Is it better to stay with DCL or switch to TA?

[NeedsNEscape]

Hi,

On the July western cruise, I 're-booked' a DCL cruise. Since it was my first cruise, I didn't quite understand that you had to re-book the same cruise to get a big discount. Having done the 7 day, I really wanted to take a 4 day on the other boat and spend a week in WDW. So I booked a Wonder 4-day for next year. I didn't really get a discount, but they did give me a $200 shipboard credit. ---and although I haven't got a note that shows what I booked, I notice that they had no problem charging the Visa card. Another thing I didn't realize at the time was that I only had to rebook 1 person in the room and not all 4 of us. In fact, I could have 're-booked' a room and my husband could have 're-booked' a room. Then we could transfer the reservation to any of our friends, if we had found some who wanted to go and, of course, we have found some.

The thing is, to 're-book' a WONDER cruise when you are on a MAGIC cruise does not appear to be any big price break! So I am thinking of switching my reservation to my travel agent. He can get the room cheaper, but I will have to give up the $200 shipboard credit. In all, I end up saving about $150 if I change reservations.

Now my question: is there anything else that I am giving up from my DCL 're-booking' if I switch to a travel agent? Has anyone else gone through this before?

I also should explain that my 're-booking' is now a LAND/SEA booking, although I am thinking of changing that too, because I would want to do WDW after the cruise and DCL will only book the land part before the cruise -- seems strange to me too.

 

[pvangordon]

How did you hear that you would lose the onboard booking credit? I'm transferring my 2005 DCL reservation to my TA for the first time (previous trips were both done through DCL) and it was my understanding that the credit would stick. Even rescheduling the trip under the same confirmation number would keep the credit.

If that's not the case and someone has experience otherwise, guess I'd better find out before my TA transfers it (although the overall cost savings is probably worth it anyway).

 

[KMovies]

About the land and sea package having WDW first, here is what I believe the reason is.

If they let you book before or after, one week they may have 75% having WDW before and 25% having it after. Now if the week before had it 25% before and 75% after, they would need 150% of the rooms at one time and 50% another time. Having everyone do it the same way keeps a balance of needing around the same number of rooms. Also for transportation, it keeps that even too with everyone heading to the ship instead of some to the ship and some to the airport following the WDW portion of the package.

Besides, I love the cruise afterwards because it gives you a chance to relax from the WDW vacation.

 

[mark & sandra]

You can transfer your DCL ressie to another TA and keep all your credit and discounts. If you switch to certain TA's they also give you a booking rebate on top of all your savings. Book your WDW land trip yourself and save some money...Mark

 

[NeedsNEscape]

Hmmm....

I am going to check with my TA again about the shipboard credit. It is amazing how many different reports you can get. For one thing, I didn't realize that 're-booking' didn't mean just general re-booking with DCL -- to get any of the big discounts you have to re-book on the same ship. Since I had been on a Western cruise, my option was to re-book another Western or an Eastern. So there were no big breaks on booking a cruise on the Disney Wonder while I was on the Magic. Also, it was never really clear that I would get a shipboard credit. Although I was told I would get one, the other family I was traveling with was told she wouldn't get a shipboard credit for booking the Wonder from the Magic.

Upon returning home, my TA says that my reservation shows that there is a credit on the reservation. But it seemed like we were getting two different stories while on the boat.

That was an interesting point about doing the cruise after WDW. I was trying to avoid the letdown after the cruise. It was really hard to get off the cruise and not go to WDW.

So you think I could save more money booking my land vacation on my own?

 

[wintermom]

I think different TA have different policys. When I switch my
reservation to a TA , they had a lower price than Disney gave me
shown for the same date on their website. However, they told
me if I went with that lower price (group booking I think they
called it) they could not give me the $200.00 credit. Their lower
price was only $125.00 cheeper than Disney, so I transfered to the TA but at the Disney price and then kept my $200.00 credit.
My TA gave me a $75.00 rebooking rebate too , as I remember.
$75.00 was not much savings but I guess every little bit helps!
Wintermom