Fantasy Finally Dropping Grand Cayman

[Cruisetest777]

I'm on a December fantasy 7-day, and they finally dropped Grand Cayman. Replacing it with a sea day

"As we continue to resume sailings in a gradual, phased approach, it is necessary for Disney Cruise Line to modify certain itineraries. Your 7-night sailing will now have an additional day at sea instead of a visit to George Town, Grand Cayman. You may review your new itinerary on our website at DisneyCruise.com."


This is quite a letdown.... No backup port and no talk of any sort of onboard credit or partial refund (not even for port fees.....) I understand the situation we're in, but they can do better when they're the most expensive cruise line in their class.

 

[tvguy]

Except Disney had nothing to do with it. The Cayman's don't want any cruise ships.

 

[jktmom]

I agree that Disney cannot control the Cayman Islands but the Cayman Islands have never approved the resumption of cruising so keeping it on the itinerary so close to sailing is odd.

 

[tvguy]

I agree that Disney cannot control the Cayman Islands but the Cayman Islands have never approved the resumption of cruising so keeping it on the itinerary so close to sailing is odd.

Not really odd, things are changing so rapidly there is no way to reliably predict what will be happening. A cruise Vlogger I follow is going on a Carnival Cruise TOMORROW, and Carnival made some major policy changes for his cruise on MONDAY. It's the risk you take booking a cruise during a pandemic.

 

[Cruisetest777]

It's not an issue of them dropping; it's they aren't even attempting to refund the port fees at a minimum.

 

[Cruisetest777]

Not really odd, things are changing so rapidly there is no way to reliably predict what will be happening. A cruise Vlogger I follow is going on a Carnival Cruise TOMORROW, and Carnival made some major policy changes for his cruise on MONDAY. It's the risk you take booking a cruise during a pandemic.

So we need to expect to be charged for something we don't get? Yes, onboard credits are customer satisfaction issues. But they care soon little they aren't refunding fees.

Is it a lot of money? No. But it's the principal of it.

 

[cvjw]

So we need to expect to be charged for something we don't get? Yes, onboard credits are customer satisfaction issues. But they care soon little they aren't refunding fees.

Is it a lot of money? No. But it's the principal of it.

We were refunded port fees when our august dream sailings dropped Nassau for an extra day at castaway cay. Bet you will get the port fees refunded.

We should all expect disney to do things at the last minute. That is how they have been operating lately. Both our august cruises dropped nassau right before the sailings and our cruise on Saturday changed the whole itinerary last month. Just how disney rolls.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You'll get the port fee back. You won't get compensation for thee missed port - heck, GC gets missed quite a bit because it's a tender port with the challenges of that.

There isn't really another port they can easily sub in with the requirements of the various Caribbean ports right now, and the routing.

 

[lanejudy]

It's not an issue of them dropping; it's they aren't even attempting to refund the port fees at a minimum.

Port fees will always be refunded if the ship doesn't stop at that port. Whether that is an itinerary change in advance, or day-of they are unable to dock for whatever reason.

 

[tvguy]

So we need to expect to be charged for something we don't get? Yes, onboard credits are customer satisfaction issues. But they care soon little they aren't refunding fees.

Is it a lot of money? No. But it's the principal of it.

They will refund the port fees. That's standard practice in this situation.

EDITED: LOL. I just checked the port fees for Grand Caymen. You're right, not much, $2.46 per passanger!

 

[DisneYE]

You'll get the port fee back. You won't get compensation for thee missed port - heck, GC gets missed quite a bit because it's a tender port with the challenges of that.

There isn't really another port they can easily sub in with the requirements of the various Caribbean ports right now, and the routing.

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

 

[laceltris3]

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

We went to CM on the Wonder a few Christmases ago. It was literally the only cruise that whole year to go to Costa Maya. The Lost Mayan Kingdom was an amazing water park and is literally my kids' favorite excursion ever, far better than Atlantis/Paradise Island.

I was disappointed when they went with Progreso instead of CM.

 

[MrKopec]

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

Costa Maya to Jamaica overnight is not possible.

 

[piglet1979]

We got rerouted to Costa Maya instead of Grand Cayman back in 2004 when a hurricane destroyed their port. This was before Costa Maya really had a port. They were building it. It was really just dirt and a road when we got off the boat. However this was one of our favorites. We went to the beach. It was a very nice beach with food, music and drinks in a coconut. I also got my hair breaded here. It was much cleaner and nicer then Nassau.

 

[kathi]

I’m sailing both an Eastern and Wesrern in December. I expected GC to drop. Surpassed it wasn’t sooner. What I wonder is how they are going to handle Jamaica and all the Eastern ports abs what further changes are coming.

 

[Kwami]

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

Well, Costa Maya is back now. There are 9 cruises currently listed with CM as a port of call.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/list/?filteredPort=ports_costa-maya-mexico

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I’m on one of December cruises. Email about the changes came 10:24am cst, email regarding refund of port fees came at 12:29pm cst, refunding $36.24 for 2 passengers.

 

[cvjw]

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

We stop at costa maya next week on the fantasy. We will be staying on the ship, but the fantasy is porting there.

 

[scrapbookjulie]

Nooooo! This is so not what I wanted to hear. I'm on a 6 day in January that only had 3 stops. Cayman was one of them. An extra sea day was the worst case scenario for me. We like to get off the ship to have different things to do.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I Wonder why not replace it with Costa Maya? It's about the same distance from Cozumel than GC is..
CM is the same as Cozumel in terms of restrictions: there are none.
In fact I've been wondering for some time why CM was dropped by DCL altogether... It's an OK port, the area adjacent to the port is lovely with all the shops and that pool with the swim up bar.

It may very well be that they have other ships in port that day. Most ports cannot just accept another large ship on schedule quickly. I just looked at the date they'd need to port on the December 5 7-night Fantasy, and CM has 3 ships in port that day already. Most days in December CM has 3-5 ships in port already.