Refreshed from my Mickey D’s Coke, I now continue with
Sunday at the Oasis pool......
Woody returned to his lounger to read. I, the sunflower, was so happy the sun was out that I sat in the shallow end of the pool, soaking up the rays while being cooled by the water. I really missed my fellow sunflower
@TrolleyFollower91 and wished she’d been there with me. Woody did join me in the pool later.
It was great leaving the pool when
we wanted too, not because a thunderstorm was chasing us out. (We would not be so lucky on other days.)
The path that goes past Fiji leads to Luau Cove.
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Meant to get a picture with the giant Tiki but never did.
WARNING: The rest of this post contains a grumbly rant. Skip ahead if you prefer not to read it.
Woody and I agree that one of the niceties of being on vacation is having Housekeeping clean our room. Now we are not messy people.....just an unmade bed and folded used towels on the floor. Still it is a pleasure to have someone else make the bed, hang clean towels and empty the trash. Room servicing is so important to us that we would never “opt out” even for a gift card. That’s how we roll.
It’s no secret that Disney has made deep cuts to their Housekeeping staff. The fact that they offer “opting out” at the values and moderates speaks volumes. But each cut means a job loss for someone and extra work for the staff that remains. Sadly this is how corporate America operates ~ cut costs to make the “numbers” look good while forgetting that there are people behind those numbers.
Disney charges a premium to stay at their deluxe resorts and it is not unrealistic for guests to expect a high level of service ~ a major one being room servicing at a reasonable hour. Regular shifts start at 8:30 am (which is early for late risers, but using the privacy sign can avoid an unpleasant knock on the door) and there are lots of folks who are gone for breakfast/the parks meaning those rooms are ready for cleaning. IMO all rooms should be serviced by 2 pm for returning guests, 3 pm for new check-ins.
I complained earlier in this report about the shoddy Housekeeping service Em and I received last month at Beach Club. We had good service at the WL in June, but horrid service at the GF in May. So our track record for deluxe Housekeeping this year has not been good and was about to get worse.
Wet and sweaty from the pool, we opened our door at
4 pm to an unmade room. My blood pressure shot up, for all the reasons I described above. Maintaining my composure, I dialed Housekeeping. The CM promised to send someone right over (the cleaning carts were still in the hallway.) Woody and I decided to sit on the balcony in order to give the housekeeper free rein of the room.
The views lowered my BP.
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Woody and I chatted, our backs to the room. We hung out on the balcony for 45 minutes. When I turned to go inside, my BP spiked.
No one had serviced our room!!
I opened our room door, intending to speak to a housekeeper still servicing rooms on our floor.
All the Housekeeping carts in the hallway were GONE!
“I am going to the front desk,” I announced to Woody. (He didn’t ask why. One look at me and he
knew.)
I believe in being nice (but firm) when voicing a complaint. Matter-of-factly I explained our situation to the Duty Manager. She was extremely apologetic, agreed with my concerns and scheduled a servicing for 7 pm (when Woody and I would be out of the room). She also scheduled our daily housekeeping for between 9 am and noon for the rest of our stay. I was given her direct number should anything else arise.
I returned to our room and told Woody to go ahead and shower. I put the privacy sign on the door. When he finished it was my turn. I had just turned on the spigot when there were several loud raps on our room door....
AT 5:30 PM. WITH THE PRIVACY SIGN ON THE DOOR HANDLE.
Woody had barely finished dressing. He opened the door to a maid wanting to clean our room. He informed her that our cleaning was scheduled for 7 pm and she seemed confused.
Needless to say, the Duty Manager received a text after I finished showering.
And rather than write three separate trip reports (and annoy @amjt660 when my *COMPLETED* report really isn’t 
) I decided to take @Rista1313 ’s suggestion and post an ongoing travelogue, à la @blgauger style.
And now that we were at a table the remaining server was running back and forth to the kitchen for food.