Is it just me??? Compensation??

[Ericandblueboy]

Let's see, stuck on a ship with nothing to do or sit in my office billing clients. Given that I have limited vacation time, I would prefer to stay in my office if the vacation is going to suck. On top of wasting my time, I believe Disney cruises also cost more than other cruises. So now I've wasted time and money yet I can't be disappointed?

Let's use some hypotheticals. Assume that you booked a 7 day cruise but just as soon as you board, a hurricane develops and the Captain decides to drop anchor outside of Port Canaveral for 7 days. Should you be compensated?

What if you had to turn back half way through the cruise?

What if you only missed two ports of call?

What about Tsunami victims? That was weather related, so the people who lost their loved ones shouldn't feel disappointed or get any compensation?

It certainly sounds like the ones advocating no compensation do so only because they don't want their cruise prices to go up. You guys show alot of compassion!

 

[lbgraves]

I'm sorry, but trying to compare missing CC to the Tsunami is just too much. Missing a port is not a life or death situation.

 

[Ericandblueboy]

I'm sorry, but trying to compare missing CC to the Tsunami is just too much. Missing a port is not a life or death situation.

So no compensation until someone dies?

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

According to my admittely unscientific reasearch, January is the fourth most likely month to miss Castaway Cay. September is first, followed by December and February (equally likely), then January. I put a little table together to display it better:

<table border><tr><th width=20% align=center><br></th><th width=18% align=center>Magic</th><th width=18% align=center>Wonder</th><th width=19% align=center>Total</th><th width=25% align=center># of Misses</th></tr><tr><th align=left>Jan</th><td align=right>85%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>93%</td><td align=center>3</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Feb</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>86%</td><td align=right>91%</td><td align=center>3</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Mar</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=center>0</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Apr</th><td align=right>93%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>97%</td><td align=center>1</td></tr><tr><th align=left>May</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=center>0</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Jun</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=center>0</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Jul</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=center>0</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Aug</th><td align=right>95%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>98%</td><td align=center>1</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Sep</th><td align=right>89%</td><td align=right>71%</td><td align=right>79%</td><td align=center>8</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Oct</th><td align=right>94%</td><td align=right>95%</td><td align=right>95%</td><td align=center>2</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Nov</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>100%</td><td align=center>0</td></tr><tr><th align=left>Dec</th><td align=right>100%</td><td align=right>87%</td><td align=right>91%</td><td align=center>3</td></tr><tr><th align=left><br></th><td align=right><br></td><td align=right><br></td><td align=right><br></td><td align=center><br></td></tr><tr><th align=left>Totals</th><td align=right>96%</td><td align=right>95%</td><td align=right>95.23%</td><td align=center>21</td></tr></table>

 

[DancingBear]

How many years are those figures for?

 

[DancingBear]

What about Tsunami victims? That was weather related, so the people who lost their loved ones shouldn't feel disappointed or get any compensation?

We should help the victims of the Tsunami out of humanitarian motivations, not as "compensation" for life not living up to their expectations.

 

[LoveMyBaby]

If I book a 3 day vacation at WDW, and don't get to visit the parks one day because of horrible weather, do I expect compensation from Disney? No. There are risks in everything we do. You adjust and still figure out a way to enjoy your vacation.

 

[kellimomo3]

Wow! I was on the cruise you are speaking of (1/15) and please take what you have read with a grain of salt. We enjoyed ourselves and found the weather pleasant. Both of the ports we were unable to dock at (Grand Cayman & Castaway Cay) were due to strong currents, not bad weather. It was unforunate but an act of nature none the less. I do not expect any compensation from Disney and have in fact re-booked. I have hear of several posters all year round that were unable to dock at Castaway Cay so it can happen any time. Your vacation is what you make it and we were determined to have fun, family time and we did. Honestly what takes away from it the most is all the negative talk on the boards after, I keep thinking, were we on the same cruise???

Kelli

 

[dwkwootton]

While it may seem to be much comparing the Tsunami situation to a missed port, it seems to me that this poster's point was missed. It is no more logical to state that if you were not at work, you've no right to complain.

If the stats are correct and those of us who sail in January are so stupid to know better or so cheap to go at the right time, answer me this:

Why doesn't Disney know as much as you do?

Why didn't they have 2 sets of navigators ready and why were they scrambling like crazy both missed port mornings trying to come up with additional activities and printing a revised navigator?

