First time going on a Disney Cruise,any tips?

[Licoricelover]

We booked a placeholder on last cruise in September. It was $250 per stateroom. We are going this September again so will probably use it then
You cannot use it for concierge however.

[SoraX17]

Originally Posted by Licoricelover

We booked a placeholder on last cruise in September. It was $250 per stateroom. We are going this September again so will probably use it then
You cannot use it for concierge however.

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That's great😊, you have a great holiday to look forward to I can see. Do you book your holiday all separate, I'm only asking as we booked a package with Virgin and I'm just wondering if it will be much cheaper doing the cruise part separate?

[gismo1554]

Originally Posted by SoraX17

That's great😊, you have a great holiday to look forward to I can see. Do you book your holiday all separate, I'm only asking as we booked a package with Virgin and I'm just wondering if it will be much cheaper doing the cruise part separate?

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So I priced up booking seperately for September this year last April when I was looking at pricing and what to use my placeholder for. When I looked using September 2018 prices for flights and then direct Disney including dining (free with Virgin Holidays at the time), $200 gift card (included with VH) and cruise with the small discount it worked out cheaper by around £100 to go through Virgin so this time I've done it that way. I think its just luck of the draw on the offers on whether it works out cheaper or not.

[Licoricelover]

We have booked ours separately for September this year and have done for a few years but this is because we do split stays within several Disney resorts.

I would always go for the cheapest option and price up both.
It is very easy to price a cruise by doing a dummy booking with Disney cruise line. It is easy to view all available cabins on their website

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Licoricelover

We booked a placeholder on last cruise in September. It was $250 per stateroom. We are going this September again so will probably use it then
You cannot use it for concierge however.

See more...

You can use your placeholder for any stateroom including concierge. The difference is that you do not receive the 10% discount for concierge rooms. You still have the other benefits - reduced deposit and on board credit.

Joa

[Bats]

My advice is never to just go for cheapest.
Booking through a UK agent such as virgin severely restricts your options for changing things if you need to. Changing rooms will cost you an admin fee, adding or removing someone will cost you an admin fee, changing the date will .. well, you get the picture.
Worst case in that you have to cancel the whole lot for something not covered by your travel insurance, you would prob lose everything.
Book direct or through a US TA and you’ll get a full refund (with months to go).
Personally I wouldn’t buy a product from someone who was not an expert, not when I’m spending so much money.

[SoraX17]

Originally Posted by gismo1554

So I priced up booking seperately for September this year last April when I was looking at pricing and what to use my placeholder for. When I looked using September 2018 prices for flights and then direct Disney including dining (free with Virgin Holidays at the time), $200 gift card (included with VH) and cruise with the small discount it worked out cheaper by around £100 to go through Virgin so this time I've done it that way. I think its just luck of the draw on the offers on whether it works out cheaper or not.

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That's great, I just hate the thought that I may have been able to get the same holiday cheaper

[SoraX17]

Originally Posted by Licoricelover

We have booked ours separately for September this year and have done for a few years but this is because we do split stays within several Disney resorts.

I would always go for the cheapest option and price up both.
It is very easy to price a cruise by doing a dummy booking with Disney cruise line. It is easy to view all available cabins on their website

See more...

If I do another Disney Cruise,I will definitely look at all the options to try and get the best price,thanks for the advice

[Licoricelover]

Sorry to hijack thread but would love to know from Bats if the two placeholders we booked last year would become $500 on board credit if we booked concierge. I know we don’t get the 10% discount.
Also have always booked direct with Disney cruise line but have decided to go with TOAD paying in Dollars but didn’t realise we may be able to get a reduced deposit. Never done a placeholder before as didn’t plan on concierge this year.

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Licoricelover

Sorry to hijack thread but would love to know from Bats if the two placeholders we booked last year would become $500 on board credit if we booked concierge. I know we don’t get the 10% discount.
Also have always booked direct with Disney cruise line but have decided to go with TOAD paying in Dollars but didn’t realise we may be able to get a reduced deposit. Never done a placeholder before as didn’t plan on concierge this year.

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The placeholder money ($250 for each placeholder you have) would just act as a deposit towards the cruise you choose.

You would move one of your $250 placeholders to a concierge room on your chosen cruise. You would then cancel your other placeholder and have the $250 put against the same cruise.
The reduced deposit (10% as opposed to 20% is only going to be around for a short while now - it will disappear before the new cruises come out for 2020 basically.) You would only receive one lot of benefits.

Presuming your 2 placeholders were booked on the same cruise and by people who live in the same household, you wouldn't be able to use one for concierge then the other for another cruise. They would have to be on the same cruise (officially).

Hope that helps
Joa