Everything's booked!!! Do we have any other options??

[Megsmachine]

We are on a transatlantic cruise starting mid September. We have only been on 1 Disney cruise so we only get to book stuff 3 days before the general public. All Palo and Remy reservations are gone and the one tour we wanted to do is also sold out.

IS that it? We get no chance at these to book now?

Thanks for any input.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Take heart. When you board the Dream you should be able to book Palo and Remy as they usually keep some reservations back and others changes their plans. In addition, more tastings may also be added.

As far as tours, you can check with port adventures onboard for wait lists or openings.

 

[Megsmachine]

Take heart. When you board the Dream you should be able to book Palo and Remy as they usually keep some reservations back and others changes their plans. In addition, more tastings may also be added.

As far as tours, you can check with port adventures onboard for wait lists or openings.

Oh good! DH and I were so disappointed! This is a special trip for our 25th anniversary and we have never been to Europe. We really wanted to do a few extra special things.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Oh good! DH and I were so disappointed! This is a special trip for our 25th anniversary and we have never been to Europe. We really wanted to do a few extra special things.

Happy Anniversary! Make sure you note it on your reservation.

Try to get to guest services as early as you can after you board. In the meantime, keep checking for cancelations on the app and website.

 

[RedHead0186]

Yes, keep checking the website/app. Things will shift, especially as the sail date gets close, and you should be able to nab some things. And yes, go to dining services when you board (the app will tell you where this is; on the Dream it should be Enchanted Garden) and they can hopefully get you into Palo or Remy.

 

[WorldCruiser]

I’m on a 10 night cruise and only got 1/4 port adventures we wanted as a Gold CC member. Now 20 days from sailing we have all the port adventures. People cancel things. Always be checking the app and facebook group for cancellations.

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Just keep checking! Especially the last few days people will cancel lots of things since they have to cancel three days before sailing if they don’t want to get charged. Lots of people book a ton of stuff and then narrow it down as they get closer. I have to do that when I book with excursions because my DH flatly refuses to discuss anything at all about a vacation until we’re only a couple weeks from leaving. Drives me crazy.

 

[otten]

We are on a transatlantic cruise starting mid September. We have only been on 1 Disney cruise so we only get to book stuff 3 days before the general public. All Palo and Remy reservations are gone and the one tour we wanted to do is also sold out.

IS that it? We get no chance at these to book now?

Thanks for any input.

Keep trying. The thing with the 'special' cruises like the Panama Canal and the transatlantic are that you get a lot of gold, platinum and pearl cruisers so it's hard to book things on silver day. Our last two cruises Palo, tastings, etc were all booked but over the following 90 days, with regular checking I was able to find everything I wanted. People change plans all the time.

 

[mschanandlerbong]

We are on this cruise too and I couldn't believe how much was sold out! I was online as my booking window went live thinking I'd be on the ball but pretty much all the port adventures were gone as were the drinks tasting sessions and dinner reservations. I 100% get the tiered booking system for "legacy" customers but I wrongly assumed some stuff would be held back for new bookings/silver. Oh well, will keep an eye out for cancellations!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

You still have a chance. Keep checking on line as it gets closer and when you get on the ship, find out where the dining stuff is going on and go there. I was on the Wish a couple of weeks ago. Walked in Luna late (very late) and was able to get Palo Brunch. By the second of third day of cruise, notifications were coming out that there was availability for Palo Steakhouse. When we went last night of cruise, it was practically empty.

 

[tlovesdis]

Don't give up! On our 75 day mark on our first cruise I couldn't get anything we wanted. I stalked the app and ended up getting Palo brunch and two tastings!

 

[otten]

I do think Disney should do better with availability for new cruisers, especially with port adventures. Not getting tastings or Palo for a first cruise is one thing but not being able to get port excursions could definitely sour a person on the experience, especially since by the time you can book excursions you can’t cancel without penalty.

 

[soniam]

This doesn't help you now. However, I join the cruise social media group. Someone in concierge/platinum always posts which excursions are sold out. You can also just ask. We ended up booking several outside tours for Alaska, because the things I wanted were sold out after platinum day. They were short excursions, had a great cancellation policy, and a great policy about missing the ship. I don't usually book outside tours though, after almost missing the ship twice on ship excursions.

 

[Husker Mike]

Thanks to COVID and some other maladies, I'm a first time cruiser ... but with six reservations and three cruises where I was thought I was ready to board. And on all three, I got a Palo Brunch reservation. My latest was about 18 days before sailing. You just have to keep checking for availability, and pounce when you see a reservation open.

 

[kiford]

Depending on how far out your cruise is, keep checking for port tours. They often add ones before sailing or people cancel. Check even when on board because although technically you can't cancel within three days of the cruise without penalty but if someone else is willing to take that tour, they will allow it. Friends of ours managed to get the tour they wanted by checking at the desk. Someone else had indicated that they'd like to cancel but only if someone else wanted it so they were contacted and they were allowed to cancel and our friends were able to snag that. Doesn't always happen, but it's good to check.

I've also changed plans before sailing either because we decided to do the same tour as our friends or because an adult-only version of a tour we'd booked was added so we swapped or something new came up that we liked better.

 

[shoes99]

DCL knows there is a problem booking Palo on the long cruises, etc. Transatlantic, Hawaii etc. you have to call DCL to book Palo until the tech problem gets fixed.
we are on the Hawaiian cruise and my TA called to get us Palo dinner for Oct5, 2023

 

[RedHead0186]

I do think Disney should do better with availability for new cruisers, especially with port adventures. Not getting tastings or Palo for a first cruise is one thing but not being able to get port excursions could definitely sour a person on the experience, especially since by the time you can book excursions you can’t cancel without penalty.

I agree. I wonder if part of the issue is that a lot of tour vendors/companies didn't 'survive' COVID, so there's less options for shore excursions than there used to be (but still the same amount of people trying to book them).

I also think part of the issue is that there's no disincentive for people to just book a bunch of stuff when their window opens, and then maybe cancel later. So people at the higher CC levels just book up the excursions, tastings, adult dining, etc., so when the lower tiers and new cruisers get on there's nothing left. And then people cancel as the cruise gets closer, but that means people looking for stuff just have to keep randomly checking and hope they find something that's open (or try when they get on board). And if they don't get choice #1, then they might book choice #2. Then they find out choice #1 is open, so they book that and cancel choice #2, which could set of this chain reaction of cancellations.