oct cruise cancelled

[traycie2201]

This is just awful , i'm on the october 9th western and read the first post with some alarm, i'm so glad ours is still going ahead ( for Now ! ) but it is so unfair for the others who have been planning and looking forward to their holiday, i'd be asking disney to get me on another comparable cruise on the same dates and for them to pay , no way could i have changed we're flying from the uk , staying in boardwalk the week before and if our cruise got cancelled i'd be madder than mad on a mad day with a bag full of mad.
I do hope everything turns out alright for the poor people who have their plans changed.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

This shows no "CLASS" for the DCL

. It shows $$$ talks and DCL could care less about families.

 

[siily047]

thanks everyone my aunt and uncle are pretty upset as this was a family cruise for them ,but there is nothing they can do so they have to change all there plans get new plane tickets and hotels plus there granddaughter is going now they may have to cancell the whole thing because she is in school. I wish there was a way for us to contact disney, and I mean everyone who reads this board, and tell them how unfair it is for them to do this to people who have already paid and made plans. disney is suppose to be the best for familys but seems to me they are most interested in money otherwise they would have told whomever wanted the ship to pick a different cruise, I wont be cruiseing on them , its not like they are cheap it one of them more expensive cruises out t here atleast with a cheaper one you have more money to play with . I'll go with RCL or carnival but disney can kiss my business good bye ......

 

[traycie2201]

Why not copy and paste all our comments on to an e mail to disney customer care , fine if they want to book out the whole ship or if business is quiet rebook it to a big group but i get the impression the ship was already nearly full so not really about the money is it, surely it's better to say to the company / person booking " no we have some integrity we're not going to let all these people who have booked up to 2 years in advance down, i'm afraid you'll have to book another date or look elsewhere " i'd have much more respect for that attitude , i wonder if the people who are taking the cruise on that date know that hundreds of peoples holidays are being ruined ??

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

I agree....I think it is totally unfair and unjustified. If they did this to our December cruise, which will be booked 19 months in advance, I would be completely livid.

Poor customer relations. Just horrible. I am truly sorry to those of you it affected.

 

[floridaminnie]

I'm surprised the DCL did this with that being a Halloween cruise ontop of it!

 

[dclwdwlover]

I agree also that it is extremely unfair & thoughtless of Disney to just cancel people's cruises to accomodate those who have $$$ & wish to reserve an entire cruise. This should be done ONLY before dates are posted to the public.

What about everyone who books trips to WDW & other places in & around Orlando to coincide with the cruise?

What about those who have to make plans well in advance with their jobs & cannot change the dates?

What about the children that are told they are going on a cruise & looking forward to it for a very long time just to find out it is cancelled & Mom & Dad can't reschedule any time soon because they can't get off work other days with such short notice?

What about a lot of other types of situations that make it an EXTREME inconvenience?

This has never happened to me, but I believe that if it did I would most likely never cruise the line that would take my reservation and then just thoughtlessly & inconsiderately cancel it when a better offer came in.

 

[dtuleya]

I'm so upset for all those people who are affected. So what if they give you some compensation, I'm sure it's not enough to make up for the emotional toll and inconvenience they are causing hundreds of cruisers. What about all those people who will have the added expense of changing airline ressies they booked on their own?

 

[mickeyboat]

I'd just like to add my comments to this thread in hopes that DCL sees it. This is outrageous! People save and plan for years for their Disney Cruises. They take time off of work and make airline reservations. DCL obviously wants us to make plans that far ahead of time, they have the security of the reservation, we have the security of the lower price.

Then to tell everyone 6 months before their vacation that their cruise has been cancelled is horrible - especially in light of the fact that they are giving those spots to big $$ corporate America. Maybe the cruise line DVD should show men in business suits waving armloads of cash instead of the fun family atmosphere they portray.

As a huge DCL fan who recommends DCL to all her friends and to everyone on the DIS, I am hugely disappointed.

I understand that DCL does not exist to cater to the whims of individual families. I understand that it exists to make money. I understand that the documents give DCL the right to do this. But there were other options available, such as booking the cruise well in advance of current reservation schedules, which would not have disappointed so many people and ruined so many vacation plans.




Denae

 

[Zandy595]

I got scared when I read the first post also. We're booked on the October 16 cruise with 12 people in our party. It took a lot of work to get everyone to get their vacations at the same time.

I feel so bad for the people who were booked on that cruise.

My DB's company (Allstate) booked the whole Wonder for the March 18, 2004 cruise. I never thought that they might have been messing up other people's vacations. I wonder how far in advance Allstate booked the ship. Hope it didn't ruin anyone else's trip.

 

[gottaluvdis]

Wow... I'm floored by this. I can't believe Disney would do this. They better get a handle on this and soon. Thanks to the internet, these kinds of stories get out to the public within hours (as is evident on this board). With the company in turmoil to begin with, you wouldn't think they'd want a lot more bad publicity. I wholeheartedly agree - corporations should only be allowed to book prior to the dates being released to the general public. This is a no-brainer. I was seriously considering purchasing DVC this year, but this story definitely puts that consideration on hold for good this year. I may reconsider next year, depending on what happens within the company by the end of this year. They need to get back on track.

 

[disneybride96]

Originally posted by dclwdwlover

What about those who have to make plans well in advance with their jobs & cannot change the dates?

I agree that this is terrible, but just think about the quote above. Why can someone not change their vacation dates with their job?Because we are at the mercy of the all mighty dollar. I have to turn in my vacations in March, but I cannot remember a year that I did not have to change at least one because of "the needs of the business".

