DCL website,Update: 12/15/09 Barcelona/August 2011Med trips changed to 7 nights

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We are booked on the 7/30 Med cruise and had not heard of the changes until I read the disboards last night. I booked through Dreams Unlimited, so I emailed them this morning. My TA emailed back that she had been on vacation and just got back yesterday. She just acknowledged that she received my email, no info. It is just killing me knowing we are booked on a cruise and paid $3600.00 in deposits and have no idea the total cost of the cruise. Anyone know how the prices compare to the original 11 night cruise. I booked right away when the 11 nighter was released so thought I got a good deal.

I was on that cruise as well and dissapointed at the way it was communicated, basically this thread had far more (correct) information on it than DCL provided.

The 7 night cruises, pro-rata are more expensive, if you look at a perday basis, note you get more ports in fewer days so port charges will increase.

I got my refund on my credit card on the 16th so two days after cancellation, have a stack of cruise brochures to review to consider options, albeit there 2010 as 2011 not out at this time.

 

[Anal Annie]

I was on that cruise as well and dissapointed at the way it was communicated, basically this thread had far more (correct) information on it than DCL provided.

The 7 night cruises, pro-rata are more expensive, if you look at a perday basis, note you get more ports in fewer days so port charges will increase.
I got my refund on my credit card on the 16th so two days after cancellation, have a stack of cruise brochures to review to consider options, albeit there 2010 as 2011 not out at this time.

Actually, on a per night basis the new releases are similarly priced to the old ones. Our orig. 10 night cruise booked for Aug 10 in a Cat 10 (after our rebooking disc.) was working out to be $186 pp per night. When we flipped to the July 20 one after we heard about the pending changes, it went UP to $199 pp per night for the same cabin. Pricing out the new 7 n cruise on Aug. 13 my math (after our disc.) puts the same cabin at only $183 pp per night which is the cheapest scenario of all.

We are still debating what to do. We've just been too busy to discuss it much & I haven't had time to do any real research on the ports so we can make an informed decision. I think Palma might be more to our liking than Corsica...

I haven't discussed our options or pricing yet with our TA (Sue Ellen at DU) as I know she just got off the Magic yesterday & with the snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic shutting down most of the airports Saturday she was staying in FL until she could get home. I believe if we switch from 10 n to 7 n we would lose $150 of the DU Onboard Credit ($250 for the 10 n vs $100 for the 7 n in a Cat 10). I think we would still have $200 from DCL as part of our rebooking incentive... This is a really hard decision for me.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Actually, on a per night basis the new releases are similarly priced to the old ones. Our orig. 10 night cruise booked for Aug 10 in a Cat 10 (after our rebooking disc.) was working out to be $186 pp per night. When we flipped to the July 20 one after we heard about the pending changes, it went UP to $199 pp per night for the same cabin. Pricing out the new 7 n cruise on Aug. 13 my math (after our disc.) puts the same cabin at only $183 pp per night which is the cheapest scenario of all.

We are still debating what to do. We've just been too busy to discuss it much & I haven't had time to do any real research on the ports so we can make an informed decision. I think Palma might be more to our liking than Corsica...

I haven't discussed our options or pricing yet with our TA (Sue Ellen at DU) as I know she just got off the Magic yesterday & with the snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic shutting down most of the airports Saturday she was staying in FL until she could get home. I believe if we switch from 10 n to 7 n we would lose $150 of the DU Onboard Credit ($250 for the 10 n vs $100 for the 7 n in a Cat 10). I think we would still have $200 from DCL as part of our rebooking incentive... This is a really hard decision for me.

Understand,

I was pricing up, higher Cat's and suites at it appeared there is an increase on the per day cost.

IMHO Corsica would have been far better than Palma, Palma is a modern city, and whilst there is a great Cathedral, the best beauty is outside the city. Either going to the North, through the Orange groves, -best on the Porto Stoller train, or to beaches on the East side like Porto Pollensa or Alcudia, both fantastic beaches, but an hour by motorway from Palma. The shops in Palma are the modern ones.

 

[Anal Annie]

Understand,

I was pricing up, higher Cat's and suites at it appeared there is an increase on the per day cost.

All the more reason to book steerage!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Actually, on a per night basis the new releases are similarly priced to the old ones. .

Understand,

I was pricing up, higher Cat's and suites at it appeared there is an increase on the per day cost.

