Just returned from Fantasy today

[insureman]

View attachment 641419Here you go. They were really much nicer then I expected inside. Had flowers and hotel-ish looking inside for a portable bathroom.

Beats this

 

[MomOTwins]

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

Thanks! Such a useful thread.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I am very sorry this happened. UGH. You have such a great attitude. I would have been VERY upset at the lack of communication and half-truths. It was kind of you to come here and share your experience. Thanks to the others who were onboard as well.

 

[MickeyT]

I am very sorry this happened. UGH. You have such a great attitude. I would have been VERY upset at the lack of communication and half-truths. It was kind of you to come here and share your experience. Thanks to the others who were onboard as well.

Thank you Carrie. Something as simple as this would have been nice.
We did get to fill out a survey but still no personal response.

 

[auntlynne]

Double Dips used to be rare and more expensive. The increased availability of them currently is a welcome change. I did one on the Dream in the Fall and have the 5-night Magic booked in April. (We rescheduled a cruise when Key West was dropped, months in advance). Castaway Cay is my favorite port.

OP’s cruise does sound like a bummer - and, yep, it’s the poor communication and the building of false hope.

I have yet to miss a scheduled stop at CC and would be disappointed if it happened, even knowing that it’s not inconceivable.

 

[ncgator]

I believe this week’s Fantasy cruise was supposed to be an Eastern. Does anyone know if it was changed? I’m scheduled on the Feb 5th cruise and am going in expecting a change - that way I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get the originally planned itinerary. I honestly don’t mind Western, but we just booked a Celebrity Beyond Western itinerary for November, so would rather hit the Eastern ports this time.

 

[MomOTwins]

I believe this week’s Fantasy cruise was supposed to be an Eastern. Does anyone know if it was changed? I’m scheduled on the Feb 5th cruise and am going in expecting a change - that way I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get the originally planned itinerary. I honestly don’t mind Western, but we just booked a Celebrity Beyond Western itinerary for November, so would rather hit the Eastern ports this time.

This week was scheduled as a western. Last week was an Eastern and it was changed to a western.

 

[jenushkask8s]

This week was scheduled as a western. Last week was an Eastern and it was changed to a western.

This week was also supposed to be an Eastern. The itinerary changed to a Western on Wednesday last week.

 

[mzspaz]

I believe this week’s Fantasy cruise was supposed to be an Eastern. Does anyone know if it was changed? I’m scheduled on the Feb 5th cruise and am going in expecting a change - that way I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get the originally planned itinerary. I honestly don’t mind Western, but we just booked a Celebrity Beyond Western itinerary for November, so would rather hit the Eastern ports this time.

Yep this week was supposed to be an Eastern with stops in Tortola and St Thomas. They changed it on us last week. We were supposed to be on it until my DH got a positive hit on his Covid test at home.

 

[RAD]

We were supposed to be on this cruise but cancelled it, glad we did. I understand the CC issue, it happens, but the short stop at Costa Maya was ridiculous. And DCL not providing any compensation of any kind is just poor customer service.

 

[Kwami]

We were supposed to be on this cruise but cancelled it, glad we did. I understand the CC issue, it happens, but the short stop at Costa Maya was ridiculous. And DCL not providing any compensation of any kind is just poor customer service.

I guess they figure Nassau and Cozumel as replacements for St. Thomas and Tortola, with Costa Maya as a bonus? I don't think that's a fair trade, though.

 

[DLgal]

When I was listening to today's Dis Weekly show, all I could think about was this thread.

 

[foolish-mortal]

When I was listening to today's Dis Weekly show, all I could think about was this thread.

Now I'm intrigued...headed off to listen!

 

[hygienist999]

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!

Hey, we were on the fantasy Jan.8-15. We missed the port at St. Thomas, but had 2 days at Castaway Cay. Had we not made it the day before we would have missed it all together. The 2nd day, which was our day to be there, the winds were extreme. The ship was moving while docked. Our itinerary changed constantly also. It was beyond annoying. There were no shows on the itinerary and then all of a sudden they were doing Believe, which is my least favorite show Disney Cruise does, but I was glad to have it after only having a juggler and a group that was talented but not a good show. We were thrilled they were able to throw in Frozen, which had not been on the itinerary either, for 2 days straight. Frozen was superb, we loved it. We have done a Star Wars themed cruise before and ours was decent, but no where near what it was in 2019. We are to go on the Disney Magic for the Hawaii Cruise in May, and I'm nervous the same will be the case, the only hope is that we make all of the ports. My husband and I made the best of the cruise as well, but we did get very bored. I will say the food was amazing, better than the last few DCL cruises we were on. The staff was very nice and helpful, but there was a sadness about the ship. We had 1468 or 1464 passengers, per the DVC guy.

 

[Lilsia]

They usually refund the difference in port fees since some places charge more. That is one of the reasons why the Eastern is more expensive then the Western. I have been on a cruise that had a port change and they did refund us the difference in port fees. It wasn't much, but they were honest about it. I feel bad for the staff when ports get cancelled and now everyone is on the ships. They usually do a lot less activities on port days and they don't make as much food at Cabanas. But if they don't dock, then everything gets ramped up so cast members have more work.

 

[FuzzyBuzzer]

Hello, Thanks for the information on your trip. I was wondering what kind of entertainment is going on around ship, especially at night? Live music anywhere? Comedians? I've only sailed Disney once before and the entertainment on board was a highlight for me.

 

[Happy100]

Thank you for your honest report. When we rebooked last year i choose to cruise in June bc I was concerned there would continue to be issues during winter and early spring. I am hopeful but will be flexible and probably enjoy room service and my balcony more then usual.

 

[FuzzyBuzzer]

Hello, Thanks for the information on your trip. I was wondering what kind of entertainment is going on around ship, especially at night? Live music anywhere? Comedians? I've only sailed Disney once before and the entertainment on board was a highlight for me.

Hi, Just following up to see if you can tell me what's happening entertainment wise on the ship? (outside of the movies and broadway shows)

Thanks!

 

[jenushkask8s]

Hi, Just following up to see if you can tell me what's happening entertainment wise on the ship? (outside of the movies and broadway shows)

Thanks!

We only went to the Broadway-style shows and 1 short stage show on SWDAS (Star Wars at Light speed) but I do remember seeing 2 musical acts in the Navigator: Bernadette and Sister Sister.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Did you buy the data package? Did you notice what it was and how much?