Disappointed with the direction DCL is heading.

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Try being a castaway club member who lives overseas
Zero perks that us based member get

No bounce back offer or discounts are ever passed onto international members

Of course you still get the perks whilst onboard
But really in our eyes they are not perks
Except to early booking Windows
But there are so many castaway members ...the early window does not really offer any benefit. As plat members still have issues booking certain items.

Keep in mind too other cruise lines have massive ships with allot more staterooms to offset costs. Which also means more bodies to spend extra $$$ on board

We worked as entertainers on many cruise lines
And some cruise companies will shock you at their operating costs
And majority of their sailings are done as a net Financial Loss.
Even if they sail at 100% occupancy The staterooms do not cover the operating costs for that sailing.
Over 60% of income come from the extras onboard
And some lines that mostly come from alcohol
These other cruise lines need each guest to spend x dollar per person to break even.
Which of course does not happen. Some guest spend nothing more out of pocket. Whilst others make upmformthose guest who don't spend any more out of pocket.

DCL is not the cheapest and certainly not the most expensive cruise line out there

While we agree the price is high
Try being an international guest with forgiven currency conversions

For the Aussie to US dollar as its sitting
We pay double if not more

Then consider it cost anywhere for $6 to $10k just for airfare to get to port
Then add your cruise cost etc
It's certainly getting up there

We just wished that international guest would get,some discounts
Or even access to bounce back offers
Due to the extreme cost to travel to port
Which will help,offset the cost of trip

But Disney has had in recent years a surge of overseas guest
So there is no need to offer any discounts and if they did the people who took advantage of the discount would be so small...it's a nothing number to Disney.

As its not easy for overseas guest to jump on any last min offer or deals


We can see disneys side of things as well
They put up their prices
Ships are still,sailing over 90%
So the numbers guys says we can increase the price

Only when DCL takes a huge hit in occupancy numbers
Will we see the prices come down
However DCL operating cost don't go down
So DCL will have to adjust offerings and make big changes for them to reduce the price.

Which then in term upsets their customer base
While the piece gets lowered
So does the service offerings and be fits of a Disney cruise

They are for profit company and will never give anything away for free

Agree, clearly written by someone who understands cruising and non fare income.

You know your comment made me think - being a CEO today is a lot like being a college (or even professional) football coach. Win or go away. Just like coaches that have even a slightly off season and get canned, many CEO's face a similar situation. We are no longer a long-term thinking society. Its all about now.

Agree the board will say, we want 12 % increase of net contribution from DCL then the CEO has to find ways to do it.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I live in Germany and have no problem getting the onboard booking discount. I also never experienced not having the same benefits from Castaway Club as if I lived in the US.

Disagree, booked 13 DCL cruises and whilst get OBC if I use a USA TA we are very much treated as second class citizens, they are happy to take our good money, but do not give his full locality promotions, and we also loose on exchange rates, if for example you book in £ you can't add gifts or OBC, we do not get the car bumper stickers, we do not get a castaway club pack.

I like many of the changes that have recently been made, or are being made - adding a Concierge Lounge on the Magic, adding a restroom near the cabanas, updated Dream kids club, hot tub and shade added to the Dream Concierge Sundeck and Satellite Falls added to the Dream are just a few of the upgrades that add value.

DCL hiked concierge prices to exorbitant levels where it is not good value for money, the services were reduce, we are expected to tip concierge. The Magic hiked prices but didn't gave the level of service of the new shops, the CL, had to be done to try to catch up. So many people complained the service wasn't consistent across the fleet.

 

[dcassetta]

Disagree, booked 13 DCL cruises and whilst get OBC if I use a USA TA we are very much treated as second class citizens, they are happy to take our good money, but do not give his full locality promotions, and we also loose on exchange rates, if for example you book in £ you can't add gifts or OBC, we do not get the car bumper stickers, we do not get a castaway club pack.

I understand there may be some disadvantages for international travelers, but it's hard for me to have any sympathy when looking at exchange rate between the British pound and the American dollar. The pound and the dollar haven't been close to being on par in more than 30 years. In 15 years I've never gotten a bumper sticker, but if I had I would be happy to give it up if I could travel to the UK without the exchange rate killing my per diem.

 

[TimeAndTide]

I almost think Disney may be moving to a multi-tiered experience. If you want the traditional "superior" experience, you pay (extra) for it. On our cruises in concierge, the service level has been pretty amazing - all over the ship (of course our concierge cards are dangling around our necks). But since it's been a few years since we sailed non-concierge, it's hard to compare.

