Embarkation change DCL Treasure 10/18/25

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

How they announce guests is unique to DCL so yes, it really is how DCL does boarding vs every other cruise line.

I think too often we forget that most people do not get to cruise DCL As often as people here do. For them, it might be something that happens once a lifetime or twice. So how DCL takes a few moments to announce their guests, makes them feel special. I don't really worry much if a platinum cruiser didn't get into the terminal until 15 minutes after their PAT. I do care that the new cruiser feels some of that Disney attention to detail and guest service when they enter the ship for the first time.

I don't need to ask others how they have felt. I can just say how I enjoy things and how I felt sailing other cruise lines when boarding. I do not have to quantify my statements by running them past everyone. Do you do that with everything you post here- make sure you've gotten several people's opinions to sign off on it first prior to posting?

To the underlined I wasn't talking about that....most especially since I already stated in another comment speaking towards that feature (the calling out of one's name) about DCL..actually twice I spoke to that.

I was talking about your comment saying "On other cruise lines it feels like you are about to be trampled if you just dont keep moving quickly once on the ship."

Unless you've been on all the other cruise lines out there you're just making a poor assumption what others are like and AND what DCL isn't. Hence why I said you'll have to ask others about they feel on the lines they've done (and just listed out two as examples) but also that there's far too many other cruise lines out there for you to lump them all together for that experience. And if I look to what posters are saying is their experience one could say to your point you're moving the trampling to the port terminal rather than actually preventing it. A whole mob of people clustered in the terminal waiting on their call to board in a confined area can easily be made into poor crowd control just in a different location (same problem different physical location).

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

They don't have to open the lunch venues just let people on.

Just the bars & coffee shops!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just the bars & coffee shops!

Maybe a teensy bit of food. It's surprising how many people just are hangry

 

[dreamer17555]

To the underlined I wasn't talking about that....most especially since I already stated in another comment speaking towards that feature (the calling out of one's name) about DCL..actually twice I spoke to that.

I was talking about your comment saying "On other cruise lines it feels like you are about to be trampled if you just dont keep moving quickly once on the ship."

Unless you've been on all the other cruise lines out there you're just making a poor assumption what others are like and AND what DCL isn't. Hence why I said you'll have to ask others about they feel on the lines they've done (and just listed out two as examples) but also that there's far too many other cruise lines out there for you to lump them all together for that experience. And if I look to what posters are saying is their experience one could say to your point you're moving the trampling to the port terminal rather than actually preventing it. A whole mob of people clustered in the terminal waiting on their call to board in a confined area can easily be made into poor crowd control just in a different location (same problem different physical location).

Or you really hold people to strict PATs. It can be done. They did it during Covid. You had to show your PAT to be able to drop off people or luggage, or park. If not in your PAT window they made you leave. Being strict about allowing PATs into any part of the terminal (outside too) would elevate that as a mob point at the terminal itself (might cause traffic but that is due to ppl refusing to think rules apply to them and arriving early)

 

[DCLMP]

I don't think blaming it on the guests is the answer when other cruise lines don't have that problem.

 

[dreamer17555]

I also suspect what leads to so many people trying to arrive at the terminal before their PAT is that DCL does not offer a cut the line paid service like Priority Access, The Key, Faster to the Fun, etc beyond DCL transportation service. I think if they did it would be very popular but would need to be priced very high because concierge does not have enough benefits if a DCL Key was also getting things like priority seating for shows and boarding early.

Also that many DCL cruisers are already familiar with the parks where rope dropping, and arriving early, being online at 7 AM (or is it 6AM now) for ADRS, FP+ (Now lightening lanes), Run Disney Registration etc. Disney guests have been trained to show up early, and that every moment counts and do no mimic the way cruisers act on other lines. We park trained guestm (myself included) do approach things differently. This summer I would rope drop our local water park in NC and the other few guests that I saw there each time? Also huge WDW park goers with APs (we chatted while waiting).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Or you really hold people to strict PATs. It can be done. They did it during Covid. You had to show your PAT to be able to drop off people or luggage, or park. If not in your PAT window they made you leave. Being strict about allowing PATs into any part of the terminal (outside too) would elevate that as a mob point at the terminal itself (might cause traffic but that is due to ppl refusing to think rules apply to them and arriving early)

Although I'm always about following cruise line rules I wasn't going for brainstorming here. I'm sure there were complaints people had with respects on how port arrival was and boarding long before covid even if processes varied over the years.

Your perspective may be it prevents issues that are on other ships but you can't say that in a general way with all the cruise lines out there. Others may view it as it creates issues in the port terminal or causes more annoyance. But if you want to know how other lines are you can ask people (already there's a Royal experience on the thread).

There's for sure individual preferences here at play that might make someone view a specific way in a more positive (or negative) light and IMO more what is driving a narrative towards how DCL's way is received by a person.

 

[dreamer17555]

Although I'm always about following cruise line rules I wasn't going for brainstorming here. I'm sure there were complaints people had with respects on how port arrival was and boarding long before covid even if processes varied over the years.

Your perspective may be it prevents issues that are on other ships but you can't say that in a general way with all the cruise lines out there. Others may view it as it creates issues in the port terminal or causes more annoyance. But if you want to know how other lines are you can ask people (already there's a Royal experience on the thread).

There's for sure individual preferences here at play that might make someone view a specific way in a more positive (or negative) light and IMO more what is driving a narrative towards how DCL's way is received by a person.

