Placeholder booking question

[Thumper99]

Hi All. I booked two placeholder cabins when my husband and I were on our cruise last November. We were prepared to book a room for my cousin and her husband as we hoped they would join us on the next cruise. The CM told me to put one Placeholder in my name and one in my husbands name so we would have two rooms guaranteed and to not place one room in my Cousin's name. I had planned to give him her Visa number but he said he could not use it anyways so we paid the $500 to secure both rooms.

So I am wondering when we go to book the actual cruise, we are planning on the Med in Summer 2021, will my cousin be able to pay the whole deposit due with her Credit Card and then have my Credit Card refunded the $250 or will I have to personally get the $250 back from her? IS it wise to switch and haver her and her husband as the room lead and take my husband off that reservation?

I know about getting the CC benefits and its possible my hubby and I will be Platinum by that cruise as we only have one more to go so I think it would be wise to keep hubby and me split and then just do a keycard change when we get onboard right? That will allow all of us to board as Platinum if I keep the rooms split with Hubby on one and me on the other. Am I thinking about this correctly or will they not be able to board because THEY aren't platinum even if they are booked in a platinum members room.

Am I making sense? thank you for any help!

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

As long as a one platinum is in the cabin, the others in the cabin can all board together. That will also allow you to book Palo, activities, and port adventures at the platinum mark.

 

[Rob1872]

Don't think you could have purchased a placeholder in the name of someone not on the cruise. I believe that someone who is on the original cruise has to be on the placeholder reservation. And the person who is on the placeholder reservation has to be on the following cruise. You can't "give away" the 10% discount to someone; if you could then there would be a thriving sub-forum on the DIS for people asking someone going on a cruise to purchase a placeholder for them.

You are correct that with one of you in each room, everyone in the room will be given the CC level of the highest person in that room. So you all will check in as either Gold or Platinum (if you get another cruise in first), and if you are Platinum then all 4 of you would get a free Palo meal if you are 'officially' split between rooms. You can get the correct room keys on the boat; only downside is the potential to be in different muster stations.

I can't envision anyway where you could get your $250 deposit back on the CC you used to purchase it; you will have to ask your friend to pay you the deposit back.

Only downside I can see in having your husband on the other reservation is if your friends change their mind and want to cancel before PIF. Then your husband might have to pay the prevailing rate instead of what you paid at the beginning. (I'll defer to others here if that would just be a free name change or adding a new person.)

 

[Starwind]

Don't think you could have purchased a placeholder in the name of someone not on the cruise. I believe that someone who is on the original cruise has to be on the placeholder reservation. And the person who is on the placeholder reservation has to be on the following cruise. You can't "give away" the 10% discount to someone; if you could then there would be a thriving sub-forum on the DIS for people asking someone going on a cruise to purchase a placeholder for them.

I was able to book a placeholder for two rooms on each of our B2B2B in December. The first room has mine and my sister's name on it (we were both sailing), the second just my mother (who was not sailing with us, and the CM knew that) as we are hoping for her to join us on future cruises.

SW

 

[Surgie2]

I was wondering something similar as far as booking for someone not on the cruise who will be on future cruise.

November 2020 - Family A (2 adults) and Family B (2 adults+2 kids) going on a cruise. Both will book a future cruise and we also want to book one for Family C.

So it looks like Family A could split on the future cruise reservation to book for Family C? Or it also looks like we can tell the CM to book the third FC for Family C and it might work that way? So this depends on which CM is doing the booking and not an official policy?

 

[Rob1872]

I remember that there is some restriction. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will clarify. Maybe the issue was that you can put someone else in the second room, but YOU have to be on the cruise also. (As opposed to you booking a placeholder and doing a 7 night Eastern and booking a 2nd placeholder for a friend and them taking a 4 night Bahamas cruise with it.)

 

[lanejudy]

will my cousin be able to pay the whole deposit due with her Credit Card and then have my Credit Card refunded the $250 or will I have to personally get the $250 back from her?

She can pay the additional deposit with her credit card. She can ask about the initial $250, but I don't know if they'll do it or not. Maybe.

IS it wise to switch and haver her and her husband as the room lead and take my husband off that reservation?

The "lead" on the placeholder must remain or it cancels the placeholder. So you'll have to book split and then switch up once onboard.

