DCL does not care about repeat cruisers?

[UK-Simon]

I feel there are many things Disney could offer that would have limited cost but provide extra service. Complimentary clothes pressing, free internet minutes. Also why stop the Platinum "experiences"? I'd love to tour the Walt Disney theatre. Simple things that could add value for really minimal/zero cost. Last year they introduced their thank you postcards and don't even mail them to Canadians. Also we need to see more than 3 levels, I'd say at least 5 or 6. But hey, we all keep cruising Disney so there's our answer. No need to revamp when we keep handing over our dollars!

 

[insureman]

I don't understand why some people think they are entitled to extra perks just because they have cruised so many times on Disney. There's only one reason why people get perks from other cruise lines and that's because there's so much competition. If people didn't sail on Disney cruise lines then they would have to offer the extra benefits to get people back, however that's not the case as you can see on these boards: people keep coming back. As a business why would Disney offer extra benefits and cut into their profit margins when it is not necessary. As a Platinum CC member I'm happy to receive the free Palo dinner and be able to book things earlier than non CC passengers but if I didn't have those benefits I would still sail Disney Cruise Line because of the quality and atmosphere they provide.

 

[cgolf]

I don't understand why some people think they are entitled to extra perks just because they have cruised so many times on Disney. There's only one reason why people get perks from other cruise lines and that's because there's so much competition. If people didn't sail on Disney cruise lines then they would have to offer the extra benefits to get people back, however that's not the case as you can see on these boards: people keep coming back. As a business why would Disney offer extra benefits and cut into their profit margins when it is not necessary. As a Platinum CC member I'm happy to receive the free Palo dinner and be able to book things earlier than non CC passengers but if I didn't have those benefits I would still sail Disney Cruise Line because of the quality and atmosphere they provide.

No sense of entitlement, just have seen them drop perks over the short time we are sailing. Now that our DD is going to be out of school, not sure how long we will continue to sail DCL. Your right people, us included, like the product and come back. In the future will the perks play into our decision, absolutely.

Realistically about all you get for being platinum is a dinner worth about the value of a corkage fee people were lobbying for someone to get dropped because their brunch got canceled. As gold, even on the Hawaii cruise we never have been locked out of booking something. We don't book cabanas so that may be a different story.

But saying people feel entitled to perks is garbage. Would we like them, heck Ya, do we expect them since DCL sails mostly full all of the time no.

 

[lbgraves]

Maybe, but what they are doing reportedly has netted them the highest repeat customer base of any cruise line. So are they behind the times, or have they discovered, what they are doing is working better than what anyone else is doing?

I am curious if you have been on more than one DCL cruise. I've only seen you post about your disembarkation experience on your first cruise.

I'm just silver, doing our second cruise ... thinking repeat cruisers get all the goodies. The one thing we would have really loved is a family cabana on Castaway Cay, but it is near impossible for a newbie to get one. Repeat cruisers keep getting them.

Actually, most of them are booked by concierge who can book/reserve at 125 days.

 

[insureman]

No sense of entitlement, just have seen them drop perks over the short time we are sailing. Now that our DD is going to be out of school, not sure how long we will continue to sail DCL. Your right people, us included, like the product and come back. In the future will the perks play into our decision, absolutely.

Realistically about all you get for being platinum is a dinner worth about the value of a corkage fee people were lobbying for someone to get dropped because their brunch got canceled. As gold, even on the Hawaii cruise we never have been locked out of booking something. We don't book cabanas so that may be a different story.

But saying people feel entitled to perks is garbage. Would we like them, heck Ya, do we expect them since DCL sails mostly full all of the time no.

I said some people.

 

[Dave2425]

I'm just silver, doing our second cruise ... thinking repeat cruisers get all the goodies. The one thing we would have really loved is a family cabana on Castaway Cay, but it is near impossible for a newbie to get one. Repeat cruisers keep getting them.

Everyone has a chance to get a cabana if they choose to sail concierge, even a first time cruiser.

