After four Disney cruises, we have learned a thing or two. .
. or at least, we hope we have. For us,
Disney cruising was love at first sail, and our 4 night Bahaman sailing on the
Disney Wonder was all it took. We only
regretted two things from that cruise—not purchasing photos and not rebooking
on board.
So, when we booked our 2nd Disney cruise, through
our travel agent of course, we knew that we would rectify those two, in our
opinions, missteps from our first cruise.
Our 2nd Disney cruise was a 7 night, Mexican Riviera sailing on the
Disney Magic. This time, we purchased
photo “points” as that was the system being used at Shutters at the time, and
we rebooked our next Disney cruise while on board.
On this cruise, I attended a Future Cruise presentation in
one of the lounge areas. It was easy to
pick out a cruise and navigate the process.
The deal at the time was 10% savings and 50% of the required
deposit. We were able to give our travel
agent credit for the booking, so that she could help us later with travel
details, payments, etc. I think she knew
we had rebooked before we even got home!
And, 18 months later, we were sailing with Disney Cruise
Line again, on a 7 night Western Caribbean
voyage on the Disney Magic. When we
walked on board, we had the Disney Cruise Line on-board credit from our
rebooking on board along with our travel agency’s on-board credit!
This time, we purchased a photo package with Shutters—the
system had changed, and we stopped by the Future Cruise Sales desk and picked
up a brochure to fill out and request a price quote. I dropped the completed brochure in the slot
near the Future Cruise Sales desk and waiting to receive our quote.
The process was easy!
The Future Cruise sales agent and I met one time, but the rest of the
time we communicated by phone—voice mail!
Voila! We were booked
for 18 months later on the Disney Dream with a 10% savings, a 50% deposit, and
an on-board credit for our next cruise and 4th cruise.
We repeated the same procedure on our most recent Disney
cruise aboard the Disney Dream. We rebooked
for the same stateroom, the same ship, and the same sailing itinerary for 17
months away. The deposit had changed a
bit, as the deposit for a Disney cruise is 20% of the fee per person, but
rebooking on board the deposit is 10% (which equals to 50% of the required
deposit.) There’s still the 10% savings
and we were still able to give the credit for the booking to our travel agent!
Bottom line: It pays
to rebook your next Disney cruise while on board. Yes, it means a little more money out of our
pocket at the time, but the savings are significant.
Here’s information about on-board credits based on your
Castaway Club Level that you will have for your next Disney cruise when you
rebook on-board:
CC Club Level On-board
Credit On-board
Credit
Silver (1-5
cruises)........$100 for 3-6 night cruises.......$200 for 7 night or longer
cruises
Gold (6-10 cruises)........$150 for 3-6 night cruises.......$275 for 7 night or longer cruises
Platinum (11+ cruises)....$200 for 3-6 night cruises.......$350 for 7 night or longer cruises
Gold (6-10 cruises)........$150 for 3-6 night cruises.......$275 for 7 night or longer cruises
Platinum (11+ cruises)....$200 for 3-6 night cruises.......$350 for 7 night or longer cruises
Combine the Disney on-board credit with a travel agency’s
promotions/on-board credits and you’ve got yourself considerable savings.
You may reserve as many staterooms as there are members in your traveling party. So, for us, we could reserve 3 staterooms . . . either for 3 different cruises, or 3 staterooms for the same cruise--if we knew friends or family that would be sailing at the same time. Of course, the deposit would be required for all staterooms reserved while on board. I also just learned that I can ask for a friends and family certificate and pass along the savings. At this point, we've only reserved one stateroom for our next cruise when booking on board.
You may reserve as many staterooms as there are members in your traveling party. So, for us, we could reserve 3 staterooms . . . either for 3 different cruises, or 3 staterooms for the same cruise--if we knew friends or family that would be sailing at the same time. Of course, the deposit would be required for all staterooms reserved while on board. I also just learned that I can ask for a friends and family certificate and pass along the savings. At this point, we've only reserved one stateroom for our next cruise when booking on board.
When we walked on board the Disney Dream for our most recent
cruise, we had the $100 on-board credit from Disney Cruise Line for rebooking,
a $75 on-board credit from our travel agency, a $45 drink voucher (same as
on-board credit) from our travel agency, a voucher for a free float/tube rental—also
from our travel agency, a fruit plate waiting in our stateroom, again from our
travel agency, and our Castaway Club Member gifts waiting for us in our
stateroom. It was awesome!
Its 14 months until our next Disney cruise! Guess what we will for sure do while on
board?
I wanted to let you know that sometime between July and Sept of 2102 the on board credit structure changed...
ReplyDeleteI went back and checked my on board credits after reading your wonderful information..thought I was missing some $$$ from our 2 of our cruises...I called DCL and the structure is now only one level and it is $100.00 for 3-6 days and 7+ days is $200.00. So it no longer matters what Castaway Club level you are in regards to on board credits :(
Steph
Stephanie,
DeleteYou are right, DCL did change their structure. We wrote about it on May 16, 2012--Disney Cruise Line Flat Lines Castaway Club Level On Board Credits For Future Cruises.
So,alas. . . only a $200 on-board credit for our next Disney Cruise even though we will be Gold Level.
It still pays to work with a travel agent though!
Thanks for checking!
After I wrote the above note I figured it was old news to you guys and regretted writing it...you would think at Platinum I would know more than I do..oh well.
ReplyDeleteLesson learned...search your blog more carefully before sending you old news...
Thanks for all the great stuff you post!
Steph
Stephanie,
DeleteThanks for being another set of eyes on our blog. It is easy to miss things when information changes quickly. Thanks for reading and definitely appreciate the compliments!