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

[sweetpee_1993]

Ok, reading through this thread I think I opened about a dozen posts to respond to, so instead I'm going to try to sum it all up in one without quoting.

First, to the OP, I honestly don't think you have anything to fear cruising with DCL after this past weekend. DCL is dealing with enormous backlash and bad PR due to the choices made to sail both ships into the storm, and it's only getting worse. I honestly believe they will learn a tough lesson from this and err on the side of extreme caution from here on out.

To all those who have had kind words and support for the passengers on the Fantasy and Dream, a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU. I was on the Dream, and I have followed the threads and seen the nastiness that caused the Fantasy thread to be closed. It's great to finally see posts from others (not on the ships) understanding our position. What we experienced WAS avoidable.

Most of us left the DIS for a closed group elsewhere to avoid the nastiness, and there we have been able to process and come to the conclusion that the one thing we want the most from DCL, we will most likely never receive - an acknowledgement that yes, it was avoidable, and they made a mistake.

And we fully understand why we will most likely never receive that - because an acceptance of responsibility would be an acceptance of liability.

But are you going to cruise with Disney again? That's what the thread was about. Just curious if your experience influenced your plans for future cruising possibilities.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Um, whatever the passengers of the ships went thru, assigning blame, whatever is not what this thread is about. The OP asked if anyone was reconsidering their future cruises based on what they've read from the cruises affected by Sandy. Shouldn't we stay on topic? Why bring the conversion from a closed thread here? This thread will end up closed, too. The OPs question was a good one. Lets keep it on topic, y'all.

 

[Silverfox97]

Why bring the conversion from a closed thread here? This thread will end up closed, too.

I was thinking this same thing; the thread is going to end up closed too

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DarthTod]

To the OP's topic: I have my first pleasure cruise reserved through DCL in a few months. Am I reconsidering that in light of one night of bad weather at sea? Absolutely not. I am as excited as ever, and the date can't get here soon enough. It hasn't dissuaded by my DW either, and she's not even a big fan of being on the water. My only consideration for whether or not to sail in Hurricane season is schedule disruption, not sea state or safety aboard the ship in a little weather. I have every faith that the ship is well designed and built, and is captained by someone with lots of experience on the sea.

 

[RoraBorieAlice]

I leave the day after tomorrow for my first cruise of any kind. I booked less then 16 days ago on an amazing friends& family fare. No way am I thinking of canceling!
I lived in New Hampshire for 21 years growing up. I lived in a small Ski Resort town. I have lived through blizzards and nor'easters and snow storms that have left us shoveling for days and days. I've been on planes that have taken 5 hours of sitting on board to be de iced because once one side is done, the other side is iced over and so on. Clapping when landing in Florida on December 23rd because of a bad flight from Boston is a wonderful feeling!

I have lived in Florida for the past 12 years. I have been in three hurricanes and multiple other kinds of storms. I've Flown all of my life. Driven all over the country and taken trains as well to travel. I think in ever aspect of travel and life, SOMETHING can go wrong. If we live under that kind of fear, then none of us would leave the house for any adventures or even to go get groceries.

I am so sorry for friends and people who went thru Sandy while on board or on land. It stinks and I wouldnt ever diminish their experiences.

I wont live in fear. I can't subscribe to that kind of thinking. You have to LIVE! I am SO looking forward to my first cruise. I plan on living ti to the fullest because, who knows what can happen. I wont FEAR what happens because that isnt how I want to live

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I leave the day after tomorrow for my first cruise of any kind. I booked less then 16 days ago on an amazing friends& family fare. No way am I thinking of canceling!
I lived in New Hampshire for 21 years growing up. I lived in a small Ski Resort town. I have lived through blizzards and nor'easters and snow storms that have left us shoveling for days and days. I've been on planes that have taken 5 hours of sitting on board to be de iced because once one side is done, the other side is iced over and so on. Clapping when landing in Florida on December 23rd because of a bad flight from Boston is a wonderful feeling!

I have lived in Florida for the past 12 years. I have been in three hurricanes and multiple other kinds of storms. I've Flown all of my life. Driven all over the country and taken trains as well to travel. I think in ever aspect of travel and life, SOMETHING can go wrong. If we live under that kind of fear, then none of us would leave the house for any adventures or even to go get groceries.

I am so sorry for friends and people who went thru Sandy while on board or on land. It stinks and I wouldnt ever diminish their experiences.

I wont live in fear. I can't subscribe to that kind of thinking. You have to LIVE! I am SO looking forward to my first cruise. I plan on living ti to the fullest because, who knows what can happen. I wont FEAR what happens because that isnt how I want to live

I am not sure it as simple as choosing not o live your life in fear. For whatever reason, people experience similar situations differently. On the Fantasy, some were terrified ans some were merely uncomfortable. If you know that you are likely to fall into the former category, than ANY cruise may not be right for you. -- Suzanne

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

But are you going to cruise with Disney again? That's what the thread was about. Just curious if your experience influenced your plans for future cruising possibilities.

