6.5 Hour Delay & Missed Port= NOTHING

[drstrange]

Debarked from the Wish yesterday morning. We were unlucky to have had our embarkation delayed by 6.5 hours as a result of DCL waiting for the Coast Guard to clear Port Canaveral. As a result we also missed our scheduled port of Nassau. Disney did not offer anything for the inconvenience and did not refund port fees for missing Nassau.

I understand that the weather is outside of DCL's hands, but it seems like it would have been good faith to offer some type of on-board credit or future cruise credit for missing one full day of a three day sailing.

To me this seems to be awful customer service, however, I am curious as to what the communities' thoughts are.

 

[nancipants]

I would expect them to at least refund the fees for Nassau, as well as credit for the missed lunch on Embarkation Day.

 

[Drfate102]

The only thing you can get back is the Port Fees, which should have automatically been added back to your stateroom account. Any excursions that you would have taken would not have been charged. Any left over credit on your Account would be sent to the card on file or source of of payment after a few weeks. Weather and Governmental Agency Delays just happens and is mentioned in the cruise contract.

 

[Shikedants]

Sometimes their response may take a few days or weeks. Don't give up yet.

 

[lanejudy]

Unless you looked at a detailed break-down of your onboard account, you may not have noticed a refund of port fees. Or it's possible DCL will refund those directly to your credit card (or other form of payment you may have used). What DCL did provide is additional onboard activities as entertainment during an unplanned day at sea.

I don't know if this is your first cruise, but "compensation" for missed port stops is not typical in the cruising industry. If you purchased trip insurance, you may be able to get something back by filing a claim for a missed port. That is something to take up with your insurance.

 

[drstrange]

Unless you looked at a detailed break-down of your onboard account, you may not have noticed a refund of port fees. Or it's possible DCL will refund those directly to your credit card (or other form of payment you may have used).

I don't know if this is your first cruise, but "compensation" for missed port stops is not typical in the cruising industry. If you purchased trip insurance, you may be able to get something back by filing a claim for a missed port. That is something to take up with your insurance.

On the third day when it became clear that we were not going to be getting anything for missing 1/3 of the cruise, I called to ask about the port fees for Nassau and the guest services representative said that the port fees for Nassau and Castaway Cay were the same, and that since we were docking at Castaway that we would not receive a refund. This was our 11th DCL sailing.

 

[lanejudy]

On the third day when it became clear that we were not going to be getting anything for missing 1/3 of the cruise, I called to ask about the port fees for Nassau and the guest services representative said that the port fees for Nassau and Castaway Cay were the same, and that since we were docking at Castaway that we would not receive a refund. This was our 11th DCL sailing.

Unfortunately that is not entirely correct. Yes the port fees are the same because both ports are in the Bahamas. However if you stop at Nassau and at Castaway Cay, you'd be charged twice. If you only stop at one, you are only charged once. I am 99.9% certain you did or will receive a refund of the port fees for missing Nassau. Check your onboard account details; if not there watch your credit card statement or check any gift cards you used as payment towards the cruise.

 

[OKW Lover]

On the third day when it became clear that we were not going to be getting anything for missing 1/3 of the cruise,

Replace Nassau with a sea day does not constitute missing 1/3 of the cruise. You still had the same cruise length.

 

[drstrange]

Replace Nassau with a sea day does not constitute missing 1/3 of the cruise. You still had the same cruise length.

Perhaps you missed the part of my post and the title of the post that said my embarkation day was delayed 6.5 hours.......

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Replace Nassau with a sea day does not constitute missing 1/3 of the cruise. You still had the same cruise length.

OP is saying because of the day they got on the ship was shortened by quite a few hours.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Perhaps you missed the part of my post and the title of the post that said my embarkation day was delayed 6.5 hours.......

Did you still have dinner, show and sail away party?

 

[Mommb]

When a cruise misses an entire day (for example, embarks on Sunday rather than Saturday) DCL sometimes provides an onboard credit or partial refund. This cruise did not miss an entire day -- it missed a few hours (1/4 of a day) because the port was closed. The cruise was still taking place on the day it was scheduled to visit Nassau. As lanejudy pointed out, that meant that more onboard activities were provided than were originally planned for that day.

