Couple of questions about our upcoming cruise . . .

[littlejewel]

We are cruising the Dream in late September. As of right now, when I look on the Disney Cruise website, our cruise is not sold out in any category. However, when I go online to book my seating preference, it will not let me choose the early dinner seating? Could this already be full?? If not, how far in advance do they let you choose between early/late dining?

Also, how early do I need to book the resort for a day option when in the Bahamas? I went online, and it says the rooms for our date are already sold out! I just booked this cruise last week and already I have no options because everything seems to be full! Is this typical? We have over 200 days before our cruise. Thanks for any input!!

 

[TestingH2O]

It is possible that early dinner is sold out. I would suggest calling DCL or your TA to be placed on the waiting list. Even think about calling to check on it every so often.

If you don't get moved before your trip arrives, there will be a place to request changes to dining arrangements once on board.

 

[squirk]

Also, how early do I need to book the resort for a day option when in the Bahamas? I went online, and it says the rooms for our date are already sold out! I just booked this cruise last week and already I have no options because everything seems to be full! Is this typical? We have over 200 days before our cruise. Thanks for any input!!

I have never done this, but my understanding is that it's a very popular strategy used among all cruise lines that stop in Nassau, not just DCL. I would not be surprised to find that the hotels are indeed already full.

That having been said, I travel a lot and have noticed that sometimes when you try and book a hotel too far out online, the site will spit back "no dates available" even though there clearly should (and will) be dates available. For instance, we are sailing on the Fantasy next Feb., and I took a look yesterday for a Hilton-chain hotel room in Cocoa Beach for the night before embarkation. The web site told me that literally every Hilton property in Cocoa Beach - Hilton, Doubletree, Hampton, Homewood - is already sold out. I'm not saying that's impossible, but I think it's much more likely that there is a disconnect in the reservation system due to the booking being so far out.

I'd say your best bet is to call the hotel directly and see if they can tell you any different than what you see online.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are cruising the Dream in late September. As of right now, when I look on the Disney Cruise website, our cruise is not sold out in any category. However, when I go online to book my seating preference, it will not let me choose the early dinner seating? Could this already be full?? If not, how far in advance do they let you choose between early/late dining?

Also, how early do I need to book the resort for a day option when in the Bahamas? I went online, and it says the rooms for our date are already sold out! I just booked this cruise last week and already I have no options because everything seems to be full! Is this typical? We have over 200 days before our cruise. Thanks for any input!!

It used to be, on the old DCL site, that you could choose during the reservation process, however now the default for dinner seating when making a reservation is late seating. As far as I know you need to call DCL to change it. I know that our current reservation, we did by calling DCL, and only late seating was available. We asked to be put on the wait list, and about a week later, we were moved to main. Looking at my reservation online right now, there's no way to change it. I don't know if the new site doesn't allow changes after one change, or not, but there's definitely no place to change our dinner seating online on our current reservation.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I made a reservation on Sunday, and I choose main sitting online with no issue and no phone call.

 

[TeaBee]

We are cruising the Dream in late September. As of right now, when I look on the Disney Cruise website, our cruise is not sold out in any category. However, when I go online to book my seating preference, it will not let me choose the early dinner seating? Could this already be full?? If not, how far in advance do they let you choose between early/late dining?

Also, how early do I need to book the resort for a day option when in the Bahamas? I went online, and it says the rooms for our date are already sold out! I just booked this cruise last week and already I have no options because everything seems to be full! Is this typical? We have over 200 days before our cruise. Thanks for any input!!

We did a day pass at the Hilton in the Bahamas (early September) and were able to just walk in that day for a day pass with no issues. We weren't the first people off the ship and there were four other ships in port with us that day. They may prebook a certain number of spots and then hold some for arrivals that day. Are you trying to book directly with the hotel or through another company?

 

[Weedy]

I made a reservation on Sunday, and I choose main sitting online with no issue and no phone call.

Maybe because you have cruised before and had early dining??

 

[littlejewel]

We did a day pass at the Hilton in the Bahamas (early September) and were able to just walk in that day for a day pass with no issues. We weren't the first people off the ship and there were four other ships in port with us that day. They may prebook a certain number of spots and then hold some for arrivals that day. Are you trying to book directly with the hotel or through another company?

We were really wanting day passes to Atlantis, which I think is the big draw for the CS resort. Did you have Atlantis passes from the Hilton, or is it only at the CS?

 

[littlejewel]

Thank you all for your replies, I actually found the link for my time frame at the CS resort with day passes to Atlantis. I'm not sure why they have it set up like they do, but you have to follow a certain link for certain dates! They have some available!!

 

[clten]

It may be that early dining is full. But you can try to change it online. If you go to the DCL website and click "My Reservations" (you have to have a logon and link your reservation if you haven't already) and it will show your reservation and on the Dining Preference line have a link to change:


If you try to change dining here and can't get main dining, call to be put on the wait list.

 

[TeaBee]

We were really wanting day passes to Atlantis, which I think is the big draw for the CS resort. Did you have Atlantis passes from the Hilton, or is it only at the CS?

The Hilton is just for a beach day at their own little private beach. I'm glad you found a spot at CS for Atlantis - have fun!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It may be that early dining is full. But you can try to change it online. If you go to the DCL website and click "My Reservations" (you have to have a logon and link your reservation if you haven't already) and it will show your reservation and on the Dining Preference line have a link to change:
View attachment 153408

If you try to change dining here and can't get main dining, call to be put on the wait list.

Interesting, we're on the same cruise and our reservation looks like this:


Wonder why the difference? Unless, as I speculated, once you've done a change it's not changeable.

 

[2-pointdoe]

We are also on this cruise. Mine looks like clten's. We changed early on from main to late seating through our TA but still have an option to change. It does NOT show balance due at all.

Interesting, we're on the same cruise and our reservation looks like this:
View attachment 153410

Wonder why the difference? Unless, as I speculated, once you've done a change it's not changeable.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are also on this cruise. Mine looks like clten's. We changed early on from main to late seating through our TA but still have an option to change. It does NOT show balance due at all.

I don't know

Maybe having late seating defaults to the choice to change it. And main doesn't. Maybe, since the site is still fairly new, they are still tweaking it, and whatever the status was in effect (the change link being there or not) at the time the original reservation was made still applies. Maybe, if the original reservation was made via phone call, online changes aren't allowed. Maybe DCL just doesn't have their act all together.

I just hate it when people post things basically saying "that's not the way it is" when, in some cases other's experiences are just as valid.

 

[2-pointdoe]

They definitely have some bugs to work out on there site.

Maybe they figure you have been on enough cruises that you know what you want, LOL. My TA seemed surprised that we wanted late seating and not private dining.

I don't know

Maybe having late seating defaults to the choice to change it. And main doesn't. Maybe, since the site is still fairly new, they are still tweaking it, and whatever the status was in effect (the change link being there or not) at the time the original reservation was made still applies. Maybe, if the original reservation was made via phone call, online changes aren't allowed. Maybe DCL just doesn't have their act all together.

I just hate it when people post things basically saying "that's not the way it is" when, in some cases other's experiences are just as valid.