Oct 7th Dream cruise and HORRIBLE customer service by DCL.

[Birdie dog]

Between Carnival and Disney Port Canaveral sailings .... Disney made their decisions earlier. In fact, it wasn't until 10:00 AM on Saturday when Carnival let the folks know that yes, their ships would arrive back in Port on Saturday and that they would cruise on Saturday. The Carnival ships came back at 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM and check in began at 3:30 PM. So, Carnival, by holding off any decisions ... was able to have their Saturday cruises.
Meanwhile ... Disney had already delayed it's Saturday cruise until Sunday. So they were able to let those folks know on Thursday what they had decided. On Thursday Carnival said ... wait. On Friday Carnival said wait. On Saturday ... Carnival said wait til 10:00 AM and we will let you know.

Look at it this way.
Disney could have not extended the Fantasy one more day and did what Carnival did. Of course, people would have been upset. And they would have been really upset if at 10:00 AM Saturday they said ... gee, we really can't come back until Sunday after all.
Carnival was able to turn the ship around on Saturday ... but it was down to the wire ...
I'd say a no win situation for either ... but at least Disney was more proactive about it.

I know for a fact that Carnival had already offered to cancel cruises before DCL did because I was watching all the sites. I'm not sure of the specific ships because I didn't pay that much attention.

I can totally understand the cruise lines not being sure what they were doing with 7 day cruises and dragging their feet a bit guessing that they could pull off most of the cruise. However, for a 3 night cruise that they knew couldn't even dock until late Saturday, they knew they had already lost 1/3 of the cruise, at a minimum. There should not have been that much involved in knowing the ship couldn't leave.

As far as itinerary changes. They suck. I understand people being disappointed in sailing, but not sailing to the places they signed up for. I would have been fine with 3 days at sea. (This was my 10th cruise) but I knew the ship couldn't dock, debark guests and leave again. This was a no brainer.

BTW, I was with a large group for this cruise. I was invited to a wedding on CC on Oct 8th. Because DCL took so long to cancel, hotels in Orlando were booked up before I could find alternate arrangements. I was unable to attend the wedding.

 

[Quellman]

It would not have made any sense for Disney to take the ship out that night. That was already the second extra night on a four night sailing and the guests needed to get off the next morning.

Of course it wouldn't have made sense. They didn't have any passengers to board onto it. It would have been essentially a 1 day cruise. Left late Saturday, and then return to port on Monday.

The carnival ship that left was on a 7 night itinerary. Disney only had to cancel a single cruise (Dream 3 night) they knew wouldn't be sailing and shorten the other (Fantasy 7 day). How upset would people have been if the Fantasy arrived on Saturday and departed, and the Dream was extended to 6 nights returning on Sunday? I don't know how much food is routinely stocked on the Dream, but I suspect people were getting tired of the same menus AND others likely had plans that kept being delayed. A 1 day delay isn't too bad, but 2 days would have been a bit much.

You could argue that fewer overall people would be impacted if the Fantasy arrived on Saturday. But Disney wasn't sure the port would even be open. I think they made the right call. I know the OP was concerned about the timing of things, but I can't talk to that sinec I wasn't watching from WHEN decisions were made, just WHAT the decision was

 

[FigmentSpark]

BTW, I was with a large group for this cruise. I was invited to a wedding on CC on Oct 8th. Because DCL took so long to cancel, hotels in Orlando were booked up before I could find alternate arrangements. I was unable to attend the wedding.

Why didn't you just book a room "in case" in Orlando? Or would there have been a penalty for cancelling?

 

[Birdie dog]

Why didn't you just book a room "in case" in Orlando? Or would there have been a penalty for cancelling?

Because until 5 PM Wednesday the cruise was still leaving. And by the time they finally cancelled, Orlando was booked with people who were stuck. Even the bigger Disney resorts weren't taking reservations in case they needed to move people from the smaller resorts.

I had a room for the night before the cruise... and though I didn't get to go, the rest of the wedding party did get there. And then, in the morning, they couldn't get out. There was a travel curfew and they couldn't leave the hotel (that was totally booked). For a short while, they had no idea where they'd even be staying.

 

[disboardlover]

No, this is what happened.

Disney did not know when the Dream could return. They cancelled the cruise on Friday, extended the cruise to Saturday. Later, they said it would return on Saturday or Sunday depending on when the port reopened. This was decided before Saturday.

Disney also extended the Fantasy. The ship planned to return on Sunday. The Saturday cruise was delayed until Sunday. This was decided either Thursday or Friday, before Saturday.