My next cruise is on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas next February, and I have not even considered cancelling it. However, based on RCCL's handling of Sandy, my trust in them has not been shaken.

We already have two more DCL cruises scheduled for next year (the Dream cruise was number 5 for us) and, honestly, at this point I am not sure if we will keep or cancel them. My trust in DCL is extremely shaken right now, mostly due to their continued refusal to accept responsibility by admitting an error in judgment was made, thereby giving us needed reassurance that it will not happen again.

So to answer your question, at this point I guess only time will tell.

 

[keaster]

We already have two more DCL cruises scheduled for next year (the Dream cruise was number 5 for us) and, honestly, at this point I am not sure if we will keep or cancel them. My trust in DCL is extremely shaken right now, mostly due to their continued refusal to accept responsibility by admitting an error in judgment was made, thereby giving us needed reassurance that it will not happen again.
So to answer your question, at this point I guess only time will tell.

There in lies the conundrum for DCL. I can't see them admitting to an error in judgment as that would open up the flood gates to liability and litigation.

 

[argomANIA]

The recent events have not changed my mind about cruising. You see car accidents on the road all the time. Do you stop driving?

Can't wait to book my 2014 when the dates come out

 

[NancyIL]

The recent events have not changed my mind about cruising. You see car accidents on the road all the time. Do you stop driving?

Can't wait to book my 2014 when the dates come out

There's quite a difference between seeing or reading about something and experiencing it. I would expect to feel differently about driving/flying/cruising, etc. after any close call.

 

[mkmommy]

My next cruise is on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas next February, and I have not even considered cancelling it. However, based on RCCL's handling of Sandy, my trust in them has not been shaken.



So to answer your question, at this point I guess only time will tell.

You might want to go to cruisecritic under Royal Caribbean, threads about the Explorer to Bermuda, lots of unhappy people on that cruise saying the same type of things.

We will continue to cruise

 

[ilovetexas]

I will say I don't feel as bad for anyone who was on the Dream or Fantasy right now. After hearing about all the stuff here in NJ and NYC a really bad night on a ship seems like heaven

As caring human beings, we shouldn't minimize someone's horrific experience just because someone else is going through something horrible as well. Everyone with an ounce of human compassion feels awful for the people in the NE that have been impacted by this storm but that shouldn't keep us from feeling awful for the frightened people on the ship that night who were scared, confused and reassuring crying children that they weren't going to die.

There's no reason to compare the two experiences; I haven't read ONE passenger, either here or on Cruise Critic, compare their experience on the ship to the experience in the NE. IMO, it's completely inappropriate to assign levels of value to other people's experiences.

 

[iloverags2]

My next cruise is on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas next February, and I have not even considered cancelling it. However, based on RCCL's handling of Sandy, my trust in them has not been shaken.

We already have two more DCL cruises scheduled for next year (the Dream cruise was number 5 for us) and, honestly, at this point I am not sure if we will keep or cancel them. My trust in DCL is extremely shaken right now, mostly due to their continued refusal to accept responsibility by admitting an error in judgment was made, thereby giving us needed reassurance that it will not happen again.

So to answer your question, at this point I guess only time will tell.

You obviously have not done much research on RCI ships that took on passengers before sailing out of NY Harbor. Explorer sustained blown out windows in the Windjammer, and the seas were quite rough. Given that folks feel DCL should not have put passengers at risk, then it would seem reasonable to say RCI should not have allowed passengers to board before heading out of the harbor.

Back to the OP's question (which I can't even remember now if I ever answered!), we will still sail DCL. Having only experienced tornados and tropical storms maybe I can't fathom what it would be like sailing on a ship going through a hurricane, but I trust DCL enough to get me somewhere safely.

 

[Niebz]

I will be cruising again even though I know I would have been miserable if I had been caught in this storm. I don't know if I would have feared for my life but I do know I would have gotten seasick because I have in much milder conditions than this. It sucked but I love cruising too much to let that stop me. My parents have been through a lot of terrible experiences and they never let it stop them from living life. They nearly died in a horrific rollover but they still drive. They got attacked by a bear in their tent while camping and again, nearly died, but they still go camping. Bad things like this are so rare, things go wrong, mistakes are made but I won't let it change my plans. It is unlikely that something like this will happen on my cruise. I'll likely be sticking to my decision not to cruise in hurricane season for various reasons but to avoid DCL altogether would take away a very happy part of my life for the very unlikely scenario that I might get seasick or terrified to the extent that people did on this cruise.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

You might want to go to cruisecritic under Royal Caribbean, threads about the Explorer to Bermuda, lots of unhappy people on that cruise saying the same type of things.

