Just spent e terrifying night on The Fantasy

[EpicBilynn]

I 'm actually just a fascinated reader of this thread.. I wasn't on board (and glad about that).

Ditto! I cannot imagine what it must have been like and I am truly glad that everyone made it back without serious injury!

I've never been on a cruise or in a hurricane and I just cannot wrap my head around what it would be like. I have gotten a lot of bathtub-duck-and-cover practice (I'm from the DFW area of Texas where we had a reported 11+ tornadoes tear through on April 3, being in it it felt like WAY more) so I can only imagine what a HURRICANE would be like. It's an incredible force of nature and I am sure the Disney-lovers on the Fantasy were not being dramatic. You just never know what it's like until you're there with everything crashing around you. Just my two cents

Again, so glad that everyone made it back on land and I hope that no one has to experience this again! I'm sure Disney will err on the side of caution from now on!

 

[Bonniec]

More cleanup of rude posts done.

Thanks you for taking care of things. This is a very interesting and scary thread to read and it's really sad how rude some people can be. I'm glad to see you all on it.

 

[PizzieDuster]

Yes, this was in one of the 1am announcements that went out. They said the weather reports never predicted it being that severe. In other words they were admitting that is was a mistake and had they had knowledge of it then they would have never attempted it to begin with. I'll be fine if I never hear the chimes of "When You Wish Upon A Star" ever again in my lifetime.

Oh DanzinMommy...I'm so sorry. I always remind my kids of those chimes. How fast they forget all about them and I remember them fondly. Whew. What an ordeal.

 

[lsenquiz]

I am so glad to see this story is now part of CNNs main coverage of Sandy. I was very happy to see the iReport on the main CNN.com page. I truely think it deserves national attention and still believe Disney should release some kind of official statement.

 

[lsenquiz]

I am having a hard time trying to wrap my mind around how they had the ship cleaned up, restocked, repaired and ready to sail with new passengers yesterday. We have now seen some pretty noticeable damage from the blog, pics, and videos. How does something like glassware,etc get replaced so fast? What about the crew resting after a sleepless night? Seems to me they should've delayed the next sailing to Sunday anyway.

I agree. I am very interested to see a post from someone that sailed out Saturday night. I wonder if parts of the ship were closed for the first day or so?

 

[over50visits]

I am so glad to see this story is now part of CNNs main converage of Sandy. I was very happy to see the iReport on the main CNN.com page. I truely think it deserves national attention and still believe Disney should release some kind of official statement.

I hate to be cynical, but I don't believe Disney would release the true story, instead a generic "the safety of our passengers comes first..." We will likely never know why the decision to sail into a hurricane was made, give the available alternative of not sailing into a hurricane.

So glad everyone is home safely! Please remember the 6 good days of the cruise, those memories must be precious.

 

[JOANNEL]

More cleanup of rude posts done.

Please just ignore any rude comments. And PLEASE don't quote them. That just means that we'll also delete YOUR post when we're cleaning!

Thank you. We were on this cruise. It was scary!!! I just wish my desk would stop moving!! It sure won't keep us from cruising again!!

 

[ilovetexas]

I really feel badly for all that were on board this cruise. I'm taking my family on a Disney cruise next year and now a bit nervous about it.

Just about a year ago, Fantasy's roommate, Freedom of the Seas, ran into an unexpected heavy storm and dealt with 100 mph winds and 30 ft seas. Conditions that may have been similar to what Fantasy ran into at some points (?). I'm guessing Fantasy got much worse than what you see in these though. These aren't mine and I wasn't on this cruise, but thought the videos were interesting nevertheless.

youtube.com/watch?v=8z5Ob5JiJbk
youtube.com/watch?v=8aPi7SuifQQ
youtube.com/watch?v=tWUSQ3SsbCA
youtube.com/watch?v=Vm3SHsGwrfw
youtube.com/watch?v=o8IpONKFYV8

And my favorite part is the Captain explaining what happened:
youtube.com/watch?v=whDRcTDE-nQ

edit: apologies but it won't let me post links since I'm a new poster, so you have to copy/paste these to view them.

