9/4 Cruise a Disaster!!!

[Uferlives]

DCL really, really blew it on this one. They told us to go to POR and they would bus us down to Ft. Lauderdale Monday morning. Problem was, they didn't have enough buses. We waited in the lobby Monday morning while they scrounged up a bus to take us down. Took over an hour. We would have been better off if they had not found one. They one they did find had NO toilets and NO AC, for a 4-5 hour trip with small children to Ft. Lauderdale. Real nice for all the families with kids. How hard is it to count the number of people you have and figure out how many buses you need? Then, an hour into the hot, miserable trip down, the bus breaks down, and we are stranded on the shoulder of the FL turnpike. Swamp w/alligators to the right of us, superhighway traffic to the left of us, and nothing to do but sit and wait in the sweltering bus. Called the DCL hotline every 15 minutes. A very, very unsafe situation. Children were crying, babies were screaming, and there was nowhere to go. It took them over THREE HOURS to get us out of there. A royal, royal screw-up by DCL. They are quite frankly quite lucky that nobody was killed (heart attack, heat stroke, traffic accident) or seriously injured. I am writing them a LONG letter in hopes that they make it right. This was the most MISERABLE vacation I have ever taken. Putting aside the fact that they put us all in very real danger because of the bus mishap, they also ruined the cruise-- by the time we got on board late Tuesday night, no chance for Palo, spa reservations, no boarding picture, no party, etc., etc. Heck, we were just happy to have made it alive. I don't fault DCL for the hurricane; they don't control the weather. I DO fault them for failing to be able to do something as simple as count heads and send the right number of buses. How hard is that!!?? I am so angry with them that I don't even know where to begin.

 

[pppiglet]

Yours is definately the worst case I have read about on these boards! I really couldn't understand why some people were so angry with some of the things that happened, but you have every right to be about your situation. That is a scary and dangerous way to be stuck. It would be nice if they offered you a refund or another cruise. Good luck with your letter! Let us know how everything turns out.

 

[selvey]

Uferlives
I have to say - I know what you mean. I am trying to be calm about the whole thing (which I must say, according to my family, they can't believe how calm I have been), but DCL did not show me much of the "great great DCL" that I have heard about for so long. Of course, we all know the hurricane was not the fault of Disney. However, I'm definitely with you on the lack of organization as far as PRE-CRUISE (note for all who think I am bashing the cruise - I am NOT!). Like you, those of us who finally got in touch with DCL (not by any help from DCL) and stayed at the resort the night before, we waited on buses because for some unknow reason, THEY CAN'T COUNT!!!!! We were all there the night before - go figure. I'm just hoping that after they receive all our letter, they will at least get it right for the poor soles that may have to endure postponements, etc. in the future.
Like you, that was the worst vacation I have ever had. And, only because of all the miscommunication, no communication from DCL, and misinformation given PRE-CRUISE. We were so worn out from all that, we were stressed when we finally got on the ship, and couldn't get reservations either.
People keep telling me how lucky I am for getting 50% off the cruise - well, instead of getting the 7 nights and 6.5 days I originally paid for, I got 4 nights and 3 days (we boarded late also because of the buses). So, I would say, 50% off is nothing generous on their part.
I feel better. Thanks,
Karen

 

[tvguy]

Folks. You were in a disaster area. I suspect DCL had a devil of at time finding buses that's weren't tied up in the recovery effort.
And then to find drivers too.
I think there is some merit to the argument that they may have been better off to just cancel the cruises.
I suspect some caring individual at DCL worked very hard to get that bus for you to try and salvage your vacation amid the destruction.

 

[shpilkus]

We were told when we boarded the bus at Port Canaveral that they were having great difficulty finding fuel for the buses in our county (no surprise there). We got on one of the first 3 buses out of PC and watched a line of people left behind standing in the hot sun with no other buses in sight. I hope they didn't have to wait too long.

Our bus driver announced we had two movies to watch and showed the tapes to us (one was Chicken Run and I forget the other). One problem - the bus took DVDs, not tapes. Panic began to set in. Luckily one of the dads on board had some DVDs in his carry-on so we were treated to "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Agent Cody Banks". So the kids were well taken care of. *whew*

Here's a picture of when the kids first spotted the Magic at Port Everglades:

What you can't see in a photo is them yelling over and over "I see it! I see it!" and the adults clapping and whistling.

Here's how she looked from the bus:

Uferlives, Selvey - you guys could use some pixie dust. Here's a link for you: http://64.176.200.250/magic_whistle.wav This was recorded 9/7 as we pulled out of Port Everglades. May it bring you fond memories of the GOOD part of your trip.

Craig M
Viera, FL

 

[Uferlives]

TV Guy, I can't buy that, for several reasons. First, maybe I'm ignorant, but how exactly would buses have been tied up in the recovery effort? What would they have been doing?

