Advice please!

[Duffy Bear]

Our first Disney cruise is booked for a 7 night Western Caribbean on Fantasy - really looking forward to it! Started to think about booking another cruise....!!!...for next May on Magic. This time a 7 day eastern Caribbean and I have a couple to questions to ask the experienced people here.

Looking at the booking form it asks for our Castaway Cay number but I don't think we get that until our September cruise and wonder if not having this puts us at a disadvantage. Also when we booked the September one it was at GTY so didn't get a choice of cabin so I wonder if we will be get to choose a cabin when booking? I know we'd find this out if we continued the booking process but I like to do some research first! We would be booking an inside stateroom category 11B deck 5 or 6. We are a young(ish) senior couple from the UK and regular Disney World visitors. Any advise on possible stateroom number would be appreciated.

 

[lanejudy]

You are correct that you won't have Castaway Club membership numbers until after you complete your first cruise. No problem, it can be added to an existing reservation.

Whether you will get a choice of cabins may depend on when you book the next cruise. Earlier bookings get choice. Once a certain percentage of staterooms in a category are sold, DCL shifts it to "GTY" which allows them flexibility in room assignments. At that point you may book the GTY and accept DCL's stateroom assignment, or book a different category. The earlier you book, the more choices (and lower fares) you'll find.

I suggest booking your second cruise soon, and then you can "re-shop" it when you are onboard in September. You can then determine if the Onboard Booking (10% discount, $200 OBC and reduced deposit) makes for a better deal.

Enjoy your cruises!

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I personally enjoy a GTY booking. I don't care where the room is so a surprise is extra.

 

[Duffy Bear]

You are correct that you won't have Castaway Club membership numbers until after you complete your first cruise. No problem, it can be added to an existing reservation.

Whether you will get a choice of cabins may depend on when you book the next cruise. Earlier bookings get choice. Once a certain percentage of staterooms in a category are sold, DCL shifts it to "GTY" which allows them flexibility in room assignments. At that point you may book the GTY and accept DCL's stateroom assignment, or book a different category. The earlier you book, the more choices (and lower fares) you'll find.

I suggest booking your second cruise soon, and then you can "re-shop" it when you are onboard in September. You can then determine if the Onboard Booking (10% discount, $200 OBC and reduced deposit) makes for a better deal.

Enjoy your cruises!

Thank you for your quick reply! We will hopefully book tomorrow....and looking to book again onboard in September for a B2B for next September!! X

 

[turtle27]

Definitely book on-board. If you do book on-board, you will have a dummy booking UNLESS you know your exact cruise, if you do, let them know. By booking this far out, you will not get to take advantage of the gty booking, but you do get the 10% and the onboard credit.

You will be able to choose your room by booking on-board. The CM who does the reservations will show you a map of the ship and you can make a decision about where you want to be based on your pros and cons in your current room.

I think Disney is an odd line out with the gty cabins, I don't see as many complaints about the assignments of cabins on the Disney ships as you do with others. But I think it is also how they price them.