HookedonMagic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2001
- Messages
- 692
Part One
First, a little background. My husband and I are forty-something professionals, although Ive stayed home with our son for eight years. Weve lived in Florida that long, but are from Michigan. We have a twenty-two year old daughter who just graduated from college, as well as the before-mentioned son. We travel for pleasure three or four times per year and have cruised Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Disney (Plantinum Castaway Club.) We spend at least one week every year in Aruba, our favorite Caribbean island. This past June, we spent three weeks in Europe and are headed back next month to help our daughter settle in at Oxford for her graduate studies.
Generally, we only book three night cruises when there are last minute deals. This cruise, however, was booked last October and we (actually) paid full price. We sailed with my parents and we all looked forward to test driving the new Dream. We counted down for months and, in a year filled with big events, we looked forward to our weekend getaway with great anticipation.
As with all well laid plans, things started to go astray about a week before sailing with the formation of Hurricane Irene. For days, we stared at our computer screen, hoping to see a change in path or strength.
And for days, we were disappointed. Irene was headed for the Bahamas and she was forecast to be a Category 3 storm. Surely, wed be receiving a call from DCL at any moment giving us the option to cancel or rebook. Surely, the cruise line website would be updated with a change of plans. Surely, we wouldnt be boarding a ship only to sail right past a category 3 hurricane!
Alas, no word came from Disney, so with trepidation (rather than our usual excitement), we packed and headed for Port Canaveral. The skies were a mix of sun and hurricane feeder ban clouds and brief downpours during the hour long drive, which only added to our impending feeling of doom. Surely, someone would intervene soon and stop this insanity!
We arrived at the Port a little early (10:30) and were told to come back at 10:45. Really? Okay. We headed to a nearby gas station and filled up for the drive home and headed back to Port. An extremely cranky gentlemen greeted us and barked that we were to return at 11:00. My husband tried to say we had just been told 10:45, but he was interrupted by cranky face and told to move along. Boy, the day just kept getting better. We simply drove ahead to the parking ramp where very friendly cast members welcomed us and invited us to come in and park. Whew. Bye bye Mr. Cranky pants.
We dropped our luggage with the porters on the first floor of the parking garage and headed to level three to park (there is a ramp connected to the terminal on level 3.) There was a line of about 100 guests already queued waiting for the Terminal to open at 11:00. We joined the line and waited to head on in. Everyone in line felt like us that we were all crazy and that we couldnt believe that Disney had not uttered one word about the hurricane. A few cast members came by to update us on the line procedures and when they were asked about Irene, they simply shrugged and said there was no need to even think about such things. Youre on vacation. Dont even bother yourselves with such thoughts.
Promptly at 11, the line started to move. Everyone over 18 needed to show an ID to enter the Terminal building. Of course, even though several cast members had told us this while we waited in line, there were dozens ahead of us who didnt have their ids ready. Regardless, within a few minutes we were on our way into the Terminal. We zipped through security (two lines, we went left, it was fastest, yay!), and up the escalators to check-in. The Castaway Club line was shortest, so we headed there, grabbed a flu waiver and were at the counter in minutes. We had filled our documents online and brought our preprinted and signed sheet, so the whole process was very efficient and painless. Again, we asked the cast members about the hurricane and, again, we got a shrug and a perky response that it would not affect the cruise in the least. Huh? No matter, we were handed boarding card number one (love being Platinum!) and headed to a couch to wait before boarding.
My husband and son went to get his kids club wrist band(with transponder) and by 11:30(ish) the DCL family of the day was being announced and Boarding Group number 1 was invited to board! Still thinking this was nuts, we went across the wind-whipped gangway and entered the atrium lobby of the DREAM. Beautiful and so large. Loved the statue of Admiral Donald. We were announced and told that lunch started at 11:45 downstairs in the Enchanted Garden or at noon upstairs in Cabanas. We had a few moments, so I went to Guest Services (just to your right as you enter the ship) and asked to add my parents to our Castaway Cay cabana. I joked that I knew I was being optimistic, but that I thought I would go ahead and add them, just in case we actually made it to the Island. The cast member (again) wondered what I was referring to and assured me there would be no problem making it to both our stops. But Irene, I protested. No worries, she responded. Okay? This was getting weird. No one would even acknowledge that a category three storm was only miles from the Bahamas as we spoke.
We were seated among the first guests at lunch and enjoyed a nice buffet including shrimp, pasta, lamb chops and roast beast at Enchanted Gardens. The restaurant is pleasant and large, but the ceilings are low and its location on Deck 2 make it feel a little like its in the basement rec room (albeit a very elegant rec room!) Our servers at lunch at least acknowledged the possibility of a storm and said they were told to take tablets before their dinner serving because the seas might be a little rough. We tried to joke with them about sailing into a hurricane and they simply responded that we were so funny and that all would be fine in a few hours.
After lunch, we headed to Deck 11 to explore and enjoy a drink. My husband and son continued upstairs to the Sports Deck for some ping pong and mini golf, while my parents, daughter and I made a beeline for the Quiet Cove pool and bar. The sun was shining, although we could see more feeder bans on their way, so we thought we should enjoy a final few hours of sun before the impending doom of the storm....
