Best day of cruise for placeholder

[luvtotraveldcl]

i know it would be best for me to do this as soon as possible so I don't have to deal with lines at the end of the cruise but wouldn't it be best as far as getting a few more days into the 24 months to wait till the last possible time to do,it? Wondering what though would be the least busiest time towards the end of the cruise?

My goal,would probably be the last sea day on Thursday.....anyone know the least busy time of day then? Thanks

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

On our October 14-22 fantasy cruise I went at 8 am on castaway cay morning.
There was nobody there then one lady showed up as I was leaving.
I think the desk was open from 8-9 or 8-10 on CC morning then again at 1pm I think.
It was a mad house in the afternoon when I walked by.

 

[Pens Fan]

Once we stopped at the future cruise desk early in the cruise just to ask a couple of questions when there was no one waiting. We mentioned that we planned on coming back the last day to book our place holder to give us the extra time to use it. The CM told us there was no need to do that. She took all of our information and wrote down to book it on the last day. Sure enough, we got our confirmation email on the day we disembarked. The reservation was dated the last day of the cruise. I have no clue if this is something you can always do or if we just got lucky with a helpful CM, but it worked out for us. The desk is often slammed on the last day of the cruise, and we were able to avoid that.

 

[Sytrace]

Sea days are always busy but port days are really good to go. By Thursday, lots of people have made up their minds and the lines can get super long.

We typically go the second or third day on the ship on the 7 night cruises...but if it is a short cruise, we go the very first evening while the shows and first dinner seatings are happening.
We actually scope out their hours as part of our embarkation day process before we go to the cabin but after lunch.

 

[MaleficentRN]

You can also just fill out the card and drop it in the box there when ever you want.

 

[disboardlover]

You can also just fill out the card and drop it in the box there when ever you want.

Yeah, this is the easiest method for placeholder reservations. On our recent Disney Dream cruise, I just picked a simple paper form from the cruise desk member on day 1, and was told to drop it off anytime at the cruise desk when it is open, or if i had a CC on file, I could drop it off at Guest Services. It a simple form to fill out and I dropped it off on another day and received confirmation by the day of disembarkation. Hope they use something similar on all the ships now for placeholder reservations since you only need to speak to a crew member if you have specific questions on an itinerary or want to book a specific cruise.

 

[Sytrace]

Yeah, this is the easiest method for placeholder reservations. On our recent Disney Dream cruise, I just picked a simple paper form from the cruise desk member on day 1, and was told to drop it off anytime at the cruise desk when it is open, or if i had a CC on file, I could drop it off at Guest Services. It a simple form to fill out and I dropped it off on another day and received confirmation by the day of disembarkation. Hope they use something similar on all the ships now for placeholder reservations since you only need to speak to a crew member if you have specific questions on an itinerary or want to book a specific cruise.

I have heard of folks not having their placeholders processed and then having a heck of a time tracking them down once they got home, which is why we have not tried this yet. But then again, we have never had to wait too long on the ship.

 

[disboardlover]

I have heard of folks not having their placeholders processed and then having a heck of a time tracking them down once they got home, which is why we have not tried this yet. But then again, we have never had to wait too long on the ship.

Good point on if you leave the ship without it being processed. Come to think of it, on our recent cruise, another family in our party dropped off a form at the desk the same time as I did, but I received a confirmation email a day earlier than they did. I could imagine something left at Guest Services could get misplaced, so I think we will still make sure to at least hand it to someone at the desk; I know they may wait until the end of their shift to process a pile of the forms; that is what they did on our cruise.

 

[jtkboston]

Yeah, this is the easiest method for placeholder reservations. On our recent Disney Dream cruise, I just picked a simple paper form from the cruise desk member on day 1, and was told to drop it off anytime at the cruise desk when it is open, or if i had a CC on file, I could drop it off at Guest Services. It a simple form to fill out and I dropped it off on another day and received confirmation by the day of disembarkation. Hope they use something similar on all the ships now for placeholder reservations since you only need to speak to a crew member if you have specific questions on an itinerary or want to book a specific cruise.

I tried dropping off a paper form with cruise details during our August 2016 Dream cruise, they would not take the forms anymore and insisted we "take a number" to talk with them. They have a unified queue for all the future Disney things: cruises, DVC, ABD.

This system was started, they said, after the Dream's reimagining when they moved all those sales people to a room that used to be part of the Vista art gallery.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I tried dropping off a paper form with cruise details during our August 2016 Dream cruise, they would not take the forms anymore and insisted we "take a number" to talk with them. They have a unified queue for all the future Disney things: cruises, DVC, ABD.

This system was started, they said, after the Dream's reimagining when they moved all those sales people to a room that used to be part of the Vista art gallery.

My parents just dropped off a form for a placeholder on our 10/2 cruise. I guess they didn't "reimagine " that aspect on the Magic.

 

[1 Minnie & 3 Mickeys]

On the Dream in August we could not do a placeholder on the form anymore. We had to sign in via computer screen and wait to be called. Did not take long at all and spent the few minutes talking to the DVC people...since it's the same area. Pretty sure we did it during the first dinner seating on Nassau Day.

 

[disboardlover]

Weird on everyone having different experiences on recent Dream cruises; wonder if it depends on the whims of the crew member who is there on a particular cruise.