Dummy Booking Advice

lealea42

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Soooo, we are planning our second cruise for the fall of 2016. Only catch is that my son will be starting kindergarten and he will be in a year round school. With that said it could be as late as April/May before we find out which track he will be on. So not knowing that means we have no idea when to cruise. I want to go ahead and book something, but need some advice. How far out can you change cruise dates with no penalties? I'm looking at cruises with PIF dates of end of June or beginning of July. This is killing me b/c I am a planner...lol!
 
Soooo, we are planning our second cruise for the fall of 2016. Only catch is that my son will be starting kindergarten and he will be in a year round school. With that said it could be as late as April/May before we find out which track he will be on. So not knowing that means we have no idea when to cruise. I want to go ahead and book something, but need some advice. How far out can you change cruise dates with no penalties? I'm looking at cruises with PIF dates of end of June or beginning of July. This is killing me b/c I am a planner...lol!
You no longer have to book a dummy cruise. You can just put down $200 for a placeholder. That's a reservation on a future cruise, date to be determined later. As long as the cruise you eventually take starts within 24 months of the deposit on the placeholder, you're good.

If you make an actual booking, and you want to change the date, it's essentially, a cancellation and rebooking.
Cancellations have a sliding scale of penalties starting with the PIF date.

If you look here you can see the various penalty costs/time frames (just scroll down to "CRUISE CANCELLATION FEES"):
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/contracts-terms-safety/terms-conditions/united-states/
 
It's kindergarten. I honestly wouldn't worry about him missing time for a family cruise. Our kids missed at least a week each year until my son was in 8th grade. That was when his online HS classes made it more difficult for him to keep up with the work.
 


Now I'm second guessing myself. Can you book a placeholder other than during an onboard booking?

Good question, I don't think so, I think that may be only for onboard bookings. What I had to do one time (a friend told me). I wasn't sure about sail dates due to work so I booked a sailing in August for December of the following year (as far out as I could at the time) held the reservation by simply putting down the deposit. Then when I had a better idea as to when I could sail (which ended up being about 4 months later) I just switched my sail dates, penalty free online via "My Reservations". Hope this helps..
 
I think the "placeholder" is only for OBB. There's really no reason to do a "dummy" booking otherwise, since there's no discount or perks to "save."

OP -- basically you need to pick a date and book it. If you have to change your plans, you can change the date with no penalty up until PIF date. It sounds like you'll know that info in April/May and penalties won't kick-in until June/July, so you're good on that issue. However, note that the cruise fare will re-adjust to the going-rate at the time you make the change. There's no way to lock in cruise fare for different dates without making multiple bookings. While we try very hard not to miss school, I agree with others that it's not usually a big deal for Kindergarten and early elementary school. You might be able to ask the school district for a "tentative" schedule for next year, those don't usually change the big vacation weeks.

Enjoy your cruise!
 
As said above no reason to do dummy bookings if you OBB. I second the its only kindergarten. We live in a NJ town with the a school district which is nationally ranked, your worried about kindergarten????
My daughter is in 8th grade im taking her out week before Christmas to Disney World. This will be the last year we do that, high school matters : )
 


I think the "placeholder" is only for OBB. There's really no reason to do a "dummy" booking otherwise, since there's no discount or perks to "save."

OP -- basically you need to pick a date and book it. If you have to change your plans, you can change the date with no penalty up until PIF date. It sounds like you'll know that info in April/May and penalties won't kick-in until June/July, so you're good on that issue. However, note that the cruise fare will re-adjust to the going-rate at the time you make the change. There's no way to lock in cruise fare for different dates without making multiple bookings. While we try very hard not to miss school, I agree with others that it's not usually a big deal for Kindergarten and early elementary school. You might be able to ask the school district for a "tentative" schedule for next year, those don't usually change the big vacation weeks.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks!!! I have the schedule for next school year but with year round "track" schedule there 4 different 3 week options that it could be. I may pull him but am undecided on that. Just not sure if that's something I want to do. I'm hoping that he will track out for 3 weeks in October or September when rates are lower but we shall see.
 
As said above no reason to do dummy bookings if you OBB. I second the its only kindergarten. We live in a NJ town with the a school district which is nationally ranked, your worried about kindergarten????
My daughter is in 8th grade im taking her out week before Christmas to Disney World. This will be the last year we do that, high school matters : )

Ouch, sorry I am hesitant about pulling him from school.
 
It's kindergarten. I honestly wouldn't worry about him missing time for a family cruise. Our kids missed at least a week each year until my son was in 8th grade. That was when his online HS classes made it more difficult for him to keep up with the work.

I am weighing that option. Just don't want to give my son, who already fights about going to his pre-k class, any reason to think school isn't "important" (for lack of better words). I was a tad bit of a rebel in high school and you know what they say...ten fold. Lol! Just not wanting to give this child that is me 1000% any ideas...lol!
 
I just want to second that there is 0 benefit in booking a cruise unless you think you will take that exact cruise, or unless you are booking a cruise on-board with the on-board booking benefits. It only locks the price for *that* cruise. If you need to change your cruise (for example, move it a week), you will be shopping for your cruise at whatever rates are at the moment. The deposit is like 20% of the cruise fare, so it's a chunk of change to have tied up unless you think there's a good chance of cruising then (such as going over the summer).

Just thought of something - what if you book back-to-back 3 or 4 cruises at around the time you think you will go? It will lock the price on all of those.
 

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