eThis evening, Disney Cruise Line made the easy, albeit potentially disappointing to some, decision to cancel the Disney Dream’s Friday September 8, 2017 3-Night Bahamian and Monday September 11, 2017 4-Night Bahamian cruises as well as the Disney Fantasy’s Saturday September 9, 2017 7-Night Eastern Caribbean voyage. The decision was made as Hurricane Irma is expected to impact the Caribbean and the Bahamas over the course of the next week.
Additionally, the current sailings aboard the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Dream are returning to Port Canaveral early. The Disney Dream will skip tomorrow’s call in Nassau and return to Port Canaveral on Thursday. The Disney Fantasy which left Grand Cayman today will steam home and join the Dream in Port Canaveral on Thursday at approximately 2 PM.
ETA for the Disney Fantasy to @PortCanaveral is 2PM according to @Dustin2008 who is on the ship. https://t.co/5Vt42EB8dZ
— Scott Sanders (@TheDCLBlog) September 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/dustin2008/status/905230927101612032
The classic ships will not be impacted by Hurricane Irma. The Disney Magic is currently in Europe and the Disney Wonder is in Alaska.
Disney Cruise Line is compensating guests affected by the cancellations and shortened sailings.
Below is Disney Cruise Line’s Official Tropical Weather notice that was dated September 5, 2017 7:30pm.
Based on the projected path of Hurricane Irma, including its expected impact on the Caribbean and Bahamas, Disney Cruise Line is making the following adjustments to itineraries:
Disney Fantasy
The September 2 cruise of the Disney Fantasy is currently sailing a modified Western Caribbean itinerary and is expected to return to Port Canaveral two days earlier than planned on Thursday, September 7. Guests on this sailing will be refunded two nights of their voyage fare and provided a 25 percent discount on a future cruise, which may be booked by calling 1-855-347-2784 or 407-566-7054 from September 18, 2017, through October 18, 2017.The September 9 sailing of the Disney Fantasy is cancelled. Refunds will automatically be processed back to the original form of payment used for the cruise booking. Guests are invited to book a future cruise at a 25 percent discount by calling us at 1-855-347-2784 or 407-566-7054 from September 18, 2017, through October 18, 2017.
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 Hurricane Irma and provide updates as necessary.
Disney Dream
The September 4 cruise of the Disney Dream is sailing a modified Bahamian cruise itinerary and will return to Port Canaveral one day earlier than planned on Thursday, September 7. Guests on this sailing will be refunded one night of their voyage fare and provided a 25 percent discount on a future cruise, which may be booked by calling 1-855-347-2784 or 407-566-7054 from September 18, 2017, through October 18, 2017.The September 8 and September 11 sailings of the Disney Dream are cancelled. Refunds will automatically be processed back to the original form of payment used for the cruise booking. Guests are invited to book a future cruise at a 25 percent discount by calling us at 1-855-347-2784 or 407-566-7054 from September 18, 2017, through October 18, 2017.
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 Hurricane Irma and provide updates as necessary.
Passengers aboard the Disney Dream were informed the current sailing will be cancelling the stop in Nassau on Wednesday and returning to Port Canaveral on Thursday September 7th.
https://twitter.com/cake_ninja/status/905219469806632960
As you can see the decision was just made as the Disney Dream changed course earlier this evening.
Dream changed course to head back to Port Canaveral pic.twitter.com/QphA8iEwUm
— Scott Sanders (@TheDCLBlog) September 6, 2017
The itineraries on the website have been updated to reflect the changes to the current Dream & Fantasy sailings. Additionally, the following two sailings have been added to track the ships during their combined 17-nights waiting out the storm without passengers.
- Thursday September 7, 2017 | Disney Dream – 8-Night Hurricane Irma Cruise from Port Canaveral
- Thursday September 7, 2017 | Disney Fantasy – 9-Night Hurricane Irma Cruise from Port Canaveral
As of now, the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy are still scheduled to resume service on the following dates.
- Friday September 15, 2017 | Disney Dream? – 3-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral
- Saturday September 16, 2017 | Disney Fantasy ? – 7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral
On Wednesday just before noon, the passengers aboard the Disney Dream were informed the ship would be returning to Castaway Cay to evacuate the island crew.
