Booking opening day

[want2seepluto]

Can someone please explain the process for booking on opening day (for Silver status)? I can only book over the phone, correct? What information do I need to have available to book?

We are a family group and will be booking 4 rooms. Can I book rooms for the other families? Can I provide their credit cards for the deposit or will they only accept my card since I am the one calling? Also, two of us have an OBB if that makes any difference to the process.

Thanks for the help! Our first cruise I booked online and after the PIF date so it was pretty straight forward. Now we're booking for Alaska and I want to book opening day.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Can someone please explain the process for booking on opening day (for Silver status)? I can only book over the phone, correct? What information do I need to have available to book?

We are a family group and will be booking 4 rooms. Can I book rooms for the other families? Can I provide their credit cards for the deposit or will they only accept my card since I am the one calling? Also, two of us have an OBB if that makes any difference to the process.

Thanks for the help! Our first cruise I booked online and after the PIF date so it was pretty straight forward. Now we're booking for Alaska and I want to book opening day.

Yes the early booking for Castaway Club members is via phone only.

You pretty much need the same information that you do booking at any time - names, birthdates, all that kind of stuff.

You can only book rooms for silver members. If the other 3 rooms do not have at least a Silver member in them, they cannot be booked at the same time.

Yes, you can use their card to book a reservation.

The OBB (onboard booking?) are you asking about the onboard credit that comes with that? So, there were two of you making the placeholder reservation? Or one of you making 2 placeholders? Either way, the onboard credit is per room, so you could book two rooms (both getting the OBC) as long as you have at least 2 people who are silver (you'd be putting one on each reservation).

 

[lanejudy]

Above is correct. Call to book on the Silver advanced booking date, or book online the next day when opened to the public Each room reserved must have a silver CC member, so if the other families are not silver, you cannot book for them that day. If you have OBB placeholder(s), I recommend having those reservation #s handy when you call. DCL can look it up, but that might mean longer on the phone.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[want2seepluto]

Thank you PrincessShmoo!

For the onboard booking, I guess I just wondered if the booking process is different when you use that or if there is any extra info you need besides that confirmation number. Two of the rooms will be booked using a placeholder reservation and we've never done it before so I didn't know how the process worked.

When the window opens for first-time cruisers, can that be done online instead of over the phone? Is the response generally faster over the phone or website? I'll be booking 2 rooms for silver members and 2 rooms for first-time cruisers so I know I'll have to do those on different days. (We don't want to spread the silver cruisers over the other rooms because there is a chance at least one of those rooms may end up cancelling.)

Thanks again!

 

[want2seepluto]

And thank you too lanejudy! We were posting at the same time.

 

[lanejudy]

If you have a placeholder, you'll have to call to use it. If you have an OBB with a specific date that you intend to change dates, you should be able to change dates online. Placeholder always requires a call regardless of opening day or not.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

Since you are Silver, much of your personal information is already in their system. Just be prepared for long waits. It can be an hour or more on hold. I wonder if because your a Silver if you can call and book all 4 rooms on Silver booking day, even though two rooms will have first time cruisers? Anyone know? Usually to get benefits at least one member of your party has to be a Silver. Not sure if that works over multiple staterooms.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Just a gripe...I wish they'd fix this. It can't be that hard to have people log into their Castaway Club account to gain access to making reservations for the new cruises. The whole process of having to call in and ask for prices and tie up the phone lines is just ridiculous. {/rant}

 

[ahain]

Since you are Silver, much of your personal information is already in their system. Just be prepared for long waits. It can be an hour or more on hold. I wonder if because your a Silver if you can call and book all 4 rooms on Silver booking day, even though two rooms will have first time cruisers? Anyone know? Usually to get benefits at least one member of your party has to be a Silver. Not sure if that works over multiple staterooms.

I'm pretty sure the only way you could book them all at once if if you booked all 4 rooms under one (silver's) name (or 3 rooms, if the other room is booked under the other silver's OBB)