Just Back...Upgraded to Concierge!!! Fabulous

[lruggiero]

We just got back from the 11/1 Eastern and we had booked a category 6 and when I got into the room, the balcony had a completely obstructed view. I was very upset since I booked the 6 because last year we had a cat 7 and my son kept climbing up to see the view.

I went to guest services and they told me the ship was booked and there was a sign stating no upgrades. I told them I didn't want an upgrade, I just wanted what I booked. They told me that my room was a cat 6 but I told them that as far as I was concerned, it was a cat 7 since the view was obstructed and that is the only difference between the two rooms. If they didn't have a cat 6 with the plexiglass balcony I wanted a credit for the difference in price from the 7 to the 6.

They told me to wait until we sailed to see if people didn't show up. Fat chance of that I told them. They also told me that they couldn't do anything about the credit until Monday since the offices were closed on the weekend.

Whatever, I was on the boat anyway so I figured I would just wait. Anyway, Sonia from guest services called us about 5:45 and told me to come and look at a room she had available for us.

OH MY GOD it was gorgeous!! Beautiful huge balcony with 4 lounge chairs and a table with 4 chairs, a living room with pull out couch, desk and wall unit with dvd and cd player, also a kitchen typ area with table and chairs, 2 huge bathrooms and 1 walk in closet in the bedroom and a closet in the front room.

I thanked her profusely since all I was looking for was just a credit. She kept calling to check on us to make sure everything was okay. That's Disney for you, always striving to be the best.

Thank God we had the upgrade since we had very rough seas and my 4 1/2 yo son had terrible sea sickness. If I was to be confined to a room for that length of time, I was very thankful that it was a large beautiful room.

Thanks again to Sonia and all the Disney folks at Guest Services.

The only problem now is that I told my husband we can't go back again because I'll have to have the same kind of room...haha

Lori

 

[jgalecpa]

Big Congratulations on the terrific upgrade!

Disney does try to make things right, don't they?

What started out as a PR problem ends up with 25 years of great word of mouth publicity.

Well Done

Jim

 

[dis4me]

WOW Were we on the same cruise!!!! I booked a category 4and arrived to a room reeking of vomit. We asked to be moved to another room but none were available. needless to say it must have been after your wonderful upgrade.
We wond up having 4 people in a cat 9 room overnight so that we could sleep without smelling vomit. After about a day the room was finally clean but I had a horrible time dealing with guest services as they didn't even apologize for the room being so disgusting never mind offer us a refund of any sort. Anyway After fighting with guest services for 6 days I finally got them to give me a shipboard credit of 171 that was the amount of 1 night and the category difference form a 4 to 9.
I am glad you enjoyed your cruise and had a great room.Sorry to hear that your son was seasick.

 

[dis4me]

Was your original room on the 7th deck that only hold three peopl(no upper bunk). I think we were eventually moved to your room. How funny is that.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by lruggiero
We just got back from the 11/1 Eastern and we had booked a category 6 and when I got into the room, the balcony had a completely obstructed view. I was very upset since I booked the 6 because last year we had a cat 7 and my son kept climbing up to see the view.

Regarding the "completely obstructed view" --

All Category 5 and Category 6 staterooms aft of the Category 7 (Navigator's Verandah) staterooms have metal, not plexiglass, below the railing. Above the railing, the view is not at all obstructed. The exterior photographs of the ships in the DCL brochure clearly show this.

My reason for posting this so that future Category 6 passengers won't think they need to worry about a "completely obstructed view."

It's great that everything worked out so well for lruggiero.

[corrected typo on category numbers]

 

[dis4me]

DCL really should advertise them as metal verandah's or classify them differently. Not necessarily a different price but they could do 6m for metal so that people booking know they will not have plexie glass. I know my first cruise before DU I booked a room with a metal verandah and then found these boards. Luckily I was able to change it before we boarded but not everyone knows about these boards.
I don't begrudge Lori for her upgrade I think it is wonderful. I just think it is funny to have two totally different extremes with guest services on the same cruise. I dealt with Nathalie by the way so anyone with future problems should suggest Sonia as she seems to be on top of things.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

Hey now, you think if I complain about my obstructed view (we booked an inside cabin), that they'd upgrade us too
Congrats on your great room lruggiero and sorry to hear your DS was sick.

 

[lruggiero]

Dis4me-

No, we were originally in cabin 6144 on deck 6.
Funny how they state there are no upgrades but then they "miraculously" appear...


Horace Horsecollar- The completely obstructed view was referring to my 4yo sons view as stated below. When you have children you need to be concerned with these things. Also, when I booked, I told them that the reason I wanted a cat 6 was becuase of the plexiglass view for my son so I had no reason to think that I had to try to look at the exterior photos of the ship and try to determine where room 6144 was

 

[dis4me]

Lori I am glad it worked out for you. I wouldn't want the metal either so I can understand your frustration.Once our room was properly cleaned we had a fabulous vacation too. I liked my cat 4 and like you said if I had gotten a cat 3 I wouldn't be able to sail without it.. It sounds wonderful though.
Was your ds better after the 1st day?Many people got sick. Those were rough seas.We met people on board who were seasick the entire time the boat was moving and the infirmary ran out of seasick meds and started giving the shot. I felt so bad for her. It was a once and a lifetime trip for her and her daughter and she looked green everytime I saw her.

