Trip Report / Justification

[Grumpy1]

First time cruiser, first time posting. We just returned from the Feb 5-12 Eastern cruise, and I'm still wondering how I can feel good about spending so much money on a cruise that did not meet my expectations. So.....let's talk about my expectations and see if they're unreasonable.

Expectation #1: We live in Cincinnati, it's cold here, we're going on a trip to the Bahamas. My expectation is sun and warmth. Of the 7 cruise days, 4 were cold enough to keep you inside. Only St. Martin, St. Thomas and the following day at sea were warm enough to enjoy.

Expectation #2: I should be able to enjoy my vacation without needing drugs. The "patch" was a must for the first two days and the last. I don't particularly enjoy dry mouth and drowsiness. My daughter was sick enough the first evening to have to spend it in our room - so that meant one of us had to go with her. I'm sure the first evening's show was fun - I got to see it - my wife and two daughters didn't.

Expectation #3: If your itinerary lists three ports of call - then I expect to go to three ports of call. Castaway Cay was a bust. The Captain tried three times to get in, then told us to enjoy another day at sea. Now I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened, so it confounds me how Disney hasn't come up with a solution to this inevitable problem. They spent the whole cruise building up how fantastic their private island would be. My daughters and I put off snorkeling at the other islands to instead snorkel at CC. We were also looking forward to banana boat rides and parasailing. So everything we had saved up for was for nothing. That to me is a bust.

My wife reminds me that Disney can't control the weather. And Disney does nothing to discourage people from cruising in February (When, I'm told, it's most likely they will not be able to dock at CC). But when you pay an arm and a leg for a trip, isn't it reasonable to expect to arrive at your destinations???

I have to say, now that I'm back in the real world, I realize just how much I was on vacation. I know I didn't appreciate it while on the boat because there was so much to do (I was going non-stop - movies, workout, Navigator series tours, line-dancing seminars, juggling seminars, nightlife entertainment, etc.) I was bummed about the weather and not getting to CC. I was even more bummed about how much extra the trip costs ABOVE the cruise fare. Tips, excursions, cab fare just to get to a beach (St. Thomas), pictures ($10 each, $20 for portraits), souveniers, $3.50 beers, etc. etc. Now that I've been on a Disney cruise, I can expect and plan for that - but this first time was a shocker.

So......did we enjoy it? Yes. Do we miss it? Yes. Would we go again? 3 in my family say yes, I say "not sure". We do have some great memories, but no "wow" or "magical moments". You would think that for $4800 plus $1200 in "extras" - and the fact that it's "DISNEY" - there would be some "wow". My running joke during the cruise was "They call it the Magic because that's how the money disappears from your pocket".

Please don't come down hard on me. I'm simply stating it the way I see it. I would love for some of you experienced cruisers to give me a perspective that maybe I missed. I don't feel ripped off, but I am very disappointed in the experience. Have I missed something?

Thanks!

 

[Philadisney]

just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. i loved castaway cay (sorry you missed it ) but did not enjoy the other destinations on the cruise (aside from the excursions, but that only took up a couple hours of each day). i enjoyed being on the boat and am thrilled to have done it - no regrets here. but i would not go again.

 

[jdm]

I thought your post was great. To the point, no beating around the bush. I don't blame you for being disappointed about Castaway Cay. I've been once, and it was 3 years ago on our Wonder trip (in Feb). We had calm seas, and absolutely beautiful weather that trip. It's just a luck of the draw thing. We go to Florida every Feb and we have always had very warm weather except last year. It was cold, and I felt it ruined the whole trip. We go for the warmth and swimming etc. Was I foolish for letting it ruin our whole trip? Probably, and when I got back, I was kicking myself.

I think we all have our expectations, and everyone is different in how they deal with being let down. In reading trip reports, the same cruises get hugely varied loved it, hated it responses. It sounds like you had a good time for the most part. I'm not sure why you didn't feel wowed. Is it possible that you might be feeling some post cruise sadness too? I always go back over my trips and think what could have been better, the shoulda, coulda, woulda's so to speak. I think in just returning (in the dead of winter, no less) after looking so forward to the trip tends to make the disappointments even worse.

Our upcoming cruise was going to be on Royal Caribbean. I chose Disney not so much for the WoW factor but for the comfort factor. Sounds crazy, but I feel "safer" on a Disney cruise. I feel like my girls are going to be safer, looked after by castmembers and other families. Like we are all one big happy community, watching out for one another. I love the happy, happy of Disney. I can't really explain it, but once I knew we were taking the kids (it was suppose to be an anniversary trip for DH & I and then my DGD came to live with us) I changed it from RCCL to Disney. I paid a lot more, but I didn't give it a second thought. Kids, Disney- that was that.

