Any thoughts on Castaway Club levels and future possible adjustments?

[clten]

Each time this topic comes up the discussion is for what DCL can do for their top loyalty level (I don't care if is by # of nights; # of cruises or $ spent - although I don't want the last one because if I see the total that we've given to DCL over the past 20 years it may make me ill!) and I imagine with the # of cruises we've taken and have booked, we have to be in the top %. What I want is not things. I'm not going on a cruise to save money (if I was, the first thing I'd change was cruiselines). If I need internet, I'll pay for it. If I want to go to Palo, I can pay for that too - in fact, having everyone pay might just make it easier to get a brunch reservation and if there is less demand for brunch, they may just bring back tea - which was my favorite experience in Palo anyway.

What I am going on vacation for is experiences, at this point, the memory of Palo meals run together regardless if I paid for it or it was free. So if DCL was to add on a top level (or two), I hope they don't think in terms of what they can give out for free instead of charging but what "Pixie Dust" moments they can create for the top levels - and make those levels hard to get to so that in 5 years time not everyone is a "Titanium" cruiser and they have to cut back the rewards. Back in the day, the return cruiser party was a lot of fun because the officers circulated and pretty much met everyone and talked to you more than a passing hello, how's your cruise, what # is this with us? How about this - the top cruiser on the ship and their family gets a tour of the bridge with the captain. Or the top ten have lunch with the officers (doesn't have to be special, can be a table in the MDR that is already scheduled to be open for lunch) or each family has lunch with one of the officers (top with the Captain, next with Cruise Director, next with Hotel Manager, next with Food/Beverage Manager, etc). Or maybe they bring back tea anyway but you have to be in the top level to book it. Or organize a special "DCL trivia" session that would combine an activity with a walk down memory lane of the special times DCL has had through the years (example - what was the Magic's first "home port" that was not Port Canaveral? Then could show photos, video whatever of the Panama Canal cruise, arrival into LA and those cruises out of LA in 2005.)

 

[71 Truck]

First off I think status should be based on days at sea not number of cruises. This might upset people who only take 3 and 4 day cruises but I think it would be a more fair way to gain different levels of the Cast Away Club. My wife and I had sailed on ten, seven day cruises for a total of seventy days at sea as apposed to some one that has done ten, three day cruises for a total of thirty days at sea to gain Platinum status. We are currently at seventy seven days at sea with another fourteen booked. As far as additional rewards on top of what Disney already offers Cast Away Club members, they might think about 5% off future cruises for Silver,10% off future cruises for gold and 15% off future cruises for Platinum without having to do an on board booking/placeholder. They might also want to look at similar discounts for on board shopping.

 

[T & R]

Don't know what the tipping point is or if we have reached it yet,

It's been getting there, we're just watching it in slo-mo. For example, they had to move the captain/officers reception thing to the theater because it got to big and then when that wasn't enough, they changed it to where you had to be on an 8 night or longer cruise. Now you have to be concierge to get a cabana when before it was possible to snag one when platinum was more exclusive. Also, there have been times when I've seen the check in line at embarkation day actually have a shorter line that the platinum line.

As the kids who attain the status of their parents increase, the benefits of being platinum will diminish.

 

[darnheather]

@T & R What you mention with the airlines is exactly why I have no loyalty to any airline. I do not fly frequently enough to hold onto my points since they now expire yearly when they used to expire less rapidly. I now fly with whichever company is cheapest, or if I need luggage will give me free luggage plus being cheapest, etc.

Furthermore, DCL doesn't have my loyalty because I get a cheap backpack (I'm still only silver) each time I cruise but because of the way they treat me and my children from the moment we board.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

They could offer perks like free WiFi and free laundry.

Those get my vote.

 

[Trera]

First off I think status should be based on days at sea not number of cruises. This might upset people who only take 3 and 4 day cruises but I think it would be a more fair way to gain different levels of the Cast Away Club. My wife and I had sailed on ten, seven day cruises for a total of seventy days at sea as apposed to some one that has done ten, three day cruises for a total of thirty days at sea to gain Platinum status. We are currently at seventy seven days at sea with another fourteen booked. As far as additional rewards on top of what Disney already offers Cast Away Club members, they might think about 5% off future cruises for Silver,10% off future cruises for gold and 15% off future cruises for Platinum without having to do an on board booking/placeholder. They might also want to look at similar discounts for on board shopping.

