Onboard placeholder booking questions

[Winston Wolf]

For a "placeholder" yes, the deposit is a flat $250 for one room. I believe you can book 2 placeholders to be used as 2 staterooms on the same future cruise date.

If you wish to book a specific cruise date, the deposit amount is based on cruise fare -- 10% for cruises of 7+ nights and 20% for shorter cruises.

Enjoy your cruise!

So when you use your placeholder, is the $250 your deposit, or do you pay 10% of the cruise fare minus the $250 that you've already paid?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So when you use your placeholder, is the $250 your deposit, or do you pay 10% of the cruise fare minus the $250 that you've already paid?

The $250 is applied to the deposit due when you select your cruise. And that deposit is 10% of the cruise fare (7 night and longer cruises) or 20% of the cruise fare for cruises less than 7 nights.

 

[Bishoparc]

I haven't been on the Dream, but on the Magic and the Fantasy, there is a box on the future cruise sales desk and I would be surprised if that's not the case on the Dream as well.

They just changed the whole location/area on the Dream during the dry dock. It's no longer just the cruise sales desk, it's the "Disney Vacation Planning Center" on the Dream. It's where you go for information on DVC, ABD, Cruises, etc. We were in there for 20 minutes on Sunday waiting and there were definitely no obvious places to just pick up or return a form (unless I'm totally blind which is possible). They had a center round kiosk with multiple touch screens with general info and then one of the screens had a touch point for your key to the world card to check in (put your name on the list).

If anyone else sees it while on board, please let me know because I definitely don't like to wait around lol

 

[Carie Baker]

We are going on a cruise this March and I was hoping to put a place holder down for a summer 2017 Med. cruise. They aren't listed yet on the website will they have those dates on the ship or do we have to wait?

 

[Bishoparc]

We are going on a cruise this March and I was hoping to put a place holder down for a summer 2017 Med. cruise. They aren't listed yet on the website will they have those dates on the ship or do we have to wait?

The "placeholder" reservations themselves don't lock you into a date, it just locks in your discount for rebooking on board. You can book a specific date while onboard but you don't have to anymore. You just have to use it within 2 years of when you create the placeholder. (For example, last September we paid the deposit for the placeholder reservation because we hadn't picked a date yet. Then a couple of weeks ago we decided which date we wanted so we e-mailed our TA and they set they converted that placeholder to an actual reservation.)

 

[Winston Wolf]

Another question related to Placeholders...

If you book a trip with your placeholder, but then choose to change it later (still within the 24 months) do the benefits transfer to your new booking?

 

[Ravenne]

Another question related to Placeholders...

If you book a trip with your placeholder, but then choose to change it later (still within the 24 months) do the benefits transfer to your new booking?

When you've selected the itinerary you want, you inform DCL or your TA to apply the placeholder to it, and benefits would also apply as that's the purpose of the placeholder: to secure the benefits of booking on board the ship.

 

[wilma-bride]

Another question related to Placeholders...

If you book a trip with your placeholder, but then choose to change it later (still within the 24 months) do the benefits transfer to your new booking?

When you've selected the itinerary you want, you inform DCL or your TA to apply the placeholder to it, and benefits would also apply as that's the purpose of the placeholder: to secure the benefits of booking on board the ship.

And, yes, if you then change that cruise to another date, as long as it's within the 24 months from when you booked your placeholder, you retain the full benefits.

 

[Winston Wolf]

And, yes, if you then change that cruise to another date, as long as it's within the 24 months from when you booked your placeholder, you retain the full benefits.

Perfect. This is what I was looking for. Thanks! We want to book in May-ish when the Fall '17 itineraries come out, but the school schedule won't be released until December, so we may choose to adjust once that comes out and wanted to make sure we still got the benefits if we needed to rebook.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Perfect. This is what I was looking for. Thanks! We want to book in May-ish when the Fall '17 itineraries come out, but the school schedule won't be released until December, so we may choose to adjust once that comes out and wanted to make sure we still got the benefits if we needed to rebook.

Something to add as sometimes people aren't clear on this part - if you move it to a "blacked out date" you still get the OBC ($100 or $200 depending on length of cruise) however you do not get the 10% discount. Seems to be forgotten or misunderstood about still receiving the OBC which is better than not getting it

Heather

 

[Cmbar]

Just back from the S.Caribbean on the Wonder and booked a placeholder booking for two rooms. It is my understanding that we cannot split those rooms for two different cruises correct?

Also, I haven't ever used Costco travel for DCL bookings but how would I transfer over this placeholder to Costco so I could get the added benefit of a Costco discount? Why would some people use Costco as opposed to say Dreams Unlimited. Is it a better ratio? I struggle with wanting to have on board credit versus Costco money. Any opinions?

Also, I feel very nervous about giving up my ability to book the cruise by switching the placeholder over to TA. Will my Gold status allow the TA (either Costco or say Dreams) to book on the very first day of bookings? (we are looking for Fall of 2017)

Thanks for any help!

 

[n2mm]

I do know the placeholder can not be split up if you have it for two cabins. I was nervous using a TA but it as fine. I still had enough control. My first 5 cruises were done with no TA but my next two were with a TA. It was fine, no problem. I've never done the placeholder yet, but will be doing it later this month, so did some research. I wanted to use 2 placeholders for a B2B but found out that was a NO.

 

[ajo]

Just back from the S.Caribbean on the Wonder and booked a placeholder booking for two rooms. It is my understanding that we cannot split those rooms for two different cruises correct?

Also, I haven't ever used Costco travel for DCL bookings but how would I transfer over this placeholder to Costco so I could get the added benefit of a Costco discount? Why would some people use Costco as opposed to say Dreams Unlimited. Is it a better ratio? I struggle with wanting to have on board credit versus Costco money. Any opinions?

