2006 DVC Member Cruise - SSMC06 - October 22, 2006

[WDWLVR]

I am not in this picture, but my van is.

Charles & Kathy (DuckieLuckey & HenniePenny) will be going for the third time!

My wife, son, daughter-in-law and I started dialing into Member Services at 9:00 AM on Saturday. My wife had the land line and the other three of us had cell phones. I got through at 10:10 AM with an eight minute wait. After hearing several recordings and music for about six minutes the phone cut off. I even had the phone charging while I was on hold. I started dialing again and got through about 11:00 AM with a 20 minute wait. After about 15 minutes I was dropped again. Fortunately my son got through on his cell phone at 10:50 AM with a 20 minute wait. I got two good cabins but not the ones that I wanted. It goes without saying, when my Cingular contract comes due for renewal, I will be switching providers.

Charles - you should have joined the party. We had the ohio mouse family, Cheryl & Todd, Amy and her family, and Mark and I. It was fun to meet up with everyone so early.

 

[Diana Lyn]

I spent the morning with the moms club visit to santa, and now I'm struggling to keep up! No more kids activities for my two, that's it!!

I'm just going to chime in about the 3 options for future member cruises. You don't bite that hands that feed you, and I know we are only a few of many many DVC members, but we are fanatics......many of us have been booked on all 3, most of us 2 MCs. Why would they not allow the people who are die hards, go any season, call and wait for 5 hours on the phone, those of us that go to any and every member event continue to book fair and square. By calling in at 9am on Saturday, I had just as good of a chance as every other DVC member. What's not fair about that? I was persistent, I stayed on hold, and I booked how can anyone complain about that?

I vote doing more than 1 per year since the demand is obvious. Personally, while my kids are still small I'd rather go in the off-season to avoid the crowds and "big" kids. Maybe do an off season and a school break one?

 

[WDWLVR]

Wow - a girl goes to work in the morning and a lot happens before lunch


Here's my 2 cents on the whole thing (ok well those that know me know it will be more than 2 cents worth).

#1 - this is something they have been talking about for a while. When we were on the last Member Cruise and talking to the DVC reps in the suite they mentioned wanting to do something to attract new cruisers. There were about 6-8 of us standing around talking (not all DISers) and we all said that attracting new people was fine but we didn't want to be excluded. One suggestion brought up was to have two cruises. A 4-day for new cruisers and a 7 day for veterans.

#2 - DVC does read here and DVC does listen to what its members say. In the same discussion listed above we talked about port options and it was mentioned that CC, sea day, CC would be a great cruise. Looked what happened! (and no I don't think it came out of that one conversation ).

#3 - the phone system is a bit of a lottery but one that doesn't work very well. The problem is the phone system is set up to be efficient 364 days of the year and that one day is always going to be a problem. Anyone who has tried to get hot concert tickets, World Series tickets, etc. knows what I'm talking about.

#4 - I could be wrong. Those of you who have been in DVC longer than I have can answer this. Didn't they used to have a lottery for the holiday weeks? You put your name on a list and you were called if chosen? Might not be the best choice but might be the most fair if they can't book two cruises.

#5 - while I agree that it appears that the DVC cruisers are timed badly for those with school age children they are still very successful. Member Homecoming which was planned for a more family friendly time wasn't as big a success (of course this is apples to oranges but you get my drift).

I would hope that DVC would do some kind of survey before making changes. Finding out if people wanted to book and either couldn't or didn't. If they couldn't - why? Bad phone lines, bad day for calling, etc. If they didn't - why? Too many points, bad time of year, etc. I really hope we wouldn't be excluded from future DVC Member events but if the rules change and we don't make it we'll find other ways to use our Membership for that time and try again.

 

[WDWLVR]

As for the e-mails - here is what is currently up on the site:

Our Vacation Advisors wish to thank you for your patience and for making the entire booking process a seamless experience. We at Disney Vacation Club are looking forward to joining our magical community of neighbors at sea and we're excited you've chosen to be part of this special Member experience. A chart is being plotted for a magical voyage. If you are interested in receiving periodic updates as we begin the countdown to the S.S. Member Cruise 2006, please check back for an online form to submit your e-mail address and informal name in the near future! If you did not provide us with your e-mail address when you confirmed your passage on the sailing and you'd like to receive our electronic newsletter developed exclusively for S.S. Member Cruise 2006 passengers, please email or call Member Services.

Kind of conflicting. One place is says look for the form, then it says to call or e-mail Member Services.

My best advice. Give it a while. I know many of us love to plan every little detail, but honestly if you try to do that you will drive yourselves nuts. Just kind of go with the flow and know that we are in a great group of people who will share information. Once it becomes available we'll all know about it quickly. I don't mean this as a slam against MS but I stand by my comment made weeks ago. If you ask 3 different people a question you very well may get 3 different answers.

