Travel Channel

[jbix00]

Show will be re-broadcast Saturday, 4/19/03 at 3 PM on the Travel Channel for those who missed it.

travel.discovery.com

 

[JimC]

Caught the show, but did not have a tape to record it on!!!

They forgot one item when they were talking about getting the first ship built on time. The first ship was late coming out of final fitting (a problem with the another ship I believe) and several cruises had to be cancelled. I was on one of them.

Of course it was classic Disney service the way they handled it. We got a letter explaining the situation, laying out the options and giving us a number to call. We could simply cancel and get all of our money back or they would work with us to rebook. I remember being favorably impressed that they had sufficient staffing to easily handle what I suspect was a flood of phone calls. We rebooked for a year later and they discounted the entire trip on top of the discount we got when we originally booked.

A year later we were off on a magical cruise!

 

[mmouse37]

Jim C....we were the in same boat (ha ha) as you! We were booked for the Maiden voyage of the Magic which got pushed back twice!!! Got a 25% discount the first time it date was pushed back and then got another 25% discount the second time the date was pushed back!!! Ended up getting the cruise at almost half off!!!

Talk about cruising on a wing a prayer......we had to book and deposit 2 years in advance for the Maiden Voyage and they picked guests via lottery. We were lucky enough to be picked and did not even know how many nights or what the itinerary was....neither did DCL!!!

We finally did sail on the Maiden Voyage for paying guests...DCL had all the VIP's on the 7/28 2 nighter) of the Magic on 7/30/98. It was our first ever cruise and we were impressed.....but they have certainly come a long way since that cruise. There was no cruise directors, no nighttime activites other than the stage shows, etc. There was no A/C for part of the cruise...food was not so good, some wise guy put a box of tide in the hot tub and there were suds everywhere on deck...it was quite an adventure!!!

We were hooked and will be taking DCL #8 on 5/17/03

MJ

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

MJ and JimC - we noticed the same thing! They kept talking about "getting it done on time" but it wasn't! We were originally booked for a cruise in June - didn't try for the maiden because we knew there would be work/school conflicts but it was to be the 5th or 6th I think.

We also rebooked - went in August, 7th cruise, DCL first contingency cruise - Hurricane Bonnie kept us from cruising the "stated" itinerary.

I don't know if it was Disney or Travel Channel that "crafted" the special. It was great to see the ship, etc. but not the best depiction of a travel destination.

Deb

 

[JimC]

MJ -- Enjoy your cruise! I bet that hot tub was a funny sight with the soap all over the place! Our cruise the year later was spectacular. They were surveying interest in longer cruises, and other ports of call during our cruise (maybe the research that led to the 7 day cruises -- now if only they would do the west coast!!)

Deb -- That happened to us in 1996 (back then they had a relationship with the Big Red Boat). We spent two additional days at sea somewhere between Florida Keys and Cuba among a flotilla of merchant and cruise ships while a hurricane hit the east coast of Florida.

Unfortunately we had the cruise preceeding the WDW land portion and thought we had lost that part of our holiday. But the second extra day at sea they announced that if we could spend the extra time on holiday that the full land portion would be honored. All of the rental cars were extended the extra time at no charge and the airline reservations changed with no penalties. I don't know if that was the policy of BRB or if Disney stepped in or both; but they pulled it off with no problems.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I cannot WAIT for our first Disney Cruise after watching that!!!

My husband and I watched it again last night. It's killing me trying to keep this a secret from the kids! I see why everyone gets addicted to DCL!

 

[Mermaid02]

My dd was really upset they didn't mention Common Grounds (or any teen activity!) on the special. I wonder why they didn't give it ANY air time???????

 

[plutojudy]

I think the Disney ship deserves a two hour show to cover more.