Disney Dream 9/18 - first cruise after shutdown

[xiphoid76]

Now I know there is a high likelihood of this cruise being canceled, but I am hopeful. We have rescheduled twice already. Just tired of making arrangements, changing flights, etc. I would love if this cruise does set sail as it is now the first Disney ship to still be scheduled to go this year.

 

[T & R]

Now I know there is a high likelihood of this cruise being canceled, but I am hopeful. We have rescheduled twice already. Just tired of making arrangements, changing flights, etc. I would love if this cruise does set sail as it is now the first Disney ship to still be scheduled to go this year.

Well it's not bookable on the website. I would say it's a no go but from reading on other threads other people have already got their cancelation e-mails from DCL for the cruises from Jul 27-Sept 15. So why didn't the Disney Dream cruisers from 09/15-10/02 get an e-mail even though the cruises were taken off the website? So doing the most wishful of the wishfullest thinking, I'm going to go with they are reducing capacity, so they removed it from booking so there wouldn't be any additional bookings and fill up beyond what is already booked. I'm going to go with that for personal reasons.

 

[yowcruiser]

...and the Dream is tentatively scheduled for a dry dock in early October so it may not make sense to offer sailings for a 2 week period and take the ship offline... or maybe it does and it serves as a test to see if everything goes well - but doubtful. Bob Chapek said previously that DCL would be the last business to come back online and even though the US parks are scheduled to open in July, there are likely some very important changes that would have to be implemented onboard, with crew retraining, dining system changes, new technology and stuff. All that to say that even if cruises would be allowed to sail again in September, I'd doubt that DCL would be first off the gate. After all, they are restarting almost 6 weeks after Universal in Orlando...

 

[T & R]

there are likely some very important changes that would have to be implemented onboard, with crew retraining, dining system changes, new technology and stuff. All that to say that even if cruises would be allowed to sail again in September, I'd doubt that DCL would be first off the gate. After all, they are restarting almost 6 weeks after Universal in Orlando...

Yes, there will be changes and training needed which is why the cruise industry voluntarily shut down for almost an extra 2 months. Keep in mind, DCL could have legally started cruising on their scheduled 07/31 Dream cruise. The industry voluntarily pushed their start up to 09/15 to allow for extra time to work out all the things you described. So starting up on 09/18 wouldn't seem that unreasonable when you've padded yourself all that extra time to get ready.

 

[yowcruiser]

Yes, there will be changes and training needed which is why the cruise industry voluntarily shut down for almost an extra 2 months. Keep in mind, DCL could have legally started cruising on their scheduled 07/31 Dream cruise. The industry voluntarily pushed their start up to 09/15 to allow for extra time to work out all the things you described. So starting up on 09/18 wouldn't seem that unreasonable when you've padded yourself all that extra time to get ready.

Yes, all true - but I am sensing that Disney is very unwilling to take a chance here, unless they'd be 100% certain that things will be safe... they'd rather have Carnival and RCCL be the "guinea pigs" and have them get any bad press for resuming activities potentially too quick. I did attend some training provided by Disney very recently and to say that safety is the business value that trumps everything else would be an understatement... and bad PR would not be that far behind...

 

[LunaMini]

We are booked on the September 18th cruise. I have a gut instinct it will be cancelled due to the Dream heading to dry dock shortly afterwards. I have my fingers crossed though that it does sail as a ‘test run’ before the dry dock.
I was ready to pull the plug on the cruise yesterday but stood to lose my large deposit, so decided to ride it out and see what would happen. I was half expecting to wake up this morning and find the cancellation email in my inbox but it wasn’t there. I think I’m relieved but know it could all change again. This is an emotional rollercoaster!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think re-staffing for one or two cruises sounds like a great deal of bother.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Edit: delete- already posted elsewhere.

 

[The Sasquatch]

I think re-staffing for one or two cruises sounds like a great deal of bother.

didnt think of this! Kind of bummed because we are on the 10/2 dream. But how long was the scheduled dry dock? I wonder if that could get postponed. Wishful thinking

 

[T & R]

didnt think of this! Kind of bummed because we are on the 10/2 dream. But how long was the scheduled dry dock? I wonder if that could get postponed. Wishful thinking

I think there were 5 Dream cruises between 09/18 and 10/02 that are not showing on the DCL website but have not been officially cancelled. So it's still possible they could go because we're not talking about just one or two cruises but 5.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

I think there were 5 Dream cruises between 09/18 and 10/02 that are not showing on the DCL website but have not been officially cancelled. So it's still possible they could go because we're not talking about just one or two cruises but 5.