Disney Dream heading to Castaway Cay to evacuate the island crew who stayed behind to prep the island. #irma pic.twitter.com/5phShPG8zF
— Scott Sanders (@TheDCLBlog) September 6, 2017
If there are any additional changes or alterations to itineraries we will post those in a new article. The Eastern Caribbean ports of call are being hammered by Irma and only time will tell if San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas (St. John) and Tortola will be able to accept cruise ships and passengers based on Irma’s impacts. The Fantasy is not scheduled to return to the Eastern Caribbean until the last full week in September.
UPDATE: September 15, 2017 – Booking Window Expanded and Deposit Reduced for Guests booked on Canceled Irma Cruises
Emails were sent to guests and travel agents to let everyone previously booked on the canceled sailings know that DCL is extending the rebooking window and reducing the deposit.
effected should be affected
100% the right decision for them to make. Would that all cruise lines would be as proactive.
Carnival, Royal and Norwegian have also cancelled sailings for 9/8 and 9/9 out of Port Canaveral and Miami. The MSC Divina is returning to Miami on 9/9 and I suspect that their next sailing will be cancelled as well.
Now, will both the Dream and the Fantasy just stay in Port and weather the storm or will Disney take them out in the ocean and park them away from Irma?
The ships will be safer at sea where they can sail around the weather. Staying in port would potentially leave the ship trapped or not enough time to get away from the system.
In your honest opinion, do you think that they will cancel the September 16th sailing?
I do not expect any future cancelations unless there is severe damage to Port Canaveral. Based on the reports coming out of the Eastern Caribbean, I would not be surprised to see itinerary changes, but it is too early to speculate.
So the Sep 15th sailing has not been cancelled? Where can I check any changes on the itinerary?
Any itinerary changes will be posted on DCL’s website and passengers booked on the sailings will typically receive an email from Disney. Whenever we learn of changes we post them on our site and share on our social media channels.
Thanks so much Scott! You are awesome at this job!!
Where do the cruise ships go during the hurricane? Will they stay docked at Port Canaveral through the storm?
I am hearing they will go out to sea avoiding the storm.
But the passengers are going to be let off the ship tomorrow to go home right?
Correct.
where is the September 4 cruise of the Disney Dream now ? and when exactly they will return to Port Canaveral tomorrow ?
They are stopping at Castaway Cay to evacuate the island crew and will return to Port Canaveral tomorrow.
Where will the Dream and Fantasy be riding out the storm?
The ships go out to sea and avoid the storm. They do not stay in port where extensive damage may occur.
Thanks Scott you are so helpful 🙂
Hi Scott,
How about the crew of the Disney Dream. Where will they be stationed or seek refuge?
Thank you.
The crew will remain on the ship which will be avoiding the storm.
That is just plain scary. I hope all will remain safe and all travelers returning early can reschedule a way out of there.
Crossing my fingers that the Fantasy Sept. 23-30 cruise isn’t cancelled, although, it won’t be *much* of a cruise if Tortola, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay get wiped out by Irma and Jose!
Did the Dream leave and then go back to Castaway Cay? MarineTraffic seem to show that track.
The Dream just left Castaway Cay and is headed for Port Canaveral.
The Fantasy is just north of Havana, also headed for Port Canaveral
They tracked back to evacuate the Disney employees from the island.
Can somebody from Fantasy tell us if everybody is okay there.
Hurricane Irma is still south far away from the Disney Fantasy’s course back to Port Canaveral.
Hey Scott any idea where the disney fantasy cruise is now??
It’s docking at 2pm today. You can see cruise ship locations by clicking the button on the top of page on left side. Scroll down to you see current location s.
I’ve been using the Boat Watch app and the Fantasy’s ETA at Port Canaveral is now 1:00 p.m.
Currently on the Dream and we just arrived in port. Now it’s time to evacuate.
