Sometimes life stinks

[dolphingirl47]

Well, I thought I had it all planned. When I was on the Disney Magic, I booked the Eastbound Transatlantic. We had the Westbound Transatlantic booked for over a year, but I really wanted to do both. I did a lot of adding up and found that between annual leave and lieu days, I had enough vacation time to do both. Today I found out more or less by accident that they have shortened the opening ours over Christmas and that means that they need only two team leaders. As I car share with one of the other team leaders and he is the one that drives, they decided that they would put me down for mandatory leave. That means that I now don't have enough vacation time to do both cruises. I am so upset right now. Now I have to make the decision which cruise to cancel.

Corinna

 

[PoppyAnna]

Don't know enough about the cruises to offer my opinion Corinna but sending to you.

 

[Netty]

oh sorry to hear this Corinna, cant you explain that you have booked already??

 

[mandymouse]

So sorry that you're unable to do both cruises Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

oh sorry to hear this Corinna, cant you explain that you have booked already??

The problem is that we are not able to book leave until the first of the year and we are not supposed to book our holidays until our leave is confirmed. So unfortunately I haven't got a leg to stand on.

Corinna

 

[Pinky166]

Oh no that sucks!

Can't you explain to them that you've already booked your holidays having taken into account all the holiday entitlement you have left/saved....surely they can't force you to take mandatory leave?

 

[dolphingirl47]

Oh no that sucks!

Can't you explain to them that you've already booked your holidays having taken into account all the holiday entitlement you have left/saved....surely they can't force you to take mandatory leave?

No, they cannot, but there is an additional problem. I work 30 minutes drive away from home and I don't drive and we don't own a car. I car share with one of my colleagues. They made it pretty clear that it is one or the other who will be working. As there is no public transport over Christmas, I would have no way to get there. So I have no choice other than staying at home and accepting the mandatory leave.

Corinna

 

[Ware Bears]

Oh no

 

[jjk]

sorry you cant do both cruises

 

[natalielongstaff]

so sorry Corinna xx

 

[Muscateer]

Aww thats not good news about your two cruisies. Could you not take a couple days without pay or work bank holidays?

Workplaces can be so annoying interfering with holidays.

 

[tennisfan]

Sorry to hear this. I agree with Sadie, is it not possible to take unpaid leave?

 

[dolphingirl47]

Aww thats not good news about your two cruisies. Could you not take a couple days without pay or work bank holidays?

Workplaces can be so annoying interfering with holidays.

My whole calculation was based on getting all my lieu days between December 2009 and August 2010. We get a lieu day if we either work on a Bank Holiday or have a rostered day off/:happytv.

Sorry to hear this. I agree with Sadie, is it not possible to take unpaid leave?

Unpaid leave is against company policy. What really annoys me that I still have two weeks leave for this year, vacation time that I neither need nor want this year, but we are not allowed to carry it over to next year either. Only lieu days can be carried over. So I will have a week off next week and will twiddle my thumbs and then again just before Christmas just so that I don't lose the leave.

Anyway, I feel a bit happier now. Rather than cancelling the booking and losing my on board credit and discount, I might try to transfer it to a 4 nighter on the Disney Dream in 2011. I have already got a 7 night cruise booked on the Magic for February 2011 and if I can get a reservation on the Dream for the day after the cruise on the Magic ends, that would be ideal.

I also have not given up on the idea of a solo Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise. I am hoping and expecting that the Disney Magic will come to Europe more or less permanently in 2012. I think it would be rather special to be on the cruise that takes her to her new home.

I am leaning towards canceling the Eastbound as this would have been a solo cruise for me and both of us are booked on the Westbound.

Anyway, there might well be a silver lining to that particular cloud. DH hates Christmas with a passion. So me working over Christmas suits him just fine as he can then just ignore the fact that it is Christmas. When I told him that I would now not be working over Christmas, he asked me what the prices for hotels in Dubai would be like over Christmas. I had a look and there is some good deals around. I have been in Dubai about 18 months ago and loved it. DH has never been. So now I have to check how many days off I will have in a row over Christmas and if I can get staff tickets. If that all works out then hopefully we will fly out of Manchester on Christmas Eve and then come back a few days later hopefully flying on the Airbus A380 into Heathrow (I would love to experience that plane).

Corinna