Failed Docking at CC

[over50visits]

If you feel like there was a better way to handle the situation on the cruise line’s part, by all means, talk to a member of GS. Just don’t act like an effing lunatic.

Not sure what you mean by "feel there was a better way..." do you mean take time to go GS and tell them that the ship should have docked? Not sure that will accomplish anything.

But for the "don't act like a...lunatic" amen. On our PC cruise the weather at CC was too bad to dock, so we moved on (spent extra time in Aruba). It was so embarrassing to see the angry people at GS talking about how their cruise had been ruined, demanding compensation, questioning the judgement of the captain, etc. Hard to believe people could act like that. But we have seen a lot of things on cruises.

Weather happens. It is completely your choice as to how it affects your cruise. To me, every moment is precious, and I don't need to spend it in line so I can tell GS I'm disappointed the weather changed plans.

 

[insureman]

I actually started a poll in 2012 to see what month CC was missed. See link.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...miss-castaway-cay-due-to-the-weather.2854575/

 

[squirk]

Not sure what you mean by "feel there was a better way..." do you mean take time to go GS and tell them that the ship should have docked?

Of course not. No passenger has the knowledge, experience or current situational awareness to tell the captain he coulda-shoulda done “this” or “that”.

But if you feel like the communication to passengers was lacking on some level, or the ship wasn’t prepared with adequate contingency plans for an extra at-sea day, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with going to GS and expressing your dissatisfaction in a calm, courteous and respectful manner.

Again, just don’t be one of those crazy people who thinks that the cruise line must be at fault if your cruise doesn’t go 100% according to plan. No matter how hard you want to find someone to blame, sometimes no one is to blame.

 

[85glht]

Disney Cruise Line Blog on IG noted today that: "After three attempts to approach the pier, Captain Marco called off docking at Castaway Cay today."

Obviously, safety is paramount and I am certain not docking here was the prudent action. It's in Disney's best interest to have guests enjoy their experience at CC, so I am not in any way, shape, or form questioning the captain's decision.

My question, rather, is how many of you have had this experience where CC has not been a possibility due to weather (or other reason) during your cruise? How did you truly feel about it?

We have not had this experience in more than a half dozen Caribbean cruises, but I do think it would be very disappointing, particularly if this was your first time on DCL and you were really looking forward to CC (and you should be, btw - it's fantastic). I would think this would be true even if you were well aware it was the right decision. If you've been previously, then maybe it's not so disappointing, but if it's your first time there...well, it's typically a very anticipated portion of any Bahamian/Caribbean itinerary that has it scheduled.

Did it dampen your entire feeling about the trip? Was it inconsequential to you? Somewhere in the middle? How did DCL try to "make up" for the unexpected missed stop? How did you/your family adjust?

Have any of you ever cruised on DCL where CC was a part of the itinerary, but they knew before they left Port Canaveral that it would't happen, or is this always a day of decision? Have you ever felt like it might be the wrong decision?

We have experienced this.... it was windy and it was enough to cause havoc in getting the ship to the dock... we witnessed this too, so this decision was made right then and there... we were bummed out but safety is more important. The activities crew members scrambled to get a day at sea itinerary together to keep everyone entertained for the day. We made the best of it.

 

[Glenn3484]

They had to switch our days the other week, they flipped flopped our crusing day with cast away kay because of weather, i have to say, it was our familys favorite day. Knowing how much fun it is, we would be super disappointed if we couldn't go on future cruises, but safety first, we understand.

 

[BlueRibbon]

Michael Kay has a vlog about missing Castaway Cay this past winter at

It was terrible to watch. I'm a grown man with 5 kids and could feel his pain watching. It's no one's fault, and I wouldn't take it out on anyone, but as a stress eater, if I missed CC, I'd spend the entire day at Cabanas...

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Disappointing to miss, but mother nature and the sea make the call. We almost missed once, a long time ago, on our first cruise on the Wonder. But with some fine maneuvering by the captain, we made it- late, but we made it. I know the captain and the crew have the safety of the passengers and the ship at the foremost of their actions. My fingers are crossed to make the ports we are due to call upon, if not we will make the best of what is out of our control. Cruise on...

