?

 

ex techie

[Vacationdreamer<><]

We were booked on the Fantasy for Sept 12-19. I recently found out through back channels that this is going to be a Halloween cruise. I called DCL directly and they confirmed that it was going to be a Halloween cruise.

 

 

 

We do NOT do Halloween. DCL has not officially announced what cruises are Halloween cruises. We booked this cruise in April.

 

 

 

I feel like Disney completely misrepresented our cruise and we should be able to switch our cruise without paying the difference between what we paid in April compared to what the cruise is now.

 

 

 

We want to switch our cruise to the sailing right before ours. We're not asking for an upgrade, we're not asking for OBC. We're just asking for the cruise that we were told we were buying. I didn't buy a Halloween cruise. Disney is refusing to budge.

 

 

 

This seems like a simple request to me. Why is Disney being so uncooperative? If I had bought a product from them on line and they shipped me a different product, then the mistake would have been corrected immediately with apologies.

 

 

 

What am I missing??

 

 

OP - I'm not reading the other replies. But I'm sorry. I'd be very upset, as well.

I hope you got this all worked out.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Vacationdreamer<><

[saleeb]

I'm glad I read this post because I never imagined that Halloween would be celebrated in September. In fact, that is why we were choosing to sail in September. I also didn't see anything advertised about Halloween at all when going to the booking website. We have never sailed on DCL before and so we are obviously new to this but I was shocked when I read this post. My 3 year old saw the one picture of the pumpkin tree that someone posted here and started to hide his face saying that the tree was creepy. After reading this thread, I did a google search to see where the dates were relayed and I did find them but they are NOT listed on the booking website. I feel this is wrong and I am so discouraged. Thankfully, we hadn't booked yet. Thank you to the original poster.