You should have been able to book the 2 staterooms with you+DH in one and cousin+spouse in the other. It is possible even though the other party wasn't on the cruise at the time the placeholder was booked. Unfortunately, this does seem to be a case of "it depends on the CM" at the Future Cruise desk as some either don't know it can be done or don't know how.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[n2mm]

I buy placeholders for family not cruising with us often. Just last month I bought 2. One for husband and I (both on the cruise). The second one was for my daughter, husband and 2 teens (not on the cruise with us). I’ve done it this way many times.

 

[Debby7]

We have always had to split my husband and myself and then get extra keys so we can switch back once on board.

 

[Sconny]

I understand the book 2 rooms under each person that has the place holder and then switch people around.

My questions is when do you do this switching? Once on board at guest services? Or can you do it when checking in?

And does everyone go to the Platinum check in desk? Since my spouse and I are Platinum and we booked the place holders as the Heads of each room.

Thanks for clearing this up in my head

 

[FigmentSpark]

I was told that if a person is not listed on the placeholder, they don't get the 10%. So if you decide to add someone once you book, that person won't get the discount. Conversely, I was (a year ago) able to add my sister and get the discount for her, even though she was not on the placeholder. So was this a policy change or a case of "depends on the CM"? In any case, make sure to add whomever you think might be wanting to cruise with you, just in case.

 

[lanejudy]

My questions is when do you do this switching? Once on board at guest services? Or can you do it when checking in?

And does everyone go to the Platinum check in desk?

You can make the change after you check-in. Some people just ask for an extra keycard, while others have had success asking Guest Services to do an actual switch. I believe it can be done in the terminal but not until you are checked in. And yes, your whole party can check-in as Platinum since that benefit extends to the whole stateroom for check-in and stateroom gift. The others will not get platinum lanyards, though (gold, silver or none as per their own CC status).

So was this a policy change or a case of "depends on the CM"?

The 10% discount applies to anyone booked into that stateroom. One catch is if you initially book a cruise with 1-2-3 guests and then want to add a 3rd or 4th to the same room. The "new" guest added to the reservation will be charged at the prevailing rate, not the rate you initially book, so the discount is off the prevailing rate and may not seem like a discount anymore compared to the passengers originally booked into the stateroom. This mostly comes up if you book a "dummy booking" (actual date) vs a placeholder, but could be if you book a real date and then want to add someone else.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[FigmentSpark]

You can make the change after you check-in. Some people just ask for an extra keycard, while others have had success asking Guest Services to do an actual switch. I believe it can be done in the terminal but not until you are checked in. And yes, your whole party can check-in as Platinum since that benefit extends to the whole stateroom for check-in and stateroom gift. The others will not get platinum lanyards, though (gold, silver or none as per their own CC status).


The 10% discount applies to anyone booked into that stateroom. One catch is if you initially book a cruise with 1-2-3 guests and then want to add a 3rd or 4th to the same room. The "new" guest added to the reservation will be charged at the prevailing rate, not the rate you initially book, so the discount is off the prevailing rate and may not seem like a discount anymore compared to the passengers originally booked into the stateroom. This mostly comes up if you book a "dummy booking" (actual date) vs a placeholder, but could be if you book a real date and then want to add someone else.

Enjoy your cruise!

I agree. But I was actually told that the 10% wouldn't apply because the person wasn't on the placeholder. This was last week. I didn't pursue it because for the price (with or without the discount) the person wasn't going to be interested anyway.

 

[Thumper99]

Thank you all for your responses!! I was told by our CM that we could book one if the rooms as my cousin and husband but IF they decide not to go we would lose the room. So he suggested we split the booking of rooms so we are guaranteed to have the two rooms and could invite other people should my cousin not want to go.
I find it very odd that a placeholder would not get a discount on the booking when finally booking the cruise. It doesn’t make sense that I would book a placeholder with me in the room and not give the whole room a discount. What’s the point of doing a placeholder. Not even sure we’ll use it now that they have taken away on board credit. If the now are taking away the 10% for who you eventually book in your room that’s just ridiculous!

thanks again!! I will keep the rooms split so we can get platinum benefit for both rooms!! And it would be nice to get the Pali benefit!! Hope they don’t take that away by the time we sail!!

