Change of Itinerary???

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

We booked our land / sea package a year ago and are sailing on the wonder. Our package on land starts on 10/31/02 and then our cruise begins on 11/03/02 - 11/07/02. When we booked this cruise package we specifically booked the time with a day at sea..............well, another stateroom was booked by a member of my family (Florida residents) for the same dates (cruise only) and they have a stop in Freeport. They are on the same ship as us - but which reservation is correct??? Where can I find this information??? Did DCL change the port itinerary?

Please let me know if you have any information OR if this has happened to you.

TIA,
Lisa

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Here's the official list from DCL: http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...egroupingindex?id=FourNightBahamasRatesGrping

Notice that, "Dates in red denote 4-Night Cruises that include a stop in Freeport, The Bahamas, rather than a day at sea." Based on that, no 4-night Disney Wonder cruises after the 8/11/02 cruise include Freeport.

 

[jel0511]

I'm booked on the same cruise, so hopefully we'll run into each other!!! I'm also under the assumption that there is a day at sea. I haven't been told any differently, and according to the Disney Cruise brochure, there are no stops in Freeport after August. I'd be interested to know this as well!!!

 

[atigeg]

The DCL web site still has the last Freeport cruise on 8/11/2002.

Dates in Bold denote 4-Night Cruises that include a stop in Freeport, The Bahamas, rather than a day at sea.

Dates for 4-Night Bahamian Cruise
2002
July 7, <b>14</b>, 21, <b>28</b>
August 4, <b>11</b>, 18, 25
September 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
October 6, 13, 20, 27
November 3, 10, 17, 24
December 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

going every other starting with 8/11, if DCL renewed the contracts to stop in Freeport, then your cruise would be a Freeport one. If this is true, I'm sad since our four day is 9/1 and that's a day sea cruise.

You (or your TA) should call DCL to get an answer.

 

[Michelle]

Actually, word is that Freeport WILL continue past August now, so the new itinerary is probably correct. You can contact DCL to be sure.

 

[jel0511]

I just heard back from my TA and the Nov 3rd cruise does stop in Freeport. BUMMER!!! I really wanted the day at sea to enjoy the boat, but maybe I'll just stay on and it will be less crowded!!!!

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

See now - things like this are just not fair!! We specifically booked a cruise with a day at sea and now they add another port. If I wanted to go to Freeport I would have booked that cruise!!! This REALLY upsets the whole group of us that are going (25 people - 9 staterooms)!! Why does DCL do this? Anyway, I guess we will just have to get over it, but it does change my view of DCL!! Anyone else aggravated over this?

 

["Ginger"]

I am surprised that DCL has not called you about the change of itinerary. We booked our Oct 26, 2002 cruise in Nov of 2000 before any talks of the new Western itinerary. DCL called us and asked if you would like to change our sailing date to an Eastern cruise.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by "Ginger"

I am surprised that DCL has not called you about the change of itinerary.

DCL seems to be leaving some room for improvement in this area lately. Another DISer was bumped off a Magic cruise next September because the Magic was scheduled for dry-dock maintenance. This DISer didn't realize her cruise was canceled until she noticed that her cruise fare had been refunded to her checking account and she had to call DCL to find out why.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I guess Sept 22nd will stop in Freeport too. I'm not upset about it though....we'll either go into Freeport or we'll pretend it's a day at sea.

 

[vicnmickey]

On the DCL link there is no red marked dates for 2003. Are they not doing Freeport in 2003. I was told May 4th-8th was a day at sea, just trying to figure this out. Any help is much appreciated. Sorry to all of you that lost your day at sea. DCL should make things more clear:>

 

[scottie]

Is it confimred that the Sept. 22nd sailing will make a stop in Freeport now??
Hmm should make for more planning now if thats the case= more time on DIS

 

[scottie]

Answered my own question....just got off the phone with DCL...Sept 22nd will be making a stop in Freeport now too!

 

[Diz-Me]

For all of you upset about 'losing' your day at sea due to the Freeport stop this may be a blessing disguise! On our first DCL cruise in April 2000 we had a day at sea and couldn't believe how crowded the ship seemed. We were unable to get lounge chairs anywhere near the pools.

On our second 4 day cruise we did have the Freeport stop. We took the snorkeling excursion that left the ship at about 8:30 and returned at about 12:30. <font color=blue>We were surprised at how good the snorkeling was - better than we have done on Nassau, Cozumel, Bermuda and much better that CC.</font color> And we were back on the ship so early that we still had the whole afternoon to enjoy on a slightly less crowded ship.

I have been to both Nassau and Freeport several times and <font color=red>personally I find Freeport to be much nicer than Nassau</font color>. If I were going to get off ship on only one of the islands I would definitely pick Freeport! Port Lucaya is quite lovely and I believe Disney offers a beach excursion there.

The only problem about Freeport is that you must take a taxi or bus to go anywhere. The ship docks in a commercial shipping area.

 

[Disney Dreamer]

This same thing happened to me in January. I had booked this
cruise so that we would have a day at sea. I received a letter from DCL say "We are please to announce the addition of the Freeport stop to your cruise!" I was not at all "pleased". I called DCL and there was nothing they could do. I had already booked my air so I just had to accept it. As it turns out, we had the best day in Freeport. My son and I did the early dolphin swim and were back on the ship by about 1:00. The ship docks in an industrial area of the island and needless to say, it is not very pretty. But, if you take a taxi to the other side of the island it is beautiful. We were in the Lucayan (sp?) area and it was very clean and the locals were friendly. DS and I shopped for a while after the dolphin swim and decided to go get the rest of the family. When we got back to the ship, they were all having fun and didn't want to leave! The ship wasn't very crouded and they had found some chairs by the pool and were relaxing.

I do know how you feel. I was really mad myself. I think DCL should handle these situations better. They should tell you up front that this particular cruise could have a Freeport stop instead of a day at sea. I know they have the verbage that states they can change the itinerary, yada yada yada, but, most people don't know about their contract with Freeport so they should be told when booking their cruise.

I'm sorry for your dissapointment. Have fun and don't worry.

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

I have been on the DCL before (3 day Magic in 1998) and we really wanted to book another cruise having a day at sea. We had no time to go in the stores (beacuse they are only open while at sea) and we didn't have time to enjoy the open ocean and enjoy cruising (they were having a Coast Guard inspection while we were o the ship) Anyway, 7 of the staterooms booked have a verandah and we really wanted to get our money's worth and use them during the day at sea. We may reconsider and change our reservations and get a porthole instead since we really won't be using the verandah. You wake up and you are in port - no need to sit out on your verandah looking at other people when you can spend some time looking at the beautiful ocean while sailing.

I completely understand DCL has the right to change their ports of call at their discretion and that is fine with me when it comes to them diverting because of a storm, but when people actually book a cruise they should expect they are getting what they paid for. If they told me this ship MAY stop in Freeport, then I would have known that before hand and based my decision on that before I booked. I guess we will just have to grin and bear it!! Who knows, maybe we will rally love Freeport.

Thanks for the different point of view!!

Lisa