Question about placeholder 2-year window and COVID

ThisIsTheYear

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
I have to use our placeholder by this November. Since I can’t use it for the next several months (I wasn’t planning to, or wanted to) do you think they’ll extend the 2 year window?
If they don’t, will I automatically be refunded in November or do I need to contact my TA to request the refund?
 
I have no idea whether DCL will extend the window this year.

I do know that when I had a placeholder expire last year, the refund was applied to the credit card I'd used for the downpayment without me or my travel agent requesting it. Of course, if you don't see the refund within a few weeks, your TA should contact DCL.
 
I had one with the 200 obc. I lost it. Not sure if they have changed that since. It was for the Greek cruise so not officially cancelled but really will be cancelled I am sure.
 
I have a cruise later this year after the current cancel period that is booked with a place holder (and still has the $200 OBC). I really want to cancel that cruise and just wait until next year. I'm guessing I am going to loose the placeholder like you did @Canadian Girl but would love it if they would let me cancel and give me an extra year to use it. I'm just keeping the cruise for now waiting to see what happens.
 


No, they won't extend it. Mine expires in December and I have asked twice but no luck. I have no intention of cruising right now, so I'm stuck having it refunded. Sort of ridiculous, in the circumstances.
 
Some people are reporting here that their OBB were retroactively reapplied to their reservation IF Disney ended up canceling the cruise and ONLY if you moved (not canceled) your reservation. So I just moved my Aug 2020 cruise out to Aug 2021 and am hoping maybe I’ll get back my lost OBB... not holding out hope, but if it works out I’d love that.

No, they won't extend it. Mine expires in December and I have asked twice but no luck. I have no intention of cruising right now, so I'm stuck having it refunded. Sort of ridiculous, in the circumstances.
 
Seems really silly they won’t extend. I’m sure they will have to offer discounts in the future to fill the ships
 


Some people are reporting here that their OBB were retroactively reapplied to their reservation IF Disney ended up canceling the cruise and ONLY if you moved (not canceled) your reservation. So I just moved my Aug 2020 cruise out to Aug 2021 and am hoping maybe I’ll get back my lost OBB... not holding out hope, but if it works out I’d love that.
I believe OP was asking about a placeholder that hasn't been applied to a specific cruise yet. Whether the expiration date would be extended. The answer to that appears to be "no".
 
I think that Disney will extend these unused placeholders, but they will never publish about this option. My feeling is that you will have to ask for it several times and push for it, when the placeholder is about to expire. It only depends on how this Covid-situation develops and how it influences the cruises.

It brings in more money to let the placeholder expire, because of the discount. These people are already loyal to your brand and are more likely to buy again anyway. The 10% discount is an extra incentive, but I think there will be plenty who will rebook even when their placeholder has expired.
 
I have two placeholders that expire this summer that I can't use because Disney isn't sailing. I assume that they are lost, but would love it if they extended the dates for them.
 
Ah, gotcha. I suppose OP could book a cruise with the placeholder (and move it to if desired) to preserve whatever benefits may get retroactively added...

I believe OP was asking about a placeholder that hasn't been applied to a specific cruise yet. Whether the expiration date would be extended. The answer to that appears to be "no".
 
I’ve asked several times, both through my TA and a direct email to dcl. Always being told NO. I have a b2b in September using placeholders. One expires November 2020 and one expires February 2021. I want to move the cruises to a future date, but can’t go beyond those dates or I lose the perks. My PIF date is mid-June so will cancel both by then if the placeholders can’t be extended. I can’t believe they would rather get cancellations then keep reservations. I would’ve canceled already if I wasn’t waiting for an extension. Btw, my placeholders are the older ones with obc
 
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Some people are reporting here that their OBB were retroactively reapplied to their reservation IF Disney ended up canceling the cruise and ONLY if you moved (not canceled) your reservation. So I just moved my Aug 2020 cruise out to Aug 2021 and am hoping maybe I’ll get back my lost OBB... not holding out hope, but if it works out I’d love that.
Do you know if they PIF'ed? We have the same issue and are planning to move as well (as close to the PIF date as possible), but I wonder if our odds are better if we PIF before we move. If they won't honour it after they cancelled the cruise, we will probably cancel to see what happens with everything, the placeholder is our only reason to move right now (expires may 2021 and we want to do an European cruise)
 
That's a shame that DCL is not allowing any placeholder extensions. It just makes sense to do it but who knows what their reasoning is behind it. I had my $100 OBC (which they no longer offer) applied to my cruise in August. I guess if that is cancelled they'll apply it to my next cruise if I choose to go that route otherwise I'll lose it.
 
