Do certain Captains not like the horns?

DCL4LIFE · Apr 26, 2015

Ok I know this is a very small thing, but it always bugs me when it happens. I've been lucky enough to go on 19 Disney cruises, with the 20th coming up this Saturday on the Fantasy.

My favorite part of sailaway is standing at the front of the ship and watching people watch us leave Port Canaveral. I had a stretch of being on the Dream about 5 times in a row, and Captain Guus would be blowing the horns basically the entire way down the channel. He'd blow them at the restaurants, at the fishing boats, and especially at the RV park at the end of the channel before you enter the open waters. You could tell the people on the beach loved it. He also blew them leaving Nassau at the other ships.

Then we had Captain (excuse me, Commodore) Tom on the Fantasy twice. I don't know, but he just seems to not be into those horns! He blew it once (When You Wish Upon a Star), at the designated time during the sailway party (right after the countdown), and that was it. Nothing else until the scheduled one on the sea day at noon, then again leaving Castaway (also scheduled on the Navigator). I don't recall any horns at any other ports either. You could tell people on the shore were hoping for it, with people blowing their car horns, doing the "horn blow" motion with their arms. It was kind of a lackluster start to the cruise, especially coming from Captain Guus on the Dream! On the 4-night I must have heard 5 times as many horns as on our 7-night. Captain Fabian is very liberal with the horns also.

I just wonder why have the amazing horns and not use them? Is it a personal choice by the captains, or some sort of policy? I've been on the Dream with Guus since I did the Fantasy with Tom and Guus was his usual self, blowing the horns like crazy on sailaway.

truck1 · Apr 26, 2015

I think it's capts preference. there used to be a capt that reminded me of Peter Boyle who pretty much used the Wonders horn the entire trip from the pier to open watee. After a while several people were saying enough. Recently I've noticed that the capts haven't been using the horns as much as in the past. Even when the Magic and Fantasy were in Port on the same days it was a very subdued horn war.

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

I've found Tom to be the least personable and most withdrawn of the captains dcl has.
I doubt there is any policy or written rule that they must sound the mickey horn apart from at sailaway. Tradition would dictate that they do when leaving their island CC.
As for when leaving other ports, all cruise ships sound their regular horn from my experience to let everyone know they are leaving the dock.

southerngirl528 · Apr 26, 2015

Hi DCL4life, I love the horns too! Wish I knew the answer to your question…..

DCL4LIFE · Apr 26, 2015

C6PT7 said:
I've found Tom to be the least personable and most withdrawn of the captains dcl has.
I doubt there is any policy or written rule that they must sound the mickey horn apart from at sailaway. Tradition would dictate that they do when leaving their island CC.
As for when leaving other ports, all cruise ships sound their regular horn from my experience to let everyone know they are leaving the dock.

Yes sorry I should have been more clear: he sounded the standard horn signals while leaving ports, but never any of the 7 Mickey whistles.

It's a shame because the ships are so beautiful and I really think people enjoy seeing them sail away, and the special horns really add to it.

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

truck1 said:
I think it's capts preference. there used to be a capt that reminded me of Peter Boyle who pretty much used the Wonders horn the entire trip from the pier to open watee. After a while several people were saying enough. Recently I've noticed that the capts haven't been using the horns as much as in the past. Even when the Magic and Fantasy were in Port on the same days it was a very subdued horn war.

@truck1,

do you think that the calming down of the additional regular horn blowing when leaving PC could be because of noise complaints from residents in the condo's?

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

DCL4LIFE said:
Yes sorry I should have been more clear: he sounded the standard horn signals while leaving ports, but never any of the 7 Mickey whistles.

It's a shame because the ships are so beautiful and I really think people enjoy seeing them sail away, and the special horns really add to it.

As I posted above to truck1, I wonder if there have been complaints from both residents in PC and the ports complaining?
A horn battle between two ships is usually fairly quickly over once dcl sound their WYWUAS horn, but I can imagine when the dream and fantasy play all 7? tunes it must be very annoying for the people that live close to ports?

Dug720 · Apr 26, 2015

DCL4LIFE said:
Yes sorry I should have been more clear: he sounded the standard horn signals while leaving ports, but never any of the 7 Mickey whistles.

It's a shame because the ships are so beautiful and I really think people enjoy seeing them sail away, and the special horns really add to it.

In Feb on the Fantasy he played the standard on cue during the Sail Away Party. At noon on either our first or second day at sea he played them all, and when leaving CC he played them all. I don't think anything was played leaving St. Maarten or San Juan - I may have been in the shower though.

southerngirl528 · Apr 26, 2015

I can imagine it certainly could become annoying, but if one decides to live right at any port or near an airport, for example, there IS going to be noise to contend with….. I would not be surprised if someone complained about horn blowing any more than necessary….. :rolleyes2

Dug720 · Apr 26, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
I can imagine it certainly could become annoying, but if one decides to live right at any port or near an airport, for example, there IS going to be noise to contend with….. I would not be surprised if someone complained about horn blowing any more than necessary…..

