Guaranteed rate does not guarantee a room!

[The Roses]

We love Disney; but we discovered a major problem with our recent cruise, and wish we had not booked onboard. Here's our story...

We booked onboard during our last cruise. We were a Cat 3/concierge level, so we put down a $3,500 deposit. Some friends decided to cruise with us, so we gave up our suite and switched to connecting staterooms with verandah. The night before the cruise, we met our friends and discovered that we had 6092 and 6096, and those rooms do not connect, even though we had both confirmed with DCL that we had adjourning rooms.

We immediately called DCL, and were told they would fix it at the port. At the port, we were told to talk to a supervisor, who emphatically told us that it was OUR problem, because we were classified as “guaranteed rate guests”. Apparently, when you book onboard, you get a guaranteed rate, so we were deemed “discounted guests”. The supervisor told us that they gave 6094 to “someone willing to pay the full rate”. She insisted that it was our fault for paying for our cruise when it was cheaper, and DCL had the right to give our room to someone that was paying more. This made no sense to us, since we were paying the same rate that is on the current website. It was a very odd conversation; it seemed like she had already made up her mind and was not receptive to further questions. DH was a customer service manager for Disney before he retired, and he was absolutely appalled at her attitude.

She then told us that the person in 6094 was a Disney contractor who was traveling alone, and that we could ask him if he wanted to switch. He was working onboard, and we did not feel that it was our place to ask him to switch rooms. We later found out that DCL provided that room to him, so we are bewildered by the supervisor’s whole “guaranteed rate guest” explanation. And here’s the final kicker; he had family on the ship, and they were in 6098! If the supervisor had been willing to look at the rooms before declaring that there was nothing she could do for us, she would have seen that we had 6092 & 6096, and they had 6094 & 6098, and one very simple switch would have fixed everything. In fact, our wonderful stateroom host noticed it on the first afternoon, and even offered to ask the contractor if he would be willing to switch, but after that sour reception from the port supervisor, we were afraid he would get in trouble and decided to just leave it alone.

Other that that, the cruise was wonderful, but not having connecting rooms put a major kink in our childcare arrangements.

I guess the issue is the draconian attitude of the port supervisor, insisting that it was our fault for booking too far in advance, for reasons that are still unclear to us. We did exactly what DCL wants us to do: We booked onboard, and we confirmed with DCL that our rooms were connecting. We are fans of Disney, and we certainly don't want to discourage anyone from booking a cruise, but we do feel a duty to warn others that your assigned rooms may not actually be the rooms you end up with.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We love Disney; but we discovered a major problem with our recent cruise, and wish we had not booked onboard. Here's our story...

We booked onboard during our last cruise. We were a Cat 3/concierge level, so we put down a $3,500 deposit. Some friends decided to cruise with us, so we gave up our suite and switched to connecting staterooms with verandah. The night before the cruise, we met our friends and discovered that we had 6092 and 6096, and those rooms do not connect, even though we had both confirmed with DCL that we had adjourning rooms.

We immediately called DCL, and were told they would fix it at the port. At the port, we were told to talk to a supervisor, who emphatically told us that it was OUR problem, because we were classified as “guaranteed rate guests”. Apparently, when you book onboard, you get a guaranteed rate, so we were deemed “discounted guests”. The supervisor told us that they gave 6094 to “someone willing to pay the full rate”. She insisted that it was our fault for paying for our cruise when it was cheaper, and DCL had the right to give our room to someone that was paying more. This made no sense to us, since we were paying the same rate that is on the current website. It was a very odd conversation; it seemed like she had already made up her mind and was not receptive to further questions. DH was a customer service manager for Disney before he retired, and he was absolutely appalled at her attitude.

She then told us that the person in 6094 was a Disney contractor who was traveling alone, and that we could ask him if he wanted to switch. He was working onboard, and we did not feel that it was our place to ask him to switch rooms. We later found out that DCL provided that room to him, so we are bewildered by the supervisor’s whole “guaranteed rate guest” explanation. And here’s the final kicker; he had family on the ship, and they were in 6098! If the supervisor had been willing to look at the rooms before declaring that there was nothing she could do for us, she would have seen that we had 6092 & 6096, and they had 6094 & 6098, and one very simple switch would have fixed everything. In fact, our wonderful stateroom host noticed it on the first afternoon, and even offered to ask the contractor if he would be willing to switch, but after that sour reception from the port supervisor, we were afraid he would get in trouble and decided to just leave it alone.

Other that that, the cruise was wonderful, but not having connecting rooms put a major kink in our childcare arrangements.

