Weather can affect Disney Dream Castaway

[perditax]

that's entirely too much complaining for me to read. geez.

It's long but it has some serious gems, like the author having a fit that DCL won't have a fully-costumed princess deliver a cake to their table in MDR. I still can't tell if it's real.

 

[mmouse37]

All very interesting comments. I appreciate all the insight that everyone has provided. mmouse37, I think you hit the nail on the head. Our first Cruise on the Magic last year was perfect and we had high expectations for this second cruise.
Before reading all the posts I didn't realize how difficult it is to dock at a different port and how much the weather changes down near Castaway Cay. I understand that Disney can't control the weather, the risk of missing the port is an accepted risk by most Disney Cruisers, and that docking at another port is difficult for Disney to do. These are all things I will consider if I want to go on another cruise. Thanks again....

I totally understand. Not everyone knows how difficult it could be to dock or all the things involved in trying to get to another port. I know it is disappointing to miss something you enjoy so much. I hope this doesn't discourage you from cruising DCL or any other line again. Maybe search for one of the DCL cruises that has an itinerary that includes 2 stops at CC. Hopefully next time you cruise you will be able to make it to CC.

Enjoy all the pictures I am sure you took and relive some of those happy memories with your family!!!

MJ

 

[bumbershoot]

I read online that sometimes the ship will try once and then take the guests to some other island to enjoy a beach.

I have never once heard of such a thing. It wouldn't even be possible, to find a random beach.

I've heard of Nassau being made an option, but that's a decision made in advance. You do have to *get there*, and then there are additional port fees, etc.

because of the design and the size of the ship,many crew members seem tired and complain about the working conditions.

I have never heard a Dream CM complaining. I've heard them talking about families and being excited for their next time at home, but never complaining. I'm so happy I haven't.

wife was upset because she had prepared for the Castaway 5K

I can understand that.

In January I was on the cruise with the inaugural PAID CC 5K. Can you imagine what would have happened if that had been a day they missed the island? At the big rundisney meeting ahead of time, they even discussed it; we would still meet at 5:45 am (the time for the special paid 5K meetup), and they would give out our medals. That's it. No 5K on the ship or anything. Ugh. As it was, they booked it from Nassau and got us to the island at midnight, where we spent all night tied up, to make as sure as possible we were there the next day. I sleep better when the ship is moving, so there was a difference.

5) Was there a backup system in place to allow the boat to dock and shuttle people to Castaway Cay.

Even ports where you tender, sometimes the weather is too bad to do it. CocoCay, Royal's private island, is a tender port and the ships quite often "miss" CocoCay.

And yes, knowing Disney, they most likely would have charged full rates for things like the Cabanas

Of course they wouldn't have. They are quite decent about that sort of thing, if you only get half the day there.

I didn't realize how difficult it is to dock at a different port and how much the weather changes down near Castaway Cay.

We were there on a gorgeous, beautiful, amazing day with no wind at all. Except that there WAS wind up above, and all boating and parasailing excursions were cancelled for the day, because of the weather. Great day for the beach. Awful day for boating and being up in the air.

(OP has already come back and thanked people for insights, no need to keep kicking him. It pays to read the whole thread before responding.)

No one is kicking him, and often people have further thoughts.

 

[cashe]

It's long but it has some serious gems, like the author having a fit that DCL won't have a fully-costumed princess deliver a cake to their table in MDR. I still can't tell if it's real.

sounds like she is just high maintenance and negative in the real world. i mean, she says DCL assured her she could find food for her picky toddler and all she could find was apple juice and froot loops?!! i mean wth do you feed him at home?! caviar and gold dusted donuts? seriously. if your kid is that picky, then it's a product of your own parenting. My kid would starve before i would give in to letting her have apple juice and froot loops 24/7.

 

[perditax]

No one is kicking him, and often people have further thoughts.

At the time I posted, people were still 1) accusing the poster of being a troll, 2) continuing to repeat explanations of how weather works.

 

[perditax]

sounds like she is just high maintenance and negative in the real world. i mean, she says DCL assured her she could find food for her picky toddler and all she could find was apple juice and froot loops?!! i mean wth do you feed him at home?! caviar and gold dusted donuts? seriously. if your kid is that picky, then it's a product of your own parenting. My kid would starve before i would give in to letting her have apple juice and froot loops 24/7.