But our brief stay at the Grand-ha!- Floridian (regular Park View rooms), our experience was awful - such a time share attitude, poor and downright incompetent service, understaffing, etc. It was terrible. No idea if it would have been different had we been in a suite. Disney did take our concerns seriously afterwards, but it doesn't erase the experience we had.

There's also a prohibitively expensive VIP experience available at the park. ($600/hr with six? hour minimum, or something like that.) Car from hotel to park, guide with front of line access. We did not do this.

I kind of get the pricing for that, though. If VIP packages are too inexpensive, too many people will do it and it won't be as exclusive and convenient.

The thing is that there is a balance any company has to strike: cost, service level, profit margins, "brand", etc.

But Disney cruise seems to be in an odd place: It sounds like the non-concierge experience is declining while prices are rising. They probably need to pick a lane. Regular customers are confused, new customers may be scared off by pricing. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in those meetings to see just what demographic is being targeted....

 

[jahber]

Disagree, booked 13 DCL cruises and whilst get OBC if I use a USA TA we are very much treated as second class citizens, they are happy to take our good money, but do not give his full locality promotions, and we also loose on exchange rates, if for example you book in £ you can't add gifts or OBC, we do not get the car bumper stickers, we do not get a castaway club pack.

So, you're saying that the TA you use (in the US) doesn't give you OBC because you are not from the US (as I'm assuming that's what you mean by "full locality promotions")? That seems odd--and wrong! Why don't they? Or is there something else your TA does for US customers that they don't do for you? In either case, time for a new TA! Yuck.

And incidentally, what's a Castaway Club pack?

 

[Ofinn]

I understand there may be some disadvantages for international travelers, but it's hard for me to have any sympathy when looking at exchange rate between the British pound and the American dollar. The pound and the dollar haven't been close to being on par in more than 30 years. In 15 years I've never gotten a bumper sticker, but if I had I would be happy to give it up if I could travel to the UK without the exchange rate killing my per diem.

This is the main reason we decided to visit to visit Spain/Italy next year instead of cruising out of Dover to Norway. It was that plus the ridiculous depart tax you have to pay to fly out of LHR or Gatwick.

 

[insureman]

OP here. I think I started noticing the service and "experiences" start to degrade is when the Dream and Fantasy came online. I can remember going on the Wonder and Magic and always seeing the same crew year after year. When the 2 new ships started operating we rarely saw any familiar crew the next time we sailed. The Wonder and the Magic seemed more like family and treated you as such. Anyone else feel the same?

 

[CesD]

Full disclosure, I'm a former CM of the Walt Disney Company as part of my professional career in hospitality and would work for them again in a heartbeat if I didn't have to leave AZ to do it. I also love DCL, they are responsible for me falling in love with cruise vacations.

I would love to continue sailing DCL as well but the price is just not justifiable anymore. Over the weekend we decided to do a cruise in October 2016 for kids and wife fall break. Choices were 2 connecting insides on the Fantasy western Caribbean deck 8 for $6016 for the 4 of us. I then found a western Caribbean out of Galveston on RCCL Liberty of the Seas, (Freedom class), same itinerary minus CC, 2 connecting insides on her for $2800 for the 4 of us. She is going into dry dock soon and getting 3 water slides and a new class of cabins on deck 12, the Panoramic Ocean View that Freedom of the Seas just got. I ended up booking one of the Family Panoramic cabins that sleeps 6, is over 400 square feet and has 1 and 1/2 bathrooms. I had to pay for 5 people to be able to book this cabin but it ended up priced at $2963 for this room:
View attachment 131584
The wall of glass is 7 feet tall and over 25 feet long. It has a full size sofa sleeper next to the 2 chairs and a bunk room with its own closet and privacy curtain.

I could not turn down this price. I'm still planning on booking the Fantasy for June 2017 when dates are released but this will give me a chance to test the other waters, (pun intended).

Just wanted to let u know that u got a great deal. I booked the same for about $200 more.

 

[cgolf]

OP here. I think I started noticing the service and "experiences" start to degrade is when the Dream and Fantasy came online. I can remember going on the Wonder and Magic and always seeing the same crew year after year. When the 2 new ships started operating we rarely saw any familiar crew the next time we sailed. The Wonder and the Magic seemed more like family and treated you as such. Anyone else feel the same?

