Missed the boat!

[ubetcha2]

Has anyone had the experience of missing the boat? We just returned from a cruise, where (due to engine troubles on a connecting flight in Atlanta) we missed the boat by about 45 minutes! Due to a maritime law (The Jones Act), we were unable to board in Key West. We finally caught up with the ship on the 4th day of the cruise in Grand Cayman, so we were able to experience approx 1/2 a cruise.

We had booked the entire vacation (airfare and cruise) through Disney Cruise Lines; we even purchased insurance through Disney!

I was wondering if anyone else has ever missed a Disney Cruise and what, if anything can be done about receiving another cruise at a discount rate? Can't hurt to ask??

Thanks!

-Rich

 

[Viking]

What a stress!!!!
Fortunately this has never happened to us. But as a control-freak I would never fly into Orlando the same day my ship is scheduled to depart, we always arrive at least a day early to have a safety margin. When it comes to trip-planning I'm the 'Belt AND Suspenders-type'

 

[ubetcha2]

Yes, there are a couple of things we learned from this nightmare:
- fly to Orlando the day before
- make sure your flight is "straight-through", no connecting flights
- book everything through Disney (including airfare)
- buy trip insurance

One thing to note: we booked everything through Disney (including insurance). We didn't even know we were flying same day or on connecting flights, until we got the little "box of tickets, etc..." from them!

Lesson learned!

 

[Laurabearz]

I am so sorry this happened to you but I am trying to figure out what the Jones Act had to do with you not being able to board in Key West... I thought the JA was for injurys aboard the ship and such.

And it seems to me, since you booked everything thru Disney some compinsation is due.

Keep us posted!

 

[robinb]

Oh, you poor thing!

What did you do for the 3 days? Will your travel insurance cover your extra expensese? The missed portion of the cruise?

 

[Jen in MA]

The same thing happened to a friend of mine on a Carnival cruise... They missed the boat out of Pt. Canaveral... drove to Key West to catch up with the boat there... They were told that due to the Jones Act that they would be unable to board... something about the ship not being able to board passengers at 2 US ports or something... However, they were told by port officials (?) that they could pay like $500 cash each and they would let them on the boat... sounds kinda suspicious, but the paid it and were let on.

 

[mickeyboat]

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes! What did you do while you were waiting to board on Grand Cayman? Did DCL put you up in a hotel in Orlando or did they fly you to Grand Cayman to wait for the ship.

We almost missed the boat last March. We had weather delays and our flight arrived at MCO at 4PM. We got to the ship at 5PM without luggage. Our luggage arrived when we got to St. Maarten. I had been on the phone all day with our travel insurance company and with DCL, I think they were planning on sending us to St. Maarten to wait. Our luggage appreared before we disembarked at St. Maarten. DCL was very helpful - they provided toiletries, bathrobes and washed our clothes every night, and gave us formal wear to borrow for formal night.

Anyway, as far as compensation, Delta (airlines) gave us $300 to cover the things we had to buy while we were waiting for our luggage - that compensation was arranged for us by DCL (we booked air through them). Our travel insurance company reimbursed us $200 more. Basically we got all our souveniers with that money (and a couple of drinks, too!).

I agree with your advice, FLY DOWN THE NIGHT BEFORE!

Denae

 

[jrabbit]

The same thing happened to a friend of mine on a Carnival cruise... They missed the boat out of Pt. Canaveral... drove to Key West to catch up with the boat there... They were told that due to the Jones Act that they would be unable to board... something about the ship not being able to board passengers at 2 US ports or something... However, they were told by port officials (?) that they could pay like $500 cash each and they would let them on the boat... sounds kinda suspicious, but the paid it and were let on.

The $500 might have been a fine imposed by the US government and the cruise line wasn't willing to bite the bullet so they made the passengers pay them (kinda like taxes and port fees being subject to change after you have made your ressie and even made your "final" payment).

Yes, there are a couple of things we learned from this nightmare:
- fly to Orlando the day before
- make sure your flight is "straight-through", no connecting flights
- book everything through Disney (including airfare)
- buy trip insurance

One thing to note: we booked everything through Disney (including insurance). We didn't even know we were flying same day or on connecting flights, until we got the little "box of tickets, etc..." from them!

Lesson learned!

I my OPINION, you didn't learn the lesson well enough (unless Disney put you up at WDW for a couple of days for free and then transported you to Grand Cayman). When you buy "Everything" from DCL you have NO control and have paid too much.

Unless you fly in from the west coast you will generally fly in on embarkation day and as you know things can and do go wrong with the airlines. Leson Learned: Fly in the day before the cruise. Second flying lesson: you can create your own schedule to meet your needs and usually for less money than what DCL will charge you.

Insurance: you can buy DCL's insurance, but you can get better coverage for less money online. People have had great experiences using Insure My Trip to purchase travel insurance. With some companies Kids are insured for free. Sometimes AAA has better insurance for much less money.

As a final note: You sound extemely calm for having missed 1/2 of your cruise. I'm way impressed!! I know that there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth if my family was involved in you disaster.

