How often do Disney cruises sell out? What are the chances of booking last minute?

[hollypoast]

Follow up question to my earlier post.

My family is planning a trip to Disney in October. We are now considering 1/2 Disney and 1/2 Disney cruise. (4 day cruise would be ideal) I'm thinking of just booking a Disney trip (tentatively for the whole 10 days) and then if there are any last minute deals on cruises we will shorten our time in Orlando and go on a cruise for the second half.

Wondering how often last minute deals are available, in October specifically. Does anyone have any experience with this? My husband is sick of talking about it! Thanks for your help.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Follow up question to my earlier post.

My family is planning a trip to Disney in October. We are now considering 1/2 Disney and 1/2 Disney cruise. (4 day cruise would be ideal) I'm thinking of just booking a Disney trip (tentatively for the whole 10 days) and then if there are any last minute deals on cruises we will shorten our time in Orlando and go on a cruise for the second half.

Wondering how often last minute deals are available, in October specifically. Does anyone have any experience with this? My husband is sick of talking about it! Thanks for your help.

If there are "last minute" rates (often called *GT) they show up after the Paid in Full date for any given cruise, if they are going to. They can be *GT rates, Florida resident rats, military rates, usually only one offered on any given cruise. Not all cruises have them.

Here's a rather lengthy thread about historical *GT rates:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2988188

and another with current information about discounts available:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3244232&highlight=gt+rates

 

[lmhall2000]

Someone else will chime in with the specifics, but due to identification/time/etc...I think you must book at least 5 days in advance..not sure you can buy at port or anything like that...if you check now, GT rates are popping up for January 9th..but not earlier...a TA might be able to give you specific timelines.

GT rates are usually a good bet for October, especially on shorter cruises

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Someone else will chime in with the specifics, but due to identification/time/etc...I think you must book at least 5 days in advance..not sure you can buy at port or anything like that...if you check now, GT rates are popping up for January 9th..but not earlier...a TA might be able to give you specific timelines.

GT rates are usually a good bet for October, especially on shorter cruises

You can't book a cruise the day of embarkation at the port. But I believe you can book up until the day prior. You have to call DCL directly to do this, you can't do it online. And you'll pay whatever the prevailing price is for that cruise.

 

[Ofinn]

I book last minute on every cruise. GT rates are available through second week of march. They have been more common on the 7 night cruises. Oct is a great month for discounts, but the Dream will be in dry dock so there will be no short cruises out of pc in oct.

 

[allison0523]

I would say your chances of getting a GT rate are pretty good in October because its still hurricane season and kids are in school for the most part. We went on a cruise in June and there was availability up until a few days before we sailed (then they are taken off the website and you have to call, I believe). GT rates for our cruise Feb 22nd just went up and it's a 1k cheaper than what we paid. Personally, I would plan on the cruise but wait until the GT rates come out to book (unless you are picky about cabin type/location). Also, have a backup plan in mind in the rare case that the cruise is sold out. Have fun!

 

[jessic2422]

I don't know if you have kids but I tried to book a 7 day cruise last year for dec and I was booking in oct. It was sold out to children (they had ran a kids sail free special). There is a Maritime law for kid vs crew ratio. Just an fyi.

 

[hollypoast]

Thanks for all of your responses! Your suggestions and opinions are so helpful.

We are a family of 5- Me, DH, DS (18), DS (16) and DD (8). I'm looking for 2 rooms-- inside would be fine.

I do have two specific, scheduled cruises in mind-- one is a 7 night (current price $5,478) and the other is a 4 night (current price $3,950). I'd prefer the 4 night cruise but we will be in Orlando 2 nights prior to the 7 night so we could make that one work too.

When I say last minute, I really mean any time after the paid in full date. I will have the money set aside and will be ready to book if a *GT becomes available.

 

[MinnesotaChill]

What happens to the rooms that are surrendered at the last minute due to someone getting sick and using their insurance policy to cancel? This would be VERY last minute, correct?

I'm sure it doesn't happen often, but I'm think those types of claims would always be last minute.

Does Disney try to sell at full rate or do they fire sale it to try to get someone in the room?

 

[boostedbuick]

What happens to the rooms that are surrendered at the last minute due to someone getting sick and using their insurance policy to cancel? This would be VERY last minute, correct?

I'm sure it doesn't happen often, but I'm think those types of claims would always be last minute.

Does Disney try to sell at full rate or do they fire sale it to try to get someone in the room?

I'd like to know as well, mostly because it happened to us. We had to cancel our 1st cruise because of a terminally ill family member (who passed away the day after we would have gotten home). I think we were less than 2 weeks from the sail date when we finally made the call to cancel it. We had paid in full several months prior, and the insurance paid us back for it (insurance is money well wasted!) Now in this case, I'm pretty sure Disney owned the insurance policy, but if the cruise line is paid in full, does the insurance company own the rights to the room?? And did someone else end up in that stateroom or was it vacant?

We rescheduled and went on the same cruise 2 months later, and had a blast (this is coming from the one who didn't want to go.)

 

[Chrisey]

I am curious about this as well. Our PIF is in a few days and still lots of rooms available. I am debating on cancelling and rebooking a *gt rate but worried about taking that risk.

 

[MinnesotaChill]

I could be completely wrong, but I think that I've read there are safe guards to prevent this. Something to the effect of the gf rate is only for someone who never had a reservation on that sailing before.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I could be completely wrong, but I think that I've read there are safe guards to prevent this. Something to the effect of the gf rate is only for someone who never had a reservation on that sailing before.

The *GT rates are for new bookings only. But that doesn't mean that someone with a current reservation on a cruise that comes up with *GT rates can't get them.

They just have to cancel their current booking (with any penalties) and rebook a new reservation.

Some problems that could come up with doing this are: you lose any standing reservations you already have for excursions, adult dining, spa, nursery; and you have no control on where your room is located, if that's important to you. You could also lose early dining, if that's what you had before.

 

[MinnesotaChill]

I'm still wondering:

1. if there is a way to find out if there are very last minute rooms (within a few days of sailing) and

2. how those rooms would be priced. Would they be priced at the rate of the original person who booked, at the price rooms were going at when there was last availability (since rates change as the ship fills), or at some type of last minute pricing?

This would theoretically be for a room that opened up on a full ship for someone who had to cancel.

3. Is there a wait list for such a thing?