What is a Disney Cruise Placeholder? It is one of the best ways of saving money on a Disney cruise!
Here we show you how you can use a Disney cruise placeholder booking to save money on your next Disney cruise.
Disney Cruise Placeholder – How Will it Save You Money?
A Disney Cruise Placeholder is sometimes known as a Disney Cruise dummy booking.
This way of booking is only available to you when you are actually sailing on a Disney cruise.
There is no other way to book a Placeholder. You have to be onboard a Disney ship. Once you leave the ship it is too late.
If you book onboard a Disney cruise and book specific dates you can also get discounts and perks.
If you know when you are going to sail with Disney cruises again and you know exactly when it is a good idea to book the exact sailing that you want.
The reason for this is that Disney cruise prices usually go up and not down. Booking earlier usually gives you the best price and also lets you have a better choice of staterooms available.
However, if you do not know which dates you want to book a Placeholder Disney cruise booking is something that you really need to think about.
If you book a Disney Cruise Placeholder or book the actual dates you will get a 10% discount on the current rate of the cruise.
This is obviously a big saving that can easily run into hundreds of dollars.
If you book a Placeholder you will get a reference number to prove that you have paid your $250 Placeholder deposit
In the past, you also got an Onboard Credit. You got a $200 OBC if you book 7 nights or more, and $100 OBC for 3 to 6 nights. This OBC was per stateroom.
However, Disney has now taken away that benefit.
You do not get onboard credit anymore.
How Does a Disney Cruise Placeholder Work?
You cannot use a Placeholder for a 1 or 2-night Disney Cruise.
There really aren’t many 2-night Disney cruises so this is unlikely to matter to you.
It is also not valid for Guaranteed stateroom bookings of IGT, OGT, and VGT. Those are the codes for Inside, Outside, and Verandah Guarantee staterooms.
A Guaranteed Stateroom is where you make a booking for a select category of the stateroom.
You do not pick the stateroom.
Disney will allocate you a stateroom in at least that category. And there is a small chance you may get upgraded.
The discount and reduced deposit are not valid for Concierge staterooms either.
The Placeholder also has the advantage of a reduced deposit on sailings 7 nights and longer.
The snag with a Disney Cruise Placeholder?
It can only be booked when you are onboard a Disney cruise. It is easy though.
You can easily use the Navigator App to make the Placeholder booking.
It used to be that you had to either visit the Future Cruise desk to book or fill out a form and drop it at the desk. However, since sailing restarted the Future Cruise Desk has not been offered.
Right now, due to current changes, the Future Cruise desk is closed. BUT is is very simple to book on the Navigator App when you are onboard.
Can a Disney Cruise First Timer Book a Placeholder?
This is not a benefit that you can book unless you are on the ship.
Therefore it’s not available unless you are already sailing on your first cruise.
However,
There are other ways that everyone can get discounts on a Disney cruise.
See our guide at How To Save Money on a Disney Cruise for more ideas.
Disney Cruise Placeholder FAQ
The Disney Cruise Placeholder is valid for 2 years from the date that you booked.
So you have a good amount of time to decide on which Disney cruise you would like to sail on next.
This really is a no-risk way to get a discount on a Disney cruise. Of course, you have to pay a $250 upfront deposit, but if you change your mind within the 2-year window you get all your money back.
There are some block-out dates that cannot be used for the Placeholder 10% discount. You will still get the Onboard Credit and reduced deposit, but you will not get the Disney Cruise discount.
The block-out dates for all Placeholder and Onboard Disney Cruise booking discounts are:
Disney Wish Sailings
4-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral – 11/20/2023
4-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral – 11/22/2023
3-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral – 12/26/2023
4-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral – 12/29/2023
Disney Fantasy Sailings
7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral – 11/18/2023
7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral – 12/23/2023
7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral – 12/30/2023
Disney Magic Sailings
7-Night Mexican Riviera Cruise from San Diego – 7/18/2023
Disney Dream Sailings
5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Fort Lauderdale – 11/20/2023
5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Fort Lauderdale – 12/23/2023
5-Night Bahamian Cruise from Fort Lauderdale with 2 stops at Disney Castaway Cay – 12/28/2023
You can still use a Placeholder for these but it is of no value as you forfeit the 10% discount.
You can make two Disney Cruise Placeholder bookings per stateroom.
This is in contrast to booking a specific date onboard a Disney cruise.
Then you can only book one cruise per household.
A Disney Cruise Placeholder cannot be used for Concierge staterooms or Guaranteed Stateroom bookings.
When you book a Disney Placeholder Cruise you will specify the guests who are on the booking.
However, as long as the person who made the Placeholder booking is in the finally booked stateroom, then you will still keep your discounts and onboard credit.
A Placeholder is not transferable to anyone else. The person who booked the Placeholder has to be on the final booking.
If you want to use a Travel Agent with a Disney Cruise Placeholder then you can request this on your booking when you are onboard.
If you have already used a Travel agent you can request that the same one is linked to your Placeholder.
If you have not specified a Travel Agent you can do so up to 30 days after you have booked your Placeholder.
The Disney Cruise Placeholder is one of the easiest ways to save money on a Disney cruise. You don’t need to decide which cruise you want to book yet. You have a whole 24 months to book and sail.
The savings are considerable and Onboard Credit will help in paying for gratuities, activities, or anything else that you want to purchase onboard your next Disney cruise.
If you are sailing on a Disney cruise and love it you have to book a Placeholder!
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Alison Meacham is the founder of EverythingMouse Disney Blog. For over 15 years she has shared her love of Disney Parks, Disney Cruises and Universal Orlando. In over 30 years of Disney Travel she has spent countless months in Disney Parks and has sailed on over 45 cruises. A British native and now a United States resident she splits her time between California, Florida and the UK. And spends a serious amount of time sailing the seven seas. She helps over 200,000 people per month follow their Disney travel dreams.
Disney Cruise Placeholder Changes - EverythingMouse Guide To Disney
Sunday 9th of February 2020
[…] the past, if you booked a future cruise onboard a Disney ship, or simply booked a Placeholder where you could decide dates later to be taken within 2 years you got various […]
Kelly
Wednesday 2nd of January 2019
If I take a Disney cruise and want to book a placeholder for myself in addition to 3 other cabins for my sister, brother and parents, can this be done? If I have all of their information and put their names on the reservations?
Thanks Kelly W.
Joni
Friday 16th of November 2018
You said you cant use a place holder on a 3 night cruise. I cant verify this. Is this true?
Alison
Sunday 18th of November 2018
Thank you for pointing this out. The Placeholder can in fact be used on a 3 night cruise - I apologize as this was an error.
You can't use it for 1 or 2 night bookings. You can also use it for Concierge but you would only get the On Board Credit, not the reduced deposit or the discount.
Disney Cruise San Diego 2019Disney Cruise San Diego 2019 - EverythingMouse Guide To Disney
Sunday 5th of August 2018
[…] dates are block out dates for the onboard booking offer. In other words, if you already have a place holder booking held for a future Disney cruise, you cannot use it for these 2 night San Diego cruises. These […]
Disney Cruise Tips107 Disney Cruise Tips and Hacks You Have to Know Before You Sail 2018 - EverythingMouse Guide To Disney
Wednesday 18th of July 2018
[…] $200. Don’t know which Disney cruise you want to sail on next? You can book what is called a Disney Cruise Place Holder and decide at a later date which one you want to sail on. You have two years to sail on a Disney […]