Making Cruise Reservation Question

[SandyinMonterey]

We have been on 1 Disney Cruise in 2016. It was a special celebration and we splurged on concierge. Have a second Disney cruise end of 2022, not concierge but a deluxe family oceanview stateroom with verandah. We are DVC and used points and cash towards both (yes, I know, poor use of points). When we booked via DVC, both times received (got to choose) room so have our stateroom number. Considering a 2023 cruise and do not want to use DVC points so considering booking on line ourselves or using travel agent. I understand categories but do not understand guarantee status, such as IGT, VGT. I understand what they stand for but never been given a status when booked thru DVC. On DCL website, it looks like you can choose your room (based on availability), does that guarantee you get that room? Just throwing out a number, if we booked room 9800 CAT 04B or 04A, do we definitely get that room? We are also considering doing a place holder when on 2022 cruise, can we the place holder with a travel agent or only when you book directly thru Disney? If we booked the cruise before our 2022 cruise (before we can do a place holder), can we later put it towards a 2023 (meaning book cruise before placeholder). Hope this makes sense, I'm just all confused. Thank you!

 

[nancipants]

If you choose a specific room at the time of booking, you get that room (with some exceptions). If you book a cheaper GT rate, that means you've guaranteed a room in that category or higher. Disney picks the exact room.

 

[lanejudy]

IGT, OGT, VGT are last minute (somewhat last minute) discounted rates. You are guaranteed that broad category of stateroom (interior, oceanview, verandah) but you do not get to choose the room. There are also restrictions with these rates such as pay-in-full at booking, no refunds/changes, etc.

When choosing a category in a regular booking, such as 8A GTY - that means you will allow DCL to assign you a stateroom at 8A category or higher, but again you don't choose the exact stateroom. This is a regular rate, usually higher than opening-day because it comes out after x% of staterooms in that category are booked, and does not have other restrictions on it such as the *GT rates noted above.

For the most part if you book a specific stateroom you can expect to sail in that stateroom. DCL does reserve the right to move you if needed, but that doesn't happen often. It has happened over the past year as they shifted guests presumably to balance workload for stateroom hosts or lifeboats or allow rooms to "air" between guests. But I think that is largely done at this point so you should be able to expect staying with the room you book.

As for placeholders -- I think if you booked the current cruise with a TA you can name that same TA on the placeholder. If you plan to change TAs or didn't use one for the current cruise, you would need to transfer the placeholder within 30 days. To get the placeholder discount, you have to book the cruise after getting the placeholder - it uses the same reservation number. But there may be times that booking without a placeholder gives you a better rate than waiting since fares increase as more staterooms are sold.

 

[Mommb]

I haven't cruised since the pandemic began, but previously, if you cruised using a travel agent and booked a placeholder while on board, you had the choice of assigning it to the same travel agent as you used on the current cruise or booking without a travel agent. As lanejudy said, if you book without a travel agent, you then have 30 days to transfer the placeholder if you want to select a travel agent.

Placeholders may be used only for new bookings, but you can make a reservation for a 2023 cruise and then cancel it if the cost after using the placeholder from your 2022 cruise is less than the original cost. (You would need to make sure you were still before the final payment date for the 2023 cruise to cancel it without penalties.)