Disney changing your stateroom assignment?

[ArielRae]

I was wondering if you have a stateroom number already assigned will Disney change that on you or no. I'm not looking for an upgrade cause I like the room we have so do they change your room if you have a stateroom number already on your reservation? We don't cruise until next year.

 

[kcashner]

Yes, they sometimes change your stateroom number. It can be a move to another cabin of the same category (not necessarily an upgrade). If you want to keep the room you selected, have a "please do not move" note added to your reservation. You do this by calling DCL or your TA.

 

[nursebeth03]

Has this ever happened to anyone with a connecting room? Guess it would suck if my kids end up somewhere else...lol!

 

[kcashner]

Has this ever happened to anyone with a connecting room? Guess it would suck if my kids end up somewhere else...lol!

No, if you have connecting rooms with linked reservations, they will either move both cabins to another set of connecting rooms (yes, upgrade miracles do happen rarely) or they will keep you in the originally booked cabins.

 

[sunshine girl]

I called DCL today to add a "please do not move" note to my reservation, and the woman on the line insisted that DCL never moves or changes assigned staterooms! I told her I'd heard of it happening and she was incredulous. I just said, "well, if you could just add that note to my reservation, I'd be happy!" and she said no problem. So, although she tried to convince me I'd never be moved, I added the note. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[abitagirl916]

I called DCL today to add a "please do not move" note to my reservation, and the woman on the line insisted that DCL never moves or changes assigned staterooms! I told her I'd heard of it happening and she was incredulous. I just said, "well, if you could just add that note to my reservation, I'd be happy!" and she said no problem. So, although she tried to convince me I'd never be moved, I added the note. Thanks for the tip!!

It does happen! On my first DLC cruise in 2007, I booked a Cat 9 Oceanview Stateroom on Deck 2 and from the beginning had a room number. Two weeks before we cruised, I checked my reservation online and we had been moved to a Cat 6 Verandah Stateroom on Deck 6 (an upgrade). In this particular situation, I loved the move and we thoroughly enjoyed the stateroom (and verandah)! This year I am booked on the Disney Dream in a Cat 5E (an extended verandah stateroom) and from the beginning I have had my Stateroom number. Once I found out that my stateroom had an extended veranda, I requestd a do not upgrade be placed on my reservation by my TA because I don't want to move!!!

 

[CandyMandy]

We booked online and chose our stateroom at that time. But from what I am reading on this thread, Disney retains the right at any time between now and when we board to change a reserved, completely paid for assignment to another stateroom in the same category without alerting us?

That has never been the policy on any other cruise line I have sailed.

So I guess my next question is has that actually ever happened to anyone (a unrequested change within a category, not an upgrade)?. Given how ultra-picky many DCL clients are about their cabin choice, if that does happen I can see it not going over well at all.

 

[twinstars]

We booked online and chose our stateroom at that time. But from what I am reading on this thread, Disney retains the right at any time between now and when we board to change a reserved, completely paid for assignment to another stateroom in the same category without alerting us?

That has never been the policy on any other cruise line I have sailed.

So I guess my next question is has that actually ever happened to anyone (a unrequested change within a category, not an upgrade)?. Given how ultra-picky many DCL clients are about their cabin choice, if that does happen I can see it not going over well at all.

Yes, if others can share their experiences, that would be great. I am really interested in this as well as I finally got a SPH room on our 2012 cruise and am really looking forward to the window and my DS is looking forward to being on a higher deck. I am afraid that we would be moved in the same category or a very poor upgrade, such as to a 9D or 9C, where we would still get a window but be on a lower deck. Thanks!

 

[momtofour]

Yes this happened to me. I booked cabins 5500 and 5502 for the Mexican Riviera cruise leaving on March 20, 2011. A few months prior to my cruise, I logged into my Castaway Club account and saw that 5500 was switched to a guarantee. I called DCL right away. I was told that this cabin was taken out of inventory and would not be occupied for some reason. At this point, they had not assigned a new cabin. I was totally annoyed that they didn't even call me about this issue. I ended up keeping 5502 and was able to get 5501 across the hall for my kids at a cheaper rate. However, imagine my surprise when I got on the ship and found out that 5500 was occupied. I talked to my room steward and he said contractors working for Disney were in that room. It turned out to be a couple of interpretors for a child with a hearing issue. I was not happy with the way it was handled but it did work out and I saved some money.

 

[sunshine girl]

Yes this happened to me. I booked cabins 5500 and 5502 for the Mexican Riviera cruise leaving on March 20, 2011. A few months prior to my cruise, I logged into my Castaway Club account and saw that 5500 was switched to a guarantee. I called DCL right away. I was told that this cabin was taken out of inventory and would not be occupied for some reason. At this point, they had not assigned a new cabin. I was totally annoyed that they didn't even call me about this issue. I ended up keeping 5502 and was able to get 5501 across the hall for my kids at a cheaper rate. However, imagine my surprise when I got on the ship and found out that 5500 was occupied. I talked to my room steward and he said contractors working for Disney were in that room. It turned out to be a couple of interpretors for a child with a hearing issue. I was not happy with the way it was handled but it did work out and I saved some money.

Interesting. Glad it worked out for you but strange that they had to move you in the first place.

