The4OfUs...."Romantic Escape at Sea" Pkg

[Nysie]

Hi everyone! I just called my TA, and he said that someone from Disney would contact me 7-10 days out, not 30 days! He said this is because "they don't want people to forget what they booked!" I asked about making brunch and tea ressies, and he said they only do dinner, but may ask if you are interested in the others. Spa ressies are also booked in advance. The dining rotation came up by me, but he said Disney sets that, but you can request a certain one. He did not take any requests from me when I booked the package. I also said that I would like a certain day for the Palo dinner but he could not guarentee that day, since they had to hold tables for people who just want to book onboard! I would think that for the extra $299, that we would be able to get a first choice! He did say that Disney would try to do everything to work it out. My question is what if I can't get that night I want when they contact me 7-10 days out and I have already paid the $299? Maybe I will call a Disney rep. and check it out!

 

[The4OfUs]

Frustrating - the information you guys are getting is NOT what those of us that already did this package have experienced.

For those of you working w/a TA, are you the first ones they have done this for? My MIL (our TA) didn't ask about the dining rotation because we didn't tell her to...and the dining coordinator didnt' ask about it either when they spoke. Be sure to tell your agents what others have experienced so they will ask about it, although from all reports, Debbie the dining coordinator is beyond helpful - she DID ask my MIL about brunch or tea ressies, and made suggestions as to what times may be best, did we think of this or that, etc. Debbie was also very clear about how long we should plan for spa treatments, would it interfere with shows or dinners or anything, and told MIL to remind us about the romantic turndown and to "arrange" to have the kids out, and so on. Also, MIL was VERY clear in that Disney said, when she booked this for us, that they would contact her 45 to 30 days out for these ressies. She was very proactive for us, and called THEM when 30 days came and no contact - they got in touch with her that day. So the 10 days out thing is NOT what I experienced at all, maybe my MIL is a more aggressive TA *grin*

We didn't have a preference for our rotation because we went by menus, and chose a night where we had already been in all 3 of the rotational dining rooms at least once, so we knew we wouldn't miss the AP show, which was really the only one we were gung ho about not missing. Next time I'd know to tell her to ask about it, but only because of these boards.

Sidenote on the spa treatments, they will only book the couples massage, any changes need to be done on the ship. At least you'll know that you have one booked at the time of your choice.

 

[Grendel]

Just an FYI. My booking was direct through DCL. I actually had called someone in DCL about documents and offhandly asked about this package and reservations etc. He transferred me to the dining director for DCL and I left a voice mail. She called me back the same day and took all of my reservations requests for Palo and the Spa as well as setting my dining rotation. And I did all of this more than 60 days out ...for whats its worth.

 

[Nysie]

I just spoke to Ellen for Disney Cruiselines, and she told me that they would send a letter to my TA 30-45 days out for priority Palo dining ressies as well as the spa ressies! She told me to mark my calander for that 45 days out and call my TA to see if they have received it. If they haven't she said to tell the TA to put me on hold and to call Disney to find out if it has been sent yet! She said to make sure the TA knows how much it means to me to be able to book the night I want. So, my question now is , if Disney Cruise sends a letter/fax 30-45 days out to the TA, why do they say they have to wait 7-10 days out????You can bet I will be calling on the 45th day!!

 

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by Nysie
I just spoke to Ellen for Disney Cruiselines, and she told me that they would send a letter to my TA 30-45 days out for priority Palo dining ressies as well as the spa ressies! She told me to mark my calander for that 45 days out and call my TA to see if they have received it. If they haven't she said to tell the TA to put me on hold and to call Disney to find out if it has been sent yet! She said to make sure the TA knows how much it means to me to be able to book the night I want. So, my question now is , if Disney Cruise sends a letter/fax 30-45 days out to the TA, why do they say they have to wait 7-10 days out????You can bet I will be calling on the 45th day!!

ExACTly! *grin* This is exactly what my MIL was told. She never got the fax...and I'll share a little secret...she knew this was important to DH, so she called Disney at 30 days out, and "pretended" we were the clients from hell, calling her daily, etc (which we did, but because she's Grammie, not because she is our TA!). (Bad us...BAAAD us... *grin*) She got an almost immediate reaction - the CM she talked to took our ressies right then and there, forwarded the request to Debbie, who then called MIL to confirm them and go over further details!

