Oct 22 Disney Dream cruise now available for MUCH less than I paid...

[PrincessShmoo]

I cant get vacation time approved that far out.Either can my dh. Booking opening day would be basically rolling the dice. I have a pretty common job and so does he. I dont think this is unusual. There’s always a lot of cancellations right before PIF date for various reasons. Personally I’d rather wait until I know I can go before booking something and getting excited about it. I’ve never experienced the disappointment of cancelling a cruise.

And neither have I.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I cant get vacation time approved that far out.Either can my dh. Booking opening day would be basically rolling the dice. I have a pretty common job and so does he. I dont think this is unusual. There’s always a lot of cancellations right before PIF date for various reasons. Personally I’d rather wait until I know I can go before booking something and getting excited about it. I’ve never experienced the disappointment of cancelling a cruise.

We can’t either... basically rolling the dice as you said on those sailings we booked opening day. (Alaska,Hawaii)
Caribbean and everything else we book 2-3 months out for the reasons you mention

 

[Shanti]

OP, I would press DCL for the upgrade. They will give it to you if you are persistent enough.

You know this, how?

 

[Shanti]

Plus, remember that if you book at GT rate, you are taking the rooms they couldn't fill. So that increases the odds the location will be sub-optimal (e.g., noisy room, far from everything). Again, a tradeoff of room choice over price.

I disagree that this is really an issue with DCL's GT bookings. DCL has very few sub-optimal cabins, and you aren't likely to get an inferior cabin when booking GT. You can track the "GT Cabins Assigned" thread to see proof of how many people are pleased with what they get assigned. We've booked GT twice and had good cabins both times.

 

[cruiser21]

We can’t either... basically rolling the dice as you said on those sailings we booked opening day. (Alaska,Hawaii)
Caribbean and everything else we book 2-3 months out for the reasons you mention

I was going to book Hawaii. My dh laughed 2020 really? We sailed to Hawaii in 2015. Lots of cancellations on that one. Booked it 4 months out. I did book the wbta opening day. I think I’ll run out of PTO before Sept. I took the EBTA on a whim and the Quebec cruise on a whim.
I also had a one beer to many WDW and upgraded my tickets to annual passes. Now I have to make another trip to WDW.
I think I have impulse control problems. I see a good price on a cruise and I can’t pass it up. If I have the money and I want to go somewhere I want to go...NOW.

 

[Shanti]

I think I have impulse control problems. I see a good price on a cruise and I can’t pass it up. If I have the money and I want to go somewhere I want to go...NOW.

I feel your pain.

"My name is Shanti, and I'm a vacationholic..."

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I was going to book Hawaii. My dh laughed 2020 really? We sailed to Hawaii in 2015. Lots of cancellations on that one. Booked it 4 months out. I did book the wbta opening day. I think I’ll run out of PTO before Sept. I took the EBTA on a whim and the Quebec cruise on a whim.
I also had a one beer to many WDW and upgraded my tickets to annual passes. Now I have to make another trip to WDW.
I think I have impulse control problems. I see a good price on a cruise and I can’t pass it up. If I have the money and I want to go somewhere I want to go...NOW.

Haha I could see upgrading to AP after one too many
We do the same thing with most cruises, see one for such a good deal and can't resist.
I do think the Hawaii cruises in 2020 are a different story from 2015 though- did those sell out initially?
I do think a certain percentage will cancel of course but for these 2 sailings to become half empty down the road?
I don't know....

 

[cruiser21]

And neither have I.

Neither have I what? Not sure why the defensiveness.None of my posts were directed at you. Whatever works for you works for you.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We always plan out our vacations way in advance. We both work in the software industry and it’s easier if we plan ahead vs short notice. We can just mark our calendars as out and meetings or events will mostly get planned around it. I find most hotels or house rentals book up fairly far out, and the airlines we fly have cheaper prices when they first release flights.

I think the shorts I’ve ever planned a trip was about 2-3 weeks or and I literally thought my dad had just a few weeks to live so price was no object and I didn’t have to worry about a hotel.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Neither have I what? Not sure why the defensiveness.None of my posts were directed at you. Whatever works for you works for you.

Just responding to your final sentence:

I cant get vacation time approved that far out.Either can my dh. Booking opening day would be basically rolling the dice. I have a pretty common job and so does he. I dont think this is unusual. There’s always a lot of cancellations right before PIF date for various reasons. Personally I’d rather wait until I know I can go before booking something and getting excited about it. I’ve never experienced the disappointment of cancelling a cruise.

Not being defensive, just pointing out that I've also not "experienced the disappointment of cancelling a cruise."

 

[cruiser21]

Haha I could see upgrading to AP after one too many
We do the same thing with most cruises, see one for such a good deal and can't resist.
I do think the Hawaii cruises in 2020 are a different story from 2015 though- did those sell out initially?
I do think a certain percentage will cancel of course but for these 2 sailings to become half empty down the road?
I don't know....

I don’t think they sold out like these did. The last time I saw a cruise sell that fast was the first Iceland Norway and then the next year all kinds of discounts on that cruise.
There were a lot of retired people on the Quebec cruise. They were all platinums and lined up at 8am to book at the Obb desk. It does seem to be really popular this time around. I think it maybe the lack of different itinerarys. People get excited with something new.

