May 10, 2008 New Ship Of Thieves...May 2008 Repo Thread...Part 4

[HollyTyler]

How frustrated. look like communicate breakdown!!

Scottishwee35

Just another example of how he doesn't pay attention to Tyler. Very sad. I've heard lots of people say men are just like that, but not always so.....look at John1 here! He'd never ignore Sophia if she didn't feel well and looked sick too.

I think I'll hold off mentioning this until tomorrow morning at the psychologist visit so she can slap him in the face again. (Not literally, of course!)

 

[Mom323]

Cork and Carol, I know we are still down as linked dining on the DCL website. Do you think this still stands with Noel having done the planning? I am presuming so because our names are still there.

I only ask because we had requested linked dining on our last cruise, and it was on the DCL site, but when we got to our table we weren't put with the people we were linked with!!! It was said that it was because we were on different group bookings, and that they couldn't do it. We were seated with folk from the same TA group.

Oh no, I just assumed we would be seated together during dinner.
We have the second seating. What do you have?
Should we each call and check?

I know Rich and I would still love to sit with you both.

 

[nskjerven]

People who have secrets and taunt others are annoying!!!!

annoying but funny

 

[granmaz]

This is frustrating. Both the afternoon and morning teacher were together when I dropped Tyler off (the morning one was taking the kids to afternoon class) so they both were all over Tyler, being very sweet to him, etc. That was nice...then they both told me they knew he was sick because they could tell by looking at him that he was miserable. They asked Tyler that morning why he came to school and why he didn't ask to stay home. Tyler told them he'd told his dad and stepmom, but they ignored him and when he told them again he didn't feel well, they told him he was making it up to avoid having to go to school. Um......kindergarteners don't do that, they LOVE SCHOOL at that age!

How sad for Tyler to tell adults he's supposed to be able to trust that he doesn't feel well and have them blow him off! I told Tyler I'd have a talk with his dad today and ask him to please listen when Tyler says he's sick, and the teacher said, "if he would have just LOOKED closely at him, he'd have known".

It's no wonder Tyler doesn't tell him things. There were a few things recently that Tyler had been telling me bothered him, and when I mentioned it to his dad, his dad said, "Well, he's never told us that". Now I understand why. They don't listen to him.

Holly this must upset you greatly. I guess you are going to have to have it out with them. It's not good enough.

 

[granmaz]

Oh no, I just assumed we would be seated together during dinner.
We have the second seating. What do you have?
Should we each call and check?

I know Rich and I would still love to sit with you both.

I guess all they would say is that as we show as linked than we are. It must be at the cruiseline end that things go wrong.

 

[scottishwee35]

Just another example of how he doesn't pay attention to Tyler. Very sad. I've heard lots of people say men are just like that, but not always so.....look at John1 here! He'd never ignore Sophia if she didn't feel well and looked sick too.

I think I'll hold off mentioning this until tomorrow morning at the psychologist visit so she can slap him in the face again. (Not literally, of course!)

I know lot people said MEN

but not all same

as my husband is good man and very good with kids too

I hope you are okay

Scottishwee35

 

[nskjerven]

Just another example of how he doesn't pay attention to Tyler. Very sad. I've heard lots of people say men are just like that, but not always so.....look at John1 here! He'd never ignore Sophia if she didn't feel well and looked sick too.

I think I'll hold off mentioning this until tomorrow morning at the psychologist visit so she can slap him in the face again. (Not literally, of course!)

not all men indeed. Paul listens and hears what our kids say. He doesn't have intuition like most women do, but he listens and hears what his kids tell him. Holly stand your ground with Tyler's Dad. The older Tyler gets the more he will need him to talk to. If they don't establish a trusting relationship now it may not happen.

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly this must upset you greatly. I guess you are going to have to have it out with them. It's not good enough.

Actually, it might be better coming from Tyler's mouth. Indirectly, of course, so he doesn't feel pressured, but I"m sure the topic of him being sick will come up at the psychologist visit tomorrow, and I can sort of gently say, "the teachers told me today they were surprised he was at school because of how awful he looked" and that might prompt Tyler to say that he told his dad & stepmom he didn't feel well. That might work and nobody will feel pressured......his dad can only stay for about 20 min at the appointment tomorrow so he won't have to worry about making his dad upset.

