Booking on board then transferring to a travel agent

[Sytrace]

so I booked a place holder on our last cruise. The dates to the cruise I wanted to sail were not released yet. When the dates were released I bought my tickets with my place holder and then called to transfer my booking to Costco. Disney then explains I could not do this because the 30 day count down starts when I bought the place holder. I could swear I see people booking on board and using it a year later still being able to transfer..... what did I do wrong?

When you bought the placeholder you were given the reservation/confirmation to transfer to Costco. You needed to contact Costco within 30 days with that confirmation number in order to complete the transfer process in 30 days.

 

[Sytrace]

Can you name your travel agent when booking a placeholder onboard? My travel agent gives less obc when we transfer a reservation to her.

Not unless she booked you on the cruise you are on. They will ask you if you want to retain the agent on file but they cannot add one.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Yes, you can, that's what we do. The OBC will be reduced, though, as is our experience.

Out of curiosity, why would you do this? What do you gain through your TA (never used one for a DCL cruise).

 

[hanscarlet]

What if you booked with an agent but you want your onboard booking to go to a different one...for example my OBB I make in Oct I will want to transfer to Costco?

If you don't want it to go automatically to the previous agent then tell them you want it just to sit in your name... then when you get home, tell your new agent about it and they will send you the transfer paperwork to get it to the new TA, as discussed this must happen within 30 days of getting the placeholder

 

[hanscarlet]

Out of curiosity, why would you do this? What do you gain through your TA (never used one for a DCL cruise).

many TAs give OBC and also take care of all personalized bookings including any midnight check in requests

 

[LSUfan4444]

Thanks!!

many TAs give OBC

More than what's offered from an OBB?

take care of all personalized bookings including any midnight check in requests

Got ya..No real value to me but I can certainly see how it is for others.

 

[hanscarlet]

More than what's offered from an OBB?

The credits typically come out of the TA's commission so the going rate is really confidential, often between the TA and the client. For first time cruisers with no OBB advantages at their disposal, using a TA who gives OBC can really help. For those using an OBB, TA's get a reduced commission on an OBB cruise so likely the OBC will be much less than it would than a normal booked cruise with no OBB attached to it. I am using a TA for my Sept cruise, a cruise that I booked using my placeholder so I am interested to see how much credits I get from him.

 

[LullabeeDisney]

If you use a TA and do an OBB do you get both credits? say the TA offers $150 and disney offers the $200 (for 7+ nights). Probably not but i've always been curious... lol.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Ok, so instead of telling the OBB desk to book a placeholder, I just choose a random date. When I get home I call Costco and transfer that random date to them. At some point I decide the real date and move my fake date to the real date. Correct?

That is what has been recommended to me to do. I haven't done it, but those are the steps.

I have no experience with Costco but this seems odd. Costco travel is an agency just like AAA or other agencies. The reservation number on a placeholder is going to be the same as if it was an actual cruise. So there is no difference in how it would be accepted or processed via DCL.

That is what I've read here a couple times in the past few months. It may be possible to do a search and find the threads about it. There were at least 2 in the past few months who said Costco told them they could only transfer an actual booking and it sounded like they had no idea how to transfer a placeholder. It just wasn't possible in their booking system.

You can always call Costco travel and ask beforehand. They may not understand what you are asking, so plan to be as specific as possible.

 

[LSUfan4444]

If you use a TA and do an OBB do you get both credits? say the TA offers $150 and disney offers the $200 (for 7+ nights).

Ive always been under the impression the answer to that is no.

For those using an OBB, TA's get a reduced commission on an OBB cruise so likely the OBC will be much less than it would than a normal booked cruise with no OBB attached to it.

Yeah, thats always been my impression and since the "value" of them handling everything with reservations and suh isn't that great to me i've never transferred any of my OBBs...always curious though if I've been missing something.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Out of curiosity, why would you do this? What do you gain through your TA (never used one for a DCL cruise).

They give you up to $1000 On Board Credit depending on the price of your cruise. We normally get around $400 per cruise.

 

[LSUfan4444]

We normally get around $400 per cruise

For one stateroom?

