IMPORTANT - Regarding the four "obstructed view" Cat. 6s and Cat. 5s

[aseafish]

This difference--navigator's veranda or plexi with a slight obstruction--is very little different than "secret portholes." We may forget that some people also prefer an inside stateroom. Hopefully, people will be told what they are getting. IMHO the obstruction in these staterooms is far preferrable to the obstruction of a metal veranda, but some people LOVE those, too.

 

[taswira]

To reclassify those staterooms as Cat. 7 is NOT a smart move. They need to classify each stateroom as exactly what it is. If a Cat. 7 is expected to be a Navigator Verandah and many people specifically request that (I am one who prefers it over the regular verandah and would even pay more for it if I had to!), they will be MORE than ticked to end up with one of those newly reclassified staterooms.

To the person who said, "<I>Given the recent events it seems as though they are attempting to please everyone</I>" - NO, that is not what they are doing and yet it would be EASY to please EVERYONE by giving a NEW designation to those staterooms. I don't care if they want to price it like a Nav., but call it a "7O" for obstructed, or reclassify the Navs as "7N." It would be simple and CLEAR, not the impulsive re-labeling they decided to do. In the system, those rooms now show as Cat. 7. At the moment there is NO distinction between them and the Navs.

 

[Kelsie]

I was very interested in the direction this thread would take. I can see both sides of the issue but, I have to wonder sometimes if Disney can ever win? When I read the other thread about this issue and looked at the pictures, I agreed that people need to be told about the obstructed view however, I only thought 2 out of the 4 were really obstructed enough to be a problem. Given the fact that adding a new category would probably be very time consuming and expensive not to mention the printing of new information. What would you have done if you were Disney?

Personally, I think they heard what was being said (and if you remember, it was all around the cost) and tried to do the right thing. Will this please everyone, no! But, I think no matter what they did, there would be someone unhappy with the choice.

We are talking about 4 rooms and personally, although I know a lot of people do like the Navigator Verandah's, I would take an obstructed view, full verandah over a navigator's verandah any day.

Not sure there is a solution to this but I am happy to see that DCL listened and made an attempt to make it right

 

[taswira]

Kelsie - The problem is that the description of what a Navigator Verandah stateroom IS is not what guests will be getting if they get one of the reclassified staterooms. In other words, it will be false advertising, just as much as it was for them the put people in those cabins thinking they were getting a totally open regular verandah. No matter what people prefer, they should <I>know</I> exactly what they are getting.

 

[Kelsie]

I understand what you are saying but at this point, we are assuming that DCL will not notify people when they book a cat. 7 that they have an obstructed view vs. a navigator.

I still think DCL did the right thing. Is it perfect, maybe not but, they were listening and that says a lot to me.

 

[paulmc80]

Oh how interesting.

It would appear classifying staterooms based on location and view is not all that simple a matter to begin with. My thinking, these rooms do not justify a cat 6 rate relative to other cat. 6's They most certainly are not a Navigator's Verandah mostly based on the stuff added to a nav verandah which these rooms do not have.

It would appear classifying staterooms based on location and view is not all that simple a matter to begin with. The underlying philosophy in this decision I imagine is not to take more money and make the guest feel as if they were ripped off by paying fora cat 6 and getting something less. Is it more than a cat 7? Based on DCL categories and rates it is. Will it confuse guests making reservations without knowing what the room is? Yes. Is that bad? In most cases probably not. If I had to guess I would think this decision will minimize complaints.

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by Kelsie
I understand what you are saying but at this point, we are assuming that DCL will not notify people when they book a cat. 7 that they have an obstructed view vs. a navigator.

As I said in a previous post, I am a p/t TA and when booking a Cat 7 for a client yesterday, there was NO distinction made between the Navigator Verandah staterooms and the newly reclassified rooms. 7120 was among those appearing as available Navigator Verandah room. So DCL <I>at this time</I> (hopefully they will in the future) is not making a distinction in the automated booking systems. That even includes their own website, where if you book you can not choose your exact cabin online, but can call and have it switched later subject to availability. So someone using DCL's site to book a Nav. Verandah may find themselves with a reclassified room. True, it will make some people happy, but others will be upset.

 

[Kelsie]

I am also a Travel Agent so again, I understand your concerns. Since this was effective just today, I wonder what they are saying now. Guess we will soon find out.

 

[taswira]

Kelsie - I think what would be reasonable and not as expensive as an immediate revamp of their brochures would be to just make the distinction on the reservations systems for TA's and on the DCL site. That would not take long to do, if they <I>decide</I> to do it. That would alleviate any <I>potential</I> problem for TA's <I>and</I> for those doing their own online booking. As most of us on the DIS know, not <I>all</I> TA's are up to par on DCL info!

 

[mouseclick1]

Does anyone know if these cabins sleep three or four people? I know the regular category 7s only sleep three.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Somebody PM'd me yesterday that they'd heard about this. Thanks, WebmasterMichelle, for the confirmation.

 

[Hygiene99]

we just got off the phone with Donna at dreams unlimited and we got room 7620 for our 2 up coming cruises we had cat 7
booked had never stayyed in nav verandah but thought we would try it ... but we just took room 7620 the obstruction does not bother me as we like to have a verandah but do not base our cruise on this .... so hey the price is right to us and since we had a cat 4 last cruise , figured hey why not .... use to stay in cat 10 on deck 5 was happy with that so this is like a bonus for us .... just lucky i guess


oh yea only 8 days to we go to the world .....

peter

 

[*Huey*]

If they downgraded an obstructed view could they upgrade the "secret porthole" rooms? Since cat. 8, 9,& 10 are the same except for location and a porthole, could they reclassify the six 10's as 9's?

 

[aseafish]

If they downgraded an obstructed view could they upgrade the "secret porthole" rooms? Since cat. 8, 9,& 10 are the same except for location and a porthole, could they reclassify the six 10's as 9's?

Those have previously been reclassified in the same way as the obstructed veranda rooms. They once were considered regular porthole rooms.

 

[PiperG]

Is there a list that has good information where I can validate our verandah is not obstructed (SR #6092)?

I think it is towards midship, but with this big long thread going around, I would like to know for sure that we have no obstructions, that our verandah is plexigass etc. . . . . what is the best method? Calling DCL???

 

[taswira]

6092 is plexiglass, full regular verandah, port side, just slightly aft of mid-ship on Deck 6. Below you (Deck 5) are the lifeboats, but they are recessed so do not obstruct the view.

 

[PiperG]

Thanks SOOOOO much. I am sure that DH checked that out thoroughly, but he is out of town and I was getting nervous reading this thread.

I should stick to the threads about the food LOL

 

[lampy]

I might switch my secret porthole room for one of these reclassified rooms.

I can't "pull" these rooms however, because I have four people in my cabin.

Are these newely classified Cat 7 rooms for 3 or can 4 book them?

 

[aseafish]

I have read that they sleep three only.

 

[my3kids]

Yes, these rooms only sleep 3 people. I was told by a CM at reservations that none of the rooms on the upper decks behind the aft elevators hold 4 people, He said it was a ship design issue and so much structural "stuff" was running between flooors in that area that they couldn't put a pull down bed.

Now, we have all seen that answers really do depend on who you talk to and what day you are talking to them! So, has anyone ever had 4 people in an upper deck room behind the aft elevators??????