I have cruised other lines and can speak to my personal experience. I do not need to ask others. I can share my experiences. I don't think DCL is the best at everything (for instance I personally think Royal has much better shows but not everyone agrees). I can share my personal take without making sure everyone agrees with is. We all have our own view on things

 

[peder]

Honestly? I would cringe at that sort of attention on myself and if it meant that because so many people are boarding and we have to go at a very slow pace in order to do that I would much rather not. I get it when it's about this whole "magic" biz that Disney is trying to carry through onto their cruise line but frankly people just want to be on the ship the most, just the same as they want to be in the parks the most. What happens at the entrance in the end is less important than getting the vacation actually going, to many that is.

I think it's super cringe also but I believe it's extremely popular. When you listen to podcasts like the DCL Podcast or catch Instagram reels of families talking about their experience on a DCL ship, you almost always hear people mentioning this glowingly (and you often hear specific words like "I was tearing up" because they thought it was so magical).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have cruised other lines and can speak to my personal experience. I do not need to ask others. I can share my experiences. I don't think DCL is the best at everything (for instance I personally think Royal has much better shows but not everyone agrees). I can share my personal take without making sure everyone agrees with is. We all have our own view on things

You're kinda still not getting it. No one was saying you don't have your own experience. I know you've cruised with at least one other line based on prior comments. You're the one who decided to add in the comment that "other lines"=trampling on the ship and DCL's way means that doesn't happen.

You have to accept that your experience is only your experience. Not one that someone else may have with the same cruise line and certainly not the experience with the plethora of other lines out there. The fact that you've now said twice you don't need to ask others means you're not really interested in the actual topic that you decided to bring up. If you don't think other people's experiences are worth hearing don't make presumptions about the experiences of other cruise lines.

 

[dreamer17555]

You're kinda still not getting it. No one was saying you don't have your own experience. I know you've cruised with at least one other line based on prior comments. You're the one who decided to add in the comment that "other lines"=trampling on the ship and DCL's way means that doesn't happen.

You have to accept that your experience is only your experience. Not one that someone else may have with the same cruise line and certainly not the experience with the plethora of other lines out there. The fact that you've now said twice you don't need to ask others means you're not really interested in the actual topic that you decided to bring up. If you don't think other people's experiences are worth hearing don't make presumptions about the experiences of other cruise lines.

I do accept my experience is MY experience. Please kindly stop saying that I need to check with others to see if they agree with my assessment of my experience. You keep saying that I alone need to check that others agree but I have yet to see you say that to any other poster. You do not push back if someone says DCL has the best shows out of every cruise line and ask them have they been on every cruise line, have they asked at the Royal board to see if they agree DCL is the best?

Do you make a poster prove that DCL is more expensive than other lines when they say that? Do you mention lines like Seabourn and make them price compare?

You did not offer a divergent point of view- you keep implying somehow that my point of view is faulty.

I can say my experience. You may say yours. You do not ask others across the board to defend their stance so it is starting to feel a bit like a personal attack.

I am okay with others sharing their personal experiences and do listen but I hope you are aware your posts come off as attacks (IMO) that I must somehow validate the way I feel about my experiences.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think it's super cringe also but I believe it's extremely popular. When you listen to podcasts like the DCL Podcast or catch Instagram reels of families talking about their experience on a DCL ship, you almost always hear people mentioning this glowingly (and you often hear specific words like "I was tearing up" because they thought it was so magical).

That's true although I would add the caveat social media is not representative of real life. I don't mean that there aren't people out there that get really emotional at it, if for no other reason than seeing their kids get excited, but that people's hype on social media does not mean they are authentic just by the nature of it being seen on it. We live in a digital world but whether people are just amping it up for the clicks/views is another thing.

In the case of Disney they are well known in the world of social media for wanting people to stay on their good side (I don't think that's for the average joe here though). Not that I'm discounting it may be popular with what you see on social media rather that I can't say that's representative of the passengers as whole (which is why I mentioned surveys over time gaining knowledge on how things go as time goes on).

 

[Girl of the South]

I really don’t enjoy the “announcement” thing and just shake my head and walk right past the hoopla. It would be very easy to have a little roped path to the left side of the entrance for people who want to skip it. There is no checking of documents at that point.

 

[dreamer17555]

I really don’t enjoy the “announcement” thing and just shake my head and walk right past the hoopla. It would be very easy to have a little roped path to the left side of the entrance for people who want to skip it. There is no checking of documents at that point.

It depends on the ship and port. We have had the final QR Port Arrival form scanned right on the ship in Fort Lauderdale right before they announced you 3x this year. They had 3 stands and it merged back into once announcement line but normally waiting less than two families at most.

 

[DCLMP]

Although I'm always about following cruise line rules I wasn't going for brainstorming here. I'm sure there were complaints people had with respects on how port arrival was and boarding long before covid even if processes varied over the years.

Your perspective may be it prevents issues that are on other ships but you can't say that in a general way with all the cruise lines out there. Others may view it as it creates issues in the port terminal or causes more annoyance. But if you want to know how other lines are you can ask people (already there's a Royal experience on the thread).

There's for sure individual preferences here at play that might make someone view a specific way in a more positive (or negative) light and IMO more what is driving a narrative towards how DCL's way is received by a person.

For what its worth I've had BG group 1 or 2 for about 13 years. Contrary to popular belief I have not observed a lot of people showing up early. In FLL there were a couple families in the 1115 line, but nothing crazy. If Disney starts boarding on time it's fine. The problem is they are often late starting the boarding process. They may assign too many people PAT's between 1100-1200, but I have no way of knowing that.