how to book excursions together when some are new to DCL?

[eskiemomo]

we just became silver castaway? (or whatever the first level is) members since we cruised once. we're going on another DCL cruise this year with some family. The 2 reservations are linked.

 

Because the other cabin's brand new to DCL their "open window" for booking excursions, Palo, etc opens a couple of weeks later than ours. I'm responsible for booking all of our excursions and activities and obviously want to book them together for the whole party. What's the best way to go about this?

[woocruiser3]

I ran into this problem when we took my parents with us a few years ago...the bottom line is you have to wait (or at least they have to) to book excursions. I think I was able to make Palo reservations...but I remember the excursions being my concern...

 

we just became silver castaway? (or whatever the first level is) members since we cruised once. we're going on another DCL cruise this year with some family. The 2 reservations are linked.

 

Because the other cabin's brand new to DCL their "open window" for booking excursions, Palo, etc opens a couple of weeks later than ours. I'm responsible for booking all of our excursions and activities and obviously want to book them together for the whole party. What's the best way to go about this?

[shipmate13]

I was running into the same issue. I have been on Disney cruises before and this time I bought a cruise for my daughter, son-in-law and three children to go on their FIRST cruise in May with us so I purchased two rooms (deluxe family oceanview rooms with verandahs. I paid around $11,000 for this trip. I called Disney Cruise lines and asked if I could do the on line boarding at the same time since I am the one paying for it and have multiple rooms and a previous guest. I also inquired about excursions. They explained that I could only do on-line for us first and that our daughter would have to wait to do hers at a later time. Are you kidding me? I don't care if I am the first one on the ship or the last on so that don't matter to me, we are going to get on the ship eventually and will be treated just as good as the first passenger. So if I get this right, those passengers who NEVER have cruised Disney and paid less for their rooms but are staying in the concierge rooms will get better benefits than those who have gone on others and paid more? For $11,000 I could of taken the family on another cruise line and gone longer for less money. I believe in treating ALL previous guest the same. I don't think it should be done in accordance to the room choice. I won't do another Disney. We are taking our son and his family later on this year but we are going on Royal Caribbean, same length but thousands less and the rooms are perfect. I hear what you are saying. Disney needs to re-think this policy. I do love the Disney ships and think they do a fantastic job I just think their policy about on-line check in is a little distorted. :mad:

[OceanLiner]

I was running into the same issue. I have been on Disney cruises before and this time I bought a cruise for my daughter, son-in-law and three children to go on their FIRST cruise in May with us so I purchased two rooms (deluxe family oceanview rooms with verandahs. I paid around $11,000 for this trip. I called Disney Cruise lines and asked if I could do the on line boarding at the same time since I am the one paying for it and have multiple rooms and a previous guest. I also inquired about excursions. They explained that I could only do on-line for us first and that our daughter would have to wait to do hers at a later time. Are you kidding me? I don't care if I am the first one on the ship or the last on so that don't matter to me, we are going to get on the ship eventually and will be treated just as good as the first passenger. So if I get this right, those passengers who NEVER have cruised Disney and paid less for their rooms but are staying in the concierge rooms will get better benefits than those who have gone on others and paid more? For $11,000 I could of taken the family on another cruise line and gone longer for less money. I believe in treating ALL previous guest the same. I don't think it should be done in accordance to the room choice. I won't do another Disney. We are taking our son and his family later on this year but we are going on Royal Caribbean, same length but thousands less and the rooms are perfect. I hear what you are saying. Disney needs to re-think this policy. I do love the Disney ships and think they do a fantastic job I just think their policy about on-line check in is a little distorted. :mad:

 

Let me begin by saying that I am a concierge guest.

 

I understand your plight and frustration. I also understand that Disney has done an outstanding job of not falling in to the horrific trap that other cruise lines have created for themselves in allowing certain frequent cruiser levels the ability to have perks that have interfered with the concierge guest services, and that extending the services to non-level guests in the same party has caused other cruise lines a great deal of aggravation.

 

The most common issue is that one stateroom is on the concierge level and the other room(s) are not, and the parties want the same concierge perks for everyone in the party.

 

Then we have the concierge lounges on other ships that used to be open to higher loyalty club level cruisers, and they wanted to bring their friends to the concierge lounge, and the concierge lounges ceased to be able to provide the level of service as purchased by the concierge guest. Eventually the other cruise lines had to back down the loyalty perks and the cruise lines have really had a tough time with their loyalty customers.

 

Which brings us back to the concierge guest. They are paying for the level of service. You have indeed paid a great deal of money for a really fantastic cruise, but you have not paid for the concierge services which are provided with another class of room, so yes, they would be ahead of you in this case. I think it is likely that you have paid much more as total dollars than some concierge guests, but I do not think it is likely that you have paid more for an individual stateroom than the concierge guest. It seems that the concierge level deluxe family stateroom is usually fairly more expensive than the deluxe family stateroom.

 

I think this should all work out for you and your party without much difficulty and the cruise should be a really great experience. BTW: I really like your attitude about getting on the ship, it makes for a much more relaxing day in embarkation.

[shipmate13]

First of all, without being NEGATIVE towards any guest, my only complaint is that someone who has NEVER cruised before with Disney and paying less than what I paid but get to do the on-line check in before me just because they are staying in a "conceirge room" does not sit well with me. I TOTALLY agree with you about passengers invading your space who didn't pay for it, I would not like that either. I AGREE that passenger who are loyal to the cruise lines and have EARNED their special treatments and priority boardings, excursions, speciality dining privilidges before others deserve that. No complaints there. The only thing I don't agree with is that if I paid for two rooms costing $11,000 and is a previous guest, that I should be able to do the on-line check in for both of my parties at the same time and by the way, which I intend to do but it will be the time when my daughters family is able to check in, not my time because that is who I am and what I stand for. See you on the ship!

[Wazzo]

We got around this issue by making sure that a previous cruiser was in each cabin on the reservation. In reality the new cruising family would stick together and have only first time cruisers in the room, but on paper, it would be different.

 

We had connecting cabins, so the sleeping arrangements could easily be different than what it is on paper. I'm not sure I would do this for safety reasons if our cabins were far apart or had different muster stations, but it is a way around it for booking.

[OceanLiner]

First of all, without being NEGATIVE towards any guest, my only complaint is that someone who has NEVER cruised before with Disney and paying less than what I paid but get to do the on-line check in before me just because they are staying in a "conceirge room" does not sit well with me. I TOTALLY agree with you about passengers invading your space who didn't pay for it, I would not like that either. I AGREE that passenger who are loyal to the cruise lines and have EARNED their special treatments and priority boardings, excursions, speciality dining privilidges before others deserve that. No complaints there. The only thing I don't agree with is that if I paid for two rooms costing $11,000 and is a previous guest, that I should be able to do the on-line check in for both of my parties at the same time and by the way, which I intend to do but it will be the time when my daughters family is able to check in, not my time because that is who I am and what I stand for. See you on the ship!

 

All points well taken and while I understand your dislike, remember that per room that the concierge guests have not paid less than you, and in fact have paid considerably more and that they are doing their pre check-in and reservations 120 days out from the date of the cruise. Disney has been very careful not to advance or split any perks to cover additional rooms and they have avoided all of the grief incurred on the other cruise lines. Also, this isn't a concierge issue as much as it is an issue of DCL policy for CC club numbers.

 

I like the suggestion of splitting the reservation, but if that is not feasible I would try the following: accept the check-in time for yourself as soon as it is available, then whey your daughters check in-time is available request that her time matches yours. You might be in for a very pleasant surprise. Regardless of the time, you will eventually be on board a great cruise.