Placeholders and Costco Travel?

[DISNEYFAN3260]

I have booked my 12 DCL cruises myself, so thanks for your patience with my questions as I'm sure they must have been asked on other chains! I discovered today that Costco has several cabins available for my sailing which aren't available on DCL. I'm sure I'm naive/ignorant, but I assume this means that Costco gets "dibs" on certain cabins or a certain number of cabins that aren't available elsewhere? I recently booked a room (earlier this month) on DCL using the placeholder I booked on a previous trip. If I switch to a new booking using Costco to get a room that is available through them, do I still get the 10% discount from the onboard booking and the $100 onboard credit for my stateroom that DCL offered? And since I'm Executive Club at Costco, do I also get the 2 (or 3?)% cashback? If I book through Costco, can I use Disney Gift Cards to pay for it? THANK YOU.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To switch to a TA, it has to be done within 30 days of the OBB of the placeholder. So you may still be able to do it.

 

[wanderlust7]

I've never heard of Costco getting dibs on cabins - I suspect it may be a case of the Costco website not being updated. But you won't know for sure until you try to book it through Costco.

If you're able to transfer the placeholder (within 30 days of booking the placeholder, not when you used it to book the specific cruise), yes you would still get the OBB benefits (10% discount plus OBC). Plus the Costco cash card of about 7.5%, plus Executive Club cashback. And yes, you would be able to use Disney Gift Cards to pay for it.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The Costco website sometimes shows different availability than DCL. This is because DCL doesn't show you all their availability. There are no "dibs" that I know of. You can call DCL and book any room that is available. Conversely, if you use Costco, but their site doesn't show a room available that DCL shows, Costco can still call DCL and book that room.

If you're within 30 days of booking your placeholder/cruise, as others have said, you can move it to Costco, keep your OBB, et al, and get the Costco cashback bonus once you've sailed, as well as any other perks you get from your membership or credit cards/gift cards you use.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Thanks to all for the info! I was hoping you could transfer your reservation to Costco within 30 days after booking the actual cruise, not the placeholder. Clearly that's not the case, so I can't transfer it anyway. Great to know for future bookings though - I definitely need to take advantage of that for future cruises. As for the staterooms available on the Costco site, they are significantly different than on DCL's site for my cruise date. Out of curiosity I may call DCL to find out whether any of those better cabins are actually available, though in my past experience whatever I see on their site is what the CM sees.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Thanks to all for the info! I was hoping you could transfer your reservation to Costco within 30 days after booking the actual cruise, not the placeholder. Clearly that's not the case, so I can't transfer it anyway. Great to know for future bookings though - I definitely need to take advantage of that for future cruises. As for the staterooms available on the Costco site, they are significantly different than on DCL's site for my cruise date. Out of curiosity I may call DCL to find out whether any of those better cabins are actually available, though in my past experience whatever I see on their site is what the CM sees.

It never hurts to call. DCL doesn't show you all the availability. For some reason, they only show a small selection, even on opening day. Maybe it gets people to make commitments that they'd otherwise think about? I don't know, or maybe it's just that too much choice stymies people. Anyway, when I booked our first cruise on opening day, the rooms I chose weren't even on the website, but my TA called and there was no problem getting them.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

For anyone interested in an update....I just got off the phone with DCL. In fact, both of the Cat 5B Midship cabins I was interested in on Decks 8 and 9 were actually available, even though DCL didn't show them open. The CM had no idea why they have shown up on the Costco site for the last two days but not on their site. Anyway, YAY! I was able to get a Verandah Midship cabin vs. the AFT Navigator's Verandah cabin I had booked on Deck 8 for just a little more. My original cabin was absolutely fine and I wouldn't have been upset to hear that the others weren't available, but I'm glad I called to ask. Word to the wise based on my experience - keep checking the DCL site AND the Costco site for availability, then call to confirm if you see a conflict. This may have been a fluke, but I didn't know until I tried. Thanks again for all the great info.

 

[AquaDame]

That has been my experience as well - if you know the room # you want and it isn't showing up on the site, its always worth a call!

 

[JW9DVC]

Were you able to have Costco as your travel agent? Nice gift card on most cruises.

 

[Sytrace]

Thanks to all for the info! I was hoping you could transfer your reservation to Costco within 30 days after booking the actual cruise, not the placeholder. Clearly that's not the case, so I can't transfer it anyway. Great to know for future bookings though - I definitely need to take advantage of that for future cruises. As for the staterooms available on the Costco site, they are significantly different than on DCL's site for my cruise date. Out of curiosity I may call DCL to find out whether any of those better cabins are actually available, though in my past experience whatever I see on their site is what the CM sees.

Definitely worth a call. Many times cabins are in carts and don't show up in availability for guest or CM as they are technically "pending" being booked.
The cabins must be dropped from the cart for at least 20 minutes before showing up again.
For example, I prefer a certain cabin...one time I put it in my cart and then called in my placeholder to book it. Lo and behold, the cast member could not book it because it was on hold in my cart. lol She was super sweet and patient and we talked for a bit and then it showed up again.
By all means don't give up!