Did you send a letter to DCL regarding the new carry-on beverage policy?

[RAD]

I sent them an e-mail saying I was unhappy that the change was made with an effective date past the point where I could cancel since it was in the 90 day window. I was also unhappy that I did not receive any notification from DCL about this upcoming change and I had to hear about it via non DCL sites. I did receive a phone call saying they were sorry about the no notification except for it being now noted in the cruise documentation that would be sent about 45 days out (which I received yesterday and it is now in there). They also said they are listening to guest feedback which we all know is only when they actually start to loose money they'll do something.

 

[JimmyV]

Does anyone really believe they give a tinker's dam what DIS'rs think. They have big round filing bins where they will carefully deposit all of your letters and petitions.

Actually, past history would prove this not to be the case:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

and

In response to Princess announcing a $3 charge for room service orders and a new $10 fee for their pizzeria on May 23, 2014, they posted this on their FB page just three days later:
"We appreciate your feedback regarding our room service. We've listened to our valued guests and Facebook fans. Based on the feedback, for the time being both room service and Alfredo’s pizzeria charges being trialed on Regal Princess will be halted. We acknowledge we need to provide our guests prior notification of any such changes to our onboard experience, and we promise to do this in the future".

 

[Minniesgal]

No we will just buy our drinks on board. If the point were to save money we wouldn't be cruising and certainly not with Disney.

I don't consider alcohol an absolute necessity so if cost were an issue we'd just drink something else

Personally I don't get all the fuss

 

[PAcpl]

We have cruised on Norwegian many times, but have never experienced a Disney Cruise. As another poster stated, I can't see paying those kind of prices for a cruise that is going to the same place where other lines are going. I rather take the money I would pay for a Disney Cruise and upgrade our room on another line that will pamper you. I can get a suite with access to The Haven courtyard and have a concierge and private butler on Norwegian for the same price as a room with a balcony on DCL.

For anyone interested in other cruises CruiseCritic.com is a great site with a fantastic forum. But for the sensitive folks out here be warned, you would be appalled by some of the suggestions on how to get around alcohol policies.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Actually, past history would prove this not to be the case:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

and

In response to Princess announcing a $3 charge for room service orders and a new $10 fee for their pizzeria on May 23, 2014, they posted this on their FB page just three days later:
"We appreciate your feedback regarding our room service. We've listened to our valued guests and Facebook fans. Based on the feedback, for the time being both room service and Alfredo’s pizzeria charges being trialed on Regal Princess will be halted. We acknowledge we need to provide our guests prior notification of any such changes to our onboard experience, and we promise to do this in the future".

Interesting reading, but completely irrelevant to the discussion. What two Carnival brands do or do not do has no bearing whatsoever on what Disney does. For those that have kicked their pixie dust addiction, the reality with Disney has always been if you don't explicitly object, then you implicitly agree. Just look at their post cruise surveys. The lowest rating you can give them translates into "marginally magical".

 

[PortMickey]

As a Disney Shareholder I don't think this policy went far enough. Who is looking out for "Our People" The shareholders? Bring the limit down to Zero and make them buy their drinks on the ship. More money for Disney, Less drunks to worry about. I thought this was a business.

 

[JimmyV]

If the point were to save money we wouldn't be cruising and certainly not with Disney.

I agree with this. But the problem is, it isn't about saving money. Disney doesn't have a wine collection that in any way replicates mine. And I don't fault them for that. Wine storage takes up space, is costly, and cellaring wines for proper aging takes years, or decades. There is no reason why they should build out a cellar to have bottles sit idle for 15 years. So they stock their ships with the most recent vintages of middle of the road wines. That's fine. It's what most people want. But that is not what I enjoy drinking while I am on vacation. Trust me. I am not saving a dime by bringing on my own bottles. It would be cheaper for me to spend $40 on a bottle of 2013 "Such-and-Such" from the wine list. I'd come out way ahead over the sunk cost of my wine, plus corkage. But when I am on vacation, I like to enjoy wines from my cellar with which I have some personal connection. And I am lucky, (sort of). Disney's new rules allow me to bring 4 such bottles on board, so I can have a nice wine 4 our of 7 (or 10) nights with dinner.

And everything that I said can apply equally to people who have a passion for a particular beer, Scotch, Gin, Vodka, etc. The ship cannot carry all brands, and if your favorite is not represented, then you either bring it (until the end of this month), or go without. And none of that has anything to do with saving money. That "favorite" bottle of Scotch probably cost the guest $80+ at the liquor store. It wasn't free. For folks who find all wine and all spirits to be fungible, this entire issue is probably one that you can pass by. And for people who go to Total Wine to buy an $8 bottle to carry on, to then pay corkage on top of that in order to "save money", I would submit that they need to do some more math. The ship is going to have similar wines on its list for little more than the sunk cost of what they brought on. But if you want to bust open an '89 Gaja to have with your dinner at Palo, or a particular Highlands Single Malt, those simply cannot be sourced on board at any price. And the person who wants to do that is not saving money, believe me.

