Day at Sea boiling hot since ship just parked at sea - 4-Night Bahamian from Port Canaveral

[KevinFL]

Just got off the Dream 4-night. Not exactly what you picture when you think of a day at sea CRUISING. The ship was idle not moving until around 11am and then went at a snails pace barely moving after 11am. This created no breeze which you normally get from real cruising so the deck was extremely hot with stagnant air. This was not the experience that we paid for. It was extremely hot with no air so felt like a concrete jungle floating on the water. We spent a lot of money for a suite to enjoy the balcony on the day at sea. Not sure if this is a recent change by DCL. They should take a longer arch in the route home or go in some figure-eights so they can have speed with some breeze. Like getting on a roller coaster just to sit their parked in the heat or telling someone you are going for a drive and sitting in the car parked in the boiling heat. This was not cruising and I will never do this 4-night with DCL again.

 

[tvguy]

A lot of us take a cruise in that region FOR the warm weather.

 

[vrneuroh]

I am sure it was done purely to save fuel. If DCL can save a few bucks when they have a day at sea for short cruises, they will opt for it. It is also possible they chose to do some engine maintenance, which took some engines out of commission a bit, but hard to say.

 

[Engineman02]

Just wondering if the ship was actually at a crawl, or traveling with the wind, making it seem like there was no wind due to the relative velocities of the wind and ship.

Also, as mentioned, they may have slowed to save fuel (as it is a business), or for some perceived passenger comfort, reducing the wind across the deck so everyone's stuff isnt blowing around.

 

[belle032]

I remember we took a 5 night Bahamas cruise out of Charleston and all day on embarkation day it POURED. We were like "it's fine, we'll be out of it in the morning." Woke up and it was still pouring rain with no end in sight. Finally looked at the map and we were barely to Orlando. We just traveled with the rain. We could have driven faster. We still joke about it to this day!

These 3-5 night cruises just really don't have far to go most of the time. They're in no hurry. Fuel is another issue. They aren't going to be out there driving in circles if they don't have to be. Unfortunately I don't think providing an "acceptable" breeze for a guest is going to outweigh the cost of fuel.

At least you know those sailings aren't for you going forward.

 

[jeffporfirio]

These 3-5 night cruises just really don't have far to go most of the time. They're in no hurry. Fuel is another issue. They aren't going to be out there driving in circles if they don't have to be. Unfortunately I don't think providing an "acceptable" breeze for a guest is going to outweigh the cost of fuel.

At least you know those sailings aren't for you going forward.

This exactly. 3-5 day cruises are short, if going full/cruising speed so passenger can get a "breeze" they would be 2 day cruises.

Summer in the Caribbean, who knew it would be hot.

 

[mmouse37]

This is not new and certainly they will be trying to save fuel nowadays. Honestly, I understand your frustration but don't find that a valid complaint. It has as much to do with the wind or lack there of from mother nature as from Disney. Our 5 night cruise was the same way...heck even on our 10 day Hawaii cruise recently there were times we were almost at a stand still between islands.

That is just the way it is. No one can guarantee a breeze all the time.

MJ

 

[MakiraMarlena]

This is the first time I've seen anyone expect the ship to burn fuel in order to do something about the outside climate because it's too hot to sit on a balcony in the Caribbean.

 

[brentm77]

This is the first time I've seen anyone expect the ship to burn fuel in order to do something about the outside climate because it's too hot to sit on a balcony in the Caribbean.

Exactly. It seems a little backwards to me. Move a 130K ton fuel-hungry ship for the sole purpose of generating a breeze for the comfort of passengers?

It seems the more reasonable solution is for passengers to enjoy the AC inside at the hottest part of the day, a dip in the pool, the shade of an umbrella, fan themselves while on the verandah, or, I don't know, not cruise near the equator near the start of summer if you don't like heat? It's never even crossed my mind that paying for a day at sea meant a day with the ship moving at a certain pace. It only means a day not at a port, which is exactly what OP received.

 

[JohnGaston]

Fuel I am sure. Everyone is feeling the pain.

 

[juxtapose]

I mean it’s June in FL/Bahamas. It’s going to be hot. We went on the 4 day the week before you and we barely moved sea day but it didn’t bother us. No wind was nice and it was warm (way cooler than Orlando a few days later though), but we just got in the water if it was too hot.

 

[princesscinderella]

We had the opposite problem on our fantasy eastern in April where it was so windy on deck that they had to close the upper deck and we couldn’t enjoy satellite falls for two sea days and it was rocky seas. If the interior spaces were really hot then you have something to complain about but the ship can’t control Mother Nature.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I noticed the same on our recent Dream cruise. We often sail out of Galveston, and on that last sea day, they are hauling it to get back to port, and it makes a wonderful breeze. I was expecting similar on the Dream, but forgot they had such a short trip. The upside of that is it was a super-smooth sailing.

 

[cvjw]

We had the same issue last august when cruising resumed. Paid top dollar for B2B cruises in cabin 10658, in the aft with a giant balcony. Only for it to be so hot that we couldn’t even use the balcony. There was zero breeze back there and it was so sunny that the balcony was unusable.


We wished we had paid 1/2 price for a VGT and just rolled the dice.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We had the same experience on our recent Dream cruise (May 16-20). The ship was barely moving for most of the day (no wake at the bow and no churning of the water at the stern).

 

[DCLMP]

I am sure it was done purely to save fuel. If DCL can save a few bucks when they have a day at sea for short cruises, they will opt for it.

LOL. That’s what I was thinking. They are no different than the rest of us with current conditions.

 

[dwg]

Here is a link to a Royal Caribbean Blog explaining how fast cruise ships go and some of the reasons why they may go slow. Fuel conservation is just one reason. It certainly seems that what ever the reason it is practiced across the cruise industry.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/12/14/how-fast-do-cruise-ships-go

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

We had the opposite problem on our fantasy eastern in April where it was so windy on deck that they had to close the upper deck and we couldn’t enjoy satellite falls for two sea days and it was rocky seas. If the interior spaces were really hot then you have something to complain about but the ship can’t control Mother Nature.

Which one were you on? We did the eastern April 30th and two of the three sea days were not great weather but we had palo brunch one day, and we had the rainforest pass so just spent our time in there.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

That’s typical of any sea days that aren’t travel days between destinations I’ve always figured it was to ensure less motion on board so happier not as ‘wobbly’ guests.

 

[princesscinderella]

Which one were you on? We did the eastern April 30th and two of the three sea days were not great weather but we had palo brunch one day, and we had the rainforest pass so just spent our time in there.

We were on the April 16th sailing