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I normally don’t let our kids call the major shots on our vacations. For the most part, my husband and I decide where we go, and the kids are along for the ride. Of course, we don’t want to torture ourselves by going somewhere the kids wouldn’t like. But, for the most part, our destinations have been a result of the adult decisions.
Until now. As some of you probably remember, my family has a cruise on Royal Caribbean scheduled for early next year that we are looking to cancel or move (see this post). In short, getting a refund is going to be complicated because we paid with multiple credit cards over a few years, most of which are now canceled.
We would like to give our older son one last cruise while he’s young enough to participate in the teen club on board. He has to sail while he’s 17 or younger, and he turns 16 in a few weeks. Yikes! So we’re looking at early 2022. Pre-pandemic, we would have had time to fit in at least 2 cruises. But now, we’re looking at squeezing in just one.
With that in mind, I asked him if he would choose Disney Cruise Line or Royal Caribbean for his last cruise with a teen club. I figured that if he picks DCL, we will simply cancel our Royal Caribbean Cruise. If he prefers Royal Caribbean, we will just move the cruise and keep all our money in the reservation.
Disney Cruise Line or Royal Caribbean for my Teenager…
First of all, he seemed pretty thrilled that he could be in charge of the decision. The power!
He told me that it was such a hard decision that he would need to think about it for a few days. And he did.
Both DCL and Royal Caribbean have nice teen clubs. Last year, my son experienced the Vibe teen club on DCL in January. Then in May, he hung out in the teen club on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas.
So after a few days, he told me his answer. Apparently he likes the ice cream situation on DCL the best. But as far as fun activities for teens, Royal Caribbean is his choice. The ship we sailed on had more recreational activities on board for his age group, like the Flow Rider, iFLY, bumper cars, trapeze class, rock climbing wall, etc. The teen club got to experience these activities as a group during their own special “teen-only” hours. He had a blast!
I wasn’t too surprised by his choice. Both of my boys loved our cruise on Royal last year. I have more of a sentimental connection with Disney Cruise Line, but I’m sure I can sneak away on DCL with my daughter again sometime.
So, for now, it looks like I won’t be requesting a refund on our booked cruise. I’m going to wait until he dust settles from all of these cancellations before I book our early 2022 cruise.
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Getting a refund with RCL is tough right now. I received notice on March 24th that our upcoming cruise was cancelled. Called in that day to request a refund, and was told it would be 30 days. Still no refund at 30 days, so I called in again. Turns out my refund was processed on March 25th, but was in the queue for disbursement and would be another 15-30 days.
Shortly after I reached out to their twitter team. I received an email from their CS department, and a PM from their twitter team that I should have my refund by May 6th. Here we are, and still no refund. Twitter team tells me it’s still in the queue for disbursement.
Who knows when I’ll get my money back, but given the fact they continue to move the goal posts and fail to deliver, I am filing a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission.
@projextx Sorry about your canceled cruise. Yeah, those refunds are taking a long time. I canceled one in late March, and it took about 35 days to get my refund. I hear that refunds are taking longer now, at least 45-60 days. 🙁