For example, on this most recent case, the October 2012 cruise to Hawaii, Gold and Platinum CC memebers got to use their early booking perk on Friday and booking for the general public (and silver CC) opened on Monday. Sometimes it is only a 24 difference between the two. This particular cruise isn't even going to show up on the DCL website till the 5th so a lot of people don't even know it exists if they don't A) have a travel agent that alerted them; B) hang out on Disney fan sites; C) monitor DCL facebook/tweet posts.
Sometimes the 'warning' only comes a day before the early booking date and there is little time to mull over anything. Which is why a lot of G&P CC people put rooms on hold that might be released in a couple of days.
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Woohoo! October is here!! Should be any time now... The people cruising this month should know. When rumors about the new itineraries for 2012 surfaced, we were on the Wonder that time and the DVC employees and the inboard booking person let us know when the booking opened.
Cindy, you are correct. When the new dates come out, your only option is to book through the phone (either yourself or through a TA) until the dates are added to the website. It would be nice if for once they did add them to the website at the same time time though. You never know...with the rumors of the dates being announced later than normal, they may get them on the website in time.
I have not read this whole thread, so hopefully not restating anything - but we just booked a couple dummy cruises 10 days ago on the Magic and the agent said that the 2013 itinerary would be coming out "closer to November" this year (yes, that is an exact quote). Of course, who knows if he knows what he is talking about.
I booked my dummy cruise on the Dream last month and was told the same thing- she said the dates would be out near Thanksgiving. Which I found funny, since I had been looking at this thread before we embarked... I almost wanted to say, "No, you are WRONG!! The disboards say it will be OCTOBER!!" LOL
Wondering if they will do a long/special cruise for Christmas 2013 on the Fantasy...think I would like that!
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I have not read this whole thread, so hopefully not restating anything - but we just booked a couple dummy cruises 10 days ago on the Magic and the agent said that the 2013 itinerary would be coming out "closer to November" this year (yes, that is an exact quote). Of course, who knows if he knows what he is talking about.