Booking the member cruise - the good and the bad

[skelster]

Just want to share how the booking process went so those who still have to call dont hang up prematurely....

:coffee1: Got up at 5:30 (West Coast) this morning to call in to book the cruise. This is my first day off since Thanksgiving day (working 12.5 hours 7 days a week since 10/16). So much for sleeping in. Thank God for caffeine :coffee2: :coffee2: :coffee1: :coffee2:

Had some difficulty calling in...After dialing the option to member services, I got silence for about 4 or 5 minutes :worried: (actually first time I called I waited 2 mins and hung up to try again) After the silent treatment another voice said it was the special cruise only booking period, gave some info and tells us to wait for next available operator....then it starts ringing & ringing & ringing...for 15 mins. I used my cell to immediately dial again just in case I got disconnected on the house phone...didn't want to wait full period again. Finally it picked up and started playing Xmas music for another 15 mins with occasional please wait messages.

Finally got to talk to a human! We gave our 3 room choices,payment and other info and got put on hold again. Finally she came back....got our first cabin choice!!!!

So we have now booked our first DVC vacation. The one bright thing about the call...the operator was very nice on the phone and had the patience to explain things. I was mistaken on some things about how the points actually work and she explained them. Despite what the recordings said, she was willing to help us book the shore part of our vacation, but I didn't want to tie her up from others wanting to cruise.

Good luck to anyone who still has to book!

Out of curiosity (yes, I know it killed the :kitty:) anyone else book today?

[tiggerguy2000]

I don't know what job has hours like that but welcome aboard.I got a call last wed and called back on thurs.Maybe I don't understand why I was called before the 2nd chance day they set up but im booked.I was told they had nothing lower then cat 9 so I booked cat 10 inside deluxe so my question is what was available when you called ? I was told all room cat 3 thru 8 where all booked and i hope they told the truth.

tiggerguy

[skelster]

Seems either you were mislead or I got lucky with someone canceling - we got a cat 6 cabin (our first choice) on Saturday morning. One other possiblity occurs to me. They may have put aside a limited percentage of the cabins for the first-timer lottery (meaning all 3-8 for the lottery were taken from that group), leaving more for the Saturday free-for-all. I was probably one of the first to get through that morning.

[tiggerguy2000]

Who knows why they said that so maybe your theory is right..
Good Luck and I will see you in October

tiggerguy

[cherylp3]

I called in on Sat as well. took 45 minutes to get a person, gave them my cat and deck choices and I got what I wanted which was a Cat 11 on deck 6 aft.

I look forward to meeting you folks on the 2007 cruise!

[tiggerguy2000]

Awesome job CherylP3 for getting the room you wanted.For me it was just getting on the ship for the members cruise.Last year it sold out before I could pick up the phone.I asked what was available and they said cat 9,10,11 and 12 so just coming off the ship just a few weeks ago staying in 2 cat 10 rooms (7505&7507) i said give me cat 10 and I got room # 2305.I used points for the cruise so im happy with just being part of the DVC cruise.It must be good by how many you have been on.

tiggerguy:thumbsup: