Just returned from Fantasy today

[foolish-mortal]

We were on this sailing. I contacted GS through the chat feature and in person.

I was assured through the chat that we were going back to CC.

I then stopped by the GS desk on our last day to emphasize our disappointment in not at least trying for CC on the final day.
Weather was beautiful yesterday. I enjoyed the cruise but the communication was lacking.

Pretty sure the percentage of passenger disappointment in missing CC far outweighed missing Costa Maya.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you. My disappointment was greater over not trying again for CC, too. I'm glad to hear that you were also told that we were going back to CC just to have someone else confirm it. We were so excited for a few days because we were convinced that we were going to CC on Friday. We couldn't wait. Then it came and went and they acted like that had never been the plan.

 

[randumb0]

Were the kids clubs open?

 

[jenushkask8s]

I agree with you. My disappointment was greater over not trying again for CC, too. I'm glad to hear that you were also told that we were going back to CC just to have someone else confirm it. We were so excited for a few days because we were convinced that we were going to CC on Friday. We couldn't wait. Then it came and went and they acted like that had never been the plan.

We sailed concierge and, while we didn't hear this directly, another concierge passenger said one of the concierge hosts told her we were going to try for CC on Friday as well. There were so many communication problems on this cruise...

 

[jenushkask8s]

We're not big on those kinds of shows so we don't go to them often. We kept saying that we would try one of the trivia events but we never went. Sorry that I don't have anything to report on that. Maybe
jenushkask8s did and can help answer??

We saw Frozen and it was fantastic! We also saw one of the performances of Star Wars at Lightspeed on SWDAS and enjoyed that quite a bit. We didn't do any other activities or shows so can't speak to how those were.

 

[jenushkask8s]

Were the kids clubs open?

Yes, they were.

 

[MomOTwins]

Someone once did a post where they looked at the number of times CC was missed due to rough weather, and January was by far and away the most common month. February was close behind. It could indeed be they were hoping to try again for CC but the weather did not cooperate. That’s why I’ll never sail this time of year.

As for whether the sailing should have been discounted, perhaps a credit was appropriate but they did give an opportunity to cancel with no penalty. One thing to remember is that in a way, the sailings right now are pretty steeply discounted relative to other times of the year—a quick look at pricing shows you pay about two thirds the price for a Fantasy eastern now than you would in the summer. And most people are sailing with some kind of substantial discount—25% off or more with VGT rates or with bonus future cruise credit. I think Disney has reached its limit for how much it is going to discount these cruises. Especially when the alternative families have for a disney vacation on land is MUCH more expensive than it was pre-Covid. We would now pay more for a week at WDW than a disney cruise once you factor in hotel, food and tickets, which was never the case for us before 2020.

 

[foolish-mortal]

Someone once did a post where they looked at the number of times CC was missed due to rough weather, and January was by far and away the most common month. February was close behind. It could indeed be they were hoping to try again for CC but the weather did not cooperate. That’s why I’ll never sail this time of year.

As for whether the sailing should have been discounted, perhaps a credit was appropriate but they did give an opportunity to cancel with no penalty. One thing to remember is that in a way, the sailings right now are pretty steeply discounted relative to other times of the year—a quick look at pricing shows you pay about two thirds the price for a Fantasy eastern now than you would in the summer. And most people are sailing with some kind of substantial discount—25% off or more with VGT rates or with bonus future cruise credit. I think Disney has reached its limit for how much it is going to discount these cruises. Especially when the alternative families have for a disney vacation on land is MUCH more expensive than it was pre-Covid. We would now pay more for a week at WDW than a disney cruise once you factor in hotel, food and tickets, which was never the case for us before 2020.

Yes we are always prepared for changes due to weather and/or Covid. Unfortunately, the issues were more related to the very poor communication, constant changes in itinerary that were not due to weather or Covid, conflicting information, waiting until the last minute to communicate changes that were inevitable, giving us a few hours at a port and telling us that it's an even swap, etc. It's how things were done and communicated that was so disappointing. It's not like we were turned away at the last minute. That everyone would have understood.

 

[jkburns]

shoot - we're still on-board for the 2/5 EC cruise. I'm sure it will change, but things have been moving in such a dramatic fashion, I still have hope we'll be able to get to a few of the scheduled ports...

On the same sailing, and hoping for the best. But starting to prepare myself that what's scheduled now is tentative. I can't blame DCL.

 

[ekms]

We are on the same eastern itinerary in early April and have been closely tracking the Fantasy cruises this month.

As an alternative to our currently booked cruise, we could take a 5 night double dip on the Magic out of Miami with a stop in Nassau. It would save us $1500 but is shorter and the planned itinerary is less interesting for us than the potential stop in San Juan (which feels unlikely anyway).

