Book less than 75 days out?

[Landon]

Are there any major things I would miss out on booking a cruise less than 75 days out, as far as character experience tickets or anything? Its a 5 day cruise if that matters. Nov 10th

 

[lanejudy]

Hard to say, and it somewhat depends what might be most important to you. You may not get an early PAT if you are well beyond the 75 day mark, but sometimes the earliest PATs aren't available after Silver booking at 90 days. Princess gathering tickets might be all gone, but you may be able to get those onboard. Similar with Palo brunch/dinner reservations, you may be able to schedule it onboard if unavailable to book in advance. Some of the most popular excursions might be sold out.

I wouldn't let that stop me from booking a cruise on short notice, though. There are still plenty of activities onboard or in ports that you can have a great cruise without some of the extras.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[TortoiseTaughtUs]

Our first cruise was a 3-night on the Dream (August ‘18) I booked 34 days out. Immediately after booking I was able to reserve a Pirate Night makeover for my son, tickets to the Princess Gathering, and dinner at Remy.

 

[tigerchic89]

We just booked that one last night. We're super excited. All of the beverage classes are sold out, I plan to sign up on board. Palo is only available 1st night. (I think, I looked for brunch on sea days and there were none, and I looked for dinner 1 night.. nothing... so I just booked 1st night) All excursions on the 1 port day were available except 1 was sold out. This is our 1st GTY and even with the sell outs, I'm still so excited (especially with the price!)

 

[Landon]

awesome, do you still get to choose dining early or late with GTY?

 

[tigerchic89]

yeah.. early dining was "gone"... we have late dining with a request in to change

 

[Landon]

And thats the Nov 10th from san juan? If so not having early dinner is deal breaker with my kids

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Are there any major things I would miss out on booking a cruise less than 75 days out, as far as character experience tickets or anything? Its a 5 day cruise if that matters. Nov 10th

The ticketed princess gatherings might be unavailable, but I think a few (though not Anna & Elsa) don't require tickets. Other than that, most things onboard are first come, first served, including character meets. I've booked on short notice and had a blast. It's such a nice bonus not to have to wait for several months or a year to go on your cruise.

 

[tigerchic89]

And thats the Nov 10th from san juan? If so not having early dinner is deal breaker with my kids

Yes, 11/10 sailing, which we booked yesterday, our TA was not able to get us early seating. We've requested a change to early, and we've had this happen in the past, and once on board they were able to switch us. For us, the price is so good, even if we do Cabanas or room service 1 or 2 nights early, it will be worth it.

 

[MomOTwins]

And thats the Nov 10th from san juan? If so not having early dinner is deal breaker with my kids

Almost ever cruise after pay-in-full is going to be "waitlist" for early dining. That said, they do seem to allow quite a few people off the waitlist. I wish they had more transparency in how their waitlist works.

 

[Macprincess]

If it helps at all our past three Disney Cruises have all been Florida resident rate booked no more then 6 weeks out. I have never been able to get Palo brunch or dinner on the night we wanted on line, but have always been able to get them once one board. We have also been able to snag tickets to character meet and greets that were not available via online bookings. Same with gingerbread house making on a last minute Christmas cruise. I have also twice been able to get early PAT. However, our family prefers late dining so I have never tried to get early dining...We have also request and received our own table when booking late in the game.

 

[allison0523]

If early dining is a must, I would NOT book so close to the cruise. You can ask to be waitlisted but there are no guarantees you will get it. We booked in May for a cruise the end of October and had to be waitlisted for early dining. I kept checking the website to see if we could change and we finally got main dining about 3-4 weeks after the PIF date. Other option if you can't get main dining is to eat at the buffet or other places that are open early.

 

[Dug720]

If early dining is a must, I would NOT book so close to the cruise. You can ask to be waitlisted but there are no guarantees you will get it. We booked in May for a cruise the end of October and had to be waitlisted for early dining. I kept checking the website to see if we could change and we finally got main dining about 3-4 weeks after the PIF date. Other option if you can't get main dining is to eat at the buffet or other places that are open early.

There is no night buffet on Disney. Cabanas turns into a sit-down restaurant at night and is usually open all but the first and last nights (occasionally they have it closed or limited hours on other nights for crew recognition celebrations or other reasons).

 

[allison0523]

There is no night buffet on Disney. Cabanas turns into a sit-down restaurant at night and is usually open all but the first and last nights (occasionally they have it closed or limited hours on other nights for crew recognition celebrations or other reasons).

Really? That's interesting because we normally don't go to sit down dinners on cruises and just eat in the buffet. But our last Disney cruise was several years ago so I don't remember specifically what we did there. Our recent cruises have been on other cruise lines. So, how do they do seating for Cabanas in the evening? Is it considered one of the dining rooms or first come first serve?

 

[Dug720]

Really? That's interesting because we normally don't go to sit down dinners on cruises and just eat in the buffet. But our last Disney cruise was several years ago so I don't remember specifically what we did there. Our recent cruises have been on other cruise lines. So, how do they do seating for Cabanas in the evening? Is it considered one of the dining rooms or first come first serve?

Disney does not do a dinner buffet at this time - I do not think they have ever offered one but am not sure. When Cabanas is open at night (again, never the first or last nights), it is come, first seated just like a land-based restaurant. There is a fixed menu (made up of things from the MDR menus) and the servers are basically in training before being promoted to the MDRs.