Just Back From 3/9 Magic - What an Adventure!

[johnf]

Hi all,

We're just back from the 3/9 Magic and let me tell you it was quite an adventure. I guess you have all heard about the fire we had on Thursday morning. It was pretty scary and inconvenient but the crew and the Captain did a magnificent job in handling the fire, the passengers and the fallout.

While there were some assembly stations that were released earlier, most of the ship was in our life jackets and by our life boats from about 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. on Thrusday morning. There seemed to be extensive damage to the rear smokestack with a lot of smoke damage as well. Mickey's Pool was closed all day on Thursday and Friday (along with Pluto's Pup) but they opened up the other pools to all guests and even opened up the crew pool for adults only. Wwe got to Castaway Cay right on schedule and only a few events were cancelled.

I would be happy to answer anyone's specific questions about the fire or about the cruise. It was a GREAT time and we have alreay rebooked another 7 day cruise (Western this time) for April 2003.

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL:smooth:

[Michelle]

Hi johnf! Thanks for the first-hand report from the voyage. It sounds like you were very good-natured about the inconvenience. :) Glad you had a great time!

One question for you, just out of curiosity -- how did you access the crew pool? And did they put out some deck chairs there for adults? Also, is it a fresh water pool as the others are? (Okay, so that was three questions!) ;)

[pal2pluto]

yeah, we were wondering where, how to get to the crew pool....obviously through the crew quarters?

[Horace Horsecollar]

I'm glad to hear that the captain and crew handled the situation well.

What is the nature of the "extensive damage" to the funnel? Is there any indication whether the repairs can all be done at sea, or whether the Disney Magic will need to be taken to a shipyard for repair? Is the damage visible or hidden, and will it detract from the passenger experience until it is repaired?

We're sailing on March 23, so I imagine we will be affected in some way by the effects of the fire.

I'm glad nobody was hurt, and that the March 9 cruise was such a great experience anyway that passengers such as johnf are already booking future cruises.

[Hopkins]

On Thursday and Friday were you allowed to walk near Mickey's pool/Pluto's, or was that entire area off limits? Were they cleaning up? Painting? How bad did it look? Was the damage just to the very top of the smoke stack? Describe the damage? Did people think it was a false alarm so early in the morning? Was it calm? I bet it was very upseting. I'm upset here on land. We don't know anything. What did the captain say afterwards?

Thanks.
Tina
Western 1/18/03:bounce:
I love cruising on DCL!!!

[johnf]

Hi again!

I'll try and answer all of your questions.

First - The crew pool is on Deck 5 forward and they did put out deck chairs and opened a bar (this pool took the place of the Quiet Cove for adults only).

Second - Yes you could walk on Deck 9 but the area was roped off by Mickey's pool and they were working on it for the rest of the cruise.

Third - From what I could tell, there was extensive smoke damage right above the Mickey slide and part of the smokestack was melted (they had it covered up with a banner by the time we got into port). Also, Mickey's "Glove" on the slide was black but was fixed fairly quickly.

Fourth - Although Pluto's Pup was closed, they opened up a table right next to Scoops that had all of the same food as Pluto's Pup.

Fifth - The crew was marvelous and very professional. We were given progress reports regularly all day on Thursday.

From what I understand this was the first time ever that all of the passengers were mustered to their assembly stations in a real emergency for both the Magic and the Wonder.

On the last night at the Variety Show, the Captain came onstage to thank the passengers for our patience and he got a standing ovation for 10 minutes. He then introduced the entire fire fighting team of officers and crew and had them come onstage to get applause and recognition - very classy.

It was very scary but the Captain and his crew should be commended for their professionalism.

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

[RellingTwin]

John, Who is the current Captain? Thanks for all the info, we've been worried about our DIS friends on board since we heard the news of the fire. Glad everyone is ok!

[johnf]

I'm sure that I'll mess this name up but the current Captain is Hans Mattebour.

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

[Pryd]

Did they offer any incentives or discounts to you for your next cruise?