Also, I feel very nervous about giving up my ability to book the cruise by switching the placeholder over to TA. Will my Gold status allow the TA (either Costco or say Dreams) to book on the very first day of bookings? (we are looking for Fall of 2017)

Thanks for any help!

We booked two placeholders on our recent cruise in January. We had two rooms for our family, so we booked one future cruise for each room. I had the same question for our TA and she said that we don't have to use both rooms on the same cruise. We have since booked one placeholder on a specific cruise and are waiting to decide what to do with the other placeholder cruise. I don't know if it makes a difference that we had two rooms when we booked the placeholders.

 

[dmunsil]

Just back from the S.Caribbean on the Wonder and booked a placeholder booking for two rooms. It is my understanding that we cannot split those rooms for two different cruises correct?

Disney intends for them to be used together on the same cruise, but in practice I can tell you from experience that if you move one to a different cruise both of them retain the discount. I assume this is a limitation of Disney's booking systems, and they could "fix" it any time. If you move one, you should be prepared to lose the discount on one or the other, and happy if it still works.

In our case, we needed to move one, and were expecting to lose the discount on one or the other. The fact that it was maintained on both was a nice bonus.

 

[mrs.ariel]

We are cruising in May and planning to book place holder cruises for summer 2017. I would like to bring my in-laws next time, but they aren't with us in May.
If we book 2 rooms, one in my name and one in my husbands name, can we just put his mom with me and his dad with his room (when we pick the date and officially book the cruise) to keep the 2 room discount for the next cruise?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are cruising in May and planning to book place holder cruises for summer 2017. I would like to bring my in-laws next time, but they aren't with us in May.
If we book 2 rooms, one in my name and one in my husbands name, can we just put his mom with me and his dad with his room (when we pick the date and officially book the cruise) to keep the 2 room discount for the next cruise?

Yes.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Just back from the S.Caribbean on the Wonder and booked a placeholder booking for two rooms. It is my understanding that we cannot split those rooms for two different cruises correct?

Also, I haven't ever used Costco travel for DCL bookings but how would I transfer over this placeholder to Costco so I could get the added benefit of a Costco discount? Why would some people use Costco as opposed to say Dreams Unlimited. Is it a better ratio? I struggle with wanting to have on board credit versus Costco money. Any opinions?

Also, I feel very nervous about giving up my ability to book the cruise by switching the placeholder over to TA. Will my Gold status allow the TA (either Costco or say Dreams) to book on the very first day of bookings? (we are looking for Fall of 2017)

Thanks for any help!

I can answer some of your Costco questions as that's who I've used for all our sailings except one (our very first sailing when I didn't know any better lol). Costco gives you the equivalent of about 8% of the cruise fare back in the form of a Costco cash card. In my experience, yes that's among the best out there. We also take advantage of the onboard bookings and save 10% that way as well as the OBC so that's a nice savings with the two combined. You would need to call Costco and walk through the process with them. DCL asked if I wanted to use Costco again as my TA so I said yes so for ours it's already noted on both sides. In the past Costco/DCL would have you complete a form and send it to DCL to move the booking to Costco and please note this must be done within 30 days of the booking date so don't delay if you are thinking of doing this. Yes, Costco will be able to book for you as a Gold, on Gold/Plat opening day. I'll be honest, this is the *one* negative I'd be honest about. You'll have to call Costco first and luckily they changed it some time last year that they open at the same time as DCL, then they will have to call DCL to book the cruise you want so that adds more time to the process. In the big picture it's usually not a big deal unless you are going for a new or very popular itinerary and that did happen to us with the Norway/Icleand/Scotland cruise but that's not typical.

Whether you have given your booking to Costco or a TA they both would have to call DCL. A true DCL TA is more than likely more experienced but he/she is likely calling in for multiple clients whereas your Costco rep is just dealing with you on the phone. Please note, I'm not "knocking" a TA as I know how hard they work and several of my friends or TA's so it really just depends on what type of incentive works best for you, what type of "hand holding" you might need, etc. A good TA can be worth their weight in gold if you need him/her at different hours, have an emergency, need more travel planning help, etc. I've been very pleased with Costco but I still find I have to sort of tell them at times what to do and they are always so polite and accommodating and we always work it out.

Hope this helps,
Heather

 

[dmunsil]

We are cruising in May and planning to book place holder cruises for summer 2017. I would like to bring my in-laws next time, but they aren't with us in May.
If we book 2 rooms, one in my name and one in my husbands name, can we just put his mom with me and his dad with his room (when we pick the date and officially book the cruise) to keep the 2 room discount for the next cruise?

Just FYI, you can go ahead and book the second room in their names while you're on the cruise. You are allowed to book a room or placeholder for someone else who's not on the cruise, though it still counts toward your 2-room limit.

Also, something that doesn't come up much is that you can book more than 2 rooms if you want, and the 3rd, 4th, etc. will get the onboard credit, but not the 10% discount or lower deposit. Or at least that's been true in the past. Disney doesn't advertise it but it's always been true when we've asked.

 

[mrs.ariel]

Great! Thanks!!!

 

[Winston Wolf]

Something to add as sometimes people aren't clear on this part - if you move it to a "blacked out date" you still get the OBC ($100 or $200 depending on length of cruise) however you do not get the 10% discount. Seems to be forgotten or misunderstood about still receiving the OBC which is better than not getting it

Heather

Thanks! That's good info to know. We were thinking this weekend about whether we could make Spring Break next year work, but then realized it's a blackout date...so no go for us, but good to know we'd still get the OBC.