Eastern Itinerary

Very very very sad to hear our favorite Caribbean nations of St. Thomas, Tortola and St. Maarten took direct hits and are completely devastated:( We visited all those nations on the Fantasy.

I wonder if DCL will be changing to other islands that were not hit (Barbados, St Kitts, Dominica) or change to Western Caribbean for all their Eastern cruise for the next few months.

From the newscasts, it will be many months before cruise ships are docking at the badly damaged islands. There will have to be changes...the only question is what the changes will be.

From the DCL site:

Future Bahamian and Eastern Caribbean Sailings

At this time, there are no changes to other sailings on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. However, we continue to closely monitor Hurricane Irma and assess its impact on the ports of call we visit in the Caribbean and Bahamas. Updates regarding any necessary itinerary changes will be posted beginning September 12.

While we always strive to deliver magical cruise vacations, nothing is more important to us than providing a safe experience for our guests and crew. We will continue to closely monitor the weather and provide updates as necessary.

This is typical "Disney-speak." They haven't been officially advised as to the level of damage to the docks and other tourist facilities. Yes, they can forego the docks and use tenders, but the photos posted of St. Thomas and St. Maarten show quite extensive damage to homes, businesses, etc. The islands will want to get back to tourism as soon as possible, but my guess is that it will be a while. What Disney is saying is "We are not ready to make an announcement at this time."

I'm sure that Disney won't make any announcements until they know for 100% certain what can be accessed safely and what cannot. They probably have a lot of logistics needed to switch ports or locations, and with more hurricanes out there, they don't want to make promises that they're unable to keep until they're absolutely sure.

Moral of the story? Patience. Disney will make sure that your cruise is as safe & fun as it can be.

This is typical "Disney-speak." They haven't been officially advised as to the level of damage to the docks and other tourist facilities. Yes' date=' they can forego the docks and use tenders, but the photos posted of St. Thomas and St. Maarten show quite extensive damage to homes, businesses, etc. The islands will want to get back to tourism as soon as possible, but my guess is that it will be a while. What Disney is saying is "We are not ready to make an announcement at this time."[/quote']

 

No, cruise ships can't just tender in to any port, i.e. coral protections and thousands of extra passengers going to Western Caribbean ports is a logistical nightmare.

 

I foresee extra sea days and maybe double dips to CC (which would be lovely).

The problem with the double dip theory is that in the late fall and through the winter they usually have all 4 ships calling there with perhaps 1 day with no ship scheduled. So it's not that easy to slot someone in to CC.

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We are doing the Tortola-St Thomas-Castaway Cay itinerary for Thanksgiving. Looking at the heartbreaking images it's pretty safe to say that we won't be going to at least Tortola and probably St. Thomas either. Patiently waiting to learn where we'll be headed. We have family members flying in from San Juan for this cruise and they've speculated that we may be going there instead.

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We are doing the Tortola-St Thomas-Castaway Cay itinerary for Thanksgiving. Looking at the heartbreaking images it's pretty safe to say that we won't be going to at least Tortola and probably St. Thomas either. Patiently waiting to learn where we'll be headed. We have family members flying in from San Juan for this cruise and they've speculated that we may be going there instead.

San Juan is probably a good bet as DCL already has itineraries going there and shore excursions in place, etc. Pure speculation, but you might see St. Croix as a replacement port on some cruise lines eastern itineraries. Apparently relatively undamaged, but also being used as a staging area for the recovery efforts.

This is one of those that all of the cruise lines who stop at the various ports of calls are assessing. They are also waiting for input from local authorities and will make adjustments as required. Sadly some of the locations (including some locations in Florida) look like war zones and many are without power.

Keith

The short article I saw this morning was that the Island have alot of work to do..............ALOT!......the cruise lines are working together island authorities to set up other itineraries.

We just got the notification that our October 7 itinerary is now Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Falmouth. One less sea day. I assume the same will be in effect for the September 23rd and future easterns?

We just got the notification that our October 7 itinerary is now Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Falmouth. One less sea day. I assume the same will be in effect for the September 23rd and future easterns?

Same for 9/23. No word yet beyond 10/7, but I expect that they may be working on keeping them somewhere Eastern - perhaps San Juan and somewhere else. Time will tell, but I would be shocked if they remained Eastern as originally scheduled. (Heck, I'll be shocked if my Eastern in February on the Wonder to San Juan and St Maarten goes to St Maarten - a bit more confident that San Juan will remain on there.)

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Wow! Saint Martin looks to be pretty devastated... a compilation of pictures from The Atlantic.

I got a new reservation confirmation email the other day for our eastern itinerary in January. The taxes, fees and port expenses decreased from $420.76 to $376.40. Not sure if it related or DCL does that often.

If it is storm related, I wouldn't expect all the eastern to flip to western over the next 4 months. The taxes/fees are more for western itinerary so it doesn't make sense to decrease the fees for those already booked on eastern but go to western ports.

This is only our 2nd cruise, I know there are many more knowledgeable people that may have insight.

We have often seen refunds in port taxes and government fees with no change in ports. It is usually a strange amount like $13.72 per person. I do not think that any changes for January would be reflected in any current notification. They are far to busy making plans for the September and October cruises that will require changes to be dealing with January at this time. You'll be notified of any January changes when they have a better idea of the status on the islands closer to your cruise date.

Our Nov. 4th Fantasy eastern cruise is now going to Cozumel, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman, and Castaway. Just found out. Couplenof hours ago.

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