 

[nskjerven]

gotta get some work done today. Keep the chatting down.

 

[MrsMork]

Angie have you had a reply from your email yet?

I did just a few min. ago get a call from 407 566 3596 on my cell. But when I answered I could not hear anyone respond. I have tried calling back and get either a busy signal or the call immediately cuts off without going thru. I expect that was a call back in repsonse to my email. We will see if they try again. I have LOTS of bars on my phone so I know it is not my connection here.

 

[MrsMork]

In the end I we really had a great time with our table mates and to be honest I think a lot more than we would have done if we had been with the folk we linked to!!!!!

So "someone" was looking out for you!!

 

[Mom323]

Oh Cork, this brought tears to my eyes. I'm sorry for your loss

As someone said here think of him now barking his head off at a row of metermen. He is in doggie heaven

Thanks for understanding. We really do get attached them. We've decided we can't get another dog, it's just to hard.

Yep, he's barking at the meter reader and chasing the mice in the garage. He actually caught one, he was so proud, the little tail hanging out of his mouth. I screamed, he spit it out and the little mouse sat there for a second and then took off. My DH helped me off the hood of the car. The dog didn't kiss me for a week.

 

[HollyTyler]

I know lot people said MEN

but not all same

as my husband is good man and very good with kids too

I hope you are okay

Scottishwee35

not all men indeed. Paul listens and hears what our kids say. He doesn't have intuition like most women do, but he listens and hears what his kids tell him. Holly stand your ground with Tyler's Dad. The older Tyler gets the more he will need him to talk to. If they don't establish a trusting relationship now it may not happen.

Thank you. I'm just so disgusted that he still isn't paying much attention to him after finding out more and more things going on with him. You'd think he'd want to be more aware of anything going on with Tyler. Even now he needs to be able to tell us things. His dad mentioned that he always tells Tyler, "You can always tell me anything" and he gets frustrated when Tyler says, "you don't have to keep telling me that". It's one thing to say Tyler can tell him things, but Tyler obviously already knows it's another thing to actually have his dad listen to him.

 

[HollyTyler]

Well, I still have about 45 min before I need to go pick up Tyler, so I'm gonna go watch more "Lost".

 

[MouseFaninQueue]

Got an email from DU. They ordered our and Party tickets!

Guess we'll be seeing you there then!!!

 

[HollyTyler]

OH! And I WILL update Bobby's pics tonight! I have a few to share and have just been lazy about it.

 

[tigger137]

We only get cats and an odd hedgehog and birds in our garden!!!!

What's so odd about the hedgehog?

We don't get much wildlife in the garden. But just across the road we have a canal, and there we get ducks, moorhen, swans, occasionally a heron, and water voles.

 

[Mom323]

I haven't seen that we can order them can we?

Here's the link with info about the party

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/pirateprincess-party.htm

 

[luv2cruzsus]

And Skittles. Think I'll go see if I can find some Skittles.
Working in a VA hospital with Canteen store does have a couple of advantages! And more Animal cookies!

My favorits is Hershey's candy coated chocolate eggs at Easter. It's a good thing my favorite only comes out once a year!!

 

[DisneyRN1]

OK guys, I wrote a letter . . .

Instead of Tom McAlpin, I sent it to Robert.Iger@disney.com

I copied roy.disney@disney.com, Tom.mcalpin@disney.com, and steve.jobs@apple.com . . . just a guess at email addresses, we'll see what happens.

Here is the letter:

Dear Bob,

(I hope it is OK to call you Bob)

I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on some difficulties my friends and I have had with the Disney Cruise Line reservation system.

You may have heard of the "DIS" boards, where everything Disney is discussed. Several friends of mine and I are members there, and we are all booked on the Panama Canal Repositioning cruise, West Bound. This last Saturday was the 90 day mark, wherein Castaway Club members have the opportunity for a "pain free" experience (as quoted in information sent to us) in booking reservations for excursions and Palo dining. We all anxiously awaited that date to firm up our plans. We were looking forward to getting online at midnight, booking our reservations, and going to bed shortly thereafter for Disney Dreams.

