Fantasy having mechanical issues

[nancipants]

We did the express walk off. It was chaotic but we basically sat in the theatre until they told us we could leave, then slowly made our way to the atrium (mooing to ourselves becuase we felt like a herd of cattle, lol), grabbed our suitcases, and were off the ship. It was probably 10 minutes before we were in our car driving home. We probably would have stayed for lunch and just left later but my husband wasn't feeling well so we wanted to get home ASAP.

We were two of the people cheering in the Tube. We didn't want to leave.

 

[bbel]

Are you on the current Fantasy cruise? If not, why are you trying to stifle the discussion over Tortola being swapped out for San Juan? As for practice, that's on Disney to practice. They train when were on a port for some sort of drills. I imagine they should also train for a sinking ship, pirate attacks, etc. All of which is not really convenient as ships run 24/7. I don't know if you need to run live drills, but you can always practice for these types of issues. At my work, before every meeting, we go over safety briefings including where the exits are, where the take cover shelters are, where the AED is, etc. At all places I've worked at, you're also required to do live fire drills every year or every two years.

Obviously I'm not. Are you?
My point was they could've skipped Tortola and just made it an extra sea day, but they've added a port. One course I'd be more than annoyed if I'd have gone on that cruise for Tortola, but I'd like to think I'd be a little bit thankful that they'd gone to the effort of adding in an extra port over an extra sea day.

Disney do drills all the time, staring with that one guests have to attend every cruise.
But for something like this, you can do all the training you want, but it's probably going to be totally different every time, different issues, different guests, different parts of the world, different accessibility to resources.

That drill they practice every cruise goes quite smooth right? A bit of an inconvenience but pretty calm and simple. If there was really an emergency and that was going on for real, do you really think everyone is going to react in that same way.

I'm not arguing at all. I get everyone's frustrations, but at the time with the info and resources they had, Disney probably did the best they could. It's not like this was planned months in advance so they could have it all worked out, and it's not like this is even a regular thing that they have to carry out.

What would you prefer, they update you every five minutes with conflicting information and confusing everyone (including CMs), or they wait a while and tell you everything you need to know once it's gone through all the right channels and is 'official' and what's actually going to happen?

I worked for DCL for three years, 2 different ships and pretty much every itinerary going at the time. And I never once got delayed getting back into port. We missed a few castaways and every time that was handled slightly differently to make it work. And I've been through a few real emergencies at sea, doesn't matter how many drills I'd done, when those announcements were made for real we all reacted differently to how wed been trained and practised.

At the end of the day it's done. There are people who think they did a great job and those who think it's the worst thing they've gone through while travelling. But it's happened and even Disney can't go back and change it...

 

[truck1]

unless you were actually there, you cannot grasp what others experienced or felt.Many were first-time cruisers and parents trying to wrangle their kids. When you're stressed it's a whole 'nuther ball game, trust me.

Disney made one announcement and said that's it until the morning. We didn't catch that we could sleep in or we would've. Why the heck there was no letter on the fishie that night is beyond me, especially considering the volume of crap you get each day! In that regard i was dis-satisfied. Morning announcement made after we were on way to breakfast.

Regardless, the event has no major bearing on whether i would book another DCL cruise. We had already decided the price paid for the cruise wasn't 'worth it' to us, especially as we felt the MDR food quality had dipped since our last cruise. MGM = Mouse Got my Money already, I'm a lifer and will still be handing over fistfuls of $$$ to Disney in some fashion.

DCL's communication to the guests onboard was a "fail-boat". All information we were 'told' came directly from GS, obtained after waiting in a long line after the initial announcement that was very garbled sounding in O'Gills:

*GS had no information, nor a hand out to explain, their solution was to wait for the AM announcement. Captain being so 'kind' as to not want to disturb anybody with further announcements. Seriously, that is laughable.
*we already had our luggage out & collected prior to the announcement. Were told no way could we get it back to self-disembark
*told we still had to vacate our cabin by 8 am. Surprise, the am announcement we heard on way to breakfast while lugging our roll on indicated otherwise. Insult to injury to wake up early for naught.
*we had to purchase internet pkg to deal with airline carrier on our own, GS said they couldn't help us since we didn't purchase flights thru DCL.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing anyone for there opinions. Out of say 1000 families, I'm sure not every one had the exact same experience. Just pointing out the different grouping. That's all.

