Re-categorization of Disney Dream & Fantasy rooms eff. Oct 18, 2011!

[onecoolpilot]

I would interpret what DCL said in the letters/emails as "YES" your "existing (dummy) reservation will be subject to the new rates".

onecoolpilot - If I'm understanding your question correctly you have a dummy ressie that you want to transfer to a 2013 date when they are released. The dummy ressie doesn't secure a lower rate when you transfer to the date you want to sail; it only secures the 10% fare reduction, the reduced deposit and the onboard credit. You will pay the prevailing rate at time of booking for your 2013 ressie, it wouldn't matter if you booked your dummy date before or after 10/20/2011.

Hope this makes sense.

Got it. Thanks guys for clearing that up.

 

[onecoolpilot]

Got it. Thanks guys for clearing that up.

Actually, after re-reading your replies, I don't got it. Well, maybe. I was referring to finalizing my dummy res before 10/20.

However, since the 2013 dates aren't out yet, I would still be moving it later on anyway, thus paying whatever the rate is for that 2013 sailing.

So maybe I got it again?

 

[swankybeth]

We are in room 9664 on the March 22 sailing. We picked this room because it is next door to my brother's cabin which is a cat 8B. I am so happy that it was reclassified and we are getting a refund because I was kinda bummed that we were paying for a 6A when there was clearly an obstruction to the verandah. I wonder how they will figure the difference since our cruise price has jumped since we booked it!

 

[HallsofVA]

Actually, after re-reading your replies, I don't got it. Well, maybe. I was referring to finalizing my dummy res before 10/20.

However, since the 2013 dates aren't out yet, I would still be moving it later on anyway, thus paying whatever the rate is for that 2013 sailing.

So maybe I got it again?

If you move your dummy reservation before 10/18, you should be able to book a room at the current categorization, and will be price protected after the categorization goes into effect. But since 2013 bookes aren't likely to come out before Tuesday, you'll likely be moving it only to a 2012 date. However, when/if you decide to move your reservation again, you'll be subject to the new categorization, and any prices in effect at that time (less the 10% rebooking discount.)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yay! We have 5652 & 5654 this weekend on the Dream and 5650 on the Fantasy next April!

We knew what we were getting when we reserved them and now it feels even more like we got a bonus since we won't be paying the higher rate!!

Me too! 5652 in Apr and 5650 Nov 2012! Awesome!
Have a great cruise and post lots of pics if you get time.

 

[BealsRwe]

Thanks! Sailing on the Dream in 12 days in 5680...moving to a 7A. We had originally booked an inside, and decided to swap to a 9A GTY (same fare). When we got the stateroom assignemnt for our 9A, I opted to spend an extra $72 for an 8A...got a little pixie dust to this new 7A cat. I know it's above the district...but we prefer aft, and 5 is close to the kids clubs. 5 is our favorite deck on the Magic and Wonder...yay for sailing on the Dream soon!

 

[Anal Annie]

I freely admit I haven't followed all the threads about the rooms on the Dream or Fantasy but I do have a dummy placeholder date that I need to move forward so want to pick a decent room while I'm doing it. (Not sure yet if the date will "stick" or not.) I don't like the shorter cruises but prob. can't afford a 7 night so I'm disappointed there's no 5 nighters listed. But ANYWAY, I have to make a decision so I would be interested in seeing pics of some of the rooms that were reclassified from the Cat 5A's, B's, C's & E's to be 7A's. Isn't there a thread with pics for some of the Dream rooms?? Can someone point me to that thread?! THANKS MUCH!!

(Also want to see the OV rooms that have been reclassified as if we DID do a shorter cruise I'd be interested in skipping the balcony...)

 

[Silverfox97]

I freely admit I haven't followed all the threads about the rooms on the Dream or Fantasy but I do have a dummy placeholder date that I need to move forward so want to pick a decent room while I'm doing it. (Not sure yet if the date will "stick" or not.) I don't like the shorter cruises but prob. can't afford a 7 night so I'm disappointed there's no 5 nighters listed. But ANYWAY, I have to make a decision so I would be interested in seeing pics of some of the rooms that were reclassified from the Cat 5A's, B's, C's & E's to be 7A's. Isn't there a thread with pics for some of the Dream rooms?? Can someone point me to that thread?! THANKS MUCH!!

