Questions about booking on Opening Day with Costco

[aliceinvunderland]

I recently returned from a cruise where I booked a placeholder, which I’m planning on transferring to Costco since the cash back offer is so much better than using a TA. I know I have to transfer within a month, but my question is: will Costco be as vigilant about booking my cruise on opening day as a travel agent would? I know TA spend hours on the phone on opening day, and I’m not sure I would have the same level of service with costco. Any experience with this?

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

Costco told me they cannot pull a placeholder into their system. I have to be ready to make it a full reservation. I call on opening day with Costco. You have to be on hold with Costco to call DCL to make reservations

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

There's no difference with Costco between booking with then initially and transferring to them.

Book it yourself on opening day. Then, in a few days when the phone lines calm down, call Costco to transfer. Its very easy.

With the placeholder, to book with Costco on opning day, you would have to wait I hold to speak with Costco, then wait on hold while they waited on hold to speak to dcl.

 

[Sytrace]

I recently returned from a cruise where I booked a placeholder, which I’m planning on transferring to Costco since the cash back offer is so much better than using a TA. I know I have to transfer within a month, but my question is: will Costco be as vigilant about booking my cruise on opening day as a travel agent would? I know TA spend hours on the phone on opening day, and I’m not sure I would have the same level of service with costco. Any experience with this?

It appears from the responses given that either way booking with Costco would require you to be the one on hold and not a TA. But as you mentioned, the cash card Costco gives is pretty good. Guess you have to weigh the convienence vs the cash to decide how to book.

 

[mtil]

I booked last year with Costco on opening day and it was not an issue. I did have to first wait on hold for the Costco agent and then they were on hold with Disney (we were on hold as well). They did update me periodically to say that they were still waiting. It might have taken a little longer to go through them but it really wasn't much worse than contacting Disney directly. We did use a placeholder and it was noted in Disney's system that Costco was the agent.

 

[DetroitAvant]

We transferred our placeholder without a reservation and Costco was fine with it. We called on opening day over a year later, I was on hold for an hour to get a Costco at and then on hold for two hours while we waited for Disney to pick up. I wasn't offered a process where I didn't need to be on phone.

 

[lilsonicfan]

You have to transfer your placeholder within 30 days, and absolutely it can be transferred to Costco. It's true that Costco isn't exactly like other TAs who will be on hold for you while you aren't on the phone at all; in general Costco will put you on hold while they are on hold with DCL. That being said, we booked with them this time around for summer 2019 and the lines ended up being so insane that Costco eventually assigned some of their agents to remain on hold while others took regular calls, and then those agents called each waiting customer when DCL was on the line. So I did ultimately save some time booking through Costco and I didn't have to dial 1000x myself or risk getting cut off.

 

[lilsonicfan]

In terms of vigilance, I was on hold with a Costco agent for 3.5 hours before they made the decision to have some agents remain on hold. During that time, the Costco agent hadn't even gotten through to DCL yet but she told me that she had dialed 800x, and that 2-3 people in her office had gotten to the DCL hold music. I was impressed with their persistence.

 

[DisCruiseDad]

I booked a cruise through Costco on opening day last May, but only had to wait on hold to get through and talk to the Costco agent. Once I got through, the agent took down the information for the specific sailing we wanted to book, our preferences for cabin type/location, and then said they would send through the confirmation once they got through to DCL. After which I was able to hang up and within a few hours they sent through the booking hold confirmation e-mail with all of the details. The only thing I had to do was call back the next day to give them a credit card to actually pay the deposit and finalize the reservation. So I'd definitely book on opening day with Costco again.

 

[Norton figment]

Okay silly question does this mean if I booked my cruise with Disney and just paid the deposit I can transfer said reservation to Costco? Are there more costs or is it th same cost?

 

[LizGirl]

Just to reiterate - you absolutely do need to transfer the placeholder to Costco within 30 days. There is a form they email you and then you have to fill it out and send it back.

I booked with them on opening day once for DCL with a placeholder and once with Royal. No problems at all. I spent some time waiting on hold but I would expect that.

 

[LizGirl]

Okay silly question does this mean if I booked my cruise with Disney and just paid the deposit I can transfer said reservation to Costco? Are there more costs or is it th same cost?

If you made the reservation less than 30 days ago, I think you can transfer it to Costco. Fare is the same but Costco gives a cash card after you sail.

 

[Dug720]

Okay silly question does this mean if I booked my cruise with Disney and just paid the deposit I can transfer said reservation to Costco? Are there more costs or is it th same cost?

If you made the reservation less than 30 days ago, I think you can transfer it to Costco. Fare is the same but Costco gives a cash card after you sail.

Also be aware that from the moment you transfer it, Costco "owns" the reservation so any changes, requests, payments, etc. would have to go through Costco. You could not call DCL and do those.

You would still be able to do your online check-in and select your own port activities though.

 

[Billinaz]

I now do all our bookings with Costco. I usually book with DCL and then transfer.

Im getting a cash card for $1045 for my next 2 cruises that I have booked, and an additional couple hundred for having the executive membership. The cost of it is paid for simply using the cash card!

