HEARTBREAK: Flight cancelled - Cruise missed

[pearljammer]

Looks to me like Pearljammer misspoke (mistyped?) and meant to use the word "solicit" in the first sentence rather than "decline." Rest of the post seems to bear this out.[/QUOTE

Thank you Nala, Let me say that although I thought I had read all these posts as I would check in, read, check in later, read more, etc., obviously I missed some posts. My apologies OP for missing that and sorry again. I can't imagine what all the stress you and yours have been through. My apologies again.

 

[sorul82?]

Actually, I think you are doing one of the most respectful, non-judgemental jobs of sulking I've ever seen!

If anyone deserves a good sulk, I think it's you.

Sayhello

No kidding.

 

[sorul82?]

Things here in Raleigh seem to be going from bad to worse for some people. One of the colleges here had decided the end the semester now due to the damage to the campus. Some of those kids have nowhere to go.

 

[uscgrl93]

Hugs, Hugs, and more Hugs! Driving would probably not have been an option for you anyway. My parents drove from Delaware to here Saturday and the normally 9 hour trip took them 13 through all the tornadoes in NC. As one PP mentioned, I-95 was closed for a while in some parts and all traffic was directed off the Interstate. So the storms through NC were TERRIBLE! Looks like you did everything you could and there was absolutely nothing else you could do!

But, you can still make memories in the future with your kids...even after they go off to college. My father still takes us on family vacations with our spouses and kids and my sisters and I are 33, 37, and 40 respectively. We even did Disney World all together for one of our trips. I know that doesn't ease the pain of missing the trip now, but I offer you and your family lots of Hugs and good luck with future trips!

 

[su_kraft]

My intent was to SULK! And I'm doing a damn good job of it!

You are a most polite and courteous sulker! I hope that you and your family find a way to build some great memories this week.

 

[DoOverDreams]

You have been so gracious! I wish I could behave half as well as you are when I am sulking.

I did a little searching on the web for something fun that maybe you guys could do for spring break. Have you ever heard of Urban Pirates? I don't know anything about the Baltimore area but this looks like it could be a fun day trip. http://urbanpirates.com

Looks like there are a bunch of family things to do in the area. It won't be DCL, but you could still have some fun! There are some ideas on TripAdvisor at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g60811-Activities-Baltimore_Maryland.html#TtD

 

[lilpooh108]

Wow I checked in at the beginning of the thread and now on these recent pages there's miscommunication all over about the OP's intentions.

To the OP---I think your thread is one of the classiest ones I've seen on the cruise boards. Good job you! And you can feel free to sulk all you want.

We're DVC members, and I completely feel for you. Points = money, period. Planning with points is a huge pain and takes so much coordination. But don't feel too bad about not getting insurance. The DVC insurance they offer now ($79 per use year) only gets back your dues paid on the points, and NOT the point value itself. It would have covered only half the value of the cruise so to speak if you compare dues v. rental value ($5 in dues v. $10-$11 pp rented). Hope that makes you feel a little better.

 

[luvndizny]

Add me to the list of those praying for a wonderful trip in your very near future. Thank you for being so humble and sharing your experience with us. We have a cruise booked for Dec. next year and will be buying trip insurance this time!! (And now maybe thinking we'll come in two or more days before this time- We came in the day before for our recent cruise thinking we had all bases covered. Gives everyone something to think about.)

I feel for your family...I really do. HUGS!!!

 

[bornred26]

I'm sorry to hear about you & your family missing your cruise. We won't be able to go on our June cruise because of a sickness in our family but to miss the cruise after you have paid for everything is heartbreaking.

 

[iloverags2]

I have nothing new to add here, but wanted to let you know how sorry I am regarding this stressful situation for you and your family. As others have said, you are a classy sulker! And you deserve to do some sulking.

I'm hoping something good will come along and surprise the heck out of you, giving you and your family wonderful memories!

 

[kreedham]

I know they don't have too but DCL in the true Disney spirit should try to do something! Don't know what but they could do something!

Which brings me to my "often told" story. We are almost platinum now but several years ago we almost missed our first cruise and we were only flying from Atlanta.

Our flight was Saturday morning, cruise day, at about 8 a.m. Ice storms were coming Saturday and we heard on the news that Delta was recommending anyone flying Sat could change their res to Friday at No Charge. But we were flying AirTran but I called anyway. They changed it for us to Friday night.

Now the bad news. We parked at long term and it started raining, by the time we got to the terminal it was sleet, we eventually got on the plane (not too much past scheduled departure and sat. We were deiced 3 or 4 times, ended up sitting on the plane all night, and finally took off 1/2 hour before our original departure! Soon after they closed the airport!

We returned home to find 4 vouchers from AT for round trips for sitting on the plane all night (I believe they can't do that anymore). We used them to do a Disney cruise out of LA the next year.

We were lucky!

 

[MommaMouse411]

man I'm sorry to hear this...my heart just feels achy now. maybe you guys can do a Luau at your home instead?

how about this...everything happens for a reason..whether we like the reason or not...my 2 centavos.