One of the reasons that Tom probably didn't say anything else until morning is that he may not know what was going to happen. Theres too many people in that decision process for 1 person to say this is whats going to happen. Just off the top of my head, theres probably 5-10 people in that chain and they all get a say. And way too many variables. It sounds easy looking back on it, but trying to trouble shoot the problem with 15 people asking for information isn't the easiest thing in the world. Fixing what they can see is easy. The million dollar question is why did it happen. Which takes time to figure out.

Could they have done things better? Absolutely from what I'm seeing, here and on different social media sites. Your 100% correct, that a letter under the door could have gone a long way. Did someone drop the ball? Yes. But again, they may not have had some or all information until it was too late. I'm not defending them just saying. If it were me, Id definitely be sending DCL an email, outlining what my observations were and more importantly, what I would do if the situation ever arises again.

If I understand this correctly, initially the ship was scheduled to sail again at 6 pm which explains why every one was asked to vacate the cabins early. But once the ship got closer, someone probably figured out that that wasn't going to happen, and too late to correct. Id be upset also if it were me.

 

[truck1]

Out of range can just mean they haven't received the information necessary from the satellite to update the location. Sometimes the ship's signal isn't received by the satellite for any number of reasons.

It says "out of range" but that seems weird to me... What is the range in the Caribbean and DO ships go far enough away to not be in range??? I mean, we would have heard if something was wrong I'm sure...but isn't it worrisome if aircraft go "out of range"?? Why are ships different?

It could simply meant that there is no receiver near by to pick up the ships. The Sat part of the AIS system isn't that wide spread yet since there aren't enough satellites in orbit yet. From what I understand, theres receivers along most major coasts that track a ship and relays it to other AIS ships for collision avoidance. Basically if 2 ships are near enough to each other, each ship will get a message saying that ship x is so far away, heading xxx at xx knots. If they had a chance to collide, the system will alarm and say turn this way to avoid a collision. Its a safety back up to the humans on the bridge to avoid another Andrea Doria/Stockholm incident. The by product of it is that we, the average person can track our favorites ships from home or a smart phone.

 

[truck1]

You have obviously never been around machines during start up! Issues are expected and almost always occur.

Considering that any repairs to the ship or any changes done during dd are tested 3 ways to sunday, and then have to prove it to the CG, class and the alphabet soup organizations, This was totally unexpected.

Ive only said this 3 times looking at different issues on different lines. IF and this is a big IF, it was drydock related, and I were in charge, people would be clearing desks, and Id be finding a new dd location.

 

[Dug720]

It could simply meant that there is no receiver near by to pick up the ships. The Sat part of the AIS system isn't that wide spread yet since there aren't enough satellites in orbit yet. From what I understand, theres receivers along most major coasts that track a ship and relays it to other AIS ships for collision avoidance. Basically if 2 ships are near enough to each other, each ship will get a message saying that ship x is so far away, heading xxx at xx knots. If they had a chance to collide, the system will alarm and say turn this way to avoid a collision. Its a safety back up to the humans on the bridge to avoid another Andrea Doria/Stockholm incident. The by product of it is that we, the average person can track our favorites ships from home or a smart phone.

Thank you! I was hoping you'd explain how a large vessel could go out of range but be safe!

 

[keishashadow]

Different question for those who were on the 3-night Fantasy double-dip...
Did the Fantasy leave port and "float" around the ocean or did it just stay moored at Castaway?

We've done two 'double-dips' both times the ship pulled away in between

When I was a CM and did a double dip (I think on the wonder) they said they always leave CC, one of the reasons being something to do with the marine life nibbling away at the outer layers of the ship if they sit there too long at once.
We all laughed thinking they were joking, but apparently not...