(Also want to see the OV rooms that have been reclassified as if we DID do a shorter cruise I'd be interested in skipping the balcony...)

Annie, Don't know if you are following - the 2013 dates are open for Fantasy/Dream and the Cat 7A are CHEAPER than the the oceanview and inside rooms!!! You should grab one - you can always change later.............. It's almost like a secret verandah!!!

 

[Silverfox97]

My TA just posted this about re-categorization of staterooms on Disney Dream and Fantasy.

NOTE - The emails from DCL posted in subsequent pages don't seem to mention the 20th date mentioned below. I don't know if the 20th was a typo or anything in the original message posted, or reflects an enforcement date that isn't widely published but designed to reflect a grace period or something. Personally, I'd contact DCL or your travel agent before I counted on them honoring something booked on the 19th or 20th, or you can be safe and make any bookings or adjustments prior to the 18th which is the date in the emails.

Effective October 18, 2011, Disney Cruise Line will be re-categorizing 120 staterooms due to the unique features of each stateroom. Reservations booked prior to October 20 will be price protected if the resulting change is a higher category, but will receive a rate adjustment if the resulting change is for a lower category. The five new categories are:

4E – Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah – Oversized Verandah
5E – Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah – Oversized Verandah, some with solid white wall
7A – Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Navigator Verandah, Undersized or Obstructed Verandah
9C – Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom, One Porthole, Obstructed View
9D – Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom, One Porthole, Obstructed View – limited view of ocean

Here is a list of the staterooms affected by the change:

Previously Category 9A

Now Category 9C: 7000 – 7004, 7500 – 7502, 8000 – 8004, 8500 – 8502

Now Category 9D: 6000 – 6006, 6500 – 6504, 7006 & 7504, 8006 & 8504

Previously Category 6B

Now Category 7A: 5180 & 5680, 5188 & 5688, 6178 & 6678, 7182 & 7680

Now Category 5E: 6190 & 6690, 6192, 7190 – 7194, 7688 – 7690

Previously Category 6A

Now Category 7A: 8176 & 8674, 9164 & 9664

Now Category 5E: 8184 – 8188, 8682 – 8684, 9170 – 9176, 9670 – 9674, 10158 – 10166, 10658 – 10664

Previously Category 5E

Now Category 7A: 5024 & 5524

Now Category 4E: 5026 – 5052, 5150 – 5164, 5526 – 5552, 5650 – 5664

Previously Category 5C

Now Category 7A: 7022 & 7520, 7170 & 7668

Previously Category 5B

Now Category 7A: 8022 & 8520, 8164 & 8662

Previously Category 5A

Now Category 7A: 9012 & 9512, 9152 & 9652

The changes definitely go into effect today - we booked for March 9, 2013 on the Fantasy, and 8188 is now a Cat 5E. On our two 2012 Fantasy cruises, we booked Cat 6A rooms (9674 and 8188).

 

[LuvEeyore]

Got our upgrade info yesterday for our Fantasy trip Dec 15, 2012. We were in a 6a that was recatagorized to a 5E. Got a copy of the email from the TA

 

[cloudnut220]

Still no official word from DVC or DCL on whether there will be any adjustment for a cruise booked on points. In fact, I'm looking at my cruise reservation now and it still says I'm in a 9A, even though the room has been reclassified as a 9D. Is anyone seeing their changes on their reservation?

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie, Don't know if you are following - the 2013 dates are open for Fantasy/Dream and the Cat 7A are CHEAPER than the the oceanview and inside rooms!!! You should grab one - you can always change later.............. It's almost like a secret verandah!!!

EEEK! I've been out all day & just saw this! I need to find that thread with the pics of all these balconies!! STAT!! LOL

 

[mmouse37]

Why was 5524 reclassified....obstruction or small verandah or what??? My parents are interested in that cabin and I need to tell them why it was reclassified before they book.

MJ

 

[Silverfox97]

EEEK! I've been out all day & just saw this! I need to find that thread with the pics of all these balconies!! STAT!! LOL

Try the thread HallsofVa started :
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2586763

 

[Anal Annie]

Why was 5524 reclassified....obstruction or small verandah or what??? My parents are interested in that cabin and I need to tell them why it was reclassified before they book.

