Fixing Castaway Cay port access for ships

[Mil leech]

So a little off this train of thought, what happens if the weather is so bad a ship cannot make any foreign port calls??? Does the fine still apply??

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So a little off this train of thought, what happens if the weather is so bad a ship cannot make any foreign port calls??? Does the fine still apply??

Technically, yes. But will be waived, in most cases.

 

[ChicosWife]

So a little off this train of thought, what happens if the weather is so bad a ship cannot make any foreign port calls??? Does the fine still apply??

That would suck! LOL

 

[CM Dad]

When I go to a Disney park, I am disappointed when a favorite ride is closed for maintenance but I fundamentally understand that Disney does not want the ride breaking down when they have guests on it. I pay Disney premium prices because I believe they will try their best to keep us safe. It's not iron proof but perception is important.

WDW rides do break down with guests on them. My wife and adult daughter were doing the Dinosaur ride when the lights went out and forward motion stopped. Unfortunately the up/down/side-side motion did not. They were like that for 20-30 minutes. When they finally got the ride restarted, they were offered the chance to stay on and ride again without waiting in line. They declined

 

[k3chantal]

WDW rides do break down with guests on them. My wife and adult daughter were doing the Dinosaur ride when the lights went out and forward motion stopped. Unfortunately the up/down/side-side motion did not. They were like that for 20-30 minutes. When they finally got the ride restarted, they were offered the chance to stay on and ride again without waiting in line. They declined

Certainly.........we sat for 45 minutes above the scene of England on Peter Pan and did take the tickets for a fast pass. And countless times we have been stuck on Splash Mountain on both coasts (this ride breaks down on us more often than not). I still go back because the overall experience is wonderful just like a cruise is without Castaway Cay.

 

[Ravenne]

The cruise contract only really guarantees your room and the inclusions on ship. All ports are not guaranteed. This is a slightly different scenario than if the drummer goes to rehab and the tour is cancelled.

Not even then lol. I've been to two Bon Jovi concerts where Phil X played instead of Richie Sambora. I received zero compensation for either. I've been to Styx concerts where they didn't play "Mr. Roboto" with no compensation.


What I don't get is, why DCL asks about the weather on the comment cards. It's not like they can control the weather. And it's a fairly vague question that doesn't really allow you to elaborate like, "weather while attempting to dock was crappy but eventually cleared up. Captain did a great (or poor) job assessing the situation and weather."

 

[olafLover]

.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Not even then lol. I've been to two Bon Jovi concerts where Phil X played instead of Richie Sambora. I received zero compensation for either. I've been to Styx concerts where they didn't play "Mr. Roboto" with no compensation.

To be fair, I said "tour cancelled" not "tour gets some random drummer."

 

[truck1]

So a little off this train of thought, what happens if the weather is so bad a ship cannot make any foreign port calls??? Does the fine still apply??

If the anticipated weather is going to be that bad, most if not all lines will move ports. They may substitute Freeport for Nassau for example or a western becomes an eastern. Or they may cancel the cruise completely, or shorten it. It all depends. There's really no simple answer to that question.

 

[Mommb]

What I don't get is, why DCL asks about the weather on the comment cards. It's not like they can control the weather. And it's a fairly vague question that doesn't really allow you to elaborate like, "weather while attempting to dock was crappy but eventually cleared up. Captain did a great (or poor) job assessing the situation and weather."

I'd don't know for sure, but my guess is that when the weather is bad, people are grumpier in general and will therefore be more negative about all (or most) aspects of the cruise. Since "bad weather" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, it's helpful for the statisticians tabulating the ratings to know if a person's ratings are lower than they might have been if the weather were better. If the average scores on a cruise are lower than the average scores on the previous cruise but the weather was the same on both, there may be problems with the cruise staff or facilities that developed during that cruise and need to be addressed. If many people indicated the weather was bad on the second cruise, that may mean the ratings can be attributed more to the weather than to particular problems within the control of the crew.

 

[kiford]

You say okay, pay for the Big Mac, and then get a small pile of shredded lettuce because that is all that is in stock.

Then you wouldn't be getting a burger. When you cruise, you pay for a cruise, which you get. And having sufficient product on hand to provide a burger is something that is mostly controllable; being able to get to a specific port in bad weather isn't something that can be controlled.

The costs of compensating thousands of people due to weather preventing a port docking is not something any cruiseline is ever going to do on a routine basis. That's why cruise lines have you sign an explicit contract regardless of whether you read it or not. At some point good customer relations is not worth the cost of constantly compensating people for something totally outside of your control especially when you ask for their agreement upfront. The occasional extreme event like a hurricane maybe but not every single time it's difficult to get into a port. And while they may advertise CC, there's no way of knowing whether that was the sole reason someone purchased and thus deserves compensation for not getting it. I personally could care less. But what if I wanted compensation because they had to cancel the fireworks because it was too windy. Or because I only saw Mickey and not Minnie. Slippery, expensive, slope.

I was hungry when I wrote this. But other venues do provide compensation if there is a cancellation due to weather: e.g., sporting events, concerts.