 

[insureman]

I am curious if you have been on more than one DCL cruise. I've only seen you post about your disembarkation experience on your first cruise.



Actually, most of them are booked by concierge who can book/reserve at 125 days.

Lisa, I found this posting on the new CC levels and benefits you did in 2009. Funny thing if you look at the posting date it was when the economy was in the toilet and as I posted before there we're not many people traveling so the perks were much better.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/new-castaway-club-tier-information.2291367/

 

[tinkerone]

Last year they introduced their thank you postcards and don't even mail them to Canadians.

we are Canadian and we received the thank you postcard. it took several months but we did get it. you should call them if your missing it and its been a few months. personally I thought it was sort of on the ugly side, not to my taste anyways.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

we are Canadian and we received the thank you postcard. it took several months but we did get it. you should call them if your missing it and its been a few months. personally I thought it was sort of on the ugly side, not to my taste anyways.

We did 3 cruises last year. We got the Castaway Club Thanks for Sailing with us "gift" following 2 of them. Sadly, it's the same picture.

 

[squirk]

I will echo what others have said - whether you like it or not, whether you think it's fair or not, DCL simply does not need to fight for your business the same way that other cruise lines do. And being a for-profit enterprise with obligations to its shareholders, why would they lower their profitability by offering unnecessary freebies?

Yeah, it sucks for us consumers who want to maximize the return on our vacation dollar, but if/when the day comes where DCL isn't filling ships, you can bet your sweet behind that we will see new incentives such as additional OBC, lower fares, etc.

And that brings us back to the original question: if the time ever came where sales were flagging, would DCL expend time and money to juice things up for frequent cruisers, or do they take folks like us for granted?

 

[insureman]

And that brings us back to the original question: if the time ever came where sales were flagging, would DCL expend time and money to juice things up for frequent cruisers, or do they take folks like us for granted?

Yes they would do something. As I posted previously when the economy tanked in 2009 we took advantage of a $99 per person bounce back offer for 3day Wonder cruise. And that was for a Veranda!

 

[tvguy]

I am curious if you have been on more than one DCL cruise. I've only seen you post about your disembarkation experience on your first cruise.

1 Disney, which was my 6th cruise. Do you disagree that Disney seems to have a higher repeat cruiser rate than other lines? That's my point, the incentives they are offering seem to be doing the trick.

 

[lbgraves]

I was just curious if you were a repeat DCL customer or not. We have done 10 cruises, however, may or may not actually cruise as platinum because of the outrageous price increases that started with the 2015 cruises. We have cancelled two OBBs that we had because even with the 10% discount it was more than we are willing to pay. The incentives have had nothing to do with the cruises we have done, though. Stale rice crispy treats, a notebook, a bag that gets put in the closet, even $50 in Palo meals don't impress us enough to book another cruise any time soon. We cruised repeatedly on DCL to be with friends who we met on previous cruises or to be in our happy place after a difficult year, not for any "incentives" offered.

 

[tinkerone]

1 Disney, which was my 6th cruise. Do you disagree that Disney seems to have a higher repeat cruiser rate than other lines? That's my point, the incentives they are offering seem to be doing the trick.

I think you are correct about repeat cruisers. we don't come back because of the incentives, you may say we come back in spite of the incentives however with the oasis coming to p.c. that may change. the only reason we have not sailed oasis so far is because of the port, I wonder if others will feel the same. planning ahead, I can see us doing a dcl followed by a rcl (oasis) instead of the b2b we like doing. we'll still have two weeks, just two different ships.
I'm not overly fond of palo and I don't need another bag. not much more on offer for incentives really. again though, the incentives are there but we don't consider them when booking.

