ideas? advice? sympathy? *sob*

[heathernijoli]

I have had this cruise booked for a while and been active on the boards gaining knowledge and excitement for our soon approaching cruise only to find out that it may be a no go.

 

Chad just asked off of work - and it is still two months in advance- and his employer has declined to give him that week off of work because of an inventory that will take place THAT MONTH. He said, "no vacation the MONTH Of September" - can you believe this??

 

So, I am trying to decide if moving it SOONER (late JULY) or later (early October) would be cheaper and more tolerable. I have never traveled in the middle of the summer and wonder if it would be too much for me with the school-break vacationers,et al. What do you suggest I do? I would like to find a CHEAPER cruise and use some of the money we had invested in this trip as shipboard credit in order to turn lemons into lemonade...

 

Ideas? Advice? Sympathy?

[Carrie P]

Working in a retail environment I can understand how inventory is a black out time. We also have the entire month of november and december blacked out so nothing is permissable then either. I understand your upset over this, I would be too... Just try and change the dates, you have no choice. Or - he could call out sick, get a doctors note and wear lots of sunscreen(him) with a hat and longsleeves and pants so no one will know he was away! Good luck

[cherylhaha]

Come join us on the Reali-Tini group cruise 10/16/05. Great fares, great people, and it might be the biggest M&M ever!!!! Check it out.

 

Cheryl

[HighLife]

Blanket policies like "no vacation this month" are the reasons employees have such crappy attitudes and poor porductivity.

 

I would suggest that your husband start a passive-aggressive mutiny. Have everyone in his company ask for the same week in September off.

 

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I'm guessing your husband works in retail... and if that's true and his employer is treating him that bad then are they... Walmart? One more reaons why I won't buy a stick of gum from that evil company.

[98Charlie]

I haven't check fares but, it is probably better (less expensive) to choose October.

 

Personally, I'd have DH check with the employer as to what weeks would be available first. Then go to the TA and see what can be done. I wouldn't waste and time either. Prices on our Sept and Nov have gone up over the last couple of months.

 

Good luck,

 

Charlie

[justaknucklehead]

FYI, I always pick my cruise and then request the vacation before I put a deposit on the cruise. Sometimes a year in advance.

[xpcdoojk]

Blanket policies like "no vacation this month" are the reasons employees have such crappy attitudes and poor porductivity.

 

I would suggest that your husband start a passive-aggressive mutiny. Have everyone in his company ask for the same week in September off.

 

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I'm guessing your husband works in retail... and if that's true and his employer is treating him that bad then are they... Walmart? One more reaons why I won't buy a stick of gum from that evil company.

 

You really have some opinions there, don't you?

 

Start a passive-agressive mutiny... that will look good to management when they decide to promote someone won't it? Plus, nothing looks quite as good as starting a mutiny on a resume`. I have frequently felt that if I could just have led a productive mutiny, my career would be complete.:rolleyes:

 

Just joined this month and already you are in a great class.....:eek:

 

To the OP, October will be cheaper, but it will be more likely to be affected by hurricane season. I wouldn't sweat it, though. Life is full of compromises.

 

jc

[JBoshears]

Don't cancel, just reschedule. It would be a shame to give up a wonderful vacation just because you can't go in September. I understand it is pain in the neck to redo everything, but in the long run it will be worth it!!!

 

I would definitely choose October over summer months. Better weather and less kids (I have them and love them, but don't choose to cruise with them).

 

Good luck in your decision.

[Lany]

Heather -

 

Sorry to hear about this...we also still have room under our group booking on the Explorer 10/9 group cruise. It's the western route. Don't know if you'd be interested in that again, but the rates are cheap - $619 for an inside, etc. Check it out under the group bookings if you're interested.

[PhinsAndGills]

Origionally my "Turkey's in the Caribbean Thanksgiving Cruise" was a New Years cruise. Mom couldn't get off work (there's 5 of us going...) so we had to rethink.

 

But, like you said, lemons to lemonade - for the SAME price we went from a 5 day to a 7 day cruise. From New Years to Thanksgiving so I don't have to have the 65 family members in the house this year for dinner! WOOHOO!

 

Good Luck - switching cruises isn't hard to do, RCCL is pretty good about it this far in advance. We had our deposit transfered over from old cruise to new one easy enough. We did have to put more of a deposit down (7 day requires more...) and here we are now! It's easier than you think to switch cruises.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Sorry to hear this Heather...hope it all works out, in the mean time I'm passing some tissues....good luck! ;)

 

 

***

[Ella2]

I would definitely go with October...I've had some of the BEST weather (yes, I know it's hurricane season) with Caribbean cruises in October. Plus you'll find it's CONSIDERABLY cheaper than a July cruise.

