DCL carry-on alcohol policy changing Sept. 30 2015

[godde8ss]

We'll vote with our wallets and our free positive PR campaign for DCL is over. We've organized groups of friends & families to travel together - many of whom booked
concierge roomss

Glad you mentioned free PR. Some of my friends make fun of my Disney love, and even thought we were nuts for booking thus cruise due to price and comparable options. I am a five year annual passholder and probably could write a book on WDW travel. I constantly sell my friends on the experience, customer service and, of course, priceless memories. For my rececent birthday, 30 people who do not have annual passes bought tickets to Epcot to celebrate round the world with me. I bring the Mouse some business! Where DCL is concerned, the ability to bring alcohol on board is certainly a major perk I promoted, and the 4 cabins booked with our party are testimates to my "free PR" working. I feel sheepish now, and have not shared this news with our traveling group as it makes my information unreliable. I also told them corkage was $20, Palo was $20, to buy an item to drop in mickey mail and babysitting $6/hr...Looks like I have lots of uncomfortable explaining to do

 

[apocalyps3]

every time the Nets lose it bothers me. Do you all banding together with me and start hating the Heat, Knicks, whatever team beats them? No prob not because it doesn't affect you guys, that affects me way more then this. I'm not gonna cry over this there have been times I've cried and complained when Nets lost

Unless you're just trying to be funny again, your logic is flawed. Us pulling for or against the Nets is going to have zero impact on anything. If you were to say the Nets changed their policy so that you can no longer wear opposing team gear to a game and you wanted our help by writing letters, that might be a more of a comparison.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Okay, nothing in life is free, but you're splitting hairs.

Personally, my wine preferences are cheaper than those you list, but let's take your example of a $14 bottle. If I'm going to drink that same wine through Disney, I'll pay a good $8 per glass. If we assume an average of 4.5 glasses per bottle, I will pay Disney $36 for my bottle of wine. So Disney just more than doubled my wine costs. Now that's WINE, which you can still bring on to a certain extent (so it's really a poor example). Let's look at hard liquor, which you can't bring on at all.

Your $14 is a bit cheap for hard liquor, so I'll more than double that and say you could easily pay $30 for some vodka you bring on yourself. Each bottle contains about 25 shots, so really, you could conceivably get 25 drinks out of it. However, I'll be conservative and say you either like 2 shots with your cocktails, or that you don't drink the whole darn bottle. That would give you about 13 drinks. Disney charges about $10 per mixed drink, so that's $130 for the same amount (allegedly, as many people here claim that DCL also waters down its drinks). That's a $100 difference.

Is any of this free? No, it's not. Because even when Disney did allow guests to save some money by bringing on their own alcohol it was worked into the greater costs for the trip in full.

It's just MATH people! We paid to have this option, Disney has taken it away, Disney has taken our money. I love Disney, but this is a terrible example of customer service. This doesn't even affect me much, because I'm a wine drinker and will probably be fine! But how can anyone PIF not be dismayed over this?! The monetary value of your bought and paid for trip has just been lessened. Even if you had no intention of taking advantage of this option, your perceived trip value has been lessened. Disney, whether you want to admit it or not, has just stolen from EVERYONE who paid in full.

you do know that post was meant to be funny. Just gonna leave it at that. Though will say I'm not a wine drink and I just used 14 as a number saying I must be cheap. I do like money lol

 

[littleblackegg]

Unless you're just trying to be funny again, your logic is flawed. Us pulling for or against the Nets is going to have zero impact on anything. If you were to say the Nets changed their policy so that you can no longer wear opposing team gear to a game and you wanted our help by writing letters, that might be a more of a comparison.

I have been plunged into some logical fallacy purgatory.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Unless you're just trying to be funny again, your logic is flawed. Us pulling for or against the Nets is going to have zero impact on anything. If you were to say the Nets changed their policy so that you can no longer wear opposing team gear to a game and you wanted our help by writing letters, that might be a more of a comparison.

In the end I'm just saying we all care or don't care about certain things. No one here should be telling others they should care about this. If people care that's good, and if people don't that's good too. I will say I have read posts here where it seems like the ones who care are trying to tell people that don't care to care and that's a big no on my list of things.

 

[littleblackegg]

I have been plunged into some logical fallacy purgatory.

Also, excellent analogy.