Even if that were the case, Disney either had the necessary buses and drivers, or they did not. If they DID, there should not have been a problem. If they DID NOT (and they obviously did not, I guess), then they should have told us so instead of hiding the ball on us, which is what they did that entire morning. They should have been straight with us instead of continuing to tell us that our DCL bus was just minutes away as we waited at POR. I fear this was more about their bottom line prevailing (not having to make full refunds) than it was about making our vacation dreams come true. I just feel misled and used-- they effectively lied to us that morning as we waited and waited.

 

[Karel]

You have to remember that all their buses were bringing people north from Ft. Lauderdale to Port C, the airport and to the resorts. It's at least a 3 hour trip up 95 to Port C, probably longer to Orlando. People got off the boat around 9 am so there was no way they could make the trip north before 1 pm. Then it's another four hours back which brings you to at least 5 o'clock.

I am sorry your bus broke down. That sounds like a nightmare. Maybe they were hurried into getting you on a bus and took what they could first get their hands on? I find it hard to believe there was no A/C though. I thought everything in Fl had A/C.

What kind of bus did they send to pick you up (after you broke down)? At least you weren't on the bus that caught on fire... that would really suck.

Where there cast members standing around with radios in contact with each other?

 

[Uferlives]

Another bus caught on fire? Hadn't heard that one. But again, if the reason they didn't have enough buses is because they had some coming back from Ft. Lauderdale, how could they not know that? I mean, this is simple math, right? They knew EXACTLY how many people they had waiting for buses at POR because they put us up there the night before. Let's say, hypothetically, they had 345 people at POR. Let's further assume each bus can hold 50 passengers. You would need 7 buses, right? You either have them, or you don't. It's simple math. Just wish they had told us and been up front about not having enough buses. All the CMs at POR handling this were VERY evasive ("your bus is coming . . . it's just a few minutes away, etc.") . All I expected was a little honesty and common sense. If you don't have enough buses DCL, so be it, but please TELL US so that we can at least make an informed decision. If you're going to put us on a bus with no toilets and no AC-- if that is you're plan, just TELL US!!! Let us make an informed decision. That is my biggest single complaint. And by hiding the ball on us, they really did put their customers in harm's way. It was VERY unsafe on the shoulder of the turnpike, and they, and we, were lucky that nothing seriously bad happened.

 

[allears]

Uferlives, of course that sounds like a horrible, exasperating experience. No one would deny that. The frustration of miscommunications etc..

But you know what, most of the complaining that has been done has been utterly over the top. Sure the situation sucked, and great you recognized that it wasn't Disney's fault that there was a hurricane. But like TVguy said, you were in a state that was literally a disaster area! No gas, roads a mess, work forces reduced do to people having homes destroyed or people who left the state during mandetory evacuations. Yet everyone thinks that DCL should have been able to make it almost business as usual.

I don't think anyone was trying to mislead or deceive or hide this ball you keep talking about. Yes, I am sure communications were a mess. This department is trying to get things for these other ten deparments and things get promised that were promised to another area. Add to this the fact that most if not all of the Disney resorts were full with evacuees and stranded vacationers, the fact that both Disney ships had people of load and many that were scheduled for the Wonder were going on the Magic and they weren't in their home port.

I don't need to do any math to know that DCL doesn't have enough busses for this kind of situation. I would expect that they were trying to pull resources from whereever they could. Again with limited staffing and still needing to provide transportation around the Disnye World complex.

And once again shame on them for not picking a safer place to break down. Or not cancelling the cruise all together. But I bet we would hear just as much complaining and triple guessing the decisions Disney made if that were the case.

I think it is perfectly valid to be upset and disappointed. What is getting tiring on the boards is the tone that comes through many of these posts is that DCL should have been able to pretty much meet everyone's expections despite being in the middle of a historical disaster.

I say write you letter, their are definitley lessons to be learned. But step back take a breath and make sure your reasonable. Think about the crisis situaitons in your own work life. Did you handle everything perfectly? Did you get all the latest greatest information you needed? Did management make all the right decsions? Disney may be in the business of making dreams come true, but they are still run by real people in a real world.

 

[Mom2Belle&PeterPan]

OK, I've been "quiet" through all this hurricane time as I see both sides of the coin, but I have to "speak" now. I love DCL and all Disney and we prayed and prayed for the residents in Florida first and foremost. Disney, however, should never have placed its passengers in the danger they did as described on the bus by Uferlives!!!!!!! If they are unable to provide services due to a disaster, CANCEL the cruise! Really sorry for all you cruisers had to go through. I appreciate your letters to DCL so that they may reflect and rectify their errors for future situations. I am very, very thankful that nobody on your bus became ill.

