Day of Cruise Cancellation and Penalty

[MEGADAN]

Just came back from our 6th Disney Cruise. Sailed the Fantasy over Thanksgiving. The cruise was almost perfect. Service, Food and Entertainment were excellent.

The cruise was just almost perfect because the day before the cruise my 20 year old Daughter developed a stomach flu that required medical attention. On the morning of the cruise, not only was she not feeling better but we knew she would be denied boarding.

We debated about not going, but right or wrong, decided to go ahead without her and she would spend Thanksgiving with her grandparents.

We technically cancelled at the pier when we told the agent that DD was not sailing. He said no problem and made a note on the booking. We forfeited 100% of the cruise fare.

When we received our folio at the end of the cruise, we had some unknown charges. A quick trip to Guest Relations and we were informed that we had been charged an additional cancellation penalty and that my son's cruise fare had been charged a single supplement fee.

I really wasn't expecting that!

I can't say I understand the reasoning behind these 2 charges. We paid full fares and we forfeited the entire cruise fare, additional charges seem excessive and unfair.

I'm not one to read all the fine print and in this case I'm not sure if I had any other options.

Has anyone had any experiences with same day cancellations and the additional fees?

[moki'smommy]

Now THAT seems excessive. The single supplement means that you pay 200% of the cruise fare portion of the ticket (but not the taxes). I'd be fighting this one--yes, you would lose your daughter's cruise fare, but that doesn't give them the right to then increase the son's! You have already paid for 2 people in the room regardless of the fact that one couldn't show up.

 

Bottom line--you should not have received any sort of refund for your daughter, but neither should you have been charged extra!

[Tonka's Skipper]

I totally agree with Moki!

 

I would fight this one.

 

I would call Disney DCL and if they don't back down It's letter writing time!

 

AKK

[Loonbeam]

You should contact them, because I am pretty sure what happened, and it can be corrected.

 

When you told them she wasn't sailing, instead of no-showing her, the rep cancelled the entire booking. Not only did that remove her from the cabin, it set the cabin to single occupancy which the accounting system then flagged as not having been surcharged.

 

Should be an easy fix.

[CI66774]

You already paid full price for the cabin so you shouldn't have to pay an additional single supplement - that's just outrageous. I'd call Disney first and contest the charges then, if not resolved, would contest them with my credit card company. No way would I pay them.

[MEGADAN]

Thanks Everyone,

I called but was told that someone has to call me back. I also emailed them. I will keep everyone posted.

I just want to clarify that we told the agent when we checked in at the pier, right before we were getting on the ship. He never mentioned anything about additional charges. They just popped up on my on-board account. This seemed odd to me, so I checked with Guest Services and they explained that I had been charged a cancellation fee plus a single supplement surcharge had been added to my son's fare. We had already paid the full balances back in September.

I just wanted to see I was missing something but I will definitely fight this.

Thanks again,

[ducklite]

Also check with your cruise insurance, you might be able to get a refund of your daughters fare.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Scrapnana]

It's bad enough charging a single for two people but charging a single for three people is ridiculous. I am hoping that DCL will do the right thing. Waiting to hear of a positive outcome on this!

[Gardeneroflove]

See, I would have reduced tips to zero and dealt with the issue on board.

 

The odds of getting your money back now are lower, esp a month later. You said you sailed over Thanksgiving and you're just now questioning the charge?

[Host Mick]

See, I would have reduced tips to zero and dealt with the issue on board.

 

The odds of getting your money back now are lower, esp a month later. You said you sailed over Thanksgiving and you're just now questioning the charge?

 

Taking it out on the crew members who worked for those tips isn't going to help anyone.

[theshowmestate]

No tipping would be bad, it's not their fault.

[moki'smommy]

See, I would have reduced tips to zero and dealt with the issue on board.

 

The odds of getting your money back now are lower, esp a month later. You said you sailed over Thanksgiving and you're just now questioning the charge?

 

Sorry--that's not fair to the hard working crew who served you during the cruise. You have an issue with DCL management--deal with it there. Stiffing the crew doesn't fix the problem and doesn't affect DCL management in the least.

 

This is one point where I'd wish I had a TA to do battle for me. We had an issue on one cruise where we were charged twice for transfers (once in advance and again to my credit card when I got home because I had ridden the bus without purchasing them!) TA's records showed original charge for transfers. DCL claimed their records did not. Eventually, TA got money back for me, but I'm convinced I never would have prevailed on my own.

[MEGADAN]

Just wanted to update everyone on this post. I received an email response from Joseph Paris, Executive Correspondent. The response was quite simply that once the took DDs name off the cabin they added a single surcharge to my DSs fare in the amount of $411.07. Therefore they charged my on board account. There is no mention of the fact that they collected 100% of the double occupancy fare. They did mention that they had refunded my DDs government taxes. Yay!

