Are you like us seriously re-considering due to recent events?

[RedSox68]

Ok, I pmed you what I think so that this thread can be for people who were on the ships and not for people who were not on, we should really judge since we weren't on lol, but I did pm you so you can respond there so we don't take up this thread lol, unless you were on take it up all you want

Thanks. I responded, and well done

 

[Wadewilk]

I was on the Fantasy and one of the apparently crazy folks that thought it was fun. My wife disagrees. I tell her "it wasn't scary" and she replies "it was". Then I try to convince her she wasn't scared instead of accepting that people are different with different emotions. So far I haven't convinced her but I'll keep trying b/c the important thing is for everyone to agree with me.

We booked another cruise (that was our first in 10 years) b/c 95% of the cruise was awesome and will enjoy the 25% off. If someone can convince DCL to up the % I'll take that too! The rest of Disboards can come too but I won't be offended if you don't.

 

[airplanegod]

This says alot!

I do not feel scared to sail on DCL, as there are reoprts on FB and Cruise Critic of Carnival and RCL having similar scary situations during Sandy. This was not the typical hurricaine that you can simply sail around, it was over 100 miles wide. That being said, I am a little nervous about cruising in general. Mother Nature has been wild the past few years, and there is nothing anyone can do about that.

We are on the Dream in Feb, and have insurance, but not cancel for any reason. I will look into that more in the future, but in looking at the policies, many only refund 50% and do not cover Acts of God, which may be what this would fall under.

I would not have wanted to get on that Dream cruise, knowing it was only 3 nights, and most likely will be rough weather the whole time. (and after 20/20 hindsight after how bad it really was, I would have REALLY not wanted to go) But sine it was paid for and we would lose all our money if we cancelled, I probably would have gone.

Thank you! I wouldn't even for a second consider cancelling my next cruise (It's in Alaska in July anyway). This wasn't an isolated incident, DCL, RCL, and CCL all had similar issues. Even though I wasn't on any of these cruises, I will tell you this, if you aren't going to take DCL again, you might as well never get on a cruise ship of any type again.

 

[mgroshans]

To answer the OP question: no. We were on the Dream sailing. We booked another one on board and will be using the 25% off a 3 night on another one, just not sure when.

 

[peachygreen]

No - this won't change my opinions on cruising. I still plan to cruise this spring and again in 2014 as soon as I know where DCL is going.

I understand it was a really rough night. I understand the fear. If I was on the ship I might feel differently about wanting to cruise again period. But if I made the decision to not cruise I'm sure it would be not cruise again period not just not cruise on DCL. I don't think there is anything at that point if you told me it was not safe to cruise with DCL that would make me think it was any safer to cruise with someone else.

I'm sitting shoreside where there is no way I'm going to question the Captain's decisions.

Even if I was on board I am not going to question the Captain who has access to the weather reports and know his ship and her capabilities. Its easy to second guess him now but unless you are there real time you don't know what factored into those decisions. I like to think the best in people until proven otherwise and as Captain of the ship, your first priority is the safety of your passengers, not getting back on time. Maybe the reports he read indicated that things could have been worse by hanging around. I'm not going to second guess because I wasn't there. I'm not going to blame DCL for trying to minimize impacts as much as possible to as few people as possible as long as they thought it was safe. After all they also have a large investment to protect.

As rough as it was, I really don't think the ship was ever in any real danger. I'm sure it might have felt that way to some on board I don't know. Again I wasn't there so I'm not going to second guess what people perceived.

One thing I have noticed about reports is that they follow reports of the same experience in all walks of life. You have both extremes and a few people in middle ground. There are reports that it wasn't that bad/it was fun etc. and there are reports that I thought I was going to die and then there are the middle who were uncomfortable but felt they would be safe. All of these are from people on the same ship at the same time.

I have lived through a lot of hurricanes. I have worked during a lot of hurricanes and ice storms for power restoration. I've even flown home on the last plane before the airport shut down before a Category 5 storm was supposed to hit from a nice safe location hundred's of miles away to be in a position to restore power after the storm. I've seen a lot of reactions, over reactions and underreactions to storms. I know a few things about storms. One thing I have found is that storms are unpredicable and even the best models sometimes change. One I rememeber disticantly was Hurricane Andrew. All the models had that storm hitting Miami. So everyone in Miami evacuated and many of them evacuted to Homestead to the south. Well guess what - Andrew moved to the south just a little at the last minute and hit Homestead instead of Miami. Many people left what turned out to be a safe area and ended up in the eye of the Category 5 hurricane. The same thing happened here in Houston when Ike came through a few years ago. You make a decision based on the information you have available at the time. Once you commit to that decision it is not always possible/safe to change course.

 

[Renysmom]

I was on the Fantasy and one of the apparently crazy folks that thought it was fun. My wife disagrees. I tell her "it wasn't scary" and she replies "it was". Then I try to convince her she wasn't scared instead of accepting that people are different with different emotions. So far I haven't convinced her but I'll keep trying b/c the important thing is for everyone to agree with me.

