Placeholder question

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

Can I get a place holder on my 1st cruise and use it for my 2nd cruise.

My 1st cruise for May 2019, and would like to get a placeholder while I'm on that cruise.
And 2nd cruise booked for Sept 2019.

TIA

 

[Trera]

I dont see why not

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Can I get a place holder on my 1st cruise and use it for my 2nd cruise.

My 1st cruise for May 2019, and would like to get a placeholder while I'm on that cruise.
And 2nd cruise booked for Sept 2019.

TIA

A placeholder is only needed when you want to get the OBB perks but don't have a specific cruise picked out to book while onboard. Since you already have a cruise picked out and booked, you wouldn't book a placeholder but you can "re-shop" your September 2019 cruise while onboard your May 2019 cruise. The trick is your current September 2019 cruise reservation would have to be cancelled and re-booked with an onboard booking. This will only save you money if the cruise fare has not increased by more than 10% by the time you are sailing in May 2019 because the onboard booking would be at prevailing fares at that time. It's possible but not certainly not guaranteed that the price won't be more than 10% higher at that time.

 

[Shanti]

Can I get a place holder on my 1st cruise and use it for my 2nd cruise.

My 1st cruise for May 2019, and would like to get a placeholder while I'm on that cruise.
And 2nd cruise booked for Sept 2019.

TIA

The onboard booking discount and onboard credit can be applied to new reservations only. So you'd have to cancel your 2nd cruise & rebook it onboard your first cruise to get the discount.

Right before the 1st cruise, check to see if prices for the 2nd cruise have stayed low enough to make rebooking a deal. You'll have to do a price comparison with a 10% discount off the base cruise fare only (don't include taxes & fees or any extras when calculating the 10% discount), and also factoring in the $100 or $200 onboard credit you'd get.

Some cruises rise in price a great deal between their release dates & sailing dates, so much though that rebooking with the discount wouldn't be worth it. But other cruises have very little price increase at all. You'll just have to wait & see which is the case for your particular cruise.

 

[LAX]

I have read and learned from the many placeholder-related threads. I just want to make sure I am understanding the process correctly before my upcoming cruise so I don't end up screwing up. Here is what I am planning to do.

Get onboard and go to customer service (or whatever it's called) to book a placeholder. The "best" time to go is the next to the last full day onboard as the last full day seems to be the busiest from what I have read here. I would pay $250 using a Disney GC for the placeholder (have read that Disney won't allow charging to onboard account). Since the upcoming cruise is already booked through Costco, I don't have to designate Costco as the TA again, which is what I want. After I get off, there will be no need to "transfer" the placeholder to Costco as it should already be the designated TA. When it's time to book the next cruise, I would contact Costco and ask to book using the placeholder that should be already in its system.

Does this sound right? Am I missing any important info or step? TIA.

LAX

 

[KashasMom]

I have read and learned from the many placeholder-related threads. I just want to make sure I am understanding the process correctly before my upcoming cruise so I don't end up screwing up. Here is what I am planning to do.

Get onboard and go to customer service (or whatever it's called) to book a placeholder. The "best" time to go is the next to the last full day onboard as the last full day seems to be the busiest from what I have read here. I would pay $250 using a Disney GC for the placeholder (have read that Disney won't allow charging to onboard account). Since the upcoming cruise is already booked through Costco, I don't have to designate Costco as the TA again, which is what I want. After I get off, there will be no need to "transfer" the placeholder to Costco as it should already be the designated TA. When it's time to book the next cruise, I would contact Costco and ask to book using the placeholder that should be already in its system.

Does this sound right? Am I missing any important info or step? TIA.

LAX

I think you have to designate your TA on the form. I believe you have until 2 weeks after your cruise to do that if you don't do it at the time you do the booking.

BTW, if you're only doing a placeholder you can just fill out the form and drop it in the box the first or second day of the cruise. You'll receive a confirmation before you disembark. If by some chance you haven't received it by the next to last full day you can check at the future bookings desk which is where you drop the form. (We've always gotten a confirmation - no issues.)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I think you have to designate your TA on the form. I believe you have until 2 weeks after your cruise to do that if you don't do it at the time you do the booking.

