DCL Disney Magic At Sea UK Residents Only Sailing Summer 2021 General Information

[MissPrincessBelle]

I have never been on a Disney cruise. I was very excited to book one of these cruises as a way to dip my toe in the water. Indeed, I wondered if this was a way for Disney to market their cruises to a whole new audience. When they were announced I was very likely to book, unless the pricing was crazy.

I’m now unlikely to book. The communications and planning have been a complete shambles. What confidence can I have that the cruises will be any better organised.

Disney is a massive, multi-billion dollar company. It seems crazy to suggest that this is all the fault of some rogue TA.

I’ve been surprised and disappointed by the consistent lack of detail offered. There are vague, generic promises that are rendered meaningless by warnings that it’s all subject to change. If I book a cruise do I get to see a show or not? Is it guaranteed? Could I turn up to the theatre and be sent away because I didn’t get there early enough?

It is utterly bizarre to me as a newbie that pricing information is not made available in advance. So when booking eventually opens, I have to gather and absorb huge amounts of information and make a panicked decision because, absurdly, each second I waste the price goes up.

The Castaway Club seems designed to actively deter new cruisers. My money’s as good as anyone’s. I have no interest in being treated as a second-class citizen. What kind of business model makes you earn the right to know what the prices actually are? And those of you who are Castaway Club members might like to try to sound just a little less bratty and entitled. Some of you.

This could have been a great marketing opportunity for DCL. Sadly, they have screwed every aspect of it up.

I agree with you. I think they’ve really messed up the organisation here. It’s putting me off wanting to book too. I don’t have a lot of faith in them happening at this rate.

As for Castaway Club, It works the same as any loyalty scheme. Those who have been on a cruise are more likely to book again, so giving them a few perks and incentives to do it works for Disney. Plus, they LOVE people who spend tons of money on them (e.g. DVC). I don’t agree with them not showing pricing beforehand, I think everyone should have the opportunity to compare prices before they go on sale to anyone.

 

[meryll83]

Interesting how MSC (and I think perhaps also Viking?) have managed to get the go ahead to have unvaccinated passengers, if difficulty getting agreement to this approach is the issue Disney is having...

 

[gismo1554]

Interesting how MSC (and I think perhaps also Viking?) have managed to get the go ahead to have unvaccinated passengers, if difficulty getting agreement to this approach is the issue Disney is having...

I agree I think there are multiple reasons. The majority of Staycations are requesting at least over 18s are vaccinated. I think that Disney are worried at looking less favourable because of following the minority on this one. That said I don't think its the only reason at all.

 

[NicolaUK]

The vaccine stuff is rumour from a guy on Twitter, people need to stop spreading rumours and let DCL make an announcement

 

[BadPinkTink]

The Disney Magic At Sea Overview is still online.

The chatter I am seeing is that it could be insurance issue, due to the high amount of children onboard compared to the other cruise lines.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I am also seeing chatter that a leak came from a Twitter account of one of the ports. Its a normal part of a new product launch to send out a press release with information. But when that happens , there is an embargo on making the information public. Disney would have sent out information to travel agents and would have been in contact with the ports long before they would make an official announcement. They would have specified in the press release the date and time to make the information public. Unfortunately this confidentiality was broken by multiple people.

It seems that Disney Magic at Sea had a number of outside factors beyond the control of DCL that ended up in them making an official announcement before they were ready to.

 

[CarolynU]

You see this is how rumours start. I heard that it wasn’t a UK TA that released details before they should it was a blogger who is friendly with very senior people in Disneyland Paris!!!!
Now who knows the correct story and I don’t know the blogger nor the TA but I’m amazed at the utter shambles that this has become and no matter what the cause I think it could have been handled better.

 

[BadPinkTink]

You see this is how rumours start. I heard that it wasn’t a UK TA that released details before they should it was a blogger who is friendly with very senior people in Disneyland Paris!!!!
Now who knows the correct story and I don’t know the blogger nor the TA but I’m amazed at the utter shambles that this has become and no matter what the cause I think it could have been handled better.

I would say most likely it could have been all above, the travel agent, the port and the blogger. They all probably got the info around the same time and got excited and just make it public, without realizing the implications of what they were doing. This is the trouble when everyone wants to be first and have that internet exclusive, they release confidential information without having the authority to do so.

 

[CarolynU]

I would say most likely it could have been all above, the travel agent, the port and the blogger. They all probably got the info around the same time and got excited and just make it public, without realizing the implications of what they were doing. This is the trouble when everyone wants to be first and have that internet exclusive, they release confidential information without having the authority to do so.

Well I do hope that DCL make an effort to source the leaks and deal with them.

 

[MadScouser]

Well I do hope that DCL make an effort to source the leaks and deal with them.

Amen to that ! Everyone wants to be "first" ... I would rather they be second or third and accurate. But perhaps I'm old fashioned in that regard

 

[NicolaUK]

 

[BadPinkTink]

Well I do hope that DCL make an effort to source the leaks and deal with them.

If a leak did come from a port twitter account, DCL could very well tell the port manager that they have cancelled any future use of the port. If DCL did that, most likely the social media manger would be fired for losing a client as big as DCL.