We will continue to cruise

Gee thanks for giving me doubt about RCCL now too!

Can you share some threads? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to share here - not sure if it's allowed?

What I have seen from and about RCCL is that cruises were rerouted, docked, or cancelled. All I've seen from folks on Explorer is that it was rough getting out and away from the storm, but from there all is well. I haven't seen anyone "saying the same type of things". Maybe I just haven't come across it yet?

 

[lbgraves]

I have had on and off power for the last few days due to Sandy so I know I missed a bunch of stuff going on in the world.

So, what is the huge backlash and negative PR that Disney is getting? I know about the closed Fantasy thread, and CNN Ireport (which is a not an actual news report but a personal report, correct?) and I know many people contacted DCL about what happened. But other than that what is the backlash? I have not seen anything on the news about this. Other than the people that were affected personally and the people on this board how many people would even really know about this to change their opinion of DCL?

Generally just curious if I missed some news coverage of the Dream/Fantasy and what happened on those two cruises that would lead to a mass of people changing their opinion of DCL.

MJ

MJ, I saw the ireport video on ABC nightly news. I can't remember which night, possibly Monday or Tuesday. They showed about half of it and stated that it was on Disney's Fantasy.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

You obviously have not done much research on RCI ships that took on passengers before sailing out of NY Harbor. Explorer sustained blown out windows in the Windjammer, and the seas were quite rough. Given that folks feel DCL should not have put passengers at risk, then it would seem reasonable to say RCI should not have allowed passengers to board before heading out of the harbor.

I didn't have any concern with DCL allowing passengers to board the Dream on Thursday, and at that time did not feel they were being put at risk, as DCL had already contacted all guests saying the itinerary was changed to avoid the storm and all would be kept away from it and safe.

The rocky night onboard the Dream Thursday into Friday while getting past the storm was completely expected, as - I would imagine - was the rocky night on the Explorer Sunday through Monday.

My lost trust in DCL at this point is not due to the cruise having sailed at all (lots of cruises go out with storms and changed itineraries to avoid them), but rather due to the ship being turned around and sailed back into the storm after she was already clear of it.

 

[carpenta]

I doubt that the captain "cleared" the storm then turned around to sail back through it...that would be insane to do that.....Since I am not an international sea captain nor a first officer I tend to believe that the ship is in good capable hands. If anyone knows anything about sailing on a large body of water is that weather can change in an instant and although we have the latest technology it cannot see the future or predict what a storm will do exactly. But as some of those "survivors" (an insult to true survivors IMO) have posted that they know more than a mere experienced captain and crew. At least this "disaster" will turn some off to cruising so sweetpee and me can enjoy the ships without hysteria about weather. Ahhhh more room for me and my family...

 

[jahber]

We will definitely sail again! But then, I refused to cancel my birthday trip to NYC scheduled for 9/25/11, either. I had a very good trip (albeit different and much more somber than I had planned) and felt it was the safest time to travel, what with heightened awareness of safety. I imagine it will be the same with cruising for a while. Cruise companies will be extremely sensitive to this kind of situation for a while to come. I imagine Capt. Tom will never forget this sailing!

Fwiw, we were on the 10/28 Dream and it was so windy and cold we couldn't stand to be on our verandah much--but that's the risk we took in terms of timing. Capt. Henry warned us on day 1 that it would be a rocky ride because of Sandy and actually came on the intercom at least a couple more times to update us on the weather. It was rocky enough that first night that we had to use the hand rails in the hallways and watched the view in Enchanted Garden switch from sea to sky to sea to sky. The next day my 8yo daughter asked, "Will it be rocky again tonight like it was last night?" I put on my best reassuring mom voice to tell her no, things would be better tonight. Her response? "Oh, darn. I thought that was a lot of fun." Perspective!!! Now, of course this doesn't compare at all with Fantasy's experience, but there were obviously some concerned passengers on our cruise that Capt Henry was addressing.

All that said, the weather was too cold for this FL girl! That was the risk we took knowing a storm could blow in even at the tail end of hurricane season, but we will not be sailing quite so late in the year any more

 

[DMMarla07860]

I have had on and off power for the last few days due to Sandy so I know I missed a bunch of stuff going on in the world.

So, what is the huge backlash and negative PR that Disney is getting? I know about the closed Fantasy thread, and CNN Ireport (which is a not an actual news report but a personal report, correct?) and I know many people contacted DCL about what happened. But other than that what is the backlash? I have not seen anything on the news about this. Other than the people that were affected personally and the people on this board how many people would even really know about this to change their opinion of DCL?

Generally just curious if I missed some news coverage of the Dream/Fantasy and what happened on those two cruises that would lead to a mass of people changing their opinion of DCL.

MJ

You got power back jealous, our town police called today and said they are working on Andover area, so hopefully get it back soon. Been charging iPhone on generator and in car