 

[tinkerone]

Quite honestly, while I am not thrilled with DCL insurance (coverage is too weak, in my opinion, for the cost), there are many less expensive insurers, with better coverage. In my opinion, it's just too big a risk to take not to travel with insurance. Surprisingly, not because of this situation. While heartbreaking, it's not likely to result in long-term financial destruction, as you say.

However, if a medical emergency occurred on board the ship, and you did not have medical insurance that would cover it, you could wind up wishing you were only on the hook for the cruise, airfare and pre-cruise stay.

Still, I am very sorry that this family is in this situation. It is not fun to have your vacation ruined. It's definitely a good idea to purchase the insurance, IMHO.

have to agree with you here. we have the luck to have out of country insurance with both my job and dh's job as well as the same coverage on one of my credit cards. we have never had to worry about insurance for that reason. i would never go away without this coverage and would NEVER suggest anyone else go without medical coverage. way to risky.
thanks for reminding us of that.

 

[corky441]

So very very sorry to hear about your lost vacation. I can't begin to imagine how I would be feeling, but I'm sure I would be devastated.

That being said, the first thing I did this morning was get travel insurance for my cruise next month.

I've never gotten insurance, but i figure my luck is bound to run out one of these times.

So......... THANK YOU for showing me and I'm sure a lot of DISers just how important the insurance is.

 

[DCL1998]

The Dream will sail this afternoon (4/17) without our family. We had been planning our trip for a year, and scheduled flights the evening before departure just to be safe. Just to make a terribly long terrible story short, our 6:10 pm flight from BWI kept getting pushed back and back and back because of bad weather. They let us on the plane at 1 am, but the plane did not have a first officer. We waited on board for another hour and 15 minutes before Southwest finally announced the flight had been cancelled.

We spent another 5 1/2 hours at the airport looking for alternative ways to get to Florida - Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa or West Palm Beach - NOTHING was available. No time left to drive. No way to get to Canaveral before the ship departs.

Let this be a lesson to anyone who even thinks about cruising without trip insurance... We didn't have it... And now, our Deck 8 verandah stateroom will sail the next four days without us - but still fully paid for.

John

That is terrible! What airline? Did you book the airfare through Disney? If you did they could fly you to the Bahamas to catch the ship there. I have seen that happen before.

I live in the Baltimore area. What makes it worse is that yesterday (4/17) was such a beautiful day. True it was bad weather on Saturday but I would have thought the airline would have been able to get you out of BWI yesterday.

 

[sayhello]

That is terrible! What airline? Did you book the airfare through Disney? If you did they could fly you to the Bahamas to catch the ship there. I have seen that happen before.

I live in the Baltimore area. What makes it worse is that yesterday (4/17) was such a beautiful day. True it was bad weather on Saturday but I would have thought the airline would have been able to get you out of BWI yesterday.

The OP stated that it was Southwest Airlines, they purchased on their own, and they couldn't fly to Nassau because not everyone in their party had passports.

Sayhello

 

[mom0104]

I too am very sorry you missed your cruise.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I've travelled a lot these past few years and June's Disney cruise is the ONLY time I've purchased travel insurance (we've always had medical). The flights across the ocean and the cruise are insured. The only thing NOT insured are the flights between London and Barcelona. I suppose I should insure those if I still can. Now, the reason I did this was ... holy heck, this trip was getting expensive!!! The flights, the cruise, the hotel in Barcelona ....wowee, the insurance seemed like the best course of action ... especially since all the crap that happened with the volcano last year.

I don't know if I'll purchase it again ... maybe only for the cruises.

To the OP, if anybody deserves a good sulk, it's you and your family. Mother Nature can humble us but it can't defeat us. You'll cruise with the Mouse some day, I'm sure of it. And as for family vacations ... I'm over 45 and I'm draggin my parents and brother on this cruise .... so just because your son's going off to college, don't think you're getting rid of him that easily.

 

[HappyGilmore]

I could not get this family out of my mind today all day when I was at work. I just arrived home and have not had the chance to read all the updates from when I last read last night.

I wanted to let the OP know that I personally made a call to DCL on my way home from work about 30 minutes ago. I called and asked to speak to a supervisor and was connected to someone named Raj. I only spoke for about 10 minutes with her but I didn't get past the first few words before my eyes welled up in tears and I began to cry while explaining the reason for my call. I explained about the DIS boards and this post titled "Heartbroken" . I summarized what I knew up to this point and I explained that I myself have been touched by this family and what has happened to them. The rep replied that they are fully aware and are working with the people that "missed the boat" yesterday due to flight cancellations.

I did all I could do which was basically nothing, and nothing more than the OP can do but know that there are a lot of people that care and feel a little bit of your pain right along with you... and I am one of them.

OP if you can know one thing..... sometimes things happen for a reason... sometimes you don't know what that reason is right away, for a long time , or forever... but know that this is all part of something in your life plan... and if you are a believer in a higher power (as I myself am) ,HE is in control of this situation. Good luck and God Bless you and your beautiful family, I hope you can enjoy your family time together this week and find a way to make it special in your own way. I wish I could do more..... I am heartbroken also

 

[pxlbarrel]

Wow.

If nothing else, the OP's post has shown a lot of us that Disers stick together and care about each other.