Hello

[Minnie Mouse2789]

My friend and I are planning a Disney Cruise for the first time. Due to my special needs our best option is the 7 night Eastern Carribean cruise to St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Castaway Cay on the Fantasy. We are looking at September 2022. The earliest we can afford to book is September 2021. How fast do these boats and their handicapped access rooms fill? Will we be all right?
Im type A - done all the planning and now I have to wait to book. Driving me nuts cause it doesn’t feel real. Any suggestions on activities to pass the time? Thank you!!

 

[JWG]

Is the earliest booking date based on price of cruise or deposit? You only pay a 20% deposit at booking. If you can swing the deposit it also prevents the cost from going up as others book.
September is not as busy as other times of year so you could be fine it's hard to say.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Is there an earliest booking date? We have to book in September because we are still saving up for the deposit.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Math is not my thing. We are going halfses. It’s 3,000 total. We’re splitting it. What would each of us have to pay at 20 percent?

 

[Quellman]

Math is not my thing. We are going halfses. It’s 3,000 total. We’re splitting it. What would each of us have to pay at 20 percent?

Go through the booking screens on the website, select your room, add it to the online shopping cart, and then go all the way through to the final screen. It will ask you if you want to:
Pay in Full
Pay 20%deposit
Place a 3 day hold for free.

That screen will tell you the total amount of the deposit. It is easier to just put it on one persons credit/debit card and then your travelling partner reimburse you their half. When you go to make FINAL payment, you can pay your half on your card. Then pay the other half with your friend. Probably easiest to just call Disney to make the final payment.

If the cruise is $3000, 20% deposit is $600. So each person would owe $300 to put a deposit on the cruise. The deposit means you have a stateroom and the pricing is locked in at the current rate. If the rate goes up, you won't have to pay more. If you notice the rate goes down (which happens so rarely on Disney) you can ask them to credit you back.

 

[lanejudy]

The earliest we can afford to book is September 2021. How fast do these boats and their handicapped access rooms fill?

September cruises will be slower to fill so I don't think they'll be "sold out" if you wait a few months. However...

1. cruise pricing typically increases as more staterooms are booked. It's highly possible your cruise fare -- and subsequently the deposit -- will be more if you wait to book.
2. I suggest you check how many HA staterooms are currently available. Those may or may not book quicker than non-accessible staterooms. It's hard to say, but if you really need one, I'd try to find a way to book sooner rather than later.

I'm not one to push credit cards, but if you book using a Disney Visa you'll have 6-months no-interest to save up/pay off that deposit.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Thank you!! Checking to see when my friend can book. How do I check availability of HA staterooms?

 

[lanejudy]

Since phone lines are crazy with WISH bookings right now, I suggest playing around with the online booking system. You have a specific cruise in mind, so set the filters to limit to Sept. 2022 on the Fantasy, and where you set your party size be sure to check "Accessible Room." Then you can get an idea if there are rooms available and which category. If you continue through the booking process a little further for a specific date you may be able to see how many staterooms in various categories are available (the default is to show 8). It is not an exact science, but should give you a decent idea of whether HA rooms are booking up quickly. You may want to cross-reference to a deck plan to get an idea of how many HA rooms are onboard. You'll also get an idea of the pricing for various stateroom categories.

For example... I did a quick search and it appears the 9/17/22 Fantasy cruise had no HA verandah cabins available.

Or you can use a TA to do some searching like above, but they may be busy booking WISH cruises so it might take a bit of time before one can do the extra leg-work to research for you.

 

[lanejudy]

I should add that you can play around in the online booking without worry of actually committing to anything as long as you never complete the process.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

I should add that you can play around in the online booking without worry of actually committing to anything as long as you never complete the process.

Thank you. You just answered my question. How would I know i completed the process. Is there a complete button? Just wanted to make sure I’m not committing.

 

[lanejudy]

How would I know i completed the process. Is there a complete button? Just wanted to make sure I’m not committing.

You'll know for sure when you are committing to the booking. If you haven't booked on DCL before, as long as you don't reach the page to give your credit card info you are fine.

Just to note there are still inside, oceanview and concierge HA staterooms available on that particular sailing; just not verandah rooms. And the Sept. 3rd cruise appears to have all categories available.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

We are looking September 24th to the 1st October 2022 on the Fantasy. Thank you!!