Barbara (mom to a son that is prone to heat dehydration, and would have gotten sick in such an environment)

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I agree with Barbara - What a terrible situation to be in - Any one who has young ones - knows how hard it is to keep children occupied and settled - To be stranded and trying to keep kids away from passing cars and swamp land must have been horrific -Then, then to have no bathroom?

If Florida was/and is in such disoray - then DCL and WDW would have known that and not put their passengers in harms way -

 

[gottaluvdisney]

Uferlives - what a horrible situation I will agree.
But we must step back and look at the total picture. I am sure the bus transportation that day was a logistical nightmare (much more than counting heads - I am sure after they counted heads and then counted buses--they thought 'holy crap'.) You have approx 5000 people coming from Port Everglades up to Orlando or Port Canaveral. That is about 100 buses. Then you have approx 2000 people from Orlando to Port Everglades on approx 40 buses. And that is accounting that the buses hold 50 people and go full. The conservative figure is that they needed 140 buses that day. I think DCL's fleet is approx 50 buses. So they had to get at least 90 additional buses and drivers. All this just at the same time they made the final decision, which I think was 2-3 days before the 9/7/04 sailing. That is A LOT of buses to hire a few days in advance.

as a side note--
Also think of the balance between work and personal. I am sure a lot of the cast members and bus drivers were just trying to keep themselves together while they worried about their own homes and how they were going to do repairs and hope to have their roof covered before another rain storm. I can't imagine working all day/every day and wondering when I will have the time to repair my roof or if my garage is going to colapse because of water damage. I have a friend in Orlando near the airport and she says it is like a blue tarp city. Almost every house has roof damage and that is what it is like all over Orlando and I am guessing all over Florida. So kudos to the cast members that continue to create the Disney magic even through the rough times.


In the end shpilkus's picture of his three children with their noses pushed against the glass of the bus window is what it is all about. How precious a moment caught on film.

There was a fire on a DCL bus but that was a few weeks prior going to Port Canaveral. All passengers were safe and put onto another bus.

 

[lookingforward]

I think that Disney should never have undertaken such a massive operation (port everglades, etc) if they did not have the logistics worked out BEFORE the attempt. It was shortsighted and dangerous to be carting around that many people in the midst of a pending weather emergency on buses that were not secure and equipped. The only positive spin Disney can get from all this is that hopefully they have learned from the confusion and will not repeat the problem.

Personally, if I was on a broken bus, on the side of the road, near alligators and traffic, in the heat with a hurricane on the way, I would have called 911. Seriously.

 

[westjones]

Wow! I have to admit, if we were part of this it would be our last cruise. This is terrible. I have a DD with asthma and she would have had trouble breathing in that heat for a long period of time.

I realize it was an unusual situation, but this sounds terrible for the passengers. I am so sorry you had to go through this.

DJ

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Originally posted by westjones
Wow! I have to admit, if we were part of this it would be our last cruise. This is terrible. I have a DD with asthma and she would have had trouble breathing in that heat for a long period of time.

I realize it was an unusual situation, but this sounds terrible for the passengers. I am so sorry you had to go through this.

DJ

Your worded it much better than I -

 

[Uferlives]

All due respect, I am tired of the Disney apologists. Disney blew it, big time. They put people, and children, in harm's way. And, unless you were there, you cannot judge just how awful and dangerous a situation it was. Three hours trapped on a bus, temperatures soaring inside the bus, humidity close to 100%, nowhere to go, no water, no relief, kids crying insolably, babies screaming. Look, this was no mere inconvenience we are talking about. What would you be saying AllEars if one of the older folks on the cruise had succumbed to heat stroke, or had a heart attack, of if a truck had struck the bus, or a child had wandered into harm's way. Would it all be OK because Disney, gosh darn it, tried their best? Before you say the complaining is over the top YOU sit down on that squalid bus with YOUR small children for three hours and THEN let's talk. I am also tired of people trying to excuse Disney's negligence because of the circumstances. I understand the difficulties associated with the hurricane. All I expected was some honest information from them. If what you say is true-- that they could not POSSIBLY have had enough buses given the circumstances, then why did no one tell us this plain and simple fact?!?! Further, you significantly overblow what the conditions were like in the aftermath. Gas was available all up and down I-75, as we drove down from Atlanta on Monday. Same for the turnpike. The roads were fine-- free and clear-- the weather was good (hot)-- so let's not let Disney use that as a crutch here. They owed these families an HONEST assessment of what they could and could not do. I would have had NO complaints had they cancelled, given the circumstances, or at least explained to me that they lacked sufficient buses to get us to Ft. Lauderdale, and explained our options. But they said not a darn thing. And the driver of our bus later disclosed that this same bus had broken down twice before that year. Inexcuseable. There needs to be some accountability here, not for making the mistake, but for failing to level with all of us and putting us in that situation. We didn't even learn the bus had no AC until we were captive on it. The driver said it would come on once we were underway, but obviously it never did. There was no DCL representative on the bus. Don't you think THAT would have been a good idea? When it broke down, the passengers were left to call the DCL hotline to save themselves-- and it took DOZENS of calls and three hours. Don't you think a manager from DCL should have gotten their little behind in their car and driven down to the stranded bus to take control of the situation the MINUTE the problem was called in? It's OK that they just let us ROT there with no assistance for THREE hours!? Please, take off the rose colored glasses! I wasn't asking for, nor expecting "business as usual." That would have been a short, easy trip into Port Canaveral and embarkation from the DCL terminal. I WAS expecting at least a basic level of safety from Disney. Again, what would you be saying had their been a serious injury or death? Would you chalk that up to over the top whining as well? I'm sorry to vent, but if I get this same kind of response from Disney I won't hesitate-- I'll sue them, and I'll win. I have 45 minutes of the most graphic video you can imagine. A dead alligator 30 yards from where our bus broke down. A poor CM on her honeymoon trying to go the bathroom behind a blanket who was overrun by biting red ants. People relieving themselves right next to the bus (nowhere else to go). Kids sobbing (my own 8-year-old son, lip quivering, tears welling, asking if were were going to be OK-- how's that for Disney magic); babies screaming. I am not disappointed-- I am flat out ANGRY, in case you could not tell.