It wasn't unexpected; that was just their official line of BS just like the current DCL line of "we didn't know how bad it was". I had just sailed up through this storm on the CCL Fascination trying to get back to JAXPORT. It was the worst day and a half at sea ever! Nobody was out and about, decks were closed, you literally couldn't stand up trying to walk down the hall, forget getting food, stuff crashing all over the place. The WORST part is that Freedom OTS sailed knowing full well that storm was out there. After realizing how bad it was, CCL and DCL kept their ships in port at Port Canaveral that day; RCI sailed anyway.

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2011/10/freedom-of-the-seas-storm-damage-injuries/552543/1

 

[realityland]

So the general consensus is that people were miserable and/or scared on the Fantasy and Dream. I understand that the weather is something beyond Disney's control. But Disney is in the business of selling "Disney magic", first and foremost. It is "Disney magic" with a cruise attached. We've all seen the advertisements "Come sail with Disney - pay the big bucks and experience "Disney magic." People generally pay a pretty steep premium with Disney (whether at the parks, cruise, etc.) to experience something above and beyond. There is a certain expectation that comes with this. Perhaps Disney needs to temper people's expectations when it comes to cruising. Most people equate a Disney Cruise with a trip to the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, etc. And that is precisely how it is marketed.

When people have an experience like what just happened on the Fantasy/Dream, they feel betrayed. And when people return from an absolute nightmare of a trip to find out that other cruise lines have made different decisions, they feel doubly betrayed. Jogging straight into a storm and crossing the Gulf Current during said storm is anything but what people associate with "a Disney experience." Whether the threat to people's safety was real or just perceived during a high stress event - people FELT at risk. So, their perception was reality for them.

Granted, there is an element of risk that you accept when cruising in hurricane season. But again, we've all seen the advertisements and the implied "magic." Disney markets primarily to families with small children - many probably first time cruisers. There is a disconnect between the product that a Disney Cruise can realistically deliver during hurricane season and people's expectations. This should be addressed - but that would make the cash registers ring in reverse in some cases. So, this experience/event will fade away and it will be back to business as usual selling the "Disney magic."

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

If I am correct, DCL keeps an extra stock of everything (Even lifeboats) in storage near to PC. In the event anything breaks, they have some to replace it with. Also, the stuff that they have on "display" in the bars is only stuff that is clean. Many of the glassware and plates sit in containers backstage and are fairly safe in any amount of weather. It's only the stuff that is unsecured and out of shelves that can fall and break which is only a small percentage of the total.

They must have some stuff onboard as well. The TV in my kids stateroom was hit by something during the night (Thursday) and was replaced within hours of us noticing it was damaged.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

I was on the Dream this weekend and had a kid TERRIFIED because of the rough seas. No, money doesn't erase what happened, but an investigation of some sort should be launched. The difference between airline turbulence and a cruise ship in a hurricane is that the cruise line KNEW the hurricane was out there and chose to set sail anyway. Definitely not the same experience and circumstances. And no, the cruise line really did not deliver what they promised...granted they don't promise perfect weather, but this WAS avoidable.

Yes, this was ABSOLUTELY avoidable.

 

[mjl1969]

Yes, this was ABSOLUTELY avoidable.

Agree ABSOLUTELY avoidable, they took a chance and gave people what some people described as terrifying (not just scared or uncomfortable) .. for what again????

 

[Poohbug]

I am glad that everyone on the ship made it to land and are now safe.

I cannot imagine being on a ship in a hurricane. It is even more horrifying to think of my children enduring that situation. I have always been assured that sailing during hurricane season was perfectly safe because the ship will sail to calm waters and avoid the storm. Now I know that is NOT true. I see this decision by the captain and the company as a choice of revenue over safety and this will affect my decision to sail on DCL again.

