Home from our 1st Disney Cruise, impressions and observations

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

The Dream has a pool that requires Concierge Worldkey/MB access, just fore of the Concierge Sundeck area. It is marked 18+ only.
We took the kids there on the first day to get a look around, not more than 5 minutes later and officer asked us to leave the area and said it was for 18+ only.

The pool is small, more like a wading pool. It was built under and around one of the satellite domes. If anything, it is perfect for kids given the diminutive size of it.

Was it on deck 13? Had a little waterfall and seating area on the inside of the pool around the base of the antenna? That may be satellite falls - that's in the adult area (non concierge).

 

[dcassetta]

Did you book with a placeholder? @epcotrulz posted the stateroom credit is given to concierge since those booking don’t qualify for the 10% placeholder discount? I know that was true for a while but haven’t seen any recent reports.

It was. Originally we had booked a non-concierge room and then upgraded before the cruise. Had the same placeholder reservation number, but no stateroom credit. I don’t know if maybe we were supposed to have one, because it was originally booked non- concierge that made a difference? I didn’t worry about it too much though because I didn’t realize that there was the possibility of a credit.

 

[dcassetta]

The Dream has a pool that requires Concierge Worldkey/MB access, just fore of the Concierge Sundeck area. It is marked 18+ only.
We took the kids there on the first day to get a look around, not more than 5 minutes later and officer asked us to leave the area and said it was for 18+ only.

The pool is small, more like a wading pool. It was built under and around one of the satellite domes. If anything, it is perfect for kids given the diminutive size of it.

Now I understand. As @dad of 3 addicted to DCL mentioned this area is called Satellite Falls. The concierge sun deck didn’t used to be as big as it is now. So I can understand why it looks like that area is for concierge only. You would need to use your key to enter concierge from Satellite Falls. But you can access that area without being concierge.

 

[IMMkXLVI]

Was it on deck 13? Had a little waterfall and seating area on the inside of the pool around the base of the antenna? That may be satellite falls - that's in the adult area (non concierge).

I think that was it. I always reached it through Concierge so I made the incorrect association that it was part of Concierge. Come to think of it, there is a keyed door separating it from the Concierge Sun Deck.

 

[Moonspinner]

I was afraid you'd say that. Seems odd they offer concierge guests the option to prebook for 10% but then exclude the cabin choice likely to be made by that guest. If we still had an au pair, it could have come in handy. If our kids were old enough to be in a stateroom of their own, it could be of benefit but neither is the case.

'C'est la Vie'

I’m not sure how old your kids are, but we put our under 18 kids in their own room. You just can’t officially book it that way. We always have a room very close by and just switch around the guests. That might complicate concierge access however.

 

[Erica1016]

The Dream has a pool that requires Concierge Worldkey/MB access, just fore of the Concierge Sundeck area. It is marked 18+ only.
We took the kids there on the first day to get a look around, not more than 5 minutes later and officer asked us to leave the area and said it was for 18+ only.

The pool is small, more like a wading pool. It was built under and around one of the satellite domes. If anything, it is perfect for kids given the diminutive size of it.

The "pool" you are referring to is Satellite Falls. It is 18+, but not concierge. The entire area is 18. The concierge area is near there, but is walled off. Satellite Falls and the immediate area is open to all guests 18+.

 

[RedHead0186]

Did you book with a placeholder? @epcotrulz posted the stateroom credit is given to concierge since those booking don’t qualify for the 10% placeholder discount? I know that was true for a while but haven’t seen any recent reports.

I believe it's still around. At least it was in late 2023. We booked a non-concierge room with a placeholder, then later upgraded to concierge (before sailing). We did get an onboard credit (don't remember the amount, though).

 

[IMMkXLVI]

I was reviewing our onboard account as I usually do after a vacation, when time permits, since I don't do it during the trip itself.
Has anyone else ever noticed how convoluted the gratuities are listed on the statement? There are entries for gratuities both as a positive and a negative value categorized as a debit. I'm not an accountant but how is it possible that both entries are a debit?

The numbers align when I just look at expenses for excursions and onboard entertainment as compared to Disney CC charges.
It just seems like the statement adds a lot of superfluous information/entries.

 

[RedHead0186]

I was reviewing our onboard account as I usually do after a vacation, when time permits, since I don't do it during the trip itself.
Has anyone else ever noticed how convoluted the gratuities are listed on the statement? There are entries for gratuities both as a positive and a negative value categorized as a debit. I'm not an accountant but how is it possible that both entries are a debit?

The numbers align when I just look at expenses for excursions and onboard entertainment as compared to Disney CC charges.
It just seems like the statement adds a lot of superfluous information/entries.

I just got back from a cruise two weeks ago and just checked my onboard account. I only have gratuities listed as debits, none as a negative value like you described. Did you adjust your gratuities onboard with guest services? I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.

 

[IMMkXLVI]

Mine doesn't even match what CS said when he read a standard description of how a line entry would appear for gratuity.
He said when gratuities are prepaid, the line entry would have language to indicate this.

