Disney cruise questions

[joyzilli]

For those of you who have sailed on DCL did you book directly with Disney or with a travel agent. We'll be a group of 17, all family and thinking a travel agent might be easier. Any input or recommendations? thanks

 

[jwalk03]

I booked with Costco Travel. It was the same price as booking with Disney direct but came with a $300 Costco Gift Card.

 

[Dean]

For those of you who have sailed on DCL did you book directly with Disney or with a travel agent. We'll be a group of 17, all family and thinking a travel agent might be easier. Any input or recommendations? thanks

I use a TA, one I've used for many years and feel any savings for other companies would not compensate for the service she provides. I liked up with her through my Bluegreen Timeshare membership but fortunately she isn't tied to that options. I good TA is well worth any minor cost or lost savings, esp since Cruiselines control costs like Bose and Sony do.

 

[RX8]

The best way to cruise with Disney is to use a placeholder. If you aren’t aware a placeholder can be purchased for $250 while on the ship and it gives you two years to book a cruise. With it you get 10% off your next cruise. The $250 placeholder amount that you paid is applied as a credit to your cruise cost. It is also 100% refundable if you don’t use it. The placeholder can be used with your travel agent.

Just booked an Alaska cruise with DCL through Costco. With the 10% placeholder we saved about $800 off the cruise price and we also got a $590 Costco cash card.

If this is your first cruise you won’t have the placeholder to use but with 17 people/multiple rooms you should have a huge Costco cash card. You can check other travel agents to see what they might offer too, in terms of both service (like Dean says) and/or other perks.

 

[GrayFal]

It is definitely worth using a Disney cruise specific TA as it is such a special niche.They will be able to provide you with invaluable help and information.

 

[TheHolleys87]

We booked directly with DCL for our recent cruise, but that was just DH and myself, and I wish we had used Costco for the savings. With a party of 17, needing multiple cabins with different individuals in each and needing them to be linked, we’d definitely use a TA. I’d recommend a different TA from Costco, because it will be better to work with the same person all the way through instead of a different person every time you contact Costco. The price of the cruise will be the same - the difference is in the onboard credit or bonus you receive from the TA, and each one is different. I’m sorry I can’t recommend anyone specifically because I have no experience with anyone.

 

[TheHolleys87]

You might find it helpful to follow the DCL forum on DISboards, https://www.disboards.com/forums/disney-cruise-line-forum.9/. I learned a lot there about all aspects of cruising with DCL. NB: it is sponsored by a very large Disney-specialized travel agency, but there are others you might consider.

Cruise Critic also has a DCL-specific forum at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/100-disney-cruise-line/ that I’ve found helpful as well. It isn’t affiliated with a specific travel agency.

 

[dioxide45]

I would think that since DCL doesn't do groups like the other lines do, then whatever the going rate is at any given time is what you would pay? Many TAs have better prices or better perks because they blocked group space early and locked in their group pricing.

 

[ljmiii]

For those of you who have sailed on DCL did you book directly with Disney or with a travel agent. We'll be a group of 17, all family and thinking a travel agent might be easier. Any input or recommendations? thanks

I've done both...the vast majority of them directly on the DCL website.

The advantage of using a TA (particularly a Disney focused TA) is that they will give you a cruise credit. The travel agency I have used has a sliding scale of $50 per $1000 spend (not including taxes and fees). Note that they halve that for placeholder reservations (I assume because DCL pays them less).

The disadvantage of using a TA (IMHO) is that it is much, much easier to book DCL cruises yourself. Not only do you have to go through the TA for the initial booking but anytime you want to make a change you have to go through the TA instead of just doing it online. This is particularly annoying during times of high volume (i.e. right now) when new cruise itineraries are being booked.

 

[pedro47]

we liked using Costco Travel for their perks and their Costco cash card.

 

[DanCali]

We booked directly with DCL for our recent cruise, but that was just DH and myself, and I wish we had used Costco for the savings.