I think Ellen's advice is very sound - if your TA knows how important this is to you, they'll be a bit more proactive, right? The 7-10 day stuff, I just don't get that, and I truly think it's a combination of a lack of communication within DCL to their phone agents, AND a lack of experience booking this relatively new package on the part of the TA's that are trying to handle them.

 

[Grendel]

I think one thing you need to consider is that not all DCL reps are created equal. While for the most part they are very friendly and helpful..there are just a ton of people that dont know alot of details. Soooo...while I dont know if my thinking was correct I called DCL and when you have all those options to choose from I decided to select the option to speak to a representative that handled cruise documentation. My thinking being that if they put a rep in charge of this they must have a certain level of ability and experience. I asked the the rep a question on docs..and then asked about the whole reservation process for this package. Well he didn know either....buttttt he said he knew who could help me and transferred me to debbie. So i left a voice mail with her and she called back. I ended up having a few conversations with her to get things ironed out. I have to agree with everyone else about her ...I have yet to meet someone from DCL that was excited about my cruise as I was. She made the whole process that more exciting.

I guess the rule of thumb though is to be persistent and not assume that every person you talk to is going to be able to help you out.

 

[Grumbo]

a lack of experience booking this relatively new package on the part of the TA's that are trying to handle them.

I don't honestly think you can blame the TA. I know in my case they made a number of calls and Disney kept coming back with the 10 day thing.
It is Disney, pure and simple that doesn't have its act together on this one imho. If not for these boards I'd probably have been sitting there waiting for the call while others had been told 30 days calling DCL direct.
Guess the only good thing is that having read these boards, and the4ofus's review of this add on is what convinced me to book it.
Information is power and we get alot of good info reading on here.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by Grumbo
I don't honestly think you can blame the TA. I know in my case they made a number of calls and Disney kept coming back with the 10 day thing.

Oh, I wasn't TA bashing at all, I just mean that now that my MIL has booked ours, she KNOWS what IS and IS NOT offered, and she knows WHEN to book it etc, so she is experienced with it and will ask for those without hesitation, no matter what DCL tells her. Before us, she was not experienced in it at all.

I've been sharing the threads here with her, and she's learning alot (and she's a "Disney expert", as well as a cruise expert...she LOVES the tips we find here!). That's all I meant by it. If the TA's have done this before, then the lack of information on Disney's part can be overridden somewhat, you know what I mean?

 

[Grumbo]

Please don't think I was criticizing the4ofus.
Just really think Disney is the culprit in this one. As I said I'm glad you DID share this as I had heard about the package but just figured it was too much money for too little but after your review and seeing what you get I decided it was worthwhile.
Thanks for that and I'm sure my wife will thank you once she knows she is going to Palo three times and getting the full breakfast in the cabin and the spa

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[62travelDisney]

Hey if any of you talk to Debbie this week, please ask her to call me LOL, still waiting and 20 something days to go.

Laurie

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by Grumbo
It is Disney, pure and simple that doesn't have its act together on this one imho. If not for these boards I'd probably have been sitting there waiting for the call while others had been told 30 days calling DCL direct. Grumbo

Now that's where the expression, "Hitting the nail on the head!" comes in!

Rae

 

[highz]

This was a great thread, so I thought I was just put my update at the end of this.

I am on the March 28th Wonder cruise (4 day), which is our first. I thought it would be neat to get this package for my wife.

My TA called me last week to tell me that I needed to call Disney to set up these reservations, and of course I forgot. So I got another reminder yesterday. Disney had called to say that I hadn't called them, and that if I didn't call by the 20th, I would have to make all the reservations on the boat.

I called this morning to set up the massages and the Palo reservations.

I was told that the massages are only couples massages, done in the same room and both of us had to select the same massage (Well Being or Tasters). They had limited availability already on the day at sea, but I took the latest one in the day, 3:30. I had wanted to do the wine tasting, but we may still get 1/2 of that in.

Palo reservations were no problem. She asked if I wanted the same dining rotation time, but I asked for a later time (8pm) so we would be able to see the first show. They would do the turndown while we are at dinner.

For the Champagne breakfast in the room, we would find a card in our room on embarkation. We would have to make all of our selections for food and the morning we wanted the breakfast and put the card out that first night.

