NO CASTAWAY CAY FOR US

[mpsiq]

FRUSTRATION. That is the word that sums up this whole ten days vacation, 3 days in a disney bahamas cruise and seven in the wdw parks. I though I couldnt be as dissatisfied in the parks as I was when my family couldnt set foot in castaway cay when that was the only reason we were on the DCL. Disney blamed nature, “the weather and the currents” but there was only a mild wind so I guess Disney Dream is not such a great ship after all, right? I really wanted to punch the disney cruise “director” in the face when he made jokes about that awful situation in that very same night in the ships theatre. And later in the week, all hopes of being happy in the happiest place on earth went to hell when every day many of the rides we went had “technical difficulties”, ruining each and every park day planning that was carefully made back home. We had issues in rockin roller coaster, rise of the resistance, thunder mountain railroad and even in the haunted mansion. Every time one of those lame experiences happened all we got from disney was the standard ”sorry” that didnt make up for anything. We are regreting every moment and all the money spent and wondering what, in fact, are we doing here!?

 

[sethschroeder]

Unfortunately it happens that they can't dock.

While they joked about it they know how important it is for guests.

Doesnt help you though.

As for Disney if you spent 7 days there did you still get around to everything you wanted? Unfortunately as well downtime on those rides is why it's such a double edge sword (no plan vs over plan).

Hopefully there is some happiness you can take away from this trip.

 

[allashore]

so sorry to hear this
I would be extremely disappointed if we could not make it to castaway too, but that does happen often. However the cruise director should not have added salt to the wound. you should follow up with an email to DCL about the cruise director, not docking will probably get the same response. Hope you noted this on the comment card. Did you let guest services know?
As for the parks, I would send a separate email and explain all that went wrong
It is terrible when we spend a ton of $$$$ and not to get what we pay for. For many it's a once in a lifetime vacation.

 

[Intr3pid]

A bummer, I know. Sorry to hear!

In this image of the CC dock, you will see how little wiggle room there is for any ship to dock. One mistake, and the ship may crash into the rocks or the pier. That's why bad weather might force Disney to skip docking. More of a flaw in the dock design than in the ship's engineering, but I hope you were still able to enjoy the ship.

 

[n2mm]

Missing castaway really sucks. Missed it twice now myself. January was brutal this year on the cruises. Lots of missed ports for many cruisers. While we didn’t get in during our cruise in September, It took us two try’s to get in in January, but finally got in around 10:30am. No matter what the reason, you always feel cheated. My sympathies.

 

[SL6827]

I could be wrong, but does it not seem like they have to most trouble with not being able to dock during the colder months of the year? I was thinking it was, so therefore that is one of many reasons I won't sail then. But I will say with two trips in 2018 to Grand Cayman, the first one in March and the second one in December, the seas were polar opposites even though these dates were both on the colder end. In March, the seas were smooth, come December, just awful. There are some great pricing on some of the cruises during the extreme off season, but I don't think I would want to sail then.

 

[SL6827]

I am sailing the May 24th Dream cruise next year and I wondered why it is that they have the sea day on the very last day instead of in between the Nassau day and Castaway Cay day. My husband said he thought it could be so that if they possibly couldn't dock at CC on day three then they could try again on day four, but that is his guess and I have no idea really. But it does sound good.

 

[Marc D]

I would be extremely disappointed if we could not make it to castaway too, but that does happen often.

In fact, it does not happen regularly. Someone here once calculated that 3% of attempts to dock at CC fail, which is not ‘often‘. Of course, this winter season has been the worst for the entire region in a long time. Many ports were missed, and routes altered, on all cruise lines during the month on January.

@SL6827, if there is no other ship at CC, they can dock there anytime. They sometimes do it the next day after a failed attempt, or in replacement for a missed port. We were supposed to go to St Marteen during a 2017 cruise, but a storm was between PC and that island. The stop was replaced by a second stop at CC, which made everyone onboard quite happy.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’m so sorry we just did Castaway Cay on the wonder this week and the weather was literally picture perfect. I would be furious too.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

I was on the Dream 1/31 weekend. There was 40 mile gusts. A lot of people got seasick that cruise. We had some rough water. My husband videoed the attempt to dock. Commodore tried three times to dock. If that was the same cruise you were on, it was not a poor Dream attempt. I’m sorry you are disappointed. I just want future cruisers to know they tried. The 4 night Dream cruise from this week they docked on Wednesday night so they would be there for Thursday’s visit.

 

[Dug720]

It definitely stinks to miss a port, but it can happen. And the wind on the surface does not necessarily correlate to the currents.

I know that the Celebrity Edge missed Costa Maya this week due to winds and currents. Grand Cayman is often missed due to sea conditions because it is a tendered port. And let’s not even get into cruises in Asia that are being cancelled all together or drastically routed due to the Corona Virus.

The cruise lines know that itineraries are important to cruisers and do not take cancelling them lightly. But they will act in the best interest of SAFETY for all aboard. (Well, usually. Google “Carnival ships collide in Cozumel” for what can happen when weather conditions are risky (another ship aborted attempting to dock due to unpredictable and changing winds and currents) and they chance it anyway. And there are a few ships that have taken out piers due to conditions.)

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I understand that you would be disappointed about missing CC, but I don't get why you are so ANGRY at DCL. DCL wants to dock at CC so they can bring everyone ashore to spend money on gifts, excursions, etc. I"m sure they dock there if safe and possible. I assume you don't want them to risk the safety of yourself, family, other passengers and the ship. If they weren't able to dock then it is fate/God/Mother Nature to blame.

