The romance in my romance plan is dead !

[wintermom]

I love these boards and had read all the post about the romance plan vs romance at sea.
We are doing the land and sea 1/1/05 and I was very excited, it will be our third trip but this time on the magic.

Long story short, its time to put a little spark back into the 14 year marriage even tho we are traveling with DD age 7 I thought the romance plan would be great. (I would have liked the romance at sea but its not avaliable for land and sea cruiser)

Thats the first thing I don't understand.

But ok, DH loved the idea of the romance plan and said he would
love to see Circus Solie (spelling?) again and yes yes book it.

So I called my TA, he said fine, then he called me back and said
You can't add the romance plan if you are staying at the Swan or
Dolphin for the land part of the trip (which of course we are).

That's the second thing I don't understand!

Nothing happens at the hotel, no turndown service no breakfast
nothing, what does it matter where I am staying? I called Disney myself to check, their response " we just can't because we can't track it" whatever that means.

So I tell DH and DD no romance plan, we are arriving 2 days early and staying at the Swan with Starwood points so I didn't want to have to move everyone. DD said," lets move , I'll help and I love
AKL anyway so lets stay 2 days at the Swan, then move to AKL
and you can have your romance thing" So today, I call my TA
and guess what? AKL is not avaliable. This is for January !
Just because, I tried booking AKL on hotels.com and another site
and they are showing avalibility but not for land and sea people
I guess!

That's the third thing I don't understand.

The fourth thing I don't understand is why I am letting myself get all worked up on this but I am.

I know I can get to port early and get a palo's reservation and the rose petals on the bed are no big deal. But sigh!! I wanted it
and it sounded like fun. (I tried pricing the land and sea seperately but its much more expensive)

Also my TA informed me that the romance plan cannot be combined with the Castaway plan, and I would not get the priorty
check in or gift???? Is this right????

Disney, maybe this third land & sea trip is not my best idea,
I can feel I am losing a little of the magic.



Wintermom

 

[luv that cruise]

I've only done land & sea once and i remember a lot of rules. kind of like disneyworld and disney cruise were separate and only some rooms blocked for land/sea combo. swan and dolphin have thier own relationship with disney and i think totally separate from land/sea packages. forget the "package" and make your own romace plan! Get your own rose petals from home or grocery near port and pack them in baggie on ice. plan to board early and let your daughter entertain your husband while you get palo and spa set up. keep a smile on your face and save the package money (which will be overpriced anyway). Use your imagination and don't forget room service is available. the servers are awesome and i'm sure would help you in securing any special requests. We usually do 7 day cruise in the summer and make a separate trip to the world during the "off, uncrowded" months. good luck

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Also my TA informed me that the romance plan cannot be combined with the Castaway plan, and I would not get the priorty
check in or gift???? Is this right????

This just doesn't make sense! Tons of us Castaway Club members have benen successfully booking the REAS plan.

Also, have you thought about booking everything on your own separately for the land and sea portions? Instead of being an official Land/Sea, book the Cruise separately from your land portion. THEN, you can book the REAS for just the Cruise portion and not have to worry about it being a Land/Sea romance combo.

I bet you can get AKL without a problem if you book them separately -- especially on your own.

Overall, your TA is sounding a little suspicious....like he/she doesn't really know what they're talking about. -- this is just my opinion, but be weary.

 

[kcashner]

Ok, the land/sea package does have dumb rules. Only certain hotels are designated as cruise hotels, and only they offer land/sea. ALso, only they are served by the DCL bus. Swan and Dolphin are not owned by Disney--they are a special lease from WDW from a million years ago when Disney didn't have any money to build any more hotels. They have all sorts of special rules.

Your TA is definitely wrong about one thing. The romance package has NOTHING to do with being a castaway club member, and there is no "castaway package." They have you in their records as a previous cruiser, so you get the towel and pins.

The land/sea is rarely more expensive if you know how to do it. First, what do you really want? WHat is important to you? Is it the hotel? The romance package? Part of your issue for sure is the 1/1/05 date--being New Year's puts you in holiday (read that "expensive" season.)

The land/sea includes UPH passes. Will you use all the features of that pass? If not, would it be cheaper to buy Park Hopper Plus passes? Looks like there are 3 of you....price of private limo will be about the same as price of DCL transfers....which do you prefer? Transfers come with rules--they tell you where you will leave from and what time. Private limo will pick you up when and where you specify and allow a 15 minute grocery or Walmart stop if you need it.

