advice regarding check in/activities selection at 75 days

[uandmfan]

Hi All,

I'm a bit confused by what exactly I need to do at 75 days before my cruise. There are 4 cabins travelling together and we are all first time DCL cruisers.

I have set up my Disney account to have all our reservations linked. I am the one doing all the organizing. Everyone else is in the process of setting up their accounts. From what I can tell, there's no way to put our passport information in there now, it has to wait until check in.

At midnight 75 days before the cruise, should I log on and check in? Or should I focus on booking activities? What order do I need to do things in?

We are interested in character meet and greets that can be booked in advance (Frozen, Princesses) and a character breakfast if they have one. We also would prefer the earliest PAT possible.

My agent suggested that the activities may be full or almost full at that point, so I should focus on doing them first and then everyone can check in later. But if I do that, I assume I run the risk of getting a later PAT and not all of us having the same PAT.

Also, if I want to select everyone's PAT, do I need to have all their passport information so I can check them all in? If yes, can I do this all from my account since we are all linked?

Advice from those that have done this before would be very helpful!

Thanks

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You need to decide what is more important: Pre-booked activities, or the PAT and having the same PAT. I would book activities first.

 

[Weedy]

First everyone needs to be paid in full to do reservation.
You will need to have everyone's information put in but for things like passport info, flight info you can put in gibberish and come back and correct it later.
You will be able to book Princess/Frozen meets for everyone because the cabins are linked. You may have to do two different time such as a few at 9:00 the rest at 9:15. Then just get in the end of the 9:00 group and beginning of 9:15. They don't let people line up early.
***you will need to pick a Port Arrival Time for each cabin. If you have two different times Disney ask that you board with the later time.
FYI: if you're reservations are linked only one person can be logged onto the reservation at a time.

 

[uandmfan]

So, if some of us have an 11 am PAT and others have 1130, we can all arrive at 1130 and get our numbers together? Our kids are in cabins with a grandmother and aunt, so we do want to all board together.

It seems like I should do the activities first?

we have to pay in full before our check in date as we need to pay 90 days or so before the cruise, but we can't check in until 75 days ahead of time.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So, if some of us have an 11 am PAT and others have 1130, we can all arrive at 1130 and get our numbers together? Our kids are in cabins with a grandmother and aunt, so we do want to all board together.

It seems like I should do the activities first?

we have to pay in full before our check in date as we need to pay 90 days or so before the cruise, but we can't check in until 75 days ahead of time.

Thanks!

Yes, the Port Arrival Time is actually a "no earlier than..." time, you can arrive at any time after it begins. The 11:00 PAT will have a lower boarding number than an 11:30 PAT.

It seems that the meet & greets are really most important, so, yes do the activities/excursion bookings first.

The paid in full date is only important related to the activity/excursion bookings. You can check in (at the proper time), even if you're not paid in full (for those cruises that those dates are flipped from yours).

 

[uandmfan]

Thanks very much! Hopefully we can get everything we want!

 

[uandmfan]

Another question: Can I do the check in for everyone from my account or do I need to sign into theirs to do it cabin by cabin?

Also, how do I ensure all the reservations are linked? For example, in my account, I linked all four reservations. In my mother in law's account, when I added her reservation, it didn't show anyone as being linked. So I linked her to our cabin. And the rest of the cabins didn't show up as all being linked so only ours and hers are showing. The website makes it sound like they should all show up automatically. I just don't want issues during check in.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Another question: Can I do the check in for everyone from my account or do I need to sign into theirs to do it cabin by cabin?

Also, how do I ensure all the reservations are linked? For example, in my account, I linked all four reservations. In my mother in law's account, when I added her reservation, it didn't show anyone as being linked. So I linked her to our cabin. And the rest of the cabins didn't show up as all being linked so only ours and hers are showing. The website makes it sound like they should all show up automatically. I just don't want issues during check in.

Thanks!

Check in has to be done reservation by reservation. You can do them all (one at a time), as long as you have the reservation number and at least one person's birthdate on that reservation.

I'd call DCL to confirm that they are all linked. Now. If they are linked, when you do excursion bookings, everyone's name will be on the "persons to include in this reservation" part of the page. You won't see that page until your window opens, however. So you won't know for sure they are all linked unless you call DCL now and ask, or wait until the excursion booking window opens.

 

[taggie4]

I have not had trouble booking character activities onboard when I go to book right upon boarding.

 

[uandmfan]

Perfect, thank you!

And thanks for letting me know you can get character activities once onboard. If it doesn't work out in advance, I'll keep checking!