7 Night Sailings Turned into 4 Night

[Caropooh]

Prorated refund, $400 OBC, and 25% off a future cruise? That's pretty darn good.

I have a $200 OBC for booking on board a few years ago (seems like forever). With an additional $400, I will have to figure out how to spend it all in a 4 day cruise with no excursions. (I also have a Travel Agent credit, but it is small compared to these 2.)

How good of a deal this is will totally depend on how they calculate the prorated refund.

I also wish the 25% off was able to be used in 2023.

Remember, it's $400.00 OBC per stateroom, not per person!

 

[ThinkTink1]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but just received this. We were on the Fantasy 10/2 cruise to Virgin Islands.

All of us at Disney Cruise Line hope you and your family are staying well. We are reaching out with important information about your upcoming sailing aboard the Disney Fantasy.
As we welcome Guests aboard our ships, the health and safety of our Guests, Cast Members and Crew Members is a top priority. We are resuming sailing in a gradual, phased approach that emphasizes multiple layers of health and safety measures, developed considering guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts.
As part of our phased approach, we have modified select 7-night Disney Fantasy sailings into 4-night sailings. Your sailing is now a 4-night sailing featuring a day at sea and two stops at our private island, Castaway Cay.
We will refund the difference in the cost of your voyage fare, taxes, fees, and port expenses, and Vacation Protection Plan, if applicable, to reflect the new itinerary. As a thank you for sailing with us on the 4-night cruise, each stateroom will receive a $400 non-refundable onboard credit that can be used toward onboard purchases. In addition to the onboard credit, Guests that remain on their original sail date will also receive a 25% discount* that can be applied to most future sailings taken by September 30, 2022. This discount will be available to add to a future booking once you return from your 4-night sailing.
We ask that you call us at 1-866-352-6685 or 407-566-7797 between August 25th and August 30th, 2021 to let us know if you will remain on this revised itinerary. If you prefer, you also have the option to move to another sail date, or cancel your reservation and receive a full refund back to the original form of payment.
While we are making changes to your sailing, your reservation will not be visible on DisneyCruise.com or via the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. Updated confirmations with pricing and itinerary details will be sent to each reservation by August 25, 2021.
Please be sure to review the information available on the Know Before You Go section of our website to understand our health and safety protocols and boarding requirements, as well as find answers to many frequently asked questions.
We look forward to welcoming you aboard soon.

Sincerely,

The Cast and Crew
Disney Cruise Line

Yikes we are booked for that cruise too and I am actually leaving this Fri for a back to back on the Dream with the exact same itinerary … I used a TA so I won’t get this email but I have a question…. Are they doing the amount of OBC for everyone equally…. Meaning if I’ve booked an Oceanview will I get $400 as well just because some cruise line do their OBC based on the category you are in…TIA

 

[vrneuroh]

Yikes we are booked for that cruise too and I am actually leaving this Fri for a back to back on the Dream with the exact same itinerary … I used a TA so I won’t get this email but I have a question…. Are they doing the amount of OBC for everyone equally…. Meaning if I’ve booked an Oceanview will I get $400 as well just because some cruise line do their OBC based on the category you are in…TIA

Reading the updated info on DCL's site, it is $400 for all staterooms if you stick with the change of itinerary.

 

[Caropooh]

Yikes we are booked for that cruise too and I am actually leaving this Fri for a back to back on the Dream with the exact same itinerary … I used a TA so I won’t get this email but I have a question…. Are they doing the amount of OBC for everyone equally…. Meaning if I’ve booked an Oceanview will I get $400 as well just because some cruise line do their OBC based on the category you are in…TIA

Reading the updated info on DCL's site, it is $400 for all staterooms if you stick with the change of itinerary.

"As a thank you for sailing with us on the 4-night cruise, each stateroom will receive a $400 non-refundable onboard credit that can be used toward onboard purchases. " That's quoted directly from the email I received this morning.

 

[Tierial13]

I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of this. My wife and I were taking our first ever cruise on the October 2 Fantasy sailing and we were notified this morning about the changes. I know Disney is in a tough spot with COVID and they seem to be trying to make things right for guests, but we're still trying to decide whether or not to cancel entirely.

On the surface, the refund of the price difference (which is a given), the $400 shipboard credit and the 25% discount seem pretty good. But after a bit more research, I'm not sure this is such a good deal -- at least in our case. I know we can probably spend the $400 credit, but we weren't really planning on buying much of anything on the ship. It's a definite perk, but not necessarily one we were looking for.