 

[allears]

I think that Disney should never have undertaken such a massive operation (port everglades, etc) if they did not have the logistics worked out BEFORE the attempt. It was shortsighted and dangerous to be carting around that many people in the midst of a pending weather emergency on buses that were not secure and equipped. The only positive spin Disney can get from all this is that hopefully they have learned from the confusion and will not repeat the problem.

Do you all understand that there was no real time to make a lot of logistical plans? The ships were headed to PC to dock and then were informed the coast guard closed the port to all sea traffic. At that point, I don't think they say, hey we'll swing by Port Everglades. No, instead they have to find a port that can take the ships and isn't already filled with other displaced cruise ships. So where is the time to repostion and army of people and a feet of buses?

It seems like they tried to do the best they could for as many people as possible, and perhaps it was just too big a task. But a lot this unfolded second by second. With absolutely no way to do a lot of advance planning.

Would I hate being trapped on a swealtering bus on the highway? Sure. Did Disney intentionlly send the bus out knowing it would break down? No. I'm still surprised they could run busses consider there was no gas in much of the state. And as an aside, where did they get the supplies necessary to re-stock the ship, when stores were out of everything?

And before some of you jump on me because I wasn't there and don't know what it was like, I would ask you; were you in the various offices and command centes of DCL? Do you really know all of the factors they had to deal with? Were you responsible for making decisons that literally affected lives plus millions of dollars in revenues? And profitablity is a vital factor for any business. And for a cruise line with only two ships, this could have been a devesating blow that they might not have been able to recover from. Then we wouldn't have a DCL to complain about.

Get realistic about your gripes and complaints. By all means write to DCL, they need to hear all of the points of view, so that they can expand their disaster plans to address some of these situations in the future. But also know, each situation brings it's own factors and unique challenges so that every detail can not be planned for.

 

[Uferlives]

GottaLuvDisney: Your point is essentially that this was virtually impossible for DCL to work out logistically. Quite simply then, to the point made by other posters, then they should never have attempted it, right? It's not like anyone HAD to cruise. Disappointment is a lot easier to take than danger or death. It's not like this was D-day, for goodness' sake! It's ENTERTAINMENT, not warfare. If you can't do it, and do it SAFELY, THEN DON'T DO IT! That should be their golden rule, shouldn't it? I expect Disney to entertain me safely! If a safety alarm on the Tower of Terror or Rockin' Roller Coaster panel lit up, they wouldn't send the ride off anyway, would they? Lookingforward nailed it.

 

[Uferlives]

Allears, did you really mean this:

_____________

Were you responsible for making decisons that literally affected lives plus millions of dollars in revenues? And profitablity is a vital factor for any business. And for a cruise line with only two ships, this could have been a devesating blow that they might not have been able to recover from.
________________

I'll give you a chance to retract that statement. So they HAD to go forward with the cruise, come Hell or high water (pun intended), in order to protect their sacred revenue? THAT justifies their terrible decision-making and their lack of honesty with their loyal customers. THAT justifies putting my family in harm's way? So it would have been OK if one of my 70 year-old parents had died on the bus from heat stroke or a heart attack, so long as DCL remained financially viable? It would have been OK if a small child had been hit by a passing truck, so long as Disney turned a buck? Are you sure you want to defend that turf?

Sad thing is, I think you hit the nail RIGHT on the head. Someone in the Disney brass gave the order to proceed for the sake of the almighty dollar. What a sad indictment that is of Disney. Walt would be spinning in his cryogenic chamber if he only knew.

 

[allears]

I'll leave my rose colored glasses right where they are thank you!