Just back from Feb, 27th Wonder. No Castaway Cay.

[GavinsMom]

We had a GREAT trip (Feb. 27th Wonder)! Yes we were disappointed after two days of trying to get to Castaway Cay too! But I guess I knew there was always a chance that it could happen. We made the BEST of our two Days @ SEA and had a lot of fun onboard!
My two year old LOVED the characters and that made the trip really Great for us! He would just lite up when any characters would come around. We got some Excellent pictures, both on my digital and from Shutters!!!
Disney has a Beautiful Ship and their service was superb!
Just my two cents.

Amy

 

[DiaLady]

I agree .. if you HAVE to get into Castaway Cay, why would travel in the winter? We picked Thanksgiving weekend b/c it was after hurricane season, but before winter set in . . .

Don't blame Disney for the hipe. That's true with any vacation you take anywhere. Research the details. When we did our first Disney Cruise, this board helped me so much. I was definitely overprepared!! We loved every minute!

Have a great day!

 

[tecdavidt]

As a boater I understand when the ship can not get into the dock. In the photo are white caps on the ocean. I have been on a DCL cruise 7 times and all 7 times made it to CC. The difference in the water when we went was this: no white caps. The ocean was almost flat water. The Bahama islands are surrounded by shallow water. The ship has a narrow channel to use to get into the dock. The wind can easily move a ship the size of the Magic and Wonder. If the wind happens to catch the ship and move it off course just a tiny bit the ship can run aground--not good. You also can not add power and go toward the dock fast to try to stay in control because of the wind--you can still run into problems. Docking is always done s l o w l y.

This winter a fellow DIS board member posted a chart on the ships being able to dock at CC. It was interesting to read and it is sticking in my head that the winter months are when the ships are most likely to miss but it can happen any time during the year. TA's should tell people that they should not book the cruise for the sole purpose of going to CC because there is always a chance it won't happen. I doubt the TA's are doing this and I doubt DCL every mentions it. I feel for those who missed it. Give Disney another try but at a different time of the year if possible.

Kathy *can't wait to retire and move our boat to Florida. And yes people, , Iowa does have large bodies of water for large boats--but not as pretty as the Caribbean waters.

 

[BeenHad]

I can understand being questioned about why book a cruise in the winter. With that, I carefully researched the weather in the Bahamas and found that through the sources I used, February into March had the least amount of precipitation and the weather forecast was for the high 70's.

I would never book any cruise during hurricane season because of the risk involved. This was carefully thought out and planned researching weather. The weather was not bad at all and I am still surprised that such little wind can keep that ship away. I had no idea that the Disney Wonder needed picture perfect weather to get into CC. Had this been disclosed I would have thought more and researched other cruise lines and saved some money in the end too.

Disney has a 7 day cruise that stops at CC on the last day so if they don't make it on the last day, you miss out completely. This already happened in February of this year prior to our cruise. Because of the frequency of the inability to dock at CC Disney is changing the 7 day cruise itinerary to make 2 stops at CC. The purpose of this is so they have a better chance (and I mean chance) of making CC during the cruise.

So please, instead of questioning why the choice was made to sail at the end of February into the 1st week of March, please show some empathy, not sympathy for our loss. You obviously have already been there and cannot quite understand our loss.

Again, the issue is disclosure by Disney. The island is not set up properly for docking in routine weather conditions and neither is the ship. They never have a problem dropping us off at the end of a cruise in worse conditions. There is a lot to be said about a company based on their customer service. Wal-Mart is one good example. You can return just about anything for any reason and they will refund you. I don't see them going out of business because of it. Disney should have had the decency to offer a nice discount on a future cruise due to the conditions at the very least.

 

[Gupsmom]

Disney has a 7 day cruise that stops at CC on the last day so if they don't make it on the last day, you miss out completely. This already happened in February of this year prior to our cruise. Because of the frequency of the inability to dock at CC Disney is changing the 7 day cruise itinerary to make 2 stops at CC. The purpose of this is so they have a better chance (and I mean chance) of making CC during the cruise.

I've seen you say this a few times now and I've fought not to respond. DCL isn't adding the second stop to increase the odds of docking. They odds of docking are overwhelmingly good. You keep giving the impression that you were mislead and that not docking happens often. That's just not true. The percentages are very good...the worst months are Jan/Feb and even then you have a muchbetter shot than not of making it to CC. Disney is adding the second CC day because people want to go there twice....heck, people would go there for a week if allowed.

I do feel bad for you. I understand how frustrated and disappointed you must feel. I agree that it would be nice if Disney did something financially to make up for missing CC...but, from others that have missed the port, it soulds like Disney does try to make up for it on the ship. I just don't agree with the way you're making it out like you were mislead.

