Clueless in Celebration? Not anymore!

[buck4568]

We booked the air, transfers and two extra days prior to the Baltic June 24th cruise through DCL in February and just got the flight details and I am sick to my stomach.

This particular Nothern Baltic sailing gets back to Dover at 10:30AM due to tide issues in Dover. Now, I am not a sailor so I do not understand the effects that the tides would have on a ship. But, having sailed more than ten Disney cruises and having seen Capitain Tom get that ship into Castaway Cay in a gale wind makes me wonder how the tides can be an issue. But I digress!

In 2007 we did one of the Disney Med cruises and booked everything on our own. This time we decided to pay a litte more and let DCL handle the details. We assumed they would pay attention to details and provide great travel service! Well, we all know what happens when you start "assuming".

After having to wait more than 90 days from when we paid for the air, transfers, hotels, etc., we finallly got the details today. First, in February when we booked we wanted to fly out of Miami but they said only Tampa or Orlando. We live an hour from Miami and three plus from Orlando but... Orlando it is. But, they could not give any flight details just the price.. Ok, thinking they know what they are doing we go forward.

They have us landing at Gatwick on a non-stop Virgin Air which is fine. And flying back out of Heathrow on United. Which is fine. But, it is not non-stop which is not fine. The return flight includes a 2.5 hour layover in Washington, DC, arriving in Orlando at 12:15am on July 7th! If I had known this two months ago, which is when I tried to find out the details but they would not provide until 45 days prior to departure, I would have not used DCL for the flights. By the time we clear customs in Orlando and get luggage it will be close to 2:00AM!

Sometimes I wonder what the heck are they thinking when they do dumb things like this. They don't even consult you to see if you might want to stay over one night in London after the cruise and get an early flight home the next day!

Hey, here is a great way to end their vacation of a lifetime! We will give them the return home trip from hell so they remember their vacation!

We are trying to get at least the return flights changed and when they mentioned the "fee" to make the changes I almost went ballistic. But, managed to bit my tongue. Now, DVC is involved so we will see what tomorrow brings!

 

[Deb T.]

First of all, I do want to let you know I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I can only imagine how upset and frustrated you are.

One bright bit if good news if you can't change your return flights, though, is that you will actually clear customs in D.C. - your first point of entry back into the U.S. I suspect that is why you have such a long layover there.

Good luck tomorrow with DVC. Keep us posted....

 

[HallsofVA]

I thought that when you use DCL air, and book additional days before or after the cruise, that the air deviation fee is automatically waived, which would then allow you to specify when you want to fly and how.

If that's not the case, did you look into paying the deviation fee so that you could specify your flight schedules? Any chance of paying the fee now to get the schedule you want?

 

[kcashner]

Halls, you don't have ONE air deviation fee, you can have several. What DCL explained to me is that each request you make is a separate air deviation with a separate fee.

If you fly in a day or several days early and book your own hotel, you'll pay an air deviation fee for each passenger, but if DCL books your hotel for the pre-days, you don't pay for the deviation fee for flying in early.

However, if you request non-stop flights, that is another air deviation fee...or if you ask for flights that leave after 10 am, that's yet another possible air deviation fee.

So, if you flew in early, booked your own hotel and asked to be on non stop flights after 10, each guest would be charged the air deviation fee times three!!!

 

[buck4568]

First of all, I do want to let you know I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I can only imagine how upset and frustrated you are.

One bright bit if good news if you can't change your return flights, though, is that you will actually clear customs in D.C. - your first point of entry back into the U.S. I suspect that is why you have such a long layover there.

Good luck tomorrow with DVC. Keep us posted....

Yes, right about customs! I have been so PO'd that that slipped my mind! But, the arrival time in Orlando is the real issue. Any decent travel agent would think to themselves that they would not like it themselves and offer alternatives.

 

[buck4568]

I thought that when you use DCL air, and book additional days before or after the cruise, that the air deviation fee is automatically waived, which would then allow you to specify when you want to fly and how.

If that's not the case, did you look into paying the deviation fee so that you could specify your flight schedules? Any chance of paying the fee now to get the schedule you want?

I neveer heard about deviation fees until I spoke with DVC member service today. Is that the $95 fee?