I completely agree, when we sailed on the Magic post the latest dry dock, the staff was amazing and super friendly. In this case they had moved a bunch of staff from the Fantasy to cover those initial sailings. When we saw the same staff on the Fantasy 2 months later they were not very friendly or engaging.

If has definately been a trend we have seen, but was very surprised when we saw it with the same staff. On the Fantasy we even had the concierge card around our neck and it didn't matter (honestly I would have been disappointed if we were treated better because of that card).

Maybe it is because the workers on the Dream class have more work to do? We are on the Magic again next year so all will be good

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I completely agree, when we sailed on the Magic post the latest dry dock, the staff was amazing and super friendly. In this case they had moved a bunch of staff from the Fantasy to cover those initial sailings. When we saw the same staff on the Fantasy 2 months later they were not very friendly or engaging.

If has definately been a trend we have seen, but was very surprised when we saw it with the same staff. On the Fantasy we even had the concierge card around our neck and it didn't matter (honestly I would have been disappointed if we were treated better because of that card).

Maybe it is because the workers on the Dream class have more work to do? We are on the Magic again next year so all will be good

I've had the opposite experience. The worst service in all 4 of our cruises was 6 weeks ago on the Wonder. Especially the CM's in the retail shops, they were not good at all. The only exception was our stateroom hostess Norene, she was awesome. Overall, we enjoyed the CM's on the Dream the best, followed by the Fantasy.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I love DCL but I'm seriously also looking to switch lines. If only I could get my husband to want to switch also. It's not that I don't enjoy cruising DCL anymore but with the continued hike in pricing without any additional perks to go along with the hike it's not worth it.

Just remember, you get what you pay for. Personally, I wouldn't sail on any Carnival owned line if they gave me the cabin for free, and offered to send my kid thorough college. (well... that might be a slight exaggeration, but not much. After all, college is expensive!).

My experiences of RC in recent memory have not been nearly as good as DCL. In general, I find DCL ships are the best maintained fleet in the industry (which counts for a whole ton), the dining experience is well above other lines, and the staff friendliness and willingness to do that little small thing to make your day better is something you just don't find elsewhere.

I agree I don't like the recent trend of skyrocketing pricing and making things optional(although the intent is to actually lower the price of the cruise). However, I just don't get the same experience in cruising with other lines, so it's worth the extra $$ to me.

 

[jane01jp]

Alright, get your flame throwers ready - - -
BUT, I would like lower prices too

There are people who complain about everything, but don't realize that they are the reason for the change (not them personally, but the mentality). I am not saying DCL is a true luxury line, but it used to be a lot closer, at least seemed to be a niche in between. When we started cruising, passengers kept to the ideals that DCL was trying to portray, and told you before you got there. People dressed for dinner, had respect for other passengers, and put your fellow traveler before yourself. NOW, people demanded to wear what they want to restaurants because it is my vacation and I do what I want. DCL finally gave up and there are far fewer people that dress nice, but the ones that do now, will probably continue because it helps put you in the mentality of a nicer feel than going to Chilis for the evening. DCL tried to make it above the mainstream, but we as a whole refused to play that game. They still do their part with the servers and other areas, so is that DCLs fault? I know this is one example and is an ongoing issue on boards, but it just makes me think that we are as responsible as DCL, we demand mainstream, but they can still fill ships, I think they are playing the cards that they were dealt....There are some things I would like changed back, changed in general, but at least for us, we just have to save longer.

Bring back low prices and nice people!!!
Thought over, continue on.....

So now you are equating "nice people" with those who dress up for dinner?

My observation is that the more professional passengers are less likely to feel compelled to dress up for dinner.

I travelled Carnival a couple of times more than ten years ago, and observed a much larger percentage of their passengers dressing up for dinner than I do on DCL. I don't think that Carnival's customers are any "nicer" than DCL's.

I think that there is a core contingent of people that like to look down on others for any number of superficial reasons, including what they wear.

 

[Sleepyluke]

So now you are equating "nice people" with those who dress up for dinner?

My observation is that the more professional passengers are less likely to feel compelled to dress up for dinner.

I travelled Carnival a couple of times more than ten years ago, and observed a much larger percentage of their passengers dressing up for dinner than I do on DCL. I don't think that Carnival's customers are any "nicer" than DCL's.

I think that there is a core contingent of people that like to look down on others for any number of superficial reasons, including what they wear.

