Would you give up $250 Onboard credit to control reservation?

I guess the control I mean is (example)while I was waiting for reply I called DCL to c if the room I requested was even available in navigator verandah. Turns out inly 1 room left so I wound up grabbing it directly
Kerri
On the other hand, when I was booking my cruise, the cabin I wanted (7a) wasn't available. When I put in my request, my DU TA was able to get it....luck of timing, to be sure, but I know that I would have just given up, having seen it was taken the first time I looked.
 
On the other hand, when I was booking my cruise, the cabin I wanted (7a) wasn't available. When I put in my request, my DU TA was able to get it....luck of timing, to be sure, but I know that I would have just given up, having seen it was taken the first time I looked.
I hear Ya it's all in the timing :-)
 
We want to stay a couple nights after the cruise to see Harry Potter World and I was so overwhelmed with all the options. Which resort offers which perks, what shuttles do I take where ... it was just a headache!

It would be helpful for you to go to the Universal Orlando forums here on the Dis, so you could make sure the TA is steering you the right way. Worth the peace of mind. Also would have welcomed you there before, to help you with your questions. UO is super-easy, FWIW, especially if you have experienced travelers answering questions.

I've never felt that I had any lack of control when booking my cruises through Dreams Unlimited? You still get full access to the Disney Cruise site and your reservation there, so you can do your own Palo, excursions, etc. at will, so I'm confused as to what 'control' I am losing?

The big money stuff. Changing cabins, adding or subtracting people. Paying directly (though costco's payment link is immediately linked to Disney's (and Royal's) so that's easy). That sort of thing.
 
Twice, we have cruised just a few weeks before Disney Cruise released the cruises for the following year. Both times, we wanted to go to Europe but booked a Caribbean cruise while onboard and named our travel agent. Then, as soon as the cruise we really wanted was announced, I e-mailed our travel agent and asked her to book it for us. I gave her several cabin types in rank order and the greatest fare we were willing to pay. By the end of the first day of booking, I had a confirmation at first day pricing and I didn't have to spend several hours on hold on the phone as our agent did.

In our past 7 cruises, I don't think I've ever seen fares go down before final booking date, so I've never had a need to make a change immediately. We have made a few changes that didn't need to be immediate (deciding that we'd prefer a larger room or a different dining time), and in those cases an e-mail to our travel agent resulted in the change being made within a day.

The couple of times we've cruised in a Concierge room, I was able to work directly with Shoreside Concierge on special requests. In fact, our travel agent sent me the e-mail and phone addresses, just in case Concierge didn't contact me (although they did, around 130 days in advance).

I can see not using a travel agent if you need to book immediately -- for example, if a new itinerary is announced and you don't have a previous relationship with an agent who will book for you, or if you want a cruise that is about to sell out of the room category you want. For a cruise that's already for sale and has ample rooms available, though, I don't see any reason not to use an agent. As others have said, it will not cost more than booking through Disney and could well cost less if you get an onboard credit or other reward.
 


I'm a freak control and still use a TA. Only contact is to make the reservation and to make payments. In fact, I'm trying to find out how to use the Disney Vacation account since my understanding is that I would simply call the special line to make the payment from the DVA.

Anything else, including special requests, and even pricing category changes, I've talked directly with DCL. They've never had any issues with entering requests for dining alone or rotation. And with regards to looking at pricing of changing categories, you can't do it yourself since this would be base on your original booking date. The TA sometimes might not even help you with this, as many will simply quote you the pricing based on the current date, and subtract the original price, which if the category went up in price, it would be wrong. In order to get the actual price change, you need to start to process the change but not submit the changes themselves. DCL was able to help me with this. But of course, they would not do the actual change - that has to be done by the TA. But helped, when we were trying to switch from a cat 5 to two inside cabins, in order to add another person, close to PIF.
 
I think people confuse the words communication and control. You never ever loose any control whatsoever. You communicate via a different route. The advantages considerably outweigh the odd negative of using a TA. There is a lot of conjecture that is simply untrue about booking direct. With a TA you have far more control, you with others booking through a TA have more clout. So if and when something goes wrong you have a TA on your side to work it out.
 
I'm a freak control and still use a TA. Only contact is to make the reservation and to make payments. In fact, I'm trying to find out how to use the Disney Vacation account since my understanding is that I would simply call the special line to make the payment from the DVA.