Did you know that the Swan and Dolphin are Priceline hotels? Check out biddingfortravel.com and see whether a priceline room could fit your needs at a great savings.

So...my suggestions...decide what parts of the trip are the most important. Cirque du Soleil tickets are always the same price (with the rare exception of when they run a special) whether booked as part of a package or bought at the door....so that one is not a key in the picture. When you have decided what are the most important features, price them out as a package and individually. Then decide what will work best for you....and it sounds like your TA isn't totally up to snuff on Disney.

 

[wintermom]

I guess I am going to try to add my own romance.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions but booking the land and sea seperate is just too expensive. The Swan and Dolphin and
AKL are all listed as hotels for the land and sea package so I still
don't understand why I can stay at the Swan for the package but can't add the romance plan? Just another rule I guess.

We are renting our own car, you don't have to use DCL transfer
on the package, so I can stop and buy some roses -it's just not
what I had in mind.

What my TA told me about not getting the castaway gift and check in didn't make sense to me either, but honestly none of these rules did!

Not to cry, I am a lucky girl to go at all!!

Wintermom

 

[CRSNDSNY]

wintermom - Just a couple more thoughts for you...

* You can order flowers on DCL.com if you wish. You don't need your TA to take care of this. You may want to also check out some of the gift trays that come with champagne if that's the type of thing you're looking for. Again, you don't need your TA to take care of this.

* Ask your TA to put you on a waiting list for AKL. Once that 60-day mark hits, rooms may open up.

Glad to see you are staying positive....you are going to have a fabulous time, REAS or not!

 

[SueEllen]

Originally posted by wintermom

(I would have liked the romance at sea but its not avaliable for land and sea cruiser)

Thats the first thing I don't understand.

So I called my TA, he said fine, then he called me back and said
You can't add the romance plan if you are staying at the Swan or
Dolphin for the land part of the trip (which of course we are).

That's the second thing I don't understand!

Just because, I tried booking AKL on hotels.com and another site
and they are showing avalibility but not for land and sea people
I guess!

That's the third thing I don't understand.

Also my TA informed me that the romance plan cannot be combined with the Castaway plan, and I would not get the priorty
check in or gift???? Is this right????

Disney, maybe this third land & sea trip is not my best idea,
I can feel I am losing a little of the magic.



Wintermom

Normally I wouldn't quote so much of your message, but I wanted to address a couple of things.

FIRST--you can indeed add the REAS to the package without adding the romance package for the land/sea. I have done this specifically for clients--only added the REAS to the sea portion. While this is not the norm, it can indeed be done.

Second--I can understand Disney not adding the romance package with the Swan/Dolphin because they are not Disney owned and operated resorts. They are only on Disney property. In order to take advantage of the components of the Romance package you would need to be at a Disney resort. If you decide to add that package why not consider the Beach Club. It is right next door to the Swan/Dolphin and is included in the package.

Third--even if rooms are available at the Animal Kingdom Lodge to book directly that does not automatically make them available for the land/sea package. There are a set number of rooms available for the packages and once thier alotment is used it shows as unavailable. They can waitlist you for the AKL if you wish to do that .

Lastly the Romance Package and the castaway club benefits are completely separate entities. I have NO IDEA what your TA is referring to there. The castaway info is on your reservation to signify you as a repeat cruiser. It in no way affects your booking.

I hope this helps you somewhat. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
Sue Ellen

 

[kristen821]

also i wanted to add that if you book seperately you can book a dream maker silver plan that includes 2 points a day which you can use for 2 meals a day or you can also use it to see cirque del sole (spelling?) there is a list of things you can use the points on or you can get a gold plan for 3 points a day just look on www.disneyworld.com i think it is nice to have you meals paid for before you step foot onto wdw property than you don't have to worry about saving money for food.

 

[StuartMI]

Reason # 279327 that I broke up our land and sea and booked them SEPARATELY.

Consider it and then book your romantic escape at sea.

 

[KarenB]

I don't know much about the details for all these packages, but just some thoughts as I read your post. It seems to me that I always loose $$ when I look into booking packages. As some one else mentioned, why not book the land yourself and the sea yourself.

Also, it seems that flowers are mentioned a few times. I don't know how old your DD is, but why not skip the flowers (are you really going to be in your room to look at them that much?), use the money towards a club for DD and head to a romantic place at WDW??

