Magic Late Departure out of Galviston

[jnweinmann]

Does anyone know what happened to the Magic sailing out of Galviston on the 12 of Dec. I know it was late inbound and that made the outbound late as well.

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by jnweinmann

Does anyone know what happened to the Magic sailing out of Galviston on the 12 of Dec. I know it was late inbound and that made the outbound late as well.

Do you mean the 12th of Jan? As in yesterday? It was extremely foggy, and the port was closed. They couldn't get into port until after noon. Many people missed flights, and had to find hotels until they could work out travel plans.

Then the fog rolled in again while she was in port, delaying departure.

[TDC Nala]

Delayed for fog.

[jnweinmann]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

Do you mean the 12th of Jan? As in yesterday? It was extremely foggy, and the port was closed. They couldn't get into port until after noon. Many people missed flights, and had to find hotels until they could work out travel plans.

Then the fog rolled in again while she was in port, delaying departure.

Sorry, Yes , Jan 12,3013 was what I ment. Any word of what they did for the passengers. Our neighbors where going on their first Disney Cruise on that sailing.

[sambycat]

from reading tweets and searching online (on our drive home from galveston - we were on the ship that came back late, we were through customs, to our ca by ~4:30pm), it seemed people had been told to be on board by 9pm. this morning i’ve been searching but it’s difficult to tell - heard to see on the galveston webcams and conflicting info on those ship locator thingies i’ve been googling. looks like it was inport early this morning t 4am, hopefully she is off by now, seems like she is somewhere in the gulf...

[luv that cruise]

sambycat - how were the guests treated during the delay to get into port? Normally guests are asked to take their carry-on bags to breakfast and then disembark after. Were guests allowed to stay in their rooms or were they asked to stay in public areas so that the rooms could be turned over for the arriving guests?

[cypressmom]

Originally Posted by luv that cruise

sambycat - how were the guests treated during the delay to get into port? Normally guests are asked to take their carry-on bags to breakfast and then disembark after. Were guests allowed to stay in their rooms or were they asked to stay in public areas so that the rooms could be turned over for the arriving guests?

Someone posted from the ship yesterday. Said the shops were open, movies played all day and full access to foods. They added activities too.

[kcashner]

Originally Posted by luv that cruise

sambycat - how were the guests treated during the delay to get into port? Normally guests are asked to take their carry-on bags to breakfast and then disembark after. Were guests allowed to stay in their rooms or were they asked to stay in public areas so that the rooms could be turned over for the arriving guests?

According to their posts, the guests were able to stay in their rooms. There were movies shown and activities scheduled as well as full breakfast and lunch service. The ship came in sometime mid afternoon. It did help that DCL had some warning about the situation.

The guests on the next cruise were notified by e-mail and asked to delay their port arrival by 4 hours. A later contact asked them to delay by 6 hours.

If you booked air thru Disney, they took care of re-scheduling your flights home. If you booked on your own, you were on your own. People posted last night of getting airlines to waive change fees, etc. I'm sure that not all were this fortunate...another case for travel insurance! There were many cruise guests at both airports trying to get flights home.

I haven't heard from anyone on the outbound cruise.

[sambycat]

when we woke up, we knew we weren’t at port, and it became apparent we weren’t moving - and it was FOGGY! we had late breakfast and were planning on sleeping in anyway, so we were just getting up and looking around ~7am. as we were getting dressed, the captain made the announcement at ~730ish that the port was closed and we would have to wait for info. the CD came on next, saying that they would keep making announcements and that our KTTW cards would continue to work.

