Costco v. Small World

[UmmGooD]

I turned our Costco card into cash in Virginia. It was a large one also.
Perhaps some states force retailers to offer this option.
Call and ask Costco. I never asked anyone. I had heard you could, so I showed up at store and cashed it. Most $ ever made in an hour.

If you don't need knowledge or your hand held, it's a great deal.

I could be wrong but I doubt it is a state policy as to why they cash them out. I know of stores in my state that do NOT allow you to cash out cards. For example I tried at Sams and it didn't work. So I think it is a Costco policy as the cards are called "Cash Card" so I think that is the intention.

Another small thing some might not know is if you have the Costco American Express they send you a gift certificate each year with the amount you earned using the card. You can also trade that in for cash as well.

I believe you can use any card at Costco to pay for a cruise because I think Disney themselves debit your card not Costco. I don't think it is something where they charge you and then in turn pay Disney. I think Disney directly charges you.

 

[Happy99]

I'm interested in finding out more about Costco, too. I've tried SWV a second time this week, and they're quoting me the same price as the DCL website and an additional $100 OBC. That doesn't seem like much of an incentive to work with them. We're pretty independent travelers, and last year gave up and booked our first Disney cruise directly online with DCL after we didn't get anything helpoful from SWV after a couple of days.
I sent SWV an email request this last Sunday, got an email on Monday telling us who was assigned to us, and got a quote from the agent yesterday afternoon. I'm trying to be patient, but their responsiveness is definitely not impressing me.

As a general rule January is what the travel industry calls the WAVE Season and usually the busiest time for travel agencies and travel providers. Try calling DCL or WDW and the wait times have been crazy this month. learned something new waiting in the doctors office and reading the travel magazine

As an FYI DCL doesn't allow travel agencies to discount their price and you will find the same price. The difference comes in with service and OBC. getting a quote is not really service and only your first point of contact with a travel agency. Once you have questions or anything the response time and accurary of answers are what are important to me

 

[manateesmom]

Costco has given OBC in the past (maybe not for DCL?), I have gotten it for sailing with RCCL.

If you buy something at Costco, you can get the rest of the balance on your card in cash, at my store.

I don't need the personal services of a TA - I research and know exactly what cabin I want, when to sail, what itineraries I like, etc. If it were a truly small, really personal TA, who knew my preferences and could just handle it for me, that would be amazing, but I know I'm the "cruise detective" sniffing out the best cabin for best price, best itinerary for best price, etc., so to me it boils down to financial incentives. OBC probably just encourages me to drink more on a cruise, Costco card would pay for groceries For me, Costco card wins.

Having said that, this cruise is booked with a TA for the OBC and for the "no deposit" deal. I booked more than a year out, and don't need or want to tie up too much money in deposits that far in advance, so I appreciate that perk. Some cruise lines REALLY want a lot of deposit (we looked at Carnival, and the deposit was more than 1/2 the price of the cruise) and I just have a mental issue with forking over that much money with nothing to show for it. So a TA that can offer no deposit has given me an extra year with my money plus, in this case, a small amount of OBC. But I won't be emailing at 3 am

 

[valee]

Nothing from the TA since the quote on Tuesday which told me nothing more than the DCL site did, although I'd asked her to proceed with a booking. Since it looks like some categories are getting booked up I've just booked our May repo through Costco this evening, and sent an email to the SWV TA asking her to close our file. The difference in OBC will cover the cost for one of us to go to CarsLand the day before the cruise.

I feel that the stateroom reviews on this site gave me the informatin I needed to make a good selection.

 

[sayfay]

Thought I would update - we decided to book through Costco. We figured $250 on a ship doesn't go very far, but the $500 will be well spent at Costco.

Booked online and it was seamless. Got the exact location for a cabin I wanted.

So we are BOOKED!!! sooooo excited!!!!!

 

[5intexas]

If this hasn't been answered yet- you CAN use the Disney Visa to pay for the cruise thought Costco and it shows up on your statement as charged by DCL.

 

[TLSnell1981]

From Costco Travel website:

Forms of Payment - American Express®, Visa and MasterCard are the only acceptable forms of payment for cruise or vacation package bookings.