Has anyone ever booked 2 cruises.....

[westjones]

.......knowing you are going to cancel one of them?

We are looking at cruising over spring break in 2006. I know the dates for 2006 will come out in the next couple of months (the CM I talked to at DCL said October) and I would like to book early for the best price.

The problem is, I don't know which week will be our spring break. It will be one of two weeks at the end of March, but they won't decide for sure until April 2005.

I know I would have to put down 2 deposit, but I could just transfer the deposit from the one I cancel over to the one I keep.

Does this seem reasonable? Or should I wait until the calendar is set by the school? OR I could pick my best guess as to which one it will be and hope I am right.

Has anyone else had to deal with this problem?
DJ

 

[dzneprincess]

It was my understanding that there was no need to do that. As once you book your cruise, if you need to change dates that you will keep your on board credit as well as the Early Booking Discount. So there would really be no need to book for 2 weeks. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[SandraLee]

No, that is not correct. If you move dates, you get the pricing for the new date at that time -- not at the time you booked the original cruise. Make sense?

I currently have 2 cruises booked -- the May repo and the 2005 Thanksgiving. We may not be able to make the May cruise. If not, I definetly want to go at Thanksgiving. The cruise prices only go up and up. So, I booked the Thankgsving one and will transfer the $1,000 to the May cruise if that is the one I go on. If I can't do the Repo cruise, I'll move that $1,000 to the Thanksgiving date.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this. Everything is well within DCL policy.

I would book them both, pay the deposit and cancel when you are sure.

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by dzneprincess
It was my understanding that there was no need to do that. As once you book your cruise, if you need to change dates that you will keep your on board credit as well as the Early Booking Discount. So there would really be no need to book for 2 weeks. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, you are correct.

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Originally posted by SandraLee
No, that is not correct. If you move dates, you get the pricing for the new date at that time -- not at the time you booked the original cruise. Make sense? .....

Hmmmm, it makes sense, but when we cruised in May 2002 we rebooked another 7-day for July 2003 but really wanted something in the summer of 2004. When we got home I faxed Inventory Control our request to change cruise date. I gave them several dates to choose from. When the 2004 dates opened in December 2002, Disney moved our cruise date to June 19, 2004. We did get the original cruise price, 10% discount and $200 stateroom credit.

 

[CamColt]

If you dont mind having the deposit money tied up for that amount of time, them I think thats a good idea. Good luck!

Im actually booked on 2 right now...10/8/05 which is cancelled by DCL, but they still havent cancelled my reservation, and 8/13/05 from CA. Not sure if we really want to do CA so that may not happen either, but I wanted to book it as a back up in case nothing else worked out.

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

SandraLee is correct. It all depends on timing and the prices in effect during that time. If you have one cruise booked and you want to reschedule and the other date still has early booking prices, you can get the same price. But if the second cruise is filling up quickly, Disney will increase prices and you will be stuck paying the higher price. If you don't mind tying up your money for a little while, book both!

 

[westjones]

We have never had to cruise during 'peak' seasons before, so I am guessing that the prices will go up for spring break time. We usually cruised in September (this will be our last year doing that--next year the twins will be in JR. High and we aren't going to take them out for vacations then).

Since our spring break will be in March, that seems to be a peak time. It will either be the 3rd or 4th week of the month.

I have noticed that some travel agents seem to book early and then 'hold' that price longer than DCL does, so using a TA like that might be a good option. All Seasons Travel seems to hold down their price longer than Disney (and Dreams Unlimited has always been the same price as Disney minus a rebate they offer).

I guess I wil have to think about it.
DJ

 

[tecdavidt]

We had three booked at once, Spring Break '03 and two weeks reserved for Spring Break '04 (we had no idea the exact week we would have off for Spring Break). It was the only way we could reserve our room. All were reserved early '02(before we even took our '02 cruise). From reading this board I don't know if booking that far out is even possible any more. Are the '06 date even out?Kathy

 

[westjones]

Originally posted by tecdavidt
Are the '06 date even out?Kathy

No, but they are suppose to be out in the next couple of months.
DJ

 

[MichDISer]

Originally posted by westjones
Since our spring break will be in March, that seems to be a peak time. It will either be the 3rd or 4th week of the month.

Westjones:
Yes, that's right westjones, we have been looking into March 31, 2005 and the 3-night cruise is $2587 - just for a category 10 room! Yikes!

 

[westjones]

Boy, I don't know if we will be able to continue our favorite vacation once we have to follow the school schedule. At least we have our 150 points with DVC to use at WDW. So we can go there for spring break (but I will miss my DCL).

DJ