And face it. Disney is a business whether we like to admit it or not. Lots of company's like to preach "customer service".... but get real. It is not because they want to be the "nice" company. They want your money and giving customer service is the way to get it. Disney probably took in published rates for every room on the ship for thoses days. No free upgrades, no package discounts....appartently a lot more profitable than a regular cruise to be able to offer vouchers and cost credits to the original bookers.

I am not defending Disney's decision to cancel this cruise to the public. It stinks and I would be steaming mad if it were me. I love Disney, but sometimes I forget that deep down they are just like Walmart, My doctor, insurance company or car dealer. They exist to provide a product or service and make a profit!

 

[markmyboy]

Our 7 night 2001 Halloween cruise was also "half chartered" by some large company. So half the ship was full of families there to enjoy all that DCL has to offfer for Halloween & half full by people who seemed to only think the entire ship belonged to them. They seriously did ruin was was to be one of the best cruises ever. We were pretty determined after that experience to never return to DCL...except for the fact that we had a 3 night Wonder cruise booked about a month & a half after our return (we were introducing DCL to my family!!) Luckily the 3 night Wonder cruise went well....BUT the two years following our Halloween cruise we went with two different cruise lines....we returned to the Wonder in Jan. & fell back in love with DCL...will be returning in April 2005.

I know that DCL is out there to make money, but there should seriously be a better way to handle charter bookings, like others have said, the corporations must know further out than 6 months that they are planning something like this...to book the ENTIRE ship!!??!! If they did just figure out that this is something they wanted to do, they couldn't wait for a not yet released date??? But this is common practice on most cruise lines, and most ships sail nearly full, so why would they even think to change it?? It's just disturbing.

I would advise the original poster & others to see about trying another cruiseline for similar dates if possible. I know DCL offers so many things that the others just don't, but if people have flights booked & are locked into their vacation days, another cruiseline myght be the answer....just a cruddy thing to have happen to you!! Sorry for all of those affected.

 

[WDWguru]

I got up early so DH and I could call together, and DVC's computers are down. ::sigh::

I'd laugh if it weren't so frustrating! Supposedly this "Camille" who called us yesterday will call him back as soon as the system is up. As far as they know, we still don't even know it's cancelled, so I hope that gives us a bit of a leg up dealing with it.

 

[JJsmama]

I am glad to see everyone is as shocked and outraged as I am.

As for all the people DCL just totally screwed by cancelling their cruise, are they giving them any incentive or discount? Just transferring their money to another date would NOT be sufficient for me. I think the people should get their whole cruise free. What is to keep these people and their friends and relatives from giving up on Disney forever?

 

[Disneyallthetime]

[start soap box]
This is typical of modern Eisner Disney. He may have turned the company around financially in the eighties by bringing a profitable business model to the corp., but too much of a good thing is squeezing out the goodwill people feel toward Disney. For a time Disney had a balance between the business need for profits and their near legendary attention to guest satisfaction, but over the past decade that balance has shifted so heavily to profit that people are losing the "magical" feeling, that frankly, Disney needs to survive. Their product is good but what makes it "Great" is the feeling people have of being in a place that cares so much about them that it will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their happiness. That is the Disney I and a couple of generations grew up with and are now starting to feel disiilusioned about.
The Disney we know and love is not yet dead and buried, but the people that have made it that way for all these years can resist the pressure from above to maximize profit first for only so long. Eventually they get worn down and/or budgets get cut and there is no way to maintain the old quality we've come to expect. I can assure you that the CM's are no happier about this than we are.

Our only recourse is to complain when things get out of hand. Eventually if enough people complain, even Eisner is capable of recognizing that there is little profit in large numbers of unhappy guests.

We all love Disney for a reason. Take away the reasons, and the people will lose interest in paying large sums of money for vacations that have lost their luster.
[end soap box]

Still looking forward to our first cruise, but this certainly gave me pause in my feelings towards DCL.

 

[4nana]

HEARTBREAKING!!

I feel so sorry for your family and all others who are anxiously anticipating their wonderful family vacations, to be stepped on like this. I would be VERY upset and can't blame you for taking your business else where. Hope it all works out for your family.

Apparently cruise lines have no mercy. Year before last Disney canceled another cruise, as some company with big bucks wanted to charter the ship. All cruise lines can legally do this and are protected. They will simply rearrange your cruise dates, etc....
don't expect anything free for inconvenience!

:confused2 No doubt, the magic and wonder are lost...
as sad as it may be....unfortunately money rules, even with Disney!!

~ Sandie

 

[Grumbo]

I understood Disney chartered the ship out but NEVER thought they would do it once a lot of people had already booked.

How does this work now?

You've booked your flights, paid for (in case of foreigners like myself) health insurance to cover you while in the States, cancellation insurance through a private carrier booked hotel rooms before and after and used the cheapest rates so there is no refunds.
Much of this is not movable or if it is, it is at an added expense!

Has this ever happened before?

I would be livid beyond description if this were my cruise. I book way over a year in advance and have to book holidays at work anywhere up to 14 months in advance.

Maybe those dock workers at Canaveral were onto something having the big rat out there picketing with them.

I am very disappointed with Disney over this.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[WDWguru]

I know with the final contract the cruise line can basically do whatever they want, but we don't have that yet. Nothing I've signed or seen so far says they can do anything like this, so that's how we are proceeding. I don't want to get anything I'm not entitled to, but I'm not going to let them get off easy, either. DH and I own 700 DVC points, we're AP holders and stockholders AND I work for a major newspaper. We have some ammo here.

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=darkviolet>I feel for those who have been "bumped" for more $$ . I would have been heartbroken to get this news just 6 months before my cruise. I imagine many families gave this cruise to their kids for Christmas, many others have already been hyping to their kids that they will be on the "mickey boat" for Halloween. I'm hoping Disney covers all expenses caused by this.</font>