The bigger issue for us is the 25% discount for a future cruise. Our notification just says its good for "most" cruises, but it doesn't tell you which ones. Also, it's only good through September 2022, which IMO is not good enough. Since we were sailing in October, that gives us less than a year to use the discount. Also, I played around with the website some this morning and a lot of the availability was only for the cheapest inside cabins. I'm not a cruising expert by any means, but if I understand the system, when the cruises come out the higher-tier cruisers get first option of booking the nicer rooms. Since these have been out a while, the nicer rooms are already picked over. IMO, Disney should allow the discount to go to October 2023.

Maybe I'm just feeling frustrated with all of this. We had a Rhone River cruise with Adventures By Disney last year (another first for us) and it was cancelled due to COVID. Unfortunately, we paid for the trip with gift cards. It seemed really smart at the time since we saved enough to offset the cost of travel insurance but since COVID has wreaked so much havoc, we're sitting on a ton of gift cards that we want to use up. This cruise was going to at least burn a few of the gift cards up and now we may be right back to the drawing board.

*sigh* First world problems.

 

[orum]

Remember, it's $400.00 OBC per stateroom, not per person!

Yes, but spending $600 ($200 for booking the original cruise on board + $400 for this change in itinerary) in on board credits without excursions seems tough to me for a 4 day cruise.

 

[DisneYE]

this will see a ton of cancelations.
Imagine flying from the west coast, a 4-5 hour flight into FL to only sail 4 nights.
If I'm in or close to FL, I'd still take the cruise but I'd cancel in heartbeat if I'm flying from the west coast or NE.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

this will see a ton of cancelations.
Imagine flying from the west coast, a 4-5 hour flight into FL to only sail 4 nights.
If I'm in or close to FL, I'd still take the cruise but I'd cancel in heartbeat if I'm flying from the west coast or NE.

Yet people do it constantly for Dream sailings- 7 day sailings get a very different clientele than the 3/4 day sailings-

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Yet people do it constantly for Dream sailings- 7 day sailings get a very different clientele than the 3/4 day sailings-

Often they link to a park visit. I think the challenge for people trying to zig to that instead with their flights for the 7-night will be hotel availability. I suspect (this is a spitball) many DCL cruisers prefer on-property.

 

[Lynes88]

Yes, but spending $600 ($200 for booking the original cruise on board + $400 for this change in itinerary) in on board credits without excursions seems tough to me for a 4 day cruise.

You could use that amount of Credit in the Jewelry store in less that 7 seconds!

 

[mcd2745]

Yes, but spending $600 ($200 for booking the original cruise on board + $400 for this change in itinerary) in on board credits without excursions seems tough to me for a 4 day cruise.

The gratuities take care of a good chunk of that. Add a meal at Palo or Remy and it's pretty much done.

 

[orum]

The gratuities take care of a good chunk of that. Add a meal at Palo or Remy and it's pretty much done.

Suggested gratuities for a 4 night cruise for 2 people is $108. We have never done Palo or Remy, and enjoy MDR, so we weren't planning on picking up any of those reservations.

 

[Cliffside]

highly unlikely

I hope so…we are booked on the Maiden on the Wish..which is sold out

 

[kathi]

I read they are not adding 3-night cruises between which is my problem. I want a 7-night cruise, my airfare and WDW stay are predicated on a 7-night cruise. I’d happily turn it into a B2B but it sounds like that is not going to be an option.

 

[Jacq7414]

I’m already on the edge of cancelling if this is the change to our cruise next year I’m 100% cancelling.

 

[Cheburashka]

I'm confused by this change. Either cruising is safe or it's not.

It isn't safe, but the show must go on at some point.

 

[Cheburashka]

The gratuities take care of a good chunk of that. Add a meal at Palo or Remy and it's pretty much done.

It depends on how many people are sailing. For a party of 2, gratuities on a 4-night cruise are only about $100. A meal at Palo for 2 would be another $100. Still plenty of spending cash left. Even if it were a family of four, it's unlikely that all 4 would be over 18 & able to dine at Palo. So it doesn't disappear that easily unless you're drinkers or tend to buy a lot of souvenirs.

 

[tvguy]

Will things be back to normal by September 2022?

Boy, I sure hope so.
However, I am the DIS board resident pessimist, whose predictions in since March of 2020 have been overly optimistic in hindsight.

 

[anjuan]

Another point is that for those that are thinking about adding on a Disney World trip in place of the 3 days lost is that it is the 50th Anniversary in October and hotels are either booked or very expensive so that may not be an option for some.

 

[mcd2745]

It depends on how many people are sailing. For a party of 2, gratuities on a 4-night cruise are only about $100. A meal at Palo for 2 would be another $100. Still plenty of spending cash left. Even if it were a family of four, it's unlikely that all 4 would be over 18 & able to dine at Palo. So it doesn't disappear that easily unless you're drinkers or tend to buy a lot of souvenirs.

It's a problem I'd like to have.