I too was on the Fantasy, awake all night and was NOT traumatized, scared to death or afraid we were going to sink. I like you took for what it was, a 900 mile wide hurricane that stalled and we got stuck in. Three hours of a roller coaster ride will not change my mind about cruising and not about cruising on DCL.

 

[JimGA]

If you are worried about getting stuck in bad weather, I would suggest investing in Trip Insurance that lets you cancel for any reason;

Available from several insurance providers, Cancel For Any Reason provides trip cancellation protection if a traveler is prevented from taking the trip for any reason not otherwise covered by the policy.

To be eligible for the coverage, you must purchase the plan within a certain period of your initial trip deposit (varies by provider) and meet the plan's cancellation conditions. See the plan details for more information.

Invest money in peace of mind, cancel for any reason..i.e. hurricane.

 

[realityland]

If you are worried about getting stuck in bad weather, I would suggest investing in Trip Insurance that lets you cancel for any reason;

Available from several insurance providers, Cancel For Any Reason provides trip cancellation protection if a traveler is prevented from taking the trip for any reason not otherwise covered by the policy.

To be eligible for the coverage, you must purchase the plan within a certain period of your initial trip deposit (varies by provider) and meet the plan's cancellation conditions. See the plan details for more information.

Invest money in peace of mind, cancel for any reason..i.e. hurricane.

Read the terms closely before you buy. Many policies only refund 50% of the trip cost. DCL insurance does not have quite the levels of coverage that other insurances do - but DCL insurance allows you to cancel and retain a credit good toward a future cruise.

 

[disney1990]

I'm not saying it is I'm saying I feel NYC and NJ had it worse, and least for people on the cruise they got to go home, well unless they were fron, nj or NYC area etc, then maybe not so lucky

I have sailed many times before, and believe me, some of the people on the cruise did not think that they were going to go home again. People I met had cruised before and will NEVER cruise again, no matter what time of year. They were scared to death. We were taken into a storm that, in hind sight, we should not have sailed into. We should have remained in St. Thomas, but the storm turned out to be worse than predicted. However, after we sailed into the storm, it would have been more dangerous to try and turn the ship around. Had it been my first cruise, I probably would never have cruised again -- it was that scarey at times. Look at the pictures from the storm, stores with everything off the shelves, glass shattered in Cabanas and Cafe Cove.

 

[Minder]

I was on the Fantasy during the hurricane and yes it was very rough on the last day and no it was not all that much fun on the last day and night
But the rest of the cruise was fantastic and at no time during the entire voyage did I feel like my life was at risk my lunch was at risk but that's it

If you like cruising don't let the knowledge of the small risk that has always been there take away your great vacation

 

[disney1990]

I was on the Fantasy during the hurricane and yes it was very rough on the last day and no it was not all that much fun on the last day and night
But the rest of the cruise was fantastic and at no time during the entire voyage did I feel like my life was at risk my lunch was at risk but that's it

If you like cruising don't let the knowledge of the small risk that has always been there take away your great vacation

AGREED! I will be back as soon as I can!!!!!

 

[DisneyFan907]

Our first cruise is booked for January, which isn't hurricane season, but even if it was this month I would still plan on going. I live in Alaska, there is a WAY higher chance of me getting in a fatal car accident on the way to work for 6 months out of the year than having a rough night on seas.. Can't let one incident make you afraid to live and do what you love, if you love cruising I'd say go for it. Like another poster said, the rocking was bad (and believe me I do feel immense sympathy for those on ships that night) but it was similar to really bad turbulence on an airplane. I've been in a lighting storm for 3 hours on a flight that was supposed to be 30 min.. I still fly! If you feel like it isn't worth the money then don't go, but if your cruise isn't too soon I would say think about it for a few weeks.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

I was on the Fantasy and one of the apparently crazy folks that thought it was fun. My wife disagrees. I tell her "it wasn't scary" and she replies "it was". Then I try to convince her she wasn't scared instead of accepting that people are different with different emotions. So far I haven't convinced her but I'll keep trying b/c the important thing is for everyone to agree with me.

People do indeed have very different reactions to perceived danger. Two years ago, flying home from a DCL cruise, our plane hit "severe turbulence". The kind where things were falling, people screaming and children crying. The man sitting next to me in the window seat grabbed my hand and asked me to pray with him. It was that bad. My DH was on my other side, aisle seat, listening to Jimmy Buffett on his iPod and playing Suduku. When I asked him if he was frightened he said no- 2 things: one, planes don't go down in turbulence, and two, the pilot knows a lot more about this than we do and he knows what the plane can handle. We went through a full hour of this turbulence, plane dipping side to side. I didn't want to get on our connecting flight home, I felt so traumatized. But DH convinced me, and I did. And while I was wary of flying the next time, i saw that it really was an isolated incident.

So I understand, to a degree, how some Fantasy passengers felt. They dealt with it a lot longer than 1 hour, obviously. I hope that in time they too can cruise again and enjoy it, but I understand if they don't want to take that chance.

We are absolutely not canceling our future DCL cruises! Looking forward to Alaska next summer and NYE on the Fantasy 2013.