What is the closest to sail date you have booked?

[buddyjo143]

DH and I are taking our first Disney cruise on September 30. I know we booked at least a year ago and have been saving and planning for two. On some of the social media cruise groups, I see people booking the cruise now.

So I got to thinking, how close to sail date can you book? What is the closest you have ever booked? We think we might buy a placeholder. Can you use it for a late booking? I understand we would have to be prepared to pay in full but we would still have a 10% discount and OBC credit, right?

Thanks all.

 

[xlxo]

I did 5 days on DCL. 2 days with Princess. Work with your travel agent.

Due to work and a loved one with cancer.... we book last minute and leave it to the experts to assign us cabins. We've been lucky where the rooms were not noisy at all.

Yes, I paid more to be last minute.... but I save on cancellation insurance.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

DH and I are taking our first Disney cruise on September 30. I know we booked at least a year ago and have been saving and planning for two. On some of the social media cruise groups, I see people booking the cruise now.

So I got to thinking, how close to sail date can you book? What is the closest you have ever booked? We think we might buy a placeholder. Can you use it for a late booking? I understand we would have to be prepared to pay in full but we would still have a 10% discount and OBC credit, right?

Thanks all.

You can book up until the morning of the cruise, but anything closer than 3 days must be done by phone, not online.

Closest DCL we've booked - 2 months
Closest other cruise line - booked Thursday night for Sunday departure.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

I did 2 days in 2010.... I had done the Med in May and really wanted to do the Northern European capitals June that year but it was quite pricey... then changed last minute my mind. It was leaving from Dover so no need for planetickets from Belgium (took the ferry as a footpassenger) It was sooo exciting...

 

[lorimay]

We booked the Sept. 30th cruise on the Fantasy about a month ago, a great Florida resident rate came out and its the week of our son in laws 30th birthday and he wanted a Disney cruise to celebrate on, worked out perfectly.

Being Florida residents, we have booked late several times, but probably 30 days before is the closest to the sail date.

 

[Pooh2]

We booked our spring cruise this year about 50 days out.

 

[CamColt]

1 week! I booked on a Thursday, left home to start the drive the following Wednesday, arrived at the Port and sailed Thursday.

 

[buddyjo143]

We booked the Sept. 30th cruise on the Fantasy about a month ago, a great Florida resident rate came out and its the week of our son in laws 30th birthday and he wanted a Disney cruise to celebrate on, worked out perfectly.

Being Florida residents, we have booked late several times, but probably 30 days before is the closest to the sail date.

Seven years ago we made the decision to leave New England and head south. Florida was on the radar along with Tennessee. Pros about Florida were the weather, proximity to cruise ports, and no state income tax.

Pros about Tennessee were weather, no state income tax, country music, low housing cost.

The negative to Florida (we said) was that all the family would want to come visit us. Oh, well, we will just cruise twice a year instead of more often.

 

[Trera]

We have booked a few cruises inside 90 days but you make it a lot harder to get excursions, main dinner seating, choice of room, etc.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Depends how busy the cruise is though, the cruise I was talking about held 1800 passengers of which like 60 DCL invites cause it was the inaugural. It was actually my best cruise ever: no lines for characters, no lines for anything, full CM attention, great ports.

they even didnt have 6 rotations: they had all 3 in early but only one in late.

 

[Msmit002]

We booked an August 2013 7-day on the Fantasy with an OGT rate 27 days out. Sure, it was slim pickings for excursions but we had a beautiful cabin and a great locations and we had a lovely time. Don't regret it at all.

This time, we booked 1+ year out for our Panama Canal cruise Again, no regrets. This time we had more time to plan and that's it.

 

[Sytrace]

We just booked a quick 3 night cruise on Friday night that leaves September 8th. In April I booked a SWDAS cruise (it was also Easter Week) 31 days before sail date.
We live 45 minutes from port though. Since November 2013, we have taken 13 (soon to be 14 and 15). Some were last minute but quite a few were at least a year in advance.

 

[Reese'smom]

We have friends that booked a cruise about two days out after other vacation plans fell through.

 

[Drusilla99]

We booked mid April for the cruise we took a couple of weeks ago, so about 90 days out. We didn't care about a particular room, as long as it was a family verandah, deck 9 or 10 aft, and that's what we got. We only wanted 2 excursions, parasailing and a cabana on cc, a brunch in Palo, an early pat, and the princess meet & greets. Perhaps it was luck, but we got everything we wanted. And no, we aren't platinum, so miracles do happen.

 

[mom4fun]

You can not use an on board booking discount on IGT, OGT or VGT.

 

[buddyjo143]

You can not use an on board booking discount on IGT, OGT or VGT.

That is helpful to know. So do you pick a specific room when you use the discount?

 

[Meriweather]

6 weeks

 

[buddyjo143]

We have booked a few cruises inside 90 days but you make it a lot harder to get excursions, main dinner seating, choice of room, etc.

I don't think any of those are a deterrent to us. We have over 20 cruises on two other cruise lines so we've learned to do our own shore excursions. Main dining- I could live with large dining. Room. Choice is also not a big deal.

Our issue would be to get plane tickets and hope for a deep fare reduction.

 

[mom4fun]

That is helpful to know. So do you pick a specific room when you use the discount?

The answer is maybe. You can use the discount on a regular gty category just not the ones with restrictions because those are already discounted.

 

[Garyjames220]

About 510 days before