Multiple OBB?

[jrapps]

So I know "technically" this isn't supposed to work this way but if I am onboard and I book a future cruise with 2 rooms, one with my name as the Primary and my son in n the room, and the 2nd room with my wife as the Primary and my daughter in the room, once I get off the ship am I able to take Reservation #2, move it to another date and add me and my son back to it, and then go back to Reservation 1 and change it to all 4 of use as well?

Essentially making 2 OBB while onboard but having to do it the sneaky way?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I know "technically" this isn't supposed to work this way but if I am onboard and I book a future cruise with 2 rooms, one with my name as the Primary and my son in n the room, and the 2nd room with my wife as the Primary and my daughter in the room, once I get off the ship am I able to take Reservation #2, move it to another date and add me and my son back to it, and then go back to Reservation 1 and change it to all 4 of use as well?

Essentially making 2 OBB while onboard but having to do it the sneaky way?

No, the future cruise (for both rooms) must be on the same cruise. You may book up to 2 rooms maximum on the same future cruise date for both rooms to get the perks. Or you can book one room each of 2 future cruises, but only one of the rooms/cruises will get the perks. Once you move room #2 to a different cruise, it will lose it's perks.

You can make as many reservations (for different cruises) onboard as you wish. But only one cruise will get the OBB perks.

 

[dmunsil]

So I know "technically" this isn't supposed to work this way but if I am onboard and I book a future cruise with 2 rooms, one with my name as the Primary and my son in n the room, and the 2nd room with my wife as the Primary and my daughter in the room, once I get off the ship am I able to take Reservation #2, move it to another date and add me and my son back to it, and then go back to Reservation 1 and change it to all 4 of use as well?

Essentially making 2 OBB while onboard but having to do it the sneaky way?

As Princess Shmoo notes, the policy is that the two rooms need to be on the same cruise. In practice, if the two reservations are moved to two different cruises by you (via online changes), or by a travel agent, you will (probably) keep the OBB on both bookings, or at least that's the way it has worked in practice for years. I don't know what would happen if you called and had a Disney agent move it; they might remove the OBB from one or the other, but I'm pretty sure it would be a manual action. They'd have to notice that you were moving one of a pair of OBB rooms, then would I guess ask you which one should keep the discount.

Obviously if Disney cared enough about this, they might figure out a way to make reality match the policy, so if you do do it, prepare for the possibility that one or the other cruise loses the benefits. But I suspect it would be hard for Disney to fix this via any automatic system. Right now, when you move two rooms, you just move them individually and then make sure the cross-links are still there (or re-apply them). If moving one room caused the OBB discount to get lost, it would get lost every time you moved a pair of linked bookings, because there's no "move two rooms at once" feature.

To be honest, I can't fathom why Disney would care. They put this program in place to get people to book more cruises in advance. Why would they care if you buy two rooms on one cruise or one room on two cruises? No other cruise line that I know of has a limit like this with their onboard booking program. A limit on number of total rooms, yes. But they don't care whether your rooms are on one cruise or several.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

As Princess Shmoo notes, the policy is that the two rooms need to be on the same cruise. In practice, if the two reservations are moved to two different cruises by you (via online changes), or by a travel agent, you will (probably) keep the OBB on both bookings, or at least that's the way it has worked in practice for years. I don't know what would happen if you called and had a Disney agent move it; they might remove the OBB from one or the other, but I'm pretty sure it would be a manual action. They'd have to notice that you were moving one of a pair of OBB rooms, then would I guess ask you which one should keep the discount.

Obviously if Disney cared enough about this, they might figure out a way to make reality match the policy, so if you do do it, prepare for the possibility that one or the other cruise loses the benefits. But I suspect it would be hard for Disney to fix this via any automatic system. Right now, when you move two rooms, you just move them individually and then make sure the cross-links are still there (or re-apply them). If moving one room caused the OBB discount to get lost, it would get lost every time you moved a pair of linked bookings, because there's no "move two rooms at once" feature.

To be honest, I can't fathom why Disney would care. They put this program in place to get people to book more cruises in advance. Why would they care if you buy two rooms on one cruise or one room on two cruises? No other cruise line that I know of has a limit like this with their onboard booking program. A limit on number of total rooms, yes. But they don't care whether your rooms are on one cruise or several.

I imagine any OBB that's 2 rooms, is linked. If you move one of them yourself (online), it would probably flag the booking system that they are connected, and if the connection is broken the moved reservation will lose the perks.

And, using a TA, still means that the change would be done at DCL. The TA will call DCL , or attempt to change the reservation online with the same results.

I think they obviously do care if it's on one cruise or two, since they do specify that restriction on the booking information.

 

[dcassetta]

I imagine any OBB that's 2 rooms, is linked. If you move one of them yourself (online), it would probably flag the booking system that they are connected, and if the connection is broken the moved reservation will lose the perks.

And, using a TA, still means that the change would be done at DCL. The TA will call DCL , or attempt to change the reservation online with the same results.