Disney understands that there is huge market for shorter cruises and they are not going to penalize families that take shorter cruises. I saw the statistics once a couple of years ago about the number of cruisers on 3 or 4 night cruises that also go and experience the parks as part of that same vacation.........and it was pretty high. When you factor in just those same families from states/countries other than Florida............the percentage jumps higher.

 

[pixiedustedme]

My frequent flyer status with American expires if I do not fly regularly, it doesn't make me angry or want to fly Southwest. Having a reasonable timeframe to repeat business to maintain your status makes total sense for many reasons. A very long expiration would makes sense like 10 yrs or something for the following reason:

The problem is in the upcoming years there are going to be tens of thousands of platinum cruisers who have never actually paid for a Disney Cruise. For example, our four boys ages 7-13 will be platinum in 5 months when we get off our next cruise. DCL will now have 4 new platinum cruisers who have never paid a dime to DCL. If our kids decide to take their own families on a Disney Cruise when they are grown, the whole family in that stateroom will get my kid's platinum perk even though it will be their "first" cruise with DCL. Now multiply my family's situation on a national scale and you see where I'm going with this. Adding an expiration would downgrade those who do the gap of cruising from childhood until they actually pay for their own cruise with their own families.

A cruise is not an airline. Airlines are renowned today for subpar customer service (except to their most elite flyers). Cruise lines make it their business to provide very good service to all of their customers. So what an airline can get away with, a cruise line can't. Customers' expectations are different. People choose cruise lines with different criteria in mind than how they choose airlines.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

First off I think status should be based on days at sea not number of cruises. This might upset people who only take 3 and 4 day cruises but I think it would be a more fair way to gain different levels of the Cast Away Club. My wife and I had sailed on ten, seven day cruises for a total of seventy days at sea as apposed to some one that has done ten, three day cruises for a total of thirty days at sea to gain Platinum status. We are currently at seventy seven days at sea with another fourteen booked. As far as additional rewards on top of what Disney already offers Cast Away Club members, they might think about 5% off future cruises for Silver,10% off future cruises for gold and 15% off future cruises for Platinum without having to do an on board booking/placeholder. They might also want to look at similar discounts for on board shopping.

The issue is "is loyalty figured by how many times you use the product, or how long you use the product?" or, even "how much you spend?"

I, also think a more fair plan is the combo of days & cruises (which ever gets you to the next level soonest). We cruise on other lines that do this, as well as DCL that doesn't. For us (who prefer the longer cruises) we didn't reach gold (5 cruises) until we had 53 nights (the equivalent of 17 three night cruises), and to reach Platinum we had 90 days (30 three night cruises). Yes, it seems "unfair", but that's the way the program is set up on DCL.

That said, all cruise lines (as well as many other businesses) figure out what loyalty program works best for them. Once they've set it, that's pretty much what you have to work with. I doubt that public input as to how they should set up their loyalty program is going to carry much weight.

But, I do agree adding an additional level at, say 25 cruises (or 100 nights ) would be nice.

 

[pixiedustedme]

If anything, your example is a reason why they should add another tier, maybe 20-25 cruises. Palo is really the only commodity that has a limited supply onship...they can only seat so many people a night. Don't know what the tipping point is or if we have reached it yet, but eventually more people are going to want their free Palo than there are spots to dine there.

And that's when DCL will stop giving a free meal at Palo to anyone as a perk. They'll probably start by saying it will no longer apply to brunch, since brunch is Palo's most popular and scarcest offering.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Disney understands that there is huge market for shorter cruises and they are not going to penalize families that take shorter cruises. I saw the statistics once a couple of years ago about the number of cruisers on 3 or 4 night cruises that also go and experience the parks as part of that same vacation.........and it was pretty high. When you factor in just those same families from states/countries other than Florida............the percentage jumps higher.

And short cruises are typically more expensive per night than long cruises. So DCL definitely doesn't want to discourage that cash cow.

If people really want to make it "fair", then status per cruiser would be based on dollars spent for that cruiser to sail, not number of cruises or nights. So says a non-Florida resident who can only cruise peak season, and who started sailing in 2015, not back in the day when prices were reasonable.

But I don't expect it to be fair. It is what it is. We'll cruise DCL as long as we like it, regardless of loyalty perks.

 

[pixiedustedme]

My frequent flyer status with American expires if I do not fly regularly, it doesn't make me angry or want to fly Southwest....Adding an expiration would downgrade those who do the gap of cruising from childhood until they actually pay for their own cruise with their own families.

