DCL Family Seeks Advice

[WisconsinDCLFamily]

DH and I have a huge problem and would like some advice on how to handle this with Grace and a Disney Attitude! Please Help! About 6 months ago we (Fam of 3) booked a cruise for our summer vacation. We have some friends (not really friends, just friendly with them) who also love to cruise DCL. We often talk about DCL at kids sports games, school, etc. The other day this friendly family announced that they booked the same cruise and "were coming with us" on our summer vacation. No sweat at first, the ships are big enough for everyone. However, after a call to DCL this morning, I learned that our reservations had been linked to theirs and we had lost OUR preferred dining time due to the linking. They have also included themselves in our Palo reservations! I am in shock that Disney allowed my reservations to be changed without my permission! I took care of the situation with DCL and all is OK now. However, we are seeking any advice on how to handle this situation with this other family while still maintaining a little grace and decorum. We don't want to create problems on the sports teams and at school functions. The kids are friends and we don't want to damage their friendships. We haven't said anything to the intruders yet. They are also still unaware that we now know our reservations have been linked to theirs. What are we to do? We just want our vacation back!

Thanks for your help!

 

[WDWLVR]

First off welcome to the DIS and the DCL forums.

The next time you see them I would just mention that you think it is great that they love DCL as much as you do. Tell them how important family time is to your vacation and you really just want to focus on your family alone. Maybe offer to meet up one day for lunch. Hopefully being honest now will let any bad feelings they have melt away before the cruise and both families can enjoy it.

 

[Mean Queen]

I would say something along the lines of how great it will be to see them on the ship. You noticed they had linked their reservations to yours, but apologize that you had to move your dinner reservations back because your child needs to eat earlier or they'll be a total bear. Plus, tell them you had already made other plans based on that meal time. I'd suggest meeting them for breakfast one morning or getting together for a movie. That way you look like you want to spend time with them, but you already have plans and can't be with them the whole time.

Good luck!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Wow! The previous posters have given sage advice that I can't really add to but ...

Why would DCL allow only one-sided linking? I would think DCL would require BOTH parties to put in a request to have reservations linked to avoid such a situation that the OP is hoping to mitigate with grace and decorum. Does anyone else think DCL dropped the ball on this one, just a bit?

 

[ReggieB]

I thought to link you needed both confirmation numbers, or am I wrong? Perhaps they can just do it with stateroom numbers.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Wow! The previous posters have given sage advice that I can't really add to but ...

Why would DCL allow only one-sided linking? I would think DCL would require BOTH parties to put in a request to have reservations linked to avoid such a situation that the OP is hoping to mitigate with grace and decorum. Does anyone else think DCL dropped the ball on this one, just a bit?

I see what you mean but when you have large parties to link it would be very difficult to manage making sure both parties had asked, as well as a lot more phone time. I think as long as DCL put things back they did enough, IMHO

 

[Stepht5]

I thought to link you needed both confirmation numbers, or am I wrong? Perhaps they can just do it with stateroom numbers.

I thought the same thing. I know when we linked ressie with another family we used ressie numbers to link.....

 

[WisconsinDCLFamily]

Thanks for the great advice! I really appreciate everyone taking time to help. Just to clarify a few things: The other family had neither our state room # or our reservation number! They linked the reservations based on our last name. When I contacted DCL this morning, they said the 1st seating was sold out and we will have to be wait listed to get our seating back. Apparently the reservations were linked and changed some time ago. The only thing I was successful at this morning was removing their names from our Palo reservation. We will see how the rest turns out!! Thanks again for all the great advice! We will use it all!

 

[dreamcometrue]

wow....they have some nerve! I would do what WDWLVR said, and just tell them that vacation time is YOUR time and you'd rather spend it with just your family, and hope they understand. Don't tell them that you had to move your dining time back to your original time because your child needs to eat earlier, because what if they say "oh, ok then...we'll just move to early seating too so we can still eat together". Just be honest, don't make excuses. You are paying a lot of $$ for this cruise, you deserve to spend the vacation the way YOU want to.

 

[AlexandNessa]

I see what you mean but when you have large parties to link it would be very difficult to manage making sure both parties had asked, as well as a lot more phone time. I think as long as DCL put things back they did enough, IMHO

Sorry, I don't agree. This isn't a large party. This is one family linking their reservations to another family without the other family's consent. And, it doesn't sound like DCL put things back 100% if all DCL managed to do so far is to take the intruder family off their Palo reservation. DCL made a mistake and put the OP's family in an awkward situation. If I were the OP, I'd be writing to DCL to alert them that this practice is unacceptable and to ask that things be put back right -- and that a wait list for early seating is not OK.

Think about the implications of this ... you and your family plan your DCL cruise, and some random family you barely know decides you're a fun family, books the same cruise, calls DCL unbeknownst to you, and undoes your dining rotation, invites themselves to your alone time Palo ressies, and you don't discover it until you go to fill out your online forms, and DCL wants to know if you'd like them to have charging privileges on your credit card.... Then, DCL just waitlists your original dining request that you booked early to get.

 

[ohMom]

strange? i have been linking some of us from the cruise meets thread and DCL has always asked for the reservation number along with the last name. Maybe this was a fluke? I'm glad you caught it now for your sake.

and, i didn't have anything to add as far as how to handle, you have already gotten some very tactful suggestions IMO

 

[eph94]

That is a bit disconcerting.

