diznee princess
Never Enough Disney!
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2001
We are too!Wow, that is a big change. We are on the Jan 29th sailing and watching this closely.
We are too!Wow, that is a big change. We are on the Jan 29th sailing and watching this closely.
This isn't DCL's fault. The governments that run the ports are denying docking. These countries don't have the vaccination rates or hospital/health care infrastructure to handle COVID outbreaks like the US can. DCL literally has no say in the matter here. This is also the reason other cruise lines have had to completely cancel many cruise routes the past couple days. It doesn't matter what the US or DCL is doing to mitigate COVID, you just can't dock in foreign ports without their permission.
Original schedule had stops at St. Maarten and San Juan, now it's changed as follows:
We are gutted, we had some perfect port adventures all set up to go that we were extremely excited about. This was supposed to be a 15th anniversary celebration for my wife and I. This will likely be our third canceled Disney vacation as we had a WDW vacation planned in April 2020, as well as an October cruise originally planned for 2021.
What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.
What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.
OP - that stinks it's not your ideal itinerary. Between stops being changed/cancelled, lack of shows, shutting down of certain areas on the ships due to Covid outbreaks, the higher risk of being turned away at PC due to an asymptomatic positive test result - I bet a lot of people are seriously considering taking advantage of the 15-day refund clause. I know we are... I just with Disney would give a bit more info than they are. I know these items are out of their control, but they could put some of them back in their control and be much more proactive vs. waiting and seeing a few days before the cruise sets sail, or during the cruise.
DCL costs a lot of $, and they are doing themselves no favor in my mind with some of the mis-steps they are taking.
What's disappointing is the last minute nature of the change. We are on the 2/5-2/12 sailing of the Fantasy and have seen that St. Thomas has not the Fantasy dock there since early December, yet it's still showing up as a stop. Last thing I want is 4 days at sea vs. 3. Another port would be preferred, and I understand these don't just happen overnight, but seems like with a few weeks to go they could at least be a bit more proactive and communicative.
OP - that stinks it's not your ideal itinerary. Between stops being changed/cancelled, lack of shows, shutting down of certain areas on the ships due to Covid outbreaks, the higher risk of being turned away at PC due to an asymptomatic positive test result - I bet a lot of people are seriously considering taking advantage of the 15-day refund clause. I know we are... I just with Disney would give a bit more info than they are. I know these items are out of their control, but they could put some of them back in their control and be much more proactive vs. waiting and seeing a few days before the cruise sets sail, or during the cruise.
DCL costs a lot of $, and they are doing themselves no favor in my mind with some of the mis-steps they are taking.
This is pretty much in a nutshell why we moved our cruise from this one (1/15 on the Fantasy). Too much uncertainty. And you didn't even mention the fact that airlines are cancelling flights right and left which just adds another stress!While I get your point, the reality of all this is right now if you're not a person who likes spontaneity and rolling with changes, which is totally fine if you are that person, you probably shouldn't be cruising right now. There are hundreds of possibilities of changes occurring from cancelled ports, excursions, positive test a week before, positive test at the port, shows cancelled due to a outbreak onboard, dining disruptions, kids clubs closing randomly due to staffing, the list goes on and on and on. A lot of these you just can't have a crystal ball and see coming ahead of time nor control.
I completely get people who don't want to pay for a cruise that can change on a dime. I just think people have to set their expectations in this crazy COVID world, understand cruising is a luxury and far from necessary for anyone to do, and wait until testing is removed and all possible restrictions are gone if they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth from a reduced experience.
Point well-taken. It's just the wife and I on this cruise so we have a gameplan for alternative scenarios and the ability to be more flexible as needed. It just seems like DCL does know quite a bit more about port stops (and changes) than they are letting on as a PP pointed out. That's what's disappointing to me.While I get your point, the reality of all this is right now if you're not a person who likes spontaneity and rolling with changes, which is totally fine if you are that person, you probably shouldn't be cruising right now. There are hundreds of possibilities of changes occurring from cancelled ports, excursions, positive test a week before, positive test at the port, shows cancelled due to a outbreak onboard, dining disruptions, kids clubs closing randomly due to staffing, the list goes on and on and on. A lot of these you just can't have a crystal ball and see coming ahead of time nor control.
I completely get people who don't want to pay for a cruise that can change on a dime. I just think people have to set their expectations in this crazy COVID world, understand cruising is a luxury and far from necessary for anyone to do, and wait until testing is removed and all possible restrictions are gone if they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth from a reduced experience.
Point well-taken. It's just the wife and I on this cruise so we have a gameplan for alternative scenarios and the ability to be more flexible as needed. It just seems like DCL does know quite a bit more about port stops (and changes) than they are letting on as a PP pointed out. That's what's disappointing to me.
Since they have a way of tracking past prices on a reservation (as seen when you upgrade a cabin later on a existing reservation and you are charged what the price would have been at time of your booking) they really should figure a way to charge you the price from the day you originally booked when you are forced to reschedule to a new cruise/itenerary. I think that would go a long way to promote customer satisfaction.Just SO frustrating you book vacations so far ahead (opening day like 15 months or so ago) and then everything hits the fan at the last minute!
Let us know how it goes - if at least the entertainment is back...We're on this cruise, too and disappointed with the last minute change. But, we're still going and will make the best of it!
Yeah, been wondering what they have in store for us on this cruise. I wouldn't mind extra CC time in lieu of Grand Cayman.Wow, that is a big change. We are on the Jan 29th sailing and watching this closely.
That water is very choppy there!The worst part about that is that it's not even much fun to stay on the ship in Costa Maya. The worst seasickness I've ever had was trying to enjoy a day on the ship while berthed at Costa Maya.