Costco opening day bookings

[We’reAllMadHere]

Costco Travel is a travel agent, to be clear. They are a huge travel agency and yes you won't get the personalized service you'd expect from a smaller travel agent. But the bonus is the shop card you get back worth somewhere around 7-8% of your cruise fare. Essentially Costco takes their commission from DCL, rumoured to be around 16%, and splits it with the customer. No other travel agent does that. Costco's commission is probably higher than a lot of smaller agencies given the volume it does with DCL. On one of our cruises, we got shop cards for Costco worth around $1,800 CAD, that's a lot of groceries for my family.

Also, if you are an executive member you get another 2% back.

Thanks for the explanation!

I have used Costco for travel. I’ve also had an issue during said travel where Costco customer service was not good and it was basically like using an Expedia center.

I’ll have to compare costs. The last few cruises I’ve taken, Costco’s offered gift card was the same as my TA’s offered onboard credit. But that was on Royal, not Disney. I’m also not an executive member.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Thanks for the explanation!

I have used Costco for travel. I’ve also had an issue during said travel where Costco customer service was not good and it was basically like using an Expedia center.

I’ll have to compare costs. The last few cruises I’ve taken, Costco’s offered gift card was the same as my TA’s offered onboard credit. But that was on Royal, not Disney. I’m also not an executive member.

The Costco gift card (shop card) for a Disney cruise is much higher than for any other cruise line, I think it might be because DCL doesn't allow any other sort of discounting while other cruise lines do. So yeah, I hear you, on Royal it would not be nearly the same. But on DCL, that 8% Costco gives is hard to beat.

 

[eza wg]

Basically when I costco, I tried to dial their number at 7:59 and after I pressed a few options, entered my costco card number, costco agent picked up my call and asked for all my details and the cruise I wanted to book. From there, the agent had to call DCL, that's when the long wait began. Luckily the agent got connected with a DCL agent after 2 hours wait time and my cruise was booked. As soon as I completed the sailing mayber 6-8 weeks later I received the costco digital cash card (the amount depends on your room category). Overall, the costco agent was helpful and patient.

 

[cvjw]

We book all our DCL cruises thru Costco. The 8% shop card, the 2% executive rewards and the 3% citi cash really add up.

The Costco cash comes electronically now - no plastic card. It is always waiting in my inbox when I leave a Disney cruise.

 

[fflmaster]

After your Disnet Cruise has been transferred to Costco is there a way to tell? And do you need Costco to make any changes or will the cruise still show up on your my Disney app for cruising?

 

[Cfabar1]

Once it is transferred to Costco can you still book your excursions, dining, etc. online directly, or do you need to call Costco to make arrangements?

The shop credit gift card looks to be a great deal compared to travel agents based on what I have seen.

If you don't use Costco, does AAA offer on board credit?

 

[lanejudy]

The cruise will show in your app but Costco has to handle any changes like date, stateroom, guests, transfers, etc. You can do your own excursions/activity bookings, adult dining, online check-in, etc.

Last I knew AAA offered a photo package, not OBC.

 

[plutolovr]

Once it is transferred to Costco can you still book your excursions, dining, etc. online directly, or do you need to call Costco to make arrangements?

The shop credit gift card looks to be a great deal compared to travel agents based on what I have seen.

If you don't use Costco, does AAA offer on board credit?

That's because they are not "travel agents". It's a call center and they don't work on commission like most travel agents do. When you get shipboard credit from a travel agency, like Dreams Unlimited Travel, that credit comes from the commission they get from Disney Cruise Line, so it's not going to be as much as you get from Costco. You will also deal with different people over there, not one dedicated agent like you get with a real travel agency. Dreams Unlimited Travel, who runs/owns these boards, offers a great shipboard credit and a gift basket.

 

[Gdes1]

Basically when I costco, I tried to dial their number at 7:59 and after I pressed a few options, entered my costco card number, costco agent picked up my call and asked for all my details and the cruise I wanted to book. From there, the agent had to call DCL, that's when the long wait began. Luckily the agent got connected with a DCL agent after 2 hours wait time and my cruise was booked. As soon as I completed the sailing mayber 6-8 weeks later I received the costco digital cash card (the amount depends on your room category). Overall, the costco agent was helpful and patient.

Was this on an opening day or just some random day?

 

[eza wg]

Was this on an opening day or just some random day?

It was on the opening days, my last few cruises I booked on the day when it's available for my castaway level

 

[BrianLa]

This is the first time I'm looking to book a Disney Cruise during the early booking window. Are the prices lower during the early booking and jump right up on the 17th when they are open to the public? We are booking a Family Veranda category which will be available. I've booked my previous 4 cruises via Costco for all of the benefits people have posted.