 

[JimmyV]

What two Carnival brands do or do not do has no bearing whatsoever on what Disney does.

What two Carnival Corp. brands does has no bearing on what DCL ultimately decides. That is a fact. But it does show that CEOs of cruise lines do pay attention to which way the wind is blowing. If what you are suggesting is that other cruise lines listen to their customers, but Disney does not, I simply do not know where the support for that comes from. It may be your opinion. But I do not think that it is an empirically proven fact. I just completed an on-line survey about the Disneyland app that Disney sent to me due to my use of said app two weeks ago. So somebody out there cares what I have to say. And surprisingly, the survey options did not end at "marginally magical" as I was expecting. They ran the whole range all the way to "Very Disappointed" or "Much Worse Than Expected." (Thankfully, the DL app worked great and I never had to get past "About As Expected".)

 

[JimmyV]

make them buy their drinks on the ship.

In so doing, they would risk making people buy those drinks on the ship...called "Oasis of the Seas".

Less drunks to worry about.

It has yet to be shown that total volumetric consumption is impacted by this new rule, or that lowering consumption was the goal in the first place. I can't recall seeing too many threads here titled: "Too Many Drunks On Board." But you know what I have seen? "Too Many Drunks at F&W". And guess what. Every drop of alcohol consumed on Epcot property during F&W is sold to the customers by Disney.

I thought this was a business.

It is. Which is exactly why Disney didn't do as you suggest. While DLR and WDW are very unique in comparison to their so-called "competition", DCL is not. When you dock at St. Maarten, odds are that there are 4 other ships docked along side of you. When you pull into St. Thomas harbor, there are probably 3 or 4 other ships there the same day. Disney is not offering as unique a product on the seas as it is on land, so it has to be careful not to go too far to drive people to the competitors who will get you to the same ports for half the cost.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

What two Carnival Corp. brands does has no bearing on what DCL ultimately decides. That is a fact. But it does show that CEOs of cruise lines do pay attention to which way the wind is blowing.

Well, let's look at how HCL is "listening to their customers". Their old policy was you could bring as much wine as you wanted, and they would only charge you a corkage fee if you consumed it in a public venue. Now their policy (after hearing the voice of their customer) is: You can still bring as much wine onboard as your carry-ons will hold, and the first bottle has no corkage fee if you consume it in your cabin, but we'll invoice your account for $18/bottle regardless of where you drink it unless you let us confiscate it and give it back to you at the end of the cruise. I only hope Disney stays true to form and doesn't listen to its customers who suggest that this is a more enlightened approach that Disney should adopt.

As for Princess, it is probably the only cruise line where $10 for their pizza is actually worth the cost

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Honestly, I junk it's cute that people think that Holtz or Iger read complaint letters addressed to them. There's a whole team who sorts through complaints. That's their entire job and it rarely, if ever, gets past the hourly CM level.

That being said, if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say that Disney anticipated that people were going to throw a fit about the rule change. They probably proactively made the rules harsh, and after the predetermined amount of hate mail, they'll relax the policy a bit so that people will feel like they "won".

Doubtful on three counts: 1) compared to other mainstream cruise lines, the new rules are not really harsh, and 2) With 2/3 of passengers in any given week being first time Disney cruisers, they won't know any different, and for the repeat cruisers, probably less than half ever carried any booze on board in the first place, and 3) probably less than 1% of people who have ever cruised on Disney even know there's a DIS board, let alone participate in its discussions.

 

[PortMickey]

"And guess what. Every drop of alcohol consumed on Epcot property during F&W is sold to the customers by Disney."
And Disney likes that very, very much and Makes a TON of money at Food & Wine. You can find alcohol a heck of a lot cheaper around Orlando, but food & Wine is still packed out. Disney might loose some customers, but they are not having any problem filling up cabins right now. And I also think the boards might skew the amount of "Outrage" there is at the new policy a little. A huge percentage of their customers are oblivious and have no idea it was even an option. Your point earlier was great on how this policy is still moderate enough that it allows you to bring "special or hard to find" bottles as an option.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

No we will just buy our drinks on board. If the point were to save money we wouldn't be cruising and certainly not with Disney.

I don't consider alcohol an absolute necessity so if cost were an issue we'd just drink something else

Personally I don't get all the fuss

Another guest who likes seeing their hard earned money disappear in smoke! Congratulations, on being too rich to care when you're being stolen from. Because of folks like you DCL will continue to implement policies designed to nickle and dime everyone aboard.

And seriously, what's with the DCL entitlement. Let the commoners sail Carnival!

