DCL OnBoard Placeholder booking question

[JonnaP]

My family just took our first DCL cruise on Feb 9th on the Wonder, and seriously, all the threads here were so helpful in getting us prepared. And we had a ton of fun, so of course we booked our placeholder while onboard and paid the $250.00 placeholder fee. My question is (and may be really stupid.. but hey).. is this $250.00 the actual deposit? So when we book, the $250 goes towards the deposit?

 

[Trera]

My family just took our first DCL cruise on Feb 9th on the Wonder, and seriously, all the threads here were so helpful in getting us prepared. And we had a ton of fun, so of course we booked our placeholder while onboard and paid the $250.00 placeholder fee. My question is (and may be really stupid.. but hey).. is this $250.00 the actual deposit? So when we book, the $250 goes towards the deposit?

we were on that same Wonder cruise............................and yes, that goes toward the deposit on the cruise you transfer it to.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

My family just took our first DCL cruise on Feb 9th on the Wonder, and seriously, all the threads here were so helpful in getting us prepared. And we had a ton of fun, so of course we booked our placeholder while onboard and paid the $250.00 placeholder fee. My question is (and may be really stupid.. but hey).. is this $250.00 the actual deposit? So when we book, the $250 goes towards the deposit?

Yes it will go towards the deposit when you decide to move it to an actual sailing.
Unless you booked using a TA, then they move the placeholders to a "dummy" cruise first...
It really confused me when this happened, we said we wanted to cancel that cruise and didn't realize that it ultimately cancelled our placeholder
Anyway... have fun now choosing another cruise! I'm thinking of sailing a 3 night one soon just to be able to book another placeholder...

 

[JonnaP]

Hey Trera! That was such a fun cruise! Were you in a FE group?? That was our first and we loved it!

Thank you HappilyEverAfter! I did not book using a TA, so that's really good to know. Seriously, I didn't realize that DCL was so addicting

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Hey Trera! That was such a fun cruise! Were you in a FE group?? That was our first and we loved it!

Thank you HappilyEverAfter! I did not book using a TA, so that's really good to know. Seriously, I didn't realize that DCL was so addicting

I just want to be clear there is nothing wrong with using a TA, we absolutely loved ours. We just weren't informed on how it works, we didn't know the placeholder would be moved to a dummy cruise and that when we requested a cancellation it would cancel the placeholder too. That was mostly our mistake, we just didn't find out... but otherwise loved using a TA, we got great service and OBC!

Disney is addicting you are right... is it ever... !

 

[JonnaP]

I just want to be clear there is nothing wrong with using a TA, we absolutely loved ours. We just weren't informed on how it works, we didn't know the placeholder would be moved to a dummy cruise and that when we requested a cancellation it would cancel the placeholder too. That was mostly our mistake, we just didn't find out... but otherwise loved using a TA, we got great service and OBC!

Disney is addicting you are right... is it ever... !

Thanks! I plan on using a TA, because the OBC is just useful for sure (although I'm changing TA's, which could be a whole different thread! HAHA) but that's super helpful to know about the placeholder cancellations, I wouldn't have put that together either.

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks! I plan on using a TA, because the OBC is just useful for sure (although I'm changing TA's, which could be a whole different thread! HAHA) but that's super helpful to know about the placeholder cancellations, I wouldn't have put that together either.

If you plan on using a TA, be sure to transfer the placeholder within 30 days. Don't wait until you decide what cruise you ultimately want.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[JonnaP]

If you plan on using a TA, be sure to transfer the placeholder within 30 days. Don't wait until you decide what cruise you ultimately want.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you!! I will do it today! As soon as I saw your post, I remember the wonderful cast member at the vacation desk on the Wonder saying that.. but I had totally forgot!!

 

[Sytrace]

Yes it will go towards the deposit when you decide to move it to an actual sailing.
Unless you booked using a TA, then they move the placeholders to a "dummy" cruise first...
It really confused me when this happened, we said we wanted to cancel that cruise and didn't realize that it ultimately cancelled our placeholder
Anyway... have fun now choosing another cruise! I'm thinking of sailing a 3 night one soon just to be able to book another placeholder...

Why would they book a dummy cruise with a placeholder? You just have to move the placeholder to an actual booking within 24 months. That seems odd.

 

[Sytrace]

Thanks! I plan on using a TA, because the OBC is just useful for sure (although I'm changing TA's, which could be a whole different thread! HAHA) but that's super helpful to know about the placeholder cancellations, I wouldn't have put that together either.

If you booked the placeholder onboard with the TA registered to that booking, they are automatically the TA. You would have to request the former TA to transfer the booking to the new TA within 30 days of booking the placeholder. Since the old TA's agency "owns" your reservation this might be challenging.
Now, if you had the former TA removed from the placeholder when you booked onboard you are good to go and YOU will be able to request a new TA.

 

[Pens Fan]

Unless you booked using a TA, then they move the placeholders to a "dummy" cruise first...

