Onboard Booking Q-Avoiding a long line

[staceymerrill]

I plan on booking our 06 cruise while onboard 9/1 3-day.....

I noticed while onboard our recent 5/7 cruise that the line to book with the DCL salesperson looked long....when I passed by, there seemed to be quite a bit of "consultation",or indecision amongst those booking, which meant to me that unless you were one of the 1st on line, you could be waiting for quite some time.....

For those of you that have booked another cruise while onboard, please give me some tips on the best way to proceed...I will know far in advance of sitting down with the DCL salesperson our date and stateroom preferences...I would just hate to waste time on the 3-day waiting on a long line....

 

[StuartMI]

We just kept checking to see when there was nobody there.

 

[jragland]

On the Magic last week Danielle had a stack of forms by the desk. You can just take one and fill it out since you already know exactly what you want. She will process it and call you in your stateroom. I'm sure it works the same way on the Wonder.
Jim

 

[Goofy4Disney99]

We have booked onboard twice and never had a problem. I'll admit that there was a line once, but I just came back later. Might be a good idea to do the booking early in your cruise. I bet that as the cruise progresses, more and more people decide to book a future cruise. Enjoy your cruise in September!!

 

[lbgraves]

I fill out a form at the desk the first afternoon onboard with the cruise date & which rooms we are interested in. I got a call the next morning with a quote. I don't think they even had anyone at the desk until the 3rd day on the 7 day cruises. This saved us a ton of time.

 

[staceymerrill]

w@w....that seems like a great, streamlined way to book by just filling out the form...I will have my date and top 5 staterooms ready, so this seems like the way to go ....

In looking at older 3 day Navigators, there seemed to be specified times for booking, like blocks in hour increments.....I dont think that if there was a line I would actually have an opportunity to come back.....

 

[drclaws]

Definitely go with the form to get a quote. Saves a lot of time.....

 

[paulmc80]

Yes, do the form and they are excellent at getting back to you. Only took up about 5 minutes of my time. They also asked if we wanted to transfer the reservation to the TA we were using. When I got home there was an e-mail from my TA information me of the new booking.

 

[staceymerrill]

this may be semantics, but you mentioned in your posts above that you were given "quotes"after you filled out form...can I in fact complete the reservation process over the phone or at Guest Services once the quote is given?...I am less interested in DCLs $ quote, since I will be transferring to my TA....what I really want is my desired stateroom reserved as well as the $200 per stateroom credit secured....

what did you wind up doing? thanks

 

[drclaws]

this may be semantics, but you mentioned in your posts above that you were given "quotes"after you filled out form...can I in fact complete the reservation process over the phone or at Guest Services once the quote is given?...I am less interested in DCLs $ quote, since I will be transferring to my TA....what I really want is my desired stateroom reserved as well as the $200 per stateroom credit secured....

what did you wind up doing? thanks

Hmm, not sure. We stopped by the DCL desk about 10 minutes before it opened one mid-week day and no other passengers were there so we hung around and did it in-person. My guess (and it's only that) is that it cannot be done on the phone or at Guest Services. We selected our stateroom, secured the credit AND had the reservation changed to our TA at the same time (and of course put down the deposit). Took 10 minutes or so.

Do not wait until the last two days to re-book if you're planning to do so...the lines get incrementally longer as the days dwindle.

 

[lbgraves]

In her message to us with the quote she said that if we wanted to book it she could charge it to our room, I belief. Since we had an existing reservation that she was actually going to modify I stopped by the desk late one night to take care of it.

 

[spoon2003]

this may be semantics, but you mentioned in your posts above that you were given "quotes"after you filled out form...can I in fact complete the reservation process over the phone or at Guest Services once the quote is given?...I am less interested in DCLs $ quote, since I will be transferring to my TA....what I really want is my desired stateroom reserved as well as the $200 per stateroom credit secured....

what did you wind up doing? thanks

That's exactly what I did, left her a form with the dates I want, she left us a message with the prices, I left her another note asking her to book. She just charged our onboard credit card. She even kept our TA.

 

[crisi]

If you know you will rebook, there is seldom a line early in the cruise. We left CC early (too much sun for my daughter), and I think there were all of three people who made reservations that day - until they all poured back on the boat at 4:00, then she was busy for the rest of the trip. The rebooking desk was also empty Nassau day. But the day at sea!

So just try to time it for a period when everyone else has something better to do.

 

[KEH]

I second that you can do the whole process without ever visiting the desk. We filled in the form, got a call to give us the quote and were asked to call if we wanted to go ahead, confirming that the deposit could be charged to the card they held on record for our onboard charging.

When we have waited in line it has been quite frustrating. I know people may want to work out the best dates, cabins etc but we always seem to be stuck behind a line of people who have about 25 combinations to check.

If you see no line at the desk then stop by but otherwise I would do as much as possible by phone and form.

 

[skibum]

My first advice would be, as others have stated, to do it early in the cruise. We kept watching the line, and it seemed to grow every day. We waited behind three people on the second night, not really knowing what the deal was. On the third day, after going back and forth on whether we wanted to commit, we decided to do it. We sat down at her desk about 15 minutes before she was scheduled to open, so we could finish it up. We did the deal, and still don't know why we waited, other than we wanted to confirm spring break dates. If there is any question in your mind, book it now - you can always change or cancel with no penalty! (In fact, we changed our stateroom to a SPH room after we got home and saw one on the 'net). We didn't know you could just fill out a form, and will be looking to do that during our next cruise.