Fantasy 1/15 - 1/22 Sailing Just Changed Completely

[diznee princess]

Wow, that is a big change. We are on the Jan 29th sailing and watching this closely.

We are too!

 

[Wilbz]

This isn't DCL's fault. The governments that run the ports are denying docking. These countries don't have the vaccination rates or hospital/health care infrastructure to handle COVID outbreaks like the US can. DCL literally has no say in the matter here. This is also the reason other cruise lines have had to completely cancel many cruise routes the past couple days. It doesn't matter what the US or DCL is doing to mitigate COVID, you just can't dock in foreign ports without their permission.

Cynical me says Disney knew they weren't going to be able to port there, but waited until the last possible minute for the change to capture those people who already had travel plans under way (e.g. play & cruise people who are at WDW currently). Alternately, they know they won't be able to meet the positivity rate requirements for these ports due to ongoing issues so they are instead picking ports that have no such limits / requirements.

 

[ChicosWife]

Original schedule had stops at St. Maarten and San Juan, now it's changed as follows:


We are gutted, we had some perfect port adventures all set up to go that we were extremely excited about. This was supposed to be a 15th anniversary celebration for my wife and I. This will likely be our third canceled Disney vacation as we had a WDW vacation planned in April 2020, as well as an October cruise originally planned for 2021.

We are on the same itinerary in April. If they were going to change the ports, these are not the ports we would want to go to.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not allowed the Fantasy to dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop for us on that cruise. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these port changes don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.

OP - that stinks it's not your ideal itinerary. Between stops being changed/cancelled, lack of shows, shutting down of certain areas on the ships due to Covid outbreaks, the higher risk of being turned away at PC due to an asymptomatic positive test result - I bet a lot of people are seriously considering taking advantage of the 15-day refund clause. I know we are... I just wish Disney would give a bit more info than they are. I know these items are out of their control, but they could put some of them back in their control and be much more proactive vs. waiting and seeing a few days before the cruise sets sail, or during the cruise.

DCL costs a lot of $, and they are doing themselves no favor in my mind with some of the mis-steps they are taking.

 

[Kwami]

What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.

Apparently these changes do happen overnight. Or, nearly so. I agree that it would be nice to have Disney proactively make these changes and communicate them to us earlier so that we can book port adventures, change/cancel flights and hotels, etc. This last minute thing isn't great for anybody.

 

[Wilbz]

What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.

OP - that stinks it's not your ideal itinerary. Between stops being changed/cancelled, lack of shows, shutting down of certain areas on the ships due to Covid outbreaks, the higher risk of being turned away at PC due to an asymptomatic positive test result - I bet a lot of people are seriously considering taking advantage of the 15-day refund clause. I know we are... I just with Disney would give a bit more info than they are. I know these items are out of their control, but they could put some of them back in their control and be much more proactive vs. waiting and seeing a few days before the cruise sets sail, or during the cruise.

DCL costs a lot of $, and they are doing themselves no favor in my mind with some of the mis-steps they are taking.

As I stated above, I have a hard time believing the last minute nature of the change wasn't intentional. DCL is smart enough to know where they likely can and can't go pretty early in the process, and while I understand that much of the situation is fluid when it relates to COVID, I think they could have been much further out ahead of it. I think at this point this was an strategically planned 11th hour change in order to get those who already had too much momentum towards their trip to stick with it despite the itinerary change.

 

[Freeman867]

What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.

OP - that stinks it's not your ideal itinerary. Between stops being changed/cancelled, lack of shows, shutting down of certain areas on the ships due to Covid outbreaks, the higher risk of being turned away at PC due to an asymptomatic positive test result - I bet a lot of people are seriously considering taking advantage of the 15-day refund clause. I know we are... I just with Disney would give a bit more info than they are. I know these items are out of their control, but they could put some of them back in their control and be much more proactive vs. waiting and seeing a few days before the cruise sets sail, or during the cruise.

DCL costs a lot of $, and they are doing themselves no favor in my mind with some of the mis-steps they are taking.

While I get your point, the reality of all this is right now if you're not a person who likes spontaneity and rolling with changes, which is totally fine if you are that person, you probably shouldn't be cruising right now. There are hundreds of possibilities of changes occurring from cancelled ports, excursions, positive test a week before, positive test at the port, shows cancelled due to a outbreak onboard, dining disruptions, kids clubs closing randomly due to staffing, the list goes on and on and on. A lot of these you just can't have a crystal ball and see coming ahead of time nor control.

I completely get people who don't want to pay for a cruise that can change on a dime. I just think people have to set their expectations in this crazy COVID world, understand cruising is a luxury and far from necessary for anyone to do, and wait until testing is removed and all possible restrictions are gone if they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth from a reduced experience.

