Cancelled 7 day Magic cruiser, still no responce from Disney, anyone else??

[SweetCaroline]

No one wants to tell you what the Dec. 11th offer was? What is wrong with them? I just don't get it. I have Matt Ouimet's direct number if you want it. Maybe he will tell you the "big secret."

I don't actually have my 50% off coupons (my TA does), so I can't tell you exactly what they say. When I called to book a new cruise (myself not my TA), I told the DCL rep I was on the Nov 30 cruise and she knew to do the 50% off thing.

I don't know what to tell you. The whole thing is very frustrating. All I know is that Disney and some others on this board keep making me feel like this whole thing is my fault and I'm the one being unreasonable. I'm not even sure I want to cruise with DCL again.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

They just faxed me 4 letters all dated Dec 11, 2002 with all 4 of our names myself my wife and two kids names on different letters 50% off. I'll believe it when I get the origionals.

 

[SweetCaroline]

I'm glad you got your letters. I don't know when you are planning on going, but the rates are so high right now. We may not go until November 2003. Maybe they should do a special "Cruise that Never Was" for everyone who was going to be on the fateful cruise. We could all share war stories.

Good luck and I'll let you know what our letter says.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

I don't think they want us all to meet. I've been in touch with many and it seems it is all a one-on-one basis as to how they are dealing with us. When I get my "letters" I am thinking about the last eastern cruise in Oct or the eastern cruise the Sat after thanksgiving. Just like last time.

 

[nedleycan]

We had a great experience. We were also on the canceled November 30th. We ended up going on the Dec.1 Wonder (sorry we didn't meet you). We had a great time and we stayed at the Dolphin afterwards. Disney gave us free park passes (I think it was a mistake, but we accepted it anyway). We have rebooked for the November 15th, 2003 cruise (yes, we would prefer to wait until January 2004, but it is against the rules... oh well, it happens). We are looking forward to our November 15th 7-day. We are paying the same we paid for November 30th, so we are going to end up with a half-price cruise.
I also did not get my letter, but I took it into my own hands and called my agent. She received it 2 days later, we booked, and I never had to touch the voucher.
I guess I have always seen the sunny side of things, so this doesn't really bother me.
I feel bad about your 20+ group having to rebook. That would be a pain... but, life isn't fair... at least you are healthy enough to cruise, and can afford it!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We were at the Swan 3 days prior to the Dec 1 Wonder cruise and at the Dolphin 2 days after. We too had park passes for both but what else were they to do with us? They called me to cancel 9 hours before I was to leave my house, Thanksgiving eve. We had done the Bahama cruise and were so looking foreward to the virgin islands. Maybe thats why some of us are disappointed. Our first land and sea vacation was picture perfect, maybe we expected too much.



7 night land and sea Feb 2000--Wonder

2 night Disney 7 night eastern Nov 2002-cancelled

3night swan--4 night Wonder(replacement)2 night dolphin-Nov 2002-dec 2002

7 night Eastern Nov 2003????????

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I know I wasnt one the cruise but heres my opinion, but I dont think disney doesnt have to deal with there unhappy cruisers putting them on 6 o clock news. I really disney has done enough, full refund of cruise, 50% of next voyage, thats pretty darn good if i dont say so my self. About disney not responding to you fast, well disney has other customers to and they really try to respond to everyone, I am good friends with Al Weiss, when he gets letters he really tries to answer everyone but its just no possible. I know a lot of you are upset but life aint perfect, to tell you the truth a lot of the time is sucks. Just take what disney gives and if arent happy so be it, some people are never happy(that comment is not towards anyone on this board, so dont take it the wrong way ) This is just my opinion so you can say what you want, but i support disney, but i dont like everything they do but i am not calling news stations. Some cruise lines, carnival dont even give you nearly the compensation disney is giving you. Enough said, I will pass on to Al and he will pass on to Matt what you think.
Hope everyone is well
Matt age 13
I am cruising in a month !!!!