BTW, We missed CC once on a 3 night cruise and I was disappointed because I look forward to everyone else getting off the ship while we stay on!! I like CC and understand why it is so popular, but we find plenty to do on the ship to enjoy...

The issues at WDW would bother me more, because when we have this happen (wait in line and then a ride breaks down) we usually get a FP to use elsewhere that day and I am surprised you didn't.

 

[Dug720]

I was on the Dream 1/31 weekend. There was 40 mile gusts. A lot of people got seasick that cruise. We had some rough water. My husband videoed the attempt to dock. Commodore tried three times to dock. If that was the same cruise you were on, it was not a poor Dream attempt. I’m sorry you are disappointed. I just want future cruisers to know they tried. The 4 night Dream cruise from this week they docked on Wednesday night so they would be there for Thursday’s visit.

I was not on this one, but a few years ago I was on the Fantasy with Commodore Tom and we barely made it in on our third attempt. While all the captains will try at least once, he is the most patient and will try 3 times before giving up. If he says it is a no-go, there are currents and such that ARE affecting it.

 

[mpsiq]

It is funny that some answers here are so biased.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

Just have to say, when I first saw the OP I was expecting a lot of Disney defending.

I am glad that even though people are being practical about the weather, they are showing a great amount of empathy for the OP. I also have a lot of compassion for these frustrations.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I’m so sorry we just did Castaway Cay on the wonder this week and the weather was literally picture perfect. I would be furious too.

Do you have a trip report anywhere? I would like to hear your experiences since I usually agree with your takes on things.

 

[Dug720]

It is funny that some answers here are so biased.

It is not being biased. Your cruise contract states clearly that ports can be missed or substituted if needed. Missing ports is a possibility on ANY cruise on ANY line.

 

[GBRforWDW]

A bummer, I know. Sorry to hear!

In this image of the CC dock, you will see how little wiggle room there is for any ship to dock. One mistake, and the ship may crash into the rocks or the pier. That's why bad weather might force Disney to skip docking. More of a flaw in the dock design than in the ship's engineering, but I hope you were still able to enjoy the ship.

View attachment 472125

That is a crazy design! When we went on an RC cruise 10 years ago, different island of course, they anchored our ship away from the island and ferried us over. I think even that's changed to an actual dock, but seems like it'd make more sense to have a backup option like that as opposed to not being able to go at all. But...what do I know, I'm just a traveler...lol

 

[Capt_BJ]

OMG!!! A thing DCL was PRAISED for in the beginning was that they had a pier at the private island and you could walk ashore .... never seen before DCL!!!

- I am a former ship captain and have some basis for comment

- I have had discussions with DCL Masters after 'missed' day at CC and they KNOW and APPRECIATE that this is a BIG DEAL. They will try and try again to get to the dock if conditions are marginal ... but then again if the conditions aren't 'close' they will ALWAYS be 'safety first'. I had my first discussion with a DCL Master after I observed his trying for almost 2 hours .... <p.s. not a short discussion, I was in uniform in a bar when he noticed and sat down to talk ... >

- this is the time of the year when CC 'missed' is more common .... btw it is ALSO the time of the year when CAYMAN is more often missed. Reason is the same: neither has anything approaching a protected port/berth. Winter winds can make the 'parking place' a problem versus what's a GOOD place the rest of the year. On other boards, missing CAYMAN is as big of a deal as missing CC for Disney, or CocoCay for RCL or . . .

- when the weather prevents docking at CC .. what do you think it would be like on the beach? often the ship can find BETTER weather a few miles away! (mostly possible in summer)

*********************
That is a crazy design! When we went on an RC cruise 10 years ago, different island of course, they anchored our ship away from the island and ferried us over. I think even that's changed to an actual dock, but seems like it'd make more sense to have a backup option like that as opposed to not being able to go at all.

Royal built a pier because they missed so many visits when sea conditions prevented tendering ..... but they STILL miss visits with the piers at CocoCay AND Labadee. Sailor talk here: the problem is the piers are OPEN .... open to the sea and not behind some form of natural or man made seawall to keeps the waves away.

I could go on and on ....

 

[GBRforWDW]

FRUSTRATION. That is the word that sums up this whole ten days vacation, 3 days in a disney bahamas cruise and seven in the wdw parks. I though I couldnt be as dissatisfied in the parks as I was when my family couldnt set foot in castaway cay when that was the only reason we were on the DCL. Disney blamed nature, “the weather and the currents” but there was only a mild wind so I guess Disney Dream is not such a great ship after all, right? I really wanted to punch the disney cruise “director” in the face when he made jokes about that awful situation in that very same night in the ships theatre. And later in the week, all hopes of being happy in the happiest place on earth went to hell when every day many of the rides we went had “technical difficulties”, ruining each and every park day planning that was carefully made back home. We had issues in rockin roller coaster, rise of the resistance, thunder mountain railroad and even in the haunted mansion. Every time one of those lame experiences happened all we got from disney was the standard ”sorry” that didnt make up for anything. We are regreting every moment and all the money spent and wondering what, in fact, are we doing here!?

From things I've read, Disney sometimes makes things magical for guests even after the fact. I would take the time to write out a detailed report of all the negative experiences you experienced and send it to the guest experience team. Please be nice in your communications, and remember, it's not their fault things happened, but they do usually have the ability to make things up to guests. At the end state you paid x amount for the trip, but due to the negative experiences, felt like you got x value. Don't say $0, as I'm sure you got some, but be honest and ask if there's anything they can do to compensate for the issues experienced on your (mis)adventure.

Who knows what they'll do, maybe give you x number of park tickets, offer to reimburse some of your expenses, etc. You're not guaranteed anything, but it's better to take it up with the people who can in an effort to get a redo at the vacation.