Anything else, including special requests, and even pricing category changes, I've talked directly with DCL. They've never had any issues with entering requests for dining alone or rotation. And with regards to looking at pricing of changing categories, you can't do it yourself since this would be base on your original booking date.And with regards to looking at pricing of changing categories, you can't do it yourself since this would be base on your original booking date. The TA sometimes might not even help you with this, as many will simply quote you the pricing based on the current date, an d subtract the original price, which if the category went up in price, it would be wrong. In order to get the actual price change, you need to start to process the change but not submit the changes themselves. DCL was able to help me with this. But of course, they would not do the actual change - that has to be done by the TA. But helped, when we were trying to switch from a cat 5 to two inside cabins, in order to add another person, close to PIF.
Are you saying that if I change category say next month and the prices are higher.....they will change my category whatever the price was on my day of booking? Not the current price?
Thanks
Kerri
 


I'm a freak control and still use a TA. Only contact is to make the reservation and to make payments. In fact, I'm trying to find out how to use the Disney Vacation account since my understanding is that I would simply call the special line to make the payment from the DVA.

I've use a travel agent and paid for a couple of cruises using the Disney Vacation account. It was easy to set up.

The the Disney Vacation account FAQ:

How can I make a payment using my Disney Vacation Account on my reservation booked directly with Disney through my travel agent?
Once your travel agent has booked your reservations and you are ready to make a payment, your travel agent can provide you with your reservation number. Please call the telephone number specified below to make your payment using your DVA account. If you have any additional questions or requests about your reservation, please contact your travel agent. Participating Disney Destinations and Disney Vacation Account Payment numbers:

• Walt Disney World® in Florida: 407-939-7626
Disneyland® Resort in California: 714-520-7032
Disney Cruise Line®: 800-511-9333
• Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina Hawai'i: 714-520-7032
Adventures By Disney®: 855-223-2231
 
I think people confuse the words communication and control. You never ever loose any control whatsoever. You communicate via a different route. The advantages considerably outweigh the odd negative of using a TA. There is a lot of conjecture that is simply untrue about booking direct. With a TA you have far more control, you with others booking through a TA have more clout. So if and when something goes wrong you have a TA on your side to work it out.

Everything you describe in there, to me, is control. I'm not confused. It's just how I see it. It's not how YOU see it.

If I call Costco to do something and then have to wait while they call Disney, that's a loss of a bit of control. I could have just called Disney otherwise.

I'm not saying it's bad, it just IS. That's what you get. You want to change cabins, there are two calls involved not one. You're not making one of them.

And I don't think TAs have clout; I know you feel they have it, but I don't. I'd much rather be the one on the phone helping me than trusting someone else to do it. :)
 
In my opinion the amount that I gain in OBC far outweighs any loss of control that I have over the reservation. I usually don't see a lot of difference working through a TA and directly with Disney. The few times that I needed to switch cabins it was just as easy to have the TA call Disney rather than me have to sit on hold. As far as control goes. I still control all the other aspects of my vacation. I book my own flights, rental cars and/or transportation, hotels and dining plans. Excursions are still my responsibility as well as any other add-on. Now, If I could find a TA that plans my vacation down to the last detail like I do, then they may be worth their weight in gold!
 
Just a reminder of DISboard policy to include the full weblink to any TA's mentioned by name. I have seen the following mentioned at various points in this thread, most mentions did not include a weblink:

Dreams Unlimited www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com
Small World Vacations www.smallworldvacations.com
Magical Journeys www.yourmagicaljourneys.com
Magical Vacations www.**********************.com
Costco www.costcotravel.com
AAA www.aaa.com

If the link is filtered to ********* that TA is not allowed to be mentioned on the DISboards.

Enjoy your cruise!
 
Just a reminder of DISboard policy to include the full weblink to any TA's mentioned by name. I have seen the following mentioned at various points in this thread, most mentions did not include a weblink:

Dreams Unlimited www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com
Small World Vacations www.smallworldvacations.com
Magical Journeys www.yourmagicaljourneys.com
Magical Vacations www.**********************.com
Costco www.costcotravel.com
AAA www.aaa.com

If the link is filtered to ********* that TA is not allowed to be mentioned on the DISboards.

Enjoy your cruise!
Thanks for that compilation!
How do u post a link? Do u just type website?
 
Thanks for that compilation!
How do u post a link? Do u just type website?
Copy the URL address from the website and click on the chain link (at top of reply area - 3rd set of buttons over there's a oval object and an oval object with a little "x" on it) the chain link is the first object, paste the address in the next window that pops up.
 
