Our very first (and very last) Disney Cruise About This Page:

[DVC Mike]

Well, we’re back from our 4-night cruise on the Disney Wonder (April 27 – May 1). It was our very first cruise and, as explained below, will probably be our very last cruise as well.

We drove down to Port Canaveral on Saturday, Apr 26 and checked into the Radisson Resort at the Port. We had booked a regular room, but were upgraded for free to a suite with a whirlpool tub. It was nice.

Sunday morning, we take the free shuttle to the DCL terminal. Since we go there a bit early, we had to wait a few minutes. We left our baggage and proceeded to security. We were the first ones to check in.

We get onboard and eat a nice lunch at Parrot Cay. Our Category 5 Deluxe Stateroom with Verandah was ready at 1:30 (Stateroom #7568). Although much smaller than a DVC Studio, it was nicer and roomier than we expected.

Viruses seem to get a lot of attention when it comes to cruising, as there are warnings posted in your stateroom about frequently washing your hands, and disinfecting wipes are handed to every guest as they enter the dining areas, and are available almost everywhere. We were given a “Stomach Flu Advisory” when we checked in. I read that getting a virus happens to about 1-2% of the guests on every cruise, so we both used disinfectant wipes.

My wife, who experiences motion sickness a lot (she got really sick on Soarin’), took Bonine (Meclizine) and also wore the Scopolamine transdermal patch, and did very well.

Our dining rotation was PTTA (Parrot Cay, Triton’s twice, and Animator’s Palate) -- second dining (8:30pm). We had booked reservations for Palo on the night we were to repeat Triton’s, and brunch at Palo on the sea day. We had scheduled a Couples Cabana Massage on Castaway Cay and the Elemis Aroma Stone massage for both of us at the Vista Spa.

We were excited and looking forward to a romantic and relaxing cruise!

At 1:00 pm on Monday (the second day of the cruise), my wife became very ill. The symptoms, which included vomiting and diarrhea, came upon her very quickly. She became very weak and needed fluids.

We contacted the onboard Medical Center as directed by the “Stomach Flu Advisory” form and they asked her to come down. She was finally strong enough to make her way down to deck 1 around 4:30pm. They gave her an IV and medication to treat her symptoms.

They then informed us that my wife was restricted to her stateroom for 48 hours (not from when she first became ill, but when she came to the Medical Center). That meant she would be stuck in her stateroom until the night before we disembark the ship – practically the entire cruise.

She missed dining at Triton’s and Animator’s Palate. She missed visiting Castaway Cay (which is what she was looking forward to the most) and the Couples Cabana Massage. She missed brunch at Palos. She missed all the nightly shows. She missed the Pirates IN the Caribbean party. She missed almost everything.

We were able to re-schedule her massage at the Vista Spa and dinner at Palo to the last night of the cruise, and those two things were all she was able to do when she was released from our stateroom at 5pm on Wednesday night.

So, our cruise was a bust. I didn’t have very much fun on my own, especially since I didn’t want to leave my wife alone in her stateroom for the entire cruise. I did step out to catch the shows in the Walt Disney Theater, and did get off at Castaway Cay for a while.

She had to order room service for every meal, and they kept botching her meals by “forgetting” her food allergies (Celiac’s/gluten, soy, etc) and preferences (vegetarian). It wasn’t at all like the fantastic way Walt Disney World handles people with food allergies.

We paid extra for the “Romantic Escape” package, but DCL botched that as well. They did the Romantic Turndown service (rose petals on the bed) the first night my wife was sick. The Champagne Breakfast was also botched, as my wife’s plate of eggs was covered with bread and bacon – making it inedible for her.

Disney Cruise Line didn’t do much for us, and didn’t offer us any compensation or credit for our misery. I know it’s not their fault that my wife caught a virus onboard their ship, but they could have at least offered to credit us for the Romantic Escape package.

Both of us were disappointed by our Disney Cruise Line experience. Not only will we not recommend DCL to others, we won’t be doing any more cruises in the future (Disney or otherwise).

After our cruise, we went to WDW where we enjoyed three great nights in a Boardwalk View room at BWV. We had a great time at WDW!

I contacted Access America (the company that provides the trip insurance for Disney Cruise Lines) and they stated that the insurance does not cover this particular situation. If my wife had been so ill that she had to be transported off the ship and flown home, that would have been covered. But since she remained on the cruise ship -- and even though she was restricted to her stateroom and unable to fully participate in the cruise -- the cruise insurance provided by Disney won't cover a thing.