 

[cgolf]

I was just curious if you were a repeat DCL customer or not. We have done 10 cruises, however, may or may not actually cruise as platinum because of the outrageous price increases that started with the 2015 cruises. We have cancelled two OBBs that we had because even with the 10% discount it was more than we are willing to pay. The incentives have had nothing to do with the cruises we have done, though. Stale rice crispy treats, a notebook, a bag that gets put in the closet, even $50 in Palo meals don't impress us enough to book another cruise any time soon. We cruised repeatedly on DCL to be with friends who we met on previous cruises or to be in our happy place after a difficult year, not for any "incentives" offered.

I think the price increases, stale itineraries and the extra competition may eventually either drive prices down or increase incentives in the future, because they will start to lose repeat cruisers. We mostly cruise for the ships, but some new ports would be greatly appreciated. will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

Too bad there wasn't a way to know if the onboard rebooking rate has dropped.

 

[ewerstruly]

I disagree that anyone can book consierge. Seems like I looked at it and it was more than 3 times the cost of the one we booked. Not doable, for us anyway, just to snag a family cabana. Still ticked pink to be cruising at all, even if we never get the cabana we hoped for. We can maybe go every 4 years.

 

[cgolf]

What is interesting is the poll results don't necessarily jive with the comments.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. They have a great product and for the most part have great service. This is what keeps us coming back. So in that they value repeat business by providing that product.

If your thought is industry standard perks, then they don't value repeat cruisers. I understand that they don't need to do this because they almost always sail full. Nothing wrong with hoping for some pixie dust some day

This has been an interesting thread, despite my wife's misgivings about me posting it

 

[jrabbit]

I voted "False", but that is totally NOT true.

DCL cares a lot about us ... that we keep coming back ... "at full price" (unless you live in Florida) and fill their ships so they can keep raising prices and cutting services. The "benefits" of being Platinum are that you get to pay in full sooner if you want to book Palo/Remy and shore excursions. And they toss in a meal at Palo (nice but it's only 25/person) and a cheap bottle of wine (or something else from room service - yea, I need more free food on a cruise ... NOT!)

We keep coming back to DCL not for the perks but because of the Disney Touch.

 

[E ticket rider]

We will be sailing Platinum for the first time next year, and the only extra benefit, Palo dinner may be a loss for us because we only do the Palo brunch. Why does DCL not care about the repeat cruisers? A few years ago they cut the Platinum extra OBC which really would have been nice.

We will still cruise DCL because we enjoy the ships and the very friendly staff, but I really wish they would bump up the benefits for repeat cruisers. Is it a case DCL takes us for granted, thinking that we will always be there?

I really can't disagree with you more... The simple ability to check-in weeks earlier and book excursions, Palo/Remy reservations, cabanas is a great perk on its own. Platinum cruisers are also guaranteed to be in boarding groups 1 or 2 (regardless of PAT). You get the upgraded swag and Palo dinner at platinum as well. Just because DCL isn't giving you more for free doesn't mean they don't care about your business.

The bottom line is that DCL is a business. Their mission is to provide a world-class vacation experience to their guests, but their purpose/objective is to make boat loads of money and provide positive return on investment for its shareholders.

 

[cgolf]

I really can't disagree with you more... The simple ability to check-in weeks earlier and book excursions, Palo/Remy reservations, cabanas is a great perk on its own. Platinum cruisers are also guaranteed to be in boarding groups 1 or 2 (regardless of PAT). You get the upgraded swag and Palo dinner at platinum as well. Just because DCL isn't giving you more for free doesn't mean they don't care about your business.

The bottom line is that DCL is a business. Their mission is to provide a world-class vacation experience to their guests, but their purpose/objective is to make boat loads of money and provide positive return on investment for its shareholders.

As I said to someone else, for us the early slot doesn't do much good, We have never not been able to book an excursion, including inaugural Hawaii that the Platinum/Gold reception was on the pool deck there were so many of us, or get a palo brunch. Will admit though have never tried for a cabana and never will, but with the limited availability I could see a difference there.

Like I said we go, because we like the DCL touch, not the perks we are given or not given. Heck in a lot of ports we don't even get off the ship