As someone who was on the extended 10/3 Dream cruise, I can for sure say that the 10/7 Dream cruise was cancelled on Wednesday 10/5 right around 5pm EDT. I know this because this was the same moment we started hearing that we were headed to Costa Maya the next day instead of heading back toward Florida, something confirmed an hour later by the Captain. At this same announcement, they expected the Fantasy to join up with the Dream on the following day somewhere between Florida and Cuba and we expected that we might be able to get back to Port Canaveral by late Saturday afternoon, but this was not set in stone.

The next day (10/6) we received further information: a) we would not be seeing the Fantasy (as I guess it was by now extended a day to Sunday 10/9), b) assuming PC was operational, we still expected to be back on Saturday afternoon, c) if PC not open on Saturday, then likely Sunday morning, d) if PC not open by Sunday morning, then we would likely head to alternate port (we guessed Miami or Everglades, but no specific one was mentioned) with buses back to PC. Also, e) even if we got back to PC on Saturday, folks were welcome to stay onboard until Sunday morning due to difficulty of getting rooms in Orlando area for weekend.

 

[disboardlover]

Because until 5 PM Wednesday the cruise was still leaving. And by the time they finally cancelled, Orlando was booked with people who were stuck. Even the bigger Disney resorts weren't taking reservations in case they needed to move people from the smaller resorts.

I had a room for the night before the cruise... and though I didn't get to go, the rest of the wedding party did get there. And then, in the morning, they couldn't get out. There was a travel curfew and they couldn't leave the hotel (that was totally booked). For a short while, they had no idea where they'd even be staying.

For our group, we had two rooms booked at Universal Sapphire Falls for Friday that we canceled while on the 10/3 Dream cruise, since we knew we were not going to be able to use them (and of course they were booked for Saturday). Although we had to make hotel and airline changes while on the ship, I am sure Thursday and Friday night hotel arrangements in Orlando were even tougher for those already there or flying in by Thursday.

 

[disboardlover]

Actually there is a person on this thread from the cancelled cruise who was quite happy with how DCL handled the cancellation. I think you might be reading to only find the negative as with everything people who were impacted have positive and negative feelings about how it was handled.

Hurricane Matthew didn't make things easy for the forecasters, with its regular speed and direction changes. Around 10/1, it was expected in the Bahamas by 10/5 and so I assume DCL thought they might be able to follow behind and get to PC by Friday. Still, I think it was fairly clear by 10/4 that Matthew was headed closer to Florida, and while it could have sped up and still passed before 10/6, I think DCL waited until 10/5 to make the call until they were sure.

I think if they had made the call on 10/4, it might have been better for more people, but even then, you can never make it right for everyone. Some may have already been in Florida, already traveling internationally, etc. Even those of us on the 10/3 Dream cruise heard and saw people complaining about the extended cruise and the issues it was creating for them. It can be frustrating and stressful, but you do your best.

It created issues for us too, and part of my mind was always on the weather, hoping that we could get back safely, have a place to stay if needed, and make airline arrangements. Thankfully, although it did create itinerary, hotel and airline flight changes for us, and extended our stay in Florida, it worked out. However, if Matthew had not wobbled a bit east at the last minute, who knows? Maybe PC would have had more damage, maybe MCO might have been closed on Saturday as well and flights on Sunday might also have been delayed or cancelled.

Having said that, DCL should by now have processed refunds and things like that, I would think.

 

[greggoda]

They should have cancelled on Tuesday when the Port announced it would be closed. We came in town on Monday night to spend a few days at Universal before our cruise. My brother was able to get a flight home on Wednesday morning but by the time DCL announced they were cancelling the cruise around 5 that night it was too late for flights or too late to even find a decent room on the gulf to spend the rest of our vacation. We had to rent a car and drive home $600. If they would have simply cancelled on Tuesday when the port announced they would close they would have had far fewer people flying into Florida and far fewer people stuck without options. The DCL service in this case is well below WDW/Disney standards (and other cruise lines). I don't know if it was intentional for them to keep as many people as they could in the Florida area spending money or just bad management. I'm just not used to that kind of experience with Disney and the contrast is what has most upset.

 

[jjlloyd1975]

Just wanted to say that we had no problems with customer service following the cancelled 10/7 Dream cruise. We called on the following Monday to rebook our cruise, and the process was smooth. We received our refund yesterday, just inside of the 5-10 working day window we were told. Do I wish we could have gone on the cruise as scheduled? Absolutely! But the weather does what it wants, and Disney made their calls based on the information they had.