 

[lruggiero]

He was really sick Saturday and I had to miss dinner and then Sunday morning when he woke up he started vomiting again. The dramamine I brought (as a last minute thought since he didn't get sick last year) wasn't working so we took him to the infirmary sunday morning as soon as they opened and they gave him a suppository. He was sleeping in 15 minutes and then 2 1/2 hours later he was fine for the rest of the trip.

Thank God.

We were the first ones in the infirmary but when we were leaving it was completely packed. I felt so bad for these people, one girl had 2 bottles of ice water up against her face. It was awful. All I heard walking down the hallways were the sounds of vomit. Even the girl who took care of our room was sick.

I liked it, it rocked me to sleep...haha

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by lruggiero
OH MY GOD it was gorgeous!! Beautiful huge balcony with 4 lounge chairs and a table with 4 chairs, a living room with pull out couch, desk and wall unit with dvd and cd player, also a kitchen typ area with table and chairs, 2 huge bathrooms and 1 walk in closet in the bedroom and a closet in the front room.
Lori

WOW! Talk about making it 'right.' That is fantastic! Good for you!

 

[SweetSpot]

Lori:

Congrats on your upgrade!! You really did luck out because we tried to pay for the upgrade at the port and they had no rooms available at all. I'm so happy you had the extra room while your son was sick at least it made the time in taking care of him more bearable.

We survived the sea sickness only to be hit on Friday with an intestinal virus similar to last years outbreak. Knowing that the infirmary was hit with so many sick people all week helps me to understand why the nurse who answered my call for medicine during the night was so rude. I really felt bad for many of the CM's last week. It seemed they were kept very busy cleaning up after sick passengers.

Is anyone else still feeling the rocking of the ship?

 

[twhipple]

Tracy,

I'm still feeling the rocking, though it isn't as bad as Saturday. The hard part to adjusting is the cold and going to work

Lori - Great upgrade! We were in a catagory 7 so expected some obstructions, but can understand your disappointment.

 

[dis4me]

We are still rocking too. Tracy so sorry to hear you got sick. Did you at least make Castaway Cay?
I hope you are feeling better now.
Lori I felt the same way to an extent. The rocking didin't bother me at all when I was sleeping but trying to walk the halls carrying a 38 lb infant was rough. Everywhere we went we saw people sick. It was bad. When we wer changing rooms at Midnight the entire side of deck seven was covered.

 

[jrabbit]

The "rocking" that you feel after leaving the ship really doesn't have anything to do with how much the ship was rocking while on your cruise. We had almost no rocking on our western cruise this year (only for about 2 hours out of Cozamel). My family was wobbly for almost 2 weeks afterwards. There have been posts about this in the past where people were affected for 2 days to over a month Hope you get feeling normal soon. And can relate to the cold vs. the nice warm Caribbean!!

 

[inkkognito]

I guess that obstruction is all a matter of opinion. My favorite stateroom, 5650, is one of those metal verandah rooms. I have never viewed it as obstructed because it doesn't bother me to stand up to look at the ocean. I think it's a good trade-off for the peace and quiet in the aft section of the ship, and 5650 has a larger and more recessed verandah that I love.
I have lots of photos on my websites showing the differences in the verandah rooms to help people make the choice.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by dis4me
DCL really should advertise them as metal verandah's or classify them differently. Not necessarily a different price but they could do 6m for metal so that people booking know they will not have plexie glass.

That's a really good idea. Other cruise lines have far more categories, and they often have categories where the number is the same, but where a letter is a attached. As dis4me suggested, there could a regular category 6, and a category 6m (and category 5 and 5m). Or use the letter a, as in 5a and 6a, to identify these aft verandahs with the solid sides.

When I booked our first DCL cruise, I found the exact room on the exterior picture of the ship, as soon I knew the stateroom number. But, obviously not everyone does that, and I'm sure this isn't the first time that passengers were surprised that the verandah didn't match their expectations.

 

[pippy]

I have a 4 year old. We booked a cat 6 midship, room 6586. I hope the verandah is plexiglass! Does anyone know? My daughter is very curious, I would hate to have her try to climb up on the railing so she can see the ocean view!

Thanks!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

lruggiero: What concierge services did you take advantage of? What was your number one favorite thing about this category?

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Originally posted by pippy
I have a 4 year old. We booked a cat 6 midship, room 6586. I hope the verandah is plexiglass! Does anyone know? My daughter is very curious, I would hate to have her try to climb up on the railing so she can see the ocean view!

Thanks!!

Yes, 6586 has plexiglass.