foolish-mortal
Your ghost host
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2020
- Messages
- 389
Happy to answer any questions. We booked an Eastern Caribbean. Were supposed to go to St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, ad CC. We found out 48 hours out that it was going to Cozumel, Costa Maya and Nassau. We knew it might happen. We've been re-routed on lots of cruises - both Disney and other cruise lines. We're very much used to it We were on the Bahamas/WDW cruise a few years ago that got re-routed to Canada 2 days before because of a hurricane. We knew we would need to be flexible so we were totally OK with it and decided to just go and enjoy ourselves.
We have been to Cozumel lots of times. We'd never been to Costa Maya so we did some very quick research and found a resort called Maya Chan. We booked it and were on our way. We stayed at the Hyatt the night before for the first time and really liked it. Extremely convenient! The testing at the port was stressful but went just fine. We had tested a couple times before we left so we felt pretty confident about it.
There were only 1300 on board according to the crew. It was a ghost town - even quieter than our surprise Canada cruise. As soon as we were on board we saw that the itinerary had changed again! All of the days were moved around and we were only at Costa Maya until 12:30! We were super bummed because we'd gotten very excited about Maya Chan. We had to quickly get a hold of the owners and cancel before we lost our cell service.
We went to Nassau early in the week and only got off the ship for about 30 minutes since my daughter had never been there and was curious. She'd had enough almost immediately. But when we got there we looked at the itinerary and it had changed again! We were back to being at Costa Maya until 4:45 so we hurried and reached out to the Maya Chan owners and asked if we could reinstate our reservation.....again. Yay!
The next day we pulled up to Castaway Cay. Everyone was giddy with excitement. With the itinerary changes this was by far the stop that we were looking forward to the most. We pulled up...saw the glorious island....then just sailed away. No one knew what was going on - including the crew. They said it was too windy. At this point and after all of the changes we were extremely sad. That was possibly our only planned beach day since the other ports were booked too late to really plan anything. The entire ship was so quiet and sad for the rest of the day.
To top it off the itinerary had changed AGAIN. We were once again leaving Costa Maya at 12:30. It was insane. Why bother going to a port for a few hours? There's not enough time to do anything there. When I chatted with Guest Services they said it was so we could try and get back to CC for Day 6 and leaving Costa Maya early was the only way we could get there in time. I hated sacrificing another port. But, I loved the idea of trying for CC again. So, we looked at the bright side and carried on.
Star Wars Day at Sea was fine. We enjoyed it and had a fun pool day. No Vader take-over. But we had a good time. The constant changes were making everyone's plans pure chaos. Salon reservations, port excursions, tastings, Palo, etc. were all over the place the whole week.
At Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach at the last minute and really enjoyed it. We'd never been there before. As we were pulling up I was doing quick searches to see what our options were. We usually go to our favorite restaurant when we're in Cozumel. But, because we missed CC and couldn't do anything at Costa Maya we wanted to find a beach. We also spoke to some of the local taxi drivers about the beaches. In the end we loved Paradise Beach and will definitely book it again if we go back.
Costa Maya was a quick blur. We were literally there for a few hours. We walked around the port. Went to a restaurant and got back to the ship at 12. It was so beautiful there. I would have loved to have had more time and want to go back at some point.
Once back on the ship I saw that Day 6 still said that it was a Sea Day. I chatted with Guest Services and they said that there were never any plans to try CC again. We wouldn't be going back. And, they said that we were leaving Costa May because of weather??? But, it had changed a few days before so that was clearly not correct. But, it sunk in that this was it. No CC or anything else. Outside of Nassau we had one port.
I absolutely LOVE DCL. I'm hard pressed to find any fault with them. But, part of me wishes we had cancelled. We made the best of it and had a great time because we made up our minds to do so. The crew was amazing as always. But, we just watched one thing after another get removed throughout the trip. There was a very long line at Guest Services pretty much at all times. There were some extremely unhappy people on the ship. Especially over leaving Costa Maya so early and changing things back and forth so many times throughout the week. And, not because ports were turning us away. Changes would just appear on the itinerary without any announcement. And no one was being given consistent information.
All in all we had a great week. I still love DCL and of course cruising during a pandemic means you need to be flexible. But, all of the changes were downgrades. We booked an Eastern Caribbean and in the end got Nassau and Cozumel. It felt like we went to Costa Maya so they could say they took us somewhere. Even the crew said it seemed silly to bother going and couldn't understand why it kept changing back and forth. I really wish Guest Services hadn't told me that we were going back to CC at the end of the week as it became clear from others in GS that this was not correct and had never been the plan. That was just painful since we all got our hopes up.