[Michelle]

Very close, actually, John -- it's Hans Mateboer. :)

[johnf]

Pryd,

I don't think that the incentive they were offering to rebook was any different just because of the fire. We all DID get a $100 onboard credit applied to this cruise along with a letter from the President of Disney Cruise Lines.

BTW, my personal best to our Head Server Sandra (who arranged for an Officer to sit with us one night and reaaranged our Palo reservation to accomodate this), our Server Cecilia and Asst Server Marco. Also, our Palo Brunch Server Zita, and our Palo Dinner Server Louise - WELL DONE!

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

[Thumper1]

We had a server at Palo's for brunch and dinner, his name was Louis and he was a great server. Do you think this was the same server?

[johnf]

Thumper1,

No I don't think so...ours was a young woman from the UK.

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

[pal2pluto]

Ah, yes, I remember Zita well...very professional, thoughtful (brought extra appetizer for me when dh ordered 2) and beautiful to boot!

I'm so glad you had a good experience despite the fire. What a great attitude!

[snelsonbrown]

The Magic has been going under extensive repairs - It is now 9:30pm and she is still sitting at the docks - took a ride to see what was happening and I understand she will not be available for sailing until 12 midnight - better safe than sorry
JohnF - glad everyone was safe - Disney is great about taking care of their passengers - understand everyone will be given $100.00 credit off their trip -
Stay safe
Always
Shirley

[johnf]

Shirley,

BTW, thank you SOOOOOO much for the basket! My wife was so thrilled and surprised. My son also was thrilled at seeing his Mickey backpack surprise. Your store really does a GREAT job!

Yes you are right about the $100 onboard credit. We all were given a letter from the President of Disney Cruise Lines late in the afternoon on Friday telling us of the onboard credit.

It's a shame about the Magic being delayed so much now. I gues that this week's itinerary will be changed somewhat.

johnf
Palm Harbor, FL

[wovenwonder]

Was the credit that was offered a per stateroom credit -- or a per person credit?

[plutospup]

It was a stateroom credit, not per person.

When you have a substantial fire aboad ship, and you can walk away and say what a great cruise this was... well, I guess Disney must be doing something right!
After the initial "code red aft" announcement Capt. Hans, and Cruise Director Jackie had numerous announcements keeping us apprised of the situation. By keeping all guests well informed it most certainly averted a possible panic situation. However, when I heard the "seven whistles" telling us to muster on deck even I became concerned. However, right away Capt. Hans was on the PA system informing us of why this was done. The funnel extends all the way to the bottom of the ship. As a result, alarms were going off on each passenger deck. (Also, smoke had been detected in other areas). It must have been quite a hot fire in order for the aft funnel to wrinkle, and the insulation on the port stacks to burn. On deck though, even the Assembly Leaders said the muster went more smoothly than a normal Saturday drill!

We had a great time, and also rebooked for Western Cruise end of April '03. We can look forward to that. In the meantime, Mom was taken to the hospital today with heart problems. I'm glad I got home in time to help her. When time allows I'll post some of the wonderful things about our cruise!

[Jobro2]

Glad everyone was ok...it certainly sounded scary but also like it was handled in a professional and calm way (Disney, of course!)..Let us know about the chicken tenders!! Did our "protest" work?

[wovenwonder]

It sounds like Disney handle things very well --- and you are taking it like a champ!!

Would you mind posting in detail the on board booking offer for each category?

Thanks
:)

[medotmom]

I'm very interested in the on-board booking also. Just realized that our vacation next year will fall over Easter and of course that will raise the prices quite a bit. We are thinking of going in Feb if the price is right.

Sorry about the fire but glad to hear that all is okay. We head out on 20 April so there should be time to take care of things. Guess this is one of the cases where the passengers have to learn to be flexible and go with the flow.