 

[lanejudy]

Are the prices lower during the early booking and jump right up on the 17th when they are open to the public?

Not necessarily. Cruise prices increase as more staterooms are booked. For the routine itineraries like the Bahamas and Caribbean it can be weeks or even months before fares increase. It's the more unique itineraries or holiday/peak times that increase quickly.

 

[BrianLa]

Not necessarily. Cruise prices increase as more staterooms are booked. For the routine itineraries like the Bahamas and Caribbean it can be weeks or even months before fares increase. It's the more unique itineraries or holiday/peak times that increase quickly.

Thank you. The one I am looking at is in July but does have 2 stops at Castaway Cay.

 

[Gdes1]

This is the first time I'm looking to book a Disney Cruise during the early booking window. Are the prices lower during the early booking and jump right up on the 17th when they are open to the public? We are booking a Family Veranda category which will be available. I've booked my previous 4 cruises via Costco for all of the benefits people have posted.

So, I'm assuming the previous 4 weren't DCL, otherwise you'd at least be booking on Silver day and not the 17th? Either way, the few I've been watching haven't gone up that much. As others said, it's stuff like Panama and Transatlantic and inaugural saillings that shoot up and are in demand. Because I'm a nerd and have this DCL addiction, I made a list of all of the Treasure's sailings available so far, and the opening day price vs what each one is currently selling for. Even being the newest ship, there are itineraries out there where the price hasn't increased at all since the opening day of that particular sailling. Christmas, summer and spring break times are the big increases. But, it's not the 17th yet. I plan to check again in another week and see what impact public booking had.

 

[BrianLa]

So, I'm assuming the previous 4 weren't DCL, otherwise you'd at least be booking on Silver day and not the 17th? Either way, the few I've been watching haven't gone up that much. As others said, it's stuff like Panama and Transatlantic and inaugural saillings that shoot up and are in demand. Because I'm a nerd and have this DCL addiction, I made a list of all of the Treasure's sailings available so far, and the opening day price vs what each one is currently selling for. Even being the newest ship, there are itineraries out there where the price hasn't increased at all since the opening day of that particular sailling. Christmas, summer and spring break times are the big increases. But, it's not the 17th yet. I plan to check again in another week and see what impact public booking had.

Thanks. 3 were Disney Cruise Line but were not booked during the presale as we didn’t know when we were going. The earliest we’ve booked was about 1 year in advance for this coming July on the Treasure after getting off a terrible RCL cruise. Even now my wife is saying she can’t plan that far ahead for next July. We are Disney Vacation Club members so are use to planning at least 11 months in advance but 17 months is too far away. LOL

 

[Gdes1]

Thanks. 3 were Disney Cruise Line but were not booked during the presale as we didn’t know when we were going. The earliest we’ve booked was about 1 year in advance for this coming July on the Treasure after getting off a terrible RCL cruise. Even now my wife is saying she can’t plan that far ahead for next July. We are Disney Vacation Club members so are use to planning at least 11 months in advance but 17 months is too far away. LOL

OK, I get it now. I misread your post and didn't even look at your signature about past cruises.

 

[BrianLa]

So I booked today directly with DCL. There were only a few rooms left in the category and deck I wanted. This cruise doesn't show up on Costco yet and didn't want to risk losing out on the room. Price was same price that DCL quoted me during the pre-booking window.

 

[Gdes1]

So I booked today directly with DCL. There were only a few rooms left in the category and deck I wanted. This cruise doesn't show up on Costco yet and didn't want to risk losing out on the room. Price was same price that DCL quoted me during the pre-booking window.

That totally makes sense. So you're saying you got through on the phone one time to get a quote, then got through again to book?

 

[BrianLa]

That totally makes sense. So you're saying you got through on the phone one time to get a quote, then got through again to book?

I called on Saturday bc for whatever reason I could see the cruises but when I would click to pick a cabin I got an error that “no cabins available for my party size”. That doesn’t make any sense as an error as we are only a family of 4. They confirmed I was Silver in the system and that shouldn’t have been happening. I still had to convince my wife to book this far out but that took care of itself this morning when I could actually see which cabins were available and they were scarce.

 

[Gdes1]

I called on Saturday bc for whatever reason I could see the cruises but when I would click to pick a cabin I got an error that “no cabins available for my party size”. That doesn’t make any sense as an error as we are only a family of 4. They confirmed I was Silver in the system and that shouldn’t have been happening. I still had to convince my wife to book this far out but that took care of itself this morning when I could actually see which cabins were available and they were scarce.

Glad it worked out!