 

[jnsma]

Not necessarily. Looking at the chart in the thread I linked, it shows not much variation month to month:

Code: Month.....# of times scheduled to dock at port CC.....actual # of times docked at CC
Month Magic Wonder Total

Jan.....8-9.....8-8.....16-17
Feb.....5-5.....7-8.....12-13
Mar.....3-3.....5-5.......8-8
Apr......6-6.....7-7.....13-13
May.....7-7.....5-5.....12-12
Jun......5-5.....4-4.......9-9
Jul.......6-6.....3-3.......9-9
Aug......6-6.....4-4.....10-10
Sep......8-8.....7-8.....15-16
Oct......6-6....11-12...17-18
Nov.....4-4......6-6.....10-10
Dec.....5-5......4-4.......9-9

Thanks, interesting data.

I was also on this cruise. One thing I was told by a crew member was the channel was created for the Magic/Wonder and obviously the Dream class is bigger. I wonder if the Dream class has a significant different failure rate. I have no idea if the channel was widened for the Dream class.

I will say that the crew staff did a good job of added a number of different activities to keep everyone busy on the ship. It seeemed like they thought we'd make it and had to go to plan B very quickly when we wouldn't dock.

 

[ilovebassets]

This happened on our very first Disney cruise. (We have since done five more with four successful CC dockings. One cruise was to Alaska.) It was pretty disappointing. We could see the island pretty closely enough to see the beds all out on the beach, but just couldn't make it due to high winds. This was early March 2013. It was blue skies and sunny, too, which almost made it worse. But what can you do? The captain tried twice. They added more character greetings and activities around the ship.

The real problem was that it was an 8 night trip that already had four sea days and only three port days. So it went to five sea days and only two port days--Port Canaveral and a day at WDW and Key West where we had to be back on board very early in the afternoon (maybe as early as 1:30 or 2pm). And the weather just wasn't THAT warm, so hanging around the pool all day wasn't very comfortable. It was the only cruise of 12 that I've been on where I felt antsy for the trip just to be done. I'll never do that ratio of sea days to port days again, especially with young kids.

 

[Lolo579]

It happened to us on our first Disney Cruise in February 2015 (5 nights on the Wonder out of Miami). The Captain made multiple attempts, but the high winds were clearly going to push us into the dock. We were definitely disappointed since it was our only other port besides Grand Cayman, but we are logical people and accepted what we could not control. Not everyone handled it as well. It was especially tough getting close enough to see how beautiful the island looked, then having to pull away. But... they added lots of activities and movies and we had a nice day at sea. We have been on 6 more DCL cruises since, and have 2 more booked.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We had to skip CC because of Hurricane Sandy. Tried to out run the storm back to PC but didn't make it. What a ride we had from dinner and all through the night. Not the best idea to out run a hurricane that was growing in strength and size. Those paying for their cruise received a 25% voucher for a future cruise. DVC members were screwed.

Am I the only one who totally wouldn't mind this happening? I would gladly feel sea sick and gross my last day and night to get 25% off my next cruise. I assume we would have had a great 5 days previous and will make our next one more affordable, and you're still on a Disney Cruise! I've been through a hurricane on a cruise.

I would be pretty bummed if we missed CC. We do love it, but I also really love being on the ship so another sea day wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

 

[NYCMommy]

We've missed it once in 22 attempts. We had a bit of a unique situation as we were somewhat prepared.

The afternoon before the Captain made an announcement that we were going full speed ahead to try to get there before a front that was moving in. Then a bit later, we came to a stop. It turned out a "boat" (if you call it that) of Cubans was spotted nearby and we had to stay with them until the Coast Guard arrived. This took hours and as every minute ticked by we lost a little more hope of beating the front. Approximately 3:00/4:00 am we arrived at CC, and a few attempts were made to dock but before we knew it we were heading toward Nassau, where we ended up spending that next day.

Disney did nothing to make it up to us, not that we expected anything. This was out of their control. Of course it was disappointing, especially knowing how much we love it there, and it was going to be our first time running the CC 5K with the then "new" medals (CC specific, not the generic Mickey Winner medals). We made the most of the day and even ran a 5K on the ship on our own. We also found out we could still get the medals so that wasn't a total loss.