I asked about the Champagne Brunch and she had to ask to see if it was even offered on the 4 day cruises. She came back to say that it was, but it was a small brunch, and that I had to make reservations while on the boat. They did not pre-book those.

They also asked if I wanted the champagne in our basket, or something non-alcoholic. It was nice to know they catered also to those that might not want the champagne. I am one, though, who wants the champagne.

She offered to send me a letter with all my times, but I prefer to keep it a secret for as long as possible.

So it looks like we are all set!! Less than two weeks to go!!

 

[highz]

This was a great thread, so I thought I was just put my update at the end of this.

I am on the March 28th Wonder cruise (4 day), which is our first. I thought it would be neat to get this package for my wife.

My TA called me last week to tell me that I needed to call Disney to set up these reservations, and of course I forgot. So I got another reminder yesterday. Disney had called to say that I hadn't called them, and that if I didn't call by the 20th, I would have to make all the reservations on the boat.

I called this morning to set up the massages and the Palo reservations.

I was told that the massages are only couples massages, done in the same room and both of us had to select the same massage (Well Being or Tasters). They had limited availability already on the day at sea, but I took the latest one in the day, 3:30. I had wanted to do the wine tasting, but we may still get 1/2 of that in.

Palo reservations were no problem. She asked if I wanted the same dining rotation time, but I asked for a later time (8pm) so we would be able to see the first show. They would do the turndown while we are at dinner.

For the Champagne breakfast in the room, we would find a card in our room on embarkation. We would have to make all of our selections for food and the morning we wanted the breakfast and put the card out that first night.

I asked about the Champagne Brunch and she had to ask to see if it was even offered on the 4 day cruises. She came back to say that it was, but it was a small brunch, and that I had to make reservations while on the boat. They did not pre-book those.

They also asked if I wanted the champagne in our basket, or something non-alcoholic. It was nice to know they catered also to those that might not want the champagne. I am one, though, who wants the champagne.

She offered to send me a letter with all my times, but I prefer to keep it a secret for as long as possible.

So it looks like we are all set!! Less than two weeks to go!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

What a thoughtful thing to do, highz! Thanks for giving us the details on this...I think up until this point, we've only heard about this from 7-day'ers.

Hope it is everything and more! Happy cruising!

 

[FanofDis]

Are the drinks included with the Champagne Breakfast or are they extra ?

 

[The4OfUs]

You get a glass of Champagne each, and it's included.

 

[FanofDis]

Thanks The4OfUs, I think we are going to book this for our 4/3/04 cruise. Do you think it is too late?

 

[The4OfUs]

Do I think it's too late? Not at all! I'm sure some of the time slots will be filled for the ressies already, by other REAS folks and the ones with the really nice cabins, what do they call that...concierge service? But you're still ahead of the game in terms of reservations, and I think this package adds a special "just the two of us" touch to a vacation that is generally "all of us", you know?

 

[smahoney6]

Thank you for the details! My hubby and i are celebrating our 10 yr anniv with 4 kids and my mom so i needed to know if the romance pack was worth it and it sounds like it is! did you skip the formal night to eat at palo's? when you made the ressies did you already know what rotation you had or did your ressi decide that? (still figuring out the whole rotation and when we want to eat at palo's) Also- did ya'll try the suriel mud bath thing or was the couple's massage enough .....hubby very interested in the mud!! thanks for sharing and helping clear the confusion.....

 

[The4OfUs]

Hi smahoney!

We didnt' choose our rotation, as I didnt' tell my TA to ask about it at the time...we had looked at the menus and decided ahead that we didn't care if we missed the Mexicalifragalistic night, as around us that is all there seems to be...MEXICAN restaurants. So we decided that we wanted to do Palo's that night, based on the theme rather than on our rotation, and also based on the fact that by then we had been through our rotation (ie. seen all the restaurants) once and did not miss things like the Animator's Palate show, which is only on your first night there apparently?

The kids had a choice of going to the dining room alone, our servers knew them well by then and would have taken care of them...or going to the club, or ordering room service. They chose the last, and that worked out great, because after they were off to the clubs.

We did not skip formal night for it, we made Palo night into another formal night (I brought two long dresses, and one short one for semiformal night).

And no, we didnt' try the mud thing... *grin* Maybe next time!

Happy anniversary early!