Multi-room reservation - switching assigned passengers?

[DCLMP]

And charges are linked to your KTTW card or Magic Band associated with your name. Always present your printed KTTW card and it should be okay. Yes?

Can you think of a charge where this isn’t the case? I don’t do extra spending, so I can’t see any problems.

The band is linked to your name and room the room that you are supposed to be in. It shouldn't be a problem in this case. I could see it be confusing if it was a group of friends all trying to pay there own charges.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

My wife and I have done this at least twice, each of us being the lead. But this was just for five people and two rooms.
Once on board we went to Guest Services and changed people to the appropriate rooms, including my wife to my room. And it was never a problem.

The stateroom price did not change after making the changes. The only thing that we did have to fix was the stateroom credit that we each got as leads followed my wife. The person that helped us was able to switch it to the couple that stayed in the stateroom that was initially booked under my wife's name.

Hopefully they have not changed the rules; because we are doing the same thing on our next sailing on the Fantasy later this year.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We will be having a similar issue when sailing in April with another couple. We used a placeholder to book one cruise but plan to change dates and use the 2nd linked placeholder to book our friends. The only way to use the placeholder on their cabin is to put one of us in their room.
They have sailed DCL once before but are not big into Disney compared to us. I already know they would never wear that big chunky lanyard.

I do recall from past cruises with other friends where we traded kids to get the discount on both cabins. At check in, I was able to designate who was financially responsible for whom. That was easy and before the days of Magic bands.

So the room charging/financial aspect is an easy fix but now that dh and I use our bands onboard, I don’t know what to do about that. If we buy them their own bands, we could just trade them while onboard and avoid using them to charge anything. Their one and only Disney cruise was in 2011, when the Dream was brand new, so God knows when they’ll ever use the bands again. That feels like a waste of money.
I guess we really only need to buy one band to trade.

 

[ljhayes]

The only way to use the placeholder on their cabin is to put one of us in their room.

You shouldn't need to have one of you in each cabin. You should be able to book one for the two of you and one for the two of them. If you're trying to get a higher castaway benefit for each room, that's a separate issue.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You shouldn't need to have one of you in each cabin. You should be able to book one for the two of you and one for the two of them. If you're trying to get a higher castaway benefit for each room, that's a separate issue.

My TA said we do. Maybe that is outdated info?

 

[holula]

You shouldn't need to have one of you in each cabin. You should be able to book one for the two of you and one for the two of them. If you're trying to get a higher castaway benefit for each room, that's a separate issue.

This is the correct info. The second placeholder is issued in the name of TBA and you can use it for whoever you want.

 

[lanejudy]

My TA said we do. Maybe that is outdated info?

I don't know that it's ever been required, but that is a common misconception about using placeholders.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I don't know that it's ever been required, but that is a common misconception about using placeholders.

It’s common because when placeholders were first created, it was announced that people could book 2 per household but both would have to be used for the same household. Some families are large enough to not fit in one cabin. That was the purpose of the 2nd placeholder.

 

[lanejudy]

It’s common because when placeholders were first created, it was announced that people could book 2 per household but both would have to be used for the same household. Some families are large enough to not fit in one cabin. That was the purpose of the 2nd placeholder.

Both have to be used on the same cruise not necessarily with occupants from the same household -- though I agree the need for families to split across staterooms is quite likely the reason 2 placeholders are allowed.

 

[ljhayes]

it was announced that people could book 2 per household but both would have to be used for the same household

I don't believe this was ever a requirement.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I asked my TA to double check with DCL.
I’ll let you know when I get an answer.

 

[dobball23]

My wife and I have done this at least twice, each of us being the lead. But this was just for five people and two rooms.
Once on board we went to Guest Services and changed people to the appropriate rooms, including my wife to my room. And it was never a problem.

The stateroom price did not change after making the changes. The only thing that we did have to fix was the stateroom credit that we each got as leads followed my wife. The person that helped us was able to switch it to the couple that stayed in the stateroom that was initially booked under my wife's name.

Hopefully they have not changed the rules; because we are doing the same thing on our next sailing on the Fantasy later this year.

