Just spent e terrifying night on The Fantasy

[Danielle3]

Please don't let people like that bug you. He/she wasn't even on the ship so it's not worth getting upset about. Maybe this thread needs a little more cleaning from the mods.



One thing I have consistently read on this thread that bugs me are people making statements like, "You chose to travel during hurricane season, that's the risk you take." I don't get this mentality at all. I live in Fl so pretty used to hurricaines. I am scheduled to go out in October next year (and have no plans to reschedule). I did buy insurance. What I have always read in my research is that the ships will do everything they can to steer around a storm so you have to be prepared for different ports. THAT is an expected risk.

But in this case, all passengers seem to agree that the captain went INTO the storm. I'm not going to sit here from my computer and debate the reasons why when I wasn't even on the ship. That's between those passengers and DCL. But I'm betting none of them were expecting that. To say they deserved it is ridiculous and stupid. What I think they do deserve are some answers. I'll be curious to know what DCL tells them after all the phone call follow ups.

I appreciate your kindness. I have emailed Disney and have not received a response yet. We have cruised three other times with Disney and when we encountered severe weather they kept us clear of it. I did understand that there was a risk and that our itinerary could change, but I never really thought this would happen. We have been vacationing with Disney since 1998 and I am sad to say that I don't think it will be at the top of our list for awhile. It isn't even about the storm, it was just the customer service that we received after the storm. We had one person injured and a missing boarding pass (that they forgot to print) and they had there heads ducked in the sand that morning as far as I was concerned. I did speak to someone in customer service on the phone and she was no help, but we didn't try to get through the crowd to the service desk. I know that everyone had different experiences, but we definitely felt like they were done with us and ready to get us off the ship so they could prepare for the next group to board. I truly expect more from Disney. Storms happen and their patterns change, I understand that, but what followed was crazy!!

 

[Danielle3]

Out of curiosity, if the Captain had come on the intercom more often to update and reassure, rather than the rare times he did make an announcement, would people have felt better? Because reading through this, and comparing my own experience when on a cruise that was rocking (turned the adult pool into a wave pool, which during the day time was fun, night time, well, night at sea in high waves, not my thing), it seems as if more assurance from Captain Tom would have helped.

I have been on turbulent rides on airplanes, and feared for my life. When there is silence from the cockpit and the flight attendants are seated and belted, I am not feeling so comfortable! But I had a flight once that was during a terrible, bumpy lightening storm, and the pilot came on just before we hit it, and couple of times during it, to reassure everyone on board that the plane could handle this, there was really no way around as it was such a big storm, and we would all be fine, just stay seated and belted. That helped so much.

Perhaps, if passengers were reassured on the Fantasy from the start, even if it was just the Cruise Director coming on to say that it was going to be bumpy, but the ship could handle it no problem, just stay in your cabins so you won't be injured walking around, then perhaps the fear would have been a bit less?

Would communication have helped at all?

That is exactly what I told them in my email!! A heads up from anyone was all that was needed. I don't expect it to be the Captain. I just think it would have better for them to say this is worse than we thought, please prepare your cabin this is going to get rough, but the ship can handle it.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I feel horrible for everyone that had to endure he** on the high seas - only to come home and have to AGAIN deal with the storm at home. Watching the reports coming in from the east coast is a real reality check on just how destructive this storm is. Reports saying that there may be upwards of 6.5 million across 13 states w/o power. Wow! Pretty mind boggling.

I'd hate to be one of those people. If I was one of them right now I'd be laughing at a rough night at sea compared to losing power and flooding in these states. But thankfully I am not and thankfully my family only lost power

 

[hubbard53]

I have created a Facebook group for all guests (including those not on the DIS) on the 10/20 Fantasy & 10/25 Dream cruises to band together and explore options for getting reasonable compensation from DCL.



Please join and spread the word.

have you calculated how much 25% off a future cruise is? I consider that reasonable compensation....

 

[kathie859]

That is exactly what I told them in my email!! A heads up from anyone was all that was needed. I don't expect it to be the Captain. I just think it would have better for them to say this is worse than we thought, please prepare your cabin this is going to get rough, but the ship can handle it.

This is the exact point that I think several of us have attempted to make!! I certainly didn't expect the captain to give updates; however, I expected the cruise director or other officer to come back on the intercom and/or post updates on the in room TV channel about what and how we were doing. It was the deafening silence from the staff that was as scary as the loud booms as the waves slammed into the ship. My room was 9 forward and, boy oh boy, did we feel the rocking and rolling.

My other main issue was the disarray at disembarkation. It truly seemed like the staff was running on empty and just couldn't organize a weenie roast let alone co-ordinate an orderly exit process.

Like another poster mentioned earlier--we pay top dollar for the Disney experience. In this case, Disney did NOT deliver the steller service that they pride themselves.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

have you calculated how much 25% off a future cruise is? I consider that reasonable compensation....

For my family and a large percentage of the families who sailed on the 10/25 Dream cruise it is $0.

We are Florida residents and this "goodwill" cannot be combined with our FLR rates, which means we either pay a higher price to utilize the 25% or we get $0.

 

[sandrakit]

Where did you find this information? I'm interested in seeing the same for the 10/25 Dream cruise.

Thanks!

I would be interested in knowing too !

 

[t_daniels]

have you calculated how much 25% off a future cruise is? I consider that reasonable compensation....

I think, also, after this experience, a few people might not want to cruise anytime soon, making that discount moot.