Hidden in the gigantic war-and-peace sized novel (and I missed this at first) is that the kid can only eat: PBJ, pancakes, and pedialyte. They confiscated her pedialyte at customs.

 

[Toniann966]

Here's another recent thread about missing Castaway Cay: http://www.disboards.com/threads/refund-for-not-going-to-castaway-cay.3380088/

I'm very sorry you were disappointed, that's understandable. But to allow that to ruin your trip is even more disappointing. DCL pulls out all the stops when it comes to an unexpected at-sea day due to missing a port -- they do a lot more onboard activities and other fun stuff. Weather and sea conditions are beyond their control. I've never heard of DCL stopping at a different island if they miss CC, though sometimes depending on port schedules they may be able to try CC again the next day.

It is disappointing. We cruised in August of 2011. During a hurricane. We also missed castaway cay because when we arrived in the Bahamas the dock had been severely damaged. We were disappointed as this was our first disney cruise. I had expected that they would do extra activities, but NO. They did not do anything extra. While I understand that they could not dock, I do believe they should have done more activities etc. on board. It was very quiet.

 

[MunFam]

Disney Cruise line goes through the Panama Canal twice each year with inches to spare on each side of the boat. These captains are rockstars at what they do.

Do you know why Disney is never in the news for boats crashing/sinking/running ashore? Because the Captain makes a call when he/she feels the conditions are just not safe enough to dock somewhere. Do you REALLY think that the Captain wants to make the announcement that he was not able to dock there? Captains take pride in sailing these ships. To them, not being able to get the ship docked is a personal failure. So while you, the OP are thinking all about me, me, me. Try thinking about the Captain and the fact that he was thinking about you, you, you. Your safety is his number one concern. If you are more concerned about getting in to a port. Give Costa/Carnival a try. You might run aground getting there, but you might actually make it...even if you have to swim to shore!

 

[bumbershoot]

If you want to see something that will REALLY confuse you as to whether it could possibly be real/troll, check out this review I found last night:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=219449

Holy wow. It's like they didn't understand anything about the cruise at all before or during. They let problems with seating keep them from getting anything but fruit loops and apple juice for the child? They didn't read all the signs saying no seashells? etc etc etc etc. Painful.


Glad that wasn't the OP!

 

[cashe]

Hidden in the gigantic war-and-peace sized novel (and I missed this at first) is that the kid can only eat: PBJ, pancakes, and pedialyte. They confiscated her pedialyte at customs.

LOL @ war and peace novel

wow. so she's saying she couldn't find PBJ and pancakes?! lol ridiculous. i think she's just one of those people who finds negative in everything. i have had my fair share of craptastic vacations and my dh would beg to differ that i couldn't be that negative too LOL but even I don't think i could sit down and write a negative review that long finding THAT many things to complain about. i'd suggest she never vacation again or go somewhere where they only serve PBJ and pancakes. ha!

 

[bumbershoot]

At the time I posted, people were still 1) accusing the poster of being a troll, 2) continuing to repeat explanations of how weather works.

I read what came before your post, and the OP doesn't seem to understand how things work so explanations are good. People always wonder about first-timers who come in like that. They end up either being or not being a troll. I still read nothing as kicking the OP.

They confiscated her pedialyte at customs.

I didn't see that. I saw that she called and was told it wouldn't be allowed so she didn't bring it. Which is nonsense, as far as I know. We bring on packages of nuts, we bring on granola bars, etc, all out there in the open for them to see, and it's all been allowed. Something like pediasure would have been fine.

But that's not the OP, and I don't mean for anyone to think I think it is, just b/c it was brought up here. : )

 

[perditax]

Yeah, sorry for getting things O/T with the crazy review I found last night. And apparently I made up the confiscation detail in my head.

 

[Figee17]

I'm sorry to hear that. I am really looking forward to seeing CC for the first time on our cruise in a few weeks. I will be upset if we can't dock, but I understand that we need to be safe.
Back in January 2002, we went on a cruise in Hawaii (around the islands and to a small island called Fanning Island) and were unable to get off the ship at 3 ports! NCL gave each person a small stateroom credit for our trouble and disappointment and added some activities (we were now unexpectedly "at sea" for 4 days without being in a port). I still have great memories of that cruise though!