The bright side for us is that Palo reservations are fully booked for our upcoming Eastern cruise. I thought this meant we didn't stand a chance. Now let's see if we can piggyback with a "Smith" or "Jones". The OP said that all that DCL needed was a last name, right?

 

[jilljill]

I thought to link you needed both confirmation numbers, or am I wrong? Perhaps they can just do it with stateroom numbers.

DCL only needed our last name when our friends linked our ressies together, with our knowledge.

I would definately call back to DCL and ask very nicely to speak with a supervisor and find ou when the ressies were linked and your dining time changed. I wonder if the so-called 'friends' told DCL they had your 'permission' to change your dining time.

Good luck and keep us posted if your dining time changes before you sail.

 

[dreamcometrue]

That is a bit disconcerting.

The bright side for us is that Palo reservations are fully booked for our upcoming Eastern cruise. I thought this meant we didn't stand a chance. Now let's see if we can piggyback with a "Smith" or "Jones". The OP said that all that DCL needed was a last name, right?

Yeah, there's bound to be at least one Smith or Jones family on board that has the Palo ressies you desire, right? You just show up at Palo's that day, introduce yourself and say "hi, we are Jack and Jill, hope you dont' mind that we added ourselves onto your Palo ressie, but there was nothing else available"

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Sorry, I don't agree. This isn't a large party. This is one family linking their reservations to another family without the other family's consent. And, it doesn't sound like DCL put things back 100% if all DCL managed to do so far is to take the intruder family off their Palo reservation. DCL made a mistake and put the OP's family in an awkward situation. If I were the OP, I'd be writing to DCL to alert them that this practice is unacceptable and to ask that things be put back right -- and that a wait list for early seating is not OK.

Think about the implications of this ... you and your family plan your DCL cruise, and some random family you barely know decides you're a fun family, books the same cruise, calls DCL unbeknownst to you, and undoes your dining rotation, invites themselves to your alone time Palo ressies, and you don't discover it until you go to fill out your online forms, and DCL wants to know if you'd like them to have charging privileges on your credit card.... Then, DCL just waitlists your original dining request that you booked early to get.

I agree with what you are saying. I thought the OP said DCL put them back in early seating and I thought the other people knew their ressie #. NO WAY would I want them to link with me without a ressie #. All I was saying is I am currently linking 8 parties and keeping up with having 2 people to request it would be a lot. I too would compalin if they were able to link without the ressie #!

 

[JennyW]

This just isn't right. Disney needs to make this right for you, apologizing profusely for allowing a family that you're only acquainted with to link with you without your permission, and to give you your preferred seating time back. They should even give you something extra for the emotional distress they've allowed to happen!

Be kind but firm to this other family. It's YOUR vacation. You do this to get away from it all!

 

[birkner]

I have been linking ressies together for people on our WB Repo cruise for dining and Palo brunch, dinners and teas. I was SPECIFICALLY told by both TA and DCL that one would have to have the full names and ressie numbers to link ANY reservation.

If you have a TA, call him or her to straighten the situation out. If not, call DCL directly, ask for a supervisor and explain the situation. Do not accept that you can not be moved back to early dining for an answer.

My suggestion as to dealing with the other family is along the same lines as the Mean Queen Post. I would gently explain while you are glad that they are joining you on the cruise, that you have moved your time back to early seating to accomodate your family. You might also explain that you feel your vacations are a "family" only time where you can all reconnect. I would try to have at least one breakfast or other meal with this family during the cruise.

I also think it is better to get the issues out and resolved long before the cruise so hurt feelings don't spillover into your sports or school relations.

Just my thoughts....

 

[DVCSmile]

Disney needs to make this right for you, apologizing profusely for allowing a family that you're only acquainted with to link with you without your permission, and to give you your preferred seating time back.

I would also ask Disney to make a notation not to allow the acquaintence family to make any further changes to any of your ressies. It was incredably rude of them to have done so in the first place without a word to you about it. If asked you can smile and say you are going with your original plans and do hope to occasionally see them during the cruise.

 

[RJake1]

There is nothing to be gained by being honest except bad feelings.

I would wait until you're on the ship, then tell them that DCL screwed up and the linking didn't go through. Blame it on DCL. Then instead of trying to change it once onboard simply say its too much trouble, blahblah, and lets get together for breakfast, a movie, a pint, etc.

Also, by waiting, in the event DCL can't change your reservations back then you would not have created any issues.

Why tell them you want to change reservations now when there is no assurance it can be accomplished? Then you might offend them and STILL wind up dining with them. Not a good move. Keep mum until you're on the ship.

 

[jamielynn]

Wow! The previous posters have given sage advice that I can't really add to but ...

Why would DCL allow only one-sided linking? I would think DCL would require BOTH parties to put in a request to have reservations linked to avoid such a situation that the OP is hoping to mitigate with grace and decorum. Does anyone else think DCL dropped the ball on this one, just a bit?

HI... I know it sounds weird for it to be only one-sided... but I have found out in my case, planning a wedding on DCL , and from others who have had reunions etc. That there is usually one or two people coordinating everything so for DCL it is easier to just "do" and have a single point of contact. That said, it does not in ANYWAY excuse the rudeness of the second family assuming that they could piggyback on another families plans.

Just my 2 cents.