Aug 14 Magic - Charley and All

skyhawk

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 26, 2004
WOW - Have I alot to say!! Went on the August 14th Western. If you remember, Hurricane Charley hit Florida on the 13th. DOn't have time (or energy) to go into details now, but I'm sure this cruise will be talked about alot on the Boards. Many of the guests didn't make it on board - some came late in Key West - some not at all. Itinerary changes because of several hurricanes and tropical depressions in the area. Ended up being Key West, Cozumel, Nassau, and Castaway Cay. Anyway - things were messed up at the start, and stressful with the itinerary change because of excursions, and changed 'at sea' days. Still - Disney ended up working it's magic. It was a wondereful trip, weather was great as the Captain did his best to avoid the bad stuff. New menus, new theme night, etc. When I get up more energy, I'll come back with some details.
 
hope you energise real soon, would love to hear all about your cruise.
 
I was on the same cruise and also can't wait til I have the chance to do a cruise report, or at least give more details. (I'm SO tired right now, and think I'll head off to bed). For our first cruise, it was one we truly will never forget. I regret though that I didn't get to meet you or any others from the DIS board. We had an informal meet set up for after the safety drill, but everything got screwed up because of the late embarkation, etc.

More later.........................:)
 
Welcome back, Aug 14th cruisers!!

I'm glad you had a great cruise despite the changes in itinerary and the weather.

Can't wait to hear some details! :)
 


I kept wondering about this cruise.

We were in WDW during it all, and I kept thinking about all
the people that probably didn't make it due to flights.

How awful.....


Karen
 
I hope whoever couldn't make it on to the cruise on Aug. 14th had travel insurance. I can't imagine how frazzled a lot of people must have been that day trying to get to Port Canaveral. We were returning on the Magic that morning and had quite a few frazzled people trying to disembark in time to make their flights home. A lot of flights were cancelled until Tuesday. Some folks rented cars to either get home or to drive to other airports. Our DCL bus didn't hit the road until 12:30 PM that day.

The Captain did an amazing job of making sure we didn't feel any effects of the hurricane.

What time did you all leave that afternoon?
 
I can tell you one thing, I would have given anything to have been on that cruise rather than riding out the hurrican here in Naples closed up in my house and then cleaning up the mess afterwards in 100 degree heat without AC and electricity!
 


cjsmith,

Wow! I'm so sorry you are going through such a tough time because of the hurricane. Hope things will get back to normal for you real soon.
 
We were also on the cruise, had a great time but really regret the changes. Had planned for 6 months to do the dune buggy tour and had to cancel because we were not in Cozumel on Wednesday and left too early on Tuesday to reschedule. Waiting to see if I get my money back, did call from ship as soon as the ships plans changed. Also was not happy changing GC for the Bahamas, but still glad to have been able to get on the ship Saturday. The ship was like a ghost ship on Saturday, had our luggage put away and everything done by 3:00. I felt sorry for the people only getting on the ship Sunday evening at Key West.
 
I also did Aug 14. We left at 7:30 pm Saturday night, 2.5 hours later than usual to allow latecomers on board.

We didn't do Grand Cayman due to Earl. However, Earl was downgraded to Tropical Wave status by then, and had cleared GC Tuesday, so I'm puzzled as to why we didn't go to GC then.

That is, why not just switch days between GC and Cozumel?

Disney seems to have this fixation with Nassau which I don't understand. To me Nassau is not the best port, and since the 3 day and 4 day cruises go there the Captain's decision to send the 7 day to Nassau in effect 'devalued' the cruise.
 
Get over it. You already posted your complaint on one thread. Are we going to have to listen to it on every august 14th thread? Be glad that you were able to make the cruise. I'll bet there are a lot of people who would have gladly traded places with you.
 
I would have traded...any vacation is better than working! And something unexpected as always an adventure!
 
Yes, I guess Di$ney is beyond reproach or questioning. I should be thankful that they want to put as many ships into Nassau as frequently as they can. After all, its such a lovely spot. I'm sure there's a perfectly innoncent and reasonable explanation.

I forgot that Di$ney can do no wrong. I'll have to remember that when I read the posts about Di$ney bumping people out of their confirmed rooms even after having prepaid land/sea packages. :jester:
 
You're comparing apples and oranges. Disney is not perfect, but when it comes to safety issues, I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt Since I don't know much about maritime issues, I'm very happy to let the captain to make decisions about the safety of the ship and its passengers. Obviously you know so much more, otherwise you wouldn't be making such an big issue of it. I think you should have gone to the bridge and offered to help steer the ship through the choppy waters, since obviously, the captain wasn't qualified enough.
 
Originally posted by RJake1
Yes, I guess Di$ney is beyond reproach or questioning. I should be thankful that they want to put as many ships into Nassau as frequently as they can. After all, its such a lovely spot. I'm sure there's a perfectly innoncent and reasonable explanation.

I forgot that Di$ney can do no wrong. I'll have to remember that when I read the posts about Di$ney bumping people out of their confirmed rooms even after having prepaid land/sea packages. :jester:

I'm glad to hear that you have the expertise to second guess the captain of the ship. If you don't like the decision just don't cruise with Disney again. The safety of the passengers, crew and ship are the Captian's priority and if that means diverting to Nassau and you missing GC to bad!
 
Hi Monitors,

Can we stop this kind of bashing, going back and forth, and back and forth?

Thanks,
 
For what it's worth, MANY cruise ships, of ALL the cruise lines, end up missing Grand Cayman due to the water being too choppy to tender. My niece cruised on a Royal Caribbean ship and they couldn't dock at GC either. This is a regular occurance, and not just in hurricane season.

I realize it's a disappointment when ports get changed, but I'm sure there's no "ulterior motive" on DCL's part to get more cruise ships into Nassau.

P.S. We are cruising on the Magic THIS Saturday, and I will be happy just to make it onto the ship without bad weather keeping us from traveling. Of course I'm hoping to be able to visit the scheduled ports, but no one can predict the weather.

Anyone who cruises should know in advance that they may end up visiting NONE of the scheduled ports of call, due to weather or any other reason that the cruise line deems reasonable at the time. I have a feeling that a lot of cruisers aren't aware of this. I know it's in the small print, and no one thinks about it unless it happens to you on your cruise.
 
Hey, I started this thread a few days ago to talk about this unique cruise, not to be a complaint forum, or a bash session. Maybe we can get back to the original intent, which was to tell of our experiences.
 
I was on the 8/14 cruise. First of all, we all knew it was hurricane season. I felt terrible for all the people who got on late, had no luggage or didn't get on at all. Second, I was happy the captain changed course I have cruised in 20 foot waves and it is not fun!
As for the excursions, I got on line at 7:45 and there were 4 or 5 people in front of me, so I got to book them. I expected many more peole on line. We had a wonderful time on the boat. Flying to and from was another story.

I hope everyone got home safe.
 

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