Not really analogous. In the case of a sporting event or a concert that is cancelled, they haven't provided you with any service (and depending on the contract may not even have to refund). The cruise cancelled a port, not the cruise and since the contract says you will get a cruise, they're only obliged to refund the port fees. I learned that the hard way years ago when we booked a meeting room at a hotel for a conference. We didn't read the contract closely enough to realize that it committed them to providing space for a certain number of attendees, not the specific room we thought we were booking. We got stuck in a room that was sufficiently large for the conference but the layout was awful for our purposes. We argued with them but the contract had a clause that said that they were providing a room of a certain size, not that room. I've made sure to never sign a contract since then that didn't specify which room was being provided or at least that they can't change it without our consent and under specified circumstances. Regardless, there is still always a force majeure clause that says that if they can't provide the room due to circumstances beyond their control, they don't have to compensate us for it. Booking to another party would be under their control, but a fire would not be.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I'd don't know for sure, but my guess is that when the weather is bad, people are grumpier in general and will therefore be more negative about all (or most) aspects of the cruise. Since "bad weather" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, it's helpful for the statisticians tabulating the ratings to know if a person's ratings are lower than they might have been if the weather were better. If the average scores on a cruise are lower than the average scores on the previous cruise but the weather was the same on both, there may be problems with the cruise staff or facilities that developed during that cruise and need to be addressed. If many people indicated the weather was bad on the second cruise, that may mean the ratings can be attributed more to the weather than to particular problems within the control of the crew.

Can validate the bulk of this based on my grad work in marketing statistics. They can also take the crew's weather reports and correlate them to the mean and median perception of the weather aboard and use it as part of a planning methodology for interior activities on future sailings. In other words, the crew, being out there all the time, and the sailors, may have a scientific definition of how it was (winds, air temp, etc.), or doing it regularly have certain perception. But the person who sails that route once, or once a year, may have a different scale of value.

 

[Donna M]

We have been on four Disney cruises and were able to dock on all of them. The problem we ran into on 2 cruises were that it rained. That's a problem that I would not expect any compensation for and it was a bummer, but it happened. So a cruiser can make it onto the island but still not be able to enjoy what is offered. Things happen and sometimes we get disappointed, but there is nothing we can do but make the best out of it.

 

[darnheather]

Interesting that OP has not come back to comment. Maybe he didn't like the answers?

 

[ChicosWife]

Booking to another party would be under their control, but a fire would not be.

Perfect analogy, IMO.

 

[cyclenut]

Most of what needs to be said, has been said. I especially appreciate the insights from the experienced sailors on this board.
I've been on the Wonder when she missed a port. Every cruise fare includes port fees. When you miss a port, the port fees are refunded. There are no port fees at Castaway Cay, so there is nothing to refund if it is missed.

I thought the explanation for the lack of breakwater made perfect sense. Not only would it not be helpful against winds, but it may not even be possible due to water depth.

Since the OP stated that nearly the entire reason for even booking the cruise was to get a taste of Castaway Cay and that was missed, I can see why there was a deep disappointment. I have to agree that Castaway Cay is not enough of a draw for me to book a cruise. Been there a few times now and it's great, but not worthy of spending several hundred dollars just to visit.

As for whether or not Disney should offer additional compensation beyond a refund of port fees (if any), my opinion is no. The possibility of missing a port is pretty small actually, but it is a real possibility. Disney does not collect port adventure fees up front, so they don't refund them, but it also means they don't get revenue from them. When Disney doesn't dock at a port, it costs them money. If they were to offer additional discounts and refunds, that cost would increase further. DCL is already very expensive. Changing their policy to provide these additional discounts would only drive the costs higher. Make no mistake, they will factor in that cost to any policy change that would increase their costs.

 

[DisUniversal]

We've been on 11 Disney cruises and have been to Castaway Cay 13 times, even though only one of those was a double dip. At this point I'm actually looking forward to missing Castaway Cay at some point in the future cruise so we have an extra day to enjoy the ship. That said, I think some sort credit would be in order when they are unable to dock...maybe something like $100 per stateroom on a a future cruise. That would still "cost" them up to $125,000 which seems reasonable.

 

[piccolopat]

I am probably in the minority here because I have not cruised anywhere yet. I want to provide a different perspective. Based on the poll, most think Disney should do nothing because missing a port or an itinerary change is a part of cruising but I'm guessing that those of you that voted this way are veteran cruisers. For people who have never cruised before that might be an easily overlooked fact. Just as some websites make you read and click their policy before proceeding, it should be relatively easy for Disney to have a simple warning to click and acknowledge about this before completing a reservation. Yes, I understand it is buried in the contract but many people never read those things even though they should.

 

[Dug720]

I am probably in the minority here because I have not cruised anywhere yet. I want to provide a different perspective. Based on the poll, most think Disney should do nothing because missing a port or an itinerary change is a part of cruising but I'm guessing that those of you that voted this way are veteran cruisers. For people who have never cruised before that might be an easily overlooked fact. Just as some websites make you read and click their policy before proceeding, it should be relatively easy for Disney to have a simple warning to click and acknowledge about this before completing a reservation. Yes, I understand it is buried in the contract but many people never read those things even though they should.

Ah, but you contradict yourself.

You DO have to click a box that you have read the terms and conditions (aka policies) when you make that reservation. So if you click it without reading it, that is 100% on you.

And for those who book on the phone, pretty sure you check something similar when you do your online check-in.

 

[piccolopat]

Ah, but you contradict yourself. You DO have to click a box that you have read the terms and conditions (aka policies) when you make that reservation. So if you click it without reading it, that is 100% on you. And for those who book on the phone, pretty sure you check something similar when you do your online check-in.

As I indicated, I've never cruised and so I have no idea what the process is so there is nothing for me to contradict. I will say that if this info is buried into a long terms and conditions section like I've seen on various websites, it is still not ideal. Bullet point the most important things rather than bury them in pages of legalese. It would help avoid misunderstandings like what the OP experienced.