 

[littleblackegg]

In the end I'm just saying we all care or don't care about certain things. No one here should be telling others they should care about this. If people care that's good, and if people don't that's good too. I will say I have read posts here where it seems like the ones who care are trying to tell people that don't care to care and that's a big no on my list of things.

To not care is to not care. People who don't care don't discuss. They don't engage. They don't feel the need to justify their behavior in any way. They don't get involved. They do their own thing. The fact that you want to remain and discuss the matter says you do care. And care a lot. Why else would you want to discuss it? The use of sports analogies brings in an element of sport, of a fight, of a challenge, perhaps? If you truly don't care, just go discuss something you do care about.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

marla, usually i think your right on but on this one, well, maybe not so much. no one has to care but they should. with each perk that is being taken away they are saying 'yeah, they bought it. now what can we look at to get rid of'. people should care about this stuff big time. it starts with upping costs for cabanas, taking away mickey mail, increasing costs at palo, early pool closing. the list goes on and on. none of that mattered to me but i knew that until everyone grouped together and cared enough about what was going on around them, not just to them, then it would continue so i have been behind every perk that was taken away. i'll be there to when the cost goes up for someones child in the nursery and when they cut the hours for the kids club. we all should be. i have no dog in those fights, not in this one either, but if i ignore this one then i can't expect support when my issue finally comes round.

Except that if you go back and read the "Mickey Mail" thread, there are so many people saying that it's due to abuse and of course poor Disney had to stop it.
For pools closing early - again on that thread there's a lot of people saying they don't care because they don't use it.
For Palo increases - I can't count high enough to list all of the times that people have said that it's okay, Palo is so high end and that Disney is okay to charge the higher amount because you can't get anything like it on land for that price.
For Cabana price increases - again so many people calling others "whiners" and pointing out how they've been to Castaway Cay double digit times and have never had a cabana so it doesn't affect them.
When DCL eliminated character breakfasts on the new ships, there was excuse after excuse made for them.
When Disney decided to charge for popcorn, it was "of course, there would be too big of a mess and too much abuse if they gave it away free."

I'm guessing that at least half of the people on this thread didn't say or do squat when any of the other things started increasing/get cut back/happened. So why now, why this issue should everyone band together?

For me, I'm voting with my dollars. I love cruising on multiple lines. I am taking my brother, sis in law, niece and 2 nephews on a cruise next summer. Disney was a consideration, now its not. We're not big drinkers, its that there too many other things that have pushed me to wonder about the value of my cruise dollar. But I didn't see any consensus on any other issue, and I don't expect to see it on this one.

 

[DMMarla07860]

To not care is to not care. People who don't care don't discuss. They don't engage. They don't feel the need to justify their behavior in any way. They don't get involved. They do their own thing. The fact that you want to remain and discuss the matter says you do care. And care a lot. Why else would you want to discuss it? The use of sports analogies brings in an element of sport, of a fight, of a challenge, perhaps? If you truly don't care, just go discuss something you do care about.

Ok, so let's discuss, not about the alcohol, but about why you think I should care? I for one only talk when I care. Maybe I don't care about the alcohol policy, but in posts before it seemed like one poster was trying to tell people to care. That's the only part I care about. I don't want or like people telling me what to care about or do

 

[DMMarla07860]

Except that if you go back and read the "Mickey Mail" thread, there are so many people saying that it's due to abuse and of course poor Disney had to stop it.
For pools closing early - again on that thread there's a lot of people saying they don't care because they don't use it.
For Palo increases - I can't count high enough to list all of the times that people have said that it's okay, Palo is so high end and that Disney is okay to charge the higher amount because you can't get anything like it on land for that price.
For Cabana price increases - again so many people calling others "whiners" and pointing out how they've been to Castaway Cay double digit times and have never had a cabana so it doesn't affect them.
When DCL eliminated character breakfasts on the new ships, there was excuse after excuse made for them.
When Disney decided to charge for popcorn, it was "of course, there would be too big of a mess and too much abuse if they gave it away free."

I'm guessing that at least half of the people on this thread didn't say or do squat when any of the other things started increasing/get cut back/happened. So why now, why this issue should everyone band together?

