Booking future cruise for friends/relatives?

dmunsil

Disney Uber-Nerd
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
There have been a few threads over the years about exactly what the rules are for booking staterooms/placeholders for friends and family who are not on the cruise you are on, with the onboard booking offer. Various posters here have confidently said that you can only book rooms for people who are on the cruise now, or that you can book rooms for anyone regardless of whether they are on the current cruise or not.

On our last cruise, I directly asked the onboard booking agent what the rules were, and he indicated that you could book for anyone. We were, in fact, booking one room for ourselves and one for friends, which worked fine. But I asked if we could book two rooms, both for friends not on the cruise, and he said "absolutely."

However, that was more than a year ago (and he may have been mistaken), and I've heard from someone else that the current rule is that someone from the current cruise has to be booked into the first stateroom, and then the second room can be for anyone.

Does anyone have any recent experience with booking a future cruise or placeholder for other people who are not on the cruise you're doing the booking on?

Don
 
I believe you can book for anyone, but you have to be the lead guest of the reservation if you want to keep the OBB perks of 10% discount, less deposit and OBC.
 
I believe you can book for anyone, but you have to be the lead guest of the reservation if you want to keep the OBB perks of 10% discount, less deposit and OBC.

But how would you be the lead guest in two cabins?
 
For our next cruise, we had two placeholders from Jan 2017. I had one in my name, and one in my husbands. We booked two rooms for an upcoming cruise. I'm the lead in one, my husband is in the other room. Our family members coming with us are in room 2, but basically the "dads" switched spots on paper, so Dad 2 is in my room, and my husband (Dad 1) is in the second room. Does that make sense? Not sure if that's what you're asking.
 


For our next cruise, we had two placeholders from Jan 2017. I had one in my name, and one in my husbands. We booked two rooms for an upcoming cruise. I'm the lead in one, my husband is in the other room. Our family members coming with us are in room 2, but basically the "dads" switched spots on paper, so Dad 2 is in my room, and my husband (Dad 1) is in the second room. Does that make sense? Not sure if that's what you're asking.

No. I was thinking about those of us who normally travel solo. I'd still be allowed to book 2 cabins (like if I wanted to book for myself and my parents) but could not be the lead on 2 cabins. That's what's confusing.
 
But how would you be the lead guest in two cabins?

I am trying to pinpoint the issue here. If OP wants to keep the perks then there is a problem to book a stateroom for someone who’s not sailing on the cruise because to my understanding someone sailing on the cruise must be booked into each room.
 
No. I was thinking about those of us who normally travel solo. I'd still be allowed to book 2 cabins (like if I wanted to book for myself and my parents) but could not be the lead on 2 cabins. That's what's confusing.
Gotcha. Missed that part. :P
 


No. I was thinking about those of us who normally travel solo. I'd still be allowed to book 2 cabins (like if I wanted to book for myself and my parents) but could not be the lead on 2 cabins. That's what's confusing.
Have you tried this? I am interested to know too. What if I am travelling with a minor who definitely cannot be the lead guest, how can I book two cabins for a future cruise?
 
Have you tried this? I am interested to know too. What if I am travelling with a minor who definitely cannot be the lead guest, how can I book two cabins for a future cruise?

I have not. But I have never seen a disclaimer that solos could only book one cabin - they say "two cabins per address".
 
I am trying to pinpoint the issue here. If OP wants to keep the perks then there is a problem to book a stateroom for someone who’s not sailing on the cruise because to my understanding someone sailing on the cruise must be booked into each room.

It does not say that anywhere on any form I have seen. It says "2 staterooms per household". That's why I'm not positive that someone on the cruise has to be on each.
 
The rule as I've been told by the on-board booking agent: One future cruise, two cabins. You can book one future cruise per cabin and another cabin for someone else on that same future cruise. I can book a cruise for July 1st and add another cabin for that same July 1st cruise. I can't book two separate cruise dates.
 
The rule as I've been told by the on-board booking agent: One future cruise, two cabins. You can book one future cruise per cabin and another cabin for someone else on that same future cruise. I can book a cruise for July 1st and add another cabin for that same July 1st cruise. I can't book two separate cruise dates.

That I know.

I've seen people on here saying that someone on the cruise you're on has to be on each of the cabins you book - but Disney's stuff does not say that that I have found. Nothing on the DCL information on OBB says that - it just says 2 cabins per household will get the perks.
 
