Here's our experience:
We sailed on the now infamous 2004 Magic cruise -- the first ever
Disney cruise to become a 10-day and first ever Disney stop in Galveston. Hurricane Francis was coming and Disney got us out of port and to CC so we could get out of the area in time. We missed Key West and headed straight for our western Caribbean itinerary.
The first 7-days were a fine normal cruise without a hitch and smooth seas. But what happened was Disney got word that PC was in the heart of the storm (some parking lots were swamped) and we could not return there and would have to extend the cruise a day or two. Well, we were quite stunned at the reaction of some of the passengers. Hysteria doesn't begin to describe some of the scenes we saw. And most of it was based around the fact that their kids would be missing the first day of school (this was over Labor Day weekend and our return date was that Saturday).
So we stayed out at sea the next day, and this was the only time in 15 cruises that while out at sea, we saw more than a dozen other cruise ships puttering around waiting to find out where they could go. Never seen that many ships around us at one time.
Disney made an announcement that they would be stopping at Galveston the next day to stock up on supplies, and had gotten permission to allow passengers to leave the ship for the day. This was awesome since many had "cabin fever" and were stressing. We loved Galveston and the welcome was amazing. Because they had never had a Disney ship before, we were told that the Mayor called all the ship owners and everyone in town to be ready for our arrival. The marching band was there to greet us, as well as dignitaries and all the store owners were open and ready! It was just lovely. However, Disney had also made an announcement the night before our arrival that they were providing transportation to anyone who wanted to go to the Houston airport and try to get a flight home since Disney did not know how much longer it would be before we could return to Florida. Disney announced that once at the airport, you would be on your own though for flight connections, etc. Since so many people were trying to get out of the surrounding areas, we found out later that the airport was swamped and many ended up sleeping at the airport overnight anyway.
And more mass hysteria when that announcement was made -- we saw grown women on the floor crying about what to do, we saw men yelling about "why did you give us this alternative -- now we don't know whether to chance it", etc. etc. We stood in the atrium in amazement at some of the behavior we were seeing -- especially because we were safe and dry -- but I don't think it would have been so bad if it weren't that the time was so close to school openings for many.
Seeing the mass panic about "what to do, what to do", my DH said it was a no brainer -- stay on the ship because we knew Disney would take care of us and we were safe and had a place to sleep and food to eat. The next day, Labor Day, Disney announced that we would not be able to return to PC at all and had to dock at Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale. They asked for everyone's flight info, whether booked through Disney or not, and they worked with the airlines to reschedule everyone's flights for that Wednesday. The Magic docked at the port on Tuesday and told us we were allowed to stay onboard overnight and that buses would take us back to Orlando airport for our flights on Wednesday. We got to dock bow to bow with the Wonder and they had a ship's horn sound off which was amazing and everyone on both ships were cheering. Only time we have ever been docked with another Disney ship.
The next morning we all disembarked and headed for our assigned buses. Unfortunately, our particular bus had a very inconsiderate family who, when we stopped for a very quick rest stop for bathroom only, they decided to go to Burger King and buy mounds of food -- keeping us all waiting. As a result, our bus didn't make it to the airport for us to catch our flight! But Disney reps were waiting and put us all up at Dixie Landings for the night and gave us food vouchers and free Meers transport the next day (this was before Magic Express). The damage at the resorts was extensive -- trees down and tree branches in the pools, debris everywhere, etc.
My daughter ended up missing the first two days of school and we missed there extra days of work -- but the care and consideration we were given were top notch.
But let me end by adding a fabulous fact that I love to tell others. One of the teacher's at my daughter's school was in the same situation, but on RCCL. She told horror stories about how they were not only running out of breakfast foods, ice, drinks, but also running out of clean towels because for some reason they couldn't do laundry. When Disney stopped at Galveston to "stock up", we found out they had also arranged to fly in more entertainment from L.A. We ended up with two new entertainment acts for the next two nights!
We also sailed on the Magic through PC and sailed through Hurricane Hillary in 2005 -- but that's another story LOL
