Placeholder and Costco

[wanderlust7]

I tried to book a cruise using my placeholder through Costco. The cruise we booked it on was through Costco and I'm pretty sure I asked to keep Costco as my TA. Well, the Costco TA told me that she needs to fill out a form for it to be "transferred" over and it will take 72 hours. I tried to tell her that it should already be under Costco, but she says she can't see it.

Is this really how it's supposed to work??

I would have called back except I remembered that DCL was already closed. I'll try tomorrow, but it would be nice to know how it's supposed to work.

TIA!

 

[Ainslee]

The same thing just happened to me. All of my cruises, and placeholders, were booked through Costco, or listing them as my TA, but I just booked a cruise about a week ago using a placeholder and Costco told me the same. I insisted they were listed as the TA and they put me on hold and talked to someone at Disney for a few minutes and then came back and said it was taken care of. I'm not sure what they did, but they also wanted me to fill out a form and wait 72 hours but I insisted they were wrong and that they call Disney.

In the past all I had to do was call Costco give them the details of the cruise I wanted, the reservation number and they did the rest.

Not sure if it helps, but this was the first time this happened to me in multiple bookings. Good luck!

 

[lanejudy]

Some TAs require the placeholder be switched to an actual date (dummy date) before they can take control of it. I don't know if that's true of Costco or not.

Good luck getting it resolved and enjoy your cruise!

 

[TamaraH]

I placed our placeholder back on our sailing last fall and named Costco (they were named on that cruise as well). I mistakenly called DCL yesterday morning to book our next cruise (totally forgot that I had already named Costco) and they told me they couldn't do anything with it because Costco was the TA. I called Costco and they handled the booking for me. There was no delay. I'm wondering why mine was different?

 

[wanderlust7]

Called back today and got someone who knew exactly what to do. I think I just got someone inexperienced. Ainslee - good tip about insisting they call Disney. Note to self - don't call Costco in that last hour when they are still open but DCL is closed.

 

[o&smom]

Since Disney switched to placeholders with no date, Costco "holds" them differently, and some TAs there seem to not undrestand this. Just ask for a supervisor. We even had an agent there call us and say thst they had to CANCEL our placeholders! A supervisor explained that they would not be cancelled, but were not reserved in their sytem in the same way with the new placeholder policy. Just FYI.

 

[katds10]

Just curious, what is the benefit to transferring a placeholder to Costco these days if you can't get the costco cash card? Ever since DCL changed the commission travel agents get for on board bookings late last year, Costco now states on their website that they only give Costco cash cards to reservations booked directly through them and seems to exclude on board booking reservations as well. From the Costco travel site:
"To receive your Costco Cash Card, you must book directly through Costco Travel. Bookings made through Disney Cruise Line or the Disney onboard cruise consultant are not eligible for this Costco Travel benefit." I've seen other people mention that they were told they no longer would get the costco cash card for transferred reservations and on board bookings even when Costco is named on board.

 

[Ainslee]

My placeholder was from about a week before Disney changed the rules so I still got the cash card on this one. I'm not sure I will list them on future ones as it can sometimes be a pain to work through them. They are super nice, but it's sometimes easier to call Disney directly. Or maybe it's time to find a real travel agent to handle my placeholders. Honestly, I have no tie to using Costco other than the cash cards.

 

[Vicki106]

This is the first I've heard about Costco not giving the cash card for bookings that originated with an onboard placeholder. We booked a placeholder in March listing Costco and then contacted Costco the first day we could book for next August. They advised that we would get a cash card for each stateroom. Does anyone know when the policy changed? Thanks for any info that you could provide.

 

[Ainslee]

This is the first I've heard about Costco not giving the cash card for bookings that originated with an onboard placeholder. We booked a placeholder in March listing Costco and then contacted Costco the first day we could book for next August. They advised that we would get a cash card for each stateroom. Does anyone know when the policy changed? Thanks for any info that you could provide.

Late in 2015, November maybe, Disney changed the way they pay booking commissions to travel agents. Many travel agents then changed their policies on how much they give as OBC or other gifts if the cruise was booked as a placeholder or booked directly on a ship. Not all did, but many did this. Costco added the language above that OP mentioned to their website. I've heard of people who have still been able to get the cash card, but like the OP I have also heard of people being told they won't get the cash card for placeholders. I booked an actual cruise, not a placeholder, on board this February and Costco will not give me a cash card for that and they referenced their terms and conditions. Maybe the placeholders are more of a gray area since it isn't a direct booking and they are still giving the cash card on those.

FWIW- the placeholder I just used a couple of weeks ago and received a cash card for was purchased before Disney changed their rules.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

We transferred a placeholder to Costco from our March cruise and are still getting the cash card.

 

[katds10]

After seeing something about OBBs and costco cash in another group yesterday, I wanted to be be certain for my own booking purposes so I actually called Costco travel this morning and ended up speaking with a regular agent as well as a supervisor because I really wanted to be sure and I was told there is absolutely no way they could give costco cash anymore if the cruise or placeholder was booked onboard after the policy change by DCL regarding the onboard booking travel agent commissions (policy changed Oct 26, 2015). The supervisor said that per the guests request, they have cancelled some people's on board bookings and rebooked directly through Costco in order to get them the costco cash card (it makes sense if you are sailing concierge or certain sailings where you wouldn't get the 10% off anyway). He was really adamant that it is against their policy to give costco cash cards on any kind of booking, including placeholders, that were made onboard after the policy change late last year.

It seems like if anyone has made an OBB for a placeholder in the last 7 months and has indeed gotten the DCL perks for OBB (10% off plus onboard credit) and the Costco cash as well, then they got really lucky and the Costco agent likely made some kind of error in the customer's favor when processing the placeholder.

 

[Ainslee]

After seeing something about OBBs and costco cash in another group yesterday, I wanted to be be certain for my own booking purposes so I actually called Costco travel this morning and ended up speaking with a regular agent as well as a supervisor because I really wanted to be sure and I was told there is absolutely no way they could give costco cash anymore if the cruise or placeholder was booked onboard after the policy change by DCL regarding the onboard booking travel agent commissions (policy changed Oct 26, 2015). The supervisor said that per the guests request, they have cancelled some people's on board bookings and rebooked directly through Costco in order to get them the costco cash card (it makes sense if you are sailing concierge or certain sailings where you wouldn't get the 10% off anyway). He was really adamant that it is against their policy to give costco cash cards on any kind of booking, including placeholders, that were made onboard after the policy change late last year.

It seems like if anyone has made an OBB for a placeholder in the last 7 months and has indeed gotten the DCL perks for OBB (10% off plus onboard credit) and the Costco cash as well, then they got really lucky and the Costco agent likely made some kind of error in the customer's favor when processing the placeholder.

Thank you for making sure. I guess we just keep crossing our fingers we get lucky when using Costco named placeholders.

 

[pillow]

Interesting. We just rebooked onboard in April naming Costco. Our confirmation from Costco still shows the cash card amount, and the Costco agent says we will receive it.

 

[Disneypeach]

This past April I used an OBB created in June 2015 with Costco listed as the TA and the Costco agent (who was terrific) gave me the Costco cash card amount and confirmed the DCL OBC.

 

[pillow]

My memory is terrible, but I want to say there has been language in existence for a while that says no cash card for onboard bookings - even way before Oct 2015. We have received the cash card every time. Not to say it couldn't change, though. Anxious to hear people's experiences.