 

[HallsofVA]

Halls, you don't have ONE air deviation fee, you can have several. What DCL explained to me is that each request you make is a separate air deviation with a separate fee.

If you fly in a day or several days early and book your own hotel, you'll pay an air deviation fee for each passenger, but if DCL books your hotel for the pre-days, you don't pay for the deviation fee for flying in early.

However, if you request non-stop flights, that is another air deviation fee...or if you ask for flights that leave after 10 am, that's yet another possible air deviation fee.

So, if you flew in early, booked your own hotel and asked to be on non stop flights after 10, each guest would be charged the air deviation fee times three!!!

I've never actually used DCL air, but had it booked for awhile for the WBTA and spent a lot of time with the CM getting her to explain it to me. What she'd told me at the time was that it was one deviation fee paid per person, and once you paid it for any reason (fly in early, request specific flight, etc) than you were free to make all of your specific requests for that one fee. So it sounded like from the explanation she gave me, that if you booked a hotel through DCL the night before your cruise, the deviation fee would be waived and you could request specific flights, airlines, and times all at once to get your travel booked the way you wanted it. Or you could pay the deviation fee (which was slightly higher for international flights) and do the same things. That was the only reason we even briefly considered the DCL travel.

I neveer heard about deviation fees until I spoke with DVC member service today. Is that the $95 fee?

No, the air deviation fee is something different. It's an additional fee you pay when you use DCL air but want to change or specify something about how they book the air. The $95 fee is the fee for making any changes to a reservation booked through DVC.

 

[Gigi22]

Frankly, this type of arrangement is why we never take the cruise line's flights. One time we were booked from our closest airport in Canada to Syracuse, N.Y. to Philadelphia (I think) to Ft. Lauderdale courtesy of our cruise line, and we decided never to take "cruise air" again. All this when I could easily find non-stop flights on my own. Ridiculous. Never take the cruise line's airline reservations. It just doesn't pay.

 

[HallsofVA]

Here's the page on the DCL website that talks about air travel to the Baltic cruises. Section #3 talks about the deviation process, but doesn't mention the fees. Your DVC rep should be able to answer any questions for you. Don't know if you're still far enough out from your cruise to make any changes that you need.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/planning-center/planning-library/air-ground-transportation-northern-european/

Disney Cruise Line reserves the right to designate any air carrier and schedule from each originating city offered. However, you can request specific airlines, flights, times, or other specific aspects of your air itinerary through our Special Air Request Department for an additional fee. To change the details of your flight, you are invited to complete and submit the Flight Modification Form available to you in My Online Check-In up to 45 days prior to your departing flight. Upon receipt of this form, a Disney Travel representative will contact you to discuss alternate flight arrangements, usually within 2 business days. For more information, please contact dcldeviations@email.disney.com.

 

[buck4568]

Here's the page on the DCL website that talks about air travel to the Baltic cruises. Section #3 talks about the deviation process, but doesn't mention the fees. Your DVC rep should be able to answer any questions for you. Don't know if you're still far enough out from your cruise to make any changes that you need.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/planning-center/planning-library/air-ground-transportation-northern-european/

Disney Cruise Line reserves the right to designate any air carrier and schedule from each originating city offered. However, you can request specific airlines, flights, times, or other specific aspects of your air itinerary through our Special Air Request Department for an additional fee. To change the details of your flight, you are invited to complete and submit the Flight Modification Form available to you in My Online Check-In up to 45 days prior to your departing flight. Upon receipt of this form, a Disney Travel representative will contact you to discuss alternate flight arrangements, usually within 2 business days. For more information, please contact dcldeviations@email.disney.com.

I have been trying for weeks to just get the flight info and they told me that it would not be available until 45 days before the travel date! So after three calls today I finally got the info. SO, how can you request a change prior to 45 days if they won't give you the info. Ridiculous! At this point, the trip is already tainted from this situation and tomorrow it might just be no trip because of medical issues from the stress! And I do have trip insurance and I will get the money back!