I found the ship to be very romantic. DH and I were on the Magic in July with our 2 teen DSs. We had a wonderful dinner at Palos, had a couples massage, enjoyed time at Cove Cafe (inside), walks at night, etc.

I think the romantic plans are more meaningful coming from the person, not a package!! Relax and enjoy a wonderful vacation!!!

Karen

 

[anlashokna]

Dont let this spoil your plans! I can understand the bit about the Swan and Dolphin. Even though its a Disney hotel, it doesnt have a lot of the same benefits. I.E you can't charge on a keycard, i read at one point something about package delivery too.

Try the REAS- its just the ocean portion of it. You get hte massage, turndown, basket, Palo ressies.

The WIlderness Lodge also has similiar pricing as the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Beautiful hotel. Might be able to get in. I know I had my reservations a year out but the January dates shouldn't have been opened that long?

Good luck and I hope you're able to get something worked out. Cirque Soleil is a definate not miss. I enjoyed it throughly. It's completely different from all their other cirque shows too.

 

[felixdacat]

Here's the problem, your Land/Sea begins in 05.
With some difficulty, I added the REAS to my Land/Sea. I had to fight for it. My main point was that the DCL brochure clearly stated that the $299 price was for the 3 day Land, 4 day Sea package. They said it was a typo. Well they had the same typo for the 03 brochure and the 04 brochure.
Since the 05 brochure may not yet be out, this may not be too easy to fight.
My TA had to get their Disney Rep involved. It took two weeks but they added it to my vacation.
The assumption on these boards was that Disney was getting too many REAS and Romance packages, and they were hogging up the Palo and massage reservations.
Now we all know that the REAS price is going up to $399 in 05. I would expect that this would cut down on some advanced reservations. But they may have fixed the 'typo' as well.
I would request that your TA bring in their Rep as mine did.

 

[wintermom]

Thanks everyone for all your ideas.
Both my TA (allseas) and I called DCL direct said I could not add the REAS to my land/sea. Booking the cruise alone would be
$2,000. booking the land/sea is $3000. and I cannot find a way
to stay at a delux resort and buy park tickets for 3 nights for
three people all for $1,000. Am I missing something?

The only resorts showing for Jan 1 for land/sea are the poly,
swan/dolphin and beach club. If we want to do the romance plan we cannot stay at the swan/dolphin and the poly and beach club did not appeal to us. Sue Ellen, I did take your advise and get
wait listed for AKL but I cann't find a way to make the REAS
for the land/sea.

Thanks for all your ideas and I will keep playing with it
and one way or another throw a little romance in.

Thanks everyone, let me know if you have any more ideas!

Wintermom

 

[mmouse37]

The Poly and Beach Club are way better than the Swan/Dolphin!!!!

The poly is my favorite hotel at WDW with Beach Club a very close second....we stayed at both the Swan and Dolphin and did not enjoy them...they are both part of the starwood group and are just hotels in my opinion....The lobbies of the S/D are cool but the hallways and room were depressing to me.

On the other hand, the Poly has cool Tropical themeing with a great Volcano themed pool and Beach Club has the best pool on WDW property....STormalong Bay that connects both the Yacht and Beach Club.

Beach Club is great for access to EPCOT and MGM and the themeing is wonderful....the rooms large queen beds.

I would pick Poly and Beach Club anyday over the S/D.

MJ

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by mmouse37
The Poly and Beach Club are way better than the Swan/Dolphin!!!!
MJ

I've stayed at Swan/Dolphin numerous times (including just last month because of a conference) and have also stayed at the Beach Club. Hands down, I would pick the Beach Club ANYDAY over Swan/Dolphin.

 

[wintermom]

OK, why would I like the Beach Club better than the Swan?

At the Swan, we just love those heavenly beds, the refrig. in the room is very handy and rooms seem nice and bright especially since the remodel. We have never stayed at the Beach Club why is it better? They have a cool looking pool but chances are in Jan it will be too cold to swim. (We are sissys fom south Texas and don't swim in cold water).

We love AKL for the views of the animals off our balcony in morning with coffee and DD loves the bunk beds and the food is great!
We stayed at the Poly once and it is close to the monorail but the
rooms seemed musty to us.

Is the beach club really worth the move?

Thanks
Wintermom