 

[auntie]

Looks like quite a few people were upset by the decisions made:

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2012/10/sandy-is-gone-and-the-dream-returns/

 

[Scrubba2]

Thank you for sharing your experiences on the Fantasy. I cannot imagine that feeling. I was kind of freaked out by rough seas on my last cruise and it turns out that it wasn't technically rough! I think we would have had our life jackets on in our room if we were on your cruise.

 

[MrsScooby]

From what I just read on CNN, apparently Captain Tom said that the weather in the area they were in got worse than what had been predicted.

I sincerely doubt they would put 4000+ people at risk for a deadline.

A captain is not always ruled by the almighty dollar.

Exactly
My experience with DCL has been that they always put the safety of their passengers first. There was nothing to be gained by putting everyone through such an ordeal
Obviously a mistake on the captain's part.
I am curious about the timing of the decisions made to proceed compared to the decisions of other cruiselines....
I am sure that DCL sent warnings out to other ships as soon as they realized how bad it was.
Did they all get the same weather reports?

Very unfortunate that this experience happened, but I am sure this will also make DCL much more cautious in the future.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Exactly
My experience with DCL has been that they always put the safety of their passengers first. There was nothing to be gained by putting everyone through such an ordeal
Obviously a mistake on the captain's part.
I am curious about the timing of the decisions made to proceed compared to the decisions of other cruiselines....
I am sure that DCL sent warnings out to other ships as soon as they realized how bad it was.
Did they all get the same weather reports?

Very unfortunate that this experience happened, but I am sure this will also make DCL much more cautious in the future.

DCL has always been cautious in the past, as we can see by how they have handled other storm situations, which makes some of us pretty sure that they didn't realize how bad it was going to be, based on those other situations.

Hindsight is 20/20. If they had known what would have happened, they wouldn't have made that decision. They didn't think it would be as bad as it was. But it is done. Decision made. We can armchair quaterback until we are blue, it doesn't change the fact that none of us, NONE, were on the bridge of that ship or have the expertise of the Captain. After the fact, yes they should have waited. But when the decision was made, none of us can answer that. And as others have said, if they had waited, maybe lots more ppl here would be complaining the other way. Its a lose lose.

 

[Raspberry Beret]

DCL has always been cautious in the past, as we can see by how they have handled other storm situations, which makes some of us pretty sure that they didn't realize how bad it was going to be, based on those other situations.

Hindsight is 20/20. If they had known what would have happened, they wouldn't have made that decision. They didn't think it would be as bad as it was. But it is done. Decision made. We can armchair quaterback until we are blue, it doesn't change the fact that none of us, NONE, were on the bridge of that ship or have the expertise of the Captain. After the fact, yes they should have waited. But when the decision was made, none of us can answer that. And as others have said, if they had waited, maybe lots more ppl here would be complaining the other way. Its a lose lose.

Yeah, those of you who were not on that ship.

 

[hubbard53]

I was on this cruise and was fine with everything until the incredible list that sent everything on our desk crashing to the floor. I contemplate the "what if" scenario had my 2 yr old son not been sleeping between his mother and me. WOuld he have been ejected from the bed and hit by the flying ice bucket and souvenir bottle of rum?

I'm not angry or anything; just disappointed with the decision.

 

[DMMarla07860]

DCL has always been cautious in the past, as we can see by how they have handled other storm situations, which makes some of us pretty sure that they didn't realize how bad it was going to be, based on those other situations.

Hindsight is 20/20. If they had known what would have happened, they wouldn't have made that decision. They didn't think it would be as bad as it was. But it is done. Decision made. We can armchair quaterback until we are blue, it doesn't change the fact that none of us, NONE, were on the bridge of that ship or have the expertise of the Captain. After the fact, yes they should have waited. But when the decision was made, none of us can answer that. And as others have said, if they had waited, maybe lots more ppl here would be complaining the other way. Its a lose lose.

well said. I completely agree. It's a lose lose whatever they do I feel, but it's done, they learn from this and move on