 

[thepak92]

First of all, I live in coastal SC. I know that a hurricane is NOT DCL's fault. But, the horrible, HORRIBLE service that I've seen since (before) the cancelation of this cruise has been inexcusable.

Lets start with pre cruise. The sailing was to depart on a Friday. We were sailing in and had a room booked overnight on Thursday... By Wednesday, all hurricane models that were being broadcast called for a direct hit to the Bahamas and landfall being made in Eastern Florida on Friday morning. Many models called for an up to Cat 4 landfall very close to Port Canaveral. Airlines began issuing opportunities to reschedule flights in and out of Florida. By Wednesday morning. Carnival and RCCL were showing updates on their sites. By Wednesday afternoon updates included cruise cancelations and itinerary changes. DCL, meanwhile, was "monitoring the storm" and had no changes planned at this time. At 3 PM a mandatory evacuation was in effect for Port Canaveral. Hotels were contacting guests telling them they would be closed so other arrangements had to be made.. The park and sail lots were also contacting people with reservations and cancelling. DCL continued to state that the cruise was going forward as planned with no changes. By late Wednesday afternoon I called DCL asking when, exactly, they would be acknowledging that the port was closed (as were all the ports on the East Coast of FLA) and there was NO way the ship could sail as it wouldn't be allowed to return until the storm had passed and the port was inspected. Again, we were still a go. ( This part is a guess, but as we were also under emergency evacuation, it's a reasonable one- my GUESS is that the eastbound lanes of the bride to Cocoa were closed and no one would be able to drive over).

Now understand, people were getting nervous. I'm was in a meet and greet group and no one knew if they should actually fly to Florida or not. Even if you had cruise insurance, until DCL actually cancelled the cruise you would not get a full refund (unless you bought a cancel for no reason policy). DCL was basically encouraging it's guests to fly into a cat 4 hurricane. IMO, for a cruise that they knew well ahead of time, was not going to happen..

And fly in people did. One person in my group who stood out was a woman who flew in from South America. Her husband was joining her in Miami a day or two later as he had to work and so he sent her ahead. Except his flight was cancelled. And Miami was evacuated. And the woman, who couldn't drive, was unable to secure a room at WDW OR secure transport to Orlando as the transportation companies had closed up shop...

At 1701 Wednesday DCL cancelled the cruise. This was hours after some from my group flew down. Once they arrived in MCO they were unable to secure rooms due to shut downs with reservations. They needed to have open rooms for evacuations and there were many guests stuck in Orlando who needed to keep the rooms they were currently occupying. BTW, about that timing...I'm sure the TAs LOVED that. One minute after 5. Nice job, Disney.

I received an email from DCL stating that my cruise would be cancelled and I would be given a full refund of price paid for my sailing within 7-10 business days. I was also told that I would receive a 20% discount on a cruise of my choice until the end of 2017.

As of today 9 business days, I have not received my refund. Though refunds for airfare and hotels have been deposited.

There are now reports that DCL staff members are telling guests that they have to *use* their discount by Oct 20 or they will lose it. This is currently running about 50-50 as far as what people are being told but I know that someone from the group reported that was what they were told by Shoreside today. People are also reporting that DCL is saying you can only use the discount on Caribbean and Bahamas cruises and not during peak holiday times. This was not worded in the original email and some from my group report moving their reservations to a Christmas sailing without difficulty.

Anyone who is dealing with the rebooking process is going through the maddening experience of "I guess it depends who you talk to.". And people are reporting getting one thing when someone else is told they cannot do the same thing.

I was told I couldn't get the price of a cruise backdated to the price of the cruise when I booked the Oct 7th cruise (and it's been reported that this was something meant for the Magic guests and not the Dream guests) but some from my group WERE backdated...

I could go on and on....

So, as I type this I'm having a hard time justifying why I want to pay twice as much to take another DCL cruise. My kids are grown, I have pretty much open ability to take any trip I want. What I know is I (thought) I was paying for Disney quality. At this point, I can say I am absolutely NOT experiencing quality at all.

I'd love to hear from anyone in the same "boat" (hah) and see where you are in the process.

DCL, get your act together.

