My 9th DCL Cruise May Be My Last

[steves100]

Honestly, I have learned not to expect much from DCL regarding a cast member screwup in booking matters.

My first OBB we booked a set of connecting ocean view rooms for my family of 5, but when I received the confirmation from my TA upon return, the guy at the OBB desk had booked only one of them, and someone else booked the connecting room (which was the last set of connecting rooms in the category for the sailing). Instead of contacting us on the ship and give us an opportunity to fix it, he booked the other room (we had 3 kids aged between 2 and 7) on a different deck on the other end of the ship. Disney would do nothing to fix it and accused me of lying about the connecting rooms. They would not even give us the $200 OBC we had to miss out on in upgrading to a Cat 4 so we could be together for our trouble. So I am not a big believer in pixie dust.

This is the reason you make the booking when you get home, then pick your room...

I like the new system that you have 2 years to make your reservation.


I would have flipped out after finding this out. Disney in our experience has never not FIXEd issues, I assume they hooked you up for THEIR mistake.

 

[steves100]

Did they comp you anything for the problems???

Yes, DCL sent us chocolate covered strawberries to our rooms and a large Stitch for the birthday girl. The CM on the ship were very nice to us, so unlike the port staff.

THATS IT??????

They didnt credit you for your next cruise????

 

[Flossbolna]

Did they ever tell you who changed your reservation? It makes me think money was involved. Scenario: you have booked your two rooms,then someone oboard wants to book the same rooms, for the same dates. Crew: Sorry Sir, that room is not available. Obnoxious passenger: here is $100. Is it available now?

otherwise, where is the motive to just change someone else's room number?

Well, it is possible that the rooms that the OP had booked had to be taken out of use because of emergency repairs. However, if that is the case, they obviously need to try to accommodate the affected cruisers immediately and discuss options with them and not play dumb at the check in desk. I would have understood if this happened at a port different from Port Canaveral as the people there are just people from the port itself. At Port Canaveral I understand that they are real CMs though.

 

[RedSox68]

Well, it is possible that the rooms that the OP had booked had to be taken out of use because of emergency repairs. However, if that is the case, they obviously need to try to accommodate the affected cruisers immediately and discuss options with them and not play dumb at the check in desk. I would have understood if this happened at a port different from Port Canaveral as the people there are just people from the port itself. At Port Canaveral I understand that they are real CMs though.

You're right -- at port they are Disney employees. I find it impossible to think that (1) they did not notify this person that they had done this (for whatever ridiculous reason) and (2) that no notes were on their reservation when they checked in so that the port personnel could explain it better instead of playing dumb!

 

[laceltris3]

Wouldn't your travel agent/company have some responsibility in this?

Not when it was the actual DCL cast member who made the booking onboard. And then messed it up. And then hid it so we would not find out about it until after the cruise was over. Why would my TA be responsible for the lies of the DCL agent?

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Did they ever tell you who changed your reservation? It makes me think money was involved. Scenario: you have booked your two rooms,then someone oboard wants to book the same rooms, for the same dates. Crew: Sorry Sir, that room is not available. Obnoxious passenger: here is $100. Is it available now?

otherwise, where is the motive to just change someone else's room number?

My thought is call center employees are under pressure to meet certain sales goals. So a customer calls in and wants connecting rooms on the OP's cruise. CM looks and can't find any connecting rooms, spending lots of time with this customer. Customer says it has to be that cruise and connecting rooms or they'll hang up without booking. CM says "let me see what I can do." So he finds OP's connecting rooms. Oops they get cancelled and rebooked as GTY (or *GT, it is somewhat unclear). Suddenly there are two desirable connecting rooms available for the CM to book the new caller into.

 

[steves100]

that's pretty screwed but rule number one, do not let details ruin your trip. Things happen, there are always oversells, cancellations, delays and thing you have no control of. That is the problem of overplanning everything down to the last minute Have a good time and ask for a generous credit when you back.

DETAILS???????

You got to be kidding me. They moved their adjoining room, to a cheaper place on the ship. This has NOTHING to do with over planning!!!

 

[RedSox68]

My thought is call center employees are under pressure to meet certain sales goals. So a customer calls in and wants connecting rooms on the OP's cruise. CM looks and can't find any connecting rooms, spending lots of time with this customer. Customer says it has to be that cruise and connecting rooms or they'll hang up without booking. CM says "let me see what I can do." So he finds OP's connecting rooms. Oops they get cancelled and rebooked as GTY (or *GT, it is somewhat unclear). Suddenly there are two desirable connecting rooms available for the CM to book the new caller into.

So they cancel one passenger's connecting rooms -- which were requested -- to fulfill another passenger's request for connecting rooms to make a sale? Maybe causing the original passenger to cancel altogether for screwing up their reservation? I hope Disney isn't sinking that low or they really will have some major backlash

 

[The Sasquatch]

i would of been a complete savage in the terminal

 

[steves100]

I wonder if Disney was using a call center in another country...