I guess the way to look at it is, yes, it stinks and feels like quite a loss, but you are still on a Disney Cruise. It can't be too bad.

We were on this cruise too! The disappointment of not going to CC was real, but the “story of the Cubans” has stuck with us more than anything that could have happened on CC. We didn’t even get off the boat in Nassau. Sometimes the things that go wrong often make the best memories (Gretchen Rubin)!

 

[lundve]

We’ve been in 8 Disney Cruises (one was a double dip) and have been successful 9/9 times.

Once, on the Dream the winds were higher and it took nearly an hour but we were able to dock.

Perhaps the most interesting was our first cruise in 2004, a 7 night Western, knowing the Hurricane Frances was possibly coming Captain (now Commodore) Tom has us go to Castaway on Day 2 instead at the end of the cruise. It was perfect and a great choice. Our 7 night turned into a 10 night and there was damage to both Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral. Definitely a memorable trip!!

 

[squirk]

Am I the only one who totally wouldn't mind this happening? I would gladly feel sea sick and gross my last day and night to get 25% off my next cruise. I assume we would have had a great 5 days previous and will make our next one more affordable, and you're still on a Disney Cruise! I've been through a hurricane on a cruise.

I would be pretty bummed if we missed CC. We do love it, but I also really love being on the ship so another sea day wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

^ This. I would miss not going to CC, but if it had to happen, then 25% off my next cruise would go a long way toward making up for it.

 

[starearedkid]

I know we would be disappointed. We would understand because of safety, but still be disappointed. I know our 7 year old would be devastated. Last year, she spent about 50% of the year inpatient in the hospital, and pretty much the entire time that she was there--for months at a time, would watch videos of Castaway Cay on youtube. She would tell every visitor, nurse, etc that she was saving her allowance to spend the day at Castaway Cay.

We sail in August finally making her dream come true, so we hope that we don't miss that day.

 

[ajo]

We were on the very first SWDAS and we were not able to dock at CC. The captain tried multiple times over the course of 2+ hours before giving up. It was very hard to be so close to CC and not be able to dock. One of the little kids in our group started crying. Poor guy.

As for the adults, we just shrugged it off. We knew the captain did everything he could to dock and there was nothing anyone could do. We took the opportunity to do a few things on the ship that we hadn’t done before.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Am I the only one who totally wouldn't mind this happening? I would gladly feel sea sick and gross my last day and night to get 25% off my next cruise. I assume we would have had a great 5 days previous and will make our next one more affordable, and you're still on a Disney Cruise! I've been through a hurricane on a cruise. I would be pretty bummed if we missed CC. We do love it, but I also really love being on the ship so another sea day wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

Getting the 25% off was very generous of DCL to compensate the passengers who paid cash for their disrupted vacation. My point was DVC did absolutely nothing for the DVC members who were equally disrupted, no refunded points, no voucher for 25% points discount off next cruise, NOTHING. In my letter to Claire Bilby (SVP and GM DVC 2012) I stated I felt like a barnacle on the bottom of the Fantasy being dragged across the Caribbean because I was a DVC member and DCL was stuck with me. One person from her office called and said they were working on something. Claire was transferred to the Paris Park and the whole thing disappeared.

 

[MonaMN]

Last March on the Dream, our Nassau and Castaway days were swapped - which meant instead of bad weather at both, we had good weather at both. But I understand that they can’t always do that, depending on other ship “traffic”... but it worked out great for us!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Ha! I found this picture of my husband and the captain back in April 2008-the day our cruise on the Wonder almost did not make it into Castaway. We were about 2 hours late and people were frantic and the line to get off the ship was ridiculous. My husband walked up to them-poor Captain!-I think he thought he was going to complain! But my sweet husband just wanted to shake his hand and thank him. Happy we got the picture!

 

[Kennywood]

Most people, even ship's captains, appreciate the occasional pat-on-the-back and an "Atta boy!"

If you really want to make someone's day, stop one of the crew members "swabbing the deck" or cleaning the restroom and simply say "thank you" and let them know you appreciate the work they do. That very rarely ever happens to them and it really makes their day.