What should I book first at Midnight?

[5Texans]

My booking window opens in a couple days. Things I’m planning to book:

Tortola excursion to the Baths
Royal Court Royal Tea
Remy
Rainforest Room
A spa treatment or two
Mixology
Princess Meet up

Which should I book first?
Is it likely to matter?

TIA

***I know these things are available as of today because I had a Platinum member check for me.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[Clarkson U]

@auntlynne gave you great advice. We always look at bookings as

“On this sailing what is the one thing we absolutely want to do?” And then try to book it first and then rank the other stuff and book in that order.

Good luck

 

[5Texans]

What will you be the most sad if you can’t get it?

You can go to a spa on land.

You can do The Baths on your own.

You can go to a bar and try drinks.

… Royal Court and Princess are uniquely Disney. And the Royal Tea seems to be only on cruises.

That’s how I would think it through (if they were things I wanted to do).

Mixology sessions do seem to sell out and are hard to get into on the ship (from reading this forum).

Remy seems to have more availability online than Palo, so possibly available.

Good luck in prioritizing, acquiring reservations, and having a great cruise.

Thanks! That’s great advice!!

 

[tntstults]

On our sailing the baths was one of the first to sell out. I've been told that it can be tricky time wise since you have to take a boat to virgin gorda and then a bus to the baths. We booked that excursion with Disney just to make sure that if it runs late Disney will wait for us.

 

[sethschroeder]

I always find it interesting that Disney have stuff that is so limited that people have to book it months out before their cruise.

Disney is great at creating scarcity though to drive consumer spending.

Can't you just have multiple browser windows open for this as well? That is what I would do book it all at the same time with 5 or 6 different windows up and all my information needed in a word document to quickly copy/paste.

 

[sethschroeder]

We booked that excursion with Disney just to make sure that if it runs late Disney will wait for us.

People say this but its so rare that anyone gets left behind and tons of people do non cruise line tours.

 

[soniam]

Which Remy, dinner, brunch, or dessert? If it’s dinner, and you are flexible in the day, then that should be last. Even on the 9 Night Southern Caribbean this summer, with what seemed like half the boat full with platinum, when silver time came, I could book any night for dinner at Remy. Dessert goes first, because it’s only offered once. Brunch is next, since it’s only on sea days,

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Can't you just have multiple browser windows open for this as well? That is what I would do book it all at the same time with 5 or 6 different windows up and all my information needed in a word document to quickly copy/paste.

I believe only one person can access a reservation at a time.

 

[MomOTwins]

I recently booked all these things and this was the order I did them in, with my logic/rationale:

1) Tortola excursion to the Baths — prioritized this as it was a must do—part of the reason we booked this itinerary—and with kids (which I assume u have given you are booking the royal tea) there are limited excursion options for kids on the eastern itinerary so popular port adventures like this one are in high demand.

2) Royal Court Royal Tea — only offered 2 of the 3 sea days so figured it would sell out quick and it did.

3) Remy— I assume you mean Remy brunch. Brunches are very popular but Remy is easier than Palo brunch so I prioritized this after the Baths and Royal Tea. If dinner I’d drop this to bottom of the list as dinner is VERY easy to get.

4) Mixology - I think with the higher prices these are slightly less in demand. All tasting types were still available on our cruise until first timers could book (some specific days/times were sold out, but if you are flexible you should be able to book it). They also typically add tasting times onboard if you can’t get it in advance.

5) Spa treatment: We are now after all the first timers can book and I can still book all the types of spa treatment. Not a high priority.

Rainforest Room can only be booked onboard.

Princess meetup can only be booked 30 days before sailing. Do book it right at midnight at 30 days though—it will sell out that night.

 

[cmph]

5) Spa treatment: We are now after all the first timers can book and I can still book all the types of spa treatment. Not a high priority.

Rainforest Room can only be booked onboard.

I was just about to say almost the exact things!

My cruise is in March and the only spa activities sold out are couples choice and the fire and ice pedicure. The entire rest of the list is open to booking.

 

[tlovesdis]

I believe only one person can access a reservation at a time.

