Wish delayed with mechanical problems

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No - I do not watch their videos or listen to their podcast. I have a travel agent who is leaps and bounds above Dreams Unlimited (who never got back to me years ago when I requested a quote - I guess a single traveler who doesn’t book suite class doesn’t warrant their attention). I get my Disney candles from my friend who has a small business and doesn’t sell through anyone but herself.

I know they get revenue from their ads and I deal with that. But I don’t support them any other way. And I am sure as heck not “subscribing” on Patreon. If that ever becomes a requirement I am out of here.

Your travel agent I'm sure uses commissions to in part fund trips, perhaps entire trips. Your friend may fund any discretionary trips with revenue from her candle business. I'm not one for Patreon either.

If you watch any youtube video or listen to any podcast you are contributing to content creator's means to vacation. I used the DIS because you're a member of the DIS and are indirectly contributing to their profits somewhere in the chain and being an active member of the DIS means you are in some fashion paying for someone to go to a restaurant to give their opinion even if they say they paid for it themselves, you may be responsible for a portion of their income and ability to do so.

You went too literal with my questions admittedly as I wasn't entirely just meaning the scope to be the DIS or this other blogger, I was more meaning the travel industry in general where they post blogs, make videos, use Patreon or other means. To criticize one random travel blogger a poster brought up to share that they thought might give a different perspective when we all contribute to people's vacations in some way or another was my point.

Anyways I'm off to watch the video

 

[CapnCrunch]

Was the actual mechanical problem ever disclosed? Be interested to know what might be wrong on a 2 year old ship.

 

[DCLMP]

For those saying a mechanical issue is totally DCL's fault, I can assure you that just like airplanes, ships are constantly monitored mechanically. But things can still happen that cannot be predicted.

I don't care how well you keep up your car, things will happen that you cannot predict. You can keep a perfect maintenance record on your car, taking it in every single time it's due for something - and the alternator will still eventually go out with NO forewarning. And sometimes even brand new parts are duds or have something faulty. My dad had something happen with his car and the mechanic who has always worked on it put in a replacement part directly out of the box - and it failed.

Given the constant checking and maintenance DCL ships get, I'd be VERY surprised if it was something other than a failure that simply cannot be predicted.

I had a rental car breakdown in Orlando. I was compensated. Yeah things happen that can’t be predicted and aren’t intentional, but that doesn’t mean the consumer should get screwed. It was Hertz responsibility to rent me a functioning car. It still ruined the first day of our vacation.

 

[RedHead0186]

Was the actual mechanical problem ever disclosed? Be interested to know what might be wrong on a 2 year old ship.

Not officially (that I've seen/heard). Scuttlebut is that it was an engine (or maybe a stabalizer)? Again, that's scuttlebutt, but it does seem to be something in that realm. I'm not sure if DCL would ever reveal the actual issue.

 

[Disneyfam854]

I think all are forgetting in addition to the 20% off offer for the next cruise they are going to be refunded the port fees for missing Castaway Cay.

This combined with $100 OBC is more than generous as all are aware of possibilities of missed ports and agree to in the cruise contract.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think all are forgetting in addition to the 20% off offer for the next cruise they are going to be refunded the port fees for missing Castaway Cay.

This combined with $100 OBC is more than generous as all are aware of possibilities of missed ports and agree to in the cruise contract.

I don't think that's out of line, seems other cruise lines do this when they miss a port of call when it's their responsibility. You take the risk of weather, you aren't necessarily taking the risk of the ship having an issue preventing you from going to that port. And at least for me I wasn't forgetting port fees.

ETA: I also believe the likelihood depends on how many ports of call. A cruise line with a mechanical issue that couldn't get to a port of call but could get to others may be a different story. From what I understand the mechanical issue originated before they even got to Nassau and technically 2 ports impacted with 1 missed completely with a cruise with only 2 ports of call.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not officially (that I've seen/heard). Scuttlebut is that it was an engine (or maybe a stabalizer)? Again, that's scuttlebutt, but it does seem to be something in that realm. I'm not sure if DCL would ever reveal the actual issue.

Engine was my first thought. I say that as I am watching the video the PP posted where the give a play by play of being delayed to get to the Bahamas due to mechanical issue that was advised to people. Having watched enough cruise ship shows on tv (like Mighty Cruise Ships and the like) they often have more engines than they use at one time (like have 4 but only use 3 at once) but it's entirely possible they were already using all the engines or another one was having issues. On the shows I watch there's been episodes where they have an engine failure for sure. Usually it seems they have to reduce speed because they don't have as much power, that is plausible for why they would be delayed getting to Nassau.