 

[over50visits]

have you calculated how much 25% off a future cruise is? I consider that reasonable compensation....

In general, I'm not a believer in compensation. It has become ingrained in our entitled society. Weather happens.

However, here there seems to still be a question as to whether DCL deliberately chose to sail into unreasonably rough weather when they had the choice to wait for it to pass. The conditions that night, as I see them reported, seemed to appear dangerous enough to guests (that is who matters) to have many of them afraid, and having had a very uncomfortable ride and a scary experience. It appears this could have been easily avoided by DCL choosing to wait for the storm to pass (evidently other cruise lines did make that choice and their passengers did not experience the hurricane condition seas).

So...perhaps some compensation is necessary. It should not be a discount on a future cruise, of course. Disney typically discounts cruises more than 25% (such as VGT, military, or Florida Resident discounts), so their offer seems a bit self serving. If a poor choice was made with the knowledge of what was ahead that night, monetary refund of the cruise fare seems appropriate to me. And one could only hope for a truthful explanation of what happened. My advice to Disney: Tell us the true story, take the heat, and move on. Have a reputation for being forthright. No one is perfect.

I enjoy Disney cruises, and am looking very much forward to being on the Fantasy later this year (it will be our Grand Slam Plus cruise!). I enjoy Disney cast members, and the ships are beautiful. As a rule, though, I don't accept Disney's explanations when things aren't quite right...they always seem contrived. But, on the balance, the good far outweighs the bad.

 

[EllieMaie]

What would be considered fair compensation? Just wondering what people are thinking would be fair.

 

[over50visits]

What would be considered fair compensation? Just wondering what people are thinking would be fair.

If there is no fault...if Disney did not have the information to choose between subjecting the passengers to that storm or waiting for it to pass...then nothing for compensation. Bad weather happens, hurricane season has hurricanes with rough seas.

If there is fault...if Disney had the information and despite that chose to enter that storm when they had the option to wait for it to pass, then it's easy: full refund of the cruise fare.

 

[bobbiwoz]

What would be considered fair compensation? Just wondering what people are thinking would be fair.

I was not on the ship, but I think a refund, maybe 25 - 50% would satisfy me. I wish Disney would make a public statement of substance.

 

[hubbard53]

If there is no fault...if Disney did not have the information to choose between subjecting the passengers to that storm or waiting for it to pass...then nothing for compensation. Bad weather happens, hurricane season has hurricanes with rough seas.

If there is fault...if Disney had the information and despite that chose to enter that storm when they had the option to wait for it to pass, then it's easy: full refund of the cruise fare.

I was on the cruise and would never expect a full refund. I enjoyed 5.5 days of the cruise. It would be like eating a multicourse meal, eating everything, and then demanding a full refund for the overcooked steak you ate.

 

[Ginger Renae]

If there is no fault...if Disney did not have the information to choose between subjecting the passengers to that storm or waiting for it to pass...then nothing for compensation. Bad weather happens, hurricane season has hurricanes with rough seas.

If there is fault...if Disney had the information and despite that chose to enter that storm when they had the option to wait for it to pass, then it's easy: full refund of the cruise fare.

FULL REFUND because one night things got rough and people were scared?? Give me a break. It seems to me that for everyone who was petrified and freaking out, the is another passenger who took it all in stride. Why should anyone get a full refund?

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

FULL REFUND because one night things got rough and people were scared?? Give me a break. It seems to me that for everyone who was petrified and freaking out, the is another passenger who took it all in stride. Why should anyone get a full refund?

Had I been on the Fantasy, I think a 15% refund would be fair, as only one night was affected.

I was on the Dream. Our entire cruise was affected. A full refund would be well appreciated. However, my family would be satisfied with 75 or even 50%.

 

[HippieChickadee]

in 2007 I went on a norwegian cruise and a good portion of people on the ship almost drowned on an excursion.

I literally had the thought to give up trying and just drown (from the pure exhaustion of trying to get out alive) and by the grace of God I got out with a thread of energy and collapsed on the beach.

Never even crossed my mind to ask for anything.

Them offering 25% off another cruise or WDW trip was really really nice.

Sorry, I wasn't going to pipe up on this thread, but I'm floored.

 

[dad2wayne]

we have started a facebook page for nightmare cruise survivors from both ships
http://www.facebook.com/groups/104089969753549/

 

[carpenta]

FULL REFUND because one night things got rough and people were scared?? Give me a break. It seems to me that for everyone who was petrified and freaking out, the is another passenger who took it all in stride. Why should anyone get a full refund?

...I LOVE you Ginger Renae!!!!!..............

 

[chateau]

I'm wondering how everyone that was onboard is feeling after a few days have passed? Hopefully a little bit better. We're thinking of you.

 

[Poohbug]

Just a heads up on the 25% off a future cruise that the passengers on this cruise received.

We received a 25% discount off a future cruise in the past that was given due to a hurricane situation. I was glad to have a travel agent helping me on that cruise because the window to use the discount was very small. I just assumed we would be able to use it when we wanted to cruise next but that was not the case. It had to be used within the next six months.

I have no idea what the specifics are on the discount given for this cruise, but if you are thinking of using it, I would find out if there are restrictions, expiration dates, etc.

I do think passengers on this cruise deserve a refund of 10% of the price paid. It was a bad decision and to just offer a discount on a future cruise is self-serving(these people still will have to pay thousands of dollars to Disney for the privilege of cruising again) and not an actual benefit to those cruisers.