First, a little background. My husband and I are forty-something professionals, although Ive stayed home with our son for eight years. Weve lived in Florida that long, but are from Michigan. We have a twenty-two year old daughter who just graduated from college, as well as the before-mentioned son. We travel for pleasure three or four times per year and have cruised Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Disney (Plantinum Castaway Club.) We spend at least one week every year in Aruba, our favorite Caribbean island. This past June, we spent three weeks in Europe and are headed back next month to help our daughter settle in at Oxford for her graduate studies.
Generally, we only book three night cruises when there are last minute deals. This cruise, however, was booked last October and we (actually) paid full price. We sailed with my parents and we all looked forward to test driving the new Dream. We counted down for months and, in a year filled with big events, we looked forward to our weekend getaway with great anticipation.
As with all well laid plans, things started to go astray about a week before sailing with the formation of Hurricane Irene. For days, we stared at our computer screen, hoping to see a change in path or strength.
And for days, we were disappointed. Irene was headed for the Bahamas and she was forecast to be a Category 3 storm. Surely, wed be receiving a call from DCL at any moment giving us the option to cancel or rebook. Surely, the cruise line website would be updated with a change of plans. Surely, we wouldnt be boarding a ship only to sail right past a category 3 hurricane!Alas, no word came from Disney, so with trepidation (rather than our usual excitement), we packed and headed for Port Canaveral. The skies were a mix of sun and hurricane feeder ban clouds and brief downpours during the hour long drive, which only added to our impending feeling of doom. Surely, someone would intervene soon and stop this insanity!
We arrived at the Port a little early (10:30) and were told to come back at 10:45. Really? Okay. We headed to a nearby gas station and filled up for the drive home and headed back to Port. An extremely cranky gentlemen greeted us and barked that we were to return at 11:00. My husband tried to say we had just been told 10:45, but he was interrupted by cranky face and told to move along. Boy, the day just kept getting better. We simply drove ahead to the parking ramp where very friendly cast members welcomed us and invited us to come in and park. Whew. Bye bye Mr. Cranky pants.
We dropped our luggage with the porters on the first floor of the parking garage and headed to level three to park (there is a ramp connected to the terminal on level 3.) There was a line of about 100 guests already queued waiting for the Terminal to open at 11:00. We joined the line and waited to head on in. Everyone in line felt like us that we were all crazy and that we couldnt believe that Disney had not uttered one word about the hurricane. A few cast members came by to update us on the line procedures and when they were asked about Irene, they simply shrugged and said there was no need to even think about such things. Youre on vacation. Dont even bother yourselves with such thoughts.
Promptly at 11, the line started to move. Everyone over 18 needed to show an ID to enter the Terminal building. Of course, even though several cast members had told us this while we waited in line, there were dozens ahead of us who didnt have their ids ready. Regardless, within a few minutes we were on our way into the Terminal. We zipped through security (two lines, we went left, it was fastest, yay!), and up the escalators to check-in. The Castaway Club line was shortest, so we headed there, grabbed a flu waiver and were at the counter in minutes. We had filled our documents online and brought our preprinted and signed sheet, so the whole process was very efficient and painless. Again, we asked the cast members about the hurricane and, again, we got a shrug and a perky response that it would not affect the cruise in the least. Huh? No matter, we were handed boarding card number one (love being Platinum!) and headed to a couch to wait before boarding.
My husband and son went to get his kids club wrist band(with transponder) and by 11:30(ish) the DCL family of the day was being announced and Boarding Group number 1 was invited to board! Still thinking this was nuts, we went across the wind-whipped gangway and entered the atrium lobby of the DREAM. Beautiful and so large. Loved the statue of Admiral Donald. We were announced and told that lunch started at 11:45 downstairs in the Enchanted Garden or at noon upstairs in Cabanas. We had a few moments, so I went to Guest Services (just to your right as you enter the ship) and asked to add my parents to our Castaway Cay cabana. I joked that I knew I was being optimistic, but that I thought I would go ahead and add them, just in case we actually made it to the Island. The cast member (again) wondered what I was referring to and assured me there would be no problem making it to both our stops. But Irene, I protested. No worries, she responded. Okay? This was getting weird. No one would even acknowledge that a category three storm was only miles from the Bahamas as we spoke.
We were seated among the first guests at lunch and enjoyed a nice buffet including shrimp, pasta, lamb chops and roast beast at Enchanted Gardens. The restaurant is pleasant and large, but the ceilings are low and its location on Deck 2 make it feel a little like its in the basement rec room (albeit a very elegant rec room!) Our servers at lunch at least acknowledged the possibility of a storm and said they were told to take tablets before their dinner serving because the seas might be a little rough. We tried to joke with them about sailing into a hurricane and they simply responded that we were so funny and that all would be fine in a few hours.
After lunch, we headed to Deck 11 to explore and enjoy a drink. My husband and son continued upstairs to the Sports Deck for some ping pong and mini golf, while my parents, daughter and I made a beeline for the Quiet Cove pool and bar. The sun was shining, although we could see more feeder bans on their way, so we thought we should enjoy a final few hours of sun before the impending doom of the storm....
I really think a little information, even if it was only to say hey, were just not sure whats happening, but we can assure you were doing our very best to keep you safe and ensure a terrific vacation would have gone a long way. And a free drink, a shop discount or even a small onboard credit, would have provided a lot of goodwill to keep most guests happy. I know that they dont need to do that (obviously), but it would have been a nice acknowledgement and gesture. 
