Booking cruise through Disney or Costco?

[BCV2003]

I am planning my first cruise and am debating on who to book through my cruise through. If I book directly with Disney I will get a $25 onboard credit. If I book through Costco I get a $190 Costco Cash card.

Is there any benefit to me booking through Disney vs Costco?

 

[KsSteve]

Only benefit of booking through Disney is that you have total control of the reservation, i.e. you can call in to Disney, and make changes through DCL website.

You still will be able to book excursions, palo, spa, etc yourself when paid in full and at the check in period.

I would book through Costco for the 190 gift card.

 

[cypressmom]

I booked through Costco and have had no problems.

 

[BCV2003]

Thanks for the input. I hadn't been able to find any downside of booking through Costco but since its my first cruise I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I don't think I'll have the need to make any changes in the next month before it is paid off.

 

[janatmovies]

We booked our first cruise through Costco they work directly with Disney to make the reservation. The cash card is a great bonus and pretty much the only terms of booking it with them, as cancellation or changing of dates will only be penalized by Disney's policies and not their own. And you can still book your excursions and nursery time and everything like that through the Disney website. I even called Disney directly with my questions and concerns and they never referred me back to Costco.

 

[Keurigirl]

CHeck with other travel agents too, lots of them are able to offer big onboard credit rewards, and many of them do other awesome things like leave treats/surprises etc in your stateroom when you arrive.

 

[jilljill]

Here's a link to a very recent thread with the same questions/concerns: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2927487

 

[Doinitwell]

I am planning my first cruise and am debating on who to book through my cruise through. If I book directly with Disney I will get a $25 onboard credit. If I book through Costco I get a $190 Costco Cash card.

Is there any benefit to me booking through Disney vs Costco?

It is a no-brainer. No need to trouble yourself any further. Go with Costco. If you need to make any changes you can call Costco. While you are on the phone they will call Disney and make the changes for you. I see absolutely NO advantage in booking it with Disney.

 

[woodduckmn]

Pretty much book with who will give you the most obc/ best deal. Be it DCL, Costco or Dreams Unlimited, etc.

 

[MillauFr]

CHeck with other travel agents too, lots of them are able to offer big onboard credit rewards, and many of them do other awesome things like leave treats/surprises etc in your stateroom when you arrive.

Yes but do any of them offer a bigger OBC than Costco?

 

[swalesfamily]

Yes but do any of them offer a bigger OBC than Costco?

I just booked through Dreams and they gave me $300 OBC They quote it right in the quote for the cruise so you know your OBC upfront. The agent is also very helpful and answers my questions very quickly. Will definately use them again.

 

[Gr00vyChc]

We booked through Costco. For a 5 night on the Dream, we're getting a $400 GC.

 

[Doinitwell]

We booked through Costco. For a 5 night on the Dream, we're getting a $400 GC.

Same here.

 

[KsSteve]

Yes but do any of them offer a bigger OBC than Costco?

Costco gives you a gift card after you take the cruise, not an OBC.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

Costco gives you a gift card after you take the cruise, not an OBC.

Wait, so you don't get to use the money for your vacation? Is the money only god at Costco, or can you use it to pay off your credit card that you used on vacation?

 

[GBBTomorrow]

We used Costco several years ago, and it was a great deal financially. We got new tires on our van and a whole lot of other stuff with our gift card when we got home.

The main thing is that if you use Costco, you have to do all your own research. They don't know ANYTHING about DCL. For example, when I made the reservation, the person told me (and it sounded like she was reading from a script) that soft drinks are not included in the price of the cruise. I told her about the drink stations on deck, and she told me that I was wrong. Also, Costco could not tell me which staterooms had the pull-down bunk (on the Magic) and we were assigned to a room that did not have it. (We had two rooms and would have had to divide our group in a way we hadn't planned if I hadn't researched this on my own.)

So if you don't need any hand-holding, save the money and use Costco. Just know going in that you know more than they do! Since you're on the DIS, you'll probably be just fine.

 

[MillauFr]

Wait, so you don't get to use the money for your vacation? Is the money only god at Costco, or can you use it to pay off your credit card that you used on vacation?

They are correct. You get a Costco gift card which to me is just as good as cash. Our $600 Costco card won't even last our family 2 months of trips to Costco.

 

[BCV2003]

Thank you everyone for your responses!

I did end up booking yesterday with Costco to get the $190 gift card after the cruise. My research showed Disney giving us $25 OBC for booking with them. I also contact Dreams and they were offerring a $100 OBC. I contacted another cruise travel agent and they offer nothing additional.

We booked a Concierge Verandah Room 12522.

When I talked to Costco I did have one question and while he admitted that he had never been on a Disney Cruise he put me on hold and called Disney to ask my question. At the time of booking, the exact room that I wanted wasn't showing up but it was a few minutes before I booked so I was able to call back about an hour later when the room showed back up in inventory and they gladly changed the room for me and sent me the new confirmation.

Hopefully this will be our first of many cruises!

 

[mdinowitz]

Does anyone know if you book on board, can you transfer the res to Costco afterwards and keep the Disney OBC and still get the Costco reward? If so, how do you do it?

 

[jilljill]

Does anyone know if you book on board, can you transfer the res to Costco afterwards and keep the Disney OBC and still get the Costco reward? If so, how do you do it?

If you click on the link in post #7 it takes you to another thread discussing Costco as a TA. As someone posted, per Costco's website you have to do the booking completely thru them to get the cash card, you can not transfer an existing reservation to them. This info is provided on their website.