A stabilizer could be an issue as well. I agree they may never reveal the issue unless it significantly impacts specific cruises. I believe for Seabourn's issue with the stabilizer however they advised fairly quick that there was an issue because that particular ship was only doing Antarctica at that time and without a stabilizer in that area it's a big enough impact, then they future cancelled several months in advance Amazon river cruises to allow the dry dock to correct the issues.

Those are both at least feasible to have been the issue.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't completely disagree. Maybe watch the YouTube video to get a passenger perspective. Made me think about it differently.

Just watched it.

I think that's a tad crummy (although already mentioned on this thread) the weather excuse provided. If they were already telling them earlier in the day and at night that there was a mechanical issue they didn't have a reason to claim some other reason later on.

Getting delayed a bit to get to the Bahamas would impact excursions for the early morning, I can feel for people there because our upcoming cruise on a different line nearly all of the excursions are like right when the boat is supposed to be docking, in most cases the excursions aren't too too long but some are 6 hour ones that are at least an option to book that could present a problem if there's a delay. I would prefer a tad later excursions so we could eat breakfast sit down style instead of getting early morning room service but it is what it is. All in all minor getting to Bahamas a few hours later in the grand scheme but could absolutely be part of people's frustrations.

Thanks for sharing the video. I commented on things on this thread before they said it in the video so I guess you could say I agree overall with their perspective or more an explanation for why they were running into people who were upset.

Seems like enough passengers were feeling frustrated at lack of communication and in some parts miscommunication like the weather reasoning. From a compensation standpoint people are usually more perceptive to what you do when you're upfront and maintain that.

And I now wonder how that bride is who missed her wedding on CC.

 

[Mle8308]

Just watched it.

I think that's a tad crummy (although already mentioned on this thread) the weather excuse provided. If they were already telling them earlier in the day and at night that there was a mechanical issue they didn't have a reason to claim some other reason later on.

Getting delayed a bit to get to the Bahamas would impact excursions for the early morning, I can feel for people there because our upcoming cruise on a different line nearly all of the excursions are like right when the boat is supposed to be docking, in most cases the excursions aren't too too long but some are 6 hour ones that are at least an option to book that could present a problem if there's a delay. I would prefer a tad later excursions so we could eat breakfast sit down style instead of getting early morning room service but it is what it is. All in all minor getting to Bahamas a few hours later in the grand scheme but could absolutely be part of people's frustrations.

Thanks for sharing the video. I commented on things on this thread before they said it in the video so I guess you could say I agree overall with their perspective or more an explanation for why they were running into people who were upset.

Seems like enough passengers were feeling frustrated at lack of communication and in some parts miscommunication like the weather reasoning. From a compensation standpoint people are usually more perceptive to what you do when you're upfront and maintain that.

And I now wonder how that bride is who missed her wedding on CC.

Yes, the bride situation was something I hadn’t considered prior to watching the video. And as you mention, shore excursions were also impacted because they arrived late, by a few hours, to Nassau due to the mechanical issues. So some passengers had those cancelled, too. Without being dramatic, it is possible people had their vacations ruined. And it’s not the same as Space Mountain being closed. It will be interesting to see if people get further compensation once they contact the number on the business cards that were handed out. I do feel for the families on a once in a lifetime trip. I still recommend watching the video.

 

[dreamer17555]

I can understand that Bride’s point of view and feel for her while realizing that Castaway is never guaranteed. It could’ve easily been canceled for other reasons.

And yes, I understand- this was a mechanical issue.

But like I said, before we missed Castaway our very first cruise. Once in Grand Cayman, they canceled every excursion due to weather. I don’t think they were even allowing the tender boats to run but I’m uncertain because I wasn’t willing to venture out in the weather.

We were on the November sailing that got back extremely late on the wish (due to a bright star on Castaway- that poor family) and had ridiculous lines all over the Wish because they made everybody leave their rooms and my autistic son had a meltdown due to crowds everywhere and I know so many people missed their flights that day. But none of us had it as bad as that family that it lost a loved one.

Things happen.