You can actually book with DCL and then transfer the reservation to Costco and get the savings. However, the transfer to Costco has to be done within a certain time (30 days) from the original booking. Here is the Costco page describing the procedure.

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costco-travel-us-mbr.custhelp.com

We've done that twice, because it's easier for me to book with DCL directly especially when using the aforementioned placeholder, which would require Costco to call DCL anyway. It also helps in cases where you want to try and grab a specific cabin when your booking window opens and doing it online is the earliest you can do it.

 

[ljmiii]

You can actually book with DCL and then transfer the reservation to Costco and get the savings. However, the transfer to Costco has to be done within a certain time (30 days) from the original booking. Here is the Costco page describing the procedure.

Oooooohhhhhh...thanks for the extraordinarily good advice...I'll be using that one!

 

[ljmiii]

It also helps in cases where you want to try and grab a specific cabin when your booking window opens and doing it online is the earliest you can do it.

Yeah....that. I have a placeholder parked with my TA because it was attached to a ressie we ended up not being able to use. I can see that DCL knows my placeholder got switched to the newly announced itinerary (not that my TA has bothered to tell me), but I'm still waiting for my TA to get back to me so they can take my money for the more expensive deposit and truly make the new ressie mine. Sweating bullets here...

 

[AnnaS]

Direct with DCL. We used a TA once or twice. We have traveled as a large group more than once. Everyone booked their own cruise and we just linked the reservation numbers. I think the most we have had was 8 cabins . When we started cruising, I would always book two cabins. Once I booked three cabins as my family started growing).

 

[joyzilli]

Thank you for all the great advice!

 

[TheHolleys87]

You can actually book with DCL and then transfer the reservation to Costco and get the savings. However, the transfer to Costco has to be done within a certain time (30 days) from the original booking. Here is the Costco page describing the procedure.

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costco-travel-us-mbr.custhelp.com

We've done that twice, because it's easier for me to book with DCL directly especially when using the aforementioned placeholder, which would require Costco to call DCL anyway. It also helps in cases where you want to try and grab a specific cabin when your booking window opens and doing it online is the earliest you can do it.

Thanks - I keep forgetting that!

The disadvantage of using a TA (IMHO) is that it is much, much easier to book DCL cruises yourself. Not only do you have to go through the TA for the initial booking but anytime you want to make a change you have to go through the TA instead of just doing it online. This is particularly annoying during times of high volume (i.e. right now) when new cruise itineraries are being booked.

Yes, that’s why I go back and forth about booking with Costco! OTOH, the TA is the one who sits on Hold instead of the client, which has a certain appeal as well.

Unfortunately, we won’t be booking any significant travel for some time, so I don’t have to decide now.

 

[bizaro86]

I just booked a Disney cruise via Costco, and was able to change/confirm my dining time via the DCL app. Other stuff (adding transfers, payments, adding prepaid gratuities) has to be done through the TA. We've got a stateroom we like selected and aren't likely to change/cancel, so the Costco shop card was worth it for us.

 

[presley]

I book directly through the DCL website and then I immediately submit a transfer form to Costco. I have a status that gives me early booking for Disney and to book it that way through Costco, I have to do it over the phone. I don't like talking on the phone, so I bypass that by booking the day that I can on the Disney website. If you transfer within 30 days, you still get the Costco shop card that you get when you book with them directly. I would imagine that a 17 person reservation would be a huge Costco Shop card.

 

[pedro47]

I book directly through the DCL website and then I immediately submit a transfer form to Costco. I have a status that gives me early booking for Disney and to book it that way through Costco, I have to do it over the phone. I don't like talking on the phone, so I bypass that by booking the day that I can on the Disney website. If you transfer within 30 days, you still get the Costco shop card that you get when you book with them directly. I would imagine that a 17 person reservation would be a huge Costco Shop card.

Thanks for sharing that information.

 

[mj2vacation]

I booked with Costco Travel. It was the same price as booking with Disney direct but came with a $300 Costco Gift Card.

This is the way. (As long as you can plan most things yourself. Heck of a gift card bonus.