 

Hope it all works out for you! :)

[emilygrace]

Just putting my 2¢ in here, but isn't September, her original cruise month, the height of hurricane season???

 

I worked for the post office for 21+ years (DH is still there!)and we were never able to take vacation in December, no matter how much seniority we had. Something about a lot of cards........

[1corona4u]

Blanket policies like "no vacation this month" are the reasons employees have such crappy attitudes and poor porductivity.

 

I would suggest that your husband start a passive-aggressive mutiny. Have everyone in his company ask for the same week in September off.

 

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I'm guessing your husband works in retail... and if that's true and his employer is treating him that bad then are they... Walmart? One more reaons why I won't buy a stick of gum from that evil company.

 

Yeah well, if he happens to work for a company like Home Depot, or Lowes, they have the same policy in most stores. It depends on store level management to some degree though. But, if there was a "passive-aggressive mutiny" with either of those 2 companies, they would just replace those people with more $10.00 per hour employees, so no one wins.:rolleyes: I have a business relationship both of those companies and have seen it many times.

[Nessa1dc]

I have done both cruises in Hurricane Season (October). The weather is perfect, it's cheaper, and we have never had any problems

[hdawson]

Many companies have the policy of no vacations during inventory. Most employees are well aware of this well in advance.

[wrp96]

Many companies have the policy of no vacations during inventory. Most employees are well aware of this well in advance.

 

I agree, the companies i've worked for, if you were gone during inventory, you no longer had a job. But it sounds like this is a blanket policy of no vacation during the MONTH of inventory, not just when inventory is going on.

 

I worked for a company once that had the policy that week long vacations could only be taken in July, but then they made it worse by saying nobody could be on vacation at the same time, which made it really hard to plan vacations. Plus they wouldn't let you take Fridays or Mondays off and only one person could be out of the office at a time (one person worked outside of the office every other week on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Plus I couldn't be out of the office on the first, the 10th, or the last day of the month, because of accounting deadlines.

 

To the OP, reschedule and go in October, don't let this ruin your vacation.

[sgttami]

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 so you really have no clue when one will hit and as a previous poster said...less kiddies in October.

 

When I worked, everyone wanted off for the summer but we liked to go away in the winter so I never had a problem taking winter time off but a lot friends have the same problems...

 

Hopefully...it will all work out for you.....

[JeffHatfield]

None of my business, but if you have had this cruise booked for some time, why are you just now requesting time off for your vacation. Looks like you should have requested the time off as soon as possible (when you booked).

[stretch]

Lets just say I can sympathize with you, after working for an oriental owned company for 20 something years, taking a deserved vacation was akin to pulling the molars from an angry rottwieler. You do have a few options.

 

1. Hubby could tell them to cram it, and just resign.:mad:

2. You could reschedule for another week.:rolleyes:

3. You could go ahead and take the cruise on the date you've got it booked and hubby could just not show up at work, effectively resigning and then hope your luck in the casino can carry you through till a new career opens.:confused:

Good luck with whatever you decide.:D

Stretch

[heathernijoli]

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I'm guessing your husband works in retail... and if that's true and his employer is treating him that bad then are they... Walmart? One more reaons why I won't buy a stick of gum from that evil company.

 

 

Oh god no! We would rather die than walk into a Wal-Mart! Yes, he works retail but for a whole foods co-operative.

[heathernijoli]

Many companies have the policy of no vacations during inventory. Most employees are well aware of this well in advance.

 

Right. But in this case nobody was aware and it is two months away.

[heathernijoli]

None of my business, but if you have had this cruise booked for some time, why are you just now requesting time off for your vacation. Looks like you should have requested the time off as soon as possible (when you booked).

 

Right and normally it works that way BUT you can only have one time off request at a time and he has had one in for his families reunion so it only just not became possible for him to request the time off. And it IS still two months in advance...

 

Regardless, it is silly to act like Chad did something wrong here. The point is that nobody has done anything worng but we have to reschedule and must decide when to do it. I have found some $900 D1 catagory rooms on the Explorer for the second week of OCtober. Good rate?

[Ella2]

YES, good rate, go for it! :)

[hstrybuf]

I would reschedule for October. Some weeks can be cheaper and there will be less chance of a large amount of children aboard. We've sailed in October before and never had a problem, luckily.