How far ahead should I book?

[TandLMommy28]

I was looking on the DCL website at cruises around next Labor Day. I know, I KNOW. I was at WDW the week before Irma hit and I know what can happen to your vacation in a hurry. But Labor Day is the absolute best time of year for us to travel and I always buy the insurance so I'm not that worried.

ALL of the 4 night cruises in September have already sold out of oceanview without a verandah? why? I don't want a verandah for several reasons. Overall, they just make me nervous. I'll leave it at that.

How far ahead do I need to book to get a cabin with ocean view and no verandah? For our last cruise, I booked in mid-August for the following September. We were able to book the exact cabin we wanted at that point. Do that many rooms sell that fast? When is the "magic" time to jump on booking? Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I was looking on the DCL website at cruises around next Labor Day. I know, I KNOW. I was at WDW the week before Irma hit and I know what can happen to your vacation in a hurry. But Labor Day is the absolute best time of year for us to travel and I always buy the insurance so I'm not that worried.

ALL of the 4 night cruises in September have already sold out of oceanview without a verandah? why? I don't want a verandah for several reasons. Overall, they just make me nervous. I'll leave it at that.

How far ahead do I need to book to get a cabin with ocean view and no verandah? For our last cruise, I booked in mid-August for the following September. We were able to book the exact cabin we wanted at that point. Do that many rooms sell that fast? When is the "magic" time to jump on booking? Thanks!

It's best to book as far out as you possibly can. Prices rise as the space onboard fills, so you're going to get the best price for what you're looking for (as well as a better choice of rooms) the further out you book.

We've booked anywhere from 6-12 months out and have a pretty good selection available to us. Of course, you're looking at a prime cruise time - very busy - so reservations will fill up pretty quickly.

 

[iivye]

We always book opening day.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Keep looking. Sometimes it shows no availability and the next day there are a couple of rooms in a category. It just depends. This far ahead, there's bound to be some cancellations now and then. Just check every day. Would you consider an inside that you can book now and then upgrade to an oceanview? Also, have you phoned DCL? It's possible that there are a few rooms but they aren't showing up. That's happened, too.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We know well in advance when we want to sail and it is always before the dates and itineraries are released. So as soon as they are made available, we book it.
I have never seen the prices get any cheaper as the sail date approaches and we get what we want.
I know that isn't possible for everyone; but the earliest you can book the better. As others have posted, keep watching the DCL web site because what you are looking for could become available.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

Even if there aren't any of the specific rooms available you want and are set on that date lock in today's pricing, if your room becomes available you will be able to switch it for today's pricing not 3 months from now pricing. I must add I was a bit scared to have a verandah as well terrified for my then 4yr old and it was the best decision we made I will never cruise without on

 

[GPaLarry]

Out of eight DCL cruises, we have booked one minute after midnight (Orlando time) on first date available twice to get the room, cruise, date and price we want. Some of this depends on the uniqueness and/or frequency of the particular cruise. Transatlantic and Panama Canal cruises (repositioning) seem to be the most popular and hardest to nail down. This is where the launching of the three new ships will, I hope, help alleviate this problem.

 

[fdefulvio]

A fairly high percentage of the cabins have verandas, meaning there are much fewer non veranda rooms available to begin with. Also, you will only be shown rooms available that meet your party size.

Most, if not all of the 5 person cabins have verandas. If you are booking 5 to a room, you will only see veranda cabins.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I was looking on the DCL website at cruises around next Labor Day. I know, I KNOW. I was at WDW the week before Irma hit and I know what can happen to your vacation in a hurry. But Labor Day is the absolute best time of year for us to travel and I always buy the insurance so I'm not that worried.

ALL of the 4 night cruises in September have already sold out of oceanview without a verandah? why? I don't want a verandah for several reasons. Overall, they just make me nervous. I'll leave it at that.

How far ahead do I need to book to get a cabin with ocean view and no verandah? For our last cruise, I booked in mid-August for the following September. We were able to book the exact cabin we wanted at that point. Do that many rooms sell that fast? When is the "magic" time to jump on booking? Thanks!

There is virtually no benefit to waiting. Book the ship, itinerary and cabin you want as soon as you know you want it. The prices won't come down, only get higher and the room availability won't increase as your sale date gets closer.

 

[TandLMommy28]

A fairly high percentage of the cabins have verandas, meaning there are much fewer non veranda rooms available to begin with. Also, you will only be shown rooms available that meet your party size.

Most, if not all of the 5 person cabins have verandas. If you are booking 5 to a room, you will only see veranda cabins.

Crud. Anyone know if there are ANY 5 person without a verandah on the Disney ships? I won't get a cabin with one.

There is virtually no benefit to waiting. Book the ship, itinerary and cabin you want as soon as you know you want it. The prices won't come down, only get higher and the room availability won't increase as your sale date gets closer.

I know there's no benefit to waiting. My questions was more of how early do I need to be ready? When will cruises for fall 2019 be released?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Crud. Anyone know if there are ANY 5 person without a verandah on the Disney ships? I won't get a cabin with one.

The Fantasy class has a few Deluxe Family Oceanview rooms (on the website they sleep 3-5), so not all will sleep 5 but some do.

This thread might help figure out which ones those are:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...pdated-list-of-rooms-needed-1st-post.3194826/

 

[ashley0139]

Crud. Anyone know if there are ANY 5 person without a verandah on the Disney ships? I won't get a cabin with one.



I know there's no benefit to waiting. My questions was more of how early do I need to be ready? When will cruises for fall 2019 be released?

Why?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Why?

Does it matter? Some people just don't want a verandah.

 

[ashley0139]

Does it matter? Some people just don't want a verandah.

Matter in the scheme of what? It's a message board. I'm just curious, and I've seen a lot of people here have their minds changed when they actually see how safe they are.

 

[FigmentSpark]

From: https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/Disney-Fantasy (Dream will be the same, but the Magic class may be different)



As Princess Shmoo suggested, you can check out this thread for Oceanviews that will hold 5:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...pdated-list-of-rooms-needed-1st-post.3194826/

When you are looking on the DCL site, if you have 5 people in your search, it won't show you rooms that accomodate less than 5 people. Just be sure to choose the Oceanview tab and not the Verandah tab and you should see whatever is available. I get it, though. You want to choose a room or a few rooms of preference before opening day. Hopefully the above thread will give you some good information.