It seems to just vary a lot overall. We had cat. 11s (booked withing minutes of opening as our TA lucked out and got right in--I had emails from her less than an hour after ressies could be made) and the price went up by $42-46 per person per night depending on which dates we looked at. So, aproximately $170 per night total which adds up for what was to be a 21 night trip. We wanted the sea days and the extra ports so it seems silly to have to pay more to lose those things.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

All the more reason to book steerage!!

I wouldn't call it that, but DCL does seem to rank up the higher room costs nowadays, I was looking at Cat 12s and they are so so much cheaper than Cat 11's for an example.

Now on longer cruises 7 nights and more people book more verandahs in fact they sell far quicker. 3/4 night cruises inside rooms go first.

 

[4disneykids]

Sorry if this has been answered already, but has disney ever stated a reason why for the switch from 11 to 7 nights? Did they give the people who had already booked the 11 nighter any added incentive to keep their reservation and switch to the 7 nighter? As I had posted earlier I had not been notified, my TA has been on vacation so I am still a little shocked. Just not sure what to do, it seems a long way to travel for only 7 nights plus I was excited about Malta and Tunisia. My dad and his wife also booked this cruise, also not informed of the changes, so I went in to do a dummy booking for them and it costs more for the 7 night then they had booked for the 11. I am guessing DCL is pricing at a different tier level now, I am assuming we got the lowest price tier when we were switched?? I hope!! It is going to be hard to decide what to do..

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Sorry if this has been answered already, but has Disney ever stated a reason why for the switch from 11 to 7 nights? Did they give the people who had already booked the 11 nighter any added incentive to keep their reservation and switch to the 7 nighter? As I had posted earlier I had not been notified, my TA has been on vacation so I am still a little shocked. Just not sure what to do, it seems a long way to travel for only 7 nights plus I was excited about Malta and Tunisia. My dad and his wife also booked this cruise, also not informed of the changes, so I went in to do a dummy booking for them and it costs more for the 7 night then they had booked for the 11. I am guessing DCL is pricing at a different tier level now, I am assuming we got the lowest price tier when we were switched?? I hope!! It is going to be hard to decide what to do..

There has been very little information from DCL on this, and they of course wouldn't admit it, the first reason is slow bookings, the next is with a 'joint boss' with Adventures by Disney, there is a desire to offer new partnerships between the two, to cross sell, and bring in more money.

Why, release one set of cruises, and then a month or two later, pull them and change them, cant be explained, apart from poor organisation.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Sorry if this has been answered already, but has disney ever stated a reason why for the switch from 11 to 7 nights? Did they give the people who had already booked the 11 nighter any added incentive to keep their reservation and switch to the 7 nighter? As I had posted earlier I had not been notified, my TA has been on vacation so I am still a little shocked. Just not sure what to do, it seems a long way to travel for only 7 nights plus I was excited about Malta and Tunisia. My dad and his wife also booked this cruise, also not informed of the changes, so I went in to do a dummy booking for them and it costs more for the 7 night then they had booked for the 11. I am guessing DCL is pricing at a different tier level now, I am assuming we got the lowest price tier when we were switched?? I hope!! It is going to be hard to decide what to do..

Ditto to what Andrew UK said and to answer your otehr question, no DCL did not offer any insentives to those already booked on 11 nights to switch over.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Ditto to what Andrew UK said and to answer your other question, no DCL did not offer any incentives to those already booked on 11 nights to switch over.

Got to say, personally, whilst it would have bee nice, wasn't looking for any incentives, but a little support service, to assist with re-booking, options etc, they would have kept the booking if they did that.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Got to say, personally, whilst it would have bee nice, wasn't looking for any incentives, but a little support service, to assist with re-booking, options etc, they would have kept the booking if they did that.

I wasn't looking for incentives (as in extra perks or bonuses) really either--I was just answering the question asked. But I think we should have had first dibs on rooms (since many of us booked specific rooms we wanted) and tier one pricing that was very, very close to what we had before (I think it would have been best to subtract out all port charges, find a per night rate and keep taht and just back in the new port charges)). I think that would have been fair.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I wasn't looking for incentives (as in extra perks or bonuses) really either--I was just answering the question asked. But I think we should have had first dibs on rooms (since many of us booked specific rooms we wanted) and tier one pricing that was very, very close to what we had before (I think it would have been best to subtract out all port charges, find a per night rate and keep that and just back in the new port charges)). I think that would have been fair.

Yes; agree, I booked a midship Cat 3, it would have been nice, if they told me, if there was availability of thoose rooms on any DCL cruise, or the equivalent on the Dream, and the price.

That would solve lots of enquiries, in view of the ''no notice'' period, IE release and thoose booked contacted the same day, and told, decide now.