Advantages of pre-paying before 60 days?

[Krewe De' Etat]

I read somewhere that if you pay your balance 60 days before you cruise, you can do a few things early. Does anyone know about this benefit? DW & I are thinking about cruising on the May 16 (3 day) cruise.

Happy Mardi Gras to all!



Dictator of Mardi Gras

 

[my3kids]

Well...everybody has to pay their amount in full at 60 days, so I guess the extra would be that you get to sail if you pay 60 days in advance, and if you don't pay that early, then you stay home

Seriously, I'm not sure there is any advantage to paying prior to the 60 day mark. The money is either earning interest for you or DCL. Psychologically, I'd like to pay it earlier so the trip seems "free" at the time we leave, but I probably won't. They have my required deposit. I guess I'll hold onto the interest as long as possible.

When you pay the final payment, you can pre book shore excursions, but not until the 60 day mark. Used to be you had to that when you boarded.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I really can't think of a single reason to pay for the cruise before the 60-day mark. They have the use of my money 60 days before my cruise, I don't feel they need to have it any sooner than that. Well, I might pay a week or so before that, just to be on the safe side, but not any sooner. I'll keep the money in my account to draw some interest. Glad to hear you can now pre-book your shore excursions. We were on the 1/13/01 Magic and were worried we wouldn't be able to get the excursions we wanted since we couldn't book them until we were on the ship. Will be a little less stressful to have those booked before the cruise starts. Wish we could do the same thing with Palo's!! We didn't eat there at all on our first cruise, but we do want to at least once, if not twice, this time!

 

[Buzz LightYear from St. Pete]

The only reason I can see to pay early is if that'll keep you on your budget, especially if you're a long way out from your cruise date. Also maybe making several smaller payments would be psychologically less painful than making one large payment. I know writing that check for our 12-8-01 Magic cruise was painful. Well worth it, but nonetheless painful.



06-99 Offsite (Country Inn)
09-99 All Star Movies
09-00 All Star Movies (Luau)
11-00 All Star Movies
03-01 Contemporary
06-01 Port Orleans Riverside
09-01 All Star Sports (Cirque du Soleil)
10-01 Courtyard by Marriott (Downtown Disney)
12-01 7-day Disney Magic

Plus, too many daytrips to "the World" since '99 to count!

 

[MickeyCanada]

What if you have prepaid your cruise before the 60 days, and decide to cancel, do you get a full refund. I know the deposit is fully refundable.

 

[kshabare]

We pre-booked our cruise 1 yr. in advance, #1 to get the cabins we wanted for 11 people, #2 receive our early booking savings about $100 per cabin , but to pay as we go, not having to worry about coming up with all that $ at once fit into our budget, now come on how much interest could you possibly accumulate in 6 months to a 1yr. in saving for the trip.
Our advice, depending on your budget would be to book early.

Norm for Kim

 

[Chattyaholic]

Kshabare: We're talking about pre-paying, not booking early. Yes, it's very wise to book as early as possible. We did that too, more than a year in advance for our next cruise 1/18/03.
But to pay the full amount before it's due just doesn't make much sense to me. We paid our deposit, but as for the rest, we'll wait until about a week before "final payment" is due. We put money into our savings account each month for the trip, and it's drawing us interest, rather than giving Disney the money for THEM to draw interest from. Whether it's $200 in interest, or only $20, doesn't matter....it's MY money, I'd rather get the use from it than let THEM have the use of it. And I really don't see why it would be more painful to write one check, just before "final payment" is due, rather than write several smaller checks. The money's the same no matter how it's paid out. Just my humble opinion.