That I know.

I've seen people on here saying that someone on the cruise you're on has to be on each of the cabins you book - but Disney's stuff does not say that that I have found. Nothing on the DCL information on OBB says that - it just says 2 cabins per household will get the perks.
Would it be referring to the policy regarding name changes on the reservation? When changing passengers, one of the original passenger must remain. Maybe we are confused with this original as in the original sailing when making the onboard reservation, and it actually means original passengers booked into the future cruise. Then you should be able to book two cabins for the same future cruise.

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On our recent Fantasy cruise we were able to book two placeholder reservations. The first in my family's name and the second in the names of friends who we intend to cruise with in the future. We were told that the OBB benefits would apply to both rooms as long as we travel on same cruise together. If my family was to not use the placeholder than my friends would have to forfeit theirs as well. Or if we book and they decide not to, they would lose the placeholder. To the same point, our friends could not book with benefits without us also booking.The CM reiterated that the placeholders would have to be put towards a future cruise together. We did not have to put either of our names (myself or dh) on the second reservation.

Hope this makes sense
 
But how would you be the lead guest in two cabins?
The report I got said only the one person from the current cruise needed to be in one of the two cabins, not both. I agree that it would be kind of odd to say both cabins had to have a current cruiser.

It sounds like others have heard the same thing. Has anyone heard that you can just book two rooms for anyone, with no requirement that anyone on the current cruise book a room? I’m beginning to think the agent I spoke to was mistaken, or he misunderstood what I was asking.
 
The report I got said only the one person from the current cruise needed to be in one of the two cabins, not both. I agree that it would be kind of odd to say both cabins had to have a current cruiser.

It sounds like others have heard the same thing. Has anyone heard that you can just book two rooms for anyone, with no requirement that anyone on the current cruise book a room? I’m beginning to think the agent I spoke to was mistaken, or he misunderstood what I was asking.

Yeah. I have always understood that ONE person needs to be in one of the two rooms.

It may be that the confusion is coming in with people booking the second room for first-time friends or family members and putting someone from the current cruise in there for the Castaway benefits.
 
Our experience last year was we could book two cabins for ONE cruise and receive the OBB credit and discount. My husband and I had to be the lead, with one of us in each of the cabins. We then added our daughters, one to each cabin...they were not sailing with us when we booked. To keep the reservation, OBB credit and discount (as well as preserve the CC level) he and I had to remain the leads. Once we got on board, my husband and I shared a cabin and the girls shared a cabin...when we inquired about new KTTW cards to reflect this change, we told we couldn’t get new cards issued or lose benefits. For us it wasn’t a huge deal as we had connecting cabins and both cabins were on the same credit card for charging privileges.
 
Yeah. I have always understood that ONE person needs to be in one of the two rooms.

It may be that the confusion is coming in with people booking the second room for first-time friends or family members and putting someone from the current cruise in there for the Castaway benefits.
That's my understanding - a minimum of one person cruising must remain on the original reservation(s). That works because, if you book 2 rooms (say you have enough people to book current cruisers in each room), if you split what cruise each room actually takes, one of the rooms will lose the perks.

So, while each room is it's own reservation, when you book 2 rooms on the same future cruise both rooms it's only required have to have one person remaining from the original onboard booking on one or the other reservation.
 
The report I got said only the one person from the current cruise needed to be in one of the two cabins, not both. I agree that it would be kind of odd to say both cabins had to have a current cruiser.
Not sure what the official rules are, but my wife and I mostly cruise by ourselves. We were planning a family cruise and needed a total of 5 staterooms, to include our 4 adult children and their families. On a B2B cruise with just the two of us, we booked 2 staterooms on the first leg, with my wife and I in one room and one of our daughters in the second. On the second leg, we booked 3 additional staterooms, with neither of us in any of those. 2 of these 3 got full OBB benefits and the third got just the stateroom credit. On a later cruise with just my wife and I again, before the family cruise, we were able to reshop the final stateroom and get the discount as well. This CM did make us book 2 staterooms with the two of us in the room. We just ended up having our TA cancel the second reservation for my wife and I.
 
I've done this less than a year ago. Booked 2 placeholders, 1 for my family and another for my parents who weren't in the cruise with us when i did the placeholder. Both rooms got the OBC and discount. I put my mom as the lead guest in their cabin and me on our cabin. You cannot change the lead guest name so make sure you put the name of someone who will go for sure.
 

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