What's the best way to book Disney Cruise

[mickeyspal]

Hi All,
We having been browsing the Disney Cruise website and decided we want to try the Norwegian cruise for our next holiday.

For our holidays outside of Disney I always use our travel agent; she always manages to get us good deals, but I'm wondering if it's better to do it our self through Disney.

Does Disney organise transport to - from Dover port
Do they collect & drop off luggage  - from home to Dover & return- (our agent has organised this for previous cruise holidays with Princess)

I would appreciate for anyone who has done the cruise for their thoughts.

Thanks 

[bad-pink-tink]

I was seriously planning a Disney cruise this year for 2018 but when the Autumn schedule was released the cruise I wanted, South Med wasn't listed. So I am going to wait for the 2019 schedule and hopefully it will be listed.

The 4 options I looked into were

1.Booking with my local travel agent
2.Booking direct through Disney cruise website
3.Booking with an Irish Disney specialist travel agent
4.Booking with an American Disney specialist travel agent

Option 1 and 2 would both be basically the same thing. When I talked to my local travel agent, they said they would be using the exact same booking system as I would at home. Any booking options available to them would be available to me at home.

Option 3 turned out not to be a viable option. They would basically be the same as my local travel agent

I decided that I would book through an American Disney Specialist travel agent for a few reason.

1. The travel agency https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/ are the company who run the most active and long running Disney fan message board https://www.disboards.com/

2. The travel agency do regular podcasts about Disney cruises and Disney Parks. They know their stuff, they have been doing Disney travel for may many years

3. There is a very active Disney Cruise section https://www.disboards.com/forums/disney-cruise-line-forum.9/ where a huge amount of posters regularly book cruises with Dreams Unlimited

4. Dreams Unlimited give onboard credit to everyone who books a cruise with them. This is a sliding up scale of the % of your total cruise cost. For me, it would have worked out at $100. This means that I would be in credit by $100 on my onboard account. As far as I could research no other travel agency does this.

Does Disney organise transport to - from Dover port

Yes there are precruise hotels in London where Disney organise bus transfers to Dover from. There are also pickups at Gatwick airport. Dreams Unlimited would have more info about this

Do they collect & drop off luggage  - from home to Dover & return- (our agent has organised this for previous cruise holidays with Princess)

This I am not sure about, you would have to ask

I found out a ton of info by picking a similar cruise in 2017 and getting a free quote from Dreams Unlimited. You send an email to the general email address and a person responded to me in less than 24 hours. Once you have a person assigned to you, you can then email them with questions.

Useful Info I found Out
1. Disney cruises are like flights. The earlier you book, ie the more in advance, the cheaper the price
2. Disney cruise line opens booking approx 18 months before departure dates. For example, the Autumn 2018   . . bookings September to December opened in April 2017
3.Bookings Open on a sliding scale
Platinum Level - people who have been on 10 or more cruise get to book first
Gold Level- people who have been on 5 cruises get to book the day after Platinum
Silver Level- people who have been on 1 to 4 cruises get to book the day after Gold
New Cruisers / general booking the day after gold level
4.Some meals or excursions or onboard extras may be fully booked before general booking opens
5.Research the ports and port excursions yourself. It is often far far cheaper to go DIY at ports than to just just book Disney excursions
6.Be aware though, that if you do DIY excursions, the ship wont wait for you.
7. Disney cruises operate on a cashless system. Things such as shopping, excursions, tips, onboard experiences such as spa treatments, bar tabs etc etc are all charged to your onboard account

I have a ton of other general info, but I would defiantly recommend joining DISBOARDS and researching on the cruise section. You will find people who have been on this itinerary and some very experienced Disney cruisers who will help you.

There is also a ton of people on Disboards who have just been on the British Isles Cruise which also went from and returned to Dover. They will be able to give you lots of advice about the port and transfer options

[mickeyspal]

Hi bad-pink-tink,

thanks for the reply, you have given me lots of info to get started with. I will certainly look at the dreamsunlimited website and the messageboard.

This was a sudden decision to think about a Disney cruise, I initially thought it would be good to go on the cruise for my 60th birthday in 2020, but after watching many youtube videos of the cruise line I couldn't wait that long.
I'm all set to go for the booking for next year but I'm still waiting for a reply from my son & daughter in law if they want to do it, it was only yesterday I asked but how long does it take to say YES. I always take them on holiday with me, especially since I'm on my own now and don't have the nerve to travel alone, so they better hurry up and decide especially as you mentioned the earlier booked the better the price.

Thanks again for your help 

[mickeyspal]

Finally booked the cruise, not our original choice of the Norwegian Fjords, instead we booked the 7 nights Mediterranean from Barcelona in May 2018, deck 5 category 5c. Can't wait but at least i've got DLP in November  to look forward to before our first of hopefully many Disny cruises..

[bad-pink-tink]

Finally booked the cruise, not our original choice of the Norwegian Fjords, instead we booked the 7 nights Mediterranean from Barcelona in May 2018, deck 5 category 5c. Can't wait but at least i've got DLP in November  to look forward to before our first of hopefully many Disny cruises..

oh wow, thats great, thats the one I wanted to do, but they switched the itineraries for 2018 and are doing the Med first instead of in September. Who did you end up booking with, Disney direct or with a travel agent?

[mickeyspal]

Hi bad-pink-tink,

We checked the prices for 3 different cruises from the  official online site Disney Cruise Line, then asked our agent to price same; each time he came in a few hundred pounds cheaper for 2 x staterooms, I then asked dreamsunlimited and their price came very close to our agent, but as dreamsunlimited priced in $ and the currency rate against us we decided it was best to book through our local travel agent.

I'm going to have to start getting myself in shape for all the walking I'l be doing on trips around Italy.

Hope you get your trip sorted.