5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 6

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Ooh ooh... another TOP with Stacey!

I think we have until the day or two before we sail to cancel excursions without being charged for them....or maybe it was the week before.

It sounds like almost all of us are using DCL's excursions...it's a whole lot safer that way. If we're late returning to the ship, at least we know they won't leave without us!

The dinner time online won't change. They don't list the staggered times in your reservations, just the 8:30 time that has always been DCL's "late" time.

Thanks for all your answers! I wish they'd tell you online "officially" when you'd be able to cancel excursions. LOL

Another question I hadn't thought about- when you book the excursions do you pay for them then or a deposit or something online??

Well DH is scuba diving (not thru DCL) and if we get to do the Mayan Excursion it's not thru DCL either- and I can't find any information on their website about what happens if you're late or your ship doesn't port there at all. But right now they don't even have you pay a deposit- although their website does say keep in mind they may charge deposits if they start accepting credit cards... so that could happen before our cruise date. At that point if they call me to pay a deposit on cc- I'll be asking them what their cancellation/etc. policies are!

The rest we'll do thru DCL... decision decisions! And I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow with booking everything. I hope it actually changes and LETS me book things tomorrow... my TA already said to call him tomorrow if it doesn't let me book online. But I'd so rather just book online and be done with it. LOL

Again thanks for all your answers! I'm the question Queen eh? LOL

 

[justmestace]

Hi 'Manda!


BBB.....your excursions with DCL will be charged to your stateroom account....your account will list each person's name individually with a charge for whatever that person bought or what excursion that person was on. The excursion tickets will be in your room when you arrive, or sometime that first day.
Usually, most non-DCL excursion operators know that there's a chance that your ship might not make it, so they either refund you if you've paid ahead of time, or obviously don't charge you if you don't come. They are also really good at knowing what time the ship arrives, and if your DH is the only one (and Garry) on the scuba tour, the operator will wait if the ship's late.

 

[dzneprincess]

hi back atcha...

 

[justmestace]

hi back atcha...

Thank you!!!

 

[justmestace]

I'm outta here.....I'm beat. Have to go find my teenage girls. They're at a neighbor's house, but it's bedtime. For me, anyway!

 

[dzneprincess]

nightie night sleep tight

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hi 'Manda!


BBB.....your excursions with DCL will be charged to your stateroom account....your account will list each person's name individually with a charge for whatever that person bought or what excursion that person was on. The excursion tickets will be in your room when you arrive, or sometime that first day.
Usually, most non-DCL excursion operators know that there's a chance that your ship might not make it, so they either refund you if you've paid ahead of time, or obviously don't charge you if you don't come. They are also really good at knowing what time the ship arrives, and if your DH is the only one (and Garry) on the scuba tour, the operator will wait if the ship's late.

Ditto the hi Amanda... unless you've gone to bed already too. LOL

Thanks Stacey! Appreciate all your help with my questions!
Yes, Martin (Dive with Martin) said that he'd wait for us... it's just those three (Garry, his son, my DH) going scuba diving in this little group unless someone else wants to join them! hint hint
LOL if not- they'll be the 3 amigos. LOL

 

[scuba diver]

Usually, most non-DCL excursion operators know that there's a chance that your ship might not make it, so they either refund you if you've paid ahead of time, or obviously don't charge you if you don't come.

Well, I almost got burned on this once. In November Mike and I had booked the Dry Tortuga sea plane tour in Key West through an independent. It had to be paid in full at time of booking, $350.

The ship did not dock in Key West and there was no refund. They had a 24 hour cancellation policy, whether your ship docked or not.

I ended up getting our money back because they had to cancel the trip due to high winds. If they did not cancel it was $350 down the drain.

Read the fine print just to make sure, especially if there is a large deposit. That is the only time I had the problem.

Well, there was that time in Coz that I missed the dive boat and lost my money, but that is way diving works. The boats leave and if you are not on it, to bad. They can't hold a boat full of people waiting for a couple of divers.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Oh this stinks so bad!
We booked REAS so we could book excursions/palo/etc. early... and today is the day. I just noticed I could start booking stuff just now BUT the REAS pkg is put on ONE of our staterooms- the one that has Jeff and our son on it.. and it's only allowing me to book for those 2 people- asking me to click by their names for which ones I want on that excursion and such. It is NOT letting me book the girls (all 3 of us are registered in the other reservation/other stateroom) and when I go to THAT reservation- it obviously isn't linked with the REAS pkg and it says to come back at 75 days out/yada yada.

