Courtesy Hold? Other Ideas?

[ajgardner]

I am Gold and am looking to book an August 2022 Wish cruise. We think we would like to try to do a B2B but only if we are able to book the same family verandah-stateroom for each leg - I’m not sure how difficult this will be? The issue is we will be changing our currently booked cruise that has FCC attached to the Wish and this was booked by our travel agent. Our travel agent is not available to call Disney on our booking day (May 24) until 11am. Is there any way I can do a courtesy hold or start the booking at 8am and then have her take over at 11am? I’m worried about losing viable staterooms and pricing going up in those 3 hours. Any suggestions? Will those few hours be a big issue, maybe I shouldn’t even worry about it?

 

[Intr3pid]

No, a courtesy booking is treated the same way as a paid booking as far as a TA is concerned. A TA booking with DCL has its own phone line and agents. Once you initiate a booking on your own, the TA can't take over unless you formally transfer it later.

You can transfer the booking to your TA within 30 days. So, you do the booking online on your own (both of the B2B), get the rooms you want, and then transfer the bookings to your TA within 30 days. (Check with your TA if you will lose any TA benefits this way.)

If you are not in the cancellation penalty period, you can cancel your current booking and then transfer the FCC to the new booking. That is, make new bookings on your own, transfer them to the TA, cancel the current booking with the TA, and have them transfer the FCC to the new bookings.

When in August 2022 are your looking to sail? The ship should have plenty of space in the second half of August - and pretty decent in the first half too!

 

[Cheburashka]

I hope this works out for you!

 

[ajgardner]

No, a courtesy booking is treated the same way as a paid booking as far as a TA is concerned. A TA booking with DCL has its own phone line and agents. Once you initiate a booking on your own, the TA can't take over unless you formally transfer it later.

You can transfer the booking to your TA within 30 days. So, you do the booking online on your own (both of the B2B), get the rooms you want, and then transfer the bookings to your TA within 30 days. (Check with your TA if you will lose any TA benefits this way.)

If you are not in the cancellation penalty period, you can cancel your current booking and then transfer the FCC to the new booking. That is, make new bookings on your own, transfer them to the TA, cancel the current booking with the TA, and have them transfer the FCC to the new bookings.

When in August 2022 are your looking to sail? The ship should have plenty of space in the second half of August - and pretty decent in the first half too!

Man that sounds like a lot of work! But doable. We are looking at the second half of the month for the August dates. I’m not so much worried about not being able to find a room but of price increases occurring as people start booking and also getting the same room for both cruises if we decide to do the B2B. At least I know there is an option. I may just risk it and wait for her to do it at 11am - but my Type A personality will be having a heart attack while I wait.

 

[Dug720]

I am Gold and am looking to book an August 2022 Wish cruise. We think we would like to try to do a B2B but only if we are able to book the same family verandah-stateroom for each leg - I’m not sure how difficult this will be? The issue is we will be changing our currently booked cruise that has FCC attached to the Wish and this was booked by our travel agent. Our travel agent is not available to call Disney on our booking day (May 24) until 11am. Is there any way I can do a courtesy hold or start the booking at 8am and then have her take over at 11am? I’m worried about losing viable staterooms and pricing going up in those 3 hours. Any suggestions? Will those few hours be a big issue, maybe I shouldn’t even worry about it?

I assume she is independent? Seems kind of bad practice to me unless it is an absolute emergency to not start as soon as booking opens on opening days when they know people will be wanting to book ASAP.

The agent I use is part of an agency (though they are spread over the country) and they are buddied up for their personal vacations (mine will always email me saying that she will be gone from X-Y but if I have any issues during that time I may contact the agent who will be covering for her and she gives me that info - and likewise she will cover for that agent's personal vacation) as well as for major things like cruise release dates so that basically for reservations needing to be called in whichever agent in their "pod" gets through first will take care of their clients' reservations and then move onto others in the group if needed (the other agents would of course stay on hold).

As for "will it be an issue"? Time will tell. It seems that many people on here are whining about the "same old same old Nassau Circle" route and saying it's not an itinerary that appeals to them. The big question will be does the new ship appeal enough to overcome the itinerary? I know for me it doesn't matter. Get me to Castaway and I'm happy. But I guess we'll see over the next few days how quickly the non-Maiden sailings go up/sell out which wins out.

 

[ajgardner]

I assume she is independent? Seems kind of bad practice to me unless it is an absolute emergency to not start as soon as booking opens on opening days when they know people will be wanting to book ASAP.

The agent I use is part of an agency (though they are spread over the country) and they are buddied up for their personal vacations (mine will always email me saying that she will be gone from X-Y but if I have any issues during that time I may contact the agent who will be covering for her and she gives me that info - and likewise she will cover for that agent's personal vacation) as well as for major things like cruise release dates so that basically for reservations needing to be called in whichever agent in their "pod" gets through first will take care of their clients' reservations and then move onto others in the group if needed (the other agents would of course stay on hold).