It sounds to me like you officially changed rooms (rather than just getting blank key cards). Was this recently? Please let us know how it goes on the Fantasy later this year. We're going on the Dream in early December and we'd like to officially change the rooms we're assigned to once on board.

 

[BamaBornNemoNut]

It sounds to me like you officially changed rooms (rather than just getting blank key cards). Was this recently? Please let us know how it goes on the Fantasy later this year. We're going on the Dream in early December and we'd like to officially change the rooms we're assigned to once on board.

dobball23 - Even though I’m replying to your post, I don’t have specific info regarding the Fantasy or the Dream. Each ship may indeed be different so all I can do is give you my very recent experience on the Magic. Three reservations each having been from onboard placeholders (2 households involved so one PH from my Platinum married adult daughter and two from my household (platinum & pearl). Placing my husband on one reservation with silver CC cruiser and myself on the other reservation with other silver CC cruiser. Maximizing benefits was our goal and knowing DCL doesn’t care who sleeps where, we thought we would get GS to provide ‘extra’ KTTW cards for us.

Prior to our first night Palo’s reservation for eight adults (originally from three platinum/Pearl staterooms), we visited GS who informed us that no longer would we be allowed to have extra stateroom cards. Reason was for ‘security’. They instead would switch us on the reservation…..

Now, at Palo’s, this was going to subject us to losing the benefit X 3. ($150 total). So two of us promptly went back to GS and switched back. We gave our cards to each other and agreed to switch when getting off the ship and since it was a 3 night cruise it was fine but this was our experience a month ago on the Magic.

 

[dobball23]

dobball23 - Even though I’m replying to your post, I don’t have specific info regarding the Fantasy or the Dream. Each ship may indeed be different so all I can do is give you my very recent experience on the Magic. Three reservations each having been from onboard placeholders (2 households involved so one PH from my Platinum married adult daughter and two from my household (platinum & pearl). Placing my husband on one reservation with silver CC cruiser and myself on the other reservation with other silver CC cruiser. Maximizing benefits was our goal and knowing DCL doesn’t care who sleeps where, we thought we would get GS to provide ‘extra’ KTTW cards for us.

Prior to our first night Palo’s reservation for eight adults (originally from three platinum/Pearl staterooms), we visited GS who informed us that no longer would we be allowed to have extra stateroom cards. Reason was for ‘security’. They instead would switch us on the reservation…..

Now, at Palo’s, this was going to subject us to losing the benefit X 3. ($150 total). So two of us promptly went back to GS and switched back. We gave our cards to each other and agreed to switch when getting off the ship and since it was a 3 night cruise it was fine but this was our experience a month ago on the Magic.

Thanks for the info. Our reason for wanting to switch once we're on board is because we split my wife and me (both Gold) with my parents (first-time DCL cruisers) to time our check-ins together and to use a placeholder on each room. If they change our room vs. give us extra key cards like you experienced, that would be our ideal situation. Then we could use our MagicBand+ appropriately and not have to figure out any room charging (not that we spend much on a cruise).

 

[otten]

Here is our scenario -- we have 5 rooms booked on the Magic coming up over Thanksgiving. I booked through Costco and they assigned our room numbers at time of booking. Now that we've reviewed the layout (and figured out which rooms are connecting), I'd like to change what rooms we have assigned to our party. Additionally, our teenage/early adult kids now would like to switch room assignments to be with each other (but on the original booking, I have them in different groupings). At least one person is over age 18 in each room, so I don't think we have any restrictions due to ages. Without using the actual room numbers or names, let me try to explain with an example using just 3 of our 5 rooms:

As Booked
Room 1234: Person 1, Person 2, Person 3, Person 4
Room 1235: Person 5, Person 6
Room 1236: Person 7, Person 8

What I Want
Room 1234: Person 7, Person 2, Person 3, Person 4
Room 1235: Person 1, Person 8
Room 1236: Person 5, Person 6

From what I've read, it sounds like I can do this once we're on the boat and hopefully get it all straightened out so that room charges, MagicBand+, etc all work right. But I'm wondering if there's a way for me to do this now -- either via Costco or direct with Disney? Now that our excursion/activity booking window opened up, it's causing a bit of a headache for things like couples massages where the reservation is by room, but I don't have the right people assigned together in the same room.