Airlines also give frequent flyer miles to kids, btw. They don't care who paid- they care who flew. The prime example of that is the "elite" million mile flyer whose company always picks up the tab. The same goes for non-paying spouses, etc. That's one thing that cruises and airlines do have in common.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

DCL has perhaps the least competitive loyalty program in the mass-market industry, yet they charge arguably the highest rates among their competitors. Why? Marketing to repeat customers is not at all a priority. DCL would rather have more new customers who will pay a standard rate and not require loyalty perks. If DCL can offer a quality product, they don't need gimmicks to encourage guests to consider sailing with Disney - their product sells itself, no boozy loyalty party or commemorative pin required. Once you've sailed Disney, there is a very good chance that you will want to sail Disney again because you like the product.

Now I said "competitors", but I would argue that Disney offers a very different product and attract different clientele from even their "closest" competitors (in family-style, entertainment cruising), Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and let's say Carnival. You can see it clearly in their pricing - that's why people who have sailed Disney come to these boards quite often and ask why other cruises are so much cheaper with the presumption that the other products are quite different and likely lacking in quality, or the best "reason" there is - "the other lines, they nickel & dime you - but Disney offers free soda on the pool deck and in the dining rooms!" Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival are all fighting really hard with their competitors to draw in first-time customers, just look at the website home pages right now -

DCL: "Why cruise Disney?"
RCCL: "Soak up the savings with 50% OFF SECOND GUEST"
NCL: "FREE to Explore Sail: FREE UNLIMITED OPEN BAR & MORE" (advice to those booking NCL - they offer that sale pretty much year-round now.... anytime you want to book)
Carnival: "SUPER DUPER LOW DEPOSITS!"

Other cruise lines are hustling with the deals, and Disney says, "You trust the Disney name."

Now, in all fairness, add that other cruise lines have much larger fleets than Disney - currently RCCL 25, NCL 16, and Carnival 26. I'm not sure if anyone remembers what the loyalty programs were like when any of those lines only had 4 ships - they probably didn't even have loyalty programs back then. These lines have a lot of ships that they need to fill, so it makes sense that they require the loyalty of previous cruisers - a larger percentage of their guest population needs to be repeat cruisers.

I was high in the rankings with RCCL when they made adjustments to their loyalty programs years back, and the loyal members were not receptive. RCCL used to count "cruises" (like Disney) and switched to counting "cruise nights" so that people who booked longer sailings would be rewarded more than those that just booked 3-night sailings. They also added tiers. Everyone who hit a tier was grandfathered - but those hoping to jump tiers could have been at a disadvantage. We were on our way to Diamond, then they said, "Hey, you're an Emerald now - a near worthless category that offers only a few additional perks than Platinum, but will far delay you on the journey to Diamond." We also had booked longer sailings - 9 and 10-night voyages, which were averaged out to 7 nights with their transition (and those who had done short sailings until that point received 7 nights for those cruises).... so while they were hoping to reward longer sailings in the future, we entered the new program kind of how it was before. Until then we were "loyal to Royal" (except with a starter Disney Cruise on the Magic back in 2000), and the adjustment in the loyalty program actually led to us giving Norwegian and Princess a try - both cruise lines which we enjoy and have moderate loyalty rankings with.

All of that said, to answer the question, with the addition of the three new cruise ships to the Disney fleet, I think there is a pretty good chance that they will add a category or two above Platinum.... I actually think they should. But I don't know if Disney would ever consider it beneficial to add more loyalty perks, or switch to a night-based system like their competitors operate on. The loyalty program will still be weak in comparison to other cruise lines as far as member perks.

 

[Quellman]

DCL has perhaps the least competitive loyalty program in the mass-market industry, yet they charge arguably the highest rates among their competitors. Why? Marketing to repeat customers is not at all a priority. DCL would rather have more new customers who will pay a standard rate and not require loyalty perks. If DCL can offer a quality product, they don't need gimmicks to encourage guests to consider sailing with Disney - their product sells itself, no boozy loyalty party or commemorative pin required. Once you've sailed Disney, there is a very good chance that you will want to sail Disney again because you like the product.

Now I said "competitors", but I would argue that Disney offers a very different product and attract different clientele from even their "closest" competitors (in family-style, entertainment cruising), Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and let's say Carnival. You can see it clearly in their pricing - that's why people who have sailed Disney come to these boards quite often and ask why other cruises are so much cheaper with the presumption that the other products are quite different and likely lacking in quality, or the best "reason" there is - "the other lines, they nickel & dime you - but Disney offers free soda on the pool deck and in the dining rooms!" Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival are all fighting really hard with their competitors to draw in first-time customers, just look at the website home pages right now -

DCL: "Why cruise Disney?"
RCCL: "Soak up the savings with 50% OFF SECOND GUEST"
NCL: "FREE to Explore Sail: FREE UNLIMITED OPEN BAR & MORE" (advice to those booking NCL - they offer that sale pretty much year-round now.... anytime you want to book)
Carnival: "SUPER DUPER LOW DEPOSITS!"

