Book online then transfer to Costco?

[lovewdwfun]

I can book on Thursday for a Europe cruise next year. I’d like to book through Costco. Does it make sense to book online through Disney and then just transfer to Costco? I will be in meetings for work much of the day so I can’t do hours on hold with Costco.

To complicate matters, I have a cruise booked the end of May. My plan was to book through Costco now, then get the placeholder discount and have them try to cancel and get the same rooms. Reading through old posts here, it seems like it’s easier to transfer the same rooms through Disney.

My question is what is the right sequence to do this all and transfer to Costco? Would it make sense to book direct through Disney, call them once I have the OBB discount to switch rooms, and then switch the reservation to Costco? Would the 30-day clock to transfer the reservation restart once I move the rooms to have the OBB discount?


Thanks - sorry if this is confusing! My goal is to get the rooms I want this week, the Costco card, and also be able to get an OBB discount from a cruise that ends May 27.

 

[lanejudy]

You have 30 days to transfer a reservation to a TA. You have 30 days to transfer a placeholder to a TA, and that starts counting from the date it's put into their system which may be a date you were onboard (so check your confirmation for the date).

Whether the placeholder will be a better deal may depend on the itinerary and how fast it books. Some European itineraries book up quickly, with the price rising even throughout one day.

 

[ladybrgndy]

Let me know what you end up doing and how it works out.

 

[otten]

I can book on Thursday for a Europe cruise next year. I’d like to book through Costco. Does it make sense to book online through Disney and then just transfer to Costco? I will be in meetings for work much of the day so I can’t do hours on hold with Costco.

To complicate matters, I have a cruise booked the end of May. My plan was to book through Costco now, then get the placeholder discount and have them try to cancel and get the same rooms. Reading through old posts here, it seems like it’s easier to transfer the same rooms through Disney.

My question is what is the right sequence to do this all and transfer to Costco? Would it make sense to book direct through Disney, call them once I have the OBB discount to switch rooms, and then switch the reservation to Costco? Would the 30-day clock to transfer the reservation restart once I move the rooms to have the OBB discount?


Thanks - sorry if this is confusing! My goal is to get the rooms I want this week, the Costco card, and also be able to get an OBB discount from a cruise that ends May 27.

This is what I have done for our last few cruises. It’s quite easy really

 

[ladybrgndy]

This is what I have done for our last few cruises. It’s quite easy really

Can you confirm the process?
- Book online at Disney Cruise
- Call Disney to book the same cabin using your placeholder (essentially booking another cabin, switching rooms, canceling 1st reservation - will they do this in one call?). Do you every see the price increase or have issues with availability between booking the first 1st and 2nd cabin?
- Transfer the reservation to Costco within 30 days of calling Disney and 2nd cabin booking and still get the Costco cash card after cruise.

 

[lanejudy]

Can you confirm the process?
- Book online at Disney Cruise
- Call Disney to book the same cabin using your placeholder (essentially booking another cabin, switching rooms, canceling 1st reservation - will they do this in one call?). Do you every see the price increase or have issues with availability between booking the first 1st and 2nd cabin?
- Transfer the reservation to Costco within 30 days of calling Disney and 2nd cabin booking and still get the Costco cash card after cruise.

Do you have a placeholder to use? If so, there is little value to booking online and then calling to book the placeholder through DCL. The only reason that might be important is if you are really married to a specific stateroom and don't want to risk losing it by waiting on the phone.

As to the transfer... if you are using a placeholder, the reservation must be transferred within 30 days of when you made the placeholder (when you were on a cruise). If that was more than a month ago, you cannot transfer the placeholder or the cruise you book with the placeholder.

 

[ladybrgndy]

Clarification - My placeholder is with Costco, so presumably I have to call them to book, right?

So the process would be:
- Book online at Disney Cruise
- Call Costco to book a second cabin in the same category using the placeholder.
- Call Disney to switch rooms and cancel 1st reservation.

Do you every see the price increase or have issues with availability between booking the first 1st and 2nd cabin?

 

[Cameron15]

Clarification - My placeholder is with Costco, so presumably I have to call them to book, right?

So the process would be:
- Book online at Disney Cruise
- Call Costco to book a second cabin in the same category using the placeholder.
- Call Disney to switch rooms and cancel 1st reservation.

Do you every see the price increase or have issues with availability between booking the first 1st and 2nd cabin?

ladybrgndy, if you already have the placeholder, you only need to book online first if you are desperate for a particular room.

