GTY with restrictions

[ElodieL]

I have a question about guaranteed rooms with restrictions, so that I know whether it’s something I’d consider or not.

 

I’m perfectly happy with having a room assigned to me - we stayed in an inside room on the Magic last year and loved our trip, so I’m not too fussy. I’m thinking of a GTY verandah - I’d be happy with white wall / navigator’s verandah, and all the verandah staterooms are on convenient decks. We’d be looking at the Magic again, so it’s not like you’re ever far from anything, even if you’re right at the front / back of the boat.

 

I’m also happy paying in full on booking, but I’m just worried about losing our money if we were unable to travel, eg if we were denied boarding after testing positive for covid. Does the Disney refund policy for covid-related issues still apply to GTY with restrictions, or do those bookings mean no refunds under any circumstances? 
 

What if we had to cancel for any other unavoidable reason, eg serious illness other than covid? Would good quality travel insurance cover you in that instance? I have a great annual worldwide travel policy which ticks all the usual boxes and more, but I’m not sure what to look for in the T&Cs to see if they’d cover us having to cancel a non-refundable booking. Are they likely to tell us we shouldn’t have booked non-refundable and refuse to pay out?*

 

*Hopefully we’d just be able to get on our cruise as planned and none of this will ever matter. Covid has just highlighted how quickly and easily everything can go wrong for people.

[Shmoo here]

6 hours ago, ElodieL said:

I have a question about guaranteed rooms with restrictions, so that I know whether it’s something I’d consider or not.

 

I’m perfectly happy with having a room assigned to me - we stayed in an inside room on the Magic last year and loved our trip, so I’m not too fussy. I’m thinking of a GTY verandah - I’d be happy with white wall / navigator’s verandah, and all the verandah staterooms are on convenient decks. We’d be looking at the Magic again, so it’s not like you’re ever far from anything, even if you’re right at the front / back of the boat.

 

I’m also happy paying in full on booking, but I’m just worried about losing our money if we were unable to travel, eg if we were denied boarding after testing positive for covid. Does the Disney refund policy for covid-related issues still apply to GTY with restrictions, or do those bookings mean no refunds under any circumstances? 
 

What if we had to cancel for any other unavoidable reason, eg serious illness other than covid? Would good quality travel insurance cover you in that instance? I have a great annual worldwide travel policy which ticks all the usual boxes and more, but I’m not sure what to look for in the T&Cs to see if they’d cover us having to cancel a non-refundable booking. Are they likely to tell us we shouldn’t have booked non-refundable and refuse to pay out?*

 

*Hopefully we’d just be able to get on our cruise as planned and none of this will ever matter. Covid has just highlighted how quickly and easily everything can go wrong for people.

First, let's clear up this:

GTY - that's a booking made of a specific category guarantee (for example, 6A GTY).  These are made available once a certain percentage of rooms within a category have been booked.

 

*GT - last minute, restricted fares.  Must pay in full at booking, non-refundable.

 

The current DCL COVID policies will refund even the *GT bookings if a person is denied boarding due to COVID.

 

Travel insurance polices may or may not cover COVID cancellations.  They *usually* will cover most illness related cancellations.  You must check the policy you wish to purchase (or already have) to see what's covered.  

[ElodieL]

2 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

First, let's clear up this:

GTY - that's a booking made of a specific category guarantee (for example, 6A GTY).  These are made available once a certain percentage of rooms within a category have been booked.

 

*GT - last minute, restricted fares.  Must pay in full at booking, non-refundable.

 

The current DCL COVID policies will refund even the *GT bookings if a person is denied boarding due to COVID.

 

Travel insurance polices may or may not cover COVID cancellations.  They *usually* will cover most illness related cancellations.  You must check the policy you wish to purchase (or already have) to see what's covered.  

Oops, sorry, I’ve just realised it was a VGT that I was looking at. It’s only a vague idea at the moment - never considered it before and I clearly haven’t wrapped my head around the correct terminology yet!

 

That’s really useful (and good) to know about DCL’s covid policy. Being turned away would be horrible, but even worse if they kept your money too.
 

My insurance does cover covid issues including cancellations as well as other illnesses etc, but I actually meant to ask about whether it would cover me for a non-refundable booking if we couldn’t travel for one of those other covered reasons. (I don’t think I’m explaining my question very well.) As I mentioned, I do have a great worldwide annual travel insurance policy which ticks all the usual recommended boxes / amounts and more, including cruise travel, but I just don’t know what to look for in the policy to see if non-refundable bookings are covered. I suppose it’s really the same as having to cancel any booking that incurs cancellation fees, and I know those would be covered - I think I’m just overthinking it all, and worrying that they’d say ‘non-refundable’ means you’ve waived your right to claim on insurance. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by ElodieL

[Shmoo here]

10 minutes ago, ElodieL said:

Oops, sorry, I’ve just realised it was a VGT that I was looking at. It’s only a vague idea at the moment - never considered it before and I clearly haven’t wrapped my head around the correct terminology yet!

 

That’s really useful (and good) to know about DCL’s covid policy. Being turned away would be horrible, but even worse if they kept your money too.
 

My insurance does cover covid issues including cancellations as well as other illnesses etc, but I actually meant to ask about whether it would cover me for a non-refundable booking if we couldn’t travel for one of those other covered reasons. (I don’t think I’m explaining my question very well.) As I mentioned, I do have a great worldwide annual travel insurance policy which ticks all the usual recommended boxes / amounts and more, including cruise travel, but I just don’t know what to look for in the policy to see if non-refundable bookings are covered. I suppose it’s really the same as having to cancel any booking that incurs cancellation fees, and I know those would be covered - I think I’m just overthinking it all, and worrying that they’d say ‘non-refundable’ means you’ve waived your right to claim on insurance. 

I'm not an authority, but travel insurance (for cancellation purposes) would/should cover regardless of whether the original reservation was non-refundable.  The idea is to recover what you would be out should you not be able to take your trip due to (whatever) covered circumstances.