Delays and port changes are a known risk during hurricane season. There was nothing Disney Cruise could have done to keep the cruise the same as planned, because the ship could not dock much earlier than it did, and therefore could not have boarded much earlier. As others have mentioned, the cruise contract allows DCL to change itineraries, ports, and even the ship used. I agree that if port fees were paid for Nassau, those should be refunded, but otherwise, you still had the cruise you paid for, leaving and returning on the same dates.

 

[drstrange]

Did you still have dinner, show and sail away party?

1) We were lucky to have dinner because we had the earliest PAT. However, I would say that our dining room was about half at capacity when we were done as people were continuing to get onboard until 9pm at night.
2) Because of the late arrival resulting in a late dinner we did not have time to get to the show, however, it did still happen as scheduled. The dining times and show times were not updated to reflect the fact that the earliest people could get onboard was at around 5:30pm.
3) The sail away party did not happen. On the final night they did an abridged version of the sail away party, which was a very odd choice.

 

[drstrange]

When a cruise misses an entire day (for example, embarks on Sunday rather than Saturday) DCL sometimes provides an onboard credit or partial refund. This cruise did not miss an entire day -- it missed a few hours (1/4 of a day) because the port was closed. The cruise was still taking place on the day it was scheduled to visit Nassau. As lanejudy pointed out, that meant that more onboard activities were provided than were originally planned for that day.

Delays and port changes are a known risk during hurricane season. There was nothing Disney Cruise could have done to keep the cruise the same as planned, because the ship could not dock much earlier than it did, and therefore could not have boarded much earlier. As others have mentioned, the cruise contract allows DCL to change itineraries, ports, and even the ship used. I agree that if port fees were paid for Nassau, those should be refunded, but otherwise, you still had the cruise you paid for, leaving and returning on the same dates.

If you think that getting onboard at 5:30pm opposed to 11:00am is a "few hours", then I guess we are of a different mindset regarding time onboard for a 3 day cruise.

 

[disneypanda11]

If you think that getting onboard at 5:30pm opposed to 11:00am is a "few hours", then I guess we are of a different mindset regarding time onboard for a 3 day cruise.

I do agree that especially if you had an early PAT/ boarding group, you definitely missed out on some valuable time aboard.

We were just on the sailing earlier this month with a medical emergency that delayed our return to Port Canaveral. Not 6.5 hours, but it did still result in us missing out on a few hours of our one-day MK tickets that day. Guest services was very kind and comped us wifi that morning so we could adjust our plans as needed, but the entire thing was outside of their control so I didn’t expect any more than that.

I do hope your port fees were refunded, that seems more than fair. And although not everyone here will agree whether or not you should be entitled to some additional compensation, I’d hope we can at least all agree it’s super disappointing when things don’t go to plan on a vacation you’ve surely looked forward to for some time!

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

On our transatlantic our Plymouth port was changed to Portland because of a refuelling issue and even for that de got a 100 usd obc per stateroom

 

[jcarwash]

I checked the one time I had a Grand Cayman port canceled (the water was too rough to safely tender). The port fee refund appeared as a credit on my card the week after the cruise. They weren't on my shipboard account charges.

 

[Princesca]

Delays and port changes are a known risk during hurricane season. There was nothing Disney Cruise could have done to keep the cruise the same as planned, because the ship could not dock much earlier than it did, and therefore could not have boarded much earlier. As others have mentioned, the cruise contract allows DCL to change itineraries, ports, and even the ship used. I agree that if port fees were paid for Nassau, those should be refunded, but otherwise, you still had the cruise you paid for, leaving and returning on the same dates.

Came here to say this - there is a reason why cruising during hurricane season is usually less expensive than other times of year.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

If you think that getting onboard at 5:30pm opposed to 11:00am is a "few hours", then I guess we are of a different mindset regarding time onboard for a 3 day cruise.

That is a few hours when you are taking into account that the area was hit by a hurricane mere hours before.

In my opinion your first mistake was booking a 3 night cruise as they are the highest cost by far of any Disney Cruise.

 

[drstrange]

That is a few hours when you are taking into account that the area was hit by a hurricane mere hours before.

In my opinion your first mistake was booking a 3 night cruise as they are the highest cost by far of any Disney Cruise.

1) It was a holiday weekend, so my kids did not have to miss school.
2) We wanted to go on the Wish.
3) The Wish currently only has 4 day sailings during the middle of the week.
4) We traditionally do 7 night sailings when the kids are out of school.