So this means we can't book anything which was the primary reason we did REAS? Because I'm not going to book things just for 2 people! See this is why I asked about this earlier- I was afraid it would only let you book for those in the room with that reservation #.

I emailed my TA but they already said if I had any problems (like it not changing to let me book today because of the REAS pkg) to call them later today when they are open and they'll try to help me or call Disney on Monday. Is there no way to reach Disney to book this stuff except online or wait until Monday? What's the number to CALL in stuff instead of online? ack!

I'm so very very bummed!
(oh and the dolphin excursion isn't even showing on the page to book excursions )

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

When we've traveled with family, I've been able to book everyone's excursions. If I were you, I would pull up the reservation that has your name on it, find the spot for the 1st excusion you want, and when it asks you how many people enter "5". The computer should know automatically that you're booking for your entire family. When I have called before, I just told them "four" and they said "Everyone in your party?" and when I said "Two" they would ask "Which two?" except for Palo, and then they knew it was just Jay and I.

Stacey- what number do you call to book these things?
Online is not working this way. It's only allowing me to book early on the one stateroom that we have the REAS pkg going to- and that is with Jeff/son in it.. the other reservation/stateroom is us girls (3) and it's still saying to wait until 75 days out. I tried to book excursions and it asks if we want jeff or Robert -doesn't let us add more people. I clicked the ? mark there and it said only THOSE people are allowed to book this excursion. It did that for every thing I tried to do. The only thing I was able to book was Palo and it says for ONE person because Jeff is the only adult in that room.

arghhhh So frustrating! I just know everything we want to do is going to be booked and Palo is going to be messed up because of this. I hope they let me add myself because Jeff is not going to Palo without me. LOL

 

[justmestace]

BBB....take one BIG deep breath! Okay now....first, as far as Palo...as long as Jeff has a reservation, you can go. You're good there.

Here's the phone number to call and book your other stuff: 1-877-566-0968.

Better? You'll get it done.

 

[justmestace]

Well, I almost got burned on this once. In November Mike and I had booked the Dry Tortuga sea plane tour in Key West through an independent. It had to be paid in full at time of booking, $350.

The ship did not dock in Key West and there was no refund. They had a 24 hour cancellation policy, whether your ship docked or not.

I ended up getting our money back because they had to cancel the trip due to high winds. If they did not cancel it was $350 down the drain.

Read the fine print just to make sure, especially if there is a large deposit. That is the only time I had the problem.

Well, there was that time in Coz that I missed the dive boat and lost my money, but that is way diving works. The boats leave and if you are not on it, to bad. They can't hold a boat full of people waiting for a couple of divers.

Too true, and good advice...read the fine print and ASK!

 

[justmestace]

Now then! Holy cow....what a pain in the patootie booking online is!
It actually should be easy, the set-up is pretty cool. But.....every concierge and REAS guest must have been online, because I kept getting "Server Busy" especially when trying to book Palo and the spa.

Here's how it works:
You get onto "My Cruise Plans" and once the time for booking has hit, the page will automatically let you begin booking. You can choose to start with Excursions, Palo, Spa, or Children's Registration.
Click on your choice...such as Excursions
It will go to a page with ALL of the available excursions for your cruise, and if you saved any to a Wish List, those will be highlighted
You can only check ONE excursion at a time...so, for example, if you wanted Banana Boats at CC...click that, and it will go to another page listing all of the available days and times.
Click the day/time you want, and the page will come up with your confirmation number.
Then you have to go back to My Cruise Plans and do the same thing for every excursion, spa appointment, Palo meal, etc.

It took forever!

And....yes, it will only let you make Palo resevations for the number of adults listed on your reservation. I tried just for the halibut, and failed.
It will also only let you reserve excursions for your choice of all the people on your reservation, or a few, or one....but there is no way to add anyone else.

And....for example in Cozumel, we're doing Tulum, which according to DCL is an ALL DAY excursion, although we are back by 5:00 and the ship doesn't leave until 10:30. I wanted to reserve the Teen Fury Catamaran cruise for the kids, but it won't even show any other excursions for Cozumel. Apparently, the computer *thinks* we are booked for the whole day.

Also....at Castaway Cay...if you book the Seahorse Snorkel (or whatever) for 9:15, the page won't even show any other excursion until a half hour after your scheduled return time from the 1st excursion.
It took me a minute to figure that one out.

Spa reservations are listed in order of times....for example, I reserved a Hand Ritual and Manicure. The choices came up like this:
Sunday.......10:00
Monday.......10:00
Tuesday......10:00 etc....
Sunday........11:15
Monday........11:15
Tuesday.......11:15 etc...
So if I wanted Monday at 1:00, I had to go down to the middle of the page to find it....whereas the excursions are all listed according to each day, and then the available times. Like this:
Banana Boats:
Sunday...9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30
Friday.....9:00, 9:30......etc.