I have had quite the opposite experience - we were booked on the same Oct 7-10 cruise, while I agree with you that Wed late afternoon (we were notified at 4:55 and scheduled to fly next day) seems late, I also understand that the safety of those currently on the ship (all three due back to the PORT) would take priority over those waiting to arrive. My experience was this - just today I received majority of my refund (this is day 10 of business working days) and was informed that since there were multiple deposits, I would receive them back as such, not in one lump sum. Most of the refunds are being issued today and Monday with a posting date of 18 and 19 October. I have already re-booked for 9 December without any problems and the 20% off was used as well. In fact, I decided to upgrade to cat 4B (deluxe fam oceanview with verandah) from just oceanview with large window and the price difference was about $266, when I called to do the upgrade - DCL saw that I was part of the 7 Oct booking, took it back to my original booking date and took 20% off my upgrade as well so only cost $153. We are set to sail, have majority of refund, I expect the rest on 24 October and were discounted the 20% - our experience has been as smooth as can be considering DCL had to take care of all of the arrangements for travel/hotel/etc for those still on board the Dream, Fantasy and Magic when the Hurricane arrived and then take care of those that booked for the 7 Oct sailing. Would've like to have known sooner, but for us, we were not scheduled to fly til Thurs so wasn't an issue, so I can't really speak to that aspect. But for the rest - very helpful staff and excellent job in re-booking. Pleased and will continue to sail DCL

 

[Mari23]

I have had quite the opposite experience - we were booked on the same Oct 7-10 cruise, while I agree with you that Wed late afternoon (we were notified at 4:55 and scheduled to fly next day) seems late, I also understand that the safety of those currently on the ship (all three due back to the PORT) would take priority over those waiting to arrive. My experience was this - just today I received majority of my refund (this is day 10 of business working days) and was informed that since there were multiple deposits, I would receive them back as such, not in one lump sum. Most of the refunds are being issued today and Monday with a posting date of 18 and 19 October. I have already re-booked for 9 December without any problems and the 20% off was used as well. In fact, I decided to upgrade to cat 4B (deluxe fam oceanview with verandah) from just oceanview with large window and the price difference was about $266, when I called to do the upgrade - DCL saw that I was part of the 7 Oct booking, took it back to my original booking date and took 20% off my upgrade as well so only cost $153. We are set to sail, have majority of refund, I expect the rest on 24 October and were discounted the 20% - our experience has been as smooth as can be considering DCL had to take care of all of the arrangements for travel/hotel/etc for those still on board the Dream, Fantasy and Magic when the Hurricane arrived and then take care of those that booked for the 7 Oct sailing. Would've like to have known sooner, but for us, we were not scheduled to fly til Thurs so wasn't an issue, so I can't really speak to that aspect. But for the rest - very helpful staff and excellent job in re-booking. Pleased and will continue to sail DCL

thepak92, i would love to know what cast member you spoke with when you re-booked your cruise because from the 3 i spoke with none of them even gave the hint of backdating the booking to my original booking date so the cost would be lower. Please PM if you can. I too have received partial payments for my refund as of last night when i checked my credit card but a little irritated that they waited for business day 9&10 to process the refunds.

Overall, i was bothered on the fact that they were basically at the wire when they made the call to cancel but at that point my family and I were already in the Disney bubble and managed to secure rooms for my party of 8 just in case; and so glad i did. But that was us and our case but i felt bad for all of those folks that were scheduled to fly in the day before the cruise. It really didn't give those folks the chance to make the proper changes they needed. TO ME, That just shows the "money hungry" side of the cruise line thinking, " I want to keep as much money as i can before i really have to fund all these people, we don't really care about what other plans you may have to modify just as long as we can keep our money". Again, that is just a thought that runs in my head.

At this point i am still willing to give them a try since it would have been our 1st cruise with them but i do agree that things should have been handled differently. Giving people the option to cancel the cruise with full refund given the situation regardless if they had insurance or not would have gone along much better for folks than waiting till after business hours 1.5 days before the storm is set to hit and there was no forecast showing it deviating from its path all that much. Knowing before hand that besides PC there is no other port that can handle the ship locally and logistically to bus people down to Miami/FFL post hurricane to salvage a 3 night cruise just does not make sense.

 

[Birdie dog]

I have had quite the opposite experience - we were booked on the same Oct 7-10 cruise, while I agree with you that Wed late afternoon (we were notified at 4:55 and scheduled to fly next day) seems late, I also understand that the safety of those currently on the ship (all three due back to the PORT) would take priority over those waiting to arrive. My experience was this - just today I received majority of my refund (this is day 10 of business working days) and was informed that since there were multiple deposits, I would receive them back as such, not in one lump sum. Most of the refunds are being issued today and Monday with a posting date of 18 and 19 October. I have already re-booked for 9 December without any problems and the 20% off was used as well. In fact, I decided to upgrade to cat 4B (deluxe fam oceanview with verandah) from just oceanview with large window and the price difference was about $266, when I called to do the upgrade - DCL saw that I was part of the 7 Oct booking, took it back to my original booking date and took 20% off my upgrade as well so only cost $153. We are set to sail, have majority of refund, I expect the rest on 24 October and were discounted the 20% - our experience has been as smooth as can be considering DCL had to take care of all of the arrangements for travel/hotel/etc for those still on board the Dream, Fantasy and Magic when the Hurricane arrived and then take care of those that booked for the 7 Oct sailing. Would've like to have known sooner, but for us, we were not scheduled to fly til Thurs so wasn't an issue, so I can't really speak to that aspect. But for the rest - very helpful staff and excellent job in re-booking. Pleased and will continue to sail DCL