Jess

 

[BuzzMan]

As others have indicated, there was a thread that included statistics documenting that missing CC is rare. The statistics were documented by a DIS member (not DCL). I have searched for the thread but cannot locate it. IMHO, the non-disclosure of frequently missing the island is not a valid complaint.

 

[BeenHad]

Both attempts were made in March, not February. A technical obersvation,...yes but the truth. The bottom line is that the Wonder is not able to dock without optimum conditions which are not always there. In a conversation with a Wonder employee for the past 5 years she conceded the fact that it is hit and miss. Everyone needs to be aware of this point. When I questioned the CC issues, I was told by the employee that they are going to 2 CC stops on the 2006 7 day cruises for that reason. Many were paying for a 7 day cruise and missing CC because the stop was on the last day and there was no other recourse.

I am simply stating fact as told to me by Disney and nothing more. Obviously they get into CC more than they don't. However, there would not be a past thread on the issue of missed docks at CC if it were not an issue.

Anyone have the unofficial thread link on that subject?

Please let me vent my frustration. I don't care to have my legitimate issues dismissed. Again, I will only state facts.

 

[OurDogCisco]

When I questioned the CC issues, I was told by the employee that they are going to 2 CC stops on the 2006 7 day cruises for that reason. Many were paying for a 7 day cruise and missing CC because the stop was on the last day and there was no other recourse.

This is not true. There are couple of cruises that may go to Castaway Cay twice like the Thanksgiving cruise but that is because Key West is closed during that week to all cruise ships. As a matter of fact, many of the Summer Magic Cruises will not even go to Castaway Cay because the boat will be on the West Coast.

Yes, I sympathize with you. I am sorry you missed Castaway Cay. But it sounds like you made this ruin your whole entire vacation. And, I hope that isn't the case. I love going on vacation and just being away from home & everyday life makes me happy. A few years ago I went to Disneyworld during the summer and it rained for a couple hours every evening from about 5 or 6 pm until 8 or 9 pm. Should I have asked for my money back? I fully knew that I was going during rainy season. Even though most of our evening plans were shot we still had a great time and we are going back in May.

Heck, this past summer I went to Virginia and it rained everyday and some of our plans got rained on. We still had fun. And, I'm from California so I am not use to rain.

Sorry you took it as me flaming you but I wasn't. I am truely sorry you missed the island. For me the best time was on the boat. Even though Castaway Cay is beautiful, I've been to prettier beaches than that one.

 

[BeenHad]

Thanks for the reply.

No, it did not ruin the entire vacation. I am, however not happy with my "bang for my buck". I do have some valid points.

1) Without the heavily advertised and touted CC experience the DCL prices are not worth the extra you pay in comparison to othe cruise lines. (note: this depends on the age of your children and reason for the cruise) If they took away CC from the itinerary bookings would drop at a steady rate.

2) DCL should offer some sort of "great" discount on another cruise in the future due to this issue. I am not asking for money back, just a great discount on future cruises. I would wait for 2006 and take a 7 day cruise with the new itinerary for 2 stops at CC to increase my chances That is not asking for much.

3) Castaway Cay is not properly set up for routine docking. Anything less than picture perfect weather can prohibit the stop at CC. They need to add another breakwall and beef up the ship's power. It obviously was not set up for typical weather. In our case we had a breezy, sunny day. I am very disappointed in the fact that regular weather prohibited a ship from docking.

If I booked a cruise for a great price during hurricane season with the knowlege I was going during that season, I know I am taking a risk for the money. This was not the case. I analyzed the Bahama weather before I booked last year and we did have good weather as expected. There were no thunderstorms, hurricanes, cold fronts or gale force winds, just a breezy day. Here lies my frustration. Routing weather and the inability to dock.

PS, I am a type A personality . This ranting will eventually stop.

Between the airline fiasco (2issues) and the CC non-experience I am not happy with my Disney experience. My expectations were not set too high by any means, the experience did not live up to the Disney marketing.

After years of saving, this was our last chance for a family vacation. We have 5 children and only took 4. We left the oldest (19male) behind because of finances and lack of things for him to do (plus he could not go due to his work and college schedule). The other 4 are girls (11,16,16,17) and by next year between college finances and we will be unable to do this again. Almost all of them within the next 2 years will be spread out on their own. This was our first and only and final attempt at a family blow out vacation. CC was the big day and all 4 kids had been signed up for a CC excursion.

If anyone out there has kids who are older you will understand the feeling when everyone can't be together at the same time. There was more meaning in this vacation than ever . We were never able to do something like this for the kids in the past and wanted to maximize the vacation to the best of our finances.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Thanks for the reply.