Well, I don't think I've addressed many of your issues, really. It's getting late and I'm starting to ramble

By the way, I read in your post that beers were $3.50? Is that by the can? I'm trying to decided if it's worth it to bring on our own. That seems less than I thought it would be.

Cheer up!!
Jenn

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Expectation 1 - unreasonable. Its winter. Going anywhere in the northern hemisphere is a roll of the dice.

Expectation 2 - unreasonable.If your family is prone to motion sickness a cruise is probably a bad idea.

Expectation 3 - somewhat reasonable. The promotional material does a huge job of building up Castaway Cay with little or no warning you may not get there which seems to be a fairly frequent occurance. I went on the Jan 22. cruise and had we not made it I would have considered the vacation pretty much a wash out.

Overall, I am kind of with you. Spent a lot of money and did not enjoy myslef as I had on some lesser money vacation and certainly not as much as I would have on Maui which would be comparable dollars.

 

[BuzzMan]

Sounds like you got hit with a triple whammy (cold, rough, missed port). All of which are risks when you head out to sea (especially in the winter).

Based on statistics I have seen in other threads on this board, missing cc is not a common occurance (even during the winter) and I am not sure that DCL could do anything to guarantee it won't happen.

Regarding cost, for what it is worth (probably not much at this point), even though the cost was high, I believe that I am correct in noting that it would have been higher if you booked the same cruise during the summer months.

Finally, The "wow"/"magical moments" for me are always the way you are treated by the cast members, the interaction with the characters, the beautiful "old style" ship, and of course that horn. As jdm indicated, I always feel like I am on a ship with my greatly extended family.

With all of that said, I am sorry that you do not feel good about the investment.

 

[praisehisname]

I was on the same cruise, and I did not think it was cold at all. The evenings were chilly, but my kids swam in the pools every day and had a blast.

Who did you book with and how far out? I'm asking because we are a family of 5 with 2 staterooms and we only paid $4500.

I'm sorry you were disappointed and hope that you will give it another try.

Denise

 

[WDWLVR]

First off - welcome to the DIS. This is a great community for sharing information. I think if you had found the DIS before cruising your expectations might have been somewhat different. As to your expectations:

Expectation #1: We live in Cincinnati, it's cold here, we're going on a trip to the Bahamas. My expectation is sun and warmth. Of the 7 cruise days, 4 were cold enough to keep you inside. Only St. Martin, St. Thomas and the following day at sea were warm enough to enjoy.

Unresonable in my opinion and yes your wife is right that there is nothing Disney can do about the weather. Cold is a relative term. On our late December cruise we were walking around deck on the first day in Jeans and t-shirts and quite happy but then the family sitting with us at the life boat drill came in parkas! A cool day on the ship or in port was much better than a day back in Chicago where they were having snow and single digits.

Expectation #2: I should be able to enjoy my vacation without needing drugs. The "patch" was a must for the first two days and the last. I don't particularly enjoy dry mouth and drowsiness. My daughter was sick enough the first evening to have to spend it in our room - so that meant one of us had to go with her. I'm sure the first evening's show was fun - I got to see it - my wife and two daughters didn't.

A reasonable expectation but again not Disney's fault. If you had researched cruising fully you would have found that there is always the possibility of rough seas - especially this time of year. You would have also found that there are many options out there some that don't leave you drowsy. Also it is cold and flu season and those often can't be avoided. Disney does a good job in my opinion of keeping the ship very clean.

Expectation #3: If your itinerary lists three ports of call - then I expect to go to three ports of call. Castaway Cay was a bust. The Captain tried three times to get in, then told us to enjoy another day at sea. Now I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened, so it confounds me how Disney hasn't come up with a solution to this inevitable problem. They spent the whole cruise building up how fantastic their private island would be. My daughters and I put off snorkeling at the other islands to instead snorkel at CC. We were also looking forward to banana boat rides and parasailing. So everything we had saved up for was for nothing. That to me is a bust.

Again a reasonable expectation but with reseach on cruising you would have found that ships don't always make their ports of call. Also if you read the fine print of your contract with Disney you will see they can change destinations and skip ports as needed for the safety of the ship and its passengers. Is it disappointing? Yes it is. We missed CC on our first cruise - the difference is we knew about it a couple of weeks in advance - the island was closed after a hurricane back in '99. We got to cruise to the island and send in supplies so we were close by not there.

