Hurricane Joaquin bearing down on the Bahamas, what does DCL do?

[MiaSRN62]

Well Maria we will have to politely agree to disagree......I read the Captains report and other qualified reviews. I really don't put any weight in the US new media and especially the internet. They are looking to create a story and never let any facts get in the way of a good tall tale. If you look at the Florida straits its a narrow channel and there is no way to turn out to sea. I also explained in my post why the Master could not turn the vessel around.



I was also on the Fantasy the 2nd cruise after Sandy, so I had a good chance to examine the vessel and talk to the ships crew and some officers.

Again we can agree to disagree, I respect your feelings and opinion but I believe I am correct.

AKK

I can agree with disagreeing. It was even confirmed that the only reason the captain went through it was because port was asking him to stay on schedule. I read many reports of guests on board that cruise who were scared and did not have to be. Their experience was unavoidable. Other cruise lines went further out-to-sea and off-schedule but their guests had calm seas. DCL stayed on schedule but put people through an experience that they didn't have to go through. That is my issue with what happened. And I do respect sources like CNN and USA Today and especially the first-hand reports of guests on that cruise. But no hard feelings Tonka. I understand there are always varying opinions.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

not

I can agree with disagreeing. It was even confirmed that the only reason the captain went through it was because port was asking him to stay on schedule. I read many reports of guests on board that cruise who were scared and did not have to be. Their experience was unavoidable. Other cruise lines went further out-to-sea and off-schedule but their guests had calm seas. DCL stayed on schedule but put people through an experience that they didn't have to go through. That is my issue with what happened. And I do respect sources like CNN and USA Today and the first-hand reports of guests on that cruise. But no hard feelings Tonka. I understand there are always varying opinions.

I explain how he ended up getting caught up in the storm. As to the passengers, they had every right to be screed but that was due to the storm and not poor seaman ship on the part of the Master. We don't have all the details of where those other vessel were, but the decisions those Masters made would have been based on where they were and sea and storm conditions. Them being able to move to other areas and ride better seas( believe me there was no calm waters that night) would not have been available to the Fantasy based on where she was.

No hard feeling, we disagree......that is the fun part of forums.......but my years at sea and time on the fantasy does give me a good deal of knowledge to understand what happened. I would also point out any Master will do his or her best to kept the media away, because they lie......all the time........to get a story, facts or no facts. Blogs are worse, especially the shore side lawyer harpy, that some how has a whole story and who to blame before the ship makes port!

Bottom line , Thank God no one was seriously hurt!


PS...........I want to add, I can fully understand how scared you folks were on the Fantasy that night. The vessel was rolling 10 to 12 degree, which isn't a lot but to people not use to it, it would be* hold on tight time*

The noise of items flying around and crashing all night........that also would have been scary.

The hotel staff messed up in not securing everything, that was a major error in my book.


AKK

 

[dsnydaddy]

Castaway Cay should be in the path of this storm, especially after looking at models this morning on the National Hurricane web site. I remember an earlier 2000's hurricane that did a lot of damage to the newer Disney cruise island. In 2004 it was Frances and Jeanne that took aim at the island, and twice again it got hit. I have pictures of the sign on the island, parden our mess, we were visited by Frances and Jeanne. That was also the year Charlie shut down WDW.

I believe the first hurricane that hit the island, (I can not remember that storms name), that storm took out where the shipped docked. Disney had to redesign their docking area. It was out of commission for several weeks. Of course many cruisers posted on this board about not being able to dock, when will the ship be able to dock.

I am sure Disney is concerned about rebuilding that area again. The cast members who live on the island: I remember a thread that the Wonder stopped and picked them up before the storm hit. You have to go way back in the archives of Threads on this board but they should be there.

Kathy and Dave cruised '99. - '12 now taking a break, platinum CC

According to the track that I'm seeing Joaquin should not make a strike on either CC or Nassau. In fact it should be veering away that area of the Bahamas. I'm not seeing wind predictions much over 21 MPH for Nassau and CC shouldn't be much different.

 

[gumbypee]

not


I explain how he ended up getting caught up in the storm. As to the passengers, they had every right to be screed but that was due to the storm and not poor seaman ship on the part of the Master. We don't have all the details of where those other vessel were, but the decisions those Masters made would have been based on where they were and sea and storm conditions. Them being able to move to other areas and ride better seas( believe me there was no calm waters that night) would not have been available to the Fantasy based on where she was.

No hard feeling, we disagree......that is the fun part of forums.......but my years at sea and time on the fantasy does give me a good deal of knowledge to understand what happened. I would also point out any Master will do his or her best to kept the media away, because they lie......all the time........to get a story, facts or no facts. Blogs are worse, especially the shore side lawyer harpy, that some how has a whole story and who to blame before the ship makes port!

Bottom line , Thank God no one was seriously hurt!


PS...........I want to add, I can fully understand how scared you folks were on the Fantasy that night. The vessel was rolling 10 to 12 degree, which isn't a lot but to people not use to it, it would be* hold on tight time*

The noise of items flying around and crashing all night........that also would have been scary.