Heard in past ship can't be docked 24-7 due to changing tide levelsmore inclined to think the native bugs get rather active at sundown.

 

[SuperDry]

Heard in past ship can't be docked 24-7 due to changing tide levels

While the change in sea level due to tide does vary in different parts of the world, I'm suspicious about this being the reason. DCL has had overnight stays in several ports before, including San Francisco and St. Petersburg.

more inclined to think the native bugs get rather active at sundown.

That sounds more likely. Plus, even though it's a private island, they'd need to staff dock security and perhaps other support personnel shoreside anytime the ship was docked there.

 

[phinz]

By leaving CC they also allow the island-side staff to run tractors, haul trash, etc. that might make the scene there less idyllic. All that garbage we make when on the rock has to go somewhere, and all that sand has to be raked to make it look like the beach is brand new again. That's a lot of noise and activity.

 

[crazy4wdw]

While the change in sea level due to tide does vary in different parts of the world, I'm suspicious about this being the reason. DCL has had overnight stays in several ports before, including San Francisco and St. Petersburg.
That sounds more likely. Plus, even though it's a private island, they'd need to staff dock security and perhaps other support personnel shoreside anytime the ship was docked there.

I think there is also an issue with the shops onboard. I don't think the shops can be open while the ship is in port.

 

[SweetSpot]

That is not true at all. If it indeed was expected, shouldn't Disney have discounted the cruise? I think it is silly to expect less for your money just because the vessel is just out of drydock. Did some appear to overreact? Sure. But I do not think we should make light of the hardships and say they were expected.

If you read the disboards and trip reports you would be naive to believe this one after dry dock cruise would be without any issues. There was a possibility that the cruise could be cancelled if there were issues finishing dry dock. Obviously DCL didn't discount the cruise, they didn't need to, but we freely booked knowing the ship was returning from dry dock. If you are on the boards IMO should know how to research prior cruise experiences and know the possibilities of issues.

 

[SweetSpot]

We did the express walk off. It was chaotic but we basically sat in the theatre until they told us we could leave, then slowly made our way to the atrium (mooing to ourselves becuase we felt like a herd of cattle, lol), grabbed our suitcases, and were off the ship. It was probably 10 minutes before we were in our car driving home. We probably would have stayed for lunch and just left later but my husband wasn't feeling well so we wanted to get home ASAP.

We were two of the people cheering in the Tube. We didn't want to leave.

We were there with you and you were AMAZING!!!! I wish you would have seen it head on, I don't remember when I laughed so hard.

 

[fredandkell]

We also just got off the 3 night Fantasy. We booked knowing that there was a great possibility of issues or incomplete projects. Our air conditioner didn't work well and we felt a lot of vibration. They spent all day yesterday grinding and drilling at the adult pool attempting to repair the hot tub and there were issues with registers in the stores the last night. Really they are my only complaints and those things didn't really affect my cruise at all. I found the ship to be immaculate, all staff working very hard and all services ran smoothly. We were informed that we needed to stop in Freeport for an evacuation and in no way did it affect our cruise, only the person who was evacuated. We were notified of the mechanical issue and were given updates. Clubs stayed open later last night since we were going to be able to sleep in.

This morning as promised at 8:00 AM we were updated and continued to be updated as needed. We didn't need to leave our room until 11:00. Characters came out, current movies were in both theaters, kids clubs were open for open house, family crafts and karaoke activities were planned. All food stations on deck were open, bars were open and they served a full lunch in Cabanas and sit down meal in EG. The staff remained helpful and catered to every need even though they really needed to get ready for the new passengers.

This is our 14th DCL cruise. We've also cruise on other cruise lines. Disney does their best to make everyone's experience perfect but things happen. Given the situation, as someone stuck on board, I think DCL did a great job of handling the situation. IMO probably better than another line would handle it. I'm sure people who had a hard time getting home could have a different opinion. It was nice to see so many passengers just going with the flow and not hearing many complaints.

What part of this ship was your cabin on? I'm really concerned about this vibration issue!