So after booking my excursions, it threw me off for a second, finding the correct day and time for the spa and for Palo.

It would have gone really smoothly, although somewhat more time consuming than calling on the phone, IF it didn't keep saying "Server Busy".

Now I truly AM going to bed. I started to earlier, but Jay & Jared came home from the games so I talked to them, then the girls came in with some friends, so I talked to them. Then I read for a bit...and by then I decided I may as well stay up and make my reservations.
Good night.

Good Morning, Jim!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thanks for the number.
I agree, it is very time consuming the way you can only do one thing and start all over again and now I'm getting the error page too (I can't even get the cruise plans page to show up- nevermind even trying to book something specific!) so apparently everyone is on now. Everything going like hotcakes I'm sure.

Good news on the palo but it wasn't a deal breaker for us to do that ANYWAY. I just really booked the REAS so we could book early and get the excursions and spa stuff we wanted.

Oy vey.. now it's logged my reservation out and when I put the # and birthdate in it says it has an error THERE- won't even let me log in the reservation number!

 

[justmestace]

Oh bother......I may as well........

 

[TiggerInNY]

I just saw this in another thread about launches for 2006....sorry if it has already been posted..
May 26: A Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the second to fly, is slated to loft the Defense Support Program-23 (DSP-23) missile warning satellite in a launch to be staged from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida

I saw this and mentioned it to DH, AND we are now staying at the Radisson on Friday night..yeah!!!! I will gently mention the dinner at JB's Friday night.

Woo Woo...a T.O.P. in the early morning hours with NASA, the Radisson, JB's and Amanda.

 

[justmestace]

T.O.P.! MARIA! YOU !!!

Shouldn't you be in bed????

 

[justmestace]

Thanks for the number.
I agree, it is very time consuming the way you can only do one thing and start all over again and now I'm getting the error page too (I can't even get the cruise plans page to show up- nevermind even trying to book something specific!) so apparently everyone is on now. Everything going like hotcakes I'm sure.

Good news on the palo but it wasn't a deal breaker for us to do that ANYWAY. I just really booked the REAS so we could book early and get the excursions and spa stuff we wanted.

Oy vey.. now it's logged my reservation out and when I put the # and birthdate in it says it has an error THERE- won't even let me log in the reservation number!

Trust me, if you call tomorrow, you will still get everything you want. It doesn't get tough unless you wait to try to book onboard.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I am sure you are right but the thing is I stayed up for this.. now I have to catch a few hours shut eye before all the things we have going on tomorrow. So basically I won't be able to call until monday and I'm just peeved that this happened. I wanted to book it all tonight and be done with it. *pout*

I am TIRED of seeing this!
We're having a problem with our reservation system that will prevent you from booking your vacation package or retrieving your reservation right now. We're sorry for any inconvenience. Please call your travel agent or call (800) 951-3532 weekdays 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. ET or weekends 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET and our agents will gladly assist you with all your Disney Cruise Line vacation planning needs.

HUGE POUT
It says that everytime I try to log in the reservation #/birthdate. Everyone else get off there, okay? LOL


Now it let me log in (finally) and how FUNNY that if I go to register my son (the only one on that reservation that is a child) -it automatically has my name there to pull up as another registered guest that can check him out! How come it's linked to my name for THAT... but not to get on and book online for all of us? They really should allow you to book for everyone when you have 2 staterooms -link them together so you can do the time consuming task of reservation excursions/etc. for both rooms seperately OR just allow you to add more people up to the amount of your group in both rooms. argh

LOL I booked JEFF for my spa treatment on May 29th- and already most of the times are gone for that date. It's an at sea date- so I'm not surprised. I had to pick a time I didn't really like -cause I only wanted to do it on that day... and hope they can change it to my name later. I wonder if anyone else has ever had this problem booking REAS so they can book early- yet having 2 staterooms with the REAS only on one room!

 

[TiggerInNY]

T.O.P.! MARIA! YOU !!!

Shouldn't you be in bed????

Sorry Stace...I swear, I was doing a post from a quote and didn't realize where it would end up. Sorry about that. And yes, I SHOULD be sleeping. Nature calls and I had to go, now I can't fall back to sleep. But..my..eyes....are.....getting........heavy........very...........heavy. I think I'll try to go to sleep now. I'm on the couch of course.

Nite nite.