The hotel staff messed up in not securing everything, that was a major error in my book.


AKK

Tonka's Skipper has years at sea. I trust his (I think a "he") assessment over news media. In my work I have personally witnessed countless times when "reputable" news sources gets a story very, very wrong. I don't trust the news at all. actually.

Moving on.... LOL

 

[TheLanes]

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Fantasy was unsafe during Sandy. Were our lives in immediate danger? Probably not. That isn't really the same thing as unsafe.

It certainly felt unsafe when a glass in my stateroom went flying through the air, narrowly missing my husband's head. I am guessing our friends who were cut from the broken glass in their stateroom felt it was a bit unsafe. Perhaps the couple we shared a cab with whose luggage was somehow destroyed during the storm.

You would think they would tell cruisers to put away any glass items to avoid things like that happening

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Ye

Tonka's Skipper has years at sea. I trust his (I think a "he") assessment over news media. In my work I have personally witnessed countless times when "reputable" news sources gets a story very, very wrong. I don't trust the news at all. actually.

Moving on.... LOL

Yeap a guy!....AKK

 

[MiaSRN62]

According to the track that I'm seeing Joaquin should not make a strike on either CC or Nassau. In fact it should be veering away that area of the Bahamas. I'm not seeing wind predictions much over 21 MPH for Nassau and CC shouldn't be much different.

I read an account that the winds televised on the stateroom TV's were 58 mph on Wed night I believe it was.....

 

[waggles02673]

I read an account that the winds televised on the stateroom TV's were 58 mph on Wed night I believe it was.....

Yes I saw that as well, it was on a twitter account I believe. I will see if I can find it. Also the wind speed shown on the TV's is apparent wind and not True wind speed, very different.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Looked up the weather over the past week. And this is what I got:

http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/bahamas/nassau/historic

essentially, Wind speeds not very high. Maybe I'm reading the thing wrong.

 

[mindy20]

We are on the Fantasy now, our room is in between the 2 Roy Disney Suites. I stayed up until 3am scared last night, winds on my stateroom tv said 70 that was the highest I saw. The boat was really moving last night, it was terrible. My stateroom host told us several cabins had sick adults and children. I also talked to many people whose patrician on the balcony was blown off. I don't want to ever go through this kind of storm again. I sure hope Castaway is ok.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Tonka's Skipper has years at sea. I trust his (I think a "he") assessment over news media. In my work I have personally witnessed countless times when "reputable" news sources gets a story very, very wrong. I don't trust the news at all. actually.

Moving on.... LOL

3 ships were supposed to dock on Saturday, the Disney Fantasy, the Carnival Dream and I think it was the Freedom of the Seas (I know it was a Royal ship). The other 2 ships stayed out, only the Disney Captain decided to head back to port. I know that the decision to not bring in the Carnival ship was made on Friday, I don't know when Royal made the decision to not bring in their ship but 2 out of 3 Captains decided it made more sense to delay the return for a day. I don't think that the news media had to spin that too hard or got it "very, very wrong".

 

[cgolf]

What have the waves been running? Last night I saw that they were 2-3 meters. If that is true DCL is doing a great job keeping the ship in relatively calm waters. On our favorite cruise ever out and back to Hawaii we encounter 6 meter seas for many days. That was the best I ever slept The only difference might be the waves on the pacific may not pack as tightly as they do in the Carribian giving a smoother ride even though they were pretty substantial, @Tonka's Skipper can correct me if I am wrong on this

 

[Ofinn]

3 ships were supposed to dock on Saturday, the Disney Fantasy, the Carnival Dream and I think it was the Freedom of the Seas (I know it was a Royal ship). The other 2 ships stayed out, only the Disney Captain decided to head back to port. I know that the decision to not bring in the Carnival ship was made on Friday, I don't know when Royal made the decision to not bring in their ship but 2 out of 3 Captains decided it made more sense to delay the return for a day. I don't think that the news media had to spin that too hard or got it "very, very wrong".

I totally agree with you. Maybe the ship wasn't in any danger, but you scared the crap out of your guests, damaged just about everything in your gift shops, broken glass and dishes everywhere. I've seen the you tube videos the ship was a wreck, I'm sure there was vomit in most of state rooms and hallways...all for what?.... just to get back on time for the next cruise which I believe left late anyway because the ship was such a mess. I think it was a really bad decision.

Our first cruise on the Dream we didn't leave port until 4am because of a tropical storm. Freedom of the Seas left port and had a lot of problems. It was on the news, and they ended up compensating the passengers because of the horrible conditions. I know DCL did the same on the Sandy cruise. I don't think they would compensate passengers unless they knew they made a bad decision. Just my 2 cents. I've loved my DCL cruises... but sometimes the blind loyalty by some on these boards is a bit much.

 

[bonnysammy]

Wow! I didn't hear anything about this on the news today. And I live in FL. Must check it out.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Tonka's Skipper has years at sea. I trust his (I think a "he") assessment over news media. In my work I have personally witnessed countless times when "reputable" news sources gets a story very, very wrong. I don't trust the news at all. actually.

