Future Cruise/Place Holder Question(s)

[elvispursley]

Hi All! We sailed our 2nd DCL cruise this past Oct. and made sure I took advantage of the 10% off future cruises/deposit and OBC by booking a future cruise. I couldn't decide on what to take so randomly booked a San Juan to South. Caribbean in Jan. 2018. I'm now reading that I could've paid $250 for a place-holder--would I have still been able to take advantage of the 10% off future cruise and 10% off deposit by doing this when I decided which cruise I wanted? If I decide to cancel the current booking I have and rebook with a different cruise, will I still be able to get 10% off deposit and price of new cruise or do I loose all that (e.g. is the discount good for the one original booking)? Also, is there a limit to how many times one can rebook?

 

[CM Dad]

If you cancel your current cruise, you will lose the benefits. In order to change, make sure you just modify the existing reservation to a new cruise date.

 

[LAX]

I know a place holder is only good for 24 months. Is the deadline for when the future cruise needs to be completed or started? TIA.

LAX

 

[KristiMc]

I know a place holder is only good for 24 months. Is the deadline for when the future cruise needs to be completed or started? TIA.

LAX

It has to start before the 24 month mark.

 

[Geomom]

Yes, if you had booked the placeholder for $250, you would still get the 10% off the cruise, 10% deposit, and $100 or $200 OBC depending on the length of the cruise--as long as the cruise you pick is not a blacked out date--which mostly seems to be holidays, 2 day cruises, and some brand new itineraries. We just changed our placeholder from last August into a real cruise and got the benefits, it is just inside of the 24 month mark.

Depending on if you use a TA or booked directly with Disney, check with them and see if you can maintain your OBB benefits if you change to a different cruise. Your cruise is far enough out that PIF isn't for a while. Do you have another cruise in mind to change it to? If you change to another cruise you will be paying the current rate for that cruise.

 

[clten]

As pp said, if you had booked a placeholder with the $250 deposit, when you move it to an actual cruise date, they apply the onboard booking benefits (discount, OBC, reduced deposit, as applicable). At that time, you would have to pay any difference between deposit due and the $250 deposit already paid. So it is just as if you booked that specific cruise while onboard.

With the method you chose (on the boards they call it making a dummy booking), you have a booking and when you decide which cruise you actually want to take, "move" the booking to the new cruise date. Don't use the word "cancel" because as soon as they cancel the booking you made onboard, all those benefits disappear.

Regardless of if you booked a placeholder or a dummy booking, the cruise you finally decide on has to start within 24 months of the initial booking date to get the onboard booking benefits. You can move it as many times as you like (just make sure to do it before final payment date of the cruise that is currently booked).

 

[elvispursley]

I actually paid the 10% deposit of the "cruise" I booked in Jan 2018 (I wasn't aware to mention using a placeholder). Not sure if that makes a difference when I go to change date/cruise? We're still deciding which cruise we want--I personally would love to take cruise I booked but we will have just come back from a big ski trip to Canada for Christmas/New Years and as much I love travel and vacations, it's probably not a great idea to be off on another big trip 2 weeks after we return from that...ah, someday maybe!

So I definitely will remove "cancel" from my vocabulary and just state we would like to change the date of our cruise, right? They should just apply the deposit I paid, plus the difference of 10% of deposit if there is any increase in price of cruise (since we already paid a deposit on the previous cruise)?
I don't suppose if I added an additional stateroom at this time it would be eligible for the discount since I didn't have it added with the original booking?

 

[clten]

Yes, you are correct. Use move or change not cancel; and the only additional deposit you would need to pay is if the cruise you are moving to is more expensive. Unfortunately, you cannot get any onboard benefits for a second room now, since you didn't make arrangements for a second reservation while onboard.

 

[lanejudy]

They should just apply the deposit I paid, plus the difference of 10% of deposit if there is any increase in price of cruise (since we already paid a deposit on the previous cruise)?

They will apply the deposit and any other funds you have already paid. The amount of deposit required for the "new" cruise date will depend on 1) the cruise fare for that date, and 2) whether it's a 10% deposit or 20% deposit depends on length of cruise (10% on cruises of 7+ nights and 20% on shorter cruises). Just watch the PIF date for the date you currently have booked, as you'll need to make a change prior to that date.

Enjoy your cruise!