DCL carry-on alcohol policy changing Sept. 30 2015

[DMMarla07860]

I suggest you get some Rumchata to go with your Fireball. You can make yummy Cinnamon Toast shots!

This is the best shot ever

 

[Ofinn]

I will be voicing my displeasure to anyone who will listen on our upcoming Hawaii cruise. I will definetely make comments on the survey. I encourage everyone with upcoming cruises to put something on the survey. They do look at those.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I can see how this policy change would affect some DCL cruisers outlook. For me and my family this policy change has no impact on us. We never were the type of people to bring anything but our luggage on the ship with us, no extra/unnecessary items to carry. We like to use the "KISS" philosophy (Keep It Simple St....), to travel as light as possible. DW and I both like to have an alcoholic drink or more (more please) and we are never really concerned with the price at the end of the day or trip. We are on vacation and this our time to relax and have fun without worrying about anything including the cost. We save that frustration for back at home "the real world".
I know that not everyone can or will vacation with that same attitude. I am all for save a few bucks but at the end of the day it is a vacation so enjoy it and don’t sweat the small stuff. Just don’t buy one Disney souvenir and that could be the cost of one days’ worth of drinking (depending on what you like to drink and how much you like to drink).

Off my soap box...

well said. Completely agree.

 

[C6PT7]

Her signature says she's been on many Disney cruises for 166 days and she can only cite 1 rowdy group. That tells me it's not abuse...

His signature says only 118 days on dcl. just if you look at the dates they switch between American date format and british date format.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I have read this thread with interest. We have six Disney cruises under our belt, and one upcoming on "another" line.

The alcohol policy probably doesn't make much difference to us -- we have certainly taken advantage of it. We are wine and beer drinkers, and the policy still allows two bottles per person, per port. That's still okay.

Our daughter's room has several lovely signed items courtesy of the team behind the scenes -- photo mats, a Vinylmation, pillowcase, tote bag, etc.

But what has done us in is price. We have travelled in the same room on the Magic, at the same time of year, and of course the price keeps creeping higher and higher. And of course, we're in the lucky group that is being crushed by currency exchange now.

I am sitting on a cruise certificate (is that what they're called now?) that I suspect will expire unused. We're still travelling, but DCL is just too difficult to justify for us.

That said, there are always those who can afford it. On our last cruise there was a "How well do you know your parents" game for kids. The first question was "What does your parent do for a living?" The parents on stage were an attorney, a surgeon, an executive, and a stay at home mom.

My wife and I were talking about the same game on our last cruise except the question they asked was "what is your parents favorite hobby?" One of the kids answered "flying us around to different places on the weekend in his plane". We both just looked at each other completely stunned.

 

[wishuponastarforever]

This new policy is just the tip of the ice berg. When they start charging for soda,juice ect., will the masses be ok with this if they institute a policy of banning outside soda,juice,water, ect.. ,after you booked the cruise. My guess is no, not at all. I mean if you don't like the soda choices too bad, you can always drink water.
Like many have stated, the little perks that are unique to DCL are slowly going away and will continue to do so until they become just an over priced cruise line,with nothing special except the
Mouse.
This policy change is more than banning carry on liquor, it's a corporate attitude change.

 

[godde8ss]

I've been thinking about this, and here is my thought: if this jerk was so confident that this didn't factor into people's decisions, DCL should offer with that same arrogant confidence a full refund for everyone PIF who disagrees with this policy. But I guess they're not that confident, are they?

I know we would cancel and book either Celebrity or NCL who limit alcohol brought aboard, but also comp beverages as a booking perk.

Since I did receive a call from Karl Holz's office and I felt it lack luster, I have sent another email about the call I received. Since he didn't seem to believe people booked their cruises and used this as a decision factor, I copied and pasted the posts of about 15 to 20 people from the DCL facebook page (with links to my sources). Maybe they will, maybe they won't, read that. But, I feel better...