 

[Disneyholic]

On our November 2013 cruise, for my 60th birthday and Thanksgiving, the Captain tried quite a few times to dock at CC. He finally got docked and we went onshore. It was soooo windy & cold that we didn't even put on swimwear. We went to SB to get our steaks for lunch and look at the ocean and then went back to the ship. Disappointing, yes, but it is what it is.

Thanksgiving night (also my birthday) was formal night which meant lobster tail. I had been looking forward to the lobster tail since I found out they were having that besides the normal Thanksgiving Fare. My tail came out with shrimp & red powder on it. I assumed it was paprika, but I tested it before I started eating. Apparently someone in the kitchen had grabbed something like OldBay instead and it was hot,spicy. Asked for it plain & it was brought out without the shrimp, but still the red powder. Got told to order something else. Did, but couldn't eat it. Wanted my lobster. Head Server finally got me some plain lobster, but by that time everyone else was eating dessert. Asked to have it packed up so I could eat it later in the room. They said OK but never gave it to me. Checked with Customer service the next day to make sure that the menu didn't have a marking next to the lobster to note that it was spicy & it didn't. Explained what happened and asked them to make sure that the galley people made sure what they were using. Didn't ask for compensation & didn't get any. Fast forward to August 2014 DVC members cruise and we had lobster again and it was delicious. We are going on a cruise in April 2015 and DH is asking if we are having lobster on this cruise. LOL

That night during dinner we started seeing lights outside the portholes in the dining room. We opened the shutters to find that we were at a port. Turned out it was the port of Miami. Medical Emergency. We all went back to our rooms and pulled out our cellphones and made calls home since we were able to pick up our cell carriers. Bonus!

 

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Our last cruise it was extremely cold and raining on CC, put parisailing was canceled too. We did not get to enjoy the island at all which was a big disappointment. Our entire cruise was cold and rainy. I would have been happy with some nice sea days rather than crappy port days. Unfortunately there's noting that could have been done and Disney is not obligated to compensate.

 

[Happy99]

I think this is a troll posted the same thing on different websites and all were first posts

 

[lorimay]

We were on The Wonder last week and we were lucky enough to have a perfect day. But I spoke with more than one CM who said the previous two ships that tried to dock couldn't. All of them expressed how bad they felt for the passengers that didn't get to CC. They really do their best to entertain everyone when they can't dock. I have never heard a CM complain to a guest, no way, no how and I just completed my 11th cruise.

 

[TinkRose]

I get the sense they may have both been on the same disgruntled cruise, but maybe I am wrong.

If you want to see something that will REALLY confuse you as to whether it could possibly be real/troll, check out this review I found last night:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=219449

So many things wrong in this review. This is just for the picky eater part. They could have brought Pediasure on board just like any other drink in their carry on. They might not have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but they have Uncrustables. They could have brought pancakes from Cabana's to the room instead of Fruit Loops from room service. The room service menu is limited and it seems they only used room service for breakfast and lunch, but isn't that where you can get Uncrustables?

 

[Tami0220]

My first DCL was Jan 2011 it was the Panama repositioning of the Wonder. I waited 25 years to go on a Disney cruise and had really expected to see CC. Unfortunately due to weather it was not to be. The cruise contract does say that no port is guaranteed. After tears I went on to enjoy the rest of my 14 days! However I must give the Captain credit as he tried several times to dock but the waves were coming over the dock. It wasnt safe and probably wouldnt have been fun on the beach. What was different on our cruise is that the Captain was able to get us to Aruba our next stop early. So instead of CC we had 1 evening and 1 day in Aruba. We arrived in the evening and could leave the ship to see the nightlife. So they do try their best with what they have available. No they never pull up to a random beach and do have to pay port fees where ever they may go. Most common scenario is an extra sea day which is fine in my book any day.

 

[lorimay]

So many things wrong in this review. This is just for the picky eater part. They could have brought Pediasure on board just like any other drink in their carry on. They might not have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but they have Uncrustables. They could have brought pancakes from Cabana's to the room instead of Fruit Loops from room service. The room service menu is limited and it seems they only used room service for breakfast and lunch, but isn't that where you can get Uncrustables?

As far as a PB&J goes, my grandson was looking for a peanut butter sandwich one morning and I went to Beach Blanket and asked for 2 slices of untoasted white bread and there was already peanut butter on the food line, BAM and he was happy, not difficult at all.
That review was a doozie wasn't it? She seems like someone who had buyers remorse and was looking for some $$ back.