2) DCL should offer some sort of "great" discount on another cruise in the future due to this issue. I am not asking for money back, just a great discount on future cruises. I would wait for 2006 and take a 7 day cruise with the new itinerary for 2 stops at CC to increase my chances That is not asking for much.

I am telling you this is not true. If you go to the Disney site and look at any 7 day cruise they aren't stopping at Castaway twice. So, I don't know why you keep saying this. It ain't happening unless you plan on taking a Thankgiving Cruise which does top at Castaway Cay twice.

 

[Gupsmom]

I am telling you this is not true. If you go to the Disney site and look at any 7 day cruise they aren't stopping at Castaway twice. So, I don't know why you keep saying this. It ain't happening unless you plan on taking a Thankgiving Cruise which does top at Castaway Cay twice.

There are a few cruises in 2006 going to CC twice. They are special itinerary Western Caribbean cruises. But, it has nothing to do with increasing the odds of docking in CC...


Jess

 

[zakatak]

OK, I'll pipe in here. I was on the 2/24 Wonder and one of my worst fears was missing CC. I had been waiting over 2 years to set sail on DCL and through a very generous offer from our friends, was able to do it on the 2/24 three day cruise. Now, I was so excited to see us docked at CC AND it was a nice day out that when we got off the ship, I actually got down and kissed the ground!

Now, I was playing around quite a bit with leaving the ship in Nassau JUST IN CASE we missed CC, but with three little kids by myself, I decided to have faith and we stayed on the ship. Had we missed CC, I would have been crushed. Actually, I was crushed but that was because my camera malfunctioned ON CC and deleted all but 3 pictures (120 pictures GONE forever). I've tried recovering them, even professionally, but they are gone. So, yes, we docked at CC, but all the pictures that I waited over 2 years to take disappeared. OK, back on topic... sorry, still a little bit upset over that!

I think it would be a nice gesture on Disney's part to offer a discount on another cruise if you do miss CC. They advertise it SO heavily, that it isn't suprising to have disappointment if you can't dock. They routinely offer 10% off and a stateroom credit if you rebook on the ship. I think if you miss CC, then you should be able to rebook at 20% off, plus the stateroom credit. I'd like 25% off, but that might be too greedy. lol

I am very sorry for those who missed CC. Yes, we all agree that the weather can't be controlled, but it is still very upsetting to miss what some people consider to be the highlight of the trip. I know I considered it to be the highlight, that's why I kissed the ground!

 

[suesings]

I'm sorry you didn't get good weather and on the days you did they couldn't get into CC. There is nothing wrong with being dissappointed. I know when we went to Tahiti 6 years ago we hit a HUGE storm. We had booked a stateroom on a 100' catamaran plus a few days on each island (one of which was in an overwater bungalow). You can only imagine how much this cost us. I tried SO hard not to be dissappointed and frustrated, but we missed just about everything that was on our agenda. Not to mention all the people vomiting on the boat.The catamaran had planned all these great things and couldn't do it. Plus our BEAUTIFUL overwater bungalow was blowing so bad my husband sat up all night, packed our suitcases in case we had to evacuate. We couldn't even go in the water that was right off our beautiful deck. Ugh, just remembering it I get dissappointed. I know what it is like to have your hopes up and save and save for something all to have it dashed.

I hope your next trip (wherever that will be) you will hit beautiful weather. Hopefully it can help make up for this one. Mother nature is unpredictable indeed.

Take care,
Sue

 

[BeenHad]

The information has not been released yet but some time during 2006 they will be changing the itinerary to 2 stops at CC for the 7 day cruise.

I was told this by the girl who was working the desk that offered a 10% discount on the cruise along with $200. on board credit for booking a cruise during the cruise. She has been working for Disney for 5 years and let me know this information when I asked about the issues with CC.

You can choose not to believe me, it is your choice. I am not making this up, it is what I was told directly from that girl who worked the desk. I repeated her information back to her to make sure I heard her right. I am sure it will take a while before Disney updates their website to reflect this simple change. You will eventually find out this to be true when it happens and they release the information.

 

[BeenHad]

Zakatak, I am glad you were able to get to CC but I would be devastated over the pictures if it were me. As soon as we got home I downloaded the pics and burnt them to 5 different CD's to give to the kids and myself. I am going to upload them to my company's website server as a backup too.

Thank you for having the understanding about the importance of CC and how heavily it is marketed.

 

[Gupsmom]

The information has not been released yet but some time during 2006 they will be changing the itinerary to 2 stops at CC for the 7 day cruise.