This was one of my original points .... that there was no back up plan in place and there should have been! I'm so stupid that I think they should have a back up plan in place even for the brilliant and wealthy that cruise in the correct 6 months.

I've said all along that I would have been thrilled to go see a matinee of Ladder 49 or participate in any kind of activity that was not overrun with keyed up, disappointed children.

Why was I on Deck 7 aft with other passengers as well as 2 Disney CM's who were pulling as hard as we were to make it to Castaway Cay? They cracked more good jokes about swimming over to the island, jumping overboard, kidding that Captain Tom needed driving lessons, etc than anyone did. I think they wanted off the ship more than me ... they were burned out from this cruise too. They stated to us that this cruise was worse than the hurricane cruises.

Note well that 2 of the 6 of them were sick with the flu, so 2/3 of them were doing all the work. Maybe they are also too stupid to know that they can't expect to get to port in January?

How's this logic, if you cruise in the wrong 6 months, how about if you make it to port you are required to pay a surcharge fee since you should know better than to think you are really going to go?

 

[allears]

kellimomo3, I'm with you. I've been reading these posts and wondering if we were on the same ship.

What I have a real challenge with is how dissapointment some how now equals compensation. With all vacations there is risk of things not going the way we would like them or the way it was advertised.

My wife and I were talking about this last night. A couple of years ago we took a vacation to Myrtle Beach. Now the area adversitses itself as the sun fun captial of the world. In all advertisments and marketing materials they boast about the beautiful beaches and stunning weather and all of the things you can do. Well a hurricane hit that week and we spent two days hunkered down in a house with friends. We missed a couple of things we had planned and certainly missed a lot of fun in the sun. We were bummed about the way things turned out, though we made the very best of it. Should the city of Myrtle Beach have compensated us in some way for our messed up vacation. After all, like DCL advertises CC as part of the trip, Myrtle Beach advertises sun. Should we feel cheated because we didn't get compensation? The answer is no, this stuff happens. Why is it that we expect doesn't happen we want a corporation to compensate us?

What if we had gotten to both islands and it rained all day, should we get compensated? And if so why? And how could a company make a policy that gives us 10% when we miss a port. Where does this stop? If the shows or dance parties didn't meet my expectations, should I get 10% off. How about if I didn't like the lay out of the ship? Or anything else that didn't meet my expectations.

I don't think anyone is trying to invalidate other's disappointment. It is perfectly understandable. I think the problem comes in when it goes beyond disspointment to a demand for retribution and casting aspersions on the character of the ship's captain and crew. I found it amazing that people standing with us while trying to dock could say things about how they could dock the boat. How many of us has any training on handling an 84,000 ton vehicle? Then one father said to his kids, take a good look, that's where you would have had fun today. Way to make things better and show your kids how to roll with the punches.

Oh well, we had a great time. The weather sure was a lot better than here in New Jersey, where it was 17 degrees with a foot of snow when we returned. Give me 70 and breezy on the deck of beautiful ship any day!

 

[smchan]

According to my admittely unscientific reasearch, January is the fourth most likely month to miss Castaway Cay. September is first, followed by December and February (equally likely), then January.

Interesting data, Lloyd. I presume you flagged by date so as to eliminate duplicate reports for the same cruise?

Also, any clue as the the cause of these misses? Reason I ask is I could see one weather event (a severe hurricane) cause a number of misses due to damage at CC, so I'm curious which misses were primarily due to weather and which were due to other reasons: damage, equipment malfunction, etc.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

A few words on my stats. They are not comprehensive, but are correct in that they accurately represent what has been reported on this board and the trip report board. They encompass the entirety of DCL's existence, but are weighted heavily towards the past few years, as this seems to be when the boards have gained popularity and as a result there are many more trip reports from this time.

Overall, I've been able to account for 44% of all DCL cruises, or 440 of 1000. Broken down by year, I've accounted for them as follows:

2005 - 64% (7 of 11)
2004 - 78% (118 of 152)
2003 - 77% (118 of 154)
2002 - 61% (93 of 153)
2001 - 44% (68 of 154)
2000 - 6% (12 of 187)
1999 - 11% (16 of 145)
1998 - 9% (4 of 44)

Overall (again, based on the cruises for which I can account), the Magic has docked successfully 95.85% of the time (185 of 193); the Wonder 94.74% (234 of 247).

A statistician could probably tell you with what degree of certainty these numbers would project over all cruises. I'm not a statistician, just someone who likely has too much time on his hands....I do know that for the years 2002-2004, I've accounted for 73% of all sailings, and the numbers are pretty similar -- 97% for the Magic, 94% for the Wonder.

