December 7, 2013 - Winter Fantasy Cruise

[Va-NanaTink]

Just made a big move....hope it pays off!

Keep your fingers crossed...if it happens, this will be a wonderful 35th anniversary!


Now, if only my TA wasn't out enjoying her Saturday!!!

 

[MinnieCruzer]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever paid a deposit on a cruise then the cost of the cruise has come down and been able to score that cruise at the lower price?

I know many of us have booked our cruises so far in advance and there is the chance there will be great offers coming out in the future if the sales aren't great (we miss out on the wonderful kids sails free stuff as we never hear about it here), but I'm worried about paying the cruise in full then finding out we could have got it cheaper closer to the sail date. For the 4 of us it's already costing over $4000. And that doesn't take into consideration any other costs for us to get over or the rest of our trip.

I know if you have booked the cruise and paid in full then try and change it you have to pay a cancellation fee and possibly lose your OBCs (that happened to a friend who considered re-booking the same cruise at a much lower price than she initially paid and lost her good OBCs), so I'm wondering if I should leave the deposit as it is and then pay the balance off at the last moment, or take advantage of our high $AU compared to $US and pay it all now.

We cruise quite a bit and I have seen reductions in price on several of my past cruises. We're currently booked on a Carnival cruise in October. There have been 3 price drops on this cruise that we've taken advantage of so far! I don't make the final payment early. I figure they don't need my money until it's time--even if interest rates are <1%!! I watch prices through Vacationstogo.com and comments on the various boards.

Angie

 

[KashasMom]

We just booked the Art of Animation for the week before our cruise. I hadn't even considered it but it's getting such great reviews I decided I need to check it out! The only thing missing (I think) will be the Christmas tree on Main Street at WDW? I guess I can live with that since I'm sure we'll see plenty of Disney Christmas trees at the resort, at the other parks, on the ship, etc! Quite a while still before I can book character meals, Candlelight Procession, and the Christmas party but I did mark my 2013 calendar as a reminder when I can do that! It sill seems like such a long way off!!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

We just booked the Art of Animation for the week before our cruise. I hadn't even considered it but it's getting such great reviews I decided I need to check it out! The only thing missing (I think) will be the Christmas tree on Main Street at WDW? I guess I can live with that since I'm sure we'll see plenty of Disney Christmas trees at the resort, at the other parks, on the ship, etc! Quite a while still before I can book character meals, Candlelight Procession, and the Christmas party but I did mark my 2013 calendar as a reminder when I can do that! It sill seems like such a long way off!!

good for you! I have to wait until January 1st to book our stay....that's my 11 month window for DVC
probably just be a couple of days versus a week though

 

[Marlea98]

You could always payoff everything but a small amount to take advantage of the dollar.

I was thinking of doing that. As at this morning we were $1.05 to the US $. I've emailed the TA to put $2000 more on the cruise payment but she said the website is only allowing full payments for some reason and has their group's help desk looking into it. I think we have until September '13 to pay in full anyway.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to answering my question.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

OK...We did it!

As I stated earlier, this is our 35th anniversary cruise. We were going to spend a week prior at GF and do the cruise, but as it got closer to time to actually book it, I started to get a little worried. The last time we stayed at GF was our 30th anniversary and my father passed away the day after. We haven't gone back to GF since. Sulley knows it's been playing at the back of my mind. So anyway we decided I could not afford the vacation time of two weeks that late in the year, so we would just stay for 3 nights before the cruise.

And then Sulley did it. He asked how much did it cost and how did that compare to upgrading our cruise to a Concierge stateroom!
Turns out it was HALF the price! So, we are now in a concierge stateroom on our Fantasy Cruise! We will do our three days at WDW using DVC points I was just going to bank anyway!

I can't believe we did it!!! See why I love the guy?

 

[philatiger]

OK...We did it!

As I stated earlier, this is our 35th anniversary cruise. We were going to spend a week prior at GF and do the cruise, but as it got closer to time to actually book it, I started to get a little worried. The last time we stayed at GF was our 30th anniversary and my father passed away the day after. We haven't gone back to GF since. Sulley knows it's been playing at the back of my mind. So anyway we decided I could not afford the vacation time of two weeks that late in the year, so we would just stay for 3 nights before the cruise.

And then Sulley did it. He asked how much did it cost and how did that compare to upgrading our cruise to a Concierge stateroom!
Turns out it was HALF the price! So, we are now in a concierge stateroom on our Fantasy Cruise! We will do our three days at WDW using DVC points I was just going to bank anyway!

I can't believe we did it!!! See why I love the guy?

Congrats on the concierge......

 

[MinnieCruzer]

OK...We did it!