This just confirms our decision to not take any future cruises. There's simply too much risk that your time and money will go down the drain if you catch a bug.

My next step is to write Disney Cruise Line and see what they say. I'm not very hopeful.

[emtpej]

I'm sorry to hear about your wife being ill. I hope she is much better now.
I hope that DCL can make the loss of your cruise a little better, apart from offering you another cruise.
I'm suprised they did not take more care with her food... they are supposed to be good at that...

[chezp]

I'm sorry to read you had such a bad experience and I too hope that DCL can make up for it in some way.

[DISNEY03]

What a horrible story, I'm so sorry. You look so forward to this and then have such a awful time. I'm suprised at the way Disney handled the whole thing. Hopefully you can get some compensation or at very least validation of the treatment of the whole situation. I've never heard of being confined to your room like that. I realize they didn't want a virus to spread but you didn't get it, and how did they know it wasn't sea sickness, especially if she's prone to it.
Sorry again, and a little scary, we just booked ours with two little one's.

[jimmymac]

[TiggerTails]

Sorry.................. hope Disney will make it right

[Lemap760]

Sorry to hear your wife was so ill. Good luck with the Disney Cruise Line.

[disneymom9092]

|I'm sorry about the cruise. It appears it was some sort of virus as sea sickness typically does not include diarrhea. We also returned for our first DCL cruise and loved it-7 days on the Magic. There was a child who vomited in the kiddie pool and believe me, I never saw CM's move so fast. The pool was cleared immediately. The child also needed to stay in his room. As horrible as it sounds, this type of virus spreads like wildfire and this is probably the only way to handle it.

Hopefully DCL will at least reimburse you for the romance package and some other things. We had a horrible experience at OKW a few years ago. We avoided it for a few years and then went back and we were pleasantly surprised. I hope you reconsider another cruise at some point. They truly are wonderful! Glad your wife is better.

[CinderAbby]

OMG. No wonder why you don't want to cruise again. I was excited by what I read you where going to do. Then to find out your wife got very ill and you missed pretty much all of it, I would have been upset too. Especially by what seems to me a total lack of caring on DCLs part. I'm glad your land portion was much better but I certainly understand that it didn't make up for the very rough start. Good luck on your letter. Hopefully you get some sort of compensation or something, just not cruise related.

And if it makes you feel better, I went on a cruise once and even though I had a good time, I won't be going on one anytime, anywhere, ever again. I much prefer to keep my feet on firm ground.

[iamgrumpy]

I'm sorry your wife got sick that she is feeling better now. If you got Trip Insurance you could file a claim with them and see if they will reimburse any of your costs. Unfortunately the Cruise ship has to take steps to protect the majority of cruisers from getting sick so when those who do get sick get quarentined its for everyones protection but Does not make it Fun!

Your concerns for the food service I'd write a letter commenting your concerns as they can't improve the food allergy and service if they don't know that it is happening.

I'm sorry you had such a rough first cruise

[DrDolphin]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad cruise and that your wife was ill. The same thing happened to my mother a few years ago on her anniversary cruise with my father on NCL - and she was quarantined in the cabin for 3 days and NCL did not refund anything in that situation.

[Lori Jakiela]

I have been on many cruisees on various lines and we took the children a couple of years ago on DCL. I am not certain if it is because there are so many little kids or what but I swear it is epidemic by the end of 7 days! My daughter ended up in the infirmary the day we were to go to castaway cay ( day 6). I too am not really certain I would do another DCL just because it seems like so many end of sick by the end of the cruise whether you use the wipes and wash your hands or not! They told us that much is passed thru the swimming pools because the are seawater rather than chlorinated water. My kids weren't even in those pools because they were still in pull ups at the time and my little girl still got very sick!

As for trip insurance....it seems you practically have to sell a child to get anything from it. Our last cruise on a different line had to be cancelled because my MIL was diagnosed with lung cancer. They wanted her to release her med records to determine if we could be reimbursed. They said no...we turned it over to MC and they not only got us our money back, but the deposit and the cost of the insurance. You may want to try that route. According to them, this happens all the time....I didn't have to release records to them...or anything.

Good luck!

[lauren-roxy]

I am so sorry about your cruise. I hope you hear something back.

[bitterchickey]

So sorry to hear about your wife! This is one of the reasons I am so reluctant to book a cruise. I am also very sensitive(motion-wise) and was scared about that too. Here's hoping you get some sort of compensation for all ya'll trouble

[tndisneyfam]

Oh my! So sorry you both had such a bad experience!