Disadvantages to booking with Costco?

[Planner2012]

We are looking at taking our second cruise with DCL and in researching the cruise came across the option of using Costco Travel. On our first trip we used a travel agent, but didn't really have much interaction past the booking & payment. Looking at Costco for this trip the cruise would have the exact same cost, but Costco would give us a $690CAD Costco card. Which is a pretty big savings as we are regular Costco shoppers.

My only hesitation is are there any disadvantages to booking a DCL cruise with Costco vs direct or through a "regular" travel agent?

 

[lilsonicfan]

This may or may not be a disadvantage, but there is little to no interaction with Costco beyond booking and payment. For us this makes zero difference, and that Costco cash card is a huge bonus that beats pretty well any TA's on board credit offerings. As a Canadian it is one of the best ways to save, b/c we usually can't get in on those discounted gc's everyone in the US uses to pay for their cruises. If you have executive membership it's an additional 2%. No Costco Visa like in the US that offers another 2% sadly.

 

[LizGirl]

The only disadvantage for me is having to call and make reservations during Platinum/Gold/Silver days instead of being able to book it online. It's totally worth it!

 

[jlemieu1]

I've used them for a couple cruises. They are a bit self serve but never bad.

 

[lilsonicfan]

The only disadvantage for me is having to call and make reservations during Platinum/Gold/Silver days instead of being able to book it online. It's totally worth it!

If you have a placeholder, then yep, this is true. (though you have to call DCL if you have a placeholder anyway). But if you don't have a placeholder, you can book online, then transfer your reservation to Costco within 30 days. Same benefits.

 

[Planner2012]

So if I book through Costco, can I book excursions, etc. through the DCL website? Can I or Costco note the reservation that we would like a table for just the 4 of us at dinner?

 

[LizGirl]

So if I book through Costco, can I book excursions, etc. through the DCL website? Can I or Costco note the reservation that we would like a table for just the 4 of us at dinner?

Yes to both!

 

[LizGirl]

If you have a placeholder, then yep, this is true. (though you have to call DCL if you have a placeholder anyway). But if you don't have a placeholder, you can book online, then transfer your reservation to Costco within 30 days. Same benefits.

I'd read that the Costco cash card now only applies for bookings "originating" with Costco and there was some speculation that transferring this way would no longer qualify you for the cash card. Do you know for sure that booking online and transferring still earns the card? I haven't tried it recently and I forgot to ask the agent when I called for something else.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I know it's worked for me as of mid 2018 and I believe much more recent posts in the various Costco threads also said that their transferred reservations still garnered the full cash card.

 

[lilsonicfan]

So if I book through Costco, can I book excursions, etc. through the DCL website? Can I or Costco note the reservation that we would like a table for just the 4 of us at dinner?

Yes, you still maintain the same ability to manage your own onboard activities, port adventures, check-in etc.

 

[dcassetta]

I'd read that the Costco cash card now only applies for bookings "originating" with Costco and there was some speculation that transferring this way would no longer qualify you for the cash card. Do you know for sure that booking online and transferring still earns the card? I haven't tried it recently and I forgot to ask the agent when I called for something else.

I know it's worked for me as of mid 2018 and I believe much more recent posts in the various Costco threads also said that their transferred reservations still garnered the full cash card.

The language on their site did change, but so far no issues including a transferred cruise I sailed in January. Got the cash card just like always.

 

[LizGirl]

The language on their site did change, but so far no issues including a transferred cruise I sailed in January. Got the cash card just like always.

Great news!! Thanks for the update.

 

[pixiedustedme]

We are looking at taking our second cruise with DCL and in researching the cruise came across the option of using Costco Travel. On our first trip we used a travel agent, but didn't really have much interaction past the booking & payment. Looking at Costco for this trip the cruise would have the exact same cost, but Costco would give us a $690CAD Costco card. Which is a pretty big savings as we are regular Costco shoppers.

