I think we may have lost our onboard booking discount.

[SamiL]

We booked an onboard placeholder in October 2019. (during our first cruise ever) In late July 2020, we used the placeholder to book an October 2021 cruise. At that point, it was as far out as we could book and still keep our onboard discount. After consulting with our TA at Dreams Unlimited who told us we could keep the 10% discount and book a later cruise (because of the pandemic) we moved it to March 2022 and we kept our discount. All was good.

Since we have children and want to make regular use of the kids' clubs the use restrictions in place right now had us rethinking March 2022 so I emailed my Dreams Unlimited TA and asked if we could keep our onboard booking discount and move to March 2023. He said he we "should be able to carry over the onboard booking discount without a problem." Based on that information, on October 14, I gave him the go-ahead to make the switch as soon as booking opened for Silver.

Early this morning he confirmed that he had made the change. He sent the confirmation later and the total seemed a little higher than I had expected, so I sent him a quick email to verify that the onboard booking discount was applied. He replied, "That’s my understanding, yes."

I logged in to the DCL website, looked up our new cruise date, cabin type, deck, and found the room right across the hall from us. The undiscounted total was the exact same as the total on our new confirmation.

I emailed our TA back: "Thanks. It's just looking like the same price as Room 7090 (across the hall) with no discount. Is there any way to check and make sure it's applied?"

He responded: "I’ll have to call in at some point tomorrow or the next day. I’ll check it and get back to you."

I have a feeling he made a mistake either on Disney's policy of extending the onboard booking discount or on making sure it was applied. He's probably waiting to call because the DCL phones will be super busy the next couple of days, but waiting to hear is going to be torture. We were really looking forward to sailing on the new ship, but we'll likely end up canceling if we don't get the discount. We may book something else later, but I'll do it myself and skip the hassle of an agent. He's been really nice overall, but it's such a pain to have to contact someone else for every change--all for a fairly modest onboard booking credit.

I'm not sure if I'm venting or looking for reassurance it will all work out. Either way, I'll take your pixie dust and good vibes if you send them.

 

[bcwife76]

It's my understanding that OBBs that are that old will not be extended past Sept 30 2022. We have an OBB from Oct 2019 that has been bounced around a couple of times. It's currently attached to a July 2022 Alaska cruise and when I moved it this most recent time the CM I spoke with said something like "oh you're using it in the nick of time, as it expires Sept 30 2022."

 

[ahain]

I agree with bcwife76 - they weren't extending OBBs indefinitely, although it is a shame that your TA didn't know the deadlines (apparently).

Curious why you say you will likely cancel if you don't get the discount even though you were "looking forward to sailing on the new ship", but then say you will book a cruise yourself (where you won't get the discount either and pricing will likely be higher)

 

[SamiL]

Curious why you say you will likely cancel if you don't get the discount even though you were "looking forward to sailing on the new ship", but then say you will book a cruise yourself (where you won't get the discount either and pricing will likely be higher)

We booked a Spring Break cruise which runs a bit more, but we justified it with the OBB discount. (Or I justified it to DH.) So if we rebook we might do something different like MLK or Presidents Day weekend. We wouldn't rebook the same cruise. Whatever we rebook will be less expensive. And we may wait until even later and do Fall Break 2023.

And I just don't want to deal with travel agents anymore after this mess. I'm tired of having to email him to make changes or ask questions and then wait for a reply and then email back. Especially when the answers he gives are wrong. I can do a much better job myself and get more accurate information from real experts on these boards. No one is ever going to care about my family's vacation as much as I do. It's true: if you want something done right, do it yourself.

bcwife76 & ahain, thank you both for the information. It's not the answer I was hoping for, but it's much better to know than to wonder. And all things considered, there are far worse problems to have than losing a cruise discount.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So I can tell you we had a land and sea booked for august 2020 that was ultimately moved to august 2021, which we then turned into a split stay UOR/wdw trip last month (while fully vaccinated we didn’t want to go on a cruise).
When we went to reschedule everything, they couldn’t reschedule a cruise anywhere past May 2022 at the time, so we got a full refund. For the land portion we also had to cancel that and get a new reservation

 

[HuskyGal]

I can understand your frustration. I had a previous TA who was struggling and I wouldn’t hear from them for a long time or never. The TA went on leave so my account was transferred to a new TA and that person has been wonderful. Good luck with your decision whether to stick it out, to transfer to a new TA or to go without.

 

[n2mm]

My dreams TA sent out an email last week and noted that placeholders (old ones) could not be moved beyond September 2022. Also future funds couldn’t go out past September 2022 either.