[WendyandGoofy]

The ship's intercom system in our room came on briefly out of the blue about 4:30 A.M. It was a man saying something along the lines of, "Red Party report to aft funnell" in a calm voice. (remember we were asleep, so things are blurry at this point.) I sat up in bed and said "what was that about?" two or three times because we NEVER get announcements at wierd times like that. My husband said maybe they pushed the wrong button to call someone on the crew.

Around ten minutes later, Jackie the cruise director said in a calm voice that there was a fire in the aft funnell of the ship and at that point we could stay in our rooms. Of course there was no sleeping from then on out! Then just a few minutes later the captain came on and said in a very calm voice where the fire was, that it seemed to be isolated, and that they had evacuated the rooms around the aft funnel. About five minutes later, Jackie came on again and said that we would all need to report in our life jackets to our assembly stations. She did seem a bit flustered here because one or two of her words were unintelligible - but she repeated herself. I would have been a bit flustered too - after all, she probably knew little more about the fire than we did. She was a terrific cruise director IMHO.

We reported to our station in the Walt Disney Theater (tough assignment) so we didn't see any flames. My boys 7 & 9 and all the other kids in our area were great. One little girl did get sick to her stomach, and I'm sure we were all worried about what was going on. One very little child across the theater was scared and uncomfortable and cried loudly pretty much the entire time. We did hear periodic updates over the announcements, and the crew reassured us that they had just done a life boat drill that very week. Some smoke was coming in the theater near the ceiling by the stage corner, but we were all in the back sections of the theater. We were told through announcements that the smoke was coming from the funnel area through the ventilation system. A Carnival ship came and sat by us until about 6:30 which was also nice to know. I hope it didn't mess up those passengers schedule too much! Around 6:30, we were released to go back to our rooms. Those in the back of the ship were released a bit later.

On the last night, the Captain explained some before the Farewell Variety Show. He said that sensors reported smoke all up and down the stack, and the evacuation was in attempts to err on the side of caution. He did not say however what they thought caused the fire. He also said that the subsequent cruise would probably have to leave late - which sounds like what did happen.

My husband and I checked out the crew pool which they gave adults access to since they let families use the quiet cove pool. It was nice and clean with many of the same deck chairs. There were signs and crew telling us how to get there.

Although this may have changed, you could walk by the Mickey area on the far starboard side. Even Saturday A.M. you could smell smoke or burned rubber - not too strong - on a few parts of the ship. We had a forward room, so no smell for us there. The heat damage made the funnel look as if something heavy had fallen on the port side of the funnel and crumpled it above the white Mickey silhouette. The pipes sticking out it looked a bit singed as well.

Although Disney is under no obligation and we were happy to receive the $100 credit, we were pretty nervous there for a while and extremely tired the next few days. Especially since we did have to do the customs at 6:30 on St. Thomas the day before. We felt our time and inconvenience was worth more than that, but were happy with what we received and that things turned out O.K.

We even proceeded to Castaway Cay which was the kids' favorite part. (We did arrive one hour late) Hey - maybe they will send us an exclusive "I survived the fire on the Magic" pin! LOL We are planning on going again because the crew was great, the shows were fun and we all had a great time!

[natsmom125]

It is so great to read these very positive and upbeat reports from all of you who experienced the "Magic Fire".

It is good to see people turning a bad situation into a good outcome and not asking for refunds or credits or discounts.

The Disney crews are always the best and all of you passengers
need to give yourselves a big hand too. From what I've read here..y'all did great.

Looking forward to our next cruise.....in September

Phyllis


:cool:

[txtara]

Yes, Zita..she just got back from Budapest, spending time with her family, in her Dads resturant, she just got back this past saturday, she was with us in Animator's Palate,(for the drill) and we had her last year and several other times..She is great and yes very beautiful...we also had Stephan from (France) of course..are the 3/16 cruisers also getting $100.00 o/b credit..just for leaving late..WOW..then we need more..My lawyer said not to say anything..no interviews..HAHA...we did notice the camera crews moving in the 16th when we left..some friends saw the report on the news..and just figured it was us..with our luck and all..c-ya..it was still the best time..and beats the heck out of work..dh here..