Disney Fantasy and How Disney handles cancelling a cruise

[mjh2901]

Since the phone lines for airlines, shuttle services, WDW, and all other resorts/hotels/motels, were busy with people changing plans, how exactly do you think these room reservations would be accomplished?

For those who think that DCL did not do enough, are you suggesting that WDW and DCL maintain a block of 2500-3000 rooms on hold throughout hurricane season? That would be lost revenue for roughly 5 months per year.

Actually, they do More than enough, those rooms were sold to Florida Residents evacuating, and they continued selling rooms up to the day of the hurricane. They simply had no way to connect the boat passengers with WDW because the boat lacks phones. Disney Cruise a premium line, they sell customer service, they book passengers on the pitch that they go above and beyond for customer service. They did less than all the competing lower priced lines.

 

[mjh2901]

Were the ships that allowed passengers to remain on them U.S.A. registered or foreign? Foreign registered ships would have been required to stop at a non-U.S.A. port before returning a U.S.A. port.

The ship stopped at jamaica and one other port they had made the requirement.

 

[Pens Fan]

I'm not sure about other lines, but I believe the NCL Escape headed to Cozumel and then came back to Miami. I do think that the Miami vs Port Canaveral home port may have played a part in the decision making, though I'm not sure that it should have. With a hurricane the size and magnitude of Irma and the inherent unpredictability of hurricanes I'm not sure that there was that great of a difference between the two as far as finding a safe shelter was concerned.

We have a cruise booked during hurricane season next year out of NYC on NCL. It pains me to say this as we love, love, love DCL and came very close to switching it to a DCL cruise , but I'm pretty happy right now seeing how NCL handled a very difficult situation. After emptying the Sky and letting those passengers board the Escape and sail to safety, they sent the Sky to run supplies to and make evacuations of areas hit by the storm. Say what you want about their motives, but it worked on me. I'm a fan.

 

[mjh2901]

Since the phone lines for airlines, shuttle services, WDW, and all other resorts/hotels/motels, were busy with people changing plans, how exactly do you think these room reservations would be accomplished?

For those who think that DCL did not do enough, are you suggesting that WDW and DCL maintain a block of 2500-3000 rooms on hold throughout hurricane season? That would be lost revenue for roughly 5 months per year.

There is the actual issue. The companies boat does is not connected to the same companies travel agency or resort hotels, because they are run as separate units with completely separate computer systems. This is a reason for the CTO to be shown the door, a systemic failure in the planning and design of the backend heavy iron that runs Disney. Customers are told its a separate company we can't help you but their advertising as if its all one Disney.

 

[mlayton14]

I really sympathize with OP, as
Much as I love Disney resorts and cruises, they really screwed this one up.

 

[iamporch]

I was also on this cruise. I have said this before but will say it again. I am not upset that they didn't find accommodations for us. I am upset that they didn't give free wifi so those that didn't want to spend their last days on the ship waiting in line at guest services could make arrangements without having to pay obnoxious amounts of money on wifi. And yes they did give out a small amount of free wifi, however they did not communicate this with the passengers that it was there and i didn't even notice it until I had already paid.

They also rearranged things like the meet and greets that were on the following days after the announcement. I happened to be in the atrium and saw the princesses out Wednesday and asked a CM if they were rescheduling anything and he said we should have gotten new tickets. Well we didn't and weren't even told to look for them. Turns out I was supposed to be at that meet and greet so I had to run and grab the kids so they could see the princesses. We also almost missed our character breakfast that had gotten rescheduled due to changing the port days. Never did see Anna and Elsa because I didn't get new tickets for them and wasn't going to sit in a line for hours at guest services just to find out if they rescheduled it.

I am not completely unhappy by any means. But I do think there were some easy fixes that could have made parts of this run more smoothly. The time after they made the announcement was very chaotic so while we were on the ship for 5 nights it really seemed like a 3.5 night cruise. The refund was great however they didn't take into account that many lost a whole extra day waiting in line.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I kind of wonder if Disney had allowed people to stay on board if those people would have complained about service level, or about having to pay for drinks and a lack of entertainment.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Well, I supposed that DCL felt they did their job making sure everyone got to land safely. They just don't have the manpower to be personal travel agents for the 5-6000 people who now require "help" to work out the rest of their schedule.

I'm conflicted about this. The passengers on these ships didn't choose to travel into a hurricane. I appreciate that DCL got folks back to land safely, but they were dropped in a place preparing for a hurricane where flights out were impossible to get and hotel rooms weren't so readily available, either. I'm not sure how "safe" this actually was. But, I don't know what else they really could have done. Could they have let people off in Port Canaveral who were local or had cars at the port or other accommodations and offered other passengers the ability to stay on board? Could they have taken those passengers to another port out of the path of the hurricane - Galveston, for example (is Galveston even up and running?) where hotels and flights were more readily available? Again, I don't know how feasible any of this is, but it certainly would have left a bad taste in my mouth to be dropped off in a hurricane zone where it wouldn't be surprising if people, even experienced travelers, had trouble finding a way out.