Thats a pretty racist question. But NO DCL is in USA and answered by Americans...

 

[RedSox68]

DETAILS???????

You got to be kidding me. They moved their adjoining room, to a cheaper place on the ship. This has NOTHING to do with over planning!!!

Sorry, but every time you post, with that avatar, all I can hear is Lewis Black's voice screaming in frustration

 

[Maggie'sMom]

So they cancel one passenger's connecting rooms -- which were requested -- to fulfill another passenger's request for connecting rooms to make a sale? Maybe causing the original passenger to cancel altogether for screwing up their reservation? I hope Disney isn't sinking that low or they really will have some major backlash

I didn't say that's what DCL wanted done, but it could have been done by a CM who was thinking "I'll get this sale and not have to deal with the fallout." I have heard of similar scenarios happening at hotels where guests have booked a certain room type only to arrive at the hotel and find out a reservationist cancelled their original reservation and booked them into a lesser room type so they could book someone else into the room type the original customer had. Who's to say an employee couldn't do the same with a cruise line?

 

[steves100]

Sorry, but every time you post, with that avatar, all I can hear is Lewis Black's voice screaming in frustration

Thats on purpose

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I didn't say that's what DCL wanted done, but it could have been done by a CM who was thinking "I'll get this sale and not have to deal with the fallout." I have heard of similar scenarios happening at hotels where guests have booked a certain room type only to arrive at the hotel and find out a reservationist cancelled their original reservation and booked them into a lesser room type so they could book someone else into the room type the original customer had. Who's to say an employee couldn't do the same with a cruise line?

Certainly a cruise line employee could do the same. But, I'm fairly certain, if that's what happened, I would think DCL could track that down and the employee wouldn't be an employee still.

But, just strawberries and a plushie, wouldn't smooth it over for me.

 

[RedSox68]

Certainly a cruise line employee could do the same. But, I'm fairly certain, if that's what happened, I would think DCL could track that down and the employee wouldn't be an employee still.

But, just strawberries and a plushie, wouldn't smooth it over for me.

Exactly. If Disney is aware of this and doesn't take action against the employee who thought it was okay to do, then they are failing in customer service big time.

 

[Disney Divva]

THANKS so much for sharing your story!! Definately "word to the wise".

 

[bringmethathorizon]

i feal that i am a reasonable person UNTIL i fell i have been wronged..when i had the documents ,luggage tags with room #s and everything and they still insisted it was my fought. i would have been in jail. my meds are not that strong

 

[aprincessatlast]

i feal that i am a reasonable person UNTIL i fell i have been wronged..when i had the documents ,luggage tags with room #s and everything and they still insisted it was my fought. i would have been in jail. my meds are not that strong

 

[Ajojo]

I wonder who got the rooms you originally booked?

Chatted briefly with the new occupants in my connecting room when looking for my luggage - a platinum level travel agent.

Any vindictive people in your life who have access to the relevant info that could have gotten things changed around?

Though I still don't know how it could have gone from a real stateroom number to a GTY, and I don't know how it didn't trigger an email to you. Or a refund. Or an extra charge.

No vindictive people that I can think of.

At the port and on the ship, I was told that the operator used a code to change one of my rooms to a "GTY" status. No one would tell me what that code was. I would be interested to know what code or situation could change my reservation and allow my family to be split apart. Later, the CM told me that this was done in a way where no flag was triggered to Disney alerting them of a change. They were conducting an investigation.

I did ask if there was a refund owed or will there be an extra charge and I was told that they would get back with me. Nothing yet.

So even after they admitted that DCL changed the room they still lectured you about purchasing a cheaper guarantee room? Right there is when I probably would have lost it with them .

The port personnel never admitted that there was a mistake. Basically, they just kept telling me that I was a liar without using the word "liar". It wasn't until the next day that I found someone who looked at my records and told me that this needs to be reported and investigated.

Did they ever tell you who changed your reservation?

No, just an operator using code ????. No person I spoke with told me the code.

I find it impossible to think that (1) they did not notify this person that they had done this (for whatever ridiculous reason) and (2) that no notes were on their reservation when they checked in so that the port personnel could explain it better instead of playing dumb!

No notification of any sort was provided that's why we were all totally shocked at the port. I had just called days earlier and there was no mention of any changes when I requested that the birthdays be celebrated. There was one birthday person in each of my rooms.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I will be sending DCL an email to see if I can get any further information on what happened and why so I can be comfortable before booking again.

 

[xlxo]

Thats a pretty racist question. But NO DCL is in USA and answered by Americans...

Sorry wasn't meant it that way. A lot of companies now use call centers outside of North America. There's a lot of accents in addition to the base language.