Problem with Wishes Cruise and WL

[MommaluvsDis]

My friend and her family are at WL as we speak. Since I had been several times, she asked me to help plan them a memorable trip. I booked the Wishes cruise for them. She called me from the WL and said that she had asked 4 CM's where to catch the boat and no one could give her an answer. So, she called me long distance and I told her to try the beach to the right of the pool. That's where we caught it when we went a couple of years ago.

She called later and said that the boat picked them up on time and that she was glad she had called me. She said she over heard some other people saying they were told to wait at the MK dock! As she was loading onto her boat, another boat came up and the driver asked her if she knew where the other people were! She directed him to the MK dock.

This is very unorganized, at least from the WL. It's surprising to see that is hasn't been addressed YET! I told her to meet the the WL manager and complain.

 

[shellybaxter]

A question for the OP

We have a Wishes cruise booked from the WL and they told me the MK dock. So where is it we are supposed to be. And if you could kind of give dirrections that would help a lot. I've only been to the lodge once and I've never stayed there - so I'm not sure where things are.

Thanks
Shelly

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

The Wishes Cruises aren't booked through the Wilderness Lodge but reservations are made by Specialty Cruise @ 407-939-7529, most guest ask where the boat is available from and the Marinas are the normal departure place, (unless the guest request a special pick-up) So the fact that the CM's that work at the Lodge wouldn't have the details of your friend itinerary isn't surprizing to me. That fact that your friend made an expensive reservation and didn't have all the details as to where they were to meet...is surprizing though. Sorry but there are so many activities going on at all times through-out the WDW the CM's couldn't possably know where each guest should be and at what time.

Your friend should have called the Specialty Cruise Line to recieve the correct information. This information should have been writen down when the reservation was made. It was your friends responsibility to secure all the information. Not the managment at Wilderness Lodge.This is very unorganized, at least from the WL. It's surprising to see that is hasn't been addressed YET! I told her to meet the the WL manager and complain. Why complain to the manager at Wilderness Lodge because they didn't have their itinerary information?

Oh, I just read that you made the reservation. Didn't you recieve the correct information when you booked the Cruise? We here given all the information at booking.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Originally posted by shellybaxter
We have a Wishes cruise booked from the WL and they told me the MK dock. So where is it we are supposed to be. And if you could kind of give dirrections that would help a lot. I've only been to the lodge once and I've never stayed there - so I'm not sure where things are.

Shelly

You should call the Specialty Cruise @ 407-939-7529, and find out where you should go. The Wilderness Lodge has two docks one for transportation to and from the Magic Kingdom and Resorts. The other is at the Marina where the excursion boats are moored. If you want to speak to someone at the Lodge that would have the information you could call Teton Boat & Bike Rental The CM's at the Marina had all the booking information when we arrived.

 

[shellybaxter]

Thanks for the advice, but why so mean to the OP? I made an expensive reservation without knowing exacting what I was to do. It was early, the phone CM didn't even know what time the cruise would be at because Wishes hadn't been scheduled yet, and I was excited that I got a reservation at all.

I want to thank the OP for her heads up that this can be a confusing event. It lets me know I need to be on top of things more with this cruise. To be honest, I would have thought that cruises leave from the WL every night and that they were a normal thing, and that the WL staff, at least guest services, would be able to confirm for me where to meet the boat I don't think that should be an unrealistic expectation.

Shelly

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Sorry didn't mean to be offensive, after reading my post I agree it does sound harsh sorry if this made you feel that I was being mean to OP. But I just don't understand being mad at the CM or managment at the Lodge.

The OP didn't say the friend went to Guest Services just that they had asked several CM's (housekeeper, server???) and that the friend had over heard some other people saying they were told to wait at the MK dock! (The Magic Kingdom dock isn't located at Wilderness Lodge)

People do go on these cruises almost everynight so someone must be doing something right.

Just my opinion.

 

[Alaska Catdog]

Two weeks ago we had a Wishes Cruise booked through our Platinum Itinerary Planner. The cruise was one of many events we'd planned and upon check in at the Contemporary Resort we were given our itinerary for the whole trip. I'd asked the planner to make a PS at a restaurant close to the departure point for the cruise because we'd never been there before and I wanted to keep it simple. We had a nice early dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. I took a look at our itinerary and it said "Wishes Cruise- Departing from the Seven Seas Lagoon area at 8:00 pm" Having spent a week in The World prior to this event, I knew that the description of the departure point was too vague. DH called the concierge and she told us that it departed at our resort at 8:00. It was about 6:45 so we meandered out of the park and stopped at a shop to buy postcards and a copy of the Wishes CD where we got into a conversation about wishes with the CM checking us out. She was very excited that Wishes was at 7:00 that night so that she could see it before she left for the day. My DH and I looked at each other and said "7:00?" We grabbed our purchases and ran to the monorail which we jumped on last minute and we were at the dock in 10 minutes. We ran up the pier and a wonderful man named Captain Rob asked me for my name then ushered us onto his boat. We made it to the tie up just in time to watch Wishes while we sipped the Lemonade Captain Rob had thoughtfully brought along for us. It was my favorite fireworks the whole 13 days. When we got back to the 14th floor the concierge was very apologetic about the fact that she'd given us the wrong time. It all worked out in the end but caused a lot of anxiety before hand. If I had it to do over I would have confirmed the time of Wishes that morning in order to determine if my itinerary was correct. From then on I doublechecked events centered around fireworks and all went smoothly.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

This was a trip that I planned for a first time Disney visitor. I had written down in the booklet of info that I made for her where that I caught the boat when I took the cruise. In her excitement, she forgot the info. I don't understand why the CM's don't have this info even if the event is booked thru Specialty Cruises. This is an even that involves their resort as a pick up and drop off point. How hard is it to circulate this info the everyone at the very least Guest Services? I've always heard that if you have a question, any question, just ask a CM!

I told my friend to go to the beach which was to the right of the pool. They were then picked up there without any problem. Now, if I knew this in LA why don't the CMs know it there, AT THE LODGE?

I also re-read my original post and saw that I NEVER mentioned that she was or should be mad at the CMs or management. My reasoning behind complaining to the manager was to bring to light this specific communication problem at their resort. If no one complains, then how will anyone ever know there is a problem? There has to be a better way. I know that Specialty Cruises is suppose to provide this info but they didn't tell me anything of the sort when I made the reservation. Hopefully the people that were waiting at the MK dock got picked up on time to enjoy their cruise.

 

[brettb]

Originally posted by MAGICinMYHEART
Sorry didn't mean to be offensive, after reading my post I agree it does sound harsh sorry if this made you feel that I was being mean to OP. But I just don't understand being mad at the CM or managment at the Lodge.

The OP didn't say the friend went to Guest Services just that they had asked several CM's (housekeeper, server???) and that the friend had over heard some other people saying they were told to wait at the MK dock! (The Magic Kingdom dock isn't located at Wilderness Lodge)

People do go on these cruises almost everynight so someone must be doing something right.

Just my opinion.

MAGINinMYHEART, this is one of the most qualified apologies I've heard in long time! Just to be clear, this is not a compliment.

I seem to remember a time when "I don't know" were forbidden words for CMs. If they didn't know the answer to a question, they were to find out. Perhaps the policy isn't so strict anymore, but I'd still think you'd find a helpful/clueful CM in 4 shots. And I think an answer like "if you are scheduled to be picked up at the WL, it would be at the beach, but you could be scheduled for a pick up elsewhere and if you go to guest services they can look up or call to determine your pickup location" would be satisfactory.

Brett