I also have charges he didn't have an explanation for because he can't see the portfolio. For that I have to email guest relations.
We had a couples massage so the $199 appears for both of us and we did buy some merchandise which shows up on just mine but the smaller amounts show up for both of us and I've no idea for what. There is also a housekeeping charge which the CS thought might be if we decided to keep the laundry bag, which we didn't.

The positive and negative gratuity entries appear for everyone, multiple times with many repeated for a single day under each person. In comparison to hotel invoices (I don't remember our last cruise stateroom balance sheet since it was just before the pandemic) this thing is all over the place and looks confusing by design!

To answer your question, we didn't talk to anyone at concierge or guest services about reducing gratuities. The CS agent thought perhaps it was a negative value because we prepaid them but he didn't know why the negatives don't equal the positives which would have been expected had his explanation tracked.

 

[lanejudy]

The top doesn't make much sense to me but on the bottom half...

The $35.82 for Senses Spa is the auto gratuity for the couples massage ($199 x 18%). Did you also include a $20 tip for the massage maybe not knowing it had an auto-gratuity? Or beverages at the spa during your massage?

The $10 housekeeping does in fact look like the laundry bag charge. Maybe it was missing before you embarked, in which case you'll need to inform them it was missing.

 

[IMMkXLVI]

The top doesn't make much sense to me but on the bottom half...

The $35.82 for Senses Spa is the auto gratuity for the couples massage ($199 x 18%). Did you also include a $20 tip for the massage maybe not knowing it had an auto-gratuity? Or beverages at the spa during your massage?

The $10 housekeeping does in fact look like the laundry bag charge. Maybe it was missing before you embarked, in which case you'll need to inform them it was missing.

Ah. I was unaware of the auto gratuity, so I left $20 as that is what I tip at home for the same length sessions.
The laundry bag was there. It wasn't used. Funny, I was half tempted to keep it for when we're at Disney resorts and not in a 1 bedroom equipped with laundry but I feared some outrageous charge so I didn't but in hindsight, I should have.

Heck, I'd have kept the nice blanket at the foot of the bed too!! That was borderline worth what ever extravagant fee they'd charge!

I'll have to take the fee up with them though it's just $10.

 

[ray3127]

Mine doesn't even match what CS said when he read a standard description of how a line entry would appear for gratuity.
He said when gratuities are prepaid, the line entry would have language to indicate this.

I also have charges he didn't have an explanation for because he can't see the portfolio. For that I have to email guest relations.
We had a couples massage so the $199 appears for both of us and we did buy some merchandise which shows up on just mine but the smaller amounts show up for both of us and I've no idea for what. There is also a housekeeping charge which the CS thought might be if we decided to keep the laundry bag, which we didn't.

The positive and negative gratuity entries appear for everyone, multiple times with many repeated for a single day under each person. In comparison to hotel invoices (I don't remember our last cruise stateroom balance sheet since it was just before the pandemic) this thing is all over the place and looks confusing by design!

To answer your question, we didn't talk to anyone at concierge or guest services about reducing gratuities. The CS agent thought perhaps it was a negative value because we prepaid them but he didn't know why the negatives don't equal the positives which would have been expected had his explanation tracked.

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I was just trying to to make sense of ours yesterday! It is quite convoluted.

Since we prepaid gratuities, we had positives and negatives that netted out to zero under each person in our stateroom. For us, at least, those all zeroed out.

As lanejudy mentioned, several of the other lines are likely for tips. For example, any time we got a drink at a bar, there were two entries: one for the drink total, and one for the 18% auto-gratuity. I presume there would have been a third line for any extra gratuity. The one place we did leave an extra gratuity was Palo, and indeed there were 3 separate line items on the folio there.

Since we are DVC, any merch we purchased was 10% off. On the folio, it would have listed a $100 item purchased for $90 as two lines: one with a $100 charge, and one with a $10 credit. Often, these amounts not even directly next to each other on the folio, so we had to hunt around to line everything up. But in our case, everything seemed properly accounted for.

 

[dreamer17555]

Heck, I'd have kept the nice blanket at the foot of the bed too!! That was borderline worth what ever extravagant fee they'd charge!

The blanket fee is $285... I would argue very few feel that blanket is worth that.

 

[IMMkXLVI]

The blanket fee is $285... I would argue very few feel that blanket is worth that.

For a new one, I'd have done it.

I'm surprised Disney doesn't sell that stuff in the shop. The towels were nothing to write home about but I attribute that to the laundering process. New, I bet they were nice and soft. I'd buy a set in something other than bland white with the DCL logo.

I have a soft spot for logos of companies I like.

 

[ppony]

Great post! Thanks for sharing and detailing your experience. It was very helpful.
Our first cruise was a Disney concierge, then we did one w/o. DANG, did we miss the perks. Particularly how easy it was to disembark. We're inclined to do it again because it just alleviates so much stress,
Couldn't agree more about cast members. THEY are who I think of when I think of the magic of Disney. Not even Walt, I think of cast members because they are the ones that make your personal experiences so magical. I love them! It's why we've never vacationed in any other way but a Disney way in over 30 years.