Is DCL getting - or is it already - complacent?

[DCLDVC1]

Just got the castaway club survey and filled it out. I was pretty harsh with the criticism of the sling bag. We always book 2 cabins, so we get double the bags for 4 people.

I also think they are seriously thinking of revamping the program. I liked the choices for gifts for the different levels. There were some nice potential gifts listed. My favorite potential gift was a meal at Remy for the price of palo.

I was asked the question on the survey about how levels should be assessed. I voted number of nights and then wrote that it isn’t fair for an 8 night cruise to count the same as a 3 night cruise for castaway status.

I like that idea but you know they'll jack up the price of Palo then.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

I like that idea but you know they'll jack up the price of Palo then.

Or give you a scaled down Remy experience to make up for it.
Or jack up the price of Remy for everyone else to offset the Castaway Club folks who take advantage of the offer. Of which, there would probably be a lot at least initially to try Remy.

 

[MHTorringjan]

I’d just like to briefly chime in and point out that I agree the company’s very complacent, but my metric is different from other folks’ measuring stick. I also don’t like the changes to the CC, and feel like some qualities of service/food/excursions/whatever aren’t quite what they used to be.

But my biggest measure of complacency is itineraries. I’m not sure when the last season was that they introduced a completely new itinerary to the lineup, maybe the British Isles cruises? I get it, the current ones are still making money and they only have 4 ships and yada yada yada, but come on, folks. I’ve done most of them (except the Canadian and southern Caribbean for reasons that are not pertinent to the current discussion), and am ready to see something entirely new on the schedule! And I know I can’t be the only one. Bring the fire sometime soon and it would thrill and enchant me once more!

 

[BadPinkTink]

But my biggest measure of complacency is itineraries. I’m not sure when the last season was that they introduced a completely new itinerary to the lineup, maybe the British Isles cruises? I get it, the current ones are still making money and they only have 4 ships and yada yada yada, but come on, folks. I’ve done most of them (except the Canadian and southern Caribbean for reasons that are not pertinent to the current discussion), and am ready to see something entirely new on the schedule! And I know I can’t be the only one. Bring the fire sometime soon and it would thrill and enchant me once more!

Have you checked The Magic's summer season in Europe? Many new itineraries for 2020. My September cruise 5 Night Western Europe is a new itinerary, with a new for DCL port - Bruges . There are also changes to the Mediterranean itineraries for summer 2020, with the Greek Isles being new for DCL ports

Also Im sure the Hawaiian itinerary is new for 2020 too.

 

[AvidDisReader]

Not a big cruiser, but have been on a total of 5. 3 Disney, 1 Norweign, and 1 Royal Caribbean. The best cruise by far was a DVC cruise which offered a 10% discount if you booked a future cruise-which we did. Did not know Disney does not allow the perk/stopped the perk of 10% discount if booking future cruises on board. If not for that, would never had gone in 2018 when my daughter and her kids joined us. With 3 new ships coming on board this does seem like an odd decision. Not the first odd decision the Disney Corp has made lately (DVC restrictions???). Hope they know what they are doing as the money machine could turn off more quickly than they think.

 

[kaseyC]

Have you checked The Magic's summer season in Europe? Many new itineraries for 2020. My September cruise 5 Night Western Europe is a new itinerary, with a new for DCL port - Bruges . There are also changes to the Mediterranean itineraries for summer 2020, with the Greek Isles being new for DCL ports

Also Im sure the Hawaiian itinerary is new for 2020 too.

The Greek Islands and Hawaii are not new itineraries for Disney. They have sailed them before.

 

[MomOTwins]

Not a big cruiser, but have been on a total of 5. 3 Disney, 1 Norweign, and 1 Royal Caribbean. The best cruise by far was a DVC cruise which offered a 10% discount if you booked a future cruise-which we did. Did not know Disney does not allow the perk/stopped the perk of 10% discount if booking future cruises on board. If not for that, would never had gone in 2018 when my daughter and her kids joined us. With 3 new ships coming on board this does seem like an odd decision. Not the first odd decision the Disney Corp has made lately (DVC restrictions???). Hope they know what they are doing as the money machine could turn off more quickly than they think.

Disney still offers the perk of 10% off future cruises if booked on board. What you may have heard was that Disney stopped offering $100-200 onboard booking credits to the stateroom account. The 10% is not affected.

 

[Ccll4]

I have no issues with Disney's service, schedule, food etc., but then again I haven't been on 11+ cruises.

