Linked reservations with different check-in windows

[spbink]

My family is going on a northern European cruise for my parent's 40th anniversary. I booked and paid for everything, and linked all the reservations since I'm planning everything, but we have different check-in windows for 2 of our group since two rooms have someone who has been on a Disney cruise before and one who hasn't.

This has been incredibly frustrating, because I don't know if we'll be able to get the 2 additional spots on the excursions we booked once the window opens up.

Even worse, I could only make a reservation at Palo's for 4 for the night of my parents' anniversary because the other two aren't eligible. I'm REALLY worried we're not going to be able to change it to be a reservation for 6. That's really important to both me and my mom that we do.

Is there any way around this? Especially for the dinner reservation? It seems really inefficient and not friendly to families traveling together.

 

[Aby]

If your check in window has already opened, I'm not sure there is anything you can do at this point - you won't be able to book the others until their window is open. At that time, you will be able to see the rest of your family members and can add them to the excursions and to palo if there is room.

For Palo, chances are good that if you can't book a table for 6 online, you will be able to add the extra people once you board. They do hold back some of the reservations for booking on board, so if you go to dining changes right away upon embarkation they should be able to find something for all of you - it may not be your first pick of nights, but you should be able to at least get a table. For excursions you'll just have to hope, as they don't hold any spots for later bookings - sometimes they will have a waiting list, but of course there are no guarantees with that.

The only way around this would have been at the beginning when you set up the room reservations. You can move people around so that there is at least 1 guest at the same castaway club level in each cabin. Definitely not ideal as they you will need to fix things upon boarding (which wasn't really that hard for us, just a tad inconvenient) but it would ensure that all guests could book at the same time in the same booking window. Unfortunately I don't think you can do this after your PIF date without penalties, which probably wouldn't be worth it.

Sorry for the frustration, hope this helps just a little.

Aby

 

[elena_n2o]

If your check in window has already opened, I'm not sure there is anything you can do at this point - you won't be able to book the others until their window is open. At that time, you will be able to see the rest of your family members and can add them to the excursions and to palo if there is room.

For Palo, chances are good that if you can't book a table for 6 online, you will be able to add the extra people once you board. They do hold back some of the reservations for booking on board, so if you go to dining changes right away upon embarkation they should be able to find something for all of you - it may not be your first pick of nights, but you should be able to at least get a table. For excursions you'll just have to hope, as they don't hold any spots for later bookings - sometimes they will have a waiting list, but of course there are no guarantees with that.

The only way around this would have been at the beginning when you set up the room reservations. You can move people around so that there is at least 1 guest at the same castaway club level in each cabin. Definitely not ideal as they you will need to fix things upon boarding (which wasn't really that hard for us, just a tad inconvenient) but it would ensure that all guests could book at the same time in the same booking window. Unfortunately I don't think you can do this after your PIF date without penalties, which probably wouldn't be worth it.

Sorry for the frustration, hope this helps just a little.

Aby

I have the same issue, some friends have decided to join us but they're first time cruisers and the rest of us are silver.

They've already booked (they've linked their reservation to ours), can we still move people around the cabins? And then how did you change them back, you have to go to Guest Services onboard?

 

[lanejudy]

They've already booked (they've linked their reservation to ours), can we still move people around the cabins? And then how did you change them back, you have to go to Guest Services onboard?

You don't actually "change them back" but once onboard you can get an extra keycard for those who need to swap rooms for sleeping. It can make the onboard account challenging, but as long as the adults have their own credit card attached to their name, it should sort the charges as well.


