HEARTBREAK: Flight cancelled - Cruise missed

[DeeCeeSW]

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

OK, now I have been reduced to tears...there ARE wonderful, caring people on these boards!

 

[mattj009]

Thank you so much to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts.

I have been on the phone more or less all day with DCL, DVC and Southwest, trying to get various and sundry things fixed.

First - the positive news... I had prepaid our airport parking, and the manager there was able to refund the value of the voucher, less a 7.25 service fee.

At Southwest, I had a very complicated phone call, because most of the airfare for the cruise was paid for with a gift card. (I had done this as a way of maximizing my credit card points) Because it was a gift card transaction, they said they were unable to extend the length of time that the voucher will remain good for (It expires Set. 29.). On September 30th, I will be able to call and for 50 dollars a ticket, extend the amount of time that the ticket voucher is good for by another 6 months, which means the voucer will lose 200 dollars of value if I don't use it up by September 29th. They also would not give me a refund for the gift card value. They did agree to refund the portion of the ticket that was paid for by credit card. It's frankly a mess.

We have already started to look for a new cruise to book. Frankly, it's the only thing keeping us out of the doldrums at the moment. I called DCL and asked for a supervisor, then gave her my song and dance about what had happened. I did not ask for a refund, nor any relief from what happened with our cruise. (I know that money has sailed, so to speak.) I did ask the supervisor if there was anything they could do in terms of a discount on a future cruise. The supervisor was not too impressed with my story. I frankly think she thought I was looking for a refund. She shoved me off to the DVC as quickly as she could, and said I had to deal with them because they had booked my original cruise.

So I called DVC and asked for a supervisor. He put me on hold and was gone for abiout 15 minutes, which was fine by me. He was at least looking for a way to help me. When he came back he said there was nothing they could do by way of a discount, but said they would waive the 95 dollar booking fee if I wanted to book another cruise with points.

We obviously are exploring our options. After looking at our various school dates and my son's college dates, we took a look at the Thanksgiving cruise on the Dream. It's the one date in the next year that we can find to fit everyone's schedule, and it's far enough away that I can start saving the money to pay for it. I don't know yet whether we'll pull the trigger - that is one expensive cruise - but it did feel good to at least do some planning...

Planning has always been my favorite part of the trips anyway!

Now, I'm off to call the Southwest luggage counter at BWI to see if my luggage has returned from its Florida vacation yet!

 

[NY Disney fan]

We have already started to look for a new cruise to book. Frankly, it's the only thing keeping us out of the doldrums at the moment.

Good for you! I hope everything works out for you. With Saturday's crazy weather I know you were not the only ones who missed that boat. I believe things happen for a reason and maybe one day you will know. I'm so sorry this happened. Its only money!!! (don't flame me people).

Trust me I have thrown thousands of dollars out the window on stupid decisions. What is important in this life is our loved ones and making sure they are loved and safe. Not thowing money out the window by accident.

 

[tiggspring]

Thanks for the gestures, though. My wife woke up this morning after essentially being up for 2 days without sleep, and said "Sleep doesn't make it any better. This is not where I'm supposed to be right now."

That pretty much sums it up.

And yes - we did pay for the cruise with points. You can think me smart or stupid or whatever you want to think. Either way, it's a loss of thousands of dollars for us - a loss of vacation time and vacation memories and DVC points we're not getting back. And we're stuck at home now this week staring at the walls with nowhere to go because our budgeted vacation left Florida without us.

The worst part - I have no one but myself to blame for not getting the insurance.

I've received dozens of suggestions both here and on Facebook that I write long letters or make threatening phone calls or go to the local media. The fact is that both DVC and the Cruise Line have both already given me very sympathetic answers of "no" when I've asked for even token relief. That doesn't mean I won't ask again in the future if and when we go to rebook.

Personally, I think it would be smarter business if they could offer me even a small discount on a future cruise, but hey - they sell travel insurance (or work with companies that sell it), too. In a way, it would be bad business for them to give me any relief.

