Costs vs. Level of Satisfaction

[perditax]

I could not agree with you more, but did you see her bio?

"Rona Moore is a travel agent in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. She is married with four children and enjoys traveling, sewing, and, she spends much of her free time volunteering at her church."

Salt Lake City + church = Mormon, = possibly has even more conservative standards of "acceptable" behavior?

Just a theory.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

And that makes me sad. I really like the whole "classic ship travel" thing.

We do too. My first cruise.....which was a work assignment...was on a luxury gourmet cruise back in 1980 on the MS. Mermoz. 1 sitting for dinner, gourmet food, tuxes REQUIRED for formal night.
First cruises for DW were on the Norway, celebrity entertainers (sorry Mickey and Minnie), who spent the week hanging out with the passengers.
But, if you shop carefully, you can find more traditional cruises.

I was just going to ask if there's still lines that uphold a more classic experience. I think there is but can't say I know for sure. I'm not a dress-up girl personally but hate to see tradition vanish altogether. If it's a happy thing for some I truly hope they can have that experience.

What a fun thought, though! How they have Dapper Days at DL (& I think on a smaller scale at WDW?), wouldn't it be neat to have a whole cruise in that style/theme???? Oh I'd just love to see something like that!

 

[bcwife76]

A poorly written article by someone who obviously is not as well educated as she thinks she is - sheer drivel. Hope she stays home from now on; at least we won't ever run into her on another Disney cruise!

 

[squirk]

Salt Lake City + church = Mormon, = possibly has even more conservative standards of "acceptable" behavior?

Just a theory.

But...but...even if she has highly conservative standards of behavior (regardless of what her religion may be), how and why is Disney to blame for the actions of the passengers? It makes no sense.

And doesn't the Examiner have some de minimus level of editorial oversight? I can't believe an editor read this article and said "Let's run with this" vs. saying "Rona, we can't run this. It's idiotic and makes no sense."

 

[CesD]

Rudeness, misbehavior by kids and adults, entitlement, etc... is found in all socio economic classes on land, sea, in the air and everywhere in between.

 

[Michellynn]

We had serious issues with basic food allergy situations (sent coleslaw (egg) to kids club as her special ordered safe meal that is lethal to my kiddo, sent a plate of treenuts as an "Im sorry for messing up" to our stateroom when DD and I both have treenut allergies! Sent sour mac and cheese to the table. It was seriously so bad. Even our server freaked out at how pungent it was when he smelled it, yet our head guy, cant think of his title, told us they would never serve something bad like that! and those are just a few of the things) and our room hostess was not nice and would say no to requests like ice...after room service told us to request daily refills from her. I travel a LOT because I am a corporate travel director, so this was not my first rodeo, it was not a once in a lifetime trip, it was not our first cruise, we did not pay a boatload for the trip, we were not in concierge or a suite and thinking we were extra fancy...I expected basic customer service and even after speaking to guest services a few times and bless their hearts, they tried, but our hostess started retaliating (oops, she forgot we would need towels that day...and the next day...and the next day...), it just did not end well. It actually became the running joke with our table mates at dinner each night about what she did to us each day! We had a good laugh and toasted our wine to her.

I'm not sure if DCL is losing its service-driven attitude or what, but I noticed things like staff not greeting guests in passing. I always said hello to them first. Room service trays would sometimes sit in the hallways 12+ hours during the day. We also noticed that the staff working in the buffets were down right over being there. Its like...oh, you are not the one paying my gratuity at the end of the trip, so screw you.

I certainly hope you mentioned all of the above detail in your customer feedback form at the end of the cruise. From what I hear, Disney takes those forms very seriously. I would hope that after a few "incidents" of the above happening with that hostess (as surely, if she did that sort of thing to you, she has done it to others)...that she would be promptly let go.

 

[jdb in AZ]

The article was written by a travel agent, so why would she pay full-fare (or higher) for her family's cruise? I wondered if the $14,000 included shore excursions, but she complained about the lumberjack show, which isn't the most expensive excursion, and whined there weren't enough activities. Any travel agent worth their commission would know about all the shore excursions available.

Maybe the $14,000 included air fare, but that's still much higher than it should be. Since the article included a picture of a non-Disney ship (is it the Queen Mary 2?), I have trouble believing anything the writer has to say.

I've caught bad colds on vacation, but blame them on lack of sleep (jet lag) and all the germy surfaces I touch along the way, especially on planes.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

She actually wrote 2 negative reviews, the first one shortly after boarding. As you can see, it is again about the kids on the ship, and also that it is too much Disney for her taste. And mentions the $$ again...

http://www.examiner.com/article/disney-cruise-to-alaska-first-impressions


So, it seems pretty obvious DCL is not for her, but again, I just keep wondering if the cost soured her on it before she even stepped on the ship.