 

[Chandra C]

Has anyone heard if anyone on the double dip asked for any compensations and received? I'll admit I had it better than some because we drove from North Carolina but it really put us driving through the night which was rough with the kids. Plus the motion the first night was horrible. Another complaint was we were in the kids club and you can't hear the announcements in there so we didn't know about lunch being served until it was over on disembarkment day. I wouldn't expect any money back or anything but if dcl was offering a small percentage off a future cruise or a little onboard credit I surely wouldn't refuse it. Also, they were filming in the kids club one day and that annoyed me, and our servers didn't do any tricks like folding menus into shapes for the kids. I've cruised with dcl a couple times before and this definitely wasn't my favorite trip, although I was so excited about the two days at cc, it just left a little to be desired for me

 

[JWG]

Has anyone heard if anyone on the double dip asked for any compensations and received? I'll admit I had it better than some because we drove from North Carolina but it really put us driving through the night which was rough with the kids. Plus the motion the first night was horrible. Another complaint was we were in the kids club and you can't hear the announcements in there so we didn't know about lunch being served until it was over on disembarkment day. I wouldn't expect any money back or anything but if dcl was offering a small percentage off a future cruise or a little onboard credit I surely wouldn't refuse it. Also, they were filming in the kids club one day and that annoyed me, and our servers didn't do any tricks like folding menus into shapes for the kids. I've cruised with dcl a couple times before and this definitely wasn't my favorite trip, although I was so excited about the two days at cc, it just left a little to be desired for me

We live in NC also!

 

[barbarossa_hoosier]

So, the main lesson I've learned from this episode is that the advice to book flights the day before and the day after the cruise is wise, indeed. We have planned accordingly. I don't want to stress over a few extra hours getting back into port.

 

[SweetSpot]

What part of this ship was your cabin on? I'm really concerned about this vibration issue!

We were deck 9 forward and felt little vibration in our room and had no toilet issues. I felt vibration on the lower decks during dinner and shows. The first night was rough seas so I assumed that was part of the reason and that the second night it was because we were going fast to make up time after dropping the passenger off in Freeport. I felt no vibration on the upper decks.

 

[Chandra C]

Just realized I forgot to mention one of the most annoying things about the cruise, being paged at nearly 2 am to book my placeholder! I had promised to book for my sister, otherwise I would have said, forget it

 

[truck1]

Thank you! I was hoping you'd explain how a large vessel could go out of range but be safe!

Your welcome.

 

[keishashadow]

By leaving CC they also allow the island-side staff to run tractors, haul trash, etc. that might make the scene there less idyllic. All that garbage we make when on the rock has to go somewhere, and all that sand has to be raked to make it look like the beach is brand new again. That's a lot of noise and activity.

OT but we were able to watch them start the grooming process as we sailed away from our balcony. Very interesting how quickly they zoom over the sand.

I think there is also an issue with the shops onboard. I don't think the shops can be open while the ship is in port.

True, probably the main reason

If you read the disboards and trip reports you would be naive to believe this one after dry dock cruise would be without any issues. There was a possibility that the cruise could be cancelled if there were issues finishing dry dock. Obviously DCL didn't discount the cruise, they didn't need to, but we freely booked knowing the ship was returning from dry dock. If you are on the boards IMO should know how to research prior cruise experiences and know the possibilities of issues.

Um, admit not a TR fan & can't say I've read any negative posts about similar situations after a dry dock, and a realatively minor one at that. have booked the first cruise after an emergency dry dock to fix propulsion issues on a CCL ship, wherein we didn't experience a single problem.

IMO it shouldn't be a buyer beware situation wherein a guest needs to second guess if all the parts are working after a dry dock. It's a reasonable expectation that DCL shouldn't knowingly set sail without being able to insure the health, safety & welfare of their guests as well as provide a healthy dose of pixie dust. I did read rumblings of the vibration issues but expect a certain level of noise/movement on any ship, especially aft. Didn't give it much credence, silly me, figured they'd look under hood during the dry dock.