 

[buck4568]

Frankly, this type of arrangement is why we never take the cruise line's flights. One time we were booked from our closest airport in Canada to Syracuse, N.Y. to Philadelphia (I think) to Ft. Lauderdale courtesy of our cruise line, and we decided never to take "cruise air" again. All this when I could easily find non-stop flights on my own. Ridiculous. Never take the cruise line's airline reservations. It just doesn't pay.

Lesson learned and it won't happen again!

 

[lilpooh108]

I feel for your situation. Not to be a *total* downer, but I flew out of Gatwick once (non disney trip) and we paid for shuttle transfers. At 4am in the morning, the drive from London (no traffic) took over 1 hour (no other stops, private shuttle, just us). I don't know if it just felt long or if it really was that long. If you can, try to take the Gatwick express train---it goes direct and I think it may be faster than if you take airport transfers. We didn't have a chose since Gatwick express didn't start running until 6am or so. HTH.

 

[truck1]

This particular Nothern Baltic sailing gets back to Dover at 10:30AM due to tide issues in Dover. Now, I am not a sailor so I do not understand the effects that the tides would have on a ship. But, having sailed ten Disney cruises and having seen Capitain Tom get that ship into Castaway Cay in a gale wind makes me wonder how the tides can be an issue. But I digress!

:

To answer your tide question, without having been there, it usually comes down to a few different reasons why they are coming at that particular time.
1.There needs to be a certain amount of water UNDER the ship for it to float.If the tide is too low, The ship cant make it into port without running aground and damaging the ship
2.There may be a bridge the ship needs to pass under in order to dock.If the tide is too high, the ship may not have the clearance to pass under the bridge without damaging the ship or bridge.
3.Again not knowing too much about the area, if the tide runs too fast, the ship may not be able to hold her own, and move in an undesirable direction.So theyll come in when the tide is not as strong.

 

[truck1]

Frankly, this type of arrangement is why we never take the cruise line's flights. One time we were booked from our closest airport in Canada to Syracuse, N.Y. to Philadelphia (I think) to Ft. Lauderdale courtesy of our cruise line, and we decided never to take "cruise air" again. All this when I could easily find non-stop flights on my own. Ridiculous. Never take the cruise line's airline reservations. It just doesn't pay.

Dont get me wrong, Im not trying to fault you, there is 1 real good reason Id stay with the cruise airline.If for some reason, you need to change your plans after you have bought your tickets, say that the ship get stuck somewhere and you miss your flight,the cruiseline will change the reservations for you with no charge as far as I know.(See the posts on the people who got stuck in Feb at CC for 24 hours).If you bought your own, you had to pay the diffference.

Granted they may not be the best,but they are definitely safe if something happens.

 

[clten]

Dont get me wrong, Im not trying to fault you, there is 1 real good reason Id stay with the cruise airline.If for some reason, you need to change your plans after you have bought your tickets, say that the ship get stuck somewhere and you miss your flight,the cruiseline will change the reservations for you with no charge as far as I know.(See the posts on the people who got stuck in Feb at CC for 24 hours).If you bought your own, you had to pay the diffference.

Granted they may not be the best,but they are definitely safe if something happens.

Yes, there are trade offs on taking cruise air and booking your own. I don't think they are clueless in Celebration. I just think they didn't explain the process to you when you booked it so you could make an informed decision of if their air was best for you.

They (and it's not just DCL, this is standard in the cruise industry) have contracts with the airlines. Part of this is good -- the airline will catch you up with the ship if they are delayed and can't get you to embarkation on time or like truck1 said, you are delayed in returning and can't make your scheduled flight.

The trade off is that the price may be a little higher because the cruiseline has to book you in a certain fare class and because of payment due dates and penalties they don't usually start looking for air until 45/60 days before the cruise (I know penalties for the international trips are a little different but I think that is more because they can't/won't ticket international air until it is fully non-refundable). So they may not be sure which airline, let alone flight they are going to put you on until they start the search for available fare classes on all the flights they will need for a cruise. The flights they put you on may not be ideal for you but they may have been the best available when the ticketing process began.

I'm not sure how much flexibility there is with availability but I wish you good luck in getting better flights.

 

[been2marceline]

IMHO - It's all about profit, there seems to be some paradigm shift at DCL recently where profit means more than anything.

Good Luck...

