Wow, we would say DCL is much better than RCCL on most RCCL ships we have been on .
I've sailed Allure out of Port Everglades in 2013 & Anthem out of Cape Liberty, NJ 2 months ago. Both times boarding was so smooth, organized, & stress-free. Especially in NJ. Every person had a place to sit in the most organized fashion and reps came to us with an iPad to check us in. Boarding was a rep who came to our row of chairs, everyone stood up, and single-file onto the ship. It was incredible. I could contrast that with the CRUSH of a completely full terminal in PC to board Fantasy. Yeah, I have a video it. Debarkation for both my Royal cruises seem to have run maybe a tad slow but everything was so smooth & orderly. I never experienced long lines or crazy waits.
NCL Getaway debarkation was chaos but not the utter insanity of getting off Fantasy. I kid you not. I think it's a situation where you just had to be there. Get out of your room but don't go to the atrium. Well, we didn't want to eat so why take up tables from people who want to eat? Didn't want to do crafts or meet characters. Whatever we did we had to haul luggage since we were told to get out. Carried our suitcases down the stairs from deck 10 to deck 3 (because elevators were a lost cause & I learned my lesson putting bags out the night before when we debarked the Wonder in San Diego - NEVER again.) I have pics of the complete cluster near the WD Theater but I can tell you this is one of those times pics do not do it justice. It was horrible and the crew sent to direct people that I saw mostly didn't.
We had clusters the two times we've boarded/debarked on RCCL... the second time they even outright refused to let my husband and I use the shorter line for repeat cruisers even though I had the right paperwork for her and everything. I have no idea why. I'm glad you've had good experiences, but I haven't... personal anecdotes shape each person's brand loyalty I suppose.
See above. My Royal experiences were fabulous vs the crush of humanity in Disney's terminal. Boarding NCL Getaway & Escape was pretty straight-forward, too. Debarking Getaway was not the best but Escape was easy-peasy. I've sailed Disney more than the others. For me these things are not better because it's Disney, though. I sail Disney mostly for nostalgia at this point. Hubby still buys into that more than me, actually. I just enjoy cruising and find other lines (newer ships, not old) to be just as good each with their own pros & cons.
To be polite, DCL certainly was my least favorite disembarkation, and I have been flamed here for over 13 years for saying that. Before my cruise people on DIS talked about walking right off when you wanted. We had a 45 minute wait in line. It was very stressful. They have no system.
So yes, I prefer the systems the 5 other other lines i cruised used. Priority given based on your travel plans, go to an assigned public room to wait your turn to leave in comfort. Pastries and juice and coffee set up while you wait. Walk right off....when it was my turn.
I've waltzed off a Disney ship a couple times. Express walkoff when you get to the gangway like 20 minutes before it opens. And, of course, when concierge does Priority walk-off.
What gets me is Disney has some snafus on this sailing which is perfectly fine to all the apologists. But if another cruise line had any of the same problems it's "Well, that's why Disney is better." LOL! Not really but keep telling yourself that. LOLOLOL!
So much whining here and elsewhere - elsewhere especially - you'd think everybody was on a Carnival poop cruise to nowhere instead of three days of amazing weather, two days on everybody's professed "favorite island on earth" and a few hours of inconvenience/extra time onboard. Everybody rushes onboard at the beginning of the trip to "maximize their time", causing massive lines and slow security, but when they have to stay on the boat for an extra bit of time you'd think that Disney was strapping them down to draw and quarter them in some medieval torture event.
I'd choose San Juan over Tortola any and every time. The BVIs are amazing, but if you really want to experience them you'll not get a chance in the scant hours a cruise ship is in port.
When it comes to unforeseen expenses related to this kind of thing, I have two words. Trip Insurance. Don't leave home without it.
But, see, travel insurance really wouldn't have done anything in my situation. And with thousands of guests inconvenienced every situation is different.
I'm fine with the loss of the engine & later arrival. Heck, I got to sleep in on a debarkation day which was really nice. What annoyed us was lack of information. Hubby went down to the guest services line (which was stretched back to the WD Theater) to ask what could be done about our dining reservations at WDW that we were going to miss. I didn't want to be charged the penalty. Could we talk to someone or give a reference somehow somewhere to recover our missed fastpasses. A very curt crew member handed him a card that basically said call (407)WDisney from the stateroom. Hubby spent almost an hour on hold before a CM came on but couldn't hear him (bad connection?) so she hung up. Another 30 minutes on hold. 30 minutes of being transferred here and there to cancel the dining reservation wth no fee. They couldn't do anything about the FPs. We had to wait & talk to guest relations there. They told hubby on the phone there is no phone number for guest relations. Riiiiiiiiight.
All this time if I'd known we could use the ship's wifi I could've gone online & moved things around. So herein lies the problem of being trapped with the current
MDE system the parks use online when you have no access to internet and the phone reps have so little knowledge & can't do much for you. Nothing as earth shattering as those with flight issues but irritating AF and certainly makes for a stressful time trying to figure out what to do when nobody can give you straight answers. Not whining. Not the end of the world. It all worked out okay in the end. But, please, don't judge. If you weren't there, if that wasn't your money & time, if that wasn't you getting no answers from anybody try as you may....seriously...lighten up. Everyone comes to these forums to gush over the fabulosity. In an imperfect world including the Disney bubble there are bad days, too, that are equally discussion-worthy.