As for "will it be an issue"? Time will tell. It seems that many people on here are whining about the "same old same old Nassau Circle" route and saying it's not an itinerary that appeals to them. The big question will be does the new ship appeal enough to overcome the itinerary? I know for me it doesn't matter. Get me to Castaway and I'm happy. But I guess we'll see over the next few days how quickly the non-Maiden sailings go up/sell out which wins out.

She is actually part of a large agency, but they do not even open until 10am. I book all my own travel for everything else but she gives 7% back as obc which has always worked out fine for us. I tell her what room I want, she books us and that’s it, free money on the cruise. It’s usually straightforward...until covid hit. I will keep watching how things progress this week!

 

[Dug720]

She is actually part of a large agency, but they do not even open until 10am. I book all my own travel for everything else but she gives 7% back as obc which has always worked out fine for us. I tell her what room I want, she books us and that’s it, free money on the cruise. It’s usually straightforward...until covid hit. I will keep watching how things progress this week!

Interesting. The agency that I use does have "opening" as 9:00am, but on cruise release day for Disney they all know that it's an early start.

 

[GoofyDisneyDaddy]

I am Gold and am looking to book an August 2022 Wish cruise. We think we would like to try to do a B2B but only if we are able to book the same family verandah-stateroom for each leg - I’m not sure how difficult this will be? The issue is we will be changing our currently booked cruise that has FCC attached to the Wish and this was booked by our travel agent. Our travel agent is not available to call Disney on our booking day (May 24) until 11am. Is there any way I can do a courtesy hold or start the booking at 8am and then have her take over at 11am? I’m worried about losing viable staterooms and pricing going up in those 3 hours. Any suggestions? Will those few hours be a big issue, maybe I shouldn’t even worry about it?

I don't think you should worry about it. If you are fine with any family verandah, for a cruise in August, I don't see how those few hours will be an issue. She'll be able to work with Disney to find you one. If you were talking about booking the maiden voyage, then yes, those few hours on gold day might make a difference, we'll see soon enough.

 

[JWG]

There are travel agents who book Disney who don't hit the phones right away on release days? That seems odd to me.

 

[ajgardner]

There are travel agents who book Disney who don't hit the phones right away on release days? That seems odd to me.

I don’t know but it sounds that way. Maybe she’s sick of doing stuff for me since she’s had to move the cruise twice already and then remove a guest from our sailing party. At this point maybe she just wants me to go away. I also think it’s a large outlet type agency so they do t need to hustle as much? At any rate, 11am was the best she could do for me.

 

[JWG]

I don’t know but it sounds that way. Maybe she’s sick of doing stuff for me since she’s had to move the cruise twice already and then remove a guest from our sailing party. At this point maybe she just wants me to go away. I also think it’s a large outlet type agency so they do t need to hustle as much? At any rate, 11am was the best she could do for me.

That stinks. Hope it all works out.

 

[DianaMB333]

Somewhat off topic but want to get your insights pls... I am working with a TA (first time), and then I am on the fence between let her get the booking or me jumping on the phone and try it... worst case I do the transfer right?

(Dvc , looking to make a booking for July 4 nghts)

 

[HiStitch626]

Somewhat off topic but want to get your insights pls... I am working with a TA (first time), and then I am on the fence between let her get the booking or me jumping on the phone and try it... worst case I do the transfer right?

(Dvc , looking to make a booking for July 4 nghts)

Why work with an agent if you are willing to book yourself? If's for OBC, some agencies do not offer it or reduce it for transfers.

 

[JWG]

Why work with an agent if you are willing to book yourself? If's for OBC, some agencies do not offer it or reduce it for transfers.

I do it for two reasons:
-OBC (we get it through our TA and 1/2 if it's an onboard booking)
-No phone anger - I don't sit on hold to talk to Disney on release day, I send what we want to the TA and they book it (we give them parameters if needed)

As example, we're gold and can book Monday. Given Disney's IT history I don't trust the website will work nor do I have the ability to sit on hold for unknown amounts of time. So, we send a note to our TA prioritizing what dates, room types, deck, and part of ship we're flexible for. We gave 6 dates, 4 room types, several decks, and what of those was most important (i.e. dates before others, part of ship last to room type and deck). So, my work is done and we wait to hear.

 

[Dug720]

Why work with an agent if you are willing to book yourself? If's for OBC, some agencies do not offer it or reduce it for transfers.

Agreed. I might do some looking online before I head to work to see what things are looking like - but then I'll email (and FB message) my TA and either say "never mind" (as I did initially with the summer 2022 bookings) or give her my categories in preference order for her to do.

And I get no OBC - just the satisfaction of helping her make a living because she has been amazing for so many years. I'm not ditching her just because she isn't giving up some of her commission for me.