 

[TanaL]

you've probably already considered this, but if they're going to make you pay $95 PER PERSON to alter the flights (which sounds ridiculous), you'd be better off paying for a hotel room in the Orlando Hyatt at midnight when you arrive so you can get some sleep before driving home. Or, you may be so messed up from jetlag that you're not even tired anyway!!

 

[buck4568]

To answer your tide question, without having been there, it usually comes down to a few different reasons why they are coming at that particular time.
1.There needs to be a certain amount of water UNDER the ship for it to float.If the tide is too low, The ship cant make it into port without running aground and damaging the ship
2.There may be a bridge the ship needs to pass under in order to dock.If the tide is too high, the ship may not have the clearance to pass under the bridge without damaging the ship or bridge.
3.Again not knowing too much about the area, if the tide runs too fast, the ship may not be able to hold her own, and move in an undesirable direction.So theyll come in when the tide is not as strong.

Yes, that sounds logical. I am sure they do there best to get into port as early as possible for the turn around.

Dont get me wrong, Im not trying to fault you, there is 1 real good reason Id stay with the cruise airline.If for some reason, you need to change your plans after you have bought your tickets, say that the ship get stuck somewhere and you miss your flight,the cruiseline will change the reservations for you with no charge as far as I know.(See the posts on the people who got stuck in Feb at CC for 24 hours).If you bought your own, you had to pay the diffference.

Granted they may not be the best,but they are definitely safe if something happens.

This was exacly the reason I wanted to use DCL this time. ANd with the recent volcano issues I am glad we did.

Yes, there are trade offs on taking cruise air and booking your own. I don't think they are clueless in Celebration. I just think they didn't explain the process to you when you booked it so you could make an informed decision of if their air was best for you.

They (and it's not just DCL, this is standard in the cruise industry) have contracts with the airlines. Part of this is good -- the airline will catch you up with the ship if they are delayed and can't get you to embarkation on time or like truck1 said, you are delayed in returning and can't make your scheduled flight.

The trade off is that the price may be a little higher because the cruiseline has to book you in a certain fare class and because of payment due dates and penalties they don't usually start looking for air until 45/60 days before the cruise (I know penalties for the international trips are a little different but I think that is more because they can't/won't ticket international air until it is fully non-refundable). So they may not be sure which airline, let alone flight they are going to put you on until they start the search for available fare classes on all the flights they will need for a cruise. The flights they put you on may not be ideal for you but they may have been the best available when the ticketing process began.

I'm not sure how much flexibility there is with availability but I wish you good luck in getting better flights.

Thanks, and I will try to approach it with an open mind today. Things could be worse. I think we would prefer to stay an extra night in London but that alone could cost more than it is worth.

you've probably already considered this, but if they're going to make you pay $95 PER PERSON to alter the flights (which sounds ridiculous), you'd be better off paying for a hotel room in the Orlando Hyatt at midnight when you arrive so you can get some sleep before driving home. Or, you may be so messed up from jetlag that you're not even tired anyway!!

You are right about that. But, will the car rental offices be open at midnight?

 

[buck4568]

IMHO - It's all about profit, there seems to be some paradigm shift at DCL recently where profit means more than anything.

Good Luck...

From what I have read the last 24 hours, this is not just DCL policy, it seems to be standard cruiseline industry policy when it comes to this deviation fee. And it is surely a profit maker for them if you want to make changes.

As for a shift at DCL, I think they are experiencing growing pains as they add additional ships and itineraries. Their web site is marginal at best when it is working properly. I find it confusing to navigate and the last few days the reservation info has not always been available. But, hopefully things will improve!

 

[kcashner]

Sounds like the CMs are giving us different answers...what a surprise!

The $95 fee that DVC spoke of is a booking fee for going outside of the DVC properties. It is per reservation, not per person.

I'm not sure what the current cost for an air deviation is...it was $50 per person (and I was told per request) when I spoke with them.

Bottom line, I can usually get flights that I consider much better for much less money on my own. I "compensate" for not having the cruise line book them by flying in at least a day early in order to have time to re-route or whatever if I have air issues at the last minute. And of course, buy insurance privately that will cover the flights and the cruise.