I hate writing letters because then you open yourself up to these canned responses but now I am just angry. I really can't understand why there would be a need to charge the single supplement when the room is paid for as if two guests were on-board. I am also curious what would have happened if we had cancelled altogether. Would they have charged my credit card?

My Travel Agent received the same response. I think I am going to have to continue arguing this because it just seems unfair.

[ducklite]

I would dispute this with your credit card.

 

 

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[MEGADAN]

I would dispute this with your credit card.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

 

No sure if I can. They charged my on-board account. We had 2 cabins and we did sail with me and my DH in one cabin and my DS in the other. They charged my on-board account not my credit card directly.

[ducklite]

No sure if I can. They charged my on-board account. We had 2 cabins and we did sail with me and my DH in one cabin and my DS in the other. They charged my on-board account not my credit card directly.

 

 

If you paid the in oars account with the credit card, they charged your credit card.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Talex831]

Call, call, call and call again. There is no additional single passenger supplement above paying 200%. I would have stood at guest services onboard until they fixed it.

 

 

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[1025cruise]

Not to play devil's advocate, but unfortunately, I think DCL is in the right.

You cancelled within the 100% cancellation period, therefore you forfeited the one payment. At that time, that triggered the other cabin occupant to be labelled as a single cabin, which therefore triggered the solo supplement. At this point, the people you should be talking to are your travel insurance folks. Hopefully, you purchased insurance. I would assume that your daughter's illness would qualify as a covered reason.

 

Just to note, I'm not saying I agree with the decision, but unfortunately, I don't think you have a case.

[Host Mick]

Not to play devil's advocate, but unfortunately, I think DCL is in the right.

You cancelled within the 100% cancellation period, therefore you forfeited the one payment. At that time, that triggered the other cabin occupant to be labelled as a single cabin, which therefore triggered the solo supplement. At this point, the people you should be talking to are your travel insurance folks. Hopefully, you purchased insurance. I would assume that your daughter's illness would qualify as a covered reason.

 

Just to note, I'm not saying I agree with the decision, but unfortunately, I don't think you have a case.

 

I see your point but there's something inherently wrong with paying for essentially three full fares for one person after one other person cancels.

[CI66774]

In no way should you be end up paying more than full double occupancy payment. It makes no sense whatsoever. You paid the full double occupancy amount, then you cancelled for one. The full payment already had been paid. Disney is being unjustly enriched in that you have paid more than the full amount. I would dispute this with my credit card company. There is no way I would be paying this ridiculous charge.

[1025cruise]

I see your point but there's something inherently wrong with paying for essentially three full fares for one person after one other person cancels.

 

As I said, I don't necessarily agree with the logic, but I think it is what it is. With that said, I wonder what would have happened if the OP just told them at check in that the missing party was traveling on their own and they just happened to miss the ship, versus telling them that she wouldn't be coming.

[moki'smommy]

DCL should not be unduly enriching themselves. They have been paid for a 2 person room. While I understand the logic of what they did, there is no way they should be paid for 3 people when only one cruises.

 

Yes, it is probably a paperwork shuffle issue. If the second person was a "no show," they likely would not have canceled that reservation (the person didn't cancel, just didn't show up...and there have been issues of people catching up with the ship at another port!) I do know that if a person/family is a no show and doesn't contact DCL, their cabin is held empty for them rather than being sold as an upgrade or whatever. So you'd have a "no show" which would not have triggered a single person supplement for the remaining person in the cabin. DCL gets 2 fares, one person cruises. That's fair. 3 fares for one cruiser is just wrong.

[Talex831]

Not to play devil's advocate, but unfortunately, I think DCL is in the right.

You cancelled within the 100% cancellation period, therefore you forfeited the one payment. At that time, that triggered the other cabin occupant to be labelled as a single cabin, which therefore triggered the solo supplement. At this point, the people you should be talking to are your travel insurance folks. Hopefully, you purchased insurance. I would assume that your daughter's illness would qualify as a covered reason.

 

Just to note, I'm not saying I agree with the decision, but unfortunately, I don't think you have a case.

 

But had the daughter showed up at the port, then denied boarding, would that charge show up? Somehow I don't think so, so where is the difference? If mom never told them she wasn't coming and was a no show would there be a charge? I think the person checking you in made the mistake of entering her as cancelled. That explanation of her not boarding (cancelled) seems to be the problem here.

 

 

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[1025cruise]

I don't know what would have happened if the daughter showed up and was denied boarding.

 

Again, I'm not saying I agree with the stance that the OP needs to pay these additional charges, I'm just voicing that DCL has the right to do so. Again, the OP should be taking this up with their travel insurance.

[Talex831]

Somehow, I suspect if there was insurance, there wouldn't be an issue as they could have put in a claim for the daughter's fare.

 

 

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