Castaway Club member early booking for others who are first timers?

[meryll83]

As Castaway Club members, we get early booking privileges on new cruise releases, but what if we want to book to travel with family members, who would be in a separate cabin, and are first timers?

Can we book a cabin for them during our early booking window?
Or do they have to wait until the general public release?

 

[BCV23]

They must wait. Happy planning.

 

[shaunacb]

You can put one of your Castaway Club members in their cabin to get the early booking for that cabin. Can get extra room keys and have people sleep where they want once on the cruise.

 

[meryll83]

They must wait. Happy planning.

Thanks for confirming.

You can put one of your Castaway Club members in their cabin to get the early booking for that cabin. Can get extra room keys and have people sleep where they want once on the cruise.

There’s an idea... in reality though, we might actually have 2 or more additional cabins worth of family members considering joining us, so probably makes sense just to do our own when we can, then have them do theirs once their window opens...

 

[Ronneeaght]

I'm considering this as well. If we book first and then the first time cruisers book when their window opens, can we move our reservation to a new room within our category free of charge, or would we have to pay the difference in price that day? (Hoping to get connecting rooms, but the one that connects to our particular booked room might be gone by general booking.)

 

[Mommb]

I'm considering this as well. If we book first and then the first time cruisers book when their window opens, can we move our reservation to a new room within our category free of charge, or would we have to pay the difference in price that day? (Hoping to get connecting rooms, but the one that connects to our particular booked room might be gone by general booking.)

Once you are booked on a cruise, if you change to another room on that cruise, the cost will be based on the price from the day you originally booked. This is true whether you are keeping the same category or not. We have upgraded from Category 5 to Category 4 a few times, with the additional cost what it would be had we booked Cat 4 originally.

Note that changing to a different cruise would require paying the rate as of the day you change.

 

[Ronneeaght]

Once you are booked on a cruise, if you change to another room on that cruise, the cost will be based on the price from the day you originally booked. This is true whether you are keeping the same category or not. We have upgraded from Category 5 to Category 4 a few times, with the additional cost what it would be had we booked Cat 4 originally.

Note that changing to a different cruise would require paying the rate as of the day you change.

Wonderful, thanks!

 

[MichelleCanada]

I'm considering this as well. If we book first and then the first time cruisers book when their window opens, can we move our reservation to a new room within our category free of charge, or would we have to pay the difference in price that day? (Hoping to get connecting rooms, but the one that connects to our particular booked room might be gone by general booking.)

The advantage of booking the second room early with one of you in that cabin is that you would get both rooms at the lowest rate possible. We are silver and within two days our cabin went up $556 for our cruise that we booked this week. So, depending on the popularity of the cruise the price may go up by the time the first timers are able to book.

 

[Ronneeaght]

The advantage of booking the second room early with one of you in that cabin is that you would get both rooms at the lowest rate possible. We are silver and within two days our cabin went up $556 for our cruise that we booked this week. So, depending on the popularity of the cruise the price may go up by the time the first timers are able to book.

We will both have kids in the cabins, so I'm wondering about the hassle of taking them off the ship if each family isn't in their own cabin to begin with. Or can you change the names around after booking but before sailing? That is a considerable amount of money.

 

[GlassAct]

We looked into getting a cheaper price by booking one of our kids in my Mom's (single) ajoining room since one kid would likely sleep every night in her room anyway and they charge you for double occupancy, but one thing that put me off was if the other party cancelled their trip, you may not be able to move the person back into your room.

Basically, there is a limited amount of people total, and just because you have the space to move someone back onto your reservation, the boat may not have the capacity, if that makes sense. Just something to consider if there is a chance the other party may back out.

Seems unlikely the boat may hit capacity and you wouldn't be allowed to move then back into your room, but with covid restrictions you never know.

 

[shaunacb]

We will both have kids in the cabins, so I'm wondering about the hassle of taking them off the ship if each family isn't in their own cabin to begin with. Or can you change the names around after booking but before sailing? That is a considerable amount of money.

There is an easy online form the adult in the room with the child fills out to allow another adult (in this case the parent) to take them off the ship. We did this with a big family trip and 4 staterooms. It was quite seamless.

Also, to respond to the concern above about single occupancy and boat occupancy, I specifically put one of my kids in with my mom so she wouldn't have to pay double occupancy... to me that is a no-brainer and I would never ask her to pay double when I am already paying for my child and there is an easy way to reduce her cost! I can't imagine there would be an issue with boat occupancy if my mom cancelled because my child is already an occupant of the boat, and would just have to be moved to a different room (same muster station).

 

[QuiltLover]

We needed 3 rooms for a cruise in 2022. We have silver status and the other 2 rooms were first timers. I called Disney to check if my husband and I could book 2 of the three rooms on our opening day. Was told yes as long as there was a “silver” person in each room; however, we both would need to remain in the room we originally booked. Decided it wasn’t worth the hassle so booked one room on silver day and the other 2 the next.