Back a day early from CR, 14th floor.

[Kimberle]

Last Sat we left 3 hours late due to Ivan. We just sat in the airport with nothing moving for a good 2 hours. Spirit couldn't tell us anything. What a horrible airline, they didn't even have a PA system.

We stayed on the Concierge floor (14th) of the Contemporary. It was beautiful. We got our requested view of the bay lake. From the lounge, we could see the MK & other MK resorts. We watched Wishes from the balcony nearly every night. They had the music piped in too. The staff was very nice and friendly. No towel animals or anything.

The weather was good, only some rain 2 days. It wasn't to hot & humid, hot, but bareable.

On Thurs, we noticed that Jeanne was going to come calling. We had a flight out early Sun morning and our last night already paid for at the airport Hyatt. Spirit wouldn't let us move the flight up without a penalty and the Hyatt would't refund out money. They both said, Jeanne wasn't "scheduled" to cause a problem in Orlando. Funny, I guess they don't follow the news.....

Friday morning I called again, still, noone would let us change anything. Fri night after dinner, the NEWS reported that the airport was CLOSING at 5 pm Sat due to Jeanne. Now, Spirit has no seats on any flights ANYWHERE out of Orlando. (They still show no problem.) We start calling every airline. We finally found seats out on AirTran, with one stop in Newport News. It was leaving 11:20 Sat. They gave us confirmed reservations but we couldn't purchase them because it was less than 24 hrs out. We get ahold of the limo guy to pick us up at 7:30 to get to the airport real early. The airport was an expected mob scene. We finally purchase the tickets ($812 for 3 one way tickets). Of course, since they were 1 way purchased at the airport last minute, we got marked as possible "terrorists" and got a lovely, long search..... At least the plane left only abt 10 minutes late.

I know you can have hurricans in Sept, we don't mind adjusting our plans at the last minute. What I do mind is when NOONE will allow you to adjust anything without fees. I'll NEVER fly Spirit again. Noone at the airline knew anything at anytime during our trip (leaving and coming home). They REFUSED to check other airlines (rule 240) for any other flights. They have limited flights out. I'm sticking to Delta/Song next trip.

Oh, and the kicker, when we got home, we had a message from the Hyatt asking if we could give up our room with no penalty to open it up for others. I had canceled it once we reached VA. No matter how PO'd I was with them, I knew people would be stranded in the airport and would need a room.....

My FIL thinks the airline should refund our money since they cancelled our flight. I don't think they will. I have no interest in a credit from them. What would I do with 3 one way tickets?! I guess I'll write to the Better Business Bureau. Any ideas?

Any questions about the 14 floor of the CR?

 

[EsmeraldaX]

That view sounds great. I haven't been to the CR since I was still going as a kid with my parents. My last visit there was 1998 and then I became somewhat enchanted by POR, but your description of that view kind of makes me want to go back.

I think they absolutely should refund you if they cancelled your flight.

 

[gbanshee]

They REFUSED to check other airlines (rule 240) for any other flights. They have limited flights out.

That is the reason I will not fly Spirit. They have no aggreements with other airlines, since they are not technically "public" flights Rule 240 does not apply to them. I think they refer to them as a published charter if I remember reading it correctly when they came to Atlantic City

I found this on their website:

Spirit Airlines Responsibility for Schedules and Operations

Times shown in a timetable or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of the terms of transportation. Spirit may, without notice, substitute alternate carriers or aircraft, and may alter or omit stopping places shown on the ticket in case of necessity. Schedules are subject to change without notice. Spirit is not responsible or liable for making connections, or for failing to operate any flight according to schedule, or for changing the schedule of any flight.

Rebooking

When a ticketed passenger holding a confirmed reservation on a flight will be delayed because of a schedule irregularity (including but not limited to, a missed connection, flight cancellation, omission of a scheduled stop, substitution of equipment, a different class of service or schedule change), Spirit will rebook the passenger on Spirit's first available flight to the passenger's destination without additional charge.

So it looks like if you don't get one of their flights, you dont get any.

Sorry this happened to you

gb

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Kimberle

Glad you made it home safely, but sorry with the trouble with the Hyatt and Sprint. Sounds like you had a great trip until you tried to leave.