 

[SweetCaroline]

Most of the conversation on these boards are to commisserate and share. I'm not feeling bad for myself, it is just that this wasn't any ordinary vacation for our family. We were a family group of 21. All of which were paid for by our Mom and Dad. They are not wealthy and have saved for this since the seven day cruises started. My mom bought matching dresses for the granddaughters and little sports coats for the grandsons. We even waited to book this until one of us recovered from a liver transplant. We still want to go and are very thankful for the 50% off, however arranging vacation time amongst all of us is hard and it seems the only times we can do it lie on peak times where the rates are triple. We just want them to honor the rate. Why does that seem so unreasonable?

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I understand your situation and I am really sorry to here what happened. By the sounds it sounded like it would have been wonderful family reunion and am dissapointed what happened. This what I think disney should for your situation: They keep all the money payed and let reschdule do a different date. How does this sound. Since I have Matt's home email, I emailed and him about your situation and got a reply, He said they dont often handle each your situation differnt but i could tell he felt bad for and how you are being treated, he told me to get your first and last name and it email it to him. IF you want pm me the info and i will let him know.
I hope you can plan a new vacation
MAtt
P.S when i said about people complaing i didnt spefeically mean you, there are some people who disney tries to please but nothing makes them happy and all the do is complain, you know what i mean?

 

[nedleycan]

I actually feel real bad for your group, and maybe it is different than my family of 4. But, unfortunately, the corporate world tries to handle everyone the same (otherwise, small group like our's might complain). But giving everyone 50% off (which seems to be above the norm for the cruise industry) is the fair thing to do, and big companies like Disney are not able to separate special circumstances like yours.
I wouldn't count on anything more than what they have offered all of us... but, if you do get something special... tell me! : )

 

[LAMPSKIES]

I do think Disney did try to do the right thing they just did it too late. It is hard for someone who didn't get "the call" thanksgiving eve at 6:00 to understand what goes on in ones head. Yes, we've already taken the dog to get boarded for 12 days, tomorrow is Thanksgiving can we get her before next Monday. Where do I get a turkey to have with my wife and kids if we don't go. Many people shop for a whole week prior to thanksgiving. Do you know the travel insurance doesn't become effective 'till midnight the day of travel? Ever tried to call an airline the day before thanksgiving to cancell? Ever tried to call the limo service to cancell, the day before thanksgiving? Tell your 10 and 12 year old daughters to unpack the dresses that we just picked up from getting altered for the cruise. Call the post office to resume your mail service, the paper etc. I called every day for 2 weeks when people started getting sick and we were told a refund or a postponement wasn't an option. All this and we haven't even left for florida yet.

 

[nedleycan]

I agree that it was very difficult. Thank goodness that we went on the 4-day, because our kids didn't even notice. Can't imagine if we had to explain it to them. Also, instead of renting a tux, my husband spent $700 getting a custom black suit made... bummer!

But, when you say that Disney kept telling you that canceling was not an option, I can't believe it (I believe you, not Disney!) This board was full of comments about the choice to cancel. CNN has full of the option to cancel. I knew for almost 2 weeks before that we could cancel, but we decided not too. Thank goodness for this board, as I went into it with my eyes open.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

I asked about cancelling or postponing because I didn't want to be stuck in Florida with no cruise and no hotel thanksgiving weekend. Thesday before the cruise was to sail I called and was told "we are going to sail see you saturday". Some people we rode the bus with did try to cancell and the Sunday before, and the cancellation policies were still in efect. 59-30 days prior 100.00 cancellation per person, 29-15 days prior 300.00 per guest,14-8 days 50% of vacation price per guest, 7 days of less NO REFUND! It's all in the back of the cruiseline book under cancellations.