The Fantasy sailings for that period have been pulled from the site, too. I doubt they’ll sail, but I don’t think the dry dock has anything to do with it.

 

[DCLDVC1]

I think re-staffing for one or two cruises sounds like a great deal of bother.

I agree. It doesn't make any sense to bring back all of the CMs for a handful of half empty cruises just to stop a few weeks later for drydock.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I agree. It doesn't make any sense to bring back all of the CMs for a handful of half empty cruises just to stop a few weeks later for drydock.

It would be questionable in normal times. Adding in quarantine on arrival it becomes really doubtful.

 

[pclvnmcky88]

I’m on the September 29th sailing on the Fantasy. Is it possible they pulled them from the site because they were getting near their capacity for starting these cruise back up?

 

[T & R]

I’m on the September 29th sailing on the Fantasy. Is it possible they pulled them from the site because they were getting near their capacity for starting these cruise back up?

Although not likely, I'm clinging to that hope as well for ours. I know realistically the odds are against it but it's the only hope we have. The sorry part is we cannot even move it to next October because they won't release late 2021 itinerary. We normally do 7 nighters but the October dry dock this year really messed up the available 7 nighters for this October, so would really rather go next October when the 7 nighters are back to normal but nothing is available to book yet.

From the cancellation notices I read that people posted on here, they give you a few days until they automatically move your PIF cruise to an FFC "account". During those few days prior to the auto FFC, you can move your whole cancelled PIF cruise plus the extra 25% to a future cruise. If you don't do anything within the first few days, they auto move your cancelled cruise to an FFC "account", they then refund back your taxes and fees. I'd rather move the whole PIF amount plus FFC to a future cruise and not mess with the refunded taxes/fees portion but if they don't have late 2021 out, might have to go that route. Just want to avoid digging through hundreds of gift cards to find out which ones they credited the taxes and fees back to.

 

[DCLDVC1]

I’m on the September 29th sailing on the Fantasy. Is it possible they pulled them from the site because they were getting near their capacity for starting these cruise back up?

I think DCL pulled those cruises to eliminate people from booking them just to get the 125% FCC when they inevitably cancel.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

We are on the 9/19 Fantasy-

Personally I see it as a 80% odds of no sail, 20% Odds of sail as guinea pigs with a 25% full ship and by pulling the bookings means it won’t jump high with bloggers etc if they sail..

 

[Snowwhyt]

I think if you see TV advertising in July for Disney you’ll be going.

 

[pclvnmcky88]

After our 9 night Fantasy Cruise got cancelled we decided to book Carnival Horizon for 6 night on 8/2. My wife is a teacher but she decided she’d take a week off from school, (we start in July in our district). We found out our kids college decide to start on 8/12 now instead of 8/24 That means we would get back on 8/8 and have to drive up to northern Arizona to get them moved in on 8/9. It’s not a big deal for our son because he’s just moving into the fraternity house and is already established. Our daughter is starting her first year up there and still doesn’t even know when they’re opening up the dorms to move in there. So even if Carnival doesn’t cancel our cruise, we still may have to if daughter decides she wants to go to school earlier.

If Horizon gets cancelled, I’ve now booked Carnival Panorama for the first week in December. We wouldn’t normally be able to do a cruise then but the purpose of NAU starting early is so the semester ends at Thanksgiving. My wife said she could take that week off instead of August.

I’m bound and determined to get a cruise in this year!

We are on the 9/19 Fantasy-

Personally I see it as a 80% odds of no sail, 20% Odds of sail as guinea pigs with a 25% full ship and by pulling the bookings means it won’t jump high with bloggers etc if they sail..

I’m actually feeling pretty good about it because the suspension was voluntarily done by the cruise lines. I knew they would cancel at least August

I’m staying hopeful!

 

[dznyacct]

We had our first back to back booked for the Dream 9/18 and 9/21 sailings. This would also have completed our DCL Grand Slam. We were PIF, but I cancelled last week because we just aren't comfortable with all the unknowns right now. We're still trying to salvage the WDW portion of our trip, but we'll see if that still happens. We have rebooked our cruises for next May, so hopefully things will be a bit more normal by then.