Just back from 9/28 Disney Magic cruise and I am steaming!!!!

[mlshields]

Hi,

My family and I just returned from the 9/28 Mystery Cruise.
Sunday - Castaway Cay, Monday - Sea, Tuesday - San Juan, Wednesday - St. Thomas, Thurs - Sea, Friday - Castaway Cay.

First of all, I understand that Disney cannot control the weather and I understand their concern about our safety BUT.............

When arriving in JFK this evening, there were a bunch of women talking near me and they were mentioning what a wonderful time they had in Key West, Cozumel, Belize and
Costa Masa(spelling?)!!!!!!!!!!! They were on the Carnaval Pride which was docked with us this morning in Port Canaveral (they also left there last Saturday before us).

They went to KW on SUNDAY and had a BEAUTIFUL/WONDERFUL/AMAZING day!!! Monday they went to Belize, Tuesday at Sea, Wed at Costa Masa, Thur - Cozumel another BEAUTIFUL/WONDERFUL/AMAZING day, and Friday at sea.

Were we lied to? A part of me feels like we were taken advantage of - Disney had us pay for the Western and we didn't see a single port. Not only that, but they went to Castaway Cay twice which is ok, but I would have rather gone somewhere new.
I also wonder if Disney pays port fees in Castaway Cay - if not they sure did save themselves a pretty penny.

Not only were we supposed to feel "special" because we got to go to C. Cay twice, they didn't even seem to care that some people were upset at the itinerary change.

I am sorry to vent on this subject, but this trip cost me quite alot of points (Western is more expensive than the Eastern) and I feel that if Disney and their "State of the art equipment" couldn't go to the right ports, then how could Carnival make it???????

 

[BeanoC]

Since Carnival made it to the same ports of call, you bring up a good point. Why couldn't the Magic get there? We cruise next Saturday and I hope we don't encounter the same thing, although I must say I personally would love 2 days at CC. I could do without San Juan, and we just cruised to St. Thomas.

I hope that during the course of all this you were still able to enoy yourself?
If you hadn't heard those people talking in the airport, would you still be mad?

Did Disney offer anything in exchange, such as free wine at dinner? Any consolation at all?

I am sorry to hear of all this frustration and hope you don't consider it a complete loss... Did you have fun????

I also don't blame you for venting here. You're entitled! Maybe a strongly worded letter to DVC would get you some restitution, I don't know.

Good luck and thanks for sharing this with us... but you've got me nervous for next week!



'Beano'

 

[Cruise]

I can understand your frustration. I'm a compulsive planner and if I'd ended up in ports that I wasn't expecting, I would have had to tell myself to calm down several times

I don't think Disney "lied" to you. There could be any number of reasons that the ports worked out the way they did. There is no sure-fire way of predicting where a hurricane will head to and I'm sure they thought it was better to avoid the area all together. Carnival obviously thought the risk of going to KW was worth the chance that the hurricane would turn east. I personally wouldn't have been happy with Carnival for taking that chance with my vacation.

Also, ships must have prior clearance to dock... they can't just show up and hope for a place When a hurricane blows through, the "safe" ports tend to fill up quickly. Disney obviously has something worked out with San Juan... Carnival must have something with Belize. I'm sure the women from the Pride enjoyed their time in Cozumel, but there was no way of knowing ahead of time how much damage the hurricane would do there. They may have gotten there and had it be impossible to dock.

In any event, I hope you did enjoy the days you had on Disney. Any day on a Disney Cruise is better than a day at work If you decide to cruise with Disney again, you may want to look at dates outside of hurricane season.

Julie

 

[mlshields]

Hi Beano,

Yes, I was a little annoyed before I heard them talking, because Disney didn't really seem to care, no wine with dinner or anything like that - we were just told constantly by every cast member how lucky we were to go to CC twice!

We cruised the Eastern last year (didn't really want to go to St. Thomas again) and since we only found out we were going to San Juan with two days notice we really couldn't research the excursions (which most people I spoke with thought were rather pricey). I don't think I would have minded it so much if maybe the shows were different or the meals were different. Since everything is pretty much the same as February 2001, I sort of feel stuck because I didn't want to do basically the same exact cruise again. The other problem this caused was that they changed the dining rotation around. We made Palo's ressies for Tuesday night to miss the Master Chef series, well that was changed to Wednesday and we missed the Mexicalifrag...... meal that we wanted to attend.

Yes we did have a good time, we met a wonderful group of people from the Dis Boards - Mike, Kerrie, Dennis, Chrystina, Ave, Mary, George, Beth, Eric, Rae, Papa, Kathy, Cathy, William and his parents and many more.