For me, I'm voting with my dollars. I love cruising on multiple lines. I am taking my brother, sis in law, niece and 2 nephews on a cruise next summer. Disney was a consideration, now its not. We're not big drinkers, its that there too many other things that have pushed me to wonder about the value of my cruise dollar. But I didn't see any consensus on any other issue, and I don't expect to see it on this one.

voting with your dollars is great. I'm not leaving DCL, because I can still go, but I am trying NCL out in 2016, can't wait. It's a sixth man cruise, so from what I hear, not totally like a real one, but you get some of the same things. I'm a big drinker and from what I heard Parahoy won't have a drink package, so a little worried about the 4.75 for special cruise drinks, heard that was price for them last one. And to top that off going on Magic for birthday on March 10th so one day on land between cruises so saving money for that too. I'll live

 

[littleblackegg]

Why in the world would I do such a foolish thing? What would that accomplish? The person who asserts that he or she "doesn't care" in the middle of a group of people who DO care is looking for something. Conflict, likely. Attention? Stress relief? People who are looking for fun, positive interaction seek out like minded people. They don't challenge people to "tell them why they should care." That is just asking for some sort of altercation. Why put yourself through that? Why not take a nap? Buy yourself something nice? Relax?

 

[turtle27]

Why in the world would I do such a foolish thing? What would that accomplish? The person who asserts that he or she "doesn't care" in the middle of a group of people who DO care is looking for something. Conflict, likely. Attention? Stress relief? People who are looking for fun, positive interaction seek out like minded people. They don't challenge people to "tell them why they should care." That is just asking for some sort of altercation. Why put yourself through that? Why not take a nap? Buy yourself something nice? Relax?

Thank you! I was having trouble coming up with the words! And my answer would be you should care because your fellow dis-boarders care, or as I like to say, being a decent human. I care when others on here get upset with DCL and try to either help or keep my fingers from typing. I have no kids, don't sail with kids, and would be livid on behalf of anyone on here if DCL raised the prices of the nursery or started charging for the kids clubs. Especially after the PIF date. I would care because a company I am choosing to give my money to, has done something that is not right, unless you feel that a company should be able to charge you more after your PIF date (whether you like the change, don't like the change, or are neutral on the issue). I don't care that it does not affect me, I still care about the people that it does.

I just wrote a rather lengthy (I know, breaks all rules of getting a good CS response) letter to Karl and Anthony. Hopefully one of them will respond thoughtfully. It has been more than 48 hours since receiving my last correspondence and my reply and I have heard nothing back from the general channels.

 

[JimGA]

I got an auto reply to my email and then I got this a few hours later:

8/19/15

Hello, April.

Thank you so much for your e-mail, as well as your
patience with us.

I am so very sorry for any disappointment. We regularly
evaluate our
policies and procedures and it is true that we have recently
changed our
alcohol beverage policy to limit the amount and types of alcohol
Guests
may bring onboard in our home- and out-ports. For the sake of clarity,

as you probably know, effective for cruises embarking on or after
September
30, 2015, guests 21 years and older may bring aboard a maximum
of 2 bottles of
unopened wine or champagne (no larger than 750 ml) or 6
beers (no larger than
12 ounces) in their carry-on luggage (one per
adult) at the beginning of the
cruise and at each port-of-call. This
type of alcohol beverage policy is not
unusual in the cruise industry.

Additional information on our policies can be
found on our website at:


https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/planning-center/my-cruise-plans/faqs/preparing-for-your-cruise/alcohol-onboard-policy/

However,
please know that your concerns about not only change but also
the exclusion of
liquor are so very appreciated. Your remarks will be
evaluated along with
those received from other guests to determine where
any future enhancements
might be necessary. Though it may take time for
the input we receive to be
fully assessed and acted upon as a whole,
please believe that we are seriously
committed to, and diligently
working toward, providing our guests the kind of
magical vacation they
have come to expect from Disney. We will continue to
strive to provide
our guests with the finest vacation and entertainment
experiences, and
we are very grateful for your valuable input to help us
achieve that
goal.

Again, I am so sorry for any disappointment and hope
these concerns will
not affect your regard for Disney, as there is magic in the
Disney name.

Sincerely,

Joel Hayes
Executive Guest Correspondent
Disney
Cruise Line

Interesting response, nicely written by DCL. The last part they mentioned,

"please know that your concerns about not only change but also
the exclusion of
liquor are so very appreciated. Your remarks will be
evaluated along with
those received from other guests to determine where
any future enhancements
might be necessary. Though it may take time for
the input we receive to be
fully assessed and acted upon as a whole,
please believe that we are seriously
committed to, and diligently
working toward, providing our guests the kind of
magical vacation they
have come to expect from Disney."

