Rebooking existing reservation onboard questions

[cmclaura]

I know this is confusing and I know I read about this in the past couple of days, but can I find the thread anywhere?!

We're sailing in January on the Magic. I've already booked, online, 2 B2B cruises for December 2011 on the Dream in order to get the room category/price.

My questions:

1) can I change those reservations while onboard in January to qualify for the 10% discount/OBC?

2) will they raise the price (book at prevailing rates)?

I'm willing to risk that. What I wasn't willing to risk is not being able to get the category we want (11A) as insides seem to go more quickly, especially on the higher priced voyages. We will be changing the second part of the reservation (first is a 3 day, second is a 5 day, including New Years Eve) to DVC points once we come off the cruise in January 2011 so the OBC really isn't relevant there -- I'm just looking to ensure we get the DVC reduced point rate for booking within 3 days of sailing and I know we were able to do that with the cruise we booked onboard 2 years ago -- the same cruise where we became DVC members.

Any guidance is appreciated!

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

As far as I know the bookings on-board where you get the 10% discount are on NEW bookings only. If you were to cancel your existing reservation and book while you are onboard, and the price has gone up, they WILL charge you the higher price since you had to actually cancel the existing reservation.

Also, there are limitations on using DVC points to book the cruises now. I don't know what they are because we never use our points to pay for the cruise. But I just thought I'd bring that to your attention in case it is something that would sway your decision in what you do.

 

[cmclaura]

I didn't know of any new limitations; we've used points for the past two years -- we joined specifically to cruise as we're not resort people and don't envision becoming so. But then, I never thought we'd be cruisers, either, lol.

 

[HallsofVA]

I know this is confusing and I know I read about this in the past couple of days, but can I find the thread anywhere?!

We're sailing in January on the Magic. I've already booked, online, 2 B2B cruises for December 2011 on the Dream in order to get the room category/price.

My questions:

1) can I change those reservations while onboard in January to qualify for the 10% discount/OBC? You can certainly try to rebook them when you are onboard, but depending on whether the prices have risen higher than the 10% since you originally booked, or whether the category you want is still available to book, determines on whether it you will be able to rebook. It's not guaranteed, but doesn't hurt to try.

2) will they raise the price (book at prevailing rates)? You will need to book at the price at the time you sail, and you are subject to only booking what's available at that time. So if your original category has sold completely out, or if the price has risen higher than the 10%, then you probably can't or wouldn't want to rebook.

I'm willing to risk that. What I wasn't willing to risk is not being able to get the category we want (11A) as insides seem to go more quickly, especially on the higher priced voyages. We will be changing the second part of the reservation (first is a 3 day, second is a 5 day, including New Years Eve) to DVC points once we come off the cruise in January 2011 so the OBC really isn't relevant there -- I'm just looking to ensure we get the DVC reduced point rate for booking within 3 days of sailing and I know we were able to do that with the cruise we booked onboard 2 years ago -- the same cruise where we became DVC members.

Any guidance is appreciated!

A prior poster said that you can only rebook new reservations. Not sure I understand that, but when you rebook, you will get a new reservation number, so it in essence becomes a new reservation. That's also why you can assign it to a TA at the time, and it gets treated as a new reservation for their purposes as well.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

A prior poster said that you can only rebook new reservations. Not sure I understand that, but when you rebook, you will get a new reservation number, so it in essence becomes a new reservation. That's also why you can assign it to a TA at the time, and it gets treated as a new reservation for their purposes as well.

That was me....what I meant was if you already have the cruise booked in a certain category, you can't use that same reservation number to get the 10% onboard discount. You would either need to cancel the existing reservation OR make a new reservation and then the category you want might not be available. Sorry if my post didn't make sense. Sometimes I type fast and what I'm thinking in my head doesn't always come out the same when I type it.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

I didn't know of any new limitations; we've used points for the past two years -- we joined specifically to cruise as we're not resort people and don't envision becoming so. But then, I never thought we'd be cruisers, either, lol.

Here is the link to the thread (sticky) about the limitations on using DVC points to book DCL. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2537773&highlight=dcl+&+dvc+points

 

[jilljill]

The term you want to tell the onboard booking agent is 'reshopping your cruise'. They will tell you if the new rate will be lower and handle either transferring or booking your cruise. They do it differently if you booked thru DCL or booked thru a TA.

 

[HallsofVA]

You would either need to cancel the existing reservation OR make a new reservation and then the category you want might not be available. Sorry if my post didn't make sense. Sometimes I type fast and what I'm thinking in my head doesn't always come out the same when I type it.

I wouldn't cancel the existing reservation until after you have rebooked it though. The rebooking agent will take care of making the new reservation. If your res. was with DCL originally, she'll also cancel your old reservation and transfer all your details and deposits and room assignment over to the new reservation number. If your reservation is already with a TA at the time you rebook it onboard, you'll probably have to have your TA cancel your original reservation once you're off the ship, and transfer your room assignment (if you wanted to keep the same room) over to your new reservation.

 

[disneypoor]

We have done exactly what you are wanting to do multiple times. We were able to keep our same exact reservation (ressie # and all), and even got some of our deposit refunded because when we rebooked it onboard, they were offering the half price deposits. We kept our same room number and everything. It was super easy! You would have to pay the going rate for the cruise at the time you do your onboard booking, but for us, we still saved quite a bit due to the 10% discount.