I have to say, now that I'm back in the real world, I realize just how much I was on vacation. I know I didn't appreciate it while on the boat because there was so much to do (I was going non-stop - movies, workout, Navigator series tours, line-dancing seminars, juggling seminars, nightlife entertainment, etc.) I was bummed about the weather and not getting to CC. I was even more bummed about how much extra the trip costs ABOVE the cruise fare. Tips, excursions, cab fare just to get to a beach (St. Thomas), pictures ($10 each, $20 for portraits), souveniers, $3.50 beers, etc. etc. Now that I've been on a Disney cruise, I can expect and plan for that - but this first time was a shocker.

Sounds to me from the first part of this paragraph that you got a great value on the cruise. You found lots to do and seemed to enjoy them all. If you were at WDW or any other destination you most likely would have paid for those type of events. Yes as noted in the second part there are other costs, but with more reseach you would have been prepared for them.

I agree with BuzzMan that to me the "wow" is the experience itself - even after 6 cruises. The cast and crew of the Disney ships are the best afloat and the ships (IMHO) are the most beautiful.

Sounds like the other three members of your family had a great time as they want to go back and I hope in time the happy memories of the trip will linger longer than the negative ones you are feeling.

 

[mickeyfan9194]

I guess it's all a matter of perspective (and expectations). We were on this cruise, and thought it was the best vacation we've ever taken. Granted it was our first cruise so we had nothing to compare it to, but I WAS blown away with many WOW moments. I think my expectations going into it were resonable and I had done my research well, so there were really no surprises (in the bad sense) for us. I thought the staff was the best--our stateroom host/server/asst. server/head server/Palo server went WAY above and beyond anything I ever hoped for. We also met so many people on this cruise, that only enhanced the wonderful experience. But we tried to meet new people, tried to do new and different things out of our routine comfort level--and I have to say all of it paid off. I guess I could have let the weather and missing CC ruin the vacation, but I made the decision NOT to let that happen. It not only would have wrecked it for me, but for my whole family (you know the saying--if Mom's not happy, no one is). Instead, we found plenty of other things to do to make the trip memorable. I found only two of the seven days to be cold, and none of us got sick (without taking any meds)--so again, everyone's experience is different. I'm sure there were people who had a great time on this cruise, and others who absolutely hated it (with many falling somewhere in between). And no one is wrong--everyone just has their own take on it.

 

[joycepa]

Grumpy1,
I can definitely understand how you feel. We were on the 1/15/05 sailing that missed GC and CC. We have some fond memories of the cruise, but also disappointing thoughts as well. We have cruised with Carnival before and felt as far as the food and service were concerned both experiences were equal. We had great service on Carnival and on Disney. Although my dd3 would look for Mickey if we cruised on another line. It's too soon to decide on cruising with DCL again as time goes by the happy memories will hopefully outweigh the disappointing thoughts.

 

[Dreamer04]

Grumpy1
Welcome. Here are a few suggestions. First, book another Disney cruise asap! Then start/join the thread for your cruise date. Post new threads that ask any question you have-whatever it is. Next, read other trip reports. A few things will happen. You will either save money, or get more bang for ytour buck, you will meet some phenominal people and you will have a better time with clearer expectations!

For what its worth, I don't think your expectations were unreasonable-from your point of view. But if you hang around the DISboards a bit, that view might change.

 

[jhorstma]

Grumpy1
Welcome. Here are a few suggestions. First, book another Disney cruise asap! Then start/join the thread for your cruise date. Post new threads that ask any question you have-whatever it is. Next, read other trip reports. A few things will happen. You will either save money, or get more bang for ytour buck, you will meet some phenominal people and you will have a better time with clearer expectations!

For what its worth, I don't think your expectations were unreasonable-from your point of view. But if you hang around the DISboards a bit, that view might change.

Um, I'm with you on booking again, but it sounds like OP is ready for a slightly different cruise experience - like RCCL. For a lot less money you get a bigger room, a bigger boat w/more activities, and no CC (although I guess depending on the itinerary you get Labadee or Coco Cay, but still not CC). Sounds more like their cup of tea, given their desire to be active during the cruise.

My family's cruising w/Disney for the first time in a few weeks. We're justifying the premium price with the expectation of 1) CC, 2) premium service, 3) AP (though merely average food quality in the standard restaurants compared to that of other cruise lines at this price point), and 4) the kids having fun in the Lab. Weather and seas of course impacts all cruise ships sailing at a particular time, although it does sound like the DCL ships rock more than the newer RCCL/CCL/Princess ships. If we return thinking that these expectations weren't met you'll read about it in our trip report and then we'll probably book RCCL if we cruise again.

