Booking next cruise while on board?

[Mousemom]

We are taking our second Disney cruise in Septmeber. We watched the DCL website and noticed that the price of the cruise went up and down. Did not know this our first cruise. We used a travel agent and she did not tell us that the price may go down so we paid what we saw when we booked. This time when I noticed the price drop I asked my travel agent to re-book with the lower price. It was close to $600.00. My question to all of you experienced cruisers-what is the benefit of booking while on board. Do you save a lot more money than booking with a travel agent later? We are planning our next cruise for May 2014. This site has been so helpful and I have learned so much from all of you experts. Thanks!

 

[lbgraves]

September is not a prime cruise time, so they do offer specials to help fill the ship. You probably saw one of the *GT rates, had to cancel your previous booking, paid cancellation penalty for after the PIF date, but still saved money doing the switch. If you are booking a holiday cruise or summer time cruise, you aren't likely to see the price drop or have specials offered. Many book a dummy date onboard and move it when the opening day for new dates comes out. That way they are getting the OBB benefits and getting the lowest price offered for the high-volume times. You can name a TA when you do a booking onboard also.

 

[Pinkytink]

Sorry Mousemum, I don't have the answer to your question but would be really grateful to anyone who could shed some light on this as I too have a similar dilemma. Just how much is to be gained by reserving a future cruise whilst on board ship.

We would like to book 2 interconnecting rooms on Disney Magic on the transatlantic crossing next May 2014. Our plan was to reserve the rooms whilst on our Magic in the Med cruise this coming August, in order to get the deals offered by Disney on board, but to then have our reservation transferred to a US TA.

However, I have checked on DCL website today and it seems that all the interconnecting rooms (we are looking at categories 9 -12) have already been assigned and the remaining rooms in those categories have either already been reserved or are quickly being reserved. We therefore don't think we should wait until our cruise in August to reserve as by then all of the staterooms in these categories will be sold out.

What should we do?

 

[sgc1107]

We are taking our second Disney cruise in Septmeber. We watched the DCL website and noticed that the price of the cruise went up and down. Did not know this our first cruise. We used a travel agent and she did not tell us that the price may go down so we paid what we saw when we booked. This time when I noticed the price drop I asked my travel agent to re-book with the lower price. It was close to $600.00. My question to all of you experienced cruisers-what is the benefit of booking while on board. Do you save a lot more money than booking with a travel agent later? We are planning our next cruise for May 2014. This site has been so helpful and I have learned so much from all of you experts. Thanks!

Savings... YES! When you book onboard you will get 10% off, only pay 10% down (not the normal 20%), and get an OBC (on board credit) ours was $200 I think this depends on the length of the cruise.

Each TA is different.... The ONLY thing that is different is how much of an OBC they are giving you! They don't make their money by jacking up the price. Disney pays a commission of some sort to the TA. No matter what TA you use the price will be the same (unless disney raises or lowers prices). We use dreams unlimited because we've found they offer the best OBC. And that's the only reason we use a TA!

We are sailing sept 28th on the fantasy booked onboard last dec we were trying to get a couple friends to go but the price for an inside room cost more than we booked for our cat 5C in dec! So for us prices have gone up! As stated above sept is not a popular time to cruise because of the season (hurricane season, kids in school) but the prices tend to be lower, that's why we do it!

Well worth booking onboard!!! Good luck!

 

[lbgraves]

...We would like to book 2 interconnecting rooms on Disney Magic on the transatlantic crossing next May 2014. Our plan was to reserve the rooms whilst on our Magic in the Med cruise this coming August, in order to get the deals offered by Disney on board, but to then have our reservation transferred to a US TA.

However, I have checked on DCL website today and it seems that all the interconnecting rooms (we are looking at categories 9 -12) have already been assigned and the remaining rooms in those categories have either already been reserved or are quickly being reserved. ...

The current offer on the ships is for a 20% discount on the TA cruises. I believe the 2014 is included in that. Also, the Magic will be getting 42 more connecting doors with the staterooms during the dry dock this fall. I know my TA has been trying to get confirmation of which rooms will become connecting, but DCL hasn't released that information yet. Not sure if this will be available when you cruise in August, but it is something to consider. You could book now with a TA, then reshop when onboard in August to have the 20% applied. If you select a TA who specializes in DCL, they should be able to track when that information is released so they can switch you to connecting rooms.

 

[r_mccool]

Czn you book 2 different cruises when you are on board?

 

[lanejudy]

Czn you book 2 different cruises when you are on board?

You can only get onboard booking benefits for one cruise date (max. 2 staterooms), but you may certainly book as many different cruises as you wish.

 

[r_mccool]

You can only get onboard booking benefits for one cruise date (max. 2 staterooms), but you may certainly book as many different cruises as you wish.

Thank You!