You are just reinforcing my statement about DCL and "it depends on who you talk to"! I, too, rebooked to a December cruise and specifically asked for my room to be priced from the date I originally booked Oct 7th. I was told, "no, that's just for Magic guests".

Again, NO, continuity. I'm guessing if I got the lower price, and they told you no when you asked, you might be annoyed too.

 

[MunFam]

All I can think of is how extra awful for all of the poor souls who paid with a ton of "Target Gift Cards". They may have gift cards with credits that are lost or whatever...and now they are forced to book another cruise...or they lose all that gift card money. Ugh...talk about making matters worse.

 

[disboardlover]

All I can think of is how extra awful for all of the poor souls who paid with a ton of "Target Gift Cards". They may have gift cards with credits that are lost or whatever...and now they are forced to book another cruise...or they lose all that gift card money. Ugh...talk about making matters worse.

Which is why if you go this route, you consolidate gift cards at the Disney Gift Card website, and also always keep the remaining gift cards until after you are sure there will be no refund -- outside return window for merchandise, and actually experiencing parks or cruises. But yeah, ouch for anyone who might have 20+ cards that they already destroyed.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Which is why if you go this route, you consolidate gift cards at the Disney Gift Card website, and also always keep the remaining gift cards until after you are sure there will be no refund -- outside return window for merchandise, and actually experiencing parks or cruises. But yeah, ouch for anyone who might have 20+ cards that they already destroyed.

It's also the reason I like using the Disney Vacation Account for my gift cards. I combine them on the Disney Gift Card website, then apply the combined gift card to my DVA account. So if I cancel, it all goes back into my DVA account.

 

[disboardlover]

It's also the reason I like using the Disney Vacation Account for my gift cards. I combine them on the Disney Gift Card website, then apply the combined gift card to my DVA account. So if I cancel, it all goes back into my DVA account.

...and you get a nice little bonus gift card credit too! Hope it continues past 2017.

 

[thepak92]

thepak92, i would love to know what cast member you spoke with when you re-booked your cruise because from the 3 i spoke with none of them even gave the hint of backdating the booking to my original booking date so the cost would be lower. Please PM if you can. I too have received partial payments for my refund as of last night when i checked my credit card but a little irritated that they waited for business day 9&10 to process the refunds.

Overall, i was bothered on the fact that they were basically at the wire when they made the call to cancel but at that point my family and I were already in the Disney bubble and managed to secure rooms for my party of 8 just in case; and so glad i did. But that was us and our case but i felt bad for all of those folks that were scheduled to fly in the day before the cruise. It really didn't give those folks the chance to make the proper changes they needed. TO ME, That just shows the "money hungry" side of the cruise line thinking, " I want to keep as much money as i can before i really have to fund all these people, we don't really care about what other plans you may have to modify just as long as we can keep our money". Again, that is just a thought that runs in my head.

At this point i am still willing to give them a try since it would have been our 1st cruise with them but i do agree that things should have been handled differently. Giving people the option to cancel the cruise with full refund given the situation regardless if they had insurance or not would have gone along much better for folks than waiting till after business hours 1.5 days before the storm is set to hit and there was no forecast showing it deviating from its path all that much. Knowing before hand that besides PC there is no other port that can handle the ship locally and logistically to bus people down to Miami/FFL post hurricane to salvage a 3 night cruise just does not make sense.

Hi, sorry so late in getting back to you, I have a teen boy and tween girl that both play travel baseball/softball so I'm never sure which direction I"m going in... LOL Anyway, all of my re-booking was done through my travel agent @ Dreams Unlimited (sponsor of this Disboard actually). Oddly enough is I did all of my own planning previously and this one time I decided to try a travel agent simply because they were offering substantial amount of onboard credit. So - sorry I can't be of more assistance but I do hope you get on the cruise as the kids and I (first cruise they were 7 and 5 and now they're 14 and 12) absolutely love DCL and they have no desire to sail any other