I think they obviously do care if it's on one cruise or two, since they do specify that restriction on the booking information.

I wonder if this is one of the reasons you can no longer modify the cruise date of an existing reservation online.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wonder if this is one of the reasons you can no longer modify the cruise date of an existing reservation online.

Good point.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Dumb question time. Can I put 2 placeholders down while on board and eventually book 2 different cruises with the incentives? I thought I could, but after reading this thread, I'm thinking that I can't.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Dumb question time. Can I put 2 placeholders down while on board and eventually book 2 different cruises with the incentives? I thought I could, but after reading this thread, I'm thinking that I can't.

No. Onboard bookings must be on one future cruise. You can book up to 2 rooms on any one future cruise. If you've put down two placeholders, they must be applied to the same cruise for both reservations to get the perks.

You can split the placeholders, but only one will get the onboard perks. The other won't.

 

[dmunsil]

I imagine any OBB that's 2 rooms, is linked. If you move one of them yourself (online), it would probably flag the booking system that they are connected, and if the connection is broken the moved reservation will lose the perks.

It didn't work that way for us. Perhaps DCL has changed their system, but as of late last year, you could split them and both bookings retained the same OBB discount. Again, I'm not saying it's the correct or intended behavior, I'm saying that's the way it actually works. Disney, if they feel like it, would be completely within their rights to check if this is being done and remove the discount for one of the bookings. They apparently did not care enough to do so. Though if Disney has really removed the ability to move a cruise date yourself online, then perhaps it's a moot point. Travel agents have a different online system, so it's possible they could split them without involving a Disney agent.

With placeholders, when you are finally ready to choose, the cruises currently must be picked over the phone with a Disney agent, and I would guess that the Disney agent would notice that a linked booking was being split and ask which one should keep the OBB.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It didn't work that way for us. Perhaps DCL has changed their system, but as of late last year, you could split them and both bookings retained the same OBB discount. Again, I'm not saying it's the correct or intended behavior, I'm saying that's the way it actually works. Disney, if they feel like it, would be completely within their rights to check if this is being done and remove the discount for one of the bookings. They apparently did not care enough to do so. Though if Disney has really removed the ability to move a cruise date yourself online, then perhaps it's a moot point. Travel agents have a different online system, so it's possible they could split them without involving a Disney agent.

With placeholders, when you are finally ready to choose, the cruises currently must be picked over the phone with a Disney agent, and I would guess that the Disney agent would notice that a linked booking was being split and ask which one should keep the OBB.

I'm not sure when the current OBB restrictions were placed into effect. I'll see what I can find.

Well, that was quick. According to the disneycruiselineblog the change went into effect October 2014. And it says:
The offer limited to two staterooms on one future cruise date (per household sailing). Additional staterooms may be booked at the current prevailing rates.
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...icy-extended-24-months-plus-2016-block-dates/

Now, whether a DCL CM allowed the perks to be split, maybe they can circumvent the system, but it certainly isn't what DCL states as policy.

 

[dmunsil]

Now, whether a DCL CM allowed the perks to be split, maybe they can circumvent the system, but it certainly isn't what DCL states as policy.

I 100% agree, it's not Disney policy.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Per one household? So families that have booked 2 rooms on the cruise aren't entitled to book 2 OBB rooms per rooms? Essentially, they are limiting your ability to purchase an OBB to one 'deal' per household, no matter how many staterooms you occupy on the current cruise?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Per one household? So families that have booked 2 rooms on the cruise aren't entitled to book 2 OBB rooms per rooms? Essentially, they are limiting your ability to purchase an OBB to one 'deal' per household, no matter how many staterooms you occupy on the current cruise?

Correct.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So, just to play devil's advocate, if two friends are cruising together and sharing one room, they can each buy up to 2 room OBB each to use independently of each other's cruises?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So, just to play devil's advocate, if two friends are cruising together and sharing one room, they can each buy up to 2 room OBB each to use independently of each other's cruises?

Yes, each household address can book up to 2 rooms on one future cruise and both rooms receive the onboard booking perks.

So cruiser A can book up to two rooms on a cruise 6 months from now, and cruiser B can book up to two room on a cruise next year.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Okay, thanks. Not sure why I assumed it was per stateroom, but that's good to know.

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

I have a quick question about doing a B2B and OBB discounts. We did a 4 night followed by a 3 night B2B in 2012 and got the 10% discount off of both cruises. Do they still do this or do you just receive the 10% off of one of the cruises? Thanks.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have a quick question about doing a B2B and OBB discounts. We did a 4 night followed by a 3 night B2B in 2012 and got the 10% discount off of both cruises. Do they still do this or do you just receive the 10% off of one of the cruises? Thanks.

If you book a B2B while on a single cruise, you can only book one leg of the B2B with the OBB perks. You can still book the second leg, but there are no OBB perks applied to it.

If you are on a B2B, each leg (since they are separate cruises) you can book up to 2 rooms on one future cruise. So you can book a future B2B, by booking a room while on the first cruise and another room while on the second cruise.