Fantasy DVC Offer

[smsnorthup]

Now that we & DCL know what a success the June email special was, what do you think the chances are that they would offer it for the Fantasy in July? I've looked at inventory for July and it looks like they have every category available for veranda staterooms and they're offering VGT for almost all sailing dates in July. Just trying to get my ducks in a row so I can jump on it if it's offered. What do you all think?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I think they want all rooms filled and they'll do anything they can to insure they are within reason.

The crusie market is so competitive. I can't tell you how many times my wife and I in years past went to the port in Miami with our bags packed on sailing day and went from ship to ship making what would seem like ridiculous offers on the surface until somebody called our bluff. That's the thing. Somebody ALWAYS called our bluff. We went intending to stay the week at South Beach if we didn't get on a boat. We always got on and most of the time, it was on RCCL (our favorite until we crusied Disney). We still haven't seen South Beach.

Disney is going to have to get in line more with other cruise lines, IMHO, to stay in the market now that they have 4 ships on the open seas. They're about to learn that the pond can dry up and that they aren't the only game in town. They don't have to give them away but they are about to learn that it's better to have the rooms full (food and everything is already onboard) than to have them empty.

Eventually their target marketing (like FL residents and DVC) will dry up too and they will be forced to do this in the open market. Just my $0.02.

Yes. Look for a mailing for July. Sooner rather than later.

 

[disneynutz]

Something like 28 million people visit Disney parks each year, who knows how many have given their email address to Disney. Sending emails on last minute offers to fill a ship seems to work and there is very little cost involved in sending out emails.

Bill

 

[bobbiwoz]

I can hardly wait until DH retires, and then we too can take advantage of last minute cruise sales!

 

[smsnorthup]

I think they want all rooms filled and they'll do anything they can to insure they are within reason.

The crusie market is so competitive. I can't tell you how many times my wife and I in years past went to the port in Miami with our bags packed on sailing day and went from ship to ship making what would seem like ridiculous offers on the surface until somebody called our bluff. That's the thing. Somebody ALWAYS called our bluff. We went intending to stay the week at South Beach if we didn't get on a boat. We always got on and most of the time, it was on RCCL (our favorite until we crusied Disney). We still haven't seen South Beach.

Disney is going to have to get in line more with other cruise lines, IMHO, to stay in the market now that they have 4 ships on the open seas. They're about to learn that the pond can dry up and that they aren't the only game in town. They don't have to give them away but they are about to learn that it's better to have the rooms full (food and everything is already onboard) than to have them empty.

Eventually their target marketing (like FL residents and DVC) will dry up too and they will be forced to do this in the open market. Just my $0.02.

Yes. Look for a mailing for July. Sooner rather than later.

I like the way you think

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I appreciate the compliment but it's really not just the way I think. It is the state of that industry and it has been for many years, including the boutiful ones. These cruise ship holding companies filled the open seas with so many of these huge ocean-going cities that they saturated the market. It began a game of on-upsmanship between the holding companies.

What they ended up doing was oversaturating a marketplace that had a finite set of potential buyers. You might be surprised how many people still think that cruising is only for the ritzy rich, though the cruise industry still actively markets to dispell this misconception.

My wife and I actually learned about the Miami Port thing after cruising for several years on RCCL. We were actually sitting with a couple one night at dinner on a RCCL cruise. They were from a small town just outside Miami. We made an offhand comment that we went 1-2 times per year but would probably go more often if we could afford it. They sort of laughed at us and explained what several friends they had had told them about the industry and what THEY did. They went on 8-10 3-4 day cruises every year by doing exactly what they suggested we do.

We must have taken 5-6 more cruises this way before my wife took me kicking and screaming to WDW and I got HOOKED on WDW instead of cruising, but that's another story for another time.

Look. It's real simple, once you think about it. It's the same reason you get substantial upgrades to your cabin in-port just prior to departure. It's FREE money to the cruise ship. Think about it...

The room is EMPTY.

All the food is onboard for a full sailing. It has to be, and it won't keep forever.

It takes EXACTLY the same staff at sail time to man a ship with 500 rooms full as it does to man a ship with 1000 rooms full.

For all intents and purposes, it takes essentially the same fuel oil to power the ship no matter the "load" as far as passengers are concerned.

Empty rooms=lost revenue.

I would be willing to bet you that DCL does exactly the same thing on sailing day that ALL the other lines do. I Can't prove this because I have never actually tried it at Port Canaveral (though I certainly intend to soon) but I do know I upgraded one time to a veranda stateroom from an outside porthole cabin for virtually NOTHING. (And this was a "free" sailing because of a DVC add-on purchase!)

It's been years since I paid discounted rates, much less retail, to take a cruise and I don't intend to ever do it again (pay "going rates").

That industry is hurting right now, especially in this economy. I don't care if it is Disney, with 4 HUGE ships and all those rooms, eventually the captive audience willing to continually pay retail PLUS for those rooms dries up. They have a cottage audience INSIDE a cottage industry. That makes for a pretty small potential draw.

RCCL ain't shabby. Not by ANYBODY's standards. People, even Disney people, are learning this, and they are jumping ship from Disney to other lines after getting their feet wet on DCL. I know this from my industry contacts over the years. Disney knows this too. People are going, "Dang! I Can take the same crusie on RCCL for half the money even through a TRAVEL AGENT."

They will adapt or they will fail. You're going to see some significant drops in DCL pricing over the next 12-24 months to become much closer in line with the industry standards. Wait and see. You can mark me on that one.

For the naysayers on my prediction, I offer you this. They never had this problem with only two ships. Now they have those plus two more MASSIVE vessels. It matters. I would bet my bottom dollar that they have over extended and I know people smarter than me decided to build the Dream and the Fantasy. Remember too that the decision to build those two ships were made a LONG time ago in a very DIFFERENT economy. We ain't ever going back to where we were. Disney knows that too. If Disney had known what the economy was going to do, they would have NEVER built those two ships and they would be the richest company in the world. Nobody saw it coming. It wasn't just Disney. RCCL did it too, which even further discounts the marketplace.

 

[kidaniokeefe]

Wilsonflyer, please explain how and where you go to negotiate a room on these ships. I'm a fan of cruising (especially on RCCL) and would love to try this out sometime!

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Every cruise line has a sales ticket counter just like the airlines do. You MUST know what you want. You must know what the various categories best going rates were and most importantly, you must know what you are willing to pay for what and what you are willing to accept. That's what we always did.

Of course, you must be prepared to go "johnny on the spot," as we say in the south. Bags packed and travel documents ready to go.

In the interest of full disclosure, we haven't done this since 9-11. I can't imagine that this has changed anything except for the more stringent travel document requirements/recommendations. It's not like they vett every passenger in depth.

"Look. My wife and I would like to stay in category 10A. Do you have any empty rooms available that will be sailing with noone in them? We're fully prepared to go. We are willing to pay xxxx." That's almost exactly what we did and it worked virtually every time. One time, I do remember hitting a tough one at the counter and we asked for a manager and we reminded her about what good empty rooms were to her. In an hour, we were onboard (I think this was a Costa 7-day Western.)

We planned for these cruises 6 months out just like we had tickets in hand, even though we did NOT, and that's the way you have to treat it. On most major lines, there are almost always cabins available. We've mostly done it on RCCL but we've done it on Costa, Princess and Norwegian too. We usually had an itinerary in mind (western, Eastern, Southern, 3-night Bahamas, etc.) but that's about it.

Better to fill the room than to sail away with it empty.

It is interesting to note that we were mostly lonesome at these counters every time. Nobody does it. Either people don't know they can, or cannot or will not, "take the chance." That's great