I guess the issue is the draconian attitude of the port supervisor, insisting that it was our fault for booking too far in advance, for reasons that are still unclear to us. We did exactly what DCL wants us to do: We booked onboard, and we confirmed with DCL that our rooms were connecting. We are fans of Disney, and we certainly don't want to discourage anyone from booking a cruise, but we do feel a duty to warn others that your assigned rooms may not actually be the rooms you end up with.

Unless you select a specific room number when making a reservation, you are in "guarantee" status. A guarantee room will be assigned (by DCL) to any room in the guaranteed category or above. With GTY status, you aren't guaranteed you will have connecting rooms, or even rooms on the same deck.

Did your reservation, when you "switched to connecting staterooms with verandah" did you select specific rooms? Or just a category (like 5A, 6B, etc)?

FWIW, in those instances where people switch rooms with others so their parties can be together, it is up to the guests involved to make that request to the other room they wish to switch with. DCL (or any cruiseline) will not set it up.

 

[The Roses]

Unless you select a specific room number when making a reservation, you are in "guarantee" status. A guarantee room will be assigned (by DCL) to any room in the guaranteed category or above. With GTY status, you aren't guaranteed you will have connecting rooms, or even rooms on the same deck.

Did your reservation, when you "switched to connecting staterooms with verandah" did you select specific rooms? Or just a category (like 5A, 6B, etc)?

FWIW, in those instances where people switch rooms with others so their parties can be together, it is up to the guests involved to make that request to the other room they wish to switch with. DCL (or any cruiseline) will not set it up.

We requested connecting staterooms with verandah, and were given 6092 and 6094. We did not know that 6094 had been switched to 6096 until the night before the cruise.

thanks

 

[disney1990]

Guarantee guarantees that category room or higher, not a specific room, unfortunately.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Omg, I cannot believe Disney handled the situation this way. Have you filed a complaint with someone in upper management?

 

[The Roses]

Guarantee guarantees that category room or higher, not a specific room, unfortunately.

Yeah, it was unfortunate. We really didn't care about the category, the only thing we really wanted was the connecting rooms for childcare. I don't know how we could have done anything differently; we even called ahead to make sure.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Guarantee guarantees that category room or higher, not a specific room, unfortunately.

Apparently OP did have specific rooms selected when the reservation was changed.

If it were me, I'd be "discussing" this with DCL.

Hope they got the name of the CM at the port telling them that the room can't be changed back to what they were supposed to be.

 

[SuperDry]

Guarantee guarantees that category room or higher, not a specific room, unfortunately.

True, but there's nothing to indicate that this was indeed a Guaranteed Rate booking, other than the supervisor stating it was so. Is there even such a thing for Concierge? We know that the supervisor was factually incorrect on at least one aspect of the situation: claiming that they were moved because a "full rate" guest wanted the room, when in fact it was a Disney contractor in the room. So maybe they were wrong about other things as well.

Sometimes, in all customer service organizations, there are individuals that when confronted with a customer with a service problem, just make stuff up out of thin air to justify the situation, especially if they know there's nothing they can do to fix it (they may even think the customer is right, but that's beside the point if the problem can't be fixed). This could be one of those situations.

It would be great if we could get greater consensus about a) is there such a thing as a Guaranteed Rate booking for concierge, and b) is it true that all on-board bookings are considered "discount" or "guaranteed rate" such that they are of less status than those booked on land at the same price (I guess even for concierge the OBC could be considered a discount).

 

[DahliaRW]

Were our reservations linked in their system?

I'm pretty sure there was a thread a while back (a few years ago) about Disney changing stateroom assignments. They have the right to as long as it's in the same category or better.

 

[The Roses]

Were our reservations linked in their system?

I'm pretty sure there was a thread a while back (a few years ago) about Disney changing stateroom assignments. They have the right to as long as it's in the same category or better.

Our reservations were linked, and we called ahead to confirm adjourning staterooms. I know that DCL has the right to change staterooms, but having connecting rooms is very important when you are traveling with kids. And the only explanation for changing our room was because they were giving it to "a higher paying customer", which wasn't true. Frustrating!

 

[bumbershoot]

Some friends decided to cruise with us, so we gave up our suite and switched to connecting staterooms with verandah.

The night before the cruise, we met our friends and discovered that we had 6092 and 6096...

We requested connecting staterooms with verandah, and were given 6092 and 6094.

Our reservations were linked, and we called ahead to confirm adjourning staterooms.