 

[MichelleCanada]

We booked two placeholders on our cruise last summer. Since then we booked a cruise with some friends. My husband in one room and me in the other. Now the other family is unable to come and we are going to switch to another cruise. My understanding is that we can indeed switch our placeholders to another cruise. My question is whether we can take people other than the ones we booked on the first booking? The future cruise is currently april 2021 and we are waiting for the summer of 2021 to be released to switch the cruise.

 

[n2mm]

I was told only the people listed on the placeholder gets the 10% off. I wanted to list my granddaughter in our room because they are a party of 4 and wanted a different room, but it only held 3. So all six are listed on 2 placeholders. 4 in one room and 2 in the other room. But if my GD moves officially into our room, she can’t bring her 10%. My TA said she can sleep in our room but not officially and keep the 10%.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Wait, so I just booked two placeholders a week ago when we were on the wonder (it was just my husband and I) for us to use in the future bringing our whole family(4 kids)...I did it through the app, was so easy, allowed me to select two rooms and then had my husband and I listed on the first and then just had TBD “our last name” listed on the second....does that mean when I add the rest of our family to the actual booking they won’t get the discount because they were not named on the placeholder? That just doesn’t seem right. And makes a BIG difference in cost savings with the amount of people I need to add.

 

[Thumper99]

Wait, so I just booked two placeholders a week ago when we were on the wonder (it was just my husband and I) for us to use in the future bringing our whole family(4 kids)...I did it through the app, was so easy, allowed me to select two rooms and then had my husband and I listed on the first and then just had TBD “our last name” listed on the second....does that mean when I add the rest of our family to the actual booking they won’t get the discount because they were not named on the placeholder? That just doesn’t seem right. And makes a BIG difference in cost savings with the amount of people I need to add.

I agree. What is the point of booking a placeholder then? Shouldn’t it be the cabin get a 10% discount? The CM did not tell me that , in fact he told me to leave off the other names so we’d be sure about who was coming when we use the Placeholder booking. If that’s the case and I’ll have two rooms booked with just one person allowed the discount on the future cruise I see no reason in keeping a placeholder out there at all. That’s crazy. I’d be better off just waiting for a XGT offer.

 

[n2mm]

I agree. What is the point of booking a placeholder then? Shouldn’t it be the cabin get a 10% discount? The CM did not tell me that , in fact he told me to leave off the other names so we’d be sure about who was coming when we use the Placeholder booking. If that’s the case and I’ll have two rooms booked with just one person allowed the discount on the future cruise I see no reason in keeping a placeholder out there at all. That’s crazy. I’d be better off just waiting for a XGT offer.

I use Dreams Unlimited and my TA said if my granddaughter is not listed on our placeholder and we moved her to our cabin she would not get the 10% off. She is listed on her moms placeholder and has the 10% off in that room. I would suggest you call to verify this because I would love to know if this is incorrect. I buy placeholders for family often and everytime I do I list everyone’s name on the second placeholder. Bought one for my grandson and his GF and they used it easily when cruising with us. When I buy one for my daughter, I list everyone in the family. Please post back if this info is different from what I’ve been told. Placeholders lost a lot of their value when they took the OBC away, so not getting 10% off everyone in the room has even less value.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

I agree. What is the point of booking a placeholder then? Shouldn’t it be the cabin get a 10% discount? The CM did not tell me that , in fact he told me to leave off the other names so we’d be sure about who was coming when we use the Placeholder booking. If that’s the case and I’ll have two rooms booked with just one person allowed the discount on the future cruise I see no reason in keeping a placeholder out there at all. That’s crazy. I’d be better off just waiting for a XGT offer.

I use Dreams Unlimited and my TA said if my granddaughter is not listed on our placeholder and we moved her to our cabin she would not get the 10% off. She is listed on her moms placeholder and has the 10% off in that room. I would suggest you call to verify this because I would love to know if this is incorrect. I buy placeholders for family often and everytime I do I list everyone’s name on the second placeholder. Bought one for my grandson and his GF and they used it easily when cruising with us. When I buy one for my daughter, I list everyone in the family. Please post back if this info is different from what I’ve been told. Placeholders lost a lot of their value when they took the OBC away, so not getting 10% off everyone in the room has even less value.

I just emailed my TA to try and clear this up...