 

[markey]

We were on the 8/14 cruise, day after Charlie hit. I think half the people missed the ship because the airports were closed from Friday noon until 2 pm on Saturday. Disney bussed the people the next day to Key West and got special permission from the Coast Guard so they could board at Key West. There were people still boarding at 7:30 on Sunday night. We arrived on Monday 8/9, no way am I missing the ship, we always go 5 days before and have a vacation at the beach or Universal.

 

[allears]

Wow, that just stinks, how disappointing! I certainly would check with DCL to see if they will so anything else, but they may say that they've compensated you and made all of the arragnements they needed to. If you had booked your airfare seperately they wouldn't have done anything.

On the upside, you have insurance and that should pay you for all of the missed days of your cruise. I'm not sure what the amount they use, but it should be fairly substantial. You could consider that a refund and use it toward a new cruise.

It is really ashame about that stupid Jones Act. I know last fall they got special permission from what ever agency governs that, to board a bunch of folks in Key West due air port delays caused by one of the hurricanes.

Please keep us posted, this is a such an unusual situtation, it will be very helpful to all of us to know how it works out.

 

[ubetcha]

Someone asked what Disney did for us, when we missed the boat. When we got off the plane in Orlando and RAN to the main terminal, there was a Disney rep standing there with a little mickey sign. There was another family in the "same boat" as us. Here's what they did:
- Put us up at Swan Resort for 3 nights
- Transfered our luggage from plane to resort
- Gave us 2 day hopper passes (we went to Magic Kingdom on one day and Epcot the next)

On Tuesday (3rd or 4th day of cruise), they had us:
- catch a shuttle to airport at 3:50 am
- flew us to Charolette, North Carolina (yes, NORTH Carolina)
- catch a connecting flight to Grand Cayman

Special note about Grand Cayman... went through customs and immigration, which took about an hour. Then had to fight about 80 people for a taxi cab ride. When we got to the pier, there were thousands of people waiting to get out to one of the 5 ships in the harbor! They were using "tenders" to shuttle people back and forth to the ships. The seas were fairly rough and the tender boats were having a really rough time getting people onto the tenders. It was very scary to watch old people, small children, wheelchair people, etc... being helped onto the tenders. Thankfully, nobody was hurt!

Disney really went above and beyond, while everyone stood in line for hours. They brought out water, bananas, cookies, sandwhiches, wet rags, white towels, etc... to make us all more comfortable in the 95 degree heat!

We finally got onto the main ship at about 6:30pm (a 16 hour travel day); we and the kids were exhausted!!! My girls are ages 7 and 3.

Quite an experience!!

 

[mmouse37]

Wow...what an experience....glad you faired so well through it. You have a great attitude!!!

 

[lbgraves]

Oh my goodness! To top it all off you ended up in the worst tendering experience that I have ever seen posted here on the boards. Glad that Disney made your missed days an nice as possible. I always thought that they would wait for you if you booked air thru Disney though. I guess that this was an extreme situation? I know that they have held the ship up until 6 or 6:30 before since we have seen it on the webcam at that time. Glad that you were able to finally meet up with the ship though.

 

[jazstar87]

I never had this happen but I recomend going the day before. Eventhough i may cost extra, but it is worth it.

My family almost missed a princess cruise last year About 30 min. My Aunt trusted a travel agent who recomended coming the day of the cruise. they came out of wilkes bare and then down to alanta for a stopover and then up to seattle. When i heard all this and I said WHAT?! When we were telling my aunt about going they day before she got all mad at us, then we learned my uncle was complaining about it before we told her... but they did get on the boat close but they made it.
thank god so we didn't have to hear about it...

so go the day before

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

I always thought that they would wait for you if you booked air thru Disney

I think they can only hold the ship for so long. If it misses its turn, it may have to wait several hours for the rest of the scheduled traffic to clear. How long the ship can wait probably depends on what else is coming in to and going out of the port that day. When you say you missed the ship by 45 minutes, do you mean you landed at MCO at 5:45pm? If so, by the time they got you and your luggage to the port, you probably would have missed it by a couple of hours.

Sounds like quite an exciting trip. I may be a glutton for punishment, but I would probably have enjoyed the change of pace (although I hate to think of missing time on the ship). I figure, it would be a good story to tell. Like mmouse37, I admire your attitude and would like to think I would react in a similar fashion. There are those who would be lamenting DCL's poor planning in not anticipating mechanical problems with one of your flights and demanding the pink slip to one of the ships or the deed to Castaway Cay.

 

[ratfam]

I, too, admire your attitude. Unfortunately, even going in the day before isn't foolproof. We were scheduled to fly in the night before our recent cruise and due to snow delaying pilots, flight crews and planes we spent several hours without pilots or flight attendants until crews were finally pieced together. So you could say, fly in earlier in the day instead of at night. Well, there were 70 people wait listed for our flight (the last one scheduled out for the evening) because their flights had been cancelled earlier in the day and everything was booked solid due to spring break. We considered ourselves extremely lucky when we arrived at our hotel at 3:30 am the day our cruise left. If the plane hadn't flown, we wouldn't have made the cruise because there were no flights available anywhere in the vicinity. So no matter how much you plan ahead, if alternate flights are booked you can end up in big trouble if your actual flight doesn't go. All the more reason to buy trip insurance--it wouldn't have lessened the disappointment that day, but at least we could have rescheduled.