OP I'm sooo sorry. For so many of us the cost of a cruise or WDW is a MAJOR purchase. We put off buying furnature (not replacing buying) and many other important things just because time goes by so fast and family memories are priceless.

Please dont blame yourself too much. I have always been very "frugel" and never would have bought insurance before 2009. That was our first year with kids. It took us 15yrs to get back and now I have fibromyalgia so an unexpected return is not so unexpected anymore The cost for us was astronomical and my need to leave early a reality. Most families are healthy and just never expect things like this to happen. You put in what seemed like a good buffer. I would be physically sick at losing that much money and all those memories...sending hugs to your family from pa.

 

[tiggspring]

i haven't read all the posts, i actually only got to page 4 but i wanted to add a comment. my family and i have been traveling for more than 30 years. in that time i have only purchased travel insurance once. that was our first time traveling and at that time i could not help but think about how much of our vacation budget went into that insurance. it was the last time i bought it. we travel any wheres from once to three times a year where we could/should have purchased insurance. i figured out, very early on, that if i did not purchase the insurance that even if i did have to forgo a vacation i would still be ahead after 10 years. going with this concept my next vacation will be free and will in fact be the third free vacation we have taken. i just now checked what the cost of insurance for two would be with dcl and on a 7 day inside cabin it was $134. that was about 8 percent of the cost of the trip.
nothing is going to get your trip back and for that i'm sorry. yes, you would have received your money back if you had insurance but if you do the math on all your triips, now as well as in the future, you probably have not lost a lot. don't beat yourself up over this. i am curious as i don't know tons about the insurance, having never purchased, do you get all your money back at that point, at the last minute?
don't flame me. if you dissagree, disagree. we all have different thoughts, mine may not be right for everyone. take the person who will only ever travel once. maybe it is best for that person. it just dosen't pay off for us, to cost prohibative.

This makes total sense for your family. For us this would not work. We have been able to afford 2 decent vacations in 17yrs of marriage. We are going on the Dream in 2012 and it will take two years of saving to do so. This years vaca is a few days at the beach for $700. Trip insurance is worth it if a WDW trip or cruise means you have to forgo other major purchases or take on extra work to go. Who wants to work a second job or in my DH case teach extra classes and take on more work from side business only to have it LOST forever because of something as fickle as the weather....painful

 

[HappyGilmore]

OP I know you mentioned you didn't want to use a credit card but there Chase offers a Disney Visa with 0% offers on disney vacations (maybe 6mths) so maybe you could charge it to go now then set up an autopayment from your bank to pay it off before you pay the interest? Sometimes they have $200.00 offers upon first use search the internet.

 

[catzle]

To be honest I think DCL could do something for you. How about an on board credit and 10% off a future cruise. They offer this to everyone that rebooks on board so why not you. I think DCL really does not care as much as the people at Disney World. We had all of the contents of our luggage last year ruined and they did not care at all. Strange the difference of customer service between DCL and Disney World!

 

[helenk]

OP, after reading this I can only say to you, I hope this all works out for you.
In the past when my husband and have gone on cruises I have always booked them with travel insurance. But, for our DCL cruise for some reason I did not. After reading your story I went to AAA and booked trip insurance for our cruise in May.
I am sure a lot of people on these boards have taken your story to heart and learned a valuable lesson.

 

[edk35]

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

You are AWESOME.

 

[laughinplace2]

OP---I am So sorry---my heart breaks for you. I don't think you should stop calling Disney until you get some kind of discount on a future cruise. The fact is, you FULLY paid for that cruise---so they should treat you just as if you were on it!! What is the difference?? They should, at the very LEAST, let it count towards the Castaway club and give you the same discount on future bookings that they give on board, b/c you paid just as much as the people who are sailing on there right now.
It just infuriates me when companies can't help out the people who keep them in business. There is NO reason that a company as wealthy as Disney can't go out of their way to do something about what happened to you. Don't give up.