If the leak came from a travel agent, they could loss Disney perks or privilege's.

If the leak came from a blogger, they could be removed from Disney Influencer Marketing Programs.

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm now remembering the crazy night before disney world park reservations were available to book for the reopening. Everyone was worried they'd sell out right away. Some disney CMs or travel agents said you could book at midnight, some said it'd be sometime around 3 or 4am, some said 7am. I stayed up literally all night with my computer screen open, refreshing every 15 minutes, chatting all with the while with my fellow disney-obsessed friends on these boards.

This is a completely new thing. You just have to kind of roll with it, acknowledge it is going to be nuts, and remember it will all be worth it in the end! It's going to be bananas in the USA when they get to the point where they start sailings again!

 

[ShellB8585]

Perhaps we should all just wait for Disney to tell us what's going on rather than spreading unsubstantiated rumours which is only resulting in people getting worked up.
A lot of us have criticised DCL for providing inaccurate information before, perhaps that's the very thing they are trying to avoid now.
We will all only know the truth when Disney cruise line tell us. There is absolutely no point in getting worked up about anything until then - it's only making things worse.
Lets all have a cup of tea or 6 and wait for the official statement.

 

[NicolaUK]

The Twitter kid has deleted his tweets but the damage is done

 

[DCLDVC1]

Maybe DCL messed this up and it's not the fault of a blogger or TA.

 

[CarolynU]

Perhaps we should all just wait for Disney to tell us what's going on rather than spreading unsubstantiated rumours which is only resulting in people getting worked up.
A lot of us have criticised DCL for providing inaccurate information before, perhaps that's the very thing they are trying to avoid now.
We will all only know the truth when Disney cruise line tell us. There is absolutely no point in getting worked up about anything until then - it's only making things worse.
Lets all have a cup of tea or 6 and wait for the official statement.

I think that one issue was that until yesterday DCL had released ports, sailing dates and booking dates for each cruise and cc member level.
Everyone was good to go and had liaised with family perhaps or work and knew what they wanted and platinum were booking today, golf tomorrow, silver Friday and general Monday 19th.
TA’s were ready. All info on the DCL website and then we woke yesterday to discover nothing from DCL or some had Dwarfs working hard and then the rumours began. Half the ports vanished, half the dates vanished and the rumour was no cc level booking just a free for all on Monday. No one had a clue what was happening or why and it more or less stayed like that all day. Unofficial rumour compounded unofficial rumour with DCL silent. TA’s were as mystified as everyone else as were the Disney agents on behalf of DCL. Some gave out what in hindsight was not the correct information, others refused to give out any information, and I’m guessing some just guessed!
As far as I can gather that’s still continuing today.

 

[Claireywalsh]

It is frustrating that information keeps changing but if the last year has taught us anything it is to expect the unexpected.
i Did think it was strange that DCL had sail dates listed before the complete easing of lockdown in the UK on 21st June. it would make more sense that the sail dates are all after that date.
Dont get me wrong I was really looking forward to be able to book Friday as a silver CC member but if things aren’t happening or needing a few days longer to get finalised I would rather book online with everyone else when I can see all the requirement’s up front and make a decision then. I really dont believe that a family cruise line would mandate vaccinations when kids aren’t able to be vaccinated, especially when other lines aren’t mandating them. Plus the majority of younger families won’t be fully vaccinated by that time. The removal of the ports could just be down to the dates or maybe the facilities at the ports won’t be able to handle the requirements being set by the government? I’m staying positive for now - would love to be able to experience a little bit of Disney magic, the wonder is our favourite so far so would be great to see the differences in the sisters.

 

[luke]

I have never been on a Disney cruise. I was very excited to book one of these cruises as a way to dip my toe in the water. Indeed, I wondered if this was a way for Disney to market their cruises to a whole new audience. When they were announced I was very likely to book, unless the pricing was crazy.

I’m now unlikely to book. The communications and planning have been a complete shambles. What confidence can I have that the cruises will be any better organised.

Disney is a massive, multi-billion dollar company. It seems crazy to suggest that this is all the fault of some rogue TA.

I’ve been surprised and disappointed by the consistent lack of detail offered. There are vague, generic promises that are rendered meaningless by warnings that it’s all subject to change. If I book a cruise do I get to see a show or not? Is it guaranteed? Could I turn up to the theatre and be sent away because I didn’t get there early enough?

It is utterly bizarre to me as a newbie that pricing information is not made available in advance. So when booking eventually opens, I have to gather and absorb huge amounts of information and make a panicked decision because, absurdly, each second I waste the price goes up.

The Castaway Club seems designed to actively deter new cruisers. My money’s as good as anyone’s. I have no interest in being treated as a second-class citizen. What kind of business model makes you earn the right to know what the prices actually are? And those of you who are Castaway Club members might like to try to sound just a little less bratty and entitled. Some of you.

This could have been a great marketing opportunity for DCL. Sadly, they have screwed every aspect of it up.

It’s a loyalty scheme! That’s how loyalty schemes work!

 

[mousematt]

It’s a loyalty scheme! That’s how loyalty schemes work!

I know of no other loyalty scheme that actively discourages new customers in the way the DCL CC does.