Based on my layman's understanding of all this, I think it's fair to say that the odds are still greatly in your favor, regardless of what time of year it is. Having said that, I understand that this is of small consolation to those who miss Castaway Cay.

Edited to address smchan's questions:

Yes, I have flagged by date, so each cruise is only counted once. Regarding the reason for missing, I have much less information, and that is mostly anecdotal. I've made a few notes, but have no solid numbers. I would say, just based on what I've read, that the overwhelming majority of misses are caused by the weather. By that I would include wind, seas/wave heights, rain, currents, and any other natural phenomenon. I would guess that the number of missed caused by hurricane damage (i.e. the weather is fine, but there is damage from a past storm causing the call to be aborted) are very few, most of which happened this past fall, and a couple back in 1999. From when I first cruised with DCL in 2000, I've kept a pretty close eye on this and don't recall storm damange causing a miss between then and fall of last year.

Of course, this is almost completely based my own recollection, and is certianly subject to question.

 

[tigger002]

While it is true there is nothing Disney can do when they can not get you into the port because of the weather but we do pay port charges for every port we stop at, well I am not sure about Castaway since Disney owns it, so shouldn't the port charges be reimbursed for Cayman?? Otherwise Disney would seem to be making money as they never paid Cayman for the charges.

 

[allears]

Port charges for both GC and CC were refunded.

 

[lbgraves]

So no compensation until someone dies?

What I mean is that to think that someone on the ship who does not get to go to CC trying to compare their disappointment to an event where over 160000 people died within seconds is utterly ridiculous. There is absolutely NO comparison.

No, I haven't had to miss a port...yet...but I am sure that it will happen eventually. That's just the way life is. I have had major disappointments happen but have dealt with it and gone on with my life.

 

[bbowers]

Man, I truly love my career. I get to work from home (with dogs on my lap), sometimes travel all over the country, and sleep in a LOT.

That said - there is no way on this earth that I wouldn't trade a week of working for a week on a cruise ship, even if we missed every port. And yes, my one and only cruise DID miss CC because of the 'canes. I didn't miss it in the slightest - I think DH and I spent most of that day zonked on the deck 4 chairs.

That's why I pack a book or two.

 

[cjsmith]

My beef with the whole thing is pretty simple. Regardless of the legal disclaimers, Disney sold you a product with the reasonable expectation that you would be taken to their private island. While it may be 'legal' for them to do nothing if they can't make it, I don't consider it good business. They are selling a product that the know they may not be able to deliver, so they should have something set up to compenstate for that should it not happen. Would you pay the same amount for your Disney cruise if you knew it did not include a stop at Castaway Cay? I wouldn't.

Imagine if you were flying, and the airline couldn't get you to your destination because of weather. Wouldn't you be a little ticked off if they made you buy another ticket to get there? But they don't, if the airline can't get you where they were supposed to, you don't have to pay again, they'll get you there eventually. Now I realize a cruise is different because you are paying for the time on the boat, and not to get somewhere, but I think with disney there are quite a few people who are paying to get to Castaway Cay. It's one of the hightlights of the cruise!

If my cruise couldn't dock at Nassau or somewhere, I'd probably be ok with that. But if we missed Castaway Cay, I would definately be writing a letter and demanding some compensation.

To compare missing a port to the airline not getting you to your distination doesn't work. You buy a plane ticket to get from one point to another, plain and simple. And if they don't get you there are the flight you booked due to bad weather or engine problems or whatever they either offer your a refund or place you on another plane and get to from point A to point B at some point.
When you buy a cruise you are buying however many days on a cruise ship along with travel to a few points. Now you can miss ports due to weather or political unrest or various other reasons. I can understand being disappointed, but never would I expect compensation from anyone. And have I missed ports, yes. My 10/24/04 Golden Princess cruise was supposed to take us to Grenada and Venezula. Guess what, the hurricane wiped out Grenada and political unrest made us miss Caracas. Furthermore the day we were to visit St Kitts, they had just declared it a national holiday that morning due to the elections on the previous day. Everything was closed, most stores and most restaurants including the place that I had lunch reservations at. Once again this was beyond Princess' control. What did I do, I enjoyed the heck out of my cruise and enjoy the places we did make! I made the most of my time and realized that I still got a great cruise even if it wasn't exactly the one I booked. To expect any cruise line to give compensation is silly. And I never heard one person complain while on the cruise or on the cruise critic board after we returned.
I think one of the problems is that people have come to expect perfection of Disney and it's simply not possible. Disney doesn't promise the PERFECT cruise as life isn't perfect, they offer a quality cruise with exceptional service and this is usually what you get from them, at least I always have. Can we be disappointed, YES, can we vent, YES, should we look for money because it wasn't perfect, NO.

