I have a couple of comments to make. I am not flaming anyone, I am merely stating my opinion, as others have done.
First, in regards to Florida being evacuated. The whole state was not evacuated. Saying that the govenor order the evacuation of FL is incorrect, there were counties and cities evacuated, but not the entire state.
Second, in regards to incentives:
DCL DID NOT offer incentives to get people to cruise during Frances. They offered incentives to those who opted NOT to cancel and made it to the ship. It was up to each and every passenger to make the decision whether to travel into Florida and get to the ship. Anyone who decided to travel into Florida had to know there was bad weather. I don't believe DCL would tell anyone it was safe to travel during a hurricane, and if someone at DCL told passengers that, they should be retrained. There were people already in Florida waiting for the cruise, and there were passengers who did fly in and make it to the ship in Port Everglades.
Third in regard to the idea that those people who did cancel are somehow entitiled to book on another cruise at the same tier discount as they booked prior - OK, tell me this, why should you get to book at the lowest tier, or the second lowest? Give me a logical reason. So far all I have read is that DCL is treating you all badly becausae you had to cancel and they owe you rebooking at a lower rate. Following this reasoning, I should be able to call the reservation center and demand that I be allowed to book any future cruise at the lowest rate available because there was a hurricane this week. So picture this, there is a cruise that leaves in October and you (the general you, no one in particular) and I are on the ship together and we start comparing notes. Imagine your outrage when you find out that I booked at 30% off a month prior to sailing and you paid full fare two months before because that was all that was available when you booked. All because I cancelled the cruise that was shortened due to the hurricane. And "Oh by the way, when I cancelled 2 days before, DCL refunded my full fare! With out my having
travel insurance! What's that? Your brother was supposed to sail with you but his boss cancelled his vacation plans 3 days ago? Gee that's too bad, he didn't get a single penny refunded to him? The nerve of DCL!!!!!
See I think you (the general you) need to take a few deep breaths and then decide what exactly you think is fair compensation. Then you need to logically explain it to someone higher than a supervisor in the reservation center. Do it in writing. Send it to the head of guest services.
Some of you will no doubt think I am being mean, or condesending, or nasty. Remember I have my opinion as others have theirs. Before the internet, when hurricanes threatened to disrupt cruises, the passengers on the ships wew notified by the cruise line as to what to do. Thre were no bulletin boards to compare notes on. Unless you were travelling with friends or family, you had no idea what other passengers were offered, unless it made the newspaper. People wrote letters to travel magazines to tell of their experiences. I remember reading about a problem cruise where the passengers were refunded 25% of their fare because one of the ships engines failed at sea. It didn't affect the cruise any, but when the passengers returned to port, some of them filed suits against the cruise line because they didn't get all of their money back. They never got into court, the jusge deemed it unnecessary, as they were given compensation.
Really, what would you have Disney do? If they give you a discount for this, then they better give me a discount because my dining service sucked on the Wonder in 2000. I think it's only fair.