I have also asked a couple of times to get my placeholder extended and eventually just canceled my placeholder. I will not cruise before it expires and did not want to have my money tied up in a refund.
 
I don’t know for sure. We PIF (hoping Disney would cancel our cruise) and then moved our cruise a few days before the actual PIF date. I figure that gives us the best possible chance of getting benefits returned retroactively...

In your case (with a placeholder that doesn’t expire for awhile), if you can swing it to leave your deposit tied up with them, I’d just move the cruise out to keep the placeholder. In our case the placeholder benefits expire in Dec 2020 so the only chance of possibly having the benefits returned to us would be to move the cruise out. Half our payment was in gift cards anyway, so leaving our money tied up with Disney was ok with us...


Do you know if they PIF'ed? We have the same issue and are planning to move as well (as close to the PIF date as possible), but I wonder if our odds are better if we PIF before we move. If they won't honour it after they cancelled the cruise, we will probably cancel to see what happens with everything, the placeholder is our only reason to move right now (expires may 2021 and we want to do an European cruise)
 
When I have asked DCL, they are always careful to say extending placeholders is “not currently available.” I think they say it that because they might later change that policy. When I moved my Aug 2020 cruise to Aug 2021 (also with placeholder benefits), I was also clearly told “You will not get the 10% off or the room credits because they expire this year.” But on the chance that Disney cancels the Aug 2020 cruise and later is willing to reapply my placeholder benefits (as people here have said is happening), I went ahead and moved it instead of canceling.

I’ve asked several times, both through my TA and a direct email to dcl. Always being told NO. I have a b2b in September using placeholders. One expires November 2020 and one expires February 2021. I want to move the cruises to a future date, but can’t go beyond those dates or I lose the perks. My PIF date is mid-June so will cancel both by then if the placeholders can’t be extended. I can’t believe they would rather get cancellations then keep reservations. I would’ve canceled already if I wasn’t waiting for an extension. Btw, my placeholders are the older ones with obc
 
I’ve asked several times, both through my TA and a direct email to dcl. Always being told NO. I have a b2b in September using placeholders. One expires November 2020 and one expires February 2021. I want to move the cruises to a future date, but can’t go beyond those dates or I lose the perks. My PIF date is mid-June so will cancel both by then if the placeholders can’t be extended. I can’t believe they would rather get cancellations then keep reservations. I would’ve canceled already if I wasn’t waiting for an extension. Btw, my placeholders are the older ones with obc

We have one that expires April 2021. We are going to move to the furthest out cruise we can to see if they change their policy. We will probably select the cheapest cruise we can find before our current PIF date to have the least amount of money tied up.
 
We have one that expires April 2021. We are going to move to the furthest out cruise we can to see if they change their policy. We will probably select the cheapest cruise we can find before our current PIF date to have the least amount of money tied up.

I was thinking of pushing my one cruise to feb 2021, but haven’t decided. I’m sure as soon as I cancel these cruises, dcl will extend the placeholders expiration dates.
 
I don’t know for sure. We PIF (hoping Disney would cancel our cruise) and then moved our cruise a few days before the actual PIF date. I figure that gives us the best possible chance of getting benefits returned retroactively...

In your case (with a placeholder that doesn’t expire for awhile), if you can swing it to leave your deposit tied up with them, I’d just move the cruise out to keep the placeholder. In our case the placeholder benefits expire in Dec 2020 so the only chance of possibly having the benefits returned to us would be to move the cruise out. Half our payment was in gift cards anyway, so leaving our money tied up with Disney was ok with us...
For personal reason, we're only willing to cruise in Europe for now, so we can't move it to a cruise we'd actually go on. So I just discussed with my husband and we're going to PIF and then move to the same cruise next year, with hopes of getting the benefits if our original cruise is cancelled (including our placeholder benefits). If they won't, we'll just cancel that cruise, with todays cancellations, I guess we won't have to wait much longer then a month to find out.
 

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