To say the least, this was NOT the experience. Many spent hours and hours trying to make reservations, deprived of sleep, and still unable to get this image out of their minds, as it is now seared in their brains:

If Mr. McAlpin or other DCL executive happens to make an appearance on our cruise, we may just surprise him with a shirt with the above on it.

Should you wish to read a blow by blow account, I would direct you to this page of our meet thread where the madness began:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1709944&page=212

Since this is a family site, to say the least, the comments were restrained. Fortunately, I had gone to bed because one of our cruising companions was kind enough to do the honors to try and obtain reservations for us.

There was a similar experience with this cruise last year, where Disney Cruise Line was going to charge an additional $100 per guest for passage through the Panama Canal. After many emails, and finally contact from the media, Disney finally rescinded that announcement.

Needless to say, these experiences have left a very bad taste in the mouth of many of us, all of whom are great and loyal Disney fans.

However, I am thinking that what is worse is being treated like just another dollar sign by the staff at Disney. One of the things we all felt that Disney was known for in the entertainment industry is personalized service. When we attempted to contact Disney, and Disney Cruise Line, we get responses like this:

Dear XXXXX,

Thank you for choosing a Disney Cruise Line Vacation!

I sincerely regret the challenges you've encountered while trying to
manage your reservation online.

Recently our website has been experiencing higher volume of traffic than
usual, as our Guests are preparing for their up coming Panama Canal
cruise.

I understand your concern, and I regret that the site was not been
permitting you to manage your reservation. Thank you for bringing the
matter to our attention.

I see that you pre-reserved:
XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

We look forward to sailing with you!

Have a Magical Day!!!

JD
Reservations Department
Disney Cruise Vacations

*If applicable, please include your full name, reservation number, and
phone number on all correspondence.


Now Bob, we are all adults, many of us professionals, and we know a form letter when we see one. Is this the kind of response that would make you happy with a company when you had voiced a concern to them? Would you have a "Magical Day" after reading that response?

The overall conclusion we have reached is that your system is greatly flawed, and in need of revamping. With two new ships coming on soon, I am sure this is not the experience you want your guests to remember. One suggestion sent to Mr. McAlpin (which was not addressed at all) was that you allow booking for these things immediately upon payment in full, thus getting the money in your hands sooner, and allowing those who do so the opportunity to book these things in a more timely and ordered fashion. It has also been noted that Disney has outsourced their IT systems such as the Disney Cruise Line web site. If this is so, the outsourcing company should be FIRED. If they cannot handle the traffic of several hundred guests trying to book reservation requests, they are not worth whatever Disney is paying them. Perhaps some consultation with your friend (and large shareholder) over at Apple, Steve Jobs would be a good idea. None of us can believe that the founder of Walt Disney, Walt himself, would have ever stood for this level of customer service.

Every one of my friends and I continue to be amazed and delighted by the level of service while onboard the Disney Magic. You all should be very proud of the job that you do, and the return business of your guests reflects this. This will be our eighth Disney cruise since 2000, and we have no interest in any other cruise line. The level of service while not on the ship is another matter, and we are extremely disappointed and wonder if this can even be the same company.

I look forward to a non form letter response. I don't care if it is just a few sentences. However, should I get the same form and canned response as others, I will not be a happy camper, and I suggest that you give a more intelligent response to those who have already written as well. If I am told to have a "Magical Day" by someone, I will then decide whether to forward the correspondence on to the individual at the Orlando Sentinel who helped us out with the $100 fiasco last year. Perhaps the only way to get Disney to respond is by going to the Media.

Until then, I will not wish you a "Magical Day", and just say that I hope to hear from you or someone in Disney Management.

Sincerely,

John W. Halkias

DCL Reservation Number xxxxxxxx
Phone number xxx-xxx-xxxx

PS - DVC Member, Disney Shareholder (yeah I know, one share framed that my wife bought me for Christmas years ago), and message being sent from my Macbook, while my 7 year old daughter watches the Disney Channel on a school snow day.

LOVED THE LETTER!!!!!! But, instead of giving him the tee shirt we should all have one made, and wear it to a group meeting with him-----let him stare at a "sea" full of fishes for a while!! Hope you get a real answer from him! Vicki