If DCL sees a marked improvement in their bottom line for alcohol sales on these cruises, the policy is here to stay forever and might even get stricter. If sales go down or stay the same, they might reconsider if they continue to get un happy comments and reviews from guests about their alcohol policy changes.

 

[C6PT7]

The reply I just received,

"8/20/2015

Thank you so much for your e-mail to Karl. Karl is always concerned
about our guests, and has asked me to follow-up on his behalf, and I
appreciate this opportunity to do so.

We truly appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts around our
alcohol policy. We regularly evaluate our policies and procedures and
have recently changed our alcohol beverage policy to limit the amount
and types of alcohol Guests may bring onboard in our home- and
out-ports.

I can assure you that your feedback is appreciated and has been taken
seriously. Your concerns about not only the change but also the cost of
alcohol purchased onboard are very important to us, as we are committed
to offering a cruise experience that meets the Disney standards of
excellence. Your remarks will be evaluated along with those received
from other guests to determine where any future enhancements might be
necessary.

Again, I truly regret any disappointments and thank you for sharing your
comments and concerns.

Sincerely,

Joseph Paris
Executive Correspondent
Disney Cruise Line"

 

[littleblackegg]

Thank you! I was having trouble coming up with the words! And my answer would be you should care because your fellow dis-boarders care, or as I like to say, being a decent human. I care when others on here get upset with DCL and try to either help or keep my fingers from typing. I have no kids, don't sail with kids, and would be livid on behalf of anyone on here if DCL raised the prices of the nursery or started charging for the kids clubs. Especially after the PIF date. I would care because a company I am choosing to give my money to, has done something that is not right, unless you feel that a company should be able to charge you more after your PIF date (whether you like the change, don't like the change, or are neutral on the issue). I don't care that it does not affect me, I still care about the people that it does.

I just wrote a rather lengthy (I know, breaks all rules of getting a good CS response) letter to Karl and Anthony. Hopefully one of them will respond thoughtfully. It has been more than 48 hours since receiving my last correspondence and my reply and I have heard nothing back from the general channels.

Well, this unfortunately was not really about an issue and caring or not caring. It was about something entirely different. But, caring about these issues and how they effect us and how we can support each other is awesome.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

you do know that post was meant to be funny. Just gonna leave it at that. Though will say I'm not a wine drink and I just used 14 as a number saying I must be cheap. I do like money lol

I think I've lost the ability to appreciate sarcasm with regard to this issue. In various social media venues I've been virtually accused of being an alcoholic and of not caring about my kids or their vacation. My personal favorite post (on DCL's FB page), which thankfully was deleted by a moderator, stated that those who couldn't afford to pay for drinks on the ship were too poor to go on a Disney cruise. The "other side" (if there can be said to be an other side) has gotten a bit mean, and it's making me testy.

 

[littleblackegg]

I think I've lost the ability to appreciate sarcasm with regard to this issue. In various social media venues I've been virtually accused of being an alcoholic and of not caring about my kids or their vacation. My personal favorite post (on DCL's FB page), which thankfully was deleted by a moderator, stated that those who couldn't afford to pay for drinks on the ship were too poor to go on a Disney cruise. The "other side" (if there can be said to be an other side) has gotten a bit mean, and it's making me testy.

You want me to give you a good spankin' with a high-heeled shoe? That'll fix yer breeches right up!

 

[littleblackegg]

You want me to give you a good spankin' with a high-heeled shoe? That'll fix yer breeches right up!

That's what Disney needs-a good Dickensian class war!

 

[steves100]

A six pack or two bottles of wine per port is plenty. Honestly, if the entire cruise is made or broken on getting ****-faced for less, then people need to rethink their priorities.

Who the hell are you to tell me a 6 pack is enough!!!!

 

[steves100]

A six pack or two bottles of wine per port is plenty. Honestly, if the entire cruise is made or broken on getting ****-faced for less, then people need to rethink their priorities.

YOU HAVE NEVER CRUISED DISNEY AND YOU OPEN YOU MOUTH?????

You got to be kidding me!!!!

My family are platinum, my wife barely drinks, but I do like beer, especially on vacation. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, Disney used to allow cases now down to a 6 pack!!!!