By: Sarah
The evening of April 13th was filled with excitement as I laid out my notes and computer so they were ready to go first thing the next morning. I had information from the On-Board-Booking placeholder I had made on our previous cruise which would give us 10% off the listed cruise price as well as an on board credit of $200 to use on the ship. I set my alarm for 6am, but I didn’t need to. I was so excited I barely slept a wink! I finally decided around 5am that sleep was not happening, so I laid in bed with my iPad reading Disney Cruise trip reports. Finally, just before 6am I shut my alarm off and started getting ready. I had heard that maybe the phone lines would open a bit before 8am, so I wanted to be ready by 7:30 so I could start calling. 7am I ate breakfast and sat in front of my computer holding my phone, making sure I had a cell signal. 7:30am came slowly….I called in every 3 or 4 minutes but it still said they weren’t open. I tried the Castaway club line and the regular line, but still nothing. Then, at exactly 8am I finally got to the point where I could put in my Castaway club member number. I was on hold for 15 minutes listening to that wonderful Disney music saying that someone would be with me “momentarily,” but then, SILENCE! The call dropped! Oh no! Now I had to get into the que all over again! Someone was going to get MY room number! I called the number again, but this time it didn’t ask for my Castaway club member number…Did I call the main number by accident? I didn’t want to start the call again and start over in the que for a third time, so I stuck it out and kept on listening to the Disney music.
Around 8:30am I had to leave as I was helping my grandmother that morning. I gathered up my notes, put my phone on speaker and PRAYED that the call didn’t drop as I was leaving the house. (We have terrible cell reception inside the house…and the hallway to the back door is the worst! I am amazed I didn’t lose the call as I literally RAN out the door!) As I drove to my grandmother’s house I listened to the bubbly Disney music playing through the speakerphone. Once I walked in my grandmother’s door a voice came over the speaker and said someone would be with me “momentarily.” I explained to my grandmother why I was listening to Disney music on my phone and excitedly told her that we were attempting to book the Panama Canal cruise! As we got settled into her car for our errands, I showed her my notes and told her which numbers she might need to read off if the Disney operator answered while I was driving. I was as prepared as possible and running the errands actually helped me to pass the time that I was waiting on hold. (I don’t think I could have sat at home and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited…) Finally, after nearly two hours waiting on hold, Stacey, the Disney Cruise Line Agent, answered the phone! I quickly told her I wanted to use my placeholder OBB on the 2017 Panama Canal Cruise and would like this particular room number! She could tell I was excited and quickly asked me a few additional questions and then told me the room number I requested WAS AVAILABLE!!!!! I was over-the-moon excited and so grateful I had finally gotten through. After requesting the second seating rotation for dining and mentioning that we will be celebrating our wedding anniversary during the cruise, Stacey finished taking my deposit and gave me information on trip insurance in case I wanted to add it later. I hung up the call and couldn’t believe it was real! It had happened! We are actually booked in the exact room I wanted on the 2017 Panama Canal Cruise!!!
I text my husband at work and said “WE ARE BOOKED! WOOHOO!!!! AND I GOT THE EXACT ROOM # I WANTED!” His response, “You better graduate ;)”