I don't think that it has anything to do with being "nice", so I apologize if taken that way, it is just that it appears that the passengers have gotten what they wanted and now don't like it. 10 years ago, everyone dressed up more on non cruises too, that is what I am talking about though. Even on your Carnival cruises, people took the time to dress for dinner, or special occasions.

It seems to me, and I have been wrong before, that there is a perception of elegance that translates into the food and atmosphere of the evening. DCL spent a ton of money to make the dining rooms appear more elegant than the buffet stations. A lot of the food is the same or similar. All about perception. Do you think something is better when presented on china vs a paper plate? Plain white dishes with nothing on them would lower overall costs, but again all about the theme and perception. DCL has tried to make dining an experience with the style and atmosphere of cruise lines of old. The food is the same, but if the servers are wearing formal wear, we tend to think it is better than if the servers are wearing t shirts and tennis shoes. Still has nothing to do with the food.

I am as redneck country as they come and have met some great folks that were wearing t shirts and shorts at dinner. At least in my mind, some of the things we as a cruising population are complaining about, is exactly what we asked for, just did not know this is where Disney would take it at the time.

Is my version of reality right or wrong, no, just different as I see it


Have a good day

 

[dcassetta]

In the MDRs this week, I saw no enforcement of any dress code. There were people dressed as if they had just come off the basketball court or out of the yoga studio.

In Palo however, a couple was not let in for brunch. She was wearing khaki capri pants and he had on Bermuda style shorts. They were told they would both be welcome if they changed to long pants.

 

[jane01jp]

I wear long pants to MDRs, and on formal/semi-formal nights will wear he blazer that I take for Palo. I get cold easily.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

It seems to me, and I have been wrong before, that there is a perception of elegance that translates into the food and atmosphere of the evening. DCL spent a ton of money to make the dining rooms appear more elegant than the buffet stations. A lot of the food is the same or similar. All about perception. Do you think something is better when presented on china vs a paper plate? Plain white dishes with nothing on them would lower overall costs, but again all about the theme and perception.

So I don't know if this is a true story or not, but I heard a quip once that when Disney built Disney Hong Kong, their food was ripped apart in the reviews. They were called 'cheap', 'poor value', etc.

Disney did a study on the problem and fixed it. Reviews turned around to say the food was a good value, well priced, etc.

The change? They cut the portion size. Apparently perception in that part of the world was if you give someone a heaping helping of food, it must be cheap. If you only give them a little, it must be expensive.

The food was the same. it was all about perception. May have been a Disney documentary.

So yeah - you make a very valid point.

 

[Julylady]

After 12 cruises, we are finished with DCL. Our last two cruises were Dec 2014 and Sept 2015. We noticed some service issues on the Dec cruise, but decided they were just aberrations. However, the Sept cruise had the same issues and more. We had two more cruises booked (one in March 2016 and a placeholder). We cancelled them both in early October. The bottom line is that for our family, the price is too high for the value we receive. I realize that DCL couldn't care less as someone will take our place. I still read this message board occasionally thinking that I will feel a twinge of regret. So far, I don't.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

In the MDRs this week, I saw no enforcement of any dress code.

There typically isn't any enforcement beyond "no swimwear or tank tops". And, even then, I've seen tank tops in the MDRs.

 

[Savikins]

Do they still have the free coffee stamp cards at the Cove?! I'll be so sad if they took those away. I haven't sailed since they implemented the Palo cost increase or the change of alcohol policy, but that's all very disappointing. I've noticed that they've offered far less FLR and GTY rates this year, and the ones they did offer were kind of meh.

OP here. I think I started noticing the service and "experiences" start to degrade is when the Dream and Fantasy came online. I can remember going on the Wonder and Magic and always seeing the same crew year after year. When the 2 new ships started operating we rarely saw any familiar crew the next time we sailed. The Wonder and the Magic seemed more like family and treated you as such. Anyone else feel the same?

I have sailed on all 4 ships and I feel like the Magic and Wonder are a better experience than the Dream class ships. The service just seems more personalized, it really does feel more like a family.

 

[Bree]

Do they still have the free coffee stamp cards at the Cove?! I'll be so sad if they took those away. I haven't sailed since they implemented the Palo cost increase or the change of alcohol policy, but that's all very disappointing. I've noticed that they've offered far less FLR and GTY rates this year, and the ones they did offer were kind of meh.

Yes, they still have the coffee cards.