10 night 8/28 Cruise...finally home! A slightly long post!

[nuts4sn00py]

Hi everyone! Glad to be home & back on the Dis! Was able to meet some fellow Dis'ers on this cruise...hi all, & overall had a great time. Now let me say, those last 3 days on the Cruise were very stressful!!! Bounced back & forth between feeling DCL doing what they could & feeling left out in the cold by DCL. Just some background: We were scheduled to fly home on 9/6 out of MCO. DCL advised us we would not be back in port until 9/6 & they would contact airlines for us. Never got any info. from Guest Services & whenever I went down & spoke to them was told they didn't hear from Airline. When in TX, I changed our ressies to 9/7 out of TPA @7:20am...no longer a direct flight home & had to go to O'Hare to change planes. Went to Guest services & questioned transfer to TPA..was told no one flying out of TPA & they would only provide transfer to MCO. We were on our own to get to TPA. Was not at all happy about this! We than find out we will be disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale & will be after our flight has left out of TPA! Call American Airlines again & get our flight changed to MIA @4:20pm...direct flight to JFK. I'm sorry this is so long...but just needed to let you all know how stressful this past week has been on everyone! Overall, I would say DCL did a great job, we were safe, kept up to date, & were comfortable. Yes, there are many things that could have been better, but I think Disney will learn from their mistakes. After initially being excited about the 2 extra days onboard (which turned into 3 days), I than felt really bad for those who waited so long for their 7 day cruise & wouldn't be able to make it! I really am sorry for all of you! I don't want to drag this on any longer, but if anyone has any questions that I may be able to answer, I'll be happy to try & answer them. Once again, thanks for letting me "speak" & am glad to be back on the DIS! Kathy

 

[dis4me]

Welcome back. It seems like you made the best of a bad situation.
Thanks for posting.

 

[slabeaume]

I had to go through that rebooking flights last Feb. when my Dad had an emergency and ended up in the hospital. Until you actually go through the rebooking process, it's hard for anyone to understand how long and complicated it can be! I'm sure glad I had a cell phone. After checking what Disney could do and several alternatives, we ended up paying the $100 change fee and having to make our way back up to MCO (from Ft. Lauderdale) on our own. Plus the airline didn't have availability for 3 more days, so we were "stuck" there. Having to reschedule a flight is very stressful---only thing worse is having to reschedule your flight, finding hotel accommodations and car rental during Daytona 500 week!

I'm curious, did the airlines change your flight without charging you any change fees?

I bet you'll be glad to get back to work and get some rest now!

 

[GOOFY D]

What were the additional 3 days like? Did Disney have shows and programs at night in WD Theater and all the other usual locations (i.e Studio Sea, etc.) ? Did they start the dining rotation again from the beginning and serve the same foods or was it all basically open meals like lunch and breakfast?

 

[cforsythe]

We were also on the 10-11 day cruise. Overall we had a great time. The rotation continued through the resturants but only 1 repeat menu. Can you believe that. DCL is amazing. The shows were different each night except 1. Repeat of Golden Mickey's. I was very glad of that. Great SHOW!!!

I don't think I have seen anything else on the boards about the Wonder and Magic docking right beside each other on 09/06 at about 11:00pm. IT was amazing. All the CMs were excited and talking to other CMs on the other ship. There were cheers back and forth between ships. We/everyone was soooo excited!!!

I will also say that DCL did NOT do a very good job at trying to help with flights. On Sat when we docked in Galviston they told us that they would take care of our flights, but that did not take place. We had to sit on hold with Delta for over 30 minutes to make the airline change. I can't imagine what my cell bill will be.

This was definately a cruise to remember. Most of the CMs were great. Most of the cruisers were fine. I will try to do a trip report as soon as I can. We are glad to be home, but if I had the vacation days and the $$$ I would go again as soon as I get all of the laundry done!!!

 

[nuts4sn00py]

Goofy D...The added 3 days were a little stressful only because I was in charge of all the arrangements for the 7 of us. If we had been able to go to another port during those 3 days it would have made things much easier. As the poster before me stated, only 1 show & 1 dinner rotation was repeated. Also the kids clubs didn't really seem to have anything new to offer the kids, so that made things hard for my kids. My kids found the pools just way toooo crowded & so they were kind of left to their own devices to find things to do. I found I spent alot more time in my cabin than I had planned. Those who had the verandahs were very lucky, IMO, as at least they could easily get fresh air, without having to leave the room. We booked an inside Cabin as I didn't plan on being in it all that much! Oh well, next time I will definitely book a verandah. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Cruise, I will now try another Cruise line & will probably cruise out of NY. I would like to try RCCL, but I do highly recommend DCL, overall I feel they did a great job & Captain Tom is the BEST! I plan on writing a letter to Disney to let them know what a wonderful job the Crew did under such stressful conditions. BTW, I hope to go to WDW for Thanksgiving....no hurricanes...please!!!Kathy

 

[Mary Anne]

I was on that cruise also. I agree while the extra 3 days were nice, it got very stressful to keep moving the plane and airports around. I flew Jet Blue and have to say they did not charge me once for moving my flight not once but twice. I will be writing to the VP of HR of Jet Blue telling him how great the agent was.

What I found out on this 10/11 day cruise is that, I would never book a cruise longer then 7 days. By the 9th day, I no longer wanted to Dress for dinner, was tired of the type of food that was served and wanted to go home, period! Disney did a great job given the circumstances and I'm sure they too learned a lot.

 

[O'BWV]

Hi Kathy & Mary Anne!

I'm glad you're all home & safe. I have to agree with 7 days being the maximum lenght of a cruise that I could tolerate. We also didn't want to dress for dinner anymore and in fact started to feel like I couldn't eat or drink another bite. How do people go on those lengthy "cruises around the world"?


-Mary Rose

 

[Karel]

All but the last day - Monday - they had additional programming. They flew in performers to entertain and brought on additional movies. Monday, there were extremely limited activities. Lots of live music. Everybody was just really anxious at that point. Saturday night - or was it Sunday? - was the only night you felt like they threw the menu together with a regular piece of paper menu. One night was the now defunct Mexacali...whatever menu.

I didn't have to worry about flight plans but did worry a lot about the state of my car parked at the Radisson. It was the fear of the unknown that cut into the fun.


I don't know if I could do a 14 night cruise.

 

[O'BWV]

Hi Guys!

What I really thought was funny was Monday's navigator - a one page dash off of only the morning activities. Then an announcement at lunch that if you wanted the navigator for the rest of the day you should go to guest services and get one. Again, another one page dash off - priceless stuff!


-Mary Rose