What to do, what to do…

 

[jenushkask8s]

Yes we are always prepared for changes due to weather and/or Covid. Unfortunately, the issues were more related to the very poor communication, constant changes in itinerary that were not due to weather or Covid, conflicting information, waiting until the last minute to communicate changes that were inevitable, giving us a few hours at a port and telling us that it's an even swap, etc. It's how things were done and communicated that was so disappointing. It's not like we were turned away at the last minute. That everyone would have understood.

This. 100%.

 

[foolish-mortal]

We are on the same eastern itinerary in early April and have been closely tracking the Fantasy cruises this month.

As an alternative to our currently booked cruise, we could take a 5 night double dip on the Magic out of Miami with a stop in Nassau. It would save us $1500 but is shorter and the planned itinerary is less interesting for us than the potential stop in San Juan (which feels unlikely anyway).

What to do, what to do…

If I could go back and change to something like a double-dip in CC I would do it in a heartbeat!!! The way things are going you could end up in Nassau and one other port for a few hours.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Regarding the testing tents at the port … are there bathrooms available? I’m guessing there are but My DW and MIL can get a bit of anxiety induced IBS and waiting for the test results may be a trigger. Thanks!

Here you go. They were really much nicer then I expected inside. Had flowers and hotel-ish looking inside for a portable bathroom. I thought about taking a picture inside but with the mirror covering the one wall it just seemed too weird. Lol

 

[iloveeeyore]

We are on the same eastern itinerary in early April and have been closely tracking the Fantasy cruises this month.

As an alternative to our currently booked cruise, we could take a 5 night double dip on the Magic out of Miami with a stop in Nassau. It would save us $1500 but is shorter and the planned itinerary is less interesting for us than the potential stop in San Juan (which feels unlikely anyway).

What to do, what to do…

I don't know if this confuses you more, but we just did the Magic 5 nights out of Miami with double dip and it was incredible! Stay a few days before or after the cruise in Miami Beach and you've still got your week-long vacation!

 

[Calantha]

They were really much nicer then I expected inside. Had flowers and hotel-ish looking inside for a portable bathroom.

yes, the bathrooms while we waited for our test results were remarkably nice for being portable.

 

[Gonefishin]

We were supposed to be on this cruise but 2 of us popped positive at port. Sounds like we didn’t miss much.

 

[ekms]

I don't know if this confuses you more, but we just did the Magic 5 nights out of Miami with double dip and it was incredible! Stay a few days before or after the cruise in Miami Beach and you've still got your week-long vacation!

The advice is really helpful. Generally, I always think more time on the ship is better, but when it comes to a double dip and the uncertainty of our eastern itinerary, the 5 night is sounding really good! The $2000 savings doesn’t hurt either.

 

[insureman]

Someone once did a post where they looked at the number of times CC was missed due to rough weather, and January was by far and away the most common month. February was close behind. It could indeed be they were hoping to try again for CC but the weather did not cooperate. That’s why I’ll never sail this time of year.

That was me.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...miss-castaway-cay-due-to-the-weather.2854575/

 

[dreamer17555]

We are on the same eastern itinerary in early April and have been closely tracking the Fantasy cruises this month.

As an alternative to our currently booked cruise, we could take a 5 night double dip on the Magic out of Miami with a stop in Nassau. It would save us $1500 but is shorter and the planned itinerary is less interesting for us than the potential stop in San Juan (which feels unlikely anyway).

What to do, what to do…

I literally just changed from a 7 night eastern (doubtful) March 5th SWDAS to a 5 night western MDAS (also March 5th but out of Miami). It saved me over $3,000 and with the reviews of SW day being lackluster I am feeling happy my Dreams agent was able to move it.

 

[iloveeeyore]

I literally just changed from a 7 night eastern (doubtful) March 5th SWDAS to a 5 night western MDAS (also March 5th but out of Miami). It saved me over $3,000 and with the reviews of SW day being lackluster I am feeling happy my Dreams agent was able to move it.

I doubt you will regret this decision. The MDAS was anything BUT lackluster. It was so much more than we expected and was one of the highlights of the cruise. You can tack on a few extra days in Miami, we had a great time there, too!

 

[n2mm]

I literally just changed from a 7 night eastern (doubtful) March 5th SWDAS to a 5 night western MDAS (also March 5th but out of Miami). It saved me over $3,000 and with the reviews of SW day being lackluster I am feeling happy my Dreams agent was able to move it.

what happened to the extra $3000? You were probably in the penalty stage, so couldn’t get a refund. Where you using FCC credits. I’m looking to move my late Feb cruise, but it’s hard to find something.