BTW, if you're only doing a placeholder you can just fill out the form and drop it in the box the first or second day of the cruise. You'll receive a confirmation before you disembark. If by some chance you haven't received it by the next to last full day you can check at the future bookings desk. (We've always gotten a confirmation - no issues.)

If you haven't designated a TA on the reservation/placeholder at the time of booking, you have 30 days to transfer to a TA.

If the cruise you are currently taking was booked through a TA, you will be (should be) asked if you want to designate the same TA, or do no TA designation. It's not "automatic" that your TA will be designated on the upcoming reservation/placeholder.

 

[Shanti]

I have read and learned from the many placeholder-related threads. I just want to make sure I am understanding the process correctly before my upcoming cruise so I don't end up screwing up. Here is what I am planning to do.

Get onboard and go to customer service (or whatever it's called) to book a placeholder. The "best" time to go is the next to the last full day onboard as the last full day seems to be the busiest from what I have read here. I would pay $250 using a Disney GC for the placeholder (have read that Disney won't allow charging to onboard account). Since the upcoming cruise is already booked through Costco, I don't have to designate Costco as the TA again, which is what I want. After I get off, there will be no need to "transfer" the placeholder to Costco as it should already be the designated TA. When it's time to book the next cruise, I would contact Costco and ask to book using the placeholder that should be already in its system.

Does this sound right? Am I missing any important info or step? TIA.

LAX

I can't answer all of your questions, but I will respond about getting your placeholder the day before the last full day.

My advice is to get it on the last full day, not the day before the last full day. I got our placeholder relatively early in our cruise, and later when I wanted to book a cruise that would have fallen exactly 2 years past one of the days within that cruise, I wasn't allowed to use the credit on that one, because I had booked the placeholder mid-cruise rather than on the last day: they pointed out to me which day I had actually purchased the placeholder, & wouldn't budge on letting me use it, even though I had purchased it mid-cruise. So every day counts, & booking earlier just gives you fewer cruises that you can apply the credit to. That burns if you tend to travel at a certain time of year, which makes this scenario more likely.

 

[virtuoso1989]

I have read and learned from the many placeholder-related threads. I just want to make sure I am understanding the process correctly before my upcoming cruise so I don't end up screwing up. Here is what I am planning to do.

Get onboard and go to customer service (or whatever it's called) to book a placeholder. The "best" time to go is the next to the last full day onboard as the last full day seems to be the busiest from what I have read here. I would pay $250 using a Disney GC for the placeholder (have read that Disney won't allow charging to onboard account). Since the upcoming cruise is already booked through Costco, I don't have to designate Costco as the TA again, which is what I want. After I get off, there will be no need to "transfer" the placeholder to Costco as it should already be the designated TA. When it's time to book the next cruise, I would contact Costco and ask to book using the placeholder that should be already in its system.

Does this sound right? Am I missing any important info or step? TIA.

LAX

You will still have to inform costco of the booking if you booked a cruise in onboard. I do see that the second cruise is already booked through them. As others have said, you will have to cancel and rebook if that is feasible. Other with more experience can chime in, but I thought with a placeholder you call DCL directly to book. I might be wrong but that was how I had done it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You will still have to inform costco of the booking if you booked a cruise in onboard. I do see that the second cruise is already booked through them. As others have said, you will have to cancel and rebook if that is feasible. Other with more experience can chime in, but I thought with a placeholder you call DCL directly to book. I might be wrong but that was how I had done it.

Yes, if you have a placeholder, you must call DCL (or the TA must) to put it on a specific cruise. At that time, you'll be charged the difference from the $250 to the deposit for that cruise.

 

[coloradocutie]

On our last cruise, there were cruisers at the on board booking desk booking an OBB, but i heard them request to not process it until the very last day possible. Wouldn't hurt to ask to maximize your 2 years.

 

[MouseOfCards]

I can't answer all of your questions, but I will respond about getting your placeholder the day before the last full day.

My advice is to get it on the last full day, not the day before the last full day. I got our placeholder relatively early in our cruise, and later when I wanted to book a cruise that would have fallen exactly 2 years past one of the days within that cruise, I wasn't allowed to use the credit on that one, because I had booked the placeholder mid-cruise rather than on the last day: they pointed out to me which day I had actually purchased the placeholder, & wouldn't budge on letting me use it, even though I had purchased it mid-cruise. So every day counts, & booking earlier just gives you fewer cruises that you can apply the credit to. That burns if you tend to travel at a certain time of year, which makes this scenario more likely.