Beckie

 

[hightown]

Glad your trip and the CR was nice dispite all the hurricane ducking you had to do.

Just a note, a diser friend was trying to get out at same time you were and they were on DELTA. Dispite there being seats available on other airlines, Delta would NOT do a thing for them saying they just had to wait till monday to leave. My friend spent 580 for two one ways on Jet Blue to get out of there.

 

[Lewisc]

As per their contract of carriage you're entitled to a refund.
http://www.spiritair.com/welcome.aspx?pg=contractcarriage#DELAYED

 

[cuppycake]

Sorry to hear that Spirit was such a horror. I wanted to give you a positive story so that you still have hopes for the airlines. We were also at Disney this weekend, and called Friday morning to change our flight out (due to leave Sun am as well). United (actually we were flying TED flights) gave me NO PROBLEM at all about changing our flight with ALL PENALTIES waved!

Glad that Dulles is a United hub and that it's so easy for us to use that airline.

Glad to hear that you are safe...that's what really matters!!

 

[Lives4Disney]

I am glad you made it home safely. Sorry about your hassles with Spirit. I hope you get a refund. It is so frustrating to be at the mercy of the airlines when you are desparate.

I hope your stay on the 14th floor was wonderful. I LOVE the CR. It is my favorite place to be. We always stay on the 12th floor because we are a family of 5 and it is a BIG jump in price from tower club to a suite on the 14th floor. I had booked the MK suite for our trip in August, but changed my mind about spending the $$$ I wish I would have just gone ahead and done it. Big regrets.

My question is have you ever stayed on the tower club floor and did you really enjoy the difference between 12th and 14th floor? Is it worth the money? Also, do you know if the regular rooms can connect. CRO really doesn't seem to know much about the 14th floor. (at least the ones I wind up speaking with) I know it would be less expensive to reserve connecting rooms. I really like the concierge staff there. Did you feel welcomed and pampered? Were they still the friendly, helpful people I remember?

Did you get to take advantage of all the food offerings -and any examples would be appreciated. Any other info on the 14th floor would be great. I am hoping for a Jan/Feb trip and really want to stay 14th floor.

We wound up staying at the Poly LVC instead (DH wanted to try something different) We just did not feel that O'hana spirit there from CMs at all. Lagoon view was blocked by bushes and the castle was so far away. I really missed the bustle of the CR and just the excited feeling of being right in the middle of it all! And that view!!!!

Thanks much!! I am sure I will think of more questions for you! Please tell all!!

 

[kmc33]

Kimberle,

Wow! What a time! I am sorry to hear of the difficulty and frustration in trying to alter your arrangements due to the hurricane. I would have thought the airline would have wanted to get you out sooner than later, but I guess they didn't take the threat seriously.

I am glad that you and your family arrived home safely.

Have you thought about making a separate post about your Spirit experience on the transportation board? I think it would be helpful for others to see it as they are searching on that board about transportation options.

Good luck! I hope you get your airfare refunded. Better yet, maybe Spirit should reimburse you for the 3- one way tickets you had to purchase!

 

[crs7568]

I am sorry that you had such a bad experience with your airline carrier. That is incredibly frustrating and inexcusable.

When you get a chance, I would love to hear about the positive aspects of your trip and any descriptions of the 14th floor.

 

[Kimberle]

Originally posted by Lives4Disney
I am glad you made it home safely. Sorry about your hassles with Spirit. I hope you get a refund. It is so frustrating to be at the mercy of the airlines when you are desparate.

I hope your stay on the 14th floor was wonderful. I LOVE the CR. It is my favorite place to be. We always stay on the 12th floor because we are a family of 5 and it is a BIG jump in price from tower club to a suite on the 14th floor. I had booked the MK suite for our trip in August, but changed my mind about spending the $$$ I wish I would have just gone ahead and done it. Big regrets.

My question is have you ever stayed on the tower club floor and did you really enjoy the difference between 12th and 14th floor? Is it worth the money? Also, do you know if the regular rooms can connect. CRO really doesn't seem to know much about the 14th floor. (at least the ones I wind up speaking with) I know it would be less expensive to reserve connecting rooms. I really like the concierge staff there. Did you feel welcomed and pampered? Were they still the friendly, helpful people I remember?