We had a great time being with our kids. Enjoyed the dining and crew. It is what it is. I know the entire cruising industry is in a tough spot right now. Just wanted to share how the last week went and our take on it. Let me know if there are any questions!
We have been to Cozumel lots of times. We'd never been to Costa Maya so we did some very quick research and found a resort called Maya Chan. We booked it and were on our way. We stayed at the Hyatt the night before for the first time and really liked it. Extremely convenient! The testing at the port was stressful but went just fine. We had tested a couple times before we left so we felt pretty confident about it.
There were only 1300 on board according to the crew. It was a ghost town - even quieter than our surprise Canada cruise. As soon as we were on board we saw that the itinerary had changed again! All of the days were moved around and we were only at Costa Maya until 12:30! We were super bummed because we'd gotten very excited about Maya Chan. We had to quickly get a hold of the owners and cancel before we lost our cell service.
We went to Nassau early in the week and only got off the ship for about 30 minutes since my daughter had never been there and was curious. She'd had enough almost immediately. But when we got there we looked at the itinerary and it had changed again! We were back to being at Costa Maya until 4:45 so we hurried and reached out to the Maya Chan owners and asked if we could reinstate our reservation.....again. Yay!
The next day we pulled up to Castaway Cay. Everyone was giddy with excitement. With the itinerary changes this was by far the stop that we were looking forward to the most. We pulled up...saw the glorious island....then just sailed away. No one knew what was going on - including the crew. They said it was too windy. At this point and after all of the changes we were extremely sad. That was possibly our only planned beach day since the other ports were booked too late to really plan anything. The entire ship was so quiet and sad for the rest of the day.
To top it off the itinerary had changed AGAIN. We were once again leaving Costa Maya at 12:30. It was insane. Why bother going to a port for a few hours? There's not enough time to do anything there. When I chatted with Guest Services they said it was so we could try and get back to CC for Day 6 and leaving Costa Maya early was the only way we could get there in time. I hated sacrificing another port. But, I loved the idea of trying for CC again. So, we looked at the bright side and carried on.
Star Wars Day at Sea was fine. We enjoyed it and had a fun pool day. No Vader take-over. But we had a good time. The constant changes were making everyone's plans pure chaos. Salon reservations, port excursions, tastings, Palo, etc. were all over the place the whole week.
At Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach at the last minute and really enjoyed it. We'd never been there before. As we were pulling up I was doing quick searches to see what our options were. We usually go to our favorite restaurant when we're in Cozumel. But, because we missed CC and couldn't do anything at Costa Maya we wanted to find a beach. We also spoke to some of the local taxi drivers about the beaches. In the end we loved Paradise Beach and will definitely book it again if we go back.
Costa Maya was a quick blur. We were literally there for a few hours. We walked around the port. Went to a restaurant and got back to the ship at 12. It was so beautiful there. I would have loved to have had more time and want to go back at some point.
Once back on the ship I saw that Day 6 still said that it was a Sea Day. I chatted with Guest Services and they said that there were never any plans to try CC again. We wouldn't be going back. And, they said that we were leaving Costa May because of weather??? But, it had changed a few days before so that was clearly not correct. But, it sunk in that this was it. No CC or anything else. Outside of Nassau we had one port.
I absolutely LOVE DCL. I'm hard pressed to find any fault with them. But, part of me wishes we had cancelled. We made the best of it and had a great time because we made up our minds to do so. The crew was amazing as always. But, we just watched one thing after another get removed throughout the trip. There was a very long line at Guest Services pretty much at all times. There were some extremely unhappy people on the ship. Especially over leaving Costa Maya so early and changing things back and forth so many times throughout the week. And, not because ports were turning us away. Changes would just appear on the itinerary without any announcement. And no one was being given consistent information.
All in all we had a great week. I still love DCL and of course cruising during a pandemic means you need to be flexible. But, all of the changes were downgrades. We booked an Eastern Caribbean and in the end got Nassau and Cozumel. It felt like we went to Costa Maya so they could say they took us somewhere. Even the crew said it seemed silly to bother going and couldn't understand why it kept changing back and forth. I really wish Guest Services hadn't told me that we were going back to CC at the end of the week as it became clear from others in GS that this was not correct and had never been the plan. That was just painful since we all got our hopes up.
We had a great time being with our kids. Enjoyed the dining and crew. It is what it is. I know the entire cruising industry is in a tough spot right now. Just wanted to share how the last week went and our take on it. Let me know if there are any questions!