 

[BAIC03]

Well… Castaway is amazing! I’ll always take that as an alternative!

 

[sjuncfan]

While I get your point, the reality of all this is right now if you're not a person who likes spontaneity and rolling with changes, which is totally fine if you are that person, you probably shouldn't be cruising right now. There are hundreds of possibilities of changes occurring from cancelled ports, excursions, positive test a week before, positive test at the port, shows cancelled due to a outbreak onboard, dining disruptions, kids clubs closing randomly due to staffing, the list goes on and on and on. A lot of these you just can't have a crystal ball and see coming ahead of time nor control.

I completely get people who don't want to pay for a cruise that can change on a dime. I just think people have to set their expectations in this crazy COVID world, understand cruising is a luxury and far from necessary for anyone to do, and wait until testing is removed and all possible restrictions are gone if they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth from a reduced experience.

This is pretty much in a nutshell why we moved our cruise from this one (1/15 on the Fantasy). Too much uncertainty. And you didn't even mention the fact that airlines are cancelling flights right and left which just adds another stress!

Of course I am an eternal optimist and just pushed it to April... I really really hope things are more "normal" then. Omicron should be behind us but who knows what the next variant will bring.

 

[mjstaceyuofm]

While I get your point, the reality of all this is right now if you're not a person who likes spontaneity and rolling with changes, which is totally fine if you are that person, you probably shouldn't be cruising right now. There are hundreds of possibilities of changes occurring from cancelled ports, excursions, positive test a week before, positive test at the port, shows cancelled due to a outbreak onboard, dining disruptions, kids clubs closing randomly due to staffing, the list goes on and on and on. A lot of these you just can't have a crystal ball and see coming ahead of time nor control.

I completely get people who don't want to pay for a cruise that can change on a dime. I just think people have to set their expectations in this crazy COVID world, understand cruising is a luxury and far from necessary for anyone to do, and wait until testing is removed and all possible restrictions are gone if they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth from a reduced experience.

Point well-taken. It's just the wife and I on this cruise so we have a gameplan for alternative scenarios and the ability to be more flexible as needed. It just seems like DCL does know quite a bit more about port stops (and changes) than they are letting on as a PP pointed out. That's what's disappointing to me.

 

[Wilbz]

Point well-taken. It's just the wife and I on this cruise so we have a gameplan for alternative scenarios and the ability to be more flexible as needed. It just seems like DCL does know quite a bit more about port stops (and changes) than they are letting on as a PP pointed out. That's what's disappointing to me.

We fully expected the possibility that we might end up with a day at sea for one of our potential ports, but that was an acceptable risk with the trade off that (A) if we don't have an extra port of call, there's even lower risk of COVID being transferred onto the boat from the port of call, and (B) based on prior reports, they'd been compensating people for missed ports ($200 and 20% off a future cruise).

In this scenario how DCL handled it, we instead end up going to (arguably) less COVID safe ports, more ports in total, and with no compensation for the upset to the itinerary. It's certainly been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

 

[jenushkask8s]

We're on this cruise, too and disappointed with the last minute change. But, we're still going and will make the best of it!

 

[jujubiee4]

Cruising right now is a definitely a crap shoot. It might be getting to a point where only
Mexico is happily welcoming guests. I'm praying the Alaska cruises go off ok.

 

[closetmickey]

Just SO frustrating you book vacations so far ahead (opening day like 15 months or so ago) and then everything hits the fan at the last minute!

Since they have a way of tracking past prices on a reservation (as seen when you upgrade a cabin later on a existing reservation and you are charged what the price would have been at time of your booking) they really should figure a way to charge you the price from the day you originally booked when you are forced to reschedule to a new cruise/itenerary. I think that would go a long way to promote customer satisfaction.

 

[Mango7100]

Not a fan of those new ports either…sorry for the changes! I know we all expect changes nowadays, but it still is disappointing when they happen

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

We're on this cruise, too and disappointed with the last minute change. But, we're still going and will make the best of it!

Let us know how it goes - if at least the entertainment is back...

 

[Jodi]

Wow, that is a big change. We are on the Jan 29th sailing and watching this closely.

Yeah, been wondering what they have in store for us on this cruise. I wouldn't mind extra CC time in lieu of Grand Cayman.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I think cruising right now is going to be a complete wash unless you really like the ship and are happy staying on it.

 

[Birklej]

I wouldn't mind a change in itinerary if I knew I could schedule some excursions. If it's before departure at least there's a chance to do that. Mid cruise it would kind of blow.

 

[ThinkTink1]

The worst part about that is that it's not even much fun to stay on the ship in Costa Maya. The worst seasickness I've ever had was trying to enjoy a day on the ship while berthed at Costa Maya.

That water is very choppy there!