 

[Cackyschmackers]

If you use a TA and do an OBB do you get both credits? say the TA offers $150 and disney offers the $200 (for 7+ nights). Probably not but i've always been curious... lol.

Yes, you will get both.

Ive always been under the impression the answer to that is no.

Yeah, thats always been my impression and since the "value" of them handling everything with reservations and suh isn't that great to me i've never transferred any of my OBBs...always curious though if I've been missing something.

Yes, you will get both OBC from Disney and your TA. It's a win win. We like to do most things ourselves. Basically all the TA does is formally place the resi. We always pick what rooms we want. Then change them with her if need be. I don't know of any cons to using a (good, experienced) TA. She also knows a lot of ins and outs of DCL and has helped us with special requests. She knows some answers to things even the land based CMs don't.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

For one stateroom?

Yes. It has basically always paid our gratuities and then some. It is dependent on the price of the cruise, though; not how many staterooms. For our upcoming cruise, we have two staterooms and are asking her to split the OBB 60/40 on each room to cover our gratuities.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

The credits typically come out of the TA's commission so the going rate is really confidential, often between the TA and the client. For first time cruisers with no OBB advantages at their disposal, using a TA who gives OBC can really help. For those using an OBB, TA's get a reduced commission on an OBB cruise so likely the OBC will be much less than it would than a normal booked cruise with no OBB attached to it. I am using a TA for my Sept cruise, a cruise that I booked using my placeholder so I am interested to see how much credits I get from him.

Yeah, thats always been my impression and since the "value" of them handling everything with reservations and suh isn't that great to me i've never transferred any of my OBBs...always curious though if I've been missing something.

This is absolutely not our experience at all! i price out the cruise and exact staterooms on DCL's website. We then book through our TA who gives us that exact price PLUS the OBCs.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Yes, you will get both.



Yes, you will get both OBC from Disney and your TA. It's a win win. We like to do most things ourselves. Basically all the TA does is formally place the resi. We always pick what rooms we want. Then change them with her if need be. I don't know of any cons to using a (good, experienced) TA. She also knows a lot of ins and outs of DCL and has helped us with special requests. She knows some answers to things even the land based CMs don't.

I didnt realize you got both OBC's...that in itself is a tangible reason. I'm still within my 30 day window so may look into transferring the OBB to Dreams Unlimited.

Thanks

 

[Cackyschmackers]

The credits typically come out of the TA's commission so the going rate is really confidential, often between the TA and the client. For first time cruisers with no OBB advantages at their disposal, using a TA who gives OBC can really help. For those using an OBB, TA's get a reduced commission on an OBB cruise so likely the OBC will be much less than it would than a normal booked cruise with no OBB attached to it. I am using a TA for my Sept cruise, a cruise that I booked using my placeholder so I am interested to see how much credits I get from him.

This is not necessarily the case in all instances. Our TA posts right on their website what your guaranteed OBC will be (it's based on total price of cruise). We have booked 7 DCL cruises and the price on the DCL website is the price she gave us PLUS the OBCs.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

I didnt realize you got both OBC's...that in itself is a tangible reason. I'm still within my 30 day window so may look into transferring the OBB to Dreams Unlimited.

Thanks

Don't forget the OBC for a cruise booked on board will be reduced (see my initial comment) from a TA. But, hey, $150 is better than $0! We've used DU for over 5 years and I would highly recommend.

 

[Geomom]

I didnt realize you got both OBC's...that in itself is a tangible reason. I'm still within my 30 day window so may look into transferring the OBB to Dreams Unlimited.

Thanks

When you do an onboard booking or a transfer DU will give you 1/2 the OBC that they would give a new booking--this is due to the reduced commission they receive for those types of bookings. It is still enough to make it worth it, any amount of 'free' money is to us. For our cruise next year, we got the 10% off from our OBB, will get $200 in OBC from Disney, and $175 in OBC from Dreams Unlimited.

 

[LSUfan4444]

When you do an onboard booking or a transfer DU will give you 1/2 the OBC that they would give a new booking-

And this is in addition to the OBB OBC?

So, for a 7+ night cruise at a cost of $5000 the stateroom would get $200+$125?

And does the rate stay the same with the 10% discount?