DCL Has Their Protocol Out!!!

Social distancing and masks. Hall monitors watching 24x7, constant reminders of protocols. Limited capacity so will there be enough kids for yours to make friends? Not everyone is being tested so there is a risk of an outbreak, then what happens?

I'm sure DCL is doing the best they can, but this isn't worth it.
 
Rotational dining is happening on The Magic UK cruises, it is just slightly different
  • Only 1 party per table
  • Every second table seated, so the tables beside you will be empty
  • MDR which have a show element, the show is on a stage area and the characters don't go table to table
  • Menus are on a QR code which is scanned on your phone, paper menus available on request
I hope you are right.
Rainforest Room will be a private experience for $174 per 105 minute session. 10 people in your party max. Yikes!
If you actually know 10 people it wouldn't be that bad $17.40 per person. still not the same value at less than 2 hours for about the daily price, and I don't know 10 people so Tsinforest Room for me.
 
I have my first ever trip in November. I don't mind showing my card. I don't really mind wearing a mask. I was a little sad to see no sail away or Pirate night, but wasn't surprised bc sail away was just removed from the itinerary and Pirate night was removed months ago. I could care less about the changes to character interactions as those aren't our thing anyway. We booked Disney paying about twice other lines for the fireworks that are still scheduled, the nightly Disney quality shows that are now down to 1 for the whole trip, and rotational dining which is unclear but sounds like it may not be happening. We don't want to postpone to next year. I know I should be happy that Disney is sailing no matter what the experience. Maybe by November things will be better, but if not I'm kinda sad we already paid in full bc another line might be better for us right now and that breaks my heart. I don't think we could have a better experience on another Cruise line but I'm not sure we couldn't have the same quality experience for 1/2 the price.
You may be PIF but you can still get a refund. Didn't they change the cancellation policy to 60 days out?
 
I called DCL to get the protocols on a B2B. It was about a 15-minute wait so maybe they are not being overrun with cancellations today.

I was told you only need a PCR test before the first cruise. After the first cruise, you will be taken to a special area where you will wait to reboard and you do not have to have another rapid test before reboarding the ship. Insurance needs to cover both cruises of course.
 


Wouldn’t read too much into that - think it’s just referring to the pizza bar etc by the pool. Dining on the UK sailings (which have similar restrictions) has been the same in the MDR (other than distancing changes such as characters not coming round tables).
That also has me a little concerned. The rotational dining is the #1 reason we chose DCL. It also says something about being assigned 1 table. It did not say rotational dining is suspended so hopefully it is still happening. I disagree with using the UK sailings on the magic as an indicator though. The requirements were different for that sailing, the itinerary is different, the ship is different. There will be differences on every ship, every originating port, possibly even different sailing dates. Hopefully these exact conditions will only be for the first few sailings.
 
I called DCL to get the protocols on a B2B. It was about a 15-minute wait so maybe they are not being overrun with cancellations today.

I was told you only need a PCR test before the first cruise. After the first cruise, you will be taken to a special area where you will wait to reboard and you do not have to have another rapid test before reboarding the ship. Insurance needs to cover both cruises of course.

Wonder what this means for vaccinated cruisers who aren’t required to test?
 


It also says something about being assigned 1 table.
There is no reason to interpret it as no rotational dining. This is the wording from the DCL website:
Guests will be assigned to the same table and service team for dinner, with one travel party per table.
It says 1 party per table. It does not say you will be assigned to 1 restaurant. Your table number and serving team is always the same in each MDR so that isn't anything new. Just no others sharing your table.
 
There is no reason to interpret it as no rotational dining. This is the wording from the DCL website:
Guests will be assigned to the same table and service team for dinner, with one travel party per table.
It says 1 party per table. It does not say you will be assigned to 1 restaurant. Your table number and serving team is always the same in each MDR so that isn't anything new. Just no others sharing your table.
This is correct. I just verified with online chat. You still will have rotational dining with your own family.
Just not sharing tables. I'm probably in the minority but i love that. lol
 