 

[allears]

Hey Grumpy1, we have a trip report on here from our 1/15 "Second Honeymoon" Cruise. If you read it, you'll see we're big DCL fans, and had a great time despite some of the unforseen circumstances that arose.

Yours was a really great post, very rational and well stated. It's a simple fact that everyone's expectations and cruise experience are different. As far as your exptectations, while maybe not unreasonable, a bit unrealsitic.

#1. I think you've already arrived at the conclusion that warm sunny weather is not guaranteed no matter what time of the year it is. We have cruised twice in February and the weather was fabulous, and now once in January, the weather was so - so, but nicer than NJ. No matter what vacation any of us take anywhere at any time, the weather doesn't always cooperate, no matter how much we pay for the trip. We had one vacation in Myrtle Beach, the "Sun Fun Capital of the World" according to their advertising, and spent two days hold up during a hurricane. That's just good old mother nature.

#2. Many people fall victim to the assumption that today's modern cruise ships elimniate all motion. No matter how big and modern the ship is, the ocean is way bigger. The thing still floats and is a ship. It is unrealistic to never expect motion and some people are just more prone to having that bother them. Me, I love to feel the ship rock, it's one of the reasons I love cruising. If I don't want any motion, I'll go to a hotel and stay in one place.

#3 It is very disappointing to miss ports of call. Again, the nature of cruising is such that this can happen at any time for a number of reasons. And let's be honest, what vacation destination when marketing itself includes disclaimers about such things. I've never seen a ski resort, after praising their slopes, say you might not have snow. Maybe just like the curise contract, such things are in the fine print, but everyone is selling the dream and yes the expectation of a beautiful time. Disney can't control the sea conditions and there realy is no way to assure that they can dock regardless of conditions. Just like an air plane may not land at it's destination because of weather, the ship can only compensate for so much.

I'm glad to hear you carry some nice memories. We've found each of our cruises to be packed with great memories and many Wow moments, but that's our experience. Only you and your family can tell if it's worth another try, be it on DCL or another line. And you're now armed with some valuable expericnes that can better prepare you for the unique qualities of a cruise.

Thanks for sharing your report!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Hi Grumpy. I was on your cruise too. We had some great moments - our servers made the cruise for us. I would go again in a heartbeat, but not in December, January or February, it was cooler then I would have liked some days. I wasn't really cold other then when we were in Florida. Oh yeah and some of the dining rooms were freezing!

My mom and I were sick the first night and morning, the waves were huge. We were fine - two dramamine a day for me - after lunch on Sunday.

Missing CC did not ruin my cruise but it was a huge disappointment. I agree with you, they build it up all week long. We saved snorkeling for that day. Even if it was too cold we would have rented paddleboats, etc. and still had a great time. If Disney builds this up as a huge reason to cruise with them, then they need to have a backup plan. What about another port? I have a feeling the captain knew hours before that we wouldn't make it in. He has information on currents/wind etc. before we get there. We should have had time to go somewhere else. What about a second dock on the other side? That should double our chances when they're concerned about wind direction and currents. Finally, what about a backup tendering system? Seems like an investment well worth it's cost.

Once again it did not ruin my cruise. Just a huge disappointment.

 

[allears]

..."Even if it was too cold we would have rented paddleboats, etc. and still had a great time. If Disney builds this up as a huge reason to cruise with them, then they need to have a backup plan. What about another port? I have a feeling the captain knew hours before that we wouldn't make it in. He has information on currents/wind etc. before we get there. We should have had time to go somewhere else. What about a second dock on the other side? That should double our chances when they're concerned about wind direction and currents. Finally, what about a backup tendering system? Seems like an investment well worth it's cost."...

Miss CC is a big disappointment, not doubt about that. However, of course Disney is going to build this up, it's their island and is big draw. But they also build up their parks and attractions and can't always make adjustments for bad weather.

As for the captain knowing, he wouldn't have tried to dock if they didnt' stand a chance. And back up plans are not quite as simple as it sounds. A ship can't just be directed to another port at any time. There are a lot of cruise ships out there and they are docking at the available ports and that can make close ports unavailable. And an alternative has to be in reach with in a reasonable time to make to get there and to get to the next destination.