Don't worry - be happy - we are going on the Member Cruise!

 

[Duckieluckey]

Mary,

We did talk to you in the parking lot. We just missed being in the picture.

 

[WDWLVR]

Mary,

We did talk to you in the parking lot. We just missed being in the picture.

Sorry my bad - I'm getting old and suffering from CRS. Please forgive me.

 

[MaryJ]

Regarding emails - Oh no!! Boo I want my cruise news!

That being said I found out why you may not have gotten an email. Turns out if you ever have listed a DVC email as SPAM they can not email you unless you send a letter to them stating that you noted them as SPAM in error and state you want emails from DVC.

Apparently Todd listed them as SPAM once.

Cheryl

I don't think I ever did that. I got the Member Clubhouse emails without any trouble, but never got a single one about the SSMC05 until I emailed MS and gave them a different email address to use.

I have to admit that now that I have that all straighened out, I was looking forward to getting those cruise emails. I'm a little bummed.

ETA: Okay, I just read Mary's post with the quote from the DVC website. I just be patient and wait.

 

[WDWLVR]

Julie I think those mailings (the coconut etc) came from DCL. Of course ours come to our home address with John's fathers name on them. He has never been on a Disney cruise and he's not a DVC member Oh and by the way, just because his name is on them doesn't mean I give them to him

Gail - same thing happened at our house. We never got the coconut but when we got the one for the 10 & 11 night sailings it was addressed at our house to my FIL. We never gave it to him

 

[cgcw]

#5 - while I agree that it appears that the DVC cruisers are timed badly for those with school age children they are still very successful. Member Homecoming which was planned for a more family friendly time wasn't as big a success (of course this is apples to oranges but you get my drift).

Mary, I know Member Homecoming was the last week of May. That was the very end of a school year here in our area. IMO, almost worse than a middle of the year trip pulling the kids out of school. I know that was not your intention of your point #5, but I thought I would voice my opinion regarding late May events.....just in case DVC is listening.

One other thought I can tell you most likely, a member event planned at WDW during June, July and August would not be appealing to me at all. Much too hot and crowded for my liking. I know when Cameron gets into Jr. high, we might feel differently (I don't want anyone later reminding me I said that ) but right now, I'm not intersted in those high season events.

I don't know what the answer is and how to make everyone happy. I just know that I would hate having DVC dictate to me when I can or cannot attend an event. I want that to be my decision.....or as Julie said, I might be tempted to take my money elsewhere. Because if they do it once, they will do it again.

Again, just my opinion.

 

[WDWLVR]

Cindy- I agree about the June, July, and August time. We baked at Member Homecoming. This year we did a week in June that tied in with a trade show Mark was going to (our airfare and car were paid for). Having done both of those I don't care to go back. We'll spend two days at the parks in early June after our May cruise but wouldn't pick it if not for that.

 

[Diana Lyn]

. We baked at Member Homecoming.

I seriously don't think I've ever been that hot in my entire life! I start sweating even thinking about sitting there outside Cirque du Soliel!

I'm going to the scrapbooking event at the Contemporary at the end of August and I'm still wondering what I was thinking booking a trip at that time. I'm going without the kids, so that will make it a lot easier.

 

[cgcw]

We baked at Member Homecoming.

That would be an understatment of the day. More like melted.

 

[cgcw]

Diana, GMTA!!!!

OMG, was it hot or what. Even the little portable fans didn't help.

 

[WDWLVR]

Mary, I know Member Homecoming was the last week of May. That was the very end of a school year here in our area. IMO, almost worse than a middle of the year trip pulling the kids out of school. I know that was not your intention of your point #5, but I thought I would voice my opinion regarding late May events.....just in case DVC is listening.

Guess I'm showing my age again. Back when i was in school we were all done and out before Memorial Day. Can you tell I don't have kids.

 

[rsschneck]

I called Disney Visa today and had no problem making sure we received the 0% interest for 6 months on our cash part of the cruise.

I just told the rep. that on Saturday I had a charge for x amount and it went through DVC, but was for a DCL vacation. She said as long as it was DVC or DCL it should have no problem going through as 0%. The rep. did make a note to make sure we would get the special financing.

So, anyone who used their Disney Visa to pay cash for the cruise might want to make a phone call to make sure you get the 0% for 6 months.

 

[mrsdon]

testing the logo

 

[mrsdon]

Ok help
I went to website, cut and pasted
Went to user cp
Now Im stuck

 

[Copper3]

Testing out my signature. I'll post later when I 'm home and have more time.

Copper3

 

[Copper3]

Mark,

The signature images are really cool, thanks for making them. What program did you use to make them?

Jeff

 

[MaryJ]

Ok help
I went to website, cut and pasted
Went to user cp
Now Im stuck

All you need to do is add ] to the end of what you cut and pasted and it should work