 

[C6PT7]

I think all of us that have recieved an canned reply should reply to them asking for clarification on the new policy.
if they are swamped with emails it does show discontent, regardless of the actual reply they sent.

 

[darkwing818]

I'd say anyone who does actually book another line due to this or other changes to be sure to forward your email copy of your reservation with the other line to DCL guest services along with a note explaining which changes to policy (even if it's not just this one) caused you to book with someone else.

At least it'll show them you were serious about taking your business elsewhere.

I wouldn't stop with guest services, I'd copy in Karl Holz (& Bob Iger as well). I believe Karl's e-mail address was noted in an earlier post. Heck these poor guys could probably use a few "Happy" e-mails to help jump start his day

 

[Subi WRX]

Like all your thinking.

My wife and I both sent emails, messages through their website, and FB. Today, thanks in part to these posts, I sent them a response to their canned reply that if they were so confident their former policy didn't factor into our decision to book with them, they should offer us a no penalty, full refund, one time cancellation of our current cruise since we PIF weeks and weeks ago.

Nothing would make us happier.

We're 100% ready to cancel, lest they think they're calling a bluff. Have many other options available to us. Though I'm quite sure I'll get a repeat of the canned response we've all seen that didn't even address our comments. Maybe they think the third time they copy the same exact email to us, we'll acquiesce and sail away happily?

I wouldn't stop with guest services, I'd copy in Karl Holz (& Bob Iger as well). I believe Karl's e-mail address was noted in an earlier post. Heck these poor guys could probably use a few "Happy" e-mails to help jump start his day

 

[godde8ss]

I know nothing about how Twitter works, but I see people using this #dclprohibitiongate2015... so, i dont' know if that adds numbers if you put that in posts?? thought I would share incase it helps mount more visibility

 

[VowRenewal13]

Prepare yourself...it's called Fireball for a reason. It burrrrrrrns!

Good call on the chaser.

If you take fireball and a jar of maraschino cherries, dump out the juice, and fill the jar of cherries with the fireball, let them sit in the fridge for a while, you have some really tasty cherries!!!

 

[darkwing818]

Like all your thinking.

My wife and I both sent emails, messages through their website, and FB. Today, thanks in part to these posts, I sent them a response to their canned reply that if they were so confident their former policy didn't factor into our decision to book with them, they should offer us a no penalty, full refund, one time cancellation of our current cruise since we PID weeks and weeks ago. Nothing would make us happier.

We're 100% ready to cancel, lest they think they're calling a bluff. Have many other options available to us. Though I'm quite sure I'll get a repeat of the canned response we've all seen that didn't even address our comments. Maybe they think the third time they copy the same exact email to us, we'll acquiesce and sail away happily?

Many years ago, I wrote a letter detailing an issue with Disney to Michael Eisner (yes many years ago). Probably within 2 weeks I received a nice canned letter for Mr. Eisner, noting the I would be contacted by (can't remember his name) a VP of that division. A few days later I got a call from the VP & we went over my letter point by point, long story short, we not only got a full refund, we also received 4 Hopper passes & a very nice apology letter. Bottom line I don't if it would work for "you" on this issue, but I kept everything professional & to the point (I had a Management background with a top Fortune 25 company in Credit, Billing & Customer Service, which may have helped). I didn't clutter my letter with other issues e.g. "No more Mickey Mail" or "Hot Tubs closing early" etc..
Things were a LOT different then, but as a "Guest" I did get excellent Customer Service, can't speak to what happened to other folks with the same issue, as this was way before "Social Media".

 

[perditax]

Many pages back, someone stated that a Disney rep used the phrase "this is in line with industry standards". I feel this should be used in feedback campaign somehow.

DCL: restrictive policies in line with industry standards--too bad the prices aren't!

Something like that.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

His signature says only 118 days on dcl. just if you look at the dates they switch between American date format and british date format.