 

[DancingBear]

...Why didn't they have 2 sets of navigators ready and why were they scrambling like crazy both missed port mornings trying to come up with additional activities and printing a revised navigator?

This was one of my original points .... that there was no back up plan in place and there should have been! I'm so stupid that I think they should have a back up plan in place even for the brilliant and wealthy that cruise in the correct 6 months.

Based on many postings on this board, it seems clear that they do have backup plans and are pretty good at implementing them. In this particular instance, at least as to missing CC, the decision was made at the last minute after serious attempts by the Captain to dock. In that case, I wouldn't expect the cast to have pre-printed all of the alternate Navigators.

I've said all along that I would have been thrilled to go see a matinee of Ladder 49 or participate in any kind of activity that was not overrun with keyed up, disappointed children.

But you don't appreciate DCL's effort to keep all those keyed up, disappointed children occupied.

Why was I on Deck 7 aft with other passengers as well as 2 Disney CM's who were pulling as hard as we were to make it to Castaway Cay? They cracked more good jokes about swimming over to the island, jumping overboard, kidding that Captain Tom needed driving lessons, etc than anyone did. I think they wanted off the ship more than me ... they were burned out from this cruise too. They stated to us that this cruise was worse than the hurricane cruises.

Note well that 2 of the 6 of them were sick with the flu, so 2/3 of them were doing all the work. Maybe they are also too stupid to know that they can't expect to get to port in January?

Not sure of your point here. Everyone acknowledges that not getting into GC or CC had to be disappointing. But were the CMs saying they were entitled to compensation for that failure?

I think the bottom line issue for many of us is that, except for what I and others percieve as relatively quibbling points, such as not showing a matinee of an "adult" movie, your disappointment all are rooted in the fact that there was bad weather or ocean conditions that week, which are clearly out of DCL's control, and thus don't really give rise to a claim to compensation.

 

[crisi]

My beef with the whole thing is pretty simple. Regardless of the legal disclaimers, Disney sold you a product with the reasonable expectation that you would be taken to their private island. While it may be 'legal' for them to do nothing if they can't make it, I don't consider it good business. They are selling a product that the know they may not be able to deliver, so they should have something set up to compenstate for that should it not happen. Would you pay the same amount for your Disney cruise if you knew it did not include a stop at Castaway Cay? I wouldn't.

Imagine if you were flying, and the airline couldn't get you to your destination because of weather. Wouldn't you be a little ticked off if they made you buy another ticket to get there? But they don't, if the airline can't get you where they were supposed to, you don't have to pay again, they'll get you there eventually. Now I realize a cruise is different because you are paying for the time on the boat, and not to get somewhere, but I think with disney there are quite a few people who are paying to get to Castaway Cay. It's one of the hightlights of the cruise!

If my cruise couldn't dock at Nassau or somewhere, I'd probably be ok with that. But if we missed Castaway Cay, I would definately be writing a letter and demanding some compensation.

Perhaps you should reconsider cruising. There are plenty of very nice beaches to sit on in the Carribean where you don't have to worry about docking due to strong currents or weather. If the nominal (5%) risk is not worth it to you, don't cruise.

Disney has compensated, but not for just missing CC. Its been the hurricane cruises that were far more disrupted. Since they are having no problems selling cruises and are making money, this lack of compensation seems to be a proven good business decision over the past five years. If something changes, perhaps this will no longer be a good decision.

 

[karebear1]

For my DH and I there was disappointment because of the fact that we couldn't get off the boat- but in all honesty, this alone did not account for all of our unhappiness with our cruise experience last week. It was compounded by many, many other experiences throughout the week. Most of those things we alone, experienced. It was a culmination of these experiences that prompts me to write to DCL and voice my disappointment.

As for compensation, that is entirely a personal choice. If someone feels as though they did not get what they bargained for, they have all the right in the world to try to negotiate for some kind of compensation. For some people, it is unimportant, for others, not so! Some are content to let things lay where they are, others will stand and voice their opinions and try to do something to make the situation right in their eyes. What is wrong with that?