I guess it just "hurts" more to hear that other lines could get there and we couldn't.

I wish you luck and a wonderful trip.

 

[tstobb]

As someone who has sailed thru 12-14 foot seas AND who has 1st hand experience with the unpredictibility of tropical storms, I have to side with DCL on this one. The projected path of the storm was directly thru the route for the week. While I understand your frustration, believe me, if the storm had gone the way it was projected and DCL had not changed their route, you would have been questioning their sanity. The primary goal is the safety & comfort of the passengers on board. As far as consolation or restitution, not to be flippant but Mother Nature doesn't offer insurance policies & no cruise line takes route changes lightly - from the Carnival Pride schedule (http://www.carnival.com/Ships/itinerary.asp?sc=PR&itc=WC5&dur=007&epc=MCO), they were due to go to Key West, day at sea, Belize, Cozumel, Progresso, day at sea, home so the did alter their schedule as well, just differently than DCL.

 

[taswira]

mlshields, did you read @GoofyNut's post on the 9/28 thread?

"<I>A little bummed cause we missed Key West but I guess better safe than sorry. We heard that there was a Carnival ship that went into the gulf and it got really bad ... dishes smashing, etc. One of their crew e-mailed on of the Magic's crew to comiserate. Glad Disney isn't that crazy and cares more about our safety</I>."

To me it sounds like DCL's captain made a wise decision. But I'm sorry you didn't get to do the western itinerary. I'm on next year's 10/11 for the western. It's always iffy during hurricane season.

 

[nuke]

I am not an expert on ship's engines, but the new Carnival ships boast about new engines that allow them to sail faster. This allows them to travel to Belize from Port Canaveral in a weeks time. Could it be that the new engines have something to do with it? Maybe the Carnival ships are able to withstand the high seas and since they can sail faster thru the storm they don't feel that the ships are in as much danger. Just a thought.

 

[taswira]

<B>nuke</B> - You might be right, but the Pride's cruising speed is supposedly 22 knots. The Magic and Wonder are listed at 21.5 knots, with 24 knots max. Speed aside, I think I'd rather not be where the seas were bad enough to cause "<I>dishes smashing</I>" if it could be avoided.

 

[peagreenid]

Wasn't the only cruiseline being cautious...... I had passengers booked on Royal Caribbeans Voyager and they too did an Eastern itinerary instead of the Western, they went to Their private island on the first day, San Juan on the 2nd day and St. Thomas on the third. But, they didn't get the private island twice and their sea days appeared to have all been lump summed at the end.
I just got an email from a friend on the Pride, said they missed Progreso due to HEAVY damage to their dock, which is why they went to Costa Maya instead.
I would say it would be better to be safe than SORRY.... You had nice weather..... if you had gone the other way, what if the seas were really rough and the weather harsh. You might have had a change of scenery, but, gosh I don't think I would much enjoy a tropical paradise with 50 mph winds and rain.

smiles Patty

 

[disneyholic family]

if you've ever been on a ship during a storm you would never ever say what you're saying...
it's a terrifying experience....
it only happened to me once....and it was many yeara ago (i was 7 years old at the time)...
crossing the atlantic.....we had to go days out of our way but still we hit very hard seas....
as i said, i'd rather just sail around in circles on a flat ocean than be caught in anything like that again......
i grew up in tornado country, not hurricane, but i did manage to experience the tail end of a hurricane that hit WDW a few years back (the first time WDW opened late in its history up to that point)...
granted that storm was very mild once it got to WDW (by hurricane standards that is), but it was plenty for me....and that was on land....i'd hate to have to ride that out at sea........

i'm really sorry you were so disappointed on your cruise......but that risk seems to be part and parcel of the whole crusiing experience....you never know what the weather is going to be ....at sea....when you get to port....the only thing you can do is try to pick a safe season....but even then you might have very bad weather....as someone said, mother nature....

 

[Werner Weiss]

I've been on a cruise (not Disney) where we had to hold onto our dinner plates and silverware to keep them from flying off the table. That was back in 1993. The liquor bottles in the bars were reduced to a pile of broken glass on the floor. And it wasn't even a hurricane -- just high seas near Cozumel as an after-effect of the Storm of the Century.

I'm happy to hear that the Captain of the Disney Magic was concerned about the comfort and safety of the passengers and crew. If, on the other hand, he had knowingly sailed into region where a hurricane was coming through, I would be canceling my upcoming Disney Magic reservation.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

I told DH the other night that DCL was rerouted to San Juan - he said Puerto Rico is gorgeous!! If you didnt want to get off in the ports you could have made another sea day out of it. Im planning our Nov 30th Eastern and finding there is wayyy too much to do onboard ship,
I wouldnt want to risk the high seas. This is DH & DSs first cruise and I wouldnt want to take the chance on spoiling cruising for them. And yes, we are also cruising on points.
(I did already cruise to Key West & Cozumel on NCL last Dec.)