Other cruise lines are hustling with the deals, and Disney says, "You trust the Disney name."

Now, in all fairness, add that other cruise lines have much larger fleets than Disney - currently RCCL 25, NCL 16, and Carnival 26. I'm not sure if anyone remembers what the loyalty programs were like when any of those lines only had 4 ships - they probably didn't even have loyalty programs back then. These lines have a lot of ships that they need to fill, so it makes sense that they require the loyalty of previous cruisers - a larger percentage of their guest population needs to be repeat cruisers.

I was high in the rankings with RCCL when they made adjustments to their loyalty programs years back, and the loyal members were not receptive. RCCL used to count "cruises" (like Disney) and switched to counting "cruise nights" so that people who booked longer sailings would be rewarded more than those that just booked 3-night sailings. They also added tiers. Everyone who hit a tier was grandfathered - but those hoping to jump tiers could have been at a disadvantage. We were on our way to Diamond, then they said, "Hey, you're an Emerald now - a near worthless category that offers only a few additional perks than Platinum, but will far delay you on the journey to Diamond." We also had booked longer sailings - 9 and 10-night voyages, which were averaged out to 7 nights with their transition (and those who had done short sailings until that point received 7 nights for those cruises).... so while they were hoping to reward longer sailings in the future, we entered the new program kind of how it was before. Until then we were "loyal to Royal" (except with a starter Disney Cruise on the Magic back in 2000), and the adjustment in the loyalty program actually led to us giving Norwegian and Princess a try - both cruise lines which we enjoy and have moderate loyalty rankings with.

All of that said, to answer the question, with the addition of the three new cruise ships to the Disney fleet, I think there is a pretty good chance that they will add a category or two above Platinum.... I actually think they should. But I don't know if Disney would ever consider it beneficial to add more loyalty perks, or switch to a night-based system like their competitors operate on. The loyalty program will still be weak in comparison to other cruise lines as far as member perks.

Lets face it too. Disney wants that 3-15 year old bracket. That's the Disney backbone. So they need to lure those families the same way the parks do, even if it is a 'once in a lifetime trip'. We have seen how static Disney is with their menus, entertainment, and itineraries, recycling them year after year after year. Once your kids have left home, are you as likely to book DCL to enjoy Golden Mickeys, again, or will you jump to another line for a cheaper rate, new shows, and new itineraries. Many people are doing the later and I don't blame them. In fact many people are going to ships that offer more for that 12-16 age range, ships with bumper cars, ziplines, rock walls.

Disney understands its core market, if you don't fall into that market you stick around for brand loyalty.

 

[darnheather]

Even some of the bigger cruise lines are hacking away at loyalty perks and people are seriously mad. There is a huge thread about RCL over on Cruise Critics if you want to waste a day reading about it. As has been brought up countless times when we have these threads. Adding new levels is all well and good taking away from current levels would be crappy.

 

[smmco]

Lets face it too. Disney wants that 3-15 year old bracket. That's the Disney backbone. So they need to lure those families the same way the parks do, even if it is a 'once in a lifetime trip'. We have seen how static Disney is with their menus, entertainment, and itineraries, recycling them year after year after year. Once your kids have left home, are you as likely to book DCL to enjoy Golden Mickeys, again, or will you jump to another line for a cheaper rate, new shows, and new itineraries. Many people are doing the later and I don't blame them. In fact many people are going to ships that offer more for that 12-16 age range, ships with bumper cars, ziplines, rock walls.

Disney understands its core market, if you don't fall into that market you stick around for brand loyalty.

My kids are 14 and 16 and unless I get some great discount or my kids want to cruise DCL when they are in college I doubt we'll be booking DCL cruises as adults. My oldest already prefers big Royal ships. My youngest still prefers Disney. We chose Carnivals new ship for our Europe trip next year. One because the ship is brand new and has a rollercoaster on the top deck and two because it's half the price of DCL. Brand new ship vs 20+ year old ship for half the cost it was a no brainer for us.

We just got off a Disney cruise Sunday and had an awesome time. We always do. My dh and I could have a great time on any ship. Because of the kids we always choose the ships carefully. Not all ships are appealing to teenagers. My kids always have a good time on Disney it's the number one reason we still sail on them.