As I stated earlier, this is our 35th anniversary cruise. We were going to spend a week prior at GF and do the cruise, but as it got closer to time to actually book it, I started to get a little worried. The last time we stayed at GF was our 30th anniversary and my father passed away the day after. We haven't gone back to GF since. Sulley knows it's been playing at the back of my mind. So anyway we decided I could not afford the vacation time of two weeks that late in the year, so we would just stay for 3 nights before the cruise.

And then Sulley did it. He asked how much did it cost and how did that compare to upgrading our cruise to a Concierge stateroom!
Turns out it was HALF the price! So, we are now in a concierge stateroom on our Fantasy Cruise! We will do our three days at WDW using DVC points I was just going to bank anyway!

I can't believe we did it!!! See why I love the guy?

I'd say he's a keeper Angie

 

[Dixielady908]

Morning all:

My name is Denise and it look's like DH and I will be joining the Party!!

I booked a dummy date on our October 2011 cruise until we could fully decided what time of year we wanted to go on.

So it will be just the two of us, no kids, they are grown and by sailing our son will have just gotten married.

Looking forward to going first time on the Fantasy....

Looking forward to chatting with you...

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Morning all:

My name is Denise and it look's like DH and I will be joining the Party!!

I booked a dummy date on our October 2011 cruise until we could fully decided what time of year we wanted to go on.

So it will be just the two of us, no kids, they are grown and by sailing our son will have just gotten married.

Looking forward to going first time on the Fantasy....

Looking forward to chatting with you...

Denise!!!

We are empty nesters too and cruise quite often sans munchkins!!! Looking forward to meeting you!

 

[philatiger]

Morning all:

My name is Denise and it look's like DH and I will be joining the Party!!

I booked a dummy date on our October 2011 cruise until we could fully decided what time of year we wanted to go on.

So it will be just the two of us, no kids, they are grown and by sailing our son will have just gotten married.

Looking forward to going first time on the Fantasy....

Looking forward to chatting with you...

Welcome aboard Denise

We have a roll call started if you would like to join. The link is in my signature.

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

Morning all:

My name is Denise and it look's like DH and I will be joining the Party!!

I booked a dummy date on our October 2011 cruise until we could fully decided what time of year we wanted to go on.

So it will be just the two of us, no kids, they are grown and by sailing our son will have just gotten married.

Looking forward to going first time on the Fantasy....

Looking forward to chatting with you...

Welcome!

 

[Dixielady908]

Thanks for the welcome....

We added our name to the "list"...

looking forward to this cruise..I cant wait to see this ship...

later
Denise

 

[philatiger]

I still can't believe how long we have to wait until this cruise. At least we have a few trips to WDW to tide us over.

 

[mareeld86]

Hey everyone.

Unfortunately we wont be on this cruise anymore we have moved it forward which is nice so farewell everyone and I hope you enjoy your cruise.

Lauren

 

[Marlea98]

I know it seems like such a long way away, but it will come around soon enough and then we'll all be wondering where the time went and complaining we haven't got everything ready! Or is that just me?

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Hey everyone.

Unfortunately we wont be on this cruise anymore we have moved it forward which is nice so farewell everyone and I hope you enjoy your cruise.

Lauren

Oh, so sorry to not meet you after all, but for moving your cruise forward!!! Enjoy your vacation!!!

 

[Dixielady908]

I know it seems like such a long way away, but it will come around soon enough and then we'll all be wondering where the time went and complaining we haven't got everything ready! Or is that just me?

No that sounds like me also. Plus the time will go really fast, I cant belive its the end of August already. Before we know it the holidays will be here and then will start the big countdown for us....


Well three more hours and I will be out of here (work) looking forward to the weekend.....

Have a good one

Denise

 

[Marlea98]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever paid a deposit on a cruise then the cost of the cruise has come down and been able to score that cruise at the lower price?

.

I posted this question a while back and have heard back from my T/A. She said that they can do it (part payments in case the price comes down so we can re-book at a cheaper price) only if they telephone Disney direct to make part payments but they (the T/Agency) will charge me an additional $15 each time to do so to cover their costs. I said I'll just pay in full. You guys in the U.S have it so much easier...

 

[MinnieCruzer]

I posted this question a while back and have heard back from my T/A. She said that they can do it (part payments in case the price comes down so we can re-book at a cheaper price) only if they telephone Disney direct to make part payments but they (the T/Agency) will charge me an additional $15 each time to do so to cover their costs. I said I'll just pay in full. You guys in the U.S have it so much easier...

Congratulations on being paid in full! I suppose you just have to pay attention to the cancellation policy now.

Angie