 

[sebamt]

FYI, DCL has just changed our stateroom from Cat 9B (had room number since day 1) to Cat 8C. I'm actually not happy with this "pseudo upgrade" because I spent a lot of time researching and picking my stateroom (wanted mid ship, not connecting, etc...) and now they've assigned me a forward (almost the most forward room), connecting room arguing they've upgraded us! I called and asked to be moved back, but they have to check with another office and get back with me.

 

[twinstars]

FYI, DCL has just changed our stateroom from Cat 9B (had room number since day 1) to Cat 8C. I'm actually not happy with this "pseudo upgrade" because I spent a lot of time researching and picking my stateroom (wanted mid ship, not connecting, etc...) and now they've assigned me a forward (almost the most forward room), connecting room arguing they've upgraded us! I called and asked to be moved back, but they have to check with another office and get back with me.

That's what I am afraid of too, so called upgrades. I booked a SPH, so I took others advice to add the do not move to my reservation.

 

[Makayna]

My fiancé and I would be perfectly fine with an upgrade or whatever... we're in an 11C GTY and really don't care what floor or where we are on the ship, so an upgrade would be fine with us, but if we had to stay in our unit type, we'd be OK with that too. It's a first cruise for both of us, so we just want the experience, whatever that may be! My question is, how often do these unrequested upgrades happen? What is the likelihood of something like this happening? How much of an upgrade is it normally? Like, probably from an 11C to an 11B or 11A IF an upgrade were to happen, I assume? What's the biggest "jump" anyone has ever experienced?

 

[dizneyfan23]

On the maiden voyage of the Dream in Jan, we had booked a virtual porthole room, cause we wanted to see it in action. When we got the terminal, we were told that our room had been changed, but "not to worry, because your still in the same category."

Well, much to our surprise, when we opened our door and found we had a verandah!

We got upgraded from a cat 11C standard inside stateroom, up to a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah, a cat 4B!

So upgrades do happen, you just have to be lucky I guess.

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

I had an 11B room (I believe it was 5129) booked and got bumped to another 11B in a location I wasn't fond of. I called and got the same story that the room was going to be out of commission for that cruise - odd thing was it was 8 months out! How would they know that?
I think someone wanted that room quite badly and we got bumped. It was not even an upgrade.
In the end I had to cancel that cruise due to another financial commitment at the time, but I was actually planning on visiting the room and trying to see if it was 'out of commission' or not!

 

[twinstars]

On the maiden voyage of the Dream in Jan, we had booked a virtual porthole room, cause we wanted to see it in action. When we got the terminal, we were told that our room had been changed, but "not to worry, because your still in the same category."

Well, much to our surprise, when we opened our door and found we had a verandah!

We got upgraded from a cat 11C standard inside stateroom, up to a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah, a cat 4B!

So upgrades do happen, you just have to be lucky I guess.

Wow, that's quite the upgrade!

 

[cwdefouw]

This happened to us as well. I researched the Dream Deck plans thoroughly and picked what I though was a perfect cabin for us, Cat 6 on the stern. I booked when the Dream went on sale in 2009 for February 2011. Then in late January, I happened to check our reservation and we are now in a cat 5 on the side of the ship. I received our docs with the wrong cabin number on the bag tags the same day I saw it on the web. I called Disney and explained that I had picked 9672 on the stern for a reason and I wanted that cabin. They claimed they were upgrading me to a better cabin, using the white wall verandah story that the cat 6 on the stern supposedly had, the cat 5 on the side of the ship has plexi. We all know that the white wall verandah story on the stern cabins won't fly on the Dream since the wall only comes up about 1 foot. I said I didn't want the upgrade, I wanted the cabin I had personally picked. They said they would talk to inventory control and it should not be a problem, give them 3 working days and I should be back in 9672. Needless to say it did not go that smoothly, it took almost two weeks and a half dozen calls to confirm we were back where we wanted to be. I then had them put a "Do not move, unless moving to concierge" message on the rest of my upcoming cruises. The last rep I talked to did say that Inventory control often doesn't even see those notes, so the guest should keep their own eye on it as well.

So word to the wise... It does happen and if you've picked your "Dream" cabin, you better keep your eye on your reservation to make sure it doesn't get yanked out from under you.

 

[tinker6]

I just checked our reservation and our cabin had also been changed. We were originally cabin 2554 with a large porthole (I like to be low and in the middle of the ship due to the movement) We were changed to cabin 9668. A great upgrade to a verandah cabin, but I have small children and was concerned to have a balcony and also concerned about the movement. My TA said that DCL should have contacted her before any cabin change took place. I finally, was changed back to the original cabin after 3 hours on the phone....I hope I made the right decision to not go with the upgrade.

 

[Purdue Mouse]

We got our upgrade after the cruise docs were delivered. I noticed it when on the DCL website doing last minute bookings. After a quick check of the deck maps I realized we went from cat 9C to 5A - ocean view to verandah. So a little pixie dust can happen My only request was portside and they did stick to that.

We were told if you do onboard booking you can guarantee your pick of staterooms .

 

[Makayna]

On the maiden voyage of the Dream in Jan, we had booked a virtual porthole room, cause we wanted to see it in action. When we got the terminal, we were told that our room had been changed, but "not to worry, because your still in the same category."

Well, much to our surprise, when we opened our door and found we had a verandah!

We got upgraded from a cat 11C standard inside stateroom, up to a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah, a cat 4B!

So upgrades do happen, you just have to be lucky I guess.

Wow! You REALLY lucked out!

Any other experience?!