My mistake, but that's quite a significant amount of time

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Many years ago, I wrote a letter detailing an issue with Disney to Michael Eisner (yes many years ago). Probably within 2 weeks I received a nice canned letter for Mr. Eisner, noting the I would be contacted by (can't remember his name) a VP of that division. A few days later I got a call from the VP & we went over my letter point by point, long story short, we not only got a full refund, we also received 4 Hopper passes & a very nice apology letter. Bottom line I don't if it would work for "you" on this issue, but I kept everything professional & to the point (I had a Management background with a top Fortune 25 company in Credit, Billing & Customer Service, which may have helped). I didn't clutter my letter with other issues e.g. "No more Mickey Mail" or "Hot Tubs closing early" etc..
Things were a LOT different then, but as a "Guest" I did get excellent Customer Service, can't speak to what happened to other folks with the same issue, as this was way before "Social Media".

For all of the faults people find with Eisner he really understood that service was what set Disney apart. He and Frank Wells were quite the team with Wells leading creative aspects and Eisner focussing on maintaining the brand while still working on rebuilding profits. The current leadership has no concept of creativity or service and simply believes that the Disney name grants them the ability to do whatever they want. At some point you can only kick consumers for so long before there is a backlash regardless of how big you think you are.

 

[TeenaS]

So what about bottled water I always bring on? Wonder if they will stop thst too.

 

[tinkerone]

after reading all this and taking a few days to think about it, I have the thought that the reason Disney did it this way was to just pull the bandage off quickly and get the pain over. we all know they have been wanting to do it for years, proof being it was already tried in another form couple years back. I feel that the uppers have said, just do it and get it over with, people will complain for a few weeks then its done.

I know they read these boards and will, no doubt, be reading this thread, but the dis is such a small amount of cruisers. i'm sure there measuring the results here and using it as poll results. they will watch and see what goes on for a bit and then wipe the sweat off their brows and think it is forgotten about because it is no longer posted about here on the dis.

the only thing to do is speak with your wallet. its going to be their way of measuring. fill out your end of cruise survey, note what is bothering you and remember that theres not much room on the survey card so ask for paper at customer service and write on that if need be. if they are making money your comment cards probably will not matter. their expecting their profits to go up but if you still don't buy their alcohol then this whole issue has back fired on them. if you don't rebook or purchase their future cruise certificate, bonus, it will show big in their numbers.

the cost to acquire a new customer is five times what it costs to keep a client in most companys and i'm sure dcl is not very different then most. this is a big reason on why they want to keep you loyal to their brand. the ships are still having to use last minute gty rates to fill them so if repeat cruisers no longer book they are going to have to do more and more rooms as last minute gty.

some of this may work for some, not others. some may not care enough and if you don't that's okay but if you do, by all means you can talk to them....with words or with money.

jmo, take from this what you want. some or nothing.

 

[gismo1554]

#dclprohibitiongate2015

Just to say I am still waiting patiently for my canned response! I think I'm lost somewhere in the ether! Some very good points made on here and you have definitely jeered me on to write an email to the execs too!

 

[JennsBabySky]

Well, after 22 DCL cruises, I think our last cruise may have been our last. We've definitely noticed a decline in service once the Fantasy and Dream were added. Many of the magical extras that set Disney apart have been slowly disappearing. This new alcohol policy is just one more sign that DCL is not a good match for our family. We were hesitant to book our April 2016 cruise because of subpar experiences in over the last two years. Couple that with rapidly raising prices and a loss of perks, I'm ready to broaden my horizons and try new places and potentially cruise lines. Maybe Disney is right and after we have tried some other options, perhaps we will return. But a clean, well-maintained ship and great shows are not enough differentiation for me. Personally, I know of at least 10 other families that have cruised Disney due to our rave reviews (many of them are now repeat cruisers too), but I will no longer be an advocate for DCL, I'm not a fan of their recent changes and I will let my future lack of bookings and cruise dollars spent on DCL, illustrate my lack of support.