within the time that we went down for breakfast, there were simple “navigators” with activities listed through 12:15. it was announced that yes, we could stay to our rooms and that the shops were open and what movies would be playing. i was shocked that we could stay in our rooms and that there was more to do then just maybe movies and waiting. after breakfasts (normal for debarkation day), they also had the poolside venues open, topsiders, parrot cay and lumieres open for lunch. bars and bar service were up. we didn’t go to the movies, not sure what about that. tons of games and crafts sprung up and there were characters out and about. there were chairs out all around every level of the atrium and people waiting/sitting by guest services. as we drove, we didn’t have to deal with rerouting flights. they repeatedly announced that if you used DCL air, they would do all that for you. people seemed calm, there were folks waiting in lines (not huge) to use the phones at the cruise desk and where the DVC desk is.

i’m sure they had some idea it would be a while or they wouldn’t have had us keep the rooms. after lunch, we went back to our room. at about 1, there was an announcement that we would start moving. they didn’t say “get out of the rooms!”, but they asked that people gather in the promenade and stusio sea areas and we saw that room host/esses were working on our level and so we left. they had passed out more navigators with things through 3 i think? they had characters out, belle was reading stories to kids, it was really amazing.

i’m sure we had it way better then the folks waiting shoreside at the port or in line to park their cars in parking lots full of our cars!

[ekatiel]

I hope they don't miss a port due to the delay. We ended up on a "cruise to nowhere" once out of Galveston because of fog. It was only a 4 day, and we weren't able to leave until the following morning, so we didn't have enough time to make it to Cozumel (our only port). It was a fun cruise anyways, and Carnival actually let people disembark and receive a 100% refund if they wanted to, or we could stay aboard and get 25% off the current cruise, plus 25% off a future cruise. We stayed on board and had a fun time going nowhere . --Katie

[riofriotex]

Agree with most of what sambycat said, except that the captain's first announcement did not come until shortly after 8 AM. We knew what was up (our Galveston departure last January was delayed because morning fog delayed the return of the previous cruise). I think he should have said something a little earlier, perhaps before the first breakfast, as there were a lot of people who dragged their stuff downstairs only to take it back upstairs later.

We started moving again a little after noon but it was after 2 PM before we were docked. We did express walk-off. Stayed in our stateroom until we actually saw people getting off the ship, then headed down and right off. Caught our shuttle to Hotel Galvez (we had the parking package there) and were on our way home by 3:05 PM.

Last year we were also affected by fog in Galveston in January, but at the other end - previous cruise docked late (somewhere between 12 and 1). We'd just checked out of our hotel at noon to head over to the port when I got a message telling us not to come until 6 PM. We used the time to partake in the Hotel Galvez' fabulous Sunday brunch and then do the tree stump carving tour.

I'm still not real clear on just when the Magic got out on its next voyage - yesterday or today - but the Navigator of the Seas was apparently on time on its arrival this morning (they share the same pier).

[lbgraves]

Just curious if they only emailed people. That wouldn't have helped us at all. We would have been away from internet so only cell call or text would have reached us.

[riofriotex]

Originally Posted by lbgraves

Just curious if they only emailed people. That wouldn't have helped us at all. We would have been away from internet so only cell call or text would have reached us.

I noticed Disney is apparently only set up for e-mail notifications. That's annoying as not everyone has smart phones and data plans. The cruise I took last year that started late was Royal Caribbean, and they sent a recorded phone message - perfect for me as I rarely text and my plan does not include texting (so I have to pay for every one).

[Meghatron]

Originally Posted by riofriotex

I noticed Disney is apparently only set up for e-mail notifications. That's annoying as not everyone has smart phones and data plans. The cruise I took last year that started late was Royal Caribbean, and they sent a recorded phone message - perfect for me as I rarely text and my plan does not include texting (so I have to pay for every one).

I was able to sign up for email and/or text updates to my reservation via the website. Got a confirmation text sent to my mobile.

[riofriotex]

Originally Posted by Meghatron

I was able to sign up for email and/or text updates to my reservation via the website. Got a confirmation text sent to my mobile.

Good to hear text is an option. I must of missed that, or else did not sign up because it wasn't clear if they'd only be sending me important texts (like "the ship is delayed") or if I'd be getting a bunch of marketing texts I'd be paying for.

Still think phone notification should be an option.