Casinos on board

[dahess]

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but I have been off the dis boards for a few months & man, have I been lonely! Since the dh has given the go ahead for a 2005 7 day cruise (I know, it is far away, but why not start planning early) I have a question.

My family went on a 4 day cruise in November 2001. 2 months ago I received an email from Disney asking 30 questions about, how I liked the cruise & etc. 28 of the questions were what I thought about having a casino on board. Has anyone else received a email like this? Is Disney considering casino's? I thought the evenings on the Wonder were kind of slow & think a casino is a great idea.

Thanks for all the help!

DAHESS

 

[ducklite]

I really hope not. They would have to take room away from the kids clubs in order to offer space for a casino.

Anne

 

[din]

Sam here, I hope they do not put casinos on board!!!!

NO Casinos!!! It would take so much away from the Disney charm

 

[Deb in IA]

I think parents would end up dumping their kids in the clubs all day to gamble in the casino.

I also don't think a casino would be appropriate for the type of "family cruise" Disney is trying to promote.

 

[paulmc80]

Can you imagine Disney casinos? One armed Mickey's .... Tigger Twenty-One.......Donald Duck Dice ..... oh how awesome! LOL ... But I'm sure others have more innovative Disney casino games than myself.

Seriously, I'm not a gambler and therefore don't see a need for a casino. If they want to put more adult entertainment on a ship then maybe more music .. more comdedy .. something along those lines. Not something to take more of my money anyway.

Oh my ... .. hope I won't get in trouble for making fun of the Disney casino games will I? I didn't really mean it. I'm not the scareligious type.

 

[randytenn]

You know, I can gamble all I want in my home town. We have 4 casinos locally. I want a cruise to get away, and do things I can't do at home.

I can understand Disney's thought process: Much bigger profits from gaming losses. But seriously, it's DISNEY! They don't need to run a casino. Yeah, the other ships do it, but isn't Disney trying to be different than the other cruise lines? Aren't they trying to do things new and exciting? Come on, execs, let's think up some other way to boost the stock price. A casino is not the answer!

 

[dahess]

I guess the sound of clang, clang, clang would get old after a while

 

[DisneySlave]

Not that Im for it but with all the profits Disney would make on it would trickle down to lower rates on the cruises?

 

[mcnuss]

The MAIN reason I picked DCL was bc there are no casinos. I do not want my child exposed to gambling. They are just an invitation for trouble. IMHO...

 

[westjones]

We do the Disney Cruise (and only the Disney Cruise) because of the family environment. If they change it 'to make more money', we won't be going anymore. But I am sure there will be some who will go because of it.

I have praised the Disney Cruise over and over to friends of mine (all who want to go on a Disney Cruise sometime in the future because of hearing me rave about them) and one of the 'selling' points is the no gambling (well there is bingo).

I hope it doesn't change---but isn't there a saying that 'all good things must come to an end'?

I know I was VERY disappointed in some of the changes we noticed at our second cruise from the first. They didn't bring Mickey into the end of dinner at Animator's Palate. They really pushed those smoothies (if I want one, I will go and order it, I got tired and saying no thank you, no thank you, over and over).

I loved our 'bag' that we got from the Castaway Club. Now I hear we will get a towel as the gift. That is fine, but not as nice as the bag (and my two daughters will argue over it, so I will have to claim it as 'mine').

DJ

 

[MFan]

I would have never paid the premium cruise prices for DCL if there was a casino onboard. For every DCL cruise I've taken, I could have saved a lot of money by picking either Carnival, Princess, or Royal Caribbean. If DCL adds onboard casino, they just lost their key market differentiator. They'll have to lower their prices considerably to be competitive for my dollars.

 

[KAR3600]

My opinion is having a small casino on the Disney cruise will not effect much at all. If you want to gamble you can, if not ---don't go to the room which has the casino, I don't think offering a choice is a bad thing. I personally would consider "other" issues in picking which cruise line I would travel with i.e. food, service, etc.

 

[MFan]

Sure, offering choices is great if the choice is consistent with the theme of the product. Gambling just does not fit in with the traditional Disney image and product offerings. If DCL does add a casino, they have changed the cruise experience for many, like me, and this will affect how much we're willing to pay for the cruise. Like I said earlier, the lack of a casino is an important differentiator for me.

As for food and service, my experiences on the different mainstream cruise lines have been quite similar. They all offer similar level of service and food. Each have its own strengths and weaknesses. If anything, I'd say DCL food is slightly subpar when compared with Princess and merely par with Carnival.

 

[Jack & Monica]

I agree absolutely with MFan. I seriously doubt that Disney would give too much attention to the idea of adding a casino to their cruises. It goes counter to the basic premise upon which the Disney business plan is written. If they were to seriously consider it, I believe they would experiment with a new boat and it would not carry the Disney name. Remember when the corporation made its first R rated movie? Buena Vista was the company, not Disney. Jack

 

[paulmc80]

Interesting topic! I recall something very similar many, many years ago (if not a few decades) regarding Disney serving alcohol in the parks. My memory may be wrong, but it seems a bit familar.

 

[pagemaker]

DH and I try to go to sin city twice a year... we are nickel video poker junkies!!! Some people save their change for vacations, we save our change for the one armed bandits.

That said, when we booked our 11/23/02 cruise, (our first cruise ever), we had no choice but to also book a short stint to sin city beforehand.

There is definitely something sacrelig about mixing mickey and minnie with gambling and slot machines.

Does anyone agree?

 

[Tluvs2talk]

We had a Disney bus driver who stated that "Walt would turn over in his grave if he knew they were selling alcohol in the parks" I am not for a casino on board Disney. I just think that people arguing "Wholesomeness" as a reason is a little funny when there is alcohol freely flowing and Adult language in a lot of the shows. I don't think any of these mix well with Disney either, but I don't hear anyone not wanting it onboard either. Disney would lose a lot of $$$$$ if they quit selling alcohol and I am sure a lot of people would not cruise on Disney if they took it away.