I will have to try that when I get to regular computer I'm on my phone.... And I'm a little special when it comes to computer:o
Thanks
Kerri
 
Two related questions:

I've now transferred my cruise to Costco.

--I guess I pay off my remaining cruise balance through Costco. I have two pretty nice travel reward credit cards (Chase Sapphire and Barclay arrival+). Does anyone with experience with either one of these cards know if the payments made through Costco travel will qualify as 'travel' expenses? (it matters for the reward structure, and more so since it's such a large amount.)

--If I decide that Costco having 'control' is weirding me out too much--and I also didn't realize I wouldn't get the cash card till after the cruise, which I understand, just didn't know--how hard is it for me to drop them as the TA and get control back?

I see that "Modify" is now greyed out for me on the Disney site, and I can no longer get to the Make Payments page or the Passport etc page.
 
We use DU. My e-mails have been answered in a timely fashion. Usually we have booked onboard and we have the reservation transferred. I do like seeing a deck plan and picking our cabin, and we are interested in a WBPC cruise next year, so right now I am not sure if I will be booking that through Disney or originally through DU.

A few years ago, we booked 3 rooms, 1 for us and 2 connecting for our son's family of 5. We were pleasantly surprised that when the Kids Sail Free incentive came out, DU did get us the 1 kid discount. We did nothing to initiate that, so DU saved us money.:)
 
Two related questions:

I've now transferred my cruise to Costco.

I can't speak directly to either of those 2 credit cards, but to my knowledge Costco (www.costcotravel.com) makes your payment direct to DCL with your credit card info. The charges should show up as if you paid directly through the DCL site or phone.

As to retrieving your reservation back from the TA -- it's possible but might require some pushing. Now that the TA "owns" the reservation, they will have to release it back to you, and that means you will essentially be taking away income (commission) from the TA so some fight such a request.

Enjoy your cruise!
 
I can't speak directly to either of those 2 credit cards, but to my knowledge Costco (www.costcotravel.com) makes your payment direct to DCL with your credit card info. The charges should show up as if you paid directly through the DCL site or phone.

As to retrieving your reservation back from the TA -- it's possible but might require some pushing. Now that the TA "owns" the reservation, they will have to release it back to you, and that means you will essentially be taking away income (commission) from the TA so some fight such a request.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you!

I figured if it showed on my statement as Disney Cruise Lines or Costco Travel I'd be fine, but probably less so if it's just "Costco Inc".
 
Following up on my questions of a few posts back. (And can I just say, I've noticed travel forums are super weird in terms of "you cannot mention this TA/site/Facebook group" and then "you must include the full URL!" etc. I lose track of which rules apply to which site. I'm sure it all comes down to $$ but geez.)

Okay, so I called http://www.costcotravel.com after tranferring my cruise to them to ask a few questions. I was curious if they would show up as a travel merchant. Rep wasn't really sure, but he told me (and this seems obvious in retrospect, but I didn't know somehow) that I could log in to costcotravel.com and make payments online. So I did a test $100 payment on my booking. On the credit card I use, I see a $1.00 temp auth for Costco Travel and a $100 auth for Walt Disney Travel Co. I'm guessing that either way this is going to count as 'travel' in the rewards structure of my credit card, but I'll know for sure in a day or two.

He also said they could put in the request for a non-shared table, but that I should do bookings like Palo/Remy and online check in myself on the Disney site. (I realize this may have already been stated in this thread, but my life is super hectic right now and I've lost track of details. Additionally, I wanted to report what the TA said directly for others thinking of switching.)

Also, my $140 Costco cash card bonus, which was not mentioned in the travel docs that were emailed to me, DOES appear on my booking on http://www.costcotravel.com.
 
Everything you describe in there, to me, is control. I'm not confused. It's just how I see it. It's not how YOU see it.

If I call Costco to do something and then have to wait while they call Disney, that's a loss of a bit of control. I could have just called Disney otherwise.

I'm not saying it's bad, it just IS. That's what you get. You want to change cabins, there are two calls involved not one. You're not making one of them.

And I don't think TAs have clout; I know you feel they have it, but I don't. I'd much rather be the one on the phone helping me than trusting someone else to do it. :)
I've pulled my res from costco twice because of the hold times. I tend to change my mind a lot and I would rather be able to make changes myself online than wait on hold for 45 minutes. It's not worth it for me. I would rather have control. I have been known to cancel and book gt rates and I idon't want to lose out on a good rate waiting on a ta to get back to me. I'm like you I would rather just take care of things myself.
 

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