This probably seems like ancient history, but they used to have a pre-park opening breakfast at Magic Kingdom with mine train, Peter Pan, and sometimes small world were open (of course this was all for an extra fee). The one day we went Peter Pan was down, and then it proceeded to storm so hard that mine train went down. I’m sure we could have marched right over to guest services and spent time in line there demanding our money back (which I know some people reported getting, but others reported not getting anything but fastpasses) but since we were already drenched at that point, we headed over to splash Mountain and waited for it to open up as soon as the storm passed and rode it 3x in a row since we were already drenched from the storm.Because at a certain point being aggravated is just making the situation worse.

Disney offered a guest recovery method. I think it’s actually pretty generous, all things considered. Everyone’s take on this is going to vary.

I hate that someone’s wedding was ruined, but it could’ve easily been the exact same thing if the winds had been too strong to dock. Disney clearly does not want any mechanical issues, especially with a brand new ship. The only thing I will fault Disney for is not being completely upfront about all the reasons for not going to Castaway.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Yes, the bride situation was something I hadn’t considered

To be clear about something - weddings are actually performed before boarding the ship by an official. The ceremony on Castaway Cay is just window dressing (photo ops, nice views) done by the captain.

 

[AquaDame]

To be clear about something - weddings are actually performed before boarding the ship by an official. The ceremony on Castaway Cay is just window dressing (photo ops, nice views) done by the captain.

Do you know if they have a contingency plan..? A backup in a venue on the ship instead maybe?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Do you know if they have a contingency plan..? A backup in a venue on the ship instead maybe?

Don't know. But I would think either somewhere onboard, or possibly something at WDW after the cruise.

 

[AquaDame]

Don't know. But I would think either somewhere onboard, or possibly something at WDW after the cruise.

Was just curious... I would imagine there is one, and it is told to brides many MANY times this may happen. Does not mean it does not suck, and I do feel for the couple. I wish people were better at understanding odds... if you are told something may happen, that does mean it may happen to you. (and yes, we missed what was to me a very important port, Geiranger, a huge reason we booked a Norwegian Fjords cruise, but I knew the risks and was at peace with it, even as the other ship happily tendered their passengers to the dock while we sailed back out. No, we were not given any compensation aside from port fees as it was due to wind. No, I have not been back, as this was a once in a lifetime trip for us).

 

[mousefan73]

I havent watched the clip, but I would also assume the bride was compensated in some other way on top.

 

[Dug720]

A friend of mine has been looking at getting married on DCL (possibly Castaway). I've asked her what the contingency is in the contract. I'll update when I hear from her - assuming she's gotten that far in planning.

 

[OpieDoodle]

I don't think we need to do any math on behalf of DCL. The $100 OBC is a drop in their buckets. Especially at their price point and more especially at the price point of Wish.

There is pressure for the airlines to step up what they are doing for a reason because people are tired of just saying well the CoC means they don't have to do xyz, okay yeah sure but the airlines have been skating by for years on the bare minimum or offering the lowest compensation they can hoping people will take them up on it. That's sorta a similar vibe here with Disney. On the surface 20% sounds fine enough but I believe it was mentioned they've restricted the ability to use the future percentage off and cabins can easily burn through the OBC.

I think it's great that people are totally okay with what DCL gave but I don't think it should be a problem to not be okay with it either. It works both ways.

While I totally understand with being upset but at the same time if you are that against this risk then I'd recommend not cruising at all. There is always a risk of missing a port and it may be the most important one to you but things happen. Per the contract you agree to you agree to getting NO COMPENSATION at all if a port is missed.

If you're not okay with it then you really shouldn't agree to the contract. I've been on the receiving end of missing ports on other cruiselines and we got nothing. Not even an apology for the inconvenience. Its a bummer, trust me I'm not saying it isn't but its pretty cruise industry wide to have terms like that.

At this point tho you're complaining about DCL not going above and beyond enough when the contractual obligations were met.

I agree. They are doing it to help the reputation and to build some goodwill. I just don’t understand why people are complaining that it’s not enough when you are entitled to exactly nothing. I don’t think some people would be happy unless they got the whole cruise for free, so there will be some people mad no matter what Disney does.

There will always be complaints and I get it, I would be upset and bummed if I was on the cruise but I'd still be having an amazing time. I have a short 3 night Wish cruise planned this fall. We are not getting off in Nassau, so it would be a bummer if we can't go to Castaway. But in reality that is always a risk because there is a good handful of reasons it could get skipped. I know that risk. There's been quite a few times weather has caused it not to be able to dock.