Any insight would be appreciated...I know I need to call, but like to be armed with information from this forum before making the call.

If you move people now you may find yourself having to pay additional fare based on whatever the current price of the sailing is. To avoid this it's better to wait until you are on board.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks for the info. Our reason for wanting to switch once we're on board is because we split my wife and me (both Gold) with my parents (first-time DCL cruisers) to time our check-ins together and to use a placeholder on each room. If they change our room vs. give us extra key cards like you experienced, that would be our ideal situation. Then we could use our MagicBand+ appropriately and not have to figure out any room charging (not that we spend much on a cruise).

I don't have a solution for the Disney band dilemma, other than having your in-laws buy bands too and then trading bands accordingly and avoid using those traded bands for purchases.

It’s easy to designate the person with financial responsibility for each passenger when you complete online check in and your reservations are linked. This means each passenger can use their official, printed room key to charge purchases onboard and it won’t have to be paid by his/her roommate.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Both have to be used on the same cruise not necessarily with occupants from the same household -- though I agree the need for families to split across staterooms is quite likely the reason 2 placeholders are allowed.

I stand corrected.

Our TA checked with Disney and was told that as long as the placeholder says “TBD” as the name, it can be used for anyone but it needs to stay linked to the other placeholder that has my full name on it.

Thanks everyone!
We’re Pearl and don’t have to worry about a PAT but we’ll either hang out and board later with our friends or just meet them onboard.

 

[dobball23]

Thanks for all of the insight -- armed with this info, I contacted Costco (who proceeded to conference call in Disney). All the advice here was right on (and ultimately I was unable to change anything and will have to do it when we board). Here's a summary for anyone else in the same scenario:

1. You cannot move all the guests out of a stateroom or it is considered a cancellation.
2. One of my swaps was to put a 20 year old with other teenagers, and as noted above, this also isn't allowed until onboard.
3. I am moving around due to the connecting staterooms (i.e. which families will be connected to share bathrooms), just to answer the question by @Girl of the South.
4. I think we will be able to get it all resolved when we board, just will take a bit of time at customer service.

Lesson learned -- before finalizing with Costco (or even Disney), make sure to vet the room assignments ahead of time.

I think your cruise should be coming up soon. Let us know how it all works out for you.

 

[Bmlors]

Just back from our cruise and I wanted to follow-up on the room/passenger transfer process. In short, I went to Guest Services and they were able to take care of everything easily. Since I had a lot of changes, I had pre-printed a sheet showing which passengers I wanted in each room. They made the adjustments, re-printed KTTW cards (we threw away the originals) and then were able to re-program our MagicBands. You do have to physically have the MagicBands with you, as they physically scan them to set them up.

The only minor speed bump was when we went up to the rooms and found out that one of the rooms we put 4 people in couldn't accommodate 4 (it didn't have the pull-down bed from the ceiling). Apparently Guest Services doesn't know which rooms sleep 4 and which ones don't, so they just took what I told them. So, we figured it out at the staterooms, then I went back down to Guest Services and shuffled around again with 2 rooms. Not a big deal.

Overall, it took less than a half hour and we were set for the rest of the cruise!

 

[dobball23]

Just back from our cruise and I wanted to follow-up on the room/passenger transfer process. In short, I went to Guest Services and they were able to take care of everything easily. Since I had a lot of changes, I had pre-printed a sheet showing which passengers I wanted in each room. They made the adjustments, re-printed KTTW cards (we threw away the originals) and then were able to re-program our MagicBands. You do have to physically have the MagicBands with you, as they physically scan them to set them up.

The only minor speed bump was when we went up to the rooms and found out that one of the rooms we put 4 people in couldn't accommodate 4 (it didn't have the pull-down bed from the ceiling). Apparently Guest Services doesn't know which rooms sleep 4 and which ones don't, so they just took what I told them. So, we figured it out at the staterooms, then I went back down to Guest Services and shuffled around again with 2 rooms. Not a big deal.

Overall, it took less than a half hour and we were set for the rest of the cruise!

Glad to hear you had a good experience and everything worked out great! Fingers crossed we have the same good outcome with a simpler switch (just 2 people switching rooms).