Yeah, last year I was on cruise critic's HAL board a lot in preparing for my Alaska cruise, and I remember there was a lot of gnashing of teeth when the ships leaving Ft. Lauderdale "had" to cut back to just one or two toots because of noise issues. Apparently the HAL captains in particular loved to toot their (admittedly boring as no fun tunes) horns multiple times - I want to say the record was something like 24 times. I'd definitely complain about that if it was happening multiple times weekly.

DCL4LIFE · Apr 26, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
I can imagine it certainly could become annoying, but if one decides to live right at any port or near an airport, for example, there IS going to be noise to contend with….. I would not be surprised if someone complained about horn blowing any more than necessary…..

Right that reminds me of people who move in under an approach path to an airport then complain about noise!

bringmethathorizon · Apr 26, 2015

been on 2 dream cruises so far with the third coming may 29th and haven't heard the horns at all.and we stand up front during sail away,don't care for the crowds at the party.hoping third times a charm.

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
I can imagine it certainly could become annoying, but if one decides to live right at any port or near an airport, for example, there IS going to be noise to contend with….. I would not be surprised if someone complained about horn blowing any more than necessary…..

I agree, but you have to consider expansion.

If you bought a home near PC in the 70's, would you have expected PC to become one of the world's busiest cruise ports?

"Our cruise history began in the 1970s when port-of-call ships discovered the attractions of central Florida, and our first homeported cruise ship set sail in 1982. Our first dedicated cruise terminal opened that year and we started the climb to our position today. Carnival homeported its first ship here in 1990, Disney joined us in 1998 and Royal Caribbean arrived in 2000. Now we are one of the world’s busiest cruise ports with 4 million revenue cruise passengers per year and the most port-of-call ship visits of any Florida home port."

http://www.portcanaveral.com/About/History

southerngirl528 · Apr 26, 2015

Ahoy, C6PT7, while I agree with you there are countless places where folks bought/built/etc before progress and area growth brought changes like an expressway right behind homes that were formerly in a quiet, rural area. Change does happen, and though I certainly am not a fan of eminent domain, folks that live near an expressway or airport that wasn't there when they purchased their home can't ask for less traffic or flights. The issue of the horns is that lots of folks like to hear the extra horn blowing on the Disney ships because they aren't your run of the mill ship's horns…...

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

bringmethathorizon said:
been on 2 dream cruises so far with the third coming may 29th and haven't heard the horns at all.and we stand up front during sail away,don't care for the crowds at the party.hoping third times a charm.

You NEVER heard the WYWUAS horn?

jahber · Apr 26, 2015

C6PT7 said:
I agree, but you have to consider expansion.

If you bought a home near PC in the 70's, would you have expected PC to become one of the world's busiest cruise ports?

"Our cruise history began in the 1970s when port-of-call ships discovered the attractions of central Florida, and our first homeported cruise ship set sail in 1982. Our first dedicated cruise terminal opened that year and we started the climb to our position today. Carnival homeported its first ship here in 1990, Disney joined us in 1998 and Royal Caribbean arrived in 2000. Now we are one of the world’s busiest cruise ports with 4 million revenue cruise passengers per year and the most port-of-call ship visits of any Florida home port."

http://www.portcanaveral.com/About/History

Exactly. Many, many of the residents of that area have lived there since as far back as when NASA was a big deal in the 60s (my grandparents, for example). Times change, but ten minutes of ship horns 4 days a week would get old.

DCL4LIFE · Apr 26, 2015

Also the ships leave generally all at once, once a day, at a decent hour. And the Disney ships aren't even at PC every day. So it's not a constant, middle of the night disturbance. Also I've noticed the Mickey horns don't travel incredibly far. I've been close to Señor Frogs in Nassau and they blew the WYWUAS and it was not nearly as loud as I'd expected, having normally heard it from Deck 11 or 12.

C6PT7 · Apr 26, 2015

southerngirl528 said:
Ahoy, C6PT7, while I agree with you there are countless places where folks bought/built/etc before progress and area growth brought changes like an expressway right behind homes that were formerly in a quiet, rural area. Change does happen, and though I certainly am not a fan of eminent domain, folks that live near an expressway or airport that wasn't there when they purchased their home can't ask for less traffic or flights. The issue of the horns is that lots of folks like to hear the extra horn blowing on the Disney ships because they aren't your run of the mill ship's horns…...

Respectfully, that is a very one sided view as to your enjoyment of your cruise vs. the disturbance caused to residents.
I live near a small airport that was only ever allowed to have prop planes fly from there. Slowly they started to creep in the occasional jet plane. They waited to see if people complained enough before applying for jet planes to be allowed. They were unfortunately, but only small private twin jet engines. Then they started testing commercial twin jet planes.
The local authorities were petitioned to stop the growth, but they saw the additional income and jobs worth the additional disturbance to residents regardless.
You cannot stop change where money is being thrown around, but sorry, blowing the ships horns for 2400 or 4000 pax in port if it is causing a disturbance to residents is a very self centered view.

tinkmom2 · Apr 26, 2015

We had no horns on our recent April 29th Wonder cruise. But on the Dream we had a horn battle with the Wonder. We left out of Miami this time. I wonder if they have rules against it?

bringmethathorizon · Apr 26, 2015

C6PT7 said:
You NEVER heard the WYWUAS horn?

no i havent.not live.

Do certain Captains not like the horns?

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