I wonder why your TA did that. It really seems odd and I can understand why you were caught off guard. I certainly never would have expected that. I do want to point out that not all TA's do this. We bought a place holder in October and transferred it to a TA. Your post made we curious, so I just checked our upcoming reservations on DCL's website and it still shows it as a place holder - no "dummy" cruise.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Why would they book a dummy cruise with a placeholder? You just have to move the placeholder to an actual booking within 24 months. That seems odd.

I don't know
Nobody told me... couple of weeks after the cruise I received an email from DCL saying "you booked a 3 night sailing... "
I emailed the TA who said she moved the placeholder to this cruise and not worry about it.
I would have preferred it just remained a placeholder because it was so confusing. It is what it is though. To be honest, there really isn't a DCL out there that we would want to apply the placeholder to.
I was hoping for Hawaii Sep 2018 but that's not happening as Disney didn't release any Hawaii sailings. Our placeholder was only good until mid October 2018 anyway.

 

[Trera]

Hey Trera! That was such a fun cruise! Were you in a FE group?? That was our first and we loved it!

Thank you HappilyEverAfter! I did not book using a TA, so that's really good to know. Seriously, I didn't realize that DCL was so addicting

We did not do the fish extender on that cruise but the cruise was great. The weather at Castaway was about as nice as it gets and we all loved the new Frozen show!

 

[clten]

I was hoping for Hawaii Sep 2018 but that's not happening as Disney didn't release any Hawaii sailings. Our placeholder was only good until mid October 2018 anyway.

How do you know there won't be a Hawaii sailing in Sept 2018? I don't think DCL announced when the Wonder and Magic were repositioning for their 2018 fall/winter seasons yet. So there is still hope (although slim!)

But the problem with a TA moving a placeholder to an actual cruise date is the deposit due. I'm assuming they found a placeholder cruise that was cheap enough that your $250 deposit covered the deposit due? I know usually if there is any money on a booking the cruise line is slow to cancel a booking but it is their right to cancel anytime after the deposit is due but not paid in full. Then you would have no onboard benefits. I'd be very leery of any TA that moved a placeholder to an actual cruise date - especially if they did it without talking to me first.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

How do you know there won't be a Hawaii sailing in Sept 2018? I don't think DCL announced when the Wonder and Magic were repositioning for their 2018 fall/winter seasons yet. So there is still hope (although slim!)

But the problem with a TA moving a placeholder to an actual cruise date is the deposit due. I'm assuming they found a placeholder cruise that was cheap enough that your $250 deposit covered the deposit due? I know usually if there is any money on a booking the cruise line is slow to cancel a booking but it is their right to cancel anytime after the deposit is due but not paid in full. Then you would have no onboard benefits. I'd be very leery of any TA that moved a placeholder to an actual cruise date - especially if they did it without talking to me first.

I don't know, I thought all of Sept 2018 was released...That's great there is still hope, yey! (But I don't have a placeholder anymore if they do release Hawaii.... )

Yes I think the $250 placeholder amount did cover the "dummy" cruise deposit. It was moved to a 3 night cruise in December (about 14 months after we sailed) , cheapest category 11c. I wasn't asked for more $.
It was a DU agent and from what she said when I questioned what this dummy cruise was, it was something they do at DU. Move the placeholder to an actual cruise. She said I can change it to a sailing of my choice later and keep the Onboard booking benefits. But as I said I ended cancelling that cruise and lost the placeholder in the process.
I don't want to get anyone in trouble though, I wasn't overly upset at the time because there really wasn't a cruise I wanted to apply it to! Now having said that... if Hawaii comes out....

 

[Sytrace]

They have until September 29th, 2018 listed.

 

[bcwife76]

They have until September 29th, 2018 listed.

For the Dream and Fantasy but not the Wonder or Magic. For the Wonder the last cruise listed is the September 3-10 2018 Alaskan cruise. So the million $ question - will the September 10th cruise be the Van to San Diego cruise or will it go to Hawaii first?

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

For the Dream and Fantasy but not the Wonder or Magic. For the Wonder the last cruise listed is the September 3-10 2018 Alaskan cruise. So the million $ question - will the September 10th cruise be the Van to San Diego cruise or will it go to Hawaii first?

Oh this is killing me!!! I just got over not having the placeholder anymore

IF DCL was to release Hawaii, do you think it would be at the same time as the rest of 2018?

 

[bcwife76]

Oh this is killing me!!! I just got over not having the placeholder anymore

IF DCL was to release Hawaii, do you think it would be at the same time as the rest of 2018?

Yep!

 

[CM Dad]

Why would they book a dummy cruise with a placeholder? You just have to move the placeholder to an actual booking within 24 months. That seems odd.

I had a TA convert a placeholder into a cheap 3 night dummy cruise the day before general public opening day prices. The explanation I got was that she would be able to convert that dummy to the actual cruise we wanted online. If it had remained a placeholder, she would need to wait on hole with DCL on a busy day to do the conversion.