 

[sullins5]

Despite all of that - the biggest problem is the loss of time. My son is a senior in high school. This is his final spring break. He is off to college in the fall, and this was supposed to be our last family vacation before he goes off. He will be a camp counselor this summer, and we'll have him home for six days between the end of camp and the start of college. So the opportunities to do this are gone.

Anyway - thanks again to everyone for listening to my story. It truly is comforting to share with people who can actually "get" how this is affecting us...

Just another 'glimmer' of hope for you... I, too, thought in 2005 when my ds graduated from hs that we wouldn't have any more vacations together. The next year my dd graduated. Since then, they have continually amazed me in trying to make every vacation. Mind you, yes, they've both missed one or two, but for the most part? We've been together! And this year, we're celebrating and they're both coming! He's now a professional with an international company, and she's a cardiac/neuro ICU nurse! Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised in the future as I have been!

You have all our empathy and I'm sure many of us would do something if we could!

 

[mollygirl13]

To the OP-

I don't have much to add but I'm so sorry.
Reading what happened makes me sad for you and your family.

 

[zalansky]

First, add me to the list of so sorry to see this happened to you and your family.

Secondly, I am VERY disappointed in DVC for not doing SOMETHING for you in the way of trying to get some points back for you. While I realize it is a totally different situation, we have had to check out early on 2 vacations due to sickness and were credited back our points we didn't actually use. Again, I realize that technically you are paying DCL for the cruise with points, but the DVC powers that be could work a little magic here. Shame on you DVC!

Kudos for handling this situation a lot better than most of us would. I know I would be a total mess! Hope you can enjoy some of your spring break together. Keep us posted and don't give up trying to get resolutions.

 

[akl432]

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

That was so kind of you to call DCL!!!

Amen and well said!! My prayers are with you, mattj009. Stay strong. The Lord is in complete control.

 

[kimgg]

I agree Disney should do something. I realize they don't have to legally, and it would cost them a small price to give a discount on a future cruise, but what price is their good name and good customer service and "going the extra mile," worth? I realize they don't want to start a precident, but in reality how often does a true "act of God" situation happen? So often that it would cost them more in a small discount than it would earn them in more business when people hear how good their service is??? I guess they have "done the math" but it's sad that a huge company can not be more gracious to a family in their time of need, if only to give them a light at the end of the tunnel and show that they care. I don't advocate a refund, but a credit for a future cruise (even a small one) would be a good will gesture.

Honestly, I don't know if it would affect me enough not to sail again w/ them just to hear this story, but if I was this family or a close friend/family member, it sure might. It would sure make me more likely to sail with them again though if I heard that Disney made at least the smallest gesture to make it right.

With all that said, of course, I guess this is why trip insurance is there. I understand it's all business and makes sense maybe in the big picture.

Sorry again this happened to you guys.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Dear Matt & Family,

I am so sorry that you weren't able to make your cruise. Thank you for your advise. As cheap as I am, I will make sure that I DO get insurance when we finally book our family's first cruise. Thank you.

And on the bright side: I hope you and your family can take these days you would have spent together on the boat and instead do things with each other in your area such as going to the zoo, having a picnic, going swimming (if there is an indoor pool in your area) Not quite the same as a cruise, but at least you have time with each other still.


I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. It stinks, but its life.

Sending happy thoughts your way!!!

 

[msmayor]

I agree Disney should do something. I realize they don't have to legally, and it would cost them a small price to give a discount on a future cruise, but what price is their good name and good customer service and "going the extra mile," worth? I realize they don't want to start a precident, but in reality how often does a true "act of God" situation happen? So often that it would cost them more in a small discount than it would earn them in more business when people hear how good their service is??? I guess they have "done the math" but it's sad that a huge company can not be more gracious to a family in their time of need, if only to give them a light at the end of the tunnel and show that they care. I don't advocate a refund, but a credit for a future cruise (even a small one) would be a good will gesture.