Be safe…
I’m on the 9/23 sailing. I think it’s safe to say we will not be going to Tortola or St. Thomas. I can’t believe the devistation these islands have suffered. St. Maarten, my favorite port, as well. 🙁
If there are two Disney ships at Canaval, on will use the Disney port but where does the second go?
Was in the Dream, they rushed us out and are moving it to sea and getting the fantasy in this afternoon
why would Disney not move the ships away from the storm?
They will move them away once all the passengers disembark and the ships complete refueling.
Thanks Denny 🙂 I so cant wait to hear from my daughter in a couple hours when they are off of the ship…
The boats have not been in any danger. Hopefully your family can coordinate evacuating once they disembark.
Is the Disney fantasy close to port now? I so hope so…
The Fantasy is pulling in now. I see from the port webcam that AquaDuck is running. I wonder when they will be kicking people off the ship.
They expect the ship to be cleared by 3:30 PM. (Source)
Thanks Scott!
Thanks again Scott.. My daughter and grandkids are safely home in houston texas 🙂 prayers to all in fla
I have a cruised scheduled in March 2018, however with all the devastation to the islands I don’t know if it will be take place with Disney Magic porting from Miami and going to castaway, Nassau and back to Miami as well. There was so much destruction, might you be able to provide insight as to it being fine by then?
Castaway and Nassau did not bear the brunt of Irma.
We are sailing on the Fantasy to tortola on October 21st. As Tortola has been completely wiped out (ariel video on BBC news UK) is it likely that the Fantasy will dock there?
I am waiting to hear back from DCL. They said, “any necessary itinerary changes will be posted beginning September 12.”
We were on the dream that was brought back a day early. I hate to say it as we LOVE LOVE LOVE Disney but the cruise was a total flop. Very difficult to get information from crew members and when announcements were made it was chaos. Our “relaxing” “fun” cruise was spent trying to find hotel rooms, with NO help from cruisline even though we were staying at a Disney property orginally after cruise. Many, many events were cancelled. Added stress deciding whether to go home to panhandle where Storm might hit or stay in Orlando where it might hit. Gas shortages and traffic mayhem added to our “relaxing” vacation. We did have one nice day in Castaway though….. even with the refund of one day from DCL, it was an expensive crappy vacation. Doubt I’ll cruise in hurricane season again……just not what I expected of Disney. They usually have there i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
Has Fantasy refunded the passengers for 2 nights yet? I have not seen the credit yet.
We are still waiting on refund from 9/9/17 sail on Fantasy that did not set sail. We were told 5-10 days for refund from when cruise was canceled. It’s been 7 business days and no sign of refund. We haven’t decided if we will rebook, and we are concern about the islands, recovery. Any thoughts?
Please keep in mind that many office here in Central Florida have been closed leading up and following Irma. I am not trying to make an excuse for DCL on this, but wanted to point this out. Driving around this week I noticed DCL’s parking lots were not full like they are on a typical workday. There are parts of Central Florida that are still without power and water. Schools have been off the entire week. While Disney may be a gigantic company, they still depend on people who are dealing with the aftermath.
Good point Scott, a reality check… The refund was put in account but still needs to clear approximately 1-3 days. I hope this helps others.
I am in the same boat. They cancelled the Sept 8th sailing of the Dream and are offering a discount on a future cruise starting September 18th, but as of 9/15 I am still waiting on a refund.
I saw a couple of emails stating that the discount is being extended through 12/18/2017 instead of 10/18/2017. They also mentioned a smaller deposit requirement. Have you heard anything about this? I haven’t received the email so I’m not sure if it only went to people who complained.
Lana, the post has been updated with copies of the emails that were sent to travel agents and guests on September 15, 2017.
Living in Florida I can appreciate the delay in processing refunds but last I checked Disney was still able to send out their disappointing offer on booking a discounted cruise, extending to December isn’t much when many business won’t confirm when you can have vacation until after the first of the year. And what if you can’t reasonably take a cruise in 2018, it’s not costing them anything extra to allow you to cruise in 2019. With regards to the 25% it’s a lousy offer unless you book in a comparably priced period.
The real point of my comment was that if they are capable of sending emails regarding the offer why can’t they send emails on the refund status?