 

[nedleycan]

Not at all what I heard! In fact, I know of some people who canceled before Disney canceled, and got the 50% off. Not only that, but Matt was on CNN the weekend before, telling people that they could have a full refund, or he would set them up at a Disney resort in Orlando. Sorry that you missed all this, but we heard all about it... even in Canada!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Just to clear up one thing, I never asked for 50% off of another cruise, when I went to book on the Wonder while we were sailing I asked if I could use some of my refund as a deposit on another cruise I was told "yes and we will fed ex you 50% off voucher to your house. As bad as things were at the resourt the cruise was wonderful. Then I was told the next day "no voucher". When I wrote my letter I asked for nothing. Just wanted a responce from someone who didn't say "I'm sorry here's a buisness card write a letter".

 

[nedleycan]

It is very sad how inconsistent Disney seems to have been. None of this happened to me, in fact, everyone bent over backward for us. They treated us so well, and we didn't ask for anything.
After we got back from the Dec. 1 Wonder, our agent handled everything else... can't say enough about Irene at cruise.com... no worries, no hassles, and no work for me, which I appreciate as a very busy working mom.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

and here we're back to why I was/am so upset. We were given a cruise at 1/2points and our refund. No upgrade on our planned Nov cruise. However, since we didnt find out about this cancellation until 22hrs before we were to leave our house we spent the Fri-Thurs after Thanksgiving at WDW. The only place we could use our points was Port Orleans/French Quarter. (DH didnt want to move once we got a room and that was the only availability for 8nights being as it was Thanksgiving weekend with only 22hr notice!). Staying at a moderate cost us more points than staying at a DVC deluxe resort would have. There were NO park passes or food vouchers for us as there were for some. And Disney had the audacity to tell me that everyone got fair compensation !! I think not !!
(and moderators if youre not deleting the rest of this thread --)

 

[Hygiene99]

IMGOINGTODISNEY

seems to me other people might have done better than u
maybe there negotiating skills ......
the people that we ran into at the sci fi rest. seem to have done much better than as they got accomadations for the week and also food vouchers and Passes they where suppose to go on the cruise and spent week at wdw and will enjoy 50% off at a later date............ 3 meals a day and seem to be having a great time
and took the whole thing with a grain of salt.... and moved on with there lifes... there was 8 of them

peter

 

[Michelemouse]

We also have no compaints about how the situation was handled. We went to WDW, had a wonderful vacation at the AKL and ASMo, used far more DVC points for the stay than we would have had we stayed at a DVC resort but have absolutely no complaints.

On the Monday before we were to sail DCL made an announcement that passengers on the 11/30 sailing could cancel if they wished to and would get a full refund but that the ship was still planning to sail. I called DCL on Tuesday and they confirmed that we were allowed to cancel with no penalties. We had no intention of cancelling and I really just wanted a status update but it was nice to know that we had options.

We never even got a call from DVC or DCL about the cancellation. I actually read about it here on the DISBoards and called them. We got no special perks at WDW for being displaced DCL passengers, but I wasn't expecting any. I had the choice to go to WDW or to stay home.

Now, I understand about the family of 21 that wasn't able to sail, but I think all of us were out something because of this. We were bringing a friend of DD's and will now be bringing her with us on our Oct. cruise. She came to WDW with us but there was no way I was going to tell her she couldn't come next year when she had been so excited about the cruise. So that is two vacations with added expenses. My son's tuxedo will not fit when we sail next year. I had made the girls matching red/white/blue outfits for embarkment day. My daughter's formal dress will probably not fit. I think anybody with children will have to shop for new clothes before their next sailing, but those are the breaks. Bad things happen sometimes. I could understand all of this frustration if DCL had decided to cancel our sailing for a private party or unscheduled maintenance, but this was all due to something that DCL had no control over and that hit many cruise ships.

Personally I am more than happy with our compensation and cannot wait for our October cruise.

 

[SweetCaroline]

imgoingtodisney

I wasn't going to even post on the boards anymore, but I wanted you to know you aren't alone in your situation. I don't know about you, but I was starting to feel guilty and very defensive and that isn't how we should feel. The boards are our therapy and we shouldn't be made to feel badly. No one knows exactly your situation and to say Disney did everything they can is absurd unless they work for Disney and know every single passenger's story.

Again, I'm done posting. Good luck.