Honestly, I don't know if it would affect me enough not to sail again w/ them just to hear this story, but if I was this family or a close friend/family member, it sure might. It would sure make me more likely to sail with them again though if I heard that Disney made at least the smallest gesture to make it right.

With all that said, of course, I guess this is why trip insurance is there. I understand it's all business and makes sense maybe in the big picture.

Sorry again this happened to you guys.

More often than you think.

They simply cannot make exceptions for everyone. It would be a smack in the face to anyone who spent money on trip insurance.

(and before I continue, let me say that I do feel badly for the OP)

Yes, the trip was "paid for", so DCL got their money. But think about it...if they permitted travelers who missed their cruise and didn't get trip insurance to get credit for re-booking another, then DCL has effectively sold two vacations for the price of one: the one they got paid for and the one they 'gave' away for free. Even offering a discount, they are still not getting the full value of the second trip. If anything, they really DO make it possible for a family to save their vacation through their trip insurance. I've heard others say that if their claim is denied and no refund is given, Disney will provide a credit toward another cruise...but you have to pay for that option via insurance.

A business can't remain profitable if it just gives its product away.

Its a different story if it is DCL's fault that the passenger missed the ship, but this isn't the case. Refusing to make an exception doesn't make them heartless; it shows respect for all their customers as well as their shareholders.

 

[TChrist05]

To the OP....heartbreaking is an understatement. My DW and I have sailed on 24 Disney cruises and have not always taken the insurance. Have never missed the cruise but had a scare a couple of times flying in the morning of the cruise....once plane trouble and second time they lost the luggage(although they found it and got it to the ship). We have made it kind of policy now to work our Disney World stays before the cruise so we had no gliches.

In my opinion, and I am not looking to get into the great insurance debate, I think a big orginization like Disney will actually go above and beyond when compared to other companies. Yes they do have an obligation to their guests as well as their shareholders, but they are a people company. They also charge top dollar for the vacations that the guests take. I have spoken to some of the Disney supervision from time to time, and one of their fears is that when they go against the rules and give some of the guests a break, it will show up on the Disboards and then everyone will look for a break. In all llikelyhood they are probably right.

I do hope Disney gives these folks a break and replaces their vacation and maybe it will happen and we will not hear about it. And I am a very minor Disney shareholder, this shareholder hopes this family gets a break!

Tom

 

[woody73]

. . . I have spoken to some of the Disney supervision from time to time, and one of their fears is that when they go against the rules and give some of the guests a break, it will show up on the Disboards and then everyone will look for a break. In all likelyhood they are probably right.

I have been told this as well. DCL supervisors have some flexibility, but will adhere to company policy if it will show up on the DISboards.

Woody

 

[crashbb]

More often than you think.

They simply cannot make exceptions for everyone. It would be a smack in the face to anyone who spent money on trip insurance.

(and before I continue, let me say that I do feel badly for the OP)

Yes, the trip was "paid for", so DCL got their money. But think about it...if they permitted travelers who missed their cruise and didn't get trip insurance to get credit for re-booking another, then DCL has effectively sold two vacations for the price of one: the one they got paid for and the one they 'gave' away for free. Even offering a discount, they are still not getting the full value of the second trip. If anything, they really DO make it possible for a family to save their vacation through their trip insurance. I've heard others say that if their claim is denied and no refund is given, Disney will provide a credit toward another cruise...but you have to pay for that option via insurance.

A business can't remain profitable if it just gives its product away.

Its a different story if it is DCL's fault that the passenger missed the ship, but this isn't the case. Refusing to make an exception doesn't make them heartless; it shows respect for all their customers as well as their shareholders.

Another point is that, unlike airlines or land based trips, there is no way that DCL could "double sell" that cabin. They need to submit the passenger list three days (it may not be exactly that) before the ship leaves, so they cannot do a last minute sale.

So, yes, I see why DCL isn't giving them a free cruise.