Hello,
We were on the September 7 day eastern Magic sailing that was reduced to a 4 day trip by Frances.
DCL refunded 50% of our fare - 25% off a future cruise (within a year) - they put us into their polyensian resort one nite - provided 1 days' "ultra pass" to their park for 3 of us - we got a cabin credit for what I vaguely recall was $100 - and they added Disney transfers to bus us down to Fort Lauderdale and back into Orlando from Port Canaveral.
Overall - communication was pretty good BEFORE the hurricane swept in - and since we traveled into the region to make the sailing - the evolving situation made for some slightly disappointing discoveries enroute. But it is not a huge problem - nor was it the fault of Disney. As we could (and should) have called in a bit more frequently to get appraised of changes - we did not anticipate that there would be much change - and there were. For two things - we were initially told they expected to provide us with a 5 day sailing and 40% discount - so we traveled in - and the morning of expected embarkation we found (via on-line discussion board - not from DCL) that the sailing had been moved to the next day and cut to a 4 day. And the other thing we were not told of til a bit later was that the departure was going to be from Fort Lauderdale rather than Port Canaveral. Of course there were other minor things not really worth mentioning.
Other considerations - we were traveling from California - and the airlines were canceling airports while we were enroute or in the air. So as we landed nearer to FLorida we found that our prior flight arrangements were rescheduled into another airport or canceled (requiring rescheduling). And in one case they split our record and partiy into different flights - and that could not work since we had kids with us! In the end we rescheduled our flights 7 times and landed a few hundred miles SHORT - but we took it since we were trying to make the sailing date - that ended up moving to the next day! All the airports in FLorida were closed!
Aside from that we ended up ending our flight in (unprotected) at Charlotte and then we drove into Jacksonville the nite before the expected embarkation - and then drove to Orlando - rode the bus to Fort Lauderdale - and then had a great time on the cruise even though we are NOT fans of western carib ports. I (the Dad) was mildly wacked initially but the familiy came through in pretty good shape and IMMEDIATELY had a great time from the moment we stepped aboard!
So would we sail again in hurricane season? Well - about half of our past sailings have been during hurricane season. Only ONCE has our sailing been disrupted in any way - as last years' was. And in retrospect we'd easily go again in September. We're scheduled to sail this year on the 3rd!
NOW... on the other hand - I did not know that last year NOAA had forecast a higher than average hurricane treat season - and this year it is THE SAME.... take a look:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2438.htm
and I must confess - If I knew in advance that the season was going to be threatening - I might CONSIDER sailing at another time - OR - doing something else for fun that year. But we really have such a great time on the DCL cruise that this is something we're gonna do if humanly possible since our kids are at the perfect age to derrive maximum enjoyment. And when they have great fun - we have great happiness as parents.
At any rate - I advise you plan ahead - remain flexible - stay positive and plan for adversity and hope for smooth sailing. Just because it is a busier than normal hurricane season does NOT mean each and every sailing will be disrupted or a marginal disaster. Think of it as a bit of an adventure in the making - and more then likely YOUR sailing will see no disturbances! But if you encounter any hurdles - than plan ahead to be leaping to overcome the "aventursome" obstacles! (at worst)
We've been on 17 or 18 cruises - half during the hurricane season - and I can think back to a couple of cruises where in the evening you could see the lightening storms in the distance - as the ship usually sails around the storm fronts. It was all very romantic and memorable.
On another note.... I should also remind you all that Windjammer LOST A SHIP in a storm - as their ships are sailing ships.... and they had to stop and let off their passengers and most of the crew on an island (for safety) as they determined that the ship could NOT escape the approaching storm front - and a volunteer crew took the ship to sea to try and ride the storm out - and the ship and crew were lost. Also - NCL was sued in a class action last year for sailing a ship into a storm front to make port (dumb) and they probably got a bunch of folks seasick and angry. They sued. Now - DISNEY is supremely smart by comparison - they add days for free - re-juggle ports - or shorten sailings and offer fair refunds plus discounts towards future sailngs to compensate... plus other sundry action(s) to wrangle decent experiences for us paying sorts. NCL made a bad call sailing into a front to keep a schedule - really really DUMB IMHO. They deserve to be sued! BUt fat chance of getting a settlement given maritime law and ports of flagging being foreign.
At any rate - have a little faith in DCL doing their LEVEL BEST (compared to other cruise lines) to treat us fair - and nuture a decent vacation experience. My opinon is they do a pretty darn good job of dealing with adversity. Of course, I was not on the bus that broke down enroute to fort lauderdale on my sailing - and those poor folks had to endure a lack of air conditioning for a few hours- a rotten way to start a cruise after the backflips needed to get that far otrherwise.
Hope my verbose novella lends texture and color to the idea of cruising during hurricane season!
Liberal sprinkles of PIXIE dust to all!
From Tom & Alicia