 

[kiford]

But my biggest measure of complacency is itineraries. I’m not sure when the last season was that they introduced a completely new itinerary to the lineup, maybe the British Isles cruises?

Me too. I'm really hoping the new ships aren't going to all sail the Caribbean along with the Magic & Wonder. We did a Caribbean one last month mostly because I was cold and wanted warmth and just wanted to be on the ship but basically when you've seen one island you've seen them all and when you've seen a number of them over and over, you've definitely seen them all. I want some longer itineraries; we put off doing the 12 day British Isles one a few years ago in favour of the Baltic one figuring we'd do it later. Now they only have 7 day ones. I'm not flying to Europe for a 7 day cruise. I want 10, 11, 12, 14 day cruises not short little jaunts. I'd love for an Australian or Asian cruise with DCL.

I've looked into other cruise lines and they just don't really seem to suit us for one reason or another so even though they have itineraries I'd like, there's a very limited number that appeal to us. Perhaps that's why DCL can be complacent - they can continue to fill their ships with people who are happy with what they're offering. I could potentially cruise with, say RCCL, for less money on an itinerary I'd like but at the end of the day, I'm on an RCCL ship which isn't where I want to be. I don't care about the little perks and loyalty offerings - I just want to go somewhere different on DCL.

 

[FigmentSpark]

There's not much different to do on any of the islands. Zip lining, dolphins, fishing, beach. That's about it in a nutshell.

 

[MHTorringjan]

Have you checked The Magic's summer season in Europe? Many new itineraries for 2020. My September cruise 5 Night Western Europe is a new itinerary, with a new for DCL port - Bruges . There are also changes to the Mediterranean itineraries for summer 2020, with the Greek Isles being new for DCL ports

Also Im sure the Hawaiian itinerary is new for 2020 too.

So, I hear what you’re saying, and acknowledge they have added several new ports over the years, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about all new itineraries in new areas of the world. It’s always Alaska, Europe (Northern and Med), Bahamas, and Caribbean (with some Canada flavor thrown in the past couple of years, which would be nice if I could go). It’s nice to have a new location or two every year, but really, folks, I‘m more along the lines of “go big or go home.”

But I may be in the minority here.

Edit: And yes, I would very much like to go on the Hawaiian itineraries. I’ve been before on my own and DCL has gone there before, so not technically new, but still would like to do it Disney style. If they ever had more than two sailings in a year.

 

[brentm77]

So, I hear what you’re saying, and acknowledge they have added several new ports over the years, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about all new itineraries in new areas of the world. It’s always Alaska, Europe (Northern and Med), Bahamas, and Caribbean (with some Canada flavor thrown in the past couple of years, which would be nice if I could go). It’s nice to have a new location or two every year, but really, folks, I‘m more along the lines of “go big or go home.”

But I may be in the minority here.

So Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America? I wonder if they would have a harder time filling those cruises. I think they all would be amazing, but they do have some down sides. Getting there for the average customer is more time consuming and expensive than even Europe. Most are more "sophisticated" trips, which might not attract the average Disney family. There are additional geo-political and health risks in many countries in some of those locations. I would love it, but I think Disney is just betting on the sure thing of the Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, and Europe, which are more traditional cruising locations for U.S. and Canadian customers.

I would be happy if they just mixed up the stops in the more traditional areas. If you are cruising certain times of year in the Caribbean for 7 days, you have two options year after year after year. I would love some slightly longer cruises, further South, for example.

 

[Madmacdad]

Regarding itineraries- after 7 DCL cruises and enjoying them all, with my daughters in their teens, Spring Break starting the last Thursday of March each year is the best for us. Same itinerary the last 4 years on the Fantasy is the Western Caribbean and bored of it. Decided to switch to RCCL for their Eastern. A new experience plus way less expensive!

 

[Quellman]

Very complacent. Same itineraries. Same food in restaurants. Same onboard entertainment (they now have frozen on 2 ships). Trivia questions don't change very often. Match your mate used to be fun until people memorized the questions. Same crafts. Same bingo. The biggest changes have been on the classic ships with changes to restaurants and the adult district retheme. The dream and fantasy lost the arcade for upchare ice cream. Other than the Aqua dunk the top deck activities have not been changed. The virtual sports needs a technology refresh. Really just sad.

All that is said with the understanding that we have 2 more cruise booked this year that will take us over platinum. We have our line on other cruises but will wait until our youngest is able to do kids clubs herself.