Thinking about booking through Costco. Will they be asking me if I want first or second seating for Dining ? Will I also be able to tell them I want a private table? Will they mark me down as a castaway member so it is counted for one of my cruises? Can I still log onto
Disney cruise line site to see my cruise, make spa reservations and fill out paperwork? Do I make all payments to Costco when paying off cruise? What about putting a credit on the room?
I have not sailed with Disney for 7 years - does paperwork come in the mail that we take to port or is everything online beforehand? What about luggage tags? Can I Pre pay my tips?
How do I pick out port arrival time? Costco or do I do online?
Does Disney have an App now where we can see daily activities and message each other on the ship?
The only things you really to do with Costco are the initial booking, payments, and any changes to the booking that affect the pre-cruise price (cabin changes, cruise changes, transportation changes, pre-paying tips or OBC).
If you book online at costcotravel.com, the system will let you choose from available dining times. If you call Costco Travel, they will ask about dining times and set this up for you. If early dining isn't available, you will have to speak to an agent to get on the waitlist (either Costco or Disney, I've done it both ways in the past).
Same with
Castaway Club numbers, have the numbers handy before you book; the costcotravel.com website has a place to enter those or, if you call, the Agent on the phone will enter them for you.
Payments are made to Costco, either by calling or on costcotravel.com; if you want to pay using a Disney gift card, you will have to call Costco Travel so that they can contact Disney.
Once you complete the booking, you will get an email from Costco Travel, usually within seconds. That email will have a section titled, "YOUR TRIP INFORMATION", just under that heading, there's a table with the "Costco Travel Confirmation Number" and the "Cruise Line Confirmation Number". To see your info on the Disney website do the following:
- Copy the Cruise Line confirmation number from the email
- head over to disneycruise.disney.go.com
- Click "My Disney Cruise" > "My Reservations"
- Log into your account (if you're not already logged in previously)
- You probably won't see any reservations listed.
- Click the Add A Reservation button
- Enter the "Cruise Line Confirmation Number" from the CostcoTravel email and your birthday
- The reservation will appear and tell you what date you are allowed to check in for your cruise.
I usually get another email from Disney a little while later. We also usually receive a welcome letter from Disney a few weeks after booking.
Once your check-in date arrives, head back over to the Disney website, complete check-in. One of the last steps of the check-in process is selecting a Port Arrival Time.
The Cruise paperwork and luggage tags will arrive in the mail about a month before your cruise.
In addition to being able to book excursions on the Disney website (once your check in period begins), the email I mentioned above will have a link to a 3rd party excursion vendor and a Costco discount code for excursions. I've used them a couple of times for simple/short excursions and it worked out just fine.
FYI, the Disney Cruise website (all Disney websites, actually) is a steaming pile of mouse poop ... really, it's not very magical at all. In fact, it's down for me right now.