I was told this by the girl who was working the desk that offered a 10% discount on the cruise along with $200. on board credit for booking a cruise during the cruise. She has been working for Disney for 5 years and let me know this information when I asked about the issues with CC.

You can choose not to believe me, it is your choice. I am not making this up, it is what I was told directly from that girl who worked the desk. I repeated her information back to her to make sure I heard her right. I am sure it will take a while before Disney updates their website to reflect this simple change. You will eventually find out this to be true when it happens and they release the information.

I'm assuming you are talking about Stephanie?. The 2 stops at CC are already announced and up online. She may have told you about them because you asked about missing CC, but the reason for 2 stops at CC is not to increase the odds of docking. The cruises with 2 stops at CC were created because of client demand for more time on the island.

Stephanie doesn't have insider info on DCL. At one point in time she swore to us that Disney would never more their ship out West. This was about 2 months before they announced the West Coast cruises...lol.

Jess

 

[BeenHad]

I don't remember her name but Stephanie sounds familiar.

Thanks for validating my information.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

As others have indicated, there was a thread that included statistics documenting that missing CC is rare. The statistics were documented by a DIS member (not DCL). I have searched for the thread but cannot locate it. IMHO, the non-disclosure of frequently missing the island is not a valid complaint.

Here's a link to the the stat thread...http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=731619

On a side note -- someone suggested Disney offering a 20% discount on re-booking while onboard if Castaway Cay is missed and while it isn't a terrible idea, I can imagine that there would be guests onboard who will then think the captain purposely missed Castaway Cay to get people to rebook and that the whole thing of missing CC is just a scam to get you to book another cruise. Unfortunately, no one can make EVERYONE happy all of the time. And just for clarification, DH and I did get to go to CC in May '03 (honeymoon) but recently missed CC on our 2/5/05 7 night Eastern when the water was too rough. I was disappointed to tears but once I got over being sad, we made the best of it and enjoyed the rest of our day. The crew (also disappointed since some of them would have had some time off that day) was amazing. I agree with the ideas of having some type of block put in to make CC more accessible...

 

[BuzzMan]

Please let me vent my frustration. I don't care to have my legitimate issues dismissed. Again, I will only state facts.

Sorry about that. I thought that you might be interested in the opinions of others.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

After working so hard saving for so many years, I was brought to tears with my family.

I've followed this thread with interest. I'd first like to say to the OP I'm sorry you didn't get to experience CC. I'd also be disappointed. I sincerely hope there were other parts of the cruise that you enjoyed and that when you look back on your trip you can remember the good times you had and not let missing CC overshadow your whole vacation which IMO would be a shame.

Let me tell you about my two Disney cruises. Like many, we work hard and live fairly frugally to afford our cherished Disney vacations.

In 2003 we planned our first 4 night Disney cruise and timed it so our twins would celebrate their 6th birthday on the ship. We were all very excited to go, along with some friends of ours who were coming with us.

Twelve days before we sailed I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After much debate and discussion with my doctors, we decided we should still go on the trip (mainly because I didn't want to disappoint my kids who were not even aware of my diagnosis at that point). My worries that week weren't about where we'd dock or how the service at dinner was; watching my children I wondered whether I'd even be alive to raise them. My heart was literally aching. At breakfast one morning we sat next to a family on Make a Wish who had an obviously terminally ill child with them. Yeah, that made me cry a bit more and even think to myself thank God it was me and not my children. Not very pleasant thoughts to be having on vacation.

Nonetheless we had a great cruise.

Throughout 8 months of grueling treatment in 2004 I dreamed of again taking that cruise, this time with a happier outlook and perspective. So we booked Disney cruise #2 shortly after I started treatment with a sail date 1 month after finishing. It was literally my light at the end of the tunnel.

All during chemotherapy, radiation treatments and support meetings I meditated and pictured myself on that ship (not on CC BTW). In August I boarded the Wonder with my family and barely any hair. To say I was happy to be there would be a major understatement because there were times I didn't know if I'd ever make it anywhere again. I honestly wouldn't have cared where we went; just being there was magical -almost spiritual - to me. We met a wonderful group of Disers and had a great sail.

If you've made it through this story so far, thank you. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes things are relative. Yes, it's lousy to be disappointed after you've paid a lot of money to take a long awaited vacation, but really if you are lucky enough to be alive, have your health, and be together with your family then that is what is really important. Right now there's a thread going from a woman who just lost her second child and another who's 14yr old DD is having open heart surgery tomorrow.

My own experience has made me count my blessings more often and "not sweat the small stuff". (I hesitated to post this but hopefully it has meaning for someone).