 

[Justacruiser]

I was also on the Fantasy cruise mentioned above. I have a little different version and opinion than that of the initial poster.

Upon arrival at the terminal, everyone was informed that due to weather related issues, the itinerary for our cruise was changed. I would assume that most of the cruisers knew that there was a hurricane coming to Florida. On Tuesday evening all of us were informed of the early return on Thursday afternoon. That was providing us with about 40 hours notice. Information was presented by the Captain that if you had arranged your cruise thru Disney Travel that your flights would automatically be changed. The main issue that customers stood in line is that they had booked their flight transportation on their own, rather than using DCL. It is not DCL fault that customers did not purchase their airfare thru DCL. However, Fantasy staff went above and beyond providing assistance for those passengers that needed assistant with reservations.

DCL has an obligation to it's stakeholders as well as passengers to do what is in the best interest of all concerned. With the forecasted devastation for the Florida, DCL chose to end the cruise early. No matter what DCL did, someone would complain.

Can you imagine being left on the boat till the hurricane passed. Then what, couldn't go to the Miami or Port Canaveral port because they were closed and the not knowing about other hurricanes in the area. Even if passengers who drove got off after the hurricane, the roads were flooded and there was limited availability of gas. For the folks who lived in Florida. A lot of them would have not know the status of their house or the potential of flooding in route to their homes. And for the folks traveling by air, there will limited flights out for days. I can really go on and on and on.

Usually I drive a long distance to the port, but if I choose to fly rather than drive, I will now really look at the opportunity cost associated with purchasing airfare on my own or letting DCL take care of it.

It is unfortunate what happened to us, by cancelling our cruises. But, if everyone would stop for just a minute to think of those cast members working in Florida. Along with employees that covered the MCO airport, staff at WDW along with everyone else who was directly affected by the hurricane.

And folks are griping, full refund of the lost days of the cruise plus 25% off a future cruise.

And finally, automatically booking people at WDW resorts, providing transportation, food, entrances to the parks....... Our society wants to be compensated for the hurricane. If you think DCL prices were high, wait till DCL had to adjust future cruises due to the extreme losses by the hurricane. Refunding, 25%, moving the ship for the hurricane, future changes in itinerary due to all the storms.

if you aren't happy with DCL after a storm of the century, do me a favor and cruise with someone else. IMHO only! No offense intended to anyone on this thread. Just calling it as I saw it.

 

[Dug720]

Possibility of the ports being closed. If Irma hit along the east cost the Port of Miami and Port Canaveral could both have been closed.

Plus while yes, it worked out for those ships that let people remain on (really after the debacle with Harvey RCCL needed to make a bold move and hope it worked out), imagine if Irma had turned and headed towards where all the ships were. It would have been bad news bears for all of them and people would have been screaming that they should not have let the passengers remain.

 

[mkh531]

I don't understand why they didn't announce and extend the free wifi, it would have helped with all the lines. For instance, in my case I could just email my travel agent. Hurricanes happen but it's the cruise lines, not the passengers, who should be better prepared to deal with them. It sounds like they didn't drill employees well enough or think through their plans enough for this unusual situation where the trip is cut short AND expected to dock in an evacuation zone.

 

[bumbershoot]

I finally called Port Orleans directly and the wonderful person at the desk verified everything.

That's not possible. No one mans incoming calls at the front desks of the resorts. Sometimes you can get lucky and have someone at the resort calling you back, but calling to the resort gives you a call center with people who lie about where they are. You got taken care of and that's great. But it was a call center employee.

on the Symphony of the seas, a company that so far has shown much better customer service than the now overpriced Disney Cruise Line.

Check out how happy people are with how Royal dealt with Harvey. No cruise line is perfect.

I don't understand why they didn't just extend the cruise. Yes, it would still cause a travel disruption for those impacted, but it would have ensured everyone had accommodations while the storm was bearing down.

Because of what Disney did during Sandy it was unlikely they were going to go for a repeat wth Irma.

We were on Fanatsy when Matthew came through, and they extended us by a day and changed our itinerary. The delay gave everyone time to make new flight arrangements and hotel reservations if necessary. I don't know, maybe we just got "lucky" that time.

As I've been told a couple times, Matthew was VERY different than Irma.

Customers are told its a separate company we can't help you but their advertising as if its all one Disney.

I've never seen such advertising.

Our society wants to be compensated for the hurricane. If you think DCL prices were high, wait till DCL had to adjust future cruises due to the extreme losses by the hurricane. Refunding, 25%, moving the ship for the hurricane, future changes in itinerary due to all the storms.

I'm so irked that Royal keeps apologizing for the changes they are making. Stop. It's weather. There's no choice. Stop apologizing.

And stop overcompensating.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I don't understand why they didn't announce and extend the free wifi, it would have helped with all the lines. For instance, in my case I could just email my travel agent. Hurricanes happen but it's the cruise lines, not the passengers, who should be better prepared to deal with them. It sounds like they didn't drill employees well enough or think through their plans enough for this unusual situation where the trip is cut short AND expected to dock in an evacuation zone.