We did this about 3 weeks ago - booked aft verandahs we feared would be gone on Disney's website. We then called Costco and they called Disney and had the rooms transferred to our OBB and to Costco as our travel agent. They cancelled and rebooked so the price can definitely change. In past years, the Disney rep gave us similar rooms instead, so we were happy this one kept our rooms. Keep that in mind.

 

[ladybrgndy]

Thank you for sharing your experience. That helps. I'm also trying to book an aft balcony and right now I can't even make a reservation. I spent all day on hold yesterday just to be told that Costco can't reach Disney and will call me back when they can reach them. Today Costco isn't accepting calls for Disney Cruise bookings. They have a message apologizing saying that they cannot reach Disney and that you can fill out a form online requesting your placeholder booking. Basically with no guarantees for anything.

 

[Intr3pid]

The placeholder you have with Costco is a reservation (in process) of its own.

If you book directly with Disney, it will create a new reservation. Any room and prices you snagged booking directly with Disney are now tied to that new Disney reservation. You can assign Costco as the agent on the booking within 30 days.

The only way to 'transfer' the room to a new Costco placeholder is to cancel the Disney reservation first and immediately make the Costco reservation using your new placeholder (hoping that no one else snags that room in the process). You are, in effect, using the Disney reservation to hold that particular room until the Costco placeholder is ready.

It will still not 'transfer' the price. When you cancel the Disney reservation, the old price is gone. Your Costco reservation will be made at the new price - but you will be able to get 10% off with the placeholder. If prices have risen by more than 10% between the Disney reservation and Costco reservation, you may want to stick with the Disney reservation (and use the placeholder for another cruise).

If you don't have a placeholder yet, the sequence will be:
- Book directly with Disney now
- Transfer the booking to Costco within 30 days
- Earn your placeholder
- Shop again using the placeholder to see if it makes sense to cancel and rebook with it

Once or if you have the placeholder, you have to call Costco who then has to call Disney to get it done.

 

[BrandyMcD]

The placeholder you have with Costco is a reservation (in process) of its own.

If you book directly with Disney, it will create a new reservation. Any room and prices you snagged booking directly with Disney are now tied to that new Disney reservation.

The only way to 'transfer' the room to Costco is to cancel the Disney reservation first and immediately make the Costco reservation using your new placeholder (hoping that no one else snags that room in the process). You are, in effect, using the Disney reservation to hold that particular room until the Costco placeholder is ready.

It will still not 'transfer' the price. When you cancel the Disney reservation, the old price is gone. Your Costco reservation will be made at the new price - but you will be able to get 10% off with the placeholder. If prices have risen by more than 10% between the Disney reservation and Costco reservation, you may want to stick with the Disney reservation (and use the placeholder for another cruise).

If you don't have a placeholder yet, the sequence will be:
- Book directly with Disney now
- Earn your placeholder
- Shop again using the placeholder to see if it makes sense to cancel and rebook with it

Once or if you have the placeholder, your Costco placeholder reservation has to made with Costco. You have to call Costco who then has to call Disney to get it done.

This is my experience as well. You cannot have two separate reservations under the same name on the same cruise. You will have to cancel with Disney first and it can be a pain to do that while trying to also book with Costco (ask me how I know!) To cancel and then "immediately" rebook is extremely difficult right now given all the phone problems.

 

[lovewdwfun]

Here's what ended up happening:

- I booked opening day to get the rooms and prices I wanted through Disney. I then transferred to Costco by filling out online forms.
- I tried to book a placeholder on the app during my cruise, but got error messages. I went to guest services who filled out a form.
- A few days after I got back, I received a confirmation. BUT...it said I had to make a payment or it would be cancelled. THe payment needed to be done through Costco.
- I called Costco travel. After waiting 1.5 hours on hold, I decided to also call Disney. I got through to Disney first (surprising) and they said they couldn't take my deposit. Luckily, the Costco agent answered a minute later and I put them both on speaker (time was almost 2 hours at this point).
- THey informed me I'd need to cancel the first trip and rebook it again. We did this and were able to get the same rooms, which was my concern.
- Two hours of work, but it was all set. But wait! After the DIsney agent left and sent the confirmation, my Costco agent informed me that the Disney agent booked me on the wrong cruise!!! We were cancelling and rebooking a NOrway cruise and they put me on a Bahamas one. LOL.
- Fortunately, it took the Costco agent a few hours but she got back through to DIsney (without me waiting on the line) and got us the same rooms we wanted.

THe initial process of booking online opening day and transferring to Costco was the easy part, so I guess it didn't hurt to do this. We did get the rooms I wanted at least.