Just to make TOTALLY sure, because you haven't stated it 100%...when you booked you had a certain room (both of you did)? You didn't just switch to "connecting staterooms with verandah", but when you changed your booking it was to those room numbers?

Or were you given those room numbers at a later date? The timeline doesn't seem solid to me, and it seems like it's important that it be 100% that you had booked certain rooms that were switched the night before the cruise.

 

[Tinknalli]

A guarantee rate does guarantee a room, just not a specific room. With a GTY room they can move you as they need to for whatever reason. With GTY you are not even guaranteed to be close together. I think that you were lucky to be as close as you were if your room was a GTY booking. Sometimes GTY bookings end up on different decks. I understand your disappointment as things did not end up as you were expecting, but with this type of booking things could have turned out worse. As a matter of fact, they can and do occasionally move people who have regular booking and choose a room at the time of booking. I do think they should have explained this to you when you booked.

 

[avgsuperheroine]

If I'm reading this right, they had concierge, but cancelled and rebooked as a GTY. Somehow requested adjoining (not sure how--by phone?)

Then the GTY assignments were given as adjoining, but then switched between the assignment and port arrival.

 

[kapoof]

A guarantee rate does guarantee a room, just not a specific room. With a GTY room they can move you as they need to for whatever reason. With GTY you are not even guaranteed to be close together. I think that you were lucky to be as close as you were if your room was a GTY booking. Sometimes GTY bookings end up on different decks. I understand your disappointment as things did not end up as you were expecting, but with this type of booking things could have turned out worse. As a matter of fact, they can and do occasionally move people who have regular booking and choose a room at the time of booking. I do think they should have explained this to you when you booked.

This seems to make the most sense... Sorry to the op what a bummer.

 

[phinz]

For what it's worth, always be sure to ask for "connecting" rooms, not "adjoining" rooms. To some companies "adjoining" means next door to each other. "Connecting" means they have a door between the two. That way there's no confusion. I learned this the hard way with Marriott several years ago.

As to the treatment by the Port Host, I'd say something to Disney. There's no excuse for a bad attitude, especially with Disney. They pride themselves on their customer service.

 

[JoiseyMom]

What is really weird is they said you booked GTY and it was discounted. GTY are not discounted rooms, they are full price. You just can't choose your stateroom. IGT/OGT/VGT are discounted staterooms.

 

[taswira]

We requested connecting staterooms with verandah, and were given 6092 and 6094. We did not know that 6094 had been switched to 6096 until the night before the cruise.

So the luggage tags in your documents were for 6094 and 6096, and the night before sailing you were advised of the switch? If you were GTY (I'm still confused as to whether you were) they put you wherever they like in that category and can move you wherever.

The only effective solution really would have been to take the room host up on his offer to ask the person in 6094 if he was interested in switching. I do not think that would have been out of line at all, since it would have put both of you in connecting cabins with your families so would have been the ideal solution for all. It would have been different if he did not have the same situation, but under the circumstances, I'm sure he would have been thrilled to switch. With him being a contractor, it would have been frowned upon for him to do the asking. It was up to you. I'm sorry your reservations were mangled though, if that's what happened.

 

[Freesia123]

Any chance he needed to fix something in that room?

 

[luv2sleep]

So the luggage tags in your documents were for 6094 and 6096, and the night before sailing you were advised of the switch? If you were GTY (I'm still confused as to whether you were) they put you wherever they like in that category and can move you wherever. The only effective solution really would have been to take the room host up on his offer to ask the person in 6094 if he was interested in switching. I do not think that would have been out of line at all, since it would have put both of you in connecting cabins with your families so would have been the ideal solution for all. It would have been different if he did not have the same situation, but under the circumstances, I'm sure he would have been thrilled to switch. With him being a contractor, it would have been frowned upon for him to do the asking. It was up to you. I'm sorry your reservations were mangled though, if that's what happened.

If your luggage tags had those specific rooms it's likely they switched due to a maintainable problem in one of the rooms. They them might not have been able to switch you to another set of connecting rooms at that point. Nothing could really be done at that point. Even if you have a specially booked stateroom a year before it could be switched at the last minute due to this reason also.

 

[taswira]

If your luggage tags had those specific rooms it's likely they switched due to a maintainable problem in one of the rooms. They them might not have been able to switch you to another set of connecting rooms at that point. Nothing could really be done at that point. Even if you have a specially booked stateroom a year before it could be switched at the last minute due to this reason also.

Not likely. Check the OP's subsequent posts. There was a contractor (contracted CM) booked in 6094 and his family booked in 6098.