Well that's a bummer! My cabin mate and I were both going to go in and try to book different things

 

[5Texans]

I recently booked all these things and this was the order I did them in, with my logic/rationale:

1) Tortola excursion to the Baths — prioritized this as it was a must do—part of the reason we booked this itinerary—and with kids (which I assume u have given you are booking the royal tea) there are limited excursion options for kids on the eastern itinerary so popular port adventures like this one are in high demand.

2) Royal Court Royal Tea — only offered 2 of the 3 sea days so figured it would sell out quick and it did.

3) Remy— I assume you mean Remy brunch. Brunches are very popular but Remy is easier than Palo brunch so I prioritized this after the Baths and Royal Tea. If dinner I’d drop this to bottom of the list as dinner is VERY easy to get.

4) Mixology - I think with the higher prices these are slightly less in demand. All tasting types were still available on our cruise until first timers could book (some specific days/times were sold out, but if you are flexible you should be able to book it). They also typically add tasting times onboard if you can’t get it in advance.

5) Spa treatment: We are now after all the first timers can book and I can still book all the types of spa treatment. Not a high priority.

Rainforest Room can only be booked onboard.

Princess meetup can only be booked 30 days before sailing. Do book it right at midnight at 30 days though—it will sell out that night.

Thanks! This is super helpful.

 

[SeanSD]

For Rainforest Room just go to the spa when you board and they will give you tour of it and the price. Usually they sell it for length of cruise but maybe they will offer daily if available.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

That is what I would do book it all at the same time with 5 or 6 different windows up and all my information needed in a word document to quickly copy/paste.

What information is needed when reserving excursions and extras?

 

[Mommb]

What information is needed when reserving excursions and extras?

No information is needed for booking activities — you just need to be logged into your Disney account and have your cruise linked to your account. If you want to book for people in other staterooms, you will need to have their stateroom linked to yours beforehand. Once booking opens, you will then select an activity and select the people who will participate from a drop down menu. If the activity is offered more than once per day, you will need to select a time.

I can see a small advantage in having multiple windows open so that if one time/day doesn’t work, you can immediately try another. If the site is slow, you might be able to look for another day on a new window while the site is checking for availability. That might just slows things down more, though.

Completing online check-in does require a lot of information that you may want to prepare in advance to cut and paste — credit card number, passport number, flight information, etc.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I can see a small advantage in having multiple windows open so that if one time/day doesn’t work, you can immediately try another. If the site is slow, you might be able to look for another day on a new window while the site is checking for availability. That might just slows things down more, though.

I don't think this is possible - having more than one window open on a reservation. Unless there's been a change, in the past only one access at a time to a specific reservation (or group of linked reservations) was possible.

 

[Dailymeel]

Newbie here as I haven’t cruised in 10 years and will have my cruise again in 2024 (finally!) For each castaway member tier, how far in advanced are the bookings? Since I’ve only sailed once before I will be a silver member. Thank you in advance for your answers
Also, how do you know how many days ahead you can book? i couldn’t find this info on main Disney cruise website

 

[RedHead0186]

Newbie here as I haven’t cruised in 10 years and will have my cruise again in 2024 (finally!) For each castaway member tier, how far in advanced are the bookings? Since I’ve only sailed once before I will be a silver member. Thank you in advance for your answers
Also, how do you know how many days ahead you can book? i couldn’t find this info on main Disney cruise website

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/why-cruise-disney/castaway-club/

Booking excursions/dining/etc. (all midnight Eastern):
Pearl-123 days
Platinum-120 days
Gold-105 days
Silver-90 days
First-timers-75 days

Check-in is currently 30 days out (midnight Eastern) regardless of CC status. Royal Gathering is also booked then.

 

[Dailymeel]

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/why-cruise-disney/castaway-club/

Booking excursions/dining/etc. (all midnight Eastern):
Pearl-123 days
Platinum-120 days
Gold-105 days
Silver-90 days
First-timers-75 days

Check-in is currently 30 days out (midnight Eastern) regardless of CC status. Royal Court is also booked then.

Thank you very much!

I feel really dumb for not being able to navigate the main website very well!