 

[mlshields]

Morning all,

First of all I have been cruising during a storm, we had 14 foot swells so I DO know what rough seas are like.

Secondly, I wouldn't be so upset if the group I was talking to didn't repeatedly say that their seas were VERY calm and the only night that they had it a little rough was coming back into Port Canaveral. So as far as "Smashing Dishes"?!? the group said it was a smooth ride. I am not sure we are all talking about the same Carnaval cruise.

Lastly, as far as too many things to do on board - for a first time cruiser there are WAY too many things to do. As far as the 700 repeat cruisers they said they had on board NOTHING has changed which is why I originally became upset with not doing the itinerary as planned (that was the main reason for going again).

Imgoingtodisney - We had very little notice about San Juan, it was nice, but with a family with kids 8 & 6 and VERY expensive excursions that we knew nothing about - I was going to take a chance. We did go to the fort but after that San Juan (as the crew puts it) is an adult only night time partying town.

I do understand everyone's concern for safety, but until you all put out YOUR money and find out that others got what you had signed up for - it would be interesting to see how you would feel.

 

[mlshields]

Taswira -

Here is a portion of a post from the 9/28 thread, written by native Key West residence - Shirley from the Perfect Gift (she was down there on Sunday 9/29 to meet all of the 9/28 cruisers):

"Key West was very nice - the weather was pretty as ususal - went down to Mallory Square and saw some of the different ships down there including the Pride which surprised me - I thought the port would be empty then to boot - the Navy ship USS Harry S. Truman was docked out about 8 miles and turned loose about 5000 sailors on the town for a few days of shore leave - Norm and I met a few of them at the Radisson where we stayed in KW - what a bunch of nice young men - I asked them how the seas were and they said they had no problems BUT then the Truman is a huge ship"

I guess it all depends on who you talk too.

 

[Renee']

So sorry to hear you were disenchanted with our cruise. To be honest with you, the weather this cruise was some of the best we've had during 4 sailings. We literally saw water that was as smooth as glass on Thursday - I was in awe as I've never seen the ocean literally shine like it did.

Whether the Carnival Pride decided to head their ship and passengers directly at a hurricane shouldn't bother you. If it all worked out well, good for them. Had they had horrible weather I'm sure you'd feel happy that our ship chose the ports it did. I'm glad our captain decided to take a conservative route and ensure that we had nice weather. While Disney is "magical" and certainly tries to please everyone the weather is certainly out of their control. I don't feel they were in any way trying to cheat us by diverting away from a major storm. I'm thankful. The risk of us seeing cloudy, windy, stormy weather was certainly greater heading towards it rather than away from it. Seems as though the passengers trip aboard the Pride was somewhat at risk of not being so sunny and calm as we experienced. For their sake I'm glad for them that it worked out for the best.

Being a pilot my dh checks all available online weather services and radar. Just prior to us departing on the 28th all indications were that Key West and Grand Cayman were in the direct path of Lili. It certainly would have been chancy of our captain to take us there. We were pleased to hear he wasn't.

Starting our cruise off with the day at CC was incredible. Instead of the day being a biter/sweet one (knowing you have to pack and disembark the following day) we knew we had the whole cruise ahead. I wished all of our 7-day cruises began that way.

As far as San Juan. We asked many of the cm's onboard and all had the same thing to say about it. It was a very nice city and definitely worth seeing. They also said not to book an excursion but to walk into the city as we dock right in the heart of it. We too have 2 children, they are 10 and 7. The four of us ventured off the ship after lunch, walked and shopped and explored the fort. It was beautiful and a port I'd definitely like to see DCL add to their itinerary. Actually let Captain Tom know while chatting with him on Thursday prior to our renewal.

I am sorry to vent on this subject, but this trip cost me quite alot of points (Western is more expensive than the Eastern)

Actually it wasn't. During the month of September we DVCers were offered the discounted rate. Both western and eastern itineraries were the same point cost. This was a special to us from last April 10th's member cruise high demand and limited availability. They offered discounted point cost on 3, 4 and 7-day itineraries with eastern and western being the same amount.