I fill out the form myself and email it to DCL......Then call Costco and finalize it.

If you book onboard you can transfer it to Costco (the day you make that reservation is the start of the 30 day countdown. So if its a placeholder get it done before the next 30 days and call Costco to change the date later). You get the 10% discount on most categories rooms, and an on board credit. That way you max out the 8.5% cash card, 2% exec membership reward, 10% cruise discount, and on board credit!

The form:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/...ic/pdf/BookingTransferFormAllDestinations.pdf

 

[Snowwhyt]

What if you have $1500 in Disney gift cards that you plan to put on the cruise? Would you have to put that money down with Disney before you transferred it over to Costco?

 

[dcassetta]

What if you have $1500 in Disney gift cards that you plan to put on the cruise? Would you have to put that money down with Disney before you transferred it over to Costco?

Costco can work with you on this. They call Disney and you just give them the card numbers. It will be easier for you and them if you consolidate into 2 cards.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

What if you have $1500 in Disney gift cards that you plan to put on the cruise? Would you have to put that money down with Disney before you transferred it over to Costco?

Costco can take Disney gift cards. You read the Costco agent the number, and then they call Disney and relay the gift card numbers to them. If you consolidate the gift cards first (they can have a max of $1000), it'll make it easier (and less likely for a mistake in reading off the numbers).

 

[ajo]

I now do all our bookings with Costco. I usually book with DCL and then transfer.

Im getting a cash card for $1045 for my next 2 cruises that I have booked, and an additional couple hundred for having the executive membership. The cost of it is paid for simply using the cash card!

I fill out the form myself and email it to DCL......Then call Costco and finalize it.

If you book onboard you can transfer it to Costco (the day you make that reservation is the start of the 30 day countdown. So if its a placeholder get it done before the next 30 days and call Costco to change the date later). You get the 10% discount on most categories rooms, and an on board credit. That way you max out the 8.5% cash card, 2% exec membership reward, 10% cruise discount, and on board credit!

The form:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/...ic/pdf/BookingTransferFormAllDestinations.pdf

And if you have the Costco Visa, you also get 3% cash back on all Costco Travel purchases, so that brings the total amount back from Costco to 13% by using all of the Costco rebates. If you have a placeholder booked (10% off), you can save a total of 23%! That's the reason we use Costco as our TA (and don't mind waiting on hold as needed while they call DCL).

 

[Billinaz]

And if you have the Costco Visa, you also get 3% cash back on all Costco Travel purchases, so that brings the total amount back from Costco to 13% by using all of the Costco rebates. If you have a placeholder booked (10% off), you can save a total of 23%! That's the reason we use Costco as our TA (and don't mind waiting on hold as needed while they call DCL).

For anyone reading this later, for the placeholder to work, you need to transfer that reservation to Costco within 30 days, not later when you want to move that date to the new one.

 

[Ravenne]

I recently returned from a cruise where I booked a placeholder, which I’m planning on transferring to Costco since the cash back offer is so much better than using a TA. I know I have to transfer within a month, but my question is: will Costco be as vigilant about booking my cruise on opening day as a travel agent would? I know TA spend hours on the phone on opening day, and I’m not sure I would have the same level of service with costco. Any experience with this?

Costco can be vigilant...to a point. They won't take down notes of the itinerary you want, and wait on hold for you without you doing anything on opening day. You will have to call Costco first thing on opening day and wait on hold with them. What the Costco agent did with me was, I called first thing opening day, she got all of the info she needed about the itinerary I wanted, asked me if I just wanted a quote or was ready to book regardless. (I was ready to book.) Then she asked me for a list of 5 staterooms I'd want, starting with my 1st choice. She was very well versed with DCL's policies and went through it all with me, told me to expect a long wait...up to 2 hours the day before. She got my phone # in case we got disconnected, and she called DCL. She said she'd come back on the line with me periodically to check on me, but otherwise, put her on speaker, go about my business, get coffee, do what I had to do.

I booked a placeholder, listing Costco as my TA. When I got back on land, I called Costco Travel to confirm they got the info. They cannot assign a placeholder a Costco Travel reservation number, BUT they can tie it to your member number so they can pull up the info when you're ready to book a real cruise.

What if you have $1500 in Disney gift cards that you plan to put on the cruise? Would you have to put that money down with Disney before you transferred it over to Costco?

Nope. When you make payments towards your cruise, regardless of form of payment, Costco will patch you through to DCL in a 3 way conference call. If paying by credit card, you can do it on Costco's website, but with gcs, you'll have to call. When I booked, (moved placeholder to a real cruise) I gave the Costco agent my gc number right off the bat so she didn't have to go back and forth, and risk having the room I wanted snatched up. Subsequent payments, it was done via 3 way conferencing with DCL. I had one Costco agent who was awesome...he muted his line so he could still hear me, and jotted down my gc #s as I rattled them off to DCL, and it was a good thing he did, because the DCL CM screwed up and shorted me a gc. The Costco agent was on it, and sorted out the problem because he was taking notes the whole time.