OP -- as mentioned, you maybe could have swapped people around to get a CC member in each stateroom, which would have opened online check-in all at the same time. However, maybe that wasn't possible, and/or it just wasn't done. It sounds like you have done online check-in for the CC members; once the online check-in window opens for the new cruisers, try to grab the same or similar time for those two people -- both the port excursion and Palo. Even if you can't get the exact same time for Palo for 6, just make a reservation for 2 at a similar time, then on embarkation day go to where they are taking Palo reservations and have it adjusted. That shouldn't be a problem. If the port excursion is particularly popular, I suppose you do run the risk of it selling-out, but again get what you can that is close in time. I don't know if the port excursions desk can help once you are onboard (they don't hold back slots like Palo does) but there may be a cancellation or something that helps get everyone together. You can also keep checking online for cancellations that open up slots.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Dug720]

With excursions, it is worth asking if there is a waitlist because I have heard of ships being able to work with a provider for another tour if a certain number is met. It obviously depends on the type of tour and the operator's ability to add a vehicle, but I have heard of it happening.

 

[spbink]

Unfortunately we only have 2 people who have been on a Disney cruise before and three staterooms, so switching around doesn't help.

Also, moving to another night at Palo's really won't work since it is literally the day of my parents' 40th anniversary, so doing it later in the cruise won't be anywhere as meaningful.

 

[lanejudy]

I wouldn't worry about Palo -- DCL holds back some slots for booking onboard, so try to book similar times online and then go on embarkation day to have them combined to 1 time for all 6 in the party.

The excursion might be trickier, but do your best when the second window opens and then watch for cancellations and ask about a waitlist if necessary. People do cancel and change their port activity plans right up until 3 days prior to the cruise (when it's pulled offline) and again onboard.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

but do your best when the second window opens and then watch for cancellations and ask about a waitlist if necessary. People do cancel and change their port activity plans right up until 3 days prior to the cruise (when it's pulled offline) and again onboard.

This. I can't speak to the European cruise directly, but this was definitely true in the Caribbean. We had nine in our party and for one excursion we could only get 5 spots (the system doesn't tell you how many spots are left, 9 was declined, then 8 etc. 5 went through). But over the next three days we kept trying to book slots in that excursion, one at a time. Eventually, we had all 9.

It is likely there will be SOME cancellations. There is no penalty or deposit required to book. They can cancel up to three days before sailing. So a lot of people might reserve something just in case, or change their minds and book a different excursion. So I'd suggest you just book everything you want for those of you with the early booking times, and then check back as often as needed once the other window opens.

 

[Aby]

You don't actually "change them back" but once onboard you can get an extra keycard for those who need to swap rooms for sleeping. It can make the onboard account challenging, but as long as the adults have their own credit card attached to their name, it should sort the charges as well.

On our last cruise, we were able to actually switch the people around in our staterooms by going to guest services upon boarding. They reassigned our rooms and rekeyed our cards so we didn't have to worry about the onboard account and carrying an extra key around. Not sure if they will always do this or if I was just lucky, but it was easy peasy!

Aby

 

[disneyfaninaz]

This happened to us on our Norway cruise. Our neighbors were Gold and we were Silver. One of the excursions we wanted filled up before Silvers could make reservations. We ended booking the almost identical tour independently and for less money. They went on the excursion.
However, we had no problem getting a Palo reservation for all 6 of us after we boarded.

 

[GPaLarry]

We just went through the same hoops for our Alaska cruise this June. Wife and I are gold while son & family and daughter and family are all silver and have three other rooms. I called DCL twice before I got someone who could solve the excursion situation. On paper/computer they were able to put my wife in our daughter's stateroom and my daughter in with me. That took care of our mutual excursions. Our son has to book later so we have our fingers crossed. There is only one excursion they are taking that my wife and I are joining, but it is an easy one to book dockside, if needed. I was told that we can make the changes in who is in whose cabin when we check in at the cruise terminal so that my wife and I are together and daughter is back with her family.
Now, the funny thing is trying to convince the DCL rep. that we could book the excursions at 9:01pm the night before the published gold date. We live in Portland, Oregon and are three hours "behind" east coast (Orlando) time. I gave up trying to explain, said thanks for her help and booked at the time above with no problems...the DCL web site knew the difference.
Hope things work out OK for you folks. Each cruise is truly an adventure!