MJ

I looked at the room report for 5024 (which I'm guessing is just on the opposite side of the ship) and it was HORRIBLE. NOBODY liked it. Partial obstruction...1/2 depth, no privacy, loud, near kids club, over theater - it went on & on & on!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Try the thread HallsofVa started :
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2586763

thank you!! (that's the one I was looking for!) off to research!!

 

[Silverfox97]

thank you!! (that's the one I was looking for!) off to research!!

You are welcome & good luck!!! You are savvy enough on your own, but I think you will find Spring Break & late summer (August) to be the best deals for "peak" season 2013.....June/July are nuts (we're waiting for Wonder/Magic 2013).

 

[Valencia Joe]

Hi!

I am very excited about this room. I am not worried about the elevators, I like being close to the stairs and elevators. Never had a problem with noise. I am just a wee bit concerned being so close to the theaters. Still not too worried...actually kinda excited beacuse we are always running in late to the shows (now we will be close!!!) I always post a room report. We sail April 21st! I didn't even know it had an extended verandah until 2 days ago...silly me. So excited!!

We too have 5052 on the Fantasy for the July 21 cruise. I am happy that the room has a larger verandah. What is wierd is that when I checked with the Disney Cruise website, our category is still listed as 5E, though 5052 has been recatorized to 4E.

 

[HallsofVA]

Why was 5524 reclassified....obstruction or small verandah or what??? My parents are interested in that cabin and I need to tell them why it was reclassified before they book.

MJ

MJ - The 5024/5524 rooms were two of the worst verandahs on the ship. Not only did they not have the super extended verandahs that all of the other original 5Es had, what verandah opening they had was heavily obstructed by the metal panels. To make it worse, there was a complete lack of privacy to both the room and the verandah since the people in the extended old 5E verandah next door (5x26) basically looked right into the room (not just the verandah) from their extended space. So heavily obstructed, not expanded, and no privacy for those rooms. DCL apparently stopped booking them unless there was nothing else left given the amount of complaints, and now they've finally downgraded them.

 

[Anal Annie]

You are welcome & good luck!!! You are savvy enough on your own, but I think you will find Spring Break & late summer (August) to be the best deals for "peak" season 2013.....June/July are nuts (we're waiting for Wonder/Magic 2013).

I have no idea when our spring break will be from one year to the next so I don't plan that until we get the official word from the county for the next years school calendar (we bounce between the week before & the week after Easter) and they won't publish it until NEXT spring. DS swims year round but summer swim season runs thru the end of July and our school starts back up the last week of August and runs thru mid-June. SOOO we are pretty much limited to the first 3 weeks of August for our vacations...sometimes with our DVC points I try to book a few days starting on August 16 'cuz that's when the points drop seasons.

I studied the deck plans & what room reports I could find & squinted at those pics on that old thread (thank you again for that link) and eventually picked #8662 to request. It WAS a Cat 5B, reclassified to a 7A. Appeared to be non-connecting & the obstruction from the curvature of the ship really looked quite minimal. It is AFT (which I prefer over FWD) and I really couldn't see anything too bad about it from the pics that I could find. (I never found any of the inside tho.) Probably the most negative thing about it is that it's right off the AFT elevators / stairs. So I ended up emailing our DU TA to move us to this room on the Aug. 11th 4 nighter simply because I reallllllly can't plan that far out BUT I wanted to get opening day pricing. I think the shorter cruises are overpriced on a per night basis BUT we just finished a Med cruise on the Magic and I want to try one of the new ships next. We've got 4 cruises in so our next one will get us to Gold. I'm good with the idea of a 4 nighter just to seal that deal. We can combine it with a trip to WDW and have a combined 8-10 night trip.

FWIW I compared this one to one of the new 9C's (used to be 9A) and there was only $202 diff. so I thought the balcony was worth that much. I also compared this one to a 7 night Western in August in the same room. The per night price (after our rebooking discount) for the 3 of us worked out to be $755 / night on the 4 nighter and $672 / night for the 7 nighter. The longer cruises are definitely a better value on a per night basis. But the 7 N Western was MORE THAN WHAT WE JUST PAID FOR OUR MED CRUISE (in a 5C). (The 7 night was approx. $1,687 more.)