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

[Wilbz]

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

Your cruise will now have four port days instead of three, and still includes Castaway Cay, our private island in The Bahamas. The revised itinerary is as follows:

Saturday Port Canaveral, Florida
Sunday Day at Sea
Monday Cozumel, Mexico
Tuesday Costa Maya, Mexico
Wednesday Day at Sea
Thursday Nassau, The Bahamas
Friday Disney Castaway Cay, The Bahamas
Saturday Port Canaveral, Florida

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.

 

[Lynes88]

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

 

[insureman]

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.

So they changed it from an Eastern to Western. I hope they don't do that to our February 26 Eastern.

 

[MomOTwins]

At least they added new ports instead of just extra sea days like the rest of the Fantasy cruises have been doing lately.

 

[insureman]

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.

Did you get an option to cancel?

 

[insureman]

At least they added new ports instead of just extra sea days like the rest of the Fantasy cruises have been doing lately.

I wound rather have the sea days then go back to Mexico.

 

[Wilbz]

Did you get an option to cancel?

Yes, we can cancel for a full refund or re-schedule. We just need to decide which option we'll choose.

This whole process has been super stressful (concern about popping positive on the PCR test, concern about catching and quarantining on the cruise), but the port adventures were our motivating factor. Now, even if we had interest in anything at the new ports, we can't even book anything until we're on the boat (and who knows what will even be available!).

 

[KashasMom]

I'm so sorry that happened. It's very disappointing, I know. The positive is that you're getting ports instead of sea days. We are scheduled for Grand Cayman (which WE all know won't happen) and it's likely to be another sea day (ugh!). So we'll only have 1 port day out of 6 days. Since Mexico has no restrictions, I think a lot of Eastern itins will now be Western itins. I imagine those ports will be very crowded. I hope you have a wonderful anniversary celebration wherever you go!

 

[Wilbz]

I wound rather have the sea days then go back to Mexico.

Agreed. We've done Cozumel already a couple of times, and don't have any interest (A) Considering the situation currently in Mexico, and (B) considering the timing. Whatever port adventures are there would be last minute "bottom of the barrel" opportunities.

 

[sjuncfan]

I was supposed to be on that cruise and just a few days ago moved it to April. The two things I was most sad about when changing it were missing St. Maarten and missing SWDAS. (I posted about how conflicted I was ). I would NOT be happy with this change if we were still planning to sail on Saturday. So sorry this happened.

 

[EDH Family]

Wow, you replaced one crappy port (San Juan) with 2 (Nassau, Costa Maya)!!!! 5 Star DCL!!!!

 

[bcwife76]

Oh no, I'm so sorry! I would NOT be happy with that revised itinerary.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, you replaced one crappy port (San Juan) with 2 (Nassau, Costa Maya)!!!! 5 Star DCL!!!!

LOL. Like they can "invent" better ports.

 

[insureman]

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.

Did they offer any on board credit if you stayed?

 

[Wilbz]

Did they offer any on board credit if you stayed?

None, just the options to cancel without Disney imposed fees.

Full E-mail below:

We are writing with important information regarding your sailing on the Disney Fantasy this Saturday, January 15, 2022.

Over the past few weeks, we have been in regular communication with the ports of call planned for your voyage. Given continued uncertainty regarding requirements and protocols for visiting some of these destinations, we’ve made the decision to modify your itinerary.

Your cruise will now have four port days instead of three, and still includes Castaway Cay, our private island in The Bahamas. The revised itinerary is as follows:

Saturday Port Canaveral, Florida
Sunday Day at Sea
Monday Cozumel, Mexico
Tuesday Costa Maya, Mexico
Wednesday Day at Sea
Thursday Nassau, The Bahamas
Friday Disney Castaway Cay, The Bahamas
Saturday Port Canaveral, Florida
Please know that our focus remains on the health and safety of everyone onboard. We will continue to implement multiple layers of health and safety protocols, considering guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts.

Port Adventures previously reserved in St. Maarten and San Juan will be removed from your stateroom account. Those previously reserved at Castaway Cay will remain booked as scheduled. Cruise Activities are no longer visible on the website and will be adjusted to fit the new itinerary. Guests may view Cruise Activities and Port Adventures for Cozumel, Costa Maya or Nassau once onboard via the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app.

Guests booked on this sailing may modify their sail date or cancel their sailing without any Disney-imposed cancellation fees, if applicable, by contacting our reservations team at 1-866-325-6685 or 407-566-7797 by 7:00 p.m. E.T. on Friday, January 14. Please note that change fees and cancellation fees imposed by third-party suppliers, such as airlines and hotels, as well as travel insurance, are not refundable. Refunds will be processed back to the original form of payment.

We look forward to your arrival and know this revised itinerary will provide you with the first-class experience Guests have come to know and expect from Disney Cruise Line.

Sincerely,

The Cast and Crew
Disney Cruise Line

 

[Marvelgeek82]

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

We are on the same sailing. It is a western cruise though, so I’m guessing that grand cayman will turn into a sea day

 

[Sykes]

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.

 

[cvjw]

They did the same to our October 8 night that was supposed to go to Antigua, st marten and San Juan. Turned it into a western. We went anyway and didn’t get off the ship except for castaway cay. Ended up being one of our most favorite cruises because the passenger number was so low.

 

[Freeman867]

Wow, you replaced one crappy port (San Juan) with 2 (Nassau, Costa Maya)!!!! 5 Star DCL!!!!

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.

 

[goterps1986]

We had to cancel this on Monday due to a last minute positive test. We were so stressed out and that made the decision for us. If it happened a week earlier, we would have the free pass with dr note. But NOOOOO. Anyway, we wouldn't have been happy with this either. We chose this cruise because of the different port stops. Been there done that on Cozumel and Nassau!

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!

Good luck to everyone on the upcoming cruises. Hope it all works out.