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I spent over 22 days at WDW during this pandemic and always took my mask off as soon as sitting down at a table. It was never a policy to put your mask back on between bites that's just silly.
I never said it was policy to put your mask on in between bites. I said "and that can mean in between bites. AT WDW it meant don't take the mask off until after your food arrived at the table and put it on after you are done eating. " The reason I mentioned it is because some airlines require you to put your mask on between sips, so that people do not leave their mask off the whole flight. I did state that Disney's requirement was different. I haven't been there 22 days since the pandemic, maybe only 60 or so. Including when they opened on July 10th+ and I stayed on property when all the theme parks and Disney resorts were closed. But don't take my word for it:

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...cy-will-make-dining-at-disney-very-different/https://allears.net/2021/02/26/news-disney-world-changes-restaurant-face-mask-policy/
 
I called DCL to get the protocols on a B2B. It was about a 15-minute wait so maybe they are not being overrun with cancellations today.

I was told you only need a PCR test before the first cruise. After the first cruise, you will be taken to a special area where you will wait to reboard and you do not have to have another rapid test before reboarding the ship. Insurance needs to cover both cruises of course.

We did a b2b 10 yrs ago, so definitely pre-Covid. It was only once and it was the Dream. We had the same stateroom for both cruises so we didn't need to pack up, but we were asked to get off the ship and told that we would be allowed back in after a couple of hours, ahead of the new cruisers...after finding a CM that gave us the correct answer, we were told to stay in the concierge area of the port and wait to be brought in.

Perhaps that's the special area they were referring to, but at the time, it had new concierge guests in it...although, we were able to board immediately. Not sure if they have another area where they would let you wait that wasn't with new guests.
 
There is no reason to interpret it as no rotational dining. This is the wording from the DCL website:
Guests will be assigned to the same table and service team for dinner, with one travel party per table.
It says 1 party per table. It does not say you will be assigned to 1 restaurant. Your table number and serving team is always the same in each MDR so that isn't anything new. Just no others sharing your table.

I think DCL felt it necessary to specify this to emphasize the "same table, same service team, one travel party". Since those who cruise before are used to same table and serving team, they may think that it's changed because it's being written as part of the protocols.

I really think DCL was just making everyone understand that they are enforcing social distancing as much as possible so that people who want to see this feels more comfortable knowing they won't be put with strangers.
 
I never said it was policy to put your mask on in between bites. I said "and that can mean in between bites. AT WDW it meant don't take the mask off until after your food arrived at the table and put it on after you are done eating. " The reason I mentioned it is because some airlines require you to put your mask on between sips, so that people do not leave their mask off the whole flight. I did state that Disney's requirement was different. I haven't been there 22 days since the pandemic, maybe only 60 or so. Including when they opened on July 10th+ and I stayed on property when all the theme parks and Disney resorts were closed. But don't take my word for it:

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...cy-will-make-dining-at-disney-very-different/https://allears.net/2021/02/26/news-disney-world-changes-restaurant-face-mask-policy/
I still don't get your point.
 
Do you really think Disney is going to pull a gotcha on cruisers without telling them in advance that they'd be limited to one ADR? That would be an extreme restriction & spelled out in advance. I didn't see anything to give the idea that guests are limited to one restaurant. The policy has always been to assign one table that you have in all three restaurants, but people who haven't cruised Disney before don't always know that, so they're stating it specifically. The bigger point here is that every party is getting a private table. DCL is pointing out that all guests will have an assigned place to eat and that they won't be eating with strangers.
I don't feel there is anything clear about the dining. They did NOT say that rotational dining is suspended and they were very clear about many other things things that ARE on hold so it does give one hope, but it does clearly say that you would be assigned one table, not 1 table number. So I would not assume that rotational dining will definatly happen either. The UK sailings are different in many ways including vaccination requirements so they can not be used as an indicator. The protocals and modifications are specific to the Dream and I would even go out on a limb and say they are only certain for the August 9th sailing. They could stay that way much longer or change after a number of sailings. If I were on an August or even September sailing, I would ask my Dreams agent to see if they could get a clear answer from Disney. If you don't sail until later this year or next year, I would just wait and see bc things can change a lot in a few months.
 
I don't feel there is anything clear about the dining. They did NOT say that rotational dining is suspended and they were very clear about many other things things that ARE on hold so it does give one hope, but it does clearly say that you would be assigned one table, not 1 table number. So I would not assume that rotational dining will definatly happen either.
A prior poster (post #475) contacted DCL directly and confirmed there will be rotational dining on North American cruises.

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