Moving on.... LOL

Respectfully.......well there was plenty of eye witness accounts and VIDEO from passengers on that cruise to corroborate the vast amount of news coverage. It wasn't a couple of isolated reports for sure? So I believe what they went through and what I saw on video IN ADDITION to the news.

AGREED PrincessTrisha and Ofinn !!!

 

[jdb in AZ]

I totally agree with you. Maybe the ship wasn't in any danger, but you scared the crap out of your guests, damaged just about everything in your gift shops, broken glass and dishes everywhere. I've seen the you tube videos the ship was a wreck, I'm sure there was vomit in most of state rooms and hallways...all for what?.... just to get back on time for the next cruise which I believe left late anyway because the ship was such a mess. I think it was a really bad decision.

Our first cruise on the Dream we didn't leave port until 4am because of a tropical storm. Freedom of the Seas left port and had a lot of problems. It was on the news, and they ended up compensating the passengers because of the horrible conditions. I know DCL did the same on the Sandy cruise. I don't think they would compensate passengers unless they knew they made a bad decision. Just my 2 cents. I've loved my DCL cruises... but sometimes the blind loyalty by some on these boards is a bit much.

We were on that first Fantasy cruise after Sandy. It left port late because it had arrived several hours late and it took time to disembark the returning passengers. For awhile they had the returning passengers leaving at the same time the new passengers were boarding. Also, the crew had had a sleepless night and needed some time to rest. Some of the cast members looked really tired. Understandably so.

There were some cracked windows in the Cabanas buffet and an outside door wouldn't close properly, but we didn't see/smell or even hear about any vomit. The crew worked their magic to clean up the mess. Our itinerary changed, then changed again due to storm damage in the ports, but we did get to Castaway Cay.

The damage to the gift shops was quickly cleaned up. Some reports said cast members had placed the merchandise on the floor during the storm, so the stuff wouldn't fall off the racks/shelves.

An RCCL ship was scheduled to leave Port Canaveral that same afternoon we boarded the Fantasy, but the RCCL ship just stayed in port and the passengers were given the option of just using it as a floating hotel. Hurricane Sandy had already passed earlier that morning -- we didn't see much point in just staying in port.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

,Hey

You would think they would tell cruisers to put away any glass items to avoid things like that happening

3 ships were supposed to dock on Saturday, the Disney Fantasy, the Carnival Dream and I think it was the Freedom of the Seas (I know it was a Royal ship). The other 2 ships stayed out, only the Disney Captain decided to head back to port. I know that the decision to not bring in the Carnival ship was made on Friday, I don't know when Royal made the decision to not bring in their ship but 2 out of 3 Captains decided it made more sense to delay the return for a day. I don't think that the news media had to spin that too hard or got it "very, very wrong".

Lanes, I agree......there was indeed problems with the actions (or lack of actions) of the hotel staff.

It may also demonstrate that they were not expecting the rough seas they later encountered. In either case they should have been prepared.


Yet the media/ blogs did spin...anything for a story. Any time the Disney name is even remotely involved in a story or problem the media has field day. I find it amazing how some blindly support any media or blogs.

Please you say the other 2 vessels stayed at sea, which is correct. Where were there cruises going to in relationship to where the Fantasy was? Was it eastern? western? Bahamas?, southern? Please let me know what sea conditions did they have from the storm?.....There location in relation to the Fantasy?.........What options did they have in comparison to the Fantasy in her position and sea and storms conditions?......Would it have been safe or even possible for the Fantasy to try and get to a area the other 2 vessels were?

No I do not expect anyone here to have this information, just pointing out how much information is involved here, not just *gee the other ships stayed at sea, so the Fantasy was wrong*. However I do expect everyone to admit the media and bogs are not nautical people and have little or no idea about what they are printing. Of course they do need to keep there readership numbers high and what better way then spinning a story with the Disney name involved.


What I read in the maritime industry reports as I have reported.......Sandy slowed down and trapped the fantasy.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

What have the waves been running? Last night I saw that they were 2-3 meters. If that is true DCL is doing a great job keeping the ship in relatively calm waters. On our favorite cruise ever out and back to Hawaii we encounter 6 meter seas for many days. That was the best I ever slept The only difference might be the waves on the pacific may not pack as tightly as they do in the Carribian giving a smoother ride even though they were pretty substantial, @Tonka's Skipper can correct me if I am wrong on this

Hi cgolf,

Seas in the Pacific do term to be a bit calmer then the Atlantic However that doesn't mean a storm, wind and currents anywhere in the world could not produce high waves and swells.

I old Seaman's trick to sleeping better on rough seas is the slip your life vests under the edges of the bunk mattress and create a nice compfy place to nestle into.

AKK

 

[TestingH2O]

Just saw that port won't open until noon today.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Just saw that port won't open until noon today.

I was a report there is heavy rip currents across the breakwater entrance.

AKK