Combining Deals...What's the Best?

[Dug720]

Just checking as I don't normally use agencies for my bookings (I have no desire to do so at all after this last experience with JetBlue Cruises), but does Costco charge you a fee if you cancel? If so that is something to keep in mind - just in case.

As I hinted parenthetically above, I had booked a cruise (on Celebrity) through an airline cruise agency when they had a "no deposit required" promo going on (you still paid it, you just didn't up front). The agent never said anything about THEM having a cancellation fee - she just explained the cruiseline's cancellation fee. When I printed out the paperwork, I saw in the small print that the division does in fact have a cancellation fee. So I was just going to suck it up even though I was having some doubts about it. Well, after a couple of calls of less than stellar service (I was wanting to change categories - yes, lower, but still - and their website (and Celebrity's) was showing a LOT of cabins in that category, but the agent I was speaking with insisted that it was Waitlist only for that category. THEN a few days later, my cabin was showing available on their website - it showed as mine on my reservation on Celebrity's site, but in playing with the airline cruise agency's site up to just at the point of booking it was still letting me book "my" cabin (and yes, I was using a computer I'd never been on the airline cruise division's site, so it's not like it had saved my cookies) and a call yielded yet another less than helpful and less than nice agent, I decided I had pretty much zero confidence in things going ok. So I booked DCL on my own (along with 3 days in Miami beforehand) - and even with a verandah cabin the whole thing will still be less than the Celebrity cruise would have been. Called the airline cruise agency to cancel and was cheerfully told "OK. You're well outside Celebrity's cancellation policy. But there is a cancellation fee through us." But I did pay it because I decided that for me, my peace of mind and having a vacation I have more control over was worth the division's cancellation fee. So for me, I'm back to doing my own bookings.

 

[olookasquirrel]

Just checking as I don't normally use agencies for my bookings (I have no desire to do so at all after this last experience with JetBlue Cruises), but does Costco charge you a fee if you cancel? If so that is something to keep in mind - just in case.

As I hinted parenthetically above, I had booked a cruise (on Celebrity) through an airline cruise agency when they had a "no deposit required" promo going on (you still paid it, you just didn't up front). The agent never said anything about THEM having a cancellation fee - she just explained the cruiseline's cancellation fee. When I printed out the paperwork, I saw in the small print that the division does in fact have a cancellation fee. So I was just going to suck it up even though I was having some doubts about it. Well, after a couple of calls of less than stellar service (I was wanting to change categories - yes, lower, but still - and their website (and Celebrity's) was showing a LOT of cabins in that category, but the agent I was speaking with insisted that it was Waitlist only for that category. THEN a few days later, my cabin was showing available on their website - it showed as mine on my reservation on Celebrity's site, but in playing with the airline cruise agency's site up to just at the point of booking it was still letting me book "my" cabin (and yes, I was using a computer I'd never been on the airline cruise division's site, so it's not like it had saved my cookies) and a call yielded yet another less than helpful and less than nice agent, I decided I had pretty much zero confidence in things going ok. So I booked DCL on my own (along with 3 days in Miami beforehand) - and even with a verandah cabin the whole thing will still be less than the Celebrity cruise would have been. Called the airline cruise agency to cancel and was cheerfully told "OK. You're well outside Celebrity's cancellation policy. But there is a cancellation fee through us." But I did pay it because I decided that for me, my peace of mind and having a vacation I have more control over was worth the division's cancellation fee. So for me, I'm back to doing my own bookings.

Cancellation fees are gross. Costco does NOT have them. I've cancelled rooms and done all sorts of gymnastics and never had a penalty - except for the penalty of my time. They are super nice, but if you need to do anything, be prepared to spend at least an hour on the phone. They literally just play middle man with Disney. So they get your info, put you on hold, get on the other line with Disney, and then come back to you.

That said, if you don't need your hand held, their gift cards are the best. And OP, you might want to consider buying your gift cards through them if you have a 2% back membership. IIRC, the gift cards in store are ~5% discounted, plus 2% back through Costco, plus now you can use your Visa at Costco and get your rewards from your rewards card of choice. Gives you more back than the target card.

 

[Dug720]

Cancellation fees are gross. Costco does NOT have them. I've cancelled rooms and done all sorts of gymnastics and never had a penalty - except for the penalty of my time. They are super nice, but if you need to do anything, be prepared to spend at least an hour on the phone. They literally just play middle man with Disney. So they get your info, put you on hold, get on the other line with Disney, and then come back to you.

That said, if you don't need your hand held, their gift cards are the best. And OP, you might want to consider buying your gift cards through them if you have a 2% back membership. IIRC, the gift cards in store are ~5% discounted, plus 2% back through Costco, plus now you can use your Visa at Costco and get your rewards from your rewards card of choice. Gives you more back than the target card.

Reason #1 why I will never use any kind of agency. I'm perfectly capable of booking and handling my cruises (and vacations) on my own. Being solo, any OBC is never enough to make it worth giving up my control of my reservation - and a Costco card has less than zero appeal as I don't do big box stores being single AND living in a NYC apartment with limited storage.