I'm so sorry you feel we were cheated. I beg to differ as we were given great weather plus a rare opportunity as not many cruisers/DVCers get CC twice (unless you want to pay higher points and do the members only cruise in February). We also had the opportunity to see PR (again only done once I believe due to bad weather). If you wanted that option you wouldn't have it paying any amount of points as DCL doesn't offer it. All in all we ended up on the winning side of this sailing and not cheated in any way. If the western itinerary is extremely important to you, book it anytime except hurricane season and you're sure to get to those ports. Hurricane season is the only "iffy" time of year and we all know that going into it. We could end up anywhere, hence the discounted rates during this time of year.

Still rockin' and swayin' but smiling at an awesome cruise.

Edited for spelling.

 

[zurgswife]

I think I have to agree with the previous poster....If you don't want to take a chance on not seeing your scheduled port, then don't book during Hurricane season. Weather is something that is always changing....I have to agree again that if the Captain took the boat to the scheduled ports and the weather was lousy then lots would be complaining about that also...

I'm sure I'd have been a little disappointed and maybe even frustrated not making my scheduled ports....but better safe than sorry....

I hope if you ever cruise again on DCL or another line; you don't pick hurrican season...

 

[disny4ever]

I sort of understand what you are saying, but, would you be even madder if DCL had put you and your family in danger if the hurricane had caused problems.
You did not get what you had hoped for, but I would sure be disappointed if DCL had not been concerned for my safety. They have a lot of people and a very expensive ship to be concerned about and I personaaly feel they made the right call.

 

[twduff]

I also just got back from the 09/28 cruise. I was most disappointed with the decision not to hit Key West on Sunday. I guess I felt that the hurricane was still far enough out that Sunday was OK to be hitting KW. Going into the cruise, I felt that if I got to see KW, I didn't care what happened after that. And at least for me, seeing CC twice was not a benefit.

Yes, we had fun. It was a nice cruise and I enjoyed it. But I really wish that we could have tried to stick to at least part of the schedule...

 

[KMovies]

Working for an insurance company, I can say this. Just before the storm hit the US, it died from a category 4 to a category 2 storm. People in Louisiana were pretty lucky - even those that did sustain much damage. I read somewhere where they really don't know what happened - nothing ever like that happened before and they want to investigate what happened to make the storm - almost a sure bet of extreme damage - to die so quickly. Anyways, all you can do is predict and take action.

Honestly, what decision would you have made when the Hurricane was headed for the ports on the Western - Maybe Carnival decided to head to Key West and then take a wait and see approach. Disney decided from day one to make other plans. Carnival may have headed down to Key West and then head elsewhere. They may have had more at sea days to get back to other ports rather than Disney that started that way in the first place. Carnivals choices may have been more limited to as ports do fill up and they waited til the last second. Disney made the right choice - they kept the ship and passengers safe, went to other ports, and gave the best cruise possible under the circumstances. Carnival made a good choice - they basically did the same route, and got lucky with the weather. It could have been a mistake.

As for everything being the same (shows, etc.), yes that is pretty much true. I've known that since day one since changes are rare. Voyage of the Ghost Ship did leave and now they have Millionare. They added Morty the Magician and a couple of variety shows when the 7-night cruise began, because they needed more shows for the extra nights. It is a problem for return cruises - but they have so many new cruisers that it really isn't cost effective to keep making new shows. I wish they would - but again, I would hate to miss one of the new shows if it were dropped before I sailed again. This site really lets you know what to expect - and if you read it a lot - you know that it really about the same as the Eastern, except for the new ports and a twist on the Tropicalalistic night.

Just 6 days from the Magic! If I had been on last week's cruise, I could say "Gosh! I can rebook the Western again." Otherwise, next time will be a land and sea package for the new stuff at Disney - Mission Space at Epcot and the new character opening of the Magic Kingdom park. I wish that things changed more at WDW too - but I don't mind repeating stuff if it is quality. That's why "I Love Lucy" is still on TV.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

I follow the storm advisories pretty closely (you can get them emailed to you by <a href="http://GoPBI.com/weather/special/storm/email/"><font color=blue>subscribing</font></a> at GoPBI.com.) As of last weekend when DCL would have been making the decision as to whether go west or not, Lili was following in pretty much the same track and pattern that Isidore had taken just the week before. It raked Jamaica, tracked north of the Cayman Islands, but close enough for them to get a <b><i>lot</i></b> of wind and rain, hit western Cuba including the Isle of Youth.

Isidore went on to drench the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico including Cozumel; Lili didn't, but that was after the fact. Lili continued to be in the path the ship would have taken.

I am not at all surprised that DCL decided to go east. I would have been shocked if they had not. I <b><i>am</i></b> shocked that Carnival was careless enough with the safety and happiness of their passengers to go west anyway despite the location of the storm.