 

[cruiser21]

Just responding to your final sentence:




Not being defensive, just pointing out that I've also not "experienced the disappointment of cancelling a cruise."

Great!

 

[mmouse37]

I was going to book Hawaii. My dh laughed 2020 really? We sailed to Hawaii in 2015. Lots of cancellations on that one. Booked it 4 months out. I did book the wbta opening day. I think I’ll run out of PTO before Sept. I took the EBTA on a whim and the Quebec cruise on a whim.
I also had a one beer to many WDW and upgraded my tickets to annual passes. Now I have to make another trip to WDW.
I think I have impulse control problems. I see a good price on a cruise and I can’t pass it up. If I have the money and I want to go somewhere I want to go...NOW.

Which Quebec? NYC to Quebec or Quebec to NYC? We were on the Quebec to NYC. I would definitely go to Quebec City for a long weekend. It thought it very nice.

MJ

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I don’t think they sold out like these did. The last time I saw a cruise sell that fast was the first Iceland Norway and then the next year all kinds of discounts on that cruise.
There were a lot of retired people on the Quebec cruise. They were all platinums and lined up at 8am to book at the Obb desk. It does seem to be really popular this time around. I think it maybe the lack of different itinerarys. People get excited with something new.

Well I sure hope we get some indication of the discounts coming (Hawaii) before payment in full date

 

[cruiser21]

Which Quebec? NYC to Quebec or Quebec to NYC? We were on the Quebec to NYC. I would definitely go to Quebec City for a long weekend. It thought it very nice.

MJ

We were on the same cruise as you. I'm ready for a warm cruise now. I was a little envious of the b2b cruisers heading to Bermuda.

 

[mmouse37]

We were on the same cruise as you. I'm ready for a warm cruise now. I was a little envious of the b2b cruisers heading to Bermuda.

I know!!! We ran into a lot of B2B cruisers. Our son in law took a pic of the Magic docked in NYC this morning on while on his way into work (Magic was just back from that Bermuda cruise). I am headed back on the Magic on November 10th for the Bahamas (CC) and WDW day. Going with friends this time. Looking forward to hopefully warmer weather!!

I did love how empty our ship seemed to be....hardly any wait for characters but we were shut out of Palo Brunch which I was disappointed about. Heck, its a Platinum perk that many can't even get a chance to use. I tried before the cruise and first day of cruise and again during the cruise about availability and no dice! I think it was mostly adults on that cruise. Kids club told us only 400 kids onboard compared to 800 usually.

MJ

 

[MomOTwins]

I disagree that this is really an issue with DCL's GT bookings. DCL has very few sub-optimal cabins, and you aren't likely to get an inferior cabin when booking GT. You can track the "GT Cabins Assigned" thread to see proof of how many people are pleased with what they get assigned. We've booked GT twice and had good cabins both times.

Lol, I actually was one of the people who excitedly posted in that thread as soon as I got my assignment because it looked like a good cabin, and then hated it once I actually got on board. I don't mean to say that the cabin itself was inferior, but I learned pretty quickly that location is a big deal, at least for us. We were very far forward and had a lot of ship movement (=seasickness), engine vibrations that kept us up at night, were on deck 7 so several flights of stairs up to the pool or down to the entertainment, and we found the elevators awkward because they dropped us off in the adult area of the pool deck (we have kids) and at the opposite end of the ship from the main dining and kids clubs down below. We also did not realize that the ship backed into the ports, so our porthole view was not the greatest. Next cruise, we were midship and absolutely loved it.

 

[Minnie & Daisy]

Cruising + Airfare = thousands of dollars. We prefer to get the most of what we really want instead of just lots of miscellaneous cruises/trips. To each their own. Whatever works for you.

 

[cruiser21]

Cruising + Airfare = thousands of dollars. We prefer to get the most of what we really want instead of just lots of miscellaneous cruises/trips. To each their own. Whatever works for you.

I've gotten to do everything I wanted and more. Even cruises I didn't think I was going to be able to afford such as Iceland and Hawaii. The only cruises I have left that I really want to do is a Northern Europe Baltic cruise, and British Isles cruise. Now that Disney has moved the cruises to August we'll probably do it on another cruise line. We should have taken advantage of some of the better pricing and GT rates when they had the cruises in May and early June.

I'm considering the British Isles on DCl if they keep it in September. I don't just book a cruise because it's discounted I'd be cruising every week if that was the case. I'm selective on what I book.

 

[Voguevamp]

We're on that cruise and booked a few weeks ago solely based on the VGT offer. We also got amazing flights thanks to a Spirit offer. If it helps, you probably got to pick your room whereas I'm still in limbo waiting on the assignment and could end up in an awful room. lol

I've been on both sides of the coin: early booking that ends up going on discount after PIF and getting the offer for last-minute booking. Either way, I booked a cruise that worked for my budget at that time.

I didn't get to pick my stateroom- I had no idea what staterooms to look for or request, and my travel agent told me she surprisingly found one in the 10A category- 7675- and that I should take it. What is PIF- is that paid in full? I paid in full right away- just because I like to have things paid for up front. Does that put me at a disadvantage if I wanted to make changes later?