 

[lanejudy]

We are looking September 24th to the 1st October 2022 on the Fantasy. Thank you!!

Ah, above I noted the 9/17/22 cruise without realizing it had different Eastern port stops. The 9/24/2022 cruise has HA availability for inside and oceanview staterooms. It looks like 4 Inside and Oceanview shows 1 on deck 7, 5 on deck 6, and 2 on deck 5 all available.

And a quick count from the deck plan looks like just 25 total HA staterooms onboard. So approx. half are still available. I'll let you decide the risk of waiting or booking sooner.

 

[Disneyloverliz]

Since phone lines are crazy with WISH bookings right now, I suggest playing around with the online booking system. You have a specific cruise in mind, so set the filters to limit to Sept. 2022 on the Fantasy, and where you set your party size be sure to check "Accessible Room." Then you can get an idea if there are rooms available and which category. If you continue through the booking process a little further for a specific date you may be able to see how many staterooms in various categories are available (the default is to show 8). It is not an exact science, but should give you a decent idea of whether HA rooms are booking up quickly. You may want to cross-reference to a deck plan to get an idea of how many HA rooms are onboard. You'll also get an idea of the pricing for various stateroom categories.

For example... I did a quick search and it appears the 9/17/22 Fantasy cruise had no HA verandah cabins available.

Or you can use a TA to do some searching like above, but they may be busy booking WISH cruises so it might take a bit of time before one can do the extra leg-work to research for you.

I’ve had no wait times this week and I called twice! Both times I got right through. Also, I believe room 6512 is handicap accessible, but I’m not sure it’s listed as such. I could be wrong...others may know for sure.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Ah, above I noted the 9/17/22 cruise without realizing it had different Eastern port stops. The 9/24/2022 cruise has HA availability for inside and oceanview staterooms. It looks like 4 Inside and Oceanview shows 1 on deck 7, 5 on deck 6, and 2 on deck 5 all available.

And a quick count from the deck plan looks like just 25 total HA staterooms onboard. So approx. half are still available. I'll let you decide the risk of waiting or booking sooner.

Thank you!! I went on this afternoon to check stateroom status which was a cinch. Missed sone staterooms though!

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Know we will book as soon as we can!!

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

I’m trying to find out how roomy are Oceanview HA? And do they offer Veranda on every cruise? How fast does Veranda fill up? They are already gone on my cruise that I’m interested in.

 

[lanejudy]

The HA staterooms are more square-ish vs the typical long narrow stateroom; i believe some corner rooms are quite large. There are HA staterooms offered for every cruise. How quickly they book varies -- sometimes an HA room goes unbooked and gets assigned to a GTY booking (where DCL assigns the stateroom instead of choosing one at booking); but other times HA rooms sell-out.

 

[OpieDoodle]

Its always hard to say what will sell out faster. Since you're not looking at the Wish and that's what everyone else is hyper focused on I wouldn't be quick to panic. Now a few things to consider, those rooms are very limited and if you have to have one then there is always the risk of if they sell out then what are you going to do. The other big thing to consider is each week that goes by generally price will continue to go up. So what you're saving for today will likely be a higher deposit when you're trying to book come September.

If you're flexible on date you likely can jump to another week and be fine finding a room but the cost with Disney cruises only goes one direction.

Another budgetting tip, if you have a target red card you get 5% off gift cards. So you can buy Disney gift cards at target to pay for your cruise. So you'll end up getting 5% off when you purchase them, so you'll pay $95 (plus tax and what not) but get $100 worth.

Regular verandas don't sell out too fast on most ships. For example, yesterday we just booked the Disney Dream for Feb 2022 (9 months out) and were able to get 3 veranda rooms side by side.

 

[princesscinderella]

My friend and I are planning a Disney Cruise for the first time. Due to my special needs our best option is the 7 night Eastern Carribean cruise to St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Castaway Cay on the Fantasy. We are looking at September 2022. The earliest we can afford to book is September 2021. How fast do these boats and their handicapped access rooms fill? Will we be all right?
Im type A - done all the planning and now I have to wait to book. Driving me nuts cause it doesn’t feel real. Any suggestions on activities to pass the time? Thank you!!

If you get a Disney Visa card you get 6 months no interest payments on Disney travel charges so you would actually have more time to pay it than waiting for September and get it booked before prices go up.