Totally agree with you regarding maximizing the 2 year time limit. However, it still might be safer not to wait until the last full day. On our recent cruise, we tried to meet with the Disney vacation planning rep on the 3rd and 2nd to last full day, but just couldn't get the right timing. There were typically 2-3 parties waiting in the queue on those days. When we went back on the last full day there were already 15 parties waiting! We rushed back after dinner and were 3rd in line, but the queue grew by a dozen by the time we were done.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Can I get a place holder on my 1st cruise and use it for my 2nd cruise.

My 1st cruise for May 2019, and would like to get a placeholder while I'm on that cruise.
And 2nd cruise booked for Sept 2019.

TIA

Before our most recent cruise, we had already booked our next cruise for the next year. The DCL rep onboard checked what we paid and said that we could save almost $700 per room by booking the next cruise right then with her. However, we would have to pay a new deposit of almost $700 per room. She advised us to pay $250 (per room) for a placeholder and to have our TA use the placeholder to allow us to keep the same rooms.

 

[LAX]

Totally agree with you regarding maximizing the 2 year time limit. However, it still might be safer not to wait until the last full day. On our recent cruise, we tried to meet with the Disney vacation planning rep on the 3rd and 2nd to last full day, but just couldn't get the right timing. There were typically 2-3 parties waiting in the queue on those days. When we went back on the last full day there were already 15 parties waiting! We rushed back after dinner and were 3rd in line, but the queue grew to a dozen by the time we were done.

I definitely want to maximize the 2-year expiration timeline, but don't want to do that at the expense of spending too much time waiting in line. I have read the last full day can be fairly hectic as everyone tries to get their OBB/placeholder in before getting off.

I am going to try and see if I can submit the paperwork for the placeholder early, but request it to be processed later.

LAX

 

[gismo1554]

On our last cruise, there were cruisers at the on board booking desk booking an OBB, but i heard them request to not process it until the very last day possible. Wouldn't hurt to ask to maximize your 2 years.

I did this on my last cruise. I made a note on the form you fill in and was told when I dropped it off they tend to keep everything til the last sea day if its a placeholder as they know people want to maximize time

 

[Shanti]

I definitely want to maximize the 2-year expiration timeline, but don't want to do that at the expense of spending too much time waiting in line. I have read the last full day can be fairly hectic as everyone tries to get their OBB/placeholder in before getting off.

When we went back on the last full day there were already 15 parties waiting! We rushed back after dinner and were 3rd in line, but the queue grew to a dozen by the time we were done.

I booked it on the last full day of our recent cruise without a problem- I just had to wait for one person ahead of me to finish before it was my turn. I think the key is to go in the morning- I purposefully went at a time of day I didn't think it would be busy.

I also think that some cruises attract more repeat customers than other cruises. I've never even seen a 15 person line, or anything approaching that, for the future cruises desk on any of our three cruises on three different Disney ships. So you shouldn't assume that it will always be busy on the last full day.

 

[Dug720]

You don’t book a future cruise or placeholder at Guest Services. You do it at the Future Sales desk - hours will be listed in the Navigator.

 

[slykrab]

A quick note about maximizing the expiration timeline.

We go the last day and I’m glad we did because we are ending up using our most recent placeholder almost exactly two years from when we booked. And if we had booked it earlier in the cruise, it would have expired.

Sometimes the line is a little long but we’ve never waited more than 15-20 minutes. Most people at that point seem to be booking placeholders so it moved fast. One time they handed us a buzzer I think, like a restaurant!

 

[MPS516]

I booked it on the last full day of our recent cruise without a problem- I just had to wait for one person ahead of me to finish before it was my turn. I think the key is to go in the morning- I purposefully went at a time of day I didn't think it would be busy.

I also think that some cruises attract more repeat customers than other cruises. I've never even seen a 15 person line, or anything approaching that, for the future cruises desk on any of our three cruises on three different Disney ships. So you shouldn't assume that it will always be busy on the last full day.

We were on the Fantasy and encountered a wait list posted on a screen of over 30 names. It was a short cruise and I was rebooking so could not drop off form. Ended up going to dinner and then back, still not my turn for another 20 minutes.