My only hesitation is are there any disadvantages to booking a DCL cruise with Costco vs direct or through a "regular" travel agent?

No disadvantages for us. Here are some advantages:

• Great discount, which can be stacked on top of an OBB discount if you have one. My Costco also cashes out the card for me at Customer Service, so I don't have to spend it there.
• You can get a phone agent to help you right when you call, rather than having to wait for a personal agent to find time to get back to you.
• If you need to make lots of changes or cancel entirely, the phone agent won't care, so no need to feel guilty about wasting someone's time.
• You can book direct with DCL & then transfer to Costco and still get full benefits.
• You still get to book your own excursions, PAT, etc., on the DCL website.

 

[Luv2Diz]

No disadvantages for us. Booking is easy and the Costco reps are friendly whenever I need to call. I do all my research ahead of time and tell them the cruise and cabin I want to book. Love getting the cash card after the cruise.

 

[ProgressCity]

I know of multiple (quite a few) instances where Costco has double booked people. In some instances, the person only found out when they got to the port and had two reservations. It must be nice to have that kind of money that you didn't notice a double booked cruise, lol.

 

[cyclenut]

It's also very easy to just book on the Costco Travel site. Costco also offers additional excursions not available through DCL.

 

[mom4fun]

Only one disadvantage that I know of. They only allow you to downgrade your room, one time. If you do again, then they will charge you a $25 fee. Probably not an issue for most people.

 

[duffybear32830]

No disadvantages for us. Here are some advantages:

• Great discount, which can be stacked on top of an OBB discount if you have one. My Costco also cashes out the card for me at Customer Service, so I don't have to spend it there.
• You can get a phone agent to help you right when you call, rather than having to wait for a personal agent to find time to get back to you.
• If you need to make lots of changes or cancel entirely, the phone agent won't care, so no need to feel guilty about wasting someone's time.
• You can book direct with DCL & then transfer to Costco and still get full benefits.
• You still get to book your own excursions, PAT, etc., on the DCL website.

This was soooo helpful.

 

[bumbershoot]

I know of multiple (quite a few) instances where Costco has double booked people. In some instances, the person only found out when they got to the port and had two reservations. It must be nice to have that kind of money that you didn't notice a double booked cruise, lol.

Given that the booking is done through the Costco portal to the cruiseline’s wrbsite, I don’t know how that would even happen or be Costco’s fault.

I would think I’d have run into some of these people here or on cruise critic, but that’s a problem I’ve actually never heard of before. Always interesting to come across something new.

 

[ProgressCity]

Given that the booking is done through the Costco portal to the cruiseline’s wrbsite, I don’t know how that would even happen or be Costco’s fault.

I would think I’d have run into some of these people here or on cruise critic, but that’s a problem I’ve actually never heard of before. Always interesting to come across something new.

I don't know how they did it either, but when I worked at the cruise line, it was something I had to deal with fairly regularly and it was only ever Costco. You'd think they'd learn because they're the ones who have to eat the cost. It wasn't at all uncommon to get a call from the port with a double booked guest and we always knew it was Costco before we even looked up the reservation. And again, it always amazed me that the guest didn't notice that they were charged the full cruise fare twice (I aspire to that level of wealth some day). We had plenty of instances where it was caught before the guest got to the port, which at least made some sort of sense. Still though, it was Costco that had to eat the cost of it if it was caught after the cancellation penalty kicked in. I don't know how often if happened in the grand scheme of things, but since I only dealt with problems, it seemed pretty common to me.

ETA: This got me thinking about how exactly it did happen, so I did some Googling. I didn't find any DCL specific answers, but it looks like people have this problem when booking on the Costco site (Costco will give them an error saying it didn't go through when it did) or when booking on the phone, the call gets dropped, person calls back and the new agent tells them they can't find anything for them so the previous agent must not have finished the booking and they book them again (I actually remember having this issue).