 

[disneyfreak33]

Since the article included a picture of a non-Disney ship (is it the Queen Mary 2?), I have trouble believing anything the writer has to say

Yes it is the QM2. I know it's a stock photo but if you're going to bash people/companies at least have the decency to use the right photo.

 

[perditax]

I can't believe I'm thinking about it this hard, but c-fish shows the 7-night Alaska Wonder that departs today being priced at about $5000/pp for a deluxe verandah. I've never priced out a cruise for more than two people, but it seems like that would make it pretty easy to get to $14000 in a non-suite depending on how many people went, especially if they booked last minute.

I guess at that point you have to ask yourself why you're spending that much money, unless your income level makes it a disposable amount. And since the writer of that article wants us to believe she's well-off (and thus refined), I'm not sure she can have it both ways.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

The classic lines/ design of the vessels, the Art Deco and Nuevo theming of the 4 DC vessels, mirroring the great liners of the 1930, 40 and 50's is one of the reasons the DCL cruises are so special.

Frankly where ever you go now, Cruises, theme parks , movies, resorts, even just to our local Mall, there seems to be more people that are rude and have that, *entitlement idea*, that they are better and deserve more then everyone else.

AKK

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--as for the bad behavior of others--that can (and does) occur on EVERY cruise ship out there. And no way to avoid it unfortunately.

Friends who have sailed on Carnival, RCL as well as Disney tell us that generally there is better behavior on DCL ships than the others. They report on several occasions the other cruise lines had tons of loud and mostly drunk 20 somethings wandering all over the ship. Something they say they have never seen on a Disney ship.

Anyway--we've done but 2 cruises on the Fantasy and both times stayed Concierge--and both times pleased and felt we got our $$'s worth. And no real "other passenger" issues to speak of.

 

[saraheli]

A poorly written article by someone who obviously is not as well educated as she thinks she is - sheer drivel. Hope she stays home from now on; at least we won't ever run into her on another Disney cruise!

So poorly written! Other than passengers not covering their mouths when they cough (which absolutely ridiculous), she does not give any other examples of the rude behavior of her fellow passengers!

 

[perditax]

Well--as for the bad behavior of others--that can (and does) occur on EVERY cruise ship out there. And no way to avoid it unfortunately.

Friends who have sailed on Carnival, RCL as well as Disney tell us that generally there is better behavior on DCL ships than the others. They report on several occasions the other cruise lines had tons of loud and mostly drunk 20 somethings wandering all over the ship. Something they say they have never seen on a Disney ship.

Anyway--we've done but 2 cruises on the Fantasy and both times stayed Concierge--and both times pleased and felt we got our $$'s worth. And no real "other passenger" issues to speak of.

To be fair, that is most likely only going to occur on shorter 'booze cruises' and/or during college spring break.

 

[Uncleromulus]

To be fair, that is most likely only going to occur on shorter 'booze cruises' and/or during college spring break.

Well--my friends are 60-70 somethings and wouldn't be caught dead on a booze cruise or a spring break cruise.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I don't remember the drunk parties and fights on RCCL, but it has happened a number of times on Carnival.......you can see the videos on U tube.

AKK

 

[perditax]

Well--my friends are 60-70 somethings and wouldn't be caught dead on a booze cruise or a spring break cruise.

Sounds like they got unlucky then.

 

[Uncleromulus]

At least twice---

 

[Ofinn]

I'm not a fussy person, but if I paid(which I never would) 14k for a 7 night cruise I would have super high expectations. I would probably expect my own private butler Lol. The most I've paid for a DCL cruise was 5k for the four of us. I have read the Wonder reviews on cruise critic and most of the negative reviews tend to be on Alaska cruises. I do think people expect something spectacular because of the price they are paying. DCL is priced significantly higher than other cruise lines sailing to Alaska. I've read the same kind of disappointment in WDW deluxe resorts. WDW resorts cost more than 5 star hotels, but are more like 3 stars.

To answer your question Yes I think cost is huge factor in your level of satisfaction. Higher cost should equal higher quality. If you feel like you paid more than it was worth than your not going to happy.

 

[squirk]

I think the answer to the original question is simple: if you do not find value in what Disney offers apart from the competition, then you probably should not book a DCL cruise. You will be overpaying, and will wind up feeling disappointed and disgruntled. On the other hand, if you find unique value in what Disney offers to justify the premium they charge, then perhaps DCL is better for you. Hard to tell anyone that one cruise line is "worth it" and another is not.

I think about why people buy coffee at Starbucks when it is undoubtedly cheaper at other coffee shops. Or why people buy Lexuses when there are cheaper cars out there. Is it brand loyalty? Is it a track-record (and likely future assurance) of quality? Is it the comfort of knowing exactly what you're going to get? Do they offer something that the competition just doesn't have? Is it not just what these companies offer, but how they offer them as well?

The answers to all these questions are different for everyone. But again, the simple answer is: if you don't find value in what DCL offers, then it's silly to pay that premium. Pick another cruise line that works best for you.