I was mainly pointing out to double check with any agency you use what THEIR cancellation fees are if anything. Because some won't necessarily tell you up front but leave you to find it in the fine print.

 

[Shanti]

Reason #1 why I will never use any kind of agency. I'm perfectly capable of booking and handling my cruises (and vacations) on my own. Being solo, any OBC is never enough to make it worth giving up my control of my reservation - and a Costco card has less than zero appeal as I don't do big box stores being single AND living in a NYC apartment with limited storage.

I was mainly pointing out to double check with any agency you use what THEIR cancellation fees are if anything. Because some won't necessarily tell you up front but leave you to find it in the fine print.

Agreed. I would never want to give up control of my vacation to an agent, even for an OBC. Being able to change staterooms at will, book excursions myself, etc., is all part of the fun. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it for me, and would chafe at the restriction of not being allowed to access my own reservation directly.

 

[olookasquirrel]

Reason #1 why I will never use any kind of agency. I'm perfectly capable of booking and handling my cruises (and vacations) on my own. Being solo, any OBC is never enough to make it worth giving up my control of my reservation - and a Costco card has less than zero appeal as I don't do big box stores being single AND living in a NYC apartment with limited storage.

I was mainly pointing out to double check with any agency you use what THEIR cancellation fees are if anything. Because some won't necessarily tell you up front but leave you to find it in the fine print.

Yes, that's always a good plan. Know what you're getting into and don't support companies that try to pass the cost of doing business onto you - I will bend over backwards to fly Southwest, because I'm so resentful of other airlines that charge obscene amounts of money as a fee. But that's its own rant...

At the end of the day, I'd rather go on the website and just do it myself, but I can't resist the Costco card (or onboard credit). I look at it as - it's MORE effort for me, but I'm getting paid for it . And the Costco is worth it because you can always churn it back into your next cruise!

 

[Dug720]

Yes, that's always a good plan. Know what you're getting into and don't support companies that try to pass the cost of doing business onto you - I will bend over backwards to fly Southwest, because I'm so resentful of other airlines that charge obscene amounts of money as a fee. But that's its own rant...

At the end of the day, I'd rather go on the website and just do it myself, but I can't resist the Costco card (or onboard credit). I look at it as - it's MORE effort for me, but I'm getting paid for it . And the Costco is worth it because you can always churn it back into your next cruise!

Yeah, Southwest screwed me over one too many times stranding me at the airport for upwards of 5 hours because they chose to do non-required things with their planes. The old "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me" thing. Never again. (Plus when you only do carry-on, the "but everyone else charges for baggage" argument falls completely apart.)

Costco cards are of no use to me whatsoever.

Both those things work for you and you don't mind having to contact them for whatever. Great! That arrangement doesn't work for me. And that's fine too!

 

[olookasquirrel]

Yeah, Southwest screwed me over one too many times stranding me at the airport for upwards of 5 hours because they chose to do non-required things with their planes. The old "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me" thing. Never again. (Plus when you only do carry-on, the "but everyone else charges for baggage" argument falls completely apart.)

Costco cards are of no use to me whatsoever.

Both those things work for you and you don't mind having to contact them for whatever. Great! That arrangement doesn't work for me. And that's fine too!

And that's why I love message boards - you ask a question, and get answers from so many different people with different values, and that's awesome! Costco works for me because many, many hours on the phone is worth a couple hundred bucks. But I also have many, many hours to kill in a lab job that has "incubate 90 minutes" as part of my day. For my mom, it would be worth it to just do it directly and not waste time. Same with the gift card churning - it takes a long time to input $1000 worth of $50 gift cards to get the $50 discount, but for me that's $50!! Where for you that might only be $50...

And yes, we've almost gotten stuck on Southwest several times - fortunately it's always been outbound from Midway to Providence, and there are literally 4 major airports we can reroute into. But I put up with it because the week I was flying into my wedding, I was on another airline, and found out I could leave 2 days earlier than expected. I could swing the $200 price difference, but not the additional $200 change fee. So I'm forever soured on change fees and the airlines that employ them...

 

[Elizakapeka]

I was told that sams club sells discounted Disney gift cards online. $100 and $500 incriments. I believe the $500 card sells for $475.

 

[bethy]

Cancellation fees are gross. Costco does NOT have them. I've cancelled rooms and done all sorts of gymnastics and never had a penalty - except for the penalty of my time. They are super nice, but if you need to do anything, be prepared to spend at least an hour on the phone. They literally just play middle man with Disney. So they get your info, put you on hold, get on the other line with Disney, and then come back to you.

That said, if you don't need your hand held, their gift cards are the best. And OP, you might want to consider buying your gift cards through them if you have a 2% back membership. IIRC, the gift cards in store are ~5% discounted, plus 2% back through Costco, plus now you can use your Visa at Costco and get your rewards from your rewards card of choice. Gives you more back than the target card.

Am I reading this right that Costco sells Disney gift cards in store??? I was going to go the Target route but would prefer this deal for sure!

 

[wombat_5606]

Am I reading this right that Costco sells Disney gift cards in store???

Mine does not.