 

[JimmyV]

You can still bring as much wine onboard as your carry-ons will hold, and the first bottle has no corkage fee if you consume it in your cabin, but we'll invoice your account for $18/bottle regardless of where you drink it. I only hope Disney stays true to form and doesn't listen to its customers who suggest that this is a more enlightened approach that Disney should adopt.

This is actually a much more enlightened approach. While I prefer Princess' similar approach and its $15 corkage fee, the "bring all you want and pay corkage for any amount over one per person" is the best system on the seas. The customer gets to bring the wines that they enjoy drinking and the ship gets revenue. Everybody wins. There is no reason why this cannot be applied to beer and spirits as well. Bring along that rare bottle of Cognac. But pay to drink it. That puts the decision making in the hands of the customer. If that bottle is so important to you, then pay a fair price to drink it. Again, the goal here for the customer is (or should be) to secure choice. Not to deny the cruise line of a fair profit. When I sail on Princess, my wife and I bring 10 bottles on board for a week. We get two on for free and pay for the rest. We pay $120 (8 x $15) for the privilege of drinking our wine. We get our wine. PCL gets some money. This is indeed a very, very enlightened approach.

 

[jlynch924]

Honestly, I junk it's cute that people think that Holtz or Iger read complaint letters addressed to them. There's a whole team who sorts through complaints. That's their entire job and it rarely, if ever, gets past the hourly CM level.

While the top guys aren't likely to be the ones reading the mail/emails, it would be remiss of that hourly CM to not bring the trend he/she is seeing in those emails/mail to the attention of the higher ups. There's probably a little tick sheet they turn in that says "we received XXX emails/letters" opposing this policy change" that they keep in a file. Then, when the next quarter earnings come out, they can look back at things that may or may not have affected the numbers.

Incidentally, I did send a letter (not an email, because I, too, feel that there is some added weight when someone takes the time to type it up, print it out and toss a stamp on it). My letter voiced my disappointment in the inability to carry on our beverage of choice (not the quantity) and the poor customer service surrounding the change with regards to timing and PIF dates. I indicated that while we don't always carry on beverages, it was nice to have the option to enjoy our preferred drinks at our leisure in our stateroom, and, frankly, at a cost-savings to us. I mentioned that we also purchase some drinks on deck.

 

[JimmyV]

Doubtful on three counts:
1) compared to other mainstream cruise lines, the new rules are not really harsh, Agree 100% with this. It stinks for spirits drinkers, but other cruise lines offer no better option.

and 2) With 2/3 of passengers in any given week being first time Disney cruisers, they won't know any different, and for the repeat cruisers, probably less than half ever carried any booze on board in the first place, Don't know if these statistics are true in terms of first-time cruisers, but I absolutely agree that the numbers and percentages of people bringing on alcohol was not significant...which begs the question, why the need for the change?

and 3) probably less than 1% of people who have ever cruised on Disney even know there's a DIS board, let alone participate in its discussions.

I doubt this last point. The "Disney Circle" gets drawn pretty tight. While the percentage of people on board who know about Dis Boards may be somewhat small, I would be surprised to learn that it is less than 1%. That is only 30 people out of a ship of 3,000. That seems way too small.

 

[PAcpl]

I don't know much about other cruise lines, but isn't this a fairly common policy across most lines?

 

[jlynch924]

I don't know much about other cruise lines, but isn't this a fairly common policy across most lines?

I'm certainly not an expert on other lines, as DCL is all I've cruised, but from what I read here, yes. It is fairly common. That's one of the issues, though... you pay top dollar for a DCL and the BYO policy was considered a perk. Add to that, the policy was changed with very little notice, past the PIF date for many, which doesn't speak well of DCL putting their customers first.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

I agree 100% that the policy should not have been implemented; in that it does not give people that are within the PIF date the option to back out of the cruise. And I think that they should at least allow one bottle of hard liquor and beer or wine. But I am stunned that this is a deal breaker that someone would consider cancelling vacation over this. And I LIKE TO DRINK!!!!!! I literally am drinking a gin and tonic while I am typing this.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

o

I doubt this last point. The "Disney Circle" gets drawn pretty tight. While the percentage of people on board who know about Dis Boards may be somewhat small, I would be surprised to learn that it is less than 1%. That is only 30 people out of a ship of 3,000. That seems way too small.

Simple math. Since its inception , DCL has carried ~10 Million passengers. Every Disney cruise we've been on, the statistics presented at the Castaway party ran roughly 1/3 of the passengers were returning. So that means that roughly 6.7 million of those 10 million have only sailed Disney once. The Cruise forum represents only~7% of the total number of discussions on the DIS boards. The total number of users across all the DIS forums is ~475,000. 7% 0f 475,000 =33,250. 33,250 = ~1% of the 3.3 million repeat cruisers on DCL, Now if you factor in that a significant number of those users cross post in other forums, the number drops well below 1%. Fanatics all, but not a massive influence when compared to the millions who have no clue or opinion.