9/18 Magic cruise back on land!

[Nyanchan]

I haven't seen anybody post yet, so I thought I'd start one up!

To give a quick run-down... Sunday, Monday & Thursday were days at sea, Tuesday in Antigua, Wednesday in St. Thomas and Friday was to have been Castaway Cay.

We didn't get to go to Castaway Cay so had another day at sea. It was a disappointment, but everyone's safety is more important!

Jeanne was right behind us starting Wednesday night. The ship was REALLY rocking and continued through Friday morning.

The Captain informed everyone on Thursday night that we would not be visiting Castaway Cay and would be coming into Cape Canaveral on Friday night. Some people were upset, but what can you do? It's a hurricane for goodness sake!

We docked at Cape Canaveral at around 8:30 PM on Friday night and it took a while for the ship to be cleared. People started leaving the ship around 9:20 PM and we didn't make it off until close to 11. For people that didn't live in the area, they arranged buses to take them for a complimentary night at the Swan or Dolphin Resort and a complimentary breakfast. I'm also assuming that they had complimentary transportation to the airport today.

DCL is giving a 50% off coupon for the next cruise booked for sailing before October '05. I thought this was more than generous as all that was really missed was an evening at the clubs and a VERY early morning breakfast on Saturday morning.

Overall I thought that DCL handled our cruise very well. There were a few points that could have been done a little more efficiently, but I only have praise for the captain & crew!

We had a really good time, but after 6 DCL cruises realized that we might need a break and try something new.. (Gasp!) I went to the lounge at what I thought was the appointed meeting time for the dis-cruisers, but didn't see anyone... Hope that everyone had a good time!!

Dierdre

 

[TexasGirl]

I'm back home too. Thursday did ending up being pretty horrible but the other days were fun. We ended getting off about 10:30. We didn't get to the Dolphin until 1:30 am. I take it you didn't take the Disney transports to the hotel. That part went very poorly. But the 50% off is wonderful!!!!

What a time!

 

[ganurse]

im sure someone will ask this but why do you guys get 50% when you missed only one night and we only get 25% off our next cruise and we missed 3 nights?
Im just wondering because it seems that we had more of a disappointment even thought i had a great time!

 

[NJ Cruisers]

ganurse - didn't you already get something big off the cruise you were on because it was only 4 days? Wasn't it something like 40% or 50% of THAT cruise? That's probably why you didn't get something bigger for the next one.

 

[dzneprincess]

Hey yall. Sorry your cruise was cut short, but I am glad you had a good time while aboard. So since you missed the last night, does that mean yall missed Disney Dreams?

 

[Scotsman]

No. We saw Disney Dreams on Thursday night. It was amazing and even more amazing was how they performed with the ship swaying and jerking as bad as it was. A lot of people were sick during the show, including my 5 yr old son.

 

[lbgraves]

It sounds like the 50% off a future cruise is "all" they got this week because it was too close to the end to do anything with credits. The previous shortened cruise got 50% off that cruise, 25% off a future cruise, and an onboard credit of 200 or 300 depending on which ship they were booked on.

 

[ganurse]

sorry. i thought i had gotten an IM saying they got a discount of their present cruise and 50% off next cruise. i wasnt complaining. i think disney was very fair with us. im sorry if someone took me the wrong w ay

 

[Laurarn]

ganurse.....IMO, I know emails sometime remove the emotion that someone is trying to convey and I know you say that you didn't mean it that way, but when a post starts out as..."But why did you guys get...? It sounded like complaining or whining. I think those who answered your post never said that you were complaining, but just giving you the honest answers that you requested regarding compensation for the altered cruises.

 

[nurkjk]

I think missing Castaway Cay was a big part of getting the 50% discount. We were more disappointed about that than we were about leaving the ship a few hours early. After 4 days at sea and only 2 ports of call, we were more than ready to get off the ship.

 

[cjsmith]

Originally posted by nurkjk
I think missing Castaway Cay was a big part of getting the 50% discount. We were more disappointed about that than we were about leaving the ship a few hours early. After 4 days at sea and only 2 ports of call, we were more than ready to get off the ship.

I don't think that missing CC had anything to do with it as they do miss CC other times when the seas are high or the winds are too high to dock and those on the cruise ships don't get anything. You guys missed one night of the cruise so DCL went out of their way to make it up to you, heck I'd give up a night in order to get 50% of my next cruise!

 

[endkaos]

As an upcoming cruiser 10/8/04, I am very happy to hear that Disney's customer service is in high gear. I didn't realize when I booked that it would be a record Hurricane season. Cut me a break, I live in Arizona. It's nothing but dry high heat here. We tend to forget about the rest of the world's weather.

I have been watching the boards and weather channel like an obessive compulsive planner. Maybe not LIKE but IS. I appreciate your posts that Disney is taking care of those people hanging in there for the cruise line and economy.

 

[Fawn]

We just got home to PA about 2 hours ago. We got off the ship around 11 pm Friday night, and hit the road right away. God Bless my hubby for having the energy to try and outrun Jeanne...the girls and I fell right asleep!

I think Disney was more than generous with us. 50% off our next cruise for one 8 hours of sleep and an early breakfast? The hard part was not finding out until 4 pm on Friday that they were going to be having us get off that night! Thankfully we had already packed, so it was no great rush for us. They did show Disney Dreams and give us that last wonderful meal before we disembarked.

A cheer out to our servers for such a wonderful evening Thursday night. How they ever served a single plate without dropping it as the ship pitched and rolled I'll never know!

We already had a January cruise booked, so I'm hoping we can use the discount on that!

Did anyone hear if people made it out of Orlando airport on Saturday or if it closed down due to Jeanne??

 

[kpgclark]

We're going on the Panama Canal repo cruise next year which has a LOT of sea days. Can anyone comment on how their children felt about all the sea days? If you have any of the Navigators from the sea days I'd be interested in them too. Did Disney do a good job keeping the kids entertained? Were the pools a madhouse?

 

[CM_Mom]

kpgclark, you may want to start a separate thread about kids entertainment on sea days. You can also check out the kids and teens navigators on the Western and Eastern cruises on www.dcltribute.com/navigators . I know the CMs in the Club/Lab are prepared with scheduled activities for sea days. They always have more kid in activities then than they do on port days.

I read somewhere else that at least on Thursday when the seas were high the pools were drained and/or closed. When the seas are rough the pools become "wave pools" and are dangerous so they close them.

My guess is that they will plan some special kids activities for the repo cruise. For that one they have plenty of planning time and know in advance that there are lots of sea days.

 

[cruiseloverpooh]

I was on the 9/18 cruise with my family and another family the reason why they gave us a discount was because we were not able to enjoy the last few days of our cruise. Many people were sick we had 8-13 ft waves we had people who could not walk on the boat , dinner trays crashing ,pools that were empty because they were dangerous! And to end it all with only a short notice go get bags packed quick must be buy door at 6.00 fri some people missed dinner, show. and of course no c.c.