Sure, free wifi sounds great. But, with multitudes of people trying to access the internet onboard at the same time, the speed is severely impacted. I don't know that you'd be able to send/receive emails any more effeciently than trying to use the phones.

There are issues with ship porting in a different port than they are supposed to. Among them, the ships that home port in the substitute port would get priority for returning there. And, yes the PVSA law is still in effect, even in an emergency. Any passengers debarked in a different US port than the one the embarked in the ship will be fined $300 per person for the violation. Although, generally, in an emergency situation it can be waived, but it takes more paperwork to do that.

Another note - I doubt that the actual phone system is any different (better or worse) than any other cruise line's.

 

[Amy7979]

I, too, was on the 9/2 Fantasy sailing and my experience was significantly different. Although we were very disappointed that our cruise would be cut short (mostly because we were traveling with friends who we don't get to see often, so the idea of a full week together was awesome) we were able to deal with the change pretty easily.

I bought an internet package (normally we do not, and love being disconnected on a cruise), went to Southwest's website, saw that our options for switching our flight were limited at best, and so went to WDW's site, looked up resort availability for Thursday and Friday nights (we were booked at Poly via DVC for Saturday night), saw tons (really, if you looked right away you had your pick of resorts, ranging from Value to Deluxe/DVC), booked the Yacht Club, and that was that. We spent exactly zero time in Guest Services' line and to honest were a little baffled at what all of those people were doing.

As it turns out, while we were on the bus to the Yacht Club a flight for Friday morning opened up and the folks at YC were amazing about letting us wait until the morning to make sure the flight was still running before cancelling our second night. And the DVC folks were equally great about cancelling our Poly stay after we arrived home (and not putting our points into holding or anything weird like that).

OP, I'm really sorry that you experienced such trouble (sincerely, not sarcasm) but I honestly can't relate and think DCL did pretty well given the circumstances. I thought two things could have been improved (and I told them so): (1) I think wifi should have been free (yes, a small package was but I think more connectivity would have been appropriate) and (2) communication regarding the last day and the disembarkation process was limited.

 

[Justacruiser]

Debarkation was a little crazy, their were issues beyond the Captains control. The Disney Dream has to dock early that morning and get out of the way before we could dock. Theoretically and reality can be two different things. We passed the Magic going back to sea around 12:45, and docked in port around 2pm. Everyone on board should have know we were docking at 2pm. We were told numerous times.

It wasn't ill around 3:30 before they started letting folks off. Their initial idea was to get everyone off that had flights scheduled for that Thursday, but they later decided would only delay everyone from getting off the ship. They had made previous announcements that passengers could take their time getting off the ship. There were even movies in the afternoon in both theaters.

To expedite the passengers getting off the ship, there were two walk-off locations with everyone entering into the underneath of the cruise terminal. It was a process that we hadn't done before, but it was smooth. DCL doesn't like entrances and corridors blocked so the exact exit process wasn't made know until the day off.

In all, I think the folks on the Fantasy did an outstanding job. They did their best to satisfy patient needs and concerns within their limitations.

Beginning at 3:30 passengers were able to leave and when we got off the ship around 5:00, there were less than 200 remaining.

How about a thread about What Did DCL do right during your Hurricane?

 

[Imahikergirl]

I was on the Dream for Hurricane Matthew. I enjoyed being onboard for longer than expected and we went with the flow. There were many people with various complains about staying out to sea as well. There will always be people who aren’t happy no matter what is decided on.

We don’t know where our December Fantasy cruise is going to be porting, but I’m confident that Disney and the CMs will show us a wonderful cruise no matter where we end up.

 

[gotomu212]

I think everyone can always learn and improve after an event like this. Having a defined process in place, even if you never use it, only helps (if nothing else it gives a company time to think through different options and variables). OP have you emailed your suggestion to DCL?

 

[cruiser21]

Well, I supposed that DCL felt they did their job making sure everyone got to land safely. They just don't have the manpower to be personal travel agents for the 5-6000 people who now require "help" to work out the rest of their schedule.

They were dumped on land where a hurricane was coming. How is that safe? I think passengers should have a least been given the option to stay onboard like other cruise lines did.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

The passengers on these ships didn't choose to travel into a hurricane.

I have to disagree with this. By Friday, September 1, at 5:00pm, Irma was already a cat 3 hurricane, headed for the Caribbean with potential landfall in Florida. We had a trip planned to WDW for the 8th through the 17th, and I was watching this storm carefully that weekend. If the passengers on these ships were following the news at all, they would have been aware of a massive hurricane that could impact their cruise. Granted, they wouldn't have been able to cancel without penalty at that point, but they did choose to continue with their travel into an area with a hurricane looming.

 

[apple9117]

My goodness what an experience! I would expect Disney to be able to handle these type of situations better.