Booking with DCL

[queenof4hearts]

I am just curious...

When I decided we were going on a cruise I called a few travel agents and I could not get the cat. 1 we wanted on the date I wanted and I had to wait hours and days for the answer. I then came across a DCL broshure I had and called the 800 # and w/in 5 minutes booked the suite I wanted on the date I wanted.

I was so shocked I asked her if there was a difference and she said no. We did not book air or transfers as we use SW air and don't want to shuttle. I am curious though if TA's can give onboard credits. She said the price would be the same through a travel agent.

Does anyone go through Disney and what have your experiences been? Just curious in NY. Thanks!!

 

[justcruisin]

Try DU, they'll likely be less than DCL directly. Unsure why you had no luck with other agents -- incompetence maybe?

 

[dizneykids]

we've always booked directly with disney as we lucked into a wonderful CM there who has taken care of us since. she has kept her eyes out for us for cancellations that will allow us to get into the cat we want (for example, for our 5/24 cruise, we originally booked into a cat 3 as all four of the cat 2s and 1s were booked). within 3 months, she called us to ask if we wanted the walt suite which had just opened up.

we switched once to AAA after booking with disney because i wanted the pin set. no hassle with doing that either.

 

["Ginger"]

Yes TA 's can give onboard credits. TA's do not pay the same price that you would to DCL. DCL pays a 10% commission or the agencies could buy the staterooms while the rates are low they sell them to you at the current DCL rate. If your TA offers you an onboard credit for buying with them the cost is coming out of their profit.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

We've always booked directly with DCL (ok all THREE cruises ) and have been perfectly happy. We did so the first time because we were booking before the ship launched - 18months ahead of the original maiden voyage and none of the TAs around wanted to even give us a quote.

The 2 since I simply called the 800 # on our Castaway Club card and have had easy sailing. In fact when we booked for this upcoming cruise the CM asked if we would be celebrating our 20th anniversary onboard. Now since we don't go that frequently - certainly nowhere near Barb & Tony's record - I was impressed. When I asked how she knew to ask that she mentioned that there was a note in the record that we'd celebrated our 15th on our first cruise in '98. Wow! I've always known Disney was good at keeping records but that was outstanding as we hadn't TOLD anyone about that ahead of time - no boards like this to know. Our servers had simply picked up on conversation and surprised us with a cake! They must have put something in the record.

Ok, so the bottom line is while I might try DU in the future DCL has always done well by us. And we do the whole package through them. It is easier for us and we've never been able to save that much money to make it worth the extra hassle. Especially since we've always booked way in advance and this way we know everything is taken care of - don't have to remember to go looking for airline reservations, etc. later.

Deb

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We booked directly thru DCL on both of our cruises with no problems. We were origionally on the cancelled Magic Nov. 02 along with another group who booked thru a TA. We recieved a call from DCL Wed. evening about 5pm cst telling us of the cancellation (the evening before Thanksgiving if you recall). We had booked 2 pre-nights at DW, Thursday and Friday. The other group did not recieve a call about the cancellation, they were told that the TA had to be notified first. I rebooked for the 4 night Wonder myself that evening. I also recieved my 50% off vouchers for our future cruise directly from DCL. The other party is still waiting, it is going to their TA. They recieved the verbal o.k. but are still waiting for the vouchers. Their TA has done a good job and saved them a lot of footwork but I am more of a "hands on"person anyways.

 

[queenof4hearts]

Interesting. I am happy w/ booking thru DCL. I am more of a hands on person also. We did get an $1850 discount for early booking (June 2004). The agent did say that I could switch my ressie to a travel agent but I think I will leave it where it is. the less handling the better.

Thanks for your experiences. I always learn something new!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

One more word of advice if you are a first-timer, make sure you stay at a Disney resourt. You wiil recieve a "key to the world card" basically a credit card wich doubles as your resourt room key and ship stateroom key. We accepted an "upgrade" to The Dolphin and found out it is not owned by Disney. Thus different room keys stateroom keys park hoppers etc. Just something else I had to learn "the hard way". Good luck!!!

 

[SueEllen]

One more word of advice if you are a first-timer, make sure you stay at a Disney resort. You wiil recieve a "key to the world card" basically a credit card wich doubles as your resort room key and ship stateroom key

That only applies if you book a "land/sea" package. Otherwise you will have different keys/cards for your resort and for the ship.

Sue Ellen

 

[LAMPSKIES]

I stand corrected!!!! Just another thing I've learned. What am I to do with all this knowledge???????

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Lampskies -

With all of this new knowledge you'll just have to take another trip!

Deb