Heck, on my last Carnival cruise at one of the ports the weather got so bad when the tendering process was going on that Carnival had to stop tendering leaving the people at port stuck for hours and about half the ship stuck onboard not able to get off. Wana know what Carnival did to make that up to us? NOTHING. I missed the port and got nothing. No OBC no future cruise credit. We made the best of it and explored the ship and had a blast but still we wanted to get off.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

While I totally understand with being upset but at the same time if you are that against this risk then I'd recommend not cruising at all.

f you're not okay with it then you really shouldn't agree to the contract.

So these two points I'm going to put together. They are things that go without saying, they are also weak excuses. I don't mean against you I just mean they have a time and place and it's more like "come on man". Like okay totally valid to say you have concerns over covid well cruising for the last several years and still today carries that risk. Totally reasonable to gently suggest to someone that if you have concerns cruising right now may not be for you.

But it's not exactly good for actual conversation to be blase about issues related to xyz to just shrug and say don't like it don't go, you agreed to it. Well okay yeah but for real come on man lol.

We're not talking about weather here, we're talking about mechanical issues. I'd say mechanical issues are still on average in the cruising industry rarer whereas weather is much more common to occur. You don't book a cruise expecting this rather large ship to be sputtering along in the ocean not long after it left the U.S. port, late to your first of two ports and stuck in that port with the inability to get to the second port in time. Who thinks that is a high enough likely chance to actually seriously tell someone you don't want the risk don't cruise?

At this point tho you're complaining about DCL not going above and beyond enough when the contractual obligations were met.

That's the entire reason why people are getting fed up by companies. Contractual obligations are always meant to provide the most basic they can provide. That's how corporations work in general. One day you may find yourself in a position where your grievance is honest because you think what the company's most basic obligation, while met, was also purposefully done to provide only the barest of minimum purely because they can.

Listen I'm not trying to say DCL is horrible here, but I do understand how the other passengers feel something that which didn't seem to come across by enough comments on this thread and after watching that video it was apparently a lot of guests not just a few cranky folks. And I'd kinda be annoyed at a company who didn't give me information and who opted to use an inaccurate reason for why the second and main port was missed.

Anyways I feel like it's been discussed enough at least from me so respectfully said I'm going to move on

 

[Dug720]

I was on a Double Dip to Castaway a few summers ago where yes, technically we got there on the first day, but there was a massive squall that they thought was going to blow over but it sat. And sat. And sat. They brought the crew that had gone out and a few passengers who had gotten off and sheltered in a restroom because of the storm back by golf carts and closed the gangway. It remained closed all day. But the weather was such that we couldn't leave - so we sat there LOOKING at the island we couldn't get on (not that we would have wanted to, the rain was that bad).

The Ship Activities team got extra stuff going, but we were still stuck inside on a ship looking at the island.

The captain apologized and explained that their weather reports all indicted that the weather was going to blow over which is why we docked, but it decided to sit for the whole day.

Oh, and guess what day that was? My birthday! I'd purposely booked the Double Dip to be on Castaway on my birthday! (ON - not docked and looking at it through torrential rains.)

And we got NADA in terms of any OBC or future cruise discount. NADA.

So yeah, I really honestly do think $100 OBC and a 20% discount on a future cruise is MORE than adequate compensation.

 

[OpieDoodle]

I was on a Double Dip to Castaway a few summers ago where yes, technically we got there on the first day, but there was a massive squall that they thought was going to blow over but it sat. And sat. And sat. They brought the crew that has gone out and a few passengers who had gotten off and sheltered in a restroom because of the storm back by golf carts and closed the gangway. It remained closed all day. But the weather was such that we couldn't leave - so we sat there LOOKING at the island we couldn't get on (not that we would have wanted to, the rain was that bad).

The Ship Activities team got extra stuff going, but we were still stuck inside on a ship looking at the island.

The captain apologized and explained that their weather reports all indicted that the weather was going to blow over which is why we docked, but it decided to sit for the whole day.

Oh, and guess what day that was? My birthday! I'd purposely booked the Double Dip to be on Castaway on my birthday! (ON - not docked and looking at it through torrential rains.)

And we got NADA in terms of and OBC or future cruise discount. NADA.

So yeah, I really honestly do think $100 OBC and a 20% discount on a future cruise is MORE than adequate compensation.

That sounds miserable. Being so close you can touch it but not get off.