anyone book thru Sam's Club travel?

[nursegardener]

Just wondering if anyone has ever booked thru Sam's travel - I need to know how soon the documents arrive. We are spending a week in Cocoa Beach prior to sailing and I want to make sure we don't miss the documents. Is there anyway to make sure that we will receive them prior to leaving??

My travel agent said 7-10 days prior - that's WAY too close, especially if it's 7 days - we'll be on the road!!

Last cruise we booked through a local TA and received the documents 2-3 weeks prior.

Please help!

 

[nursegardener]

OK - I'm getting scared now - has NO ONE ever booked with Sam's??

 

[luvindisneyworld]

I am booked through Sams.I just booked about 2 weeks ago,so i do not know when they will arrive.Sorry i am not alot of help.

 

[whytcrystal]

nursegardner-
I have heard people say they have picked up their docs at the port. If it is too late to ask your TA to have this done. Perhaps if they don't arrive a few days before you leave your TA can FedEx them to you where you are staying in Cocoa Beach.

 

[nursegardener]

Thanks for the advice. We aren't leaving until May 1, but I'm trying to get "all my ducks in a row" way ahead of time. Sounds like a good idea to have them FedExed.
Thanks again!

 

[kcashner]

If you book thru a TA, DCL ships the docs to the TA. It is then their responsibility to get them to you. The official word is that they arrive about 2 weeks before the cruise, but we have always had ours a month ahead.

We did use an on-line TA once who sent the docs using a courier that did not require a signature...The stupid person left them sitting on the front porch (not even inside the screen door!) where they were torn up by a neighborhood dog!!! I was plenty torked. I sent DD to "clean up the trash that got all over the yard" and she recognized the DCL logo. She was afraid that we couldn't cruise since we'd "lost" our tickets. Of course, I insisted that the TA pay for replacement, and we picked up the replacements at the port.

If you are worried about timing, picking up at the port is very quick and easy. You don't have your luggage tags, but the porters are used to that, and they have spare tags which they put on. You just need to know your cabin number.

 

[TarraLee]

Just wondering how Sam's prices compare to CostCo or DUL, etc.? We are Sams members, but of course, travel is only open m-f, 8-6, so can't get any info at the moment. Just wondered how everyone else is finding Sam's pricing... is it worth checking into?
TIA, and happy cruising!
tarralee

 

[Muushka]

nursegardener, we have booked thru Sams Club. Our criuse is not until March 20th. This will give me a good excuse to write the "I GOT MY TRAVEL DOCS!!!" post.

Our Sams TA told us we would receive the docs about 2 weeks before travel. So just look for my post around March 6th.

TarraLee, I PM'd you

 

[luvindisneyworld]

TarraLee,I also PMed you.

 

[princessdaisy]

I have the same question as Taralee, but I have a Costco card in addition to the Sams card and was wondering if the price difference is worth looking into. Info. would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all!

 

[cramam]

I recently got quotes from 7 different sources. The lowest for the same requests was Dreams Unlimited by $140. Next was Travelocity. Sam's was in a group at $230 more than Dream's.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

We booked our May 22nd Western cruise through Sams and the price was 824.77 each for DH and myself,that was for an 11GTY.I could not find anyone anywhere that even come close to the price.We could not find anyone with a category11.The prices for category 12 was like 1200.00 to 1300.00 more expensive.We just put down our deposit last week .
Misty

 

[CheapMom]

I GOT A QUOTE FROM SAM'S, COSTCO, AND DREAMS UNLIMITED FOR A CAT 4 CRUISE FOR A FAMILY OF 5 IN EARLY DEC.
COSTCO WAS THE CHEAPEST
DREAMS UNLTD WAS ABOUT $75 HIGHER THAN COSTCO
SAM'S WAS ABOUT $25 HIGHER THAN DREAMS UNLTD.
REALLY THEY WERE ALL WITHIN $100.
SAM'S AGENT (AND COSTCO AND DU) TOLD ME THEY WOULD ACCEPT COUPONS OR COUPON CODES OR OTHER ADVERTISED DISCOUNTS AFTER BOOKING SO KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN.

 

[nursegardener]

Thanks for all the replies! Yes, we did check with Costco, DU, etc. before booking with Sam's and Sam's was $100-200 cheaper than the others. I got a rate of $1749 for 2 adults in cat. 11 which includes trip insurance, etc. and booked it on our Disney VISA and got the $50 shipboard credit.

Can't wait until May 8th!! Hope we can have a DIS meet!

Muushka - I'll look for your post later!

Thanks again!
Karen

 

[Muushka]

I called Sams because it seemed like a lot of people on our March 20 cruise received their docs and we had not. On Friday Sams said that they had received our docs and they would send them to us on Monday and we would receive them by Friday. Not too bad. I got a little nervous because it seems that Sams travel has merged with Walmart travel (that is my understanding anyway) and our TA had been let go . Anywhoo, seems like everything
is under control. I will happily post when they actually arrive .

 

[DISJen]

We just booked last week through Costco. I priced DU and Costco, Costco was about $150 cheaper (cruise for next Spring '05).
They told us also that if we found coupons we could apply it.
Here's my next ques - has anyone seen coupons??? When/where do you usually find them??

BTW, I just looked at the prices for our same cruise and they have already gone up $600 dollars in the past few days.
What's up with that?

 

[Regina]

If you book thru a TA, DCL ships the docs to the TA.

DCL only does what the TA requests. The TA can have the documents go directly to you, not their office.

I would ask the TA to have them bypass sending the documents to them and have them sent straight to you.

DCL uses UPS, and they can and do leave the documents at your door. When they used Fedex, you needed to sign for them but that's not the case since they changed carriers.

 

[Muushka]

We received our docs today, exactly 4 weeks out!

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Guess I got real lucky when I booked my cruise with Costco, I checked with DCL, AAA, DU, Expedia, Travelocity and Cruisesonly.com, (who I have dealt with for years and have always been cheaper than anyone!). Costco basically crushed everyone, this was a Cat4 then even when I changed to a CAT6 GTY, they were still over $800.00 less than anyone else, on the CAT4, they were almost $1,200.00 less! there is 4 of us traveling. They did allow the $50.00 Disney Visa credit. Now my next question, is it really worth it to book on board for the room credit and 10% discount, if you can get great deals from the outside agents?