Did you get to take advantage of all the food offerings -and any examples would be appreciated. Any other info on the 14th floor would be great. I am hoping for a Jan/Feb trip and really want to stay 14th floor.

We wound up staying at the Poly LVC instead (DH wanted to try something different) We just did not feel that O'hana spirit there from CMs at all. Lagoon view was blocked by bushes and the castle was so far away. I really missed the bustle of the CR and just the excited feeling of being right in the middle of it all! And that view!!!!

Thanks much!! I am sure I will think of more questions for you! Please tell all!!

Bambi posted the floor plan a couple of months ago. I hope she doesn't mind if I refer to her link:
http://community.webshots.com/album/175925065IptKyL

There are only 3 regular rooms that adjoin. 2 have king beds, 1 (handicaped room) has 2 queens. The other room is on the Bay lake side.

The food was nice. B/fast, different kinds of bread, creal, fruit, juice, oatmeal packets, etc. Mid day snack, a couple different bar type cookies, goldfish, bags of chips, soda. 5-7, 2 hot horderves (crab cakes, pot stickers, leg of lamb, ravioli, beef wellington, chicken wellington, etc), assorited cheeses, crackers, humus, pb&j, raw veggies, wine, soda. 8-10, desserts, cordials, coffee.

I have not stayed on the 12th floor, so I can't compare them. I think the main differences are that you have a lounge with a balacony overlooking MK on the 14th, and the horderves and desserts.

The Concierge's were very nice and friendly. You just can't beat the view.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Kimberle, thanks for the info and the floor plan! Wow - that is great. It is very interesting to me because when I originally booked the 14th floor, CRO let me book the CY rooms for my family of 5. They thought they were connecting!!! I found out that they were across the hall from eachother by reading one of BambiTambi's earlier posts regarding these same CY rooms.

I had them booked with an AP rate and thought I was getting such a TERRIFIC deal!!!

Well, when I found out they were actually across the hall from eachother, we switched to the MK suite. (it would have been nice to keep my kids in the one room across the hall, though! LOL)

I kept it that way for about 3 weeks and then the yucky feeling of the thought of all that $$$$ going toward a room we wouldn't be in much just got the better of me and I changed my reservation.

Sooner or later, though, I am going to just do it and go for it. I want to experience that luxury!!!

Thanks again for the info.... Get that Spirit refund!!!!

 

[WoodysRoundup]

So happy to hear about your enjoyable stay on the 14th floor at CR! However, very sorry to hear about your airline fiasco!!!!

Regarding an earlier post about a family of 5 and booking two rooms on the 14th floor....
We have one 14th floor standard sized room booked for Dec. 2005. We will be a family of 5 by then (2 adults, 2 children, and an infant). Can 5 people stay in the 14th floor standard conierge room? I was worried that the 14th floor standard rooms may not have the same capacity requirements as regular tower standard rooms.

Does anyone know if this is the case?

THANKS!!!!!!!

 

[peter1706]

I also will have an infant when we stay on the 14th floor.
I believe the person under the age of three doesn't count but I hope someone can confirm that for us.



Kimberle, any pics of your room and your view of baylake?

pete

 

[Kimberle]

Woody,
We were in 4905 on the lake side. The room had 2 queens, plus a table with 2 chairs. What was missing was the daybed and comfy reading chair. There was enough space in the room, however, there were 2 connecting doors, 1 on each side. You would have plenty of room for a crib.

*********
I also talked with Spirit. They said "no problem" to refunding my money for the return portion.

I other note, our balcony was HUGE. However, it was almost unusable due to bird poop. There is a terrible problem with crows. It looked like they tried to clean it a bit the first day, but not after. I couldn't even sit in the chairs as they were full of the stuff. The balaconies on the MK side in the lounge seemed OK. A little bit. Either the crows stay on the lake side or housekeeping keeps cleaning there.

 

[Kimberle]

Pete, I took pictures. I just have to get them uploaded. We only have dial up at home & it is just to slow. I will try and get them up as soon as I can.

Babies under 3 don't count in your "count".

 

[Tinkerbelle739]

Glad to hear that Spirit is going to reimuburse you and thanks for the heads up about the problems with this airline.

14th floor sounds heavenly. DH has wanted to stay there, maybe in 2005... Hmmmm...