Building another dock has been mentioned by some other posts, but that would be far more expensive than you might think. Disney had to dredge a channel and literaly change the island's structure to be able to pull the ship in and dock. There are also enviormental restrictions. My understanding that a huge part of the island is to be kept untouched. We have no idea what the restirctions and sea bed conditions are on the other side of the island. This would be a multi-million dollar project, that would not be able to be cost justified or made up by increasing cruise fares. Plus this only happens a handful of times in a year, making it far less useful.

Finally, tendering requires tenders. The island would have to be equiped with a tendering fleet and personnel, this is not likey to happen. The ships don't carry tendering ships. And most likely if conditions don't allow for the 83,000 ton ship to dock, the conditions would probably be very unfavorable for smaller tenders.

The bottom line is that sometimes it just isn't possible to get to CC, very sad, but true. I don't think Disney is ever going to say, "most of the time" your cruise will take you to Castaway Cay. It is one of the risks of cruising.

 

[jhorstma]

How close is Freeport to CC? I've heard that Freeport is pretty sketchy, especially in the dock area, but there are some nice beaches available. There should be more availability for both the ship to dock/anchor and for ad-hoc excursions than at Nassau.

 

[Amberle3]

As has been mentioned in other threads, taking a cruise ship to another port is not as easy as just taking a detour in a car. There are reams and reams of paperwork that need to be filled out, fees that need to be paid, taxes, arrangements made in advance, and many of the ports require a commitment for a certain number of dockings per year for a cruise line before allowing them to dock.

There's just no way to do that quickly, in a non-emergency situation. Things like hurricanes are a completely different matter, but I somehow doubt that a government is going to see "we can't dock at our private island because of the weather" as an emergency.

Even if Disney did set up an agreement with another port to take the ships there if they weren't able to dock at CC, the port would need dates in advance in order to be able to schedule things (make sure they had opening at the port, staff to manage the docking etc). Disney can't predict far in advance when they won't be able to dock at CC - as has been demonstrated sometimes they don't know until they get there that they can't.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Hi allears. I know my suggestions like a tendering system are expensive. My point is if this is the reason to choose Disney over another cruise line, it should be worth the money for Disney.

I expect Disney to build it up, they should be very proud of it from what I hear. However, if they're going to build it up that much knowing there is a chance that we won't make it, they should expect us to feel like we missed out on a large part of our vacation.

I should qualify my statement about the captain knowing if we would make it. I have no nautical knowledge whatsoever. I am totally assuming that he would know the currents and windspeeds before we even arrived at CC. That makes me wonder if some of the attempts to dock were just for show. I could be wrong. But doesn't it make everyone feel better that he tried three times? IF he did know ahead of time there was say, only a 5% or less chance we would make it, there would have been time to go somewhere else.

I loved our cruise. I love Disney. We would do it again. I just wish there was a backup plan!

 

[WDWLVR]

Just thought I would bring this in to the tendering discussion. About a year ago (maybe two) there was a story out about Royal Caribbean. They tender to their private island. Problem was the weather got so bad they had to cancel the tenders. A good number of people (if I remember correctly about 1/3 of the ship) was left on the island overnight. It got cold and all they had were lounge chairs, beach towels and snacks.

I'd rather spend an extra day at sea than have to experience that. My point being is that if the current & winds are bad enough to make it hard for the Magic or Wonder to dock imagine how a smaller tender would react.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That's an interesting story Mary. I would definately not want to be stuck on an island.

Once again with my vast lack of knowledge in the nautical area, I assumed a small ship would have an easier time then a big giant one.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I don't get the weather complaint. You go in winter and that's the gamble you take. I went to WDW for almost 2 weeks in Dec with one son and 5 days in January with another one and we had some cold weather, especially in January. I was a little disappointed, but it sure wasn't Disney's fault. It was warmer than it was at home, but I'm not outside for hours every day at home.

We will end up on a summer cruise in a couple years. We are taking a gamble that there won't be hurricanes, but if there are, I can't really blame Disney.

Were you aware that you suffer from motion sickness? You must have been at least somewhat aware to have the patch with you. I would always try any medication out at home to make sure that the side effects weren't too bad. Bonine wipes me out, even though most people tolerate it well, so it's an individual thing. One time we took Bonine before going to Universal and had a tough time for 24 hours, but I didn't hold it against Universal, but I did learn my lesson to try anything out at home first.

The motion sickness one is a toughy, because everyone reacts differently to cruising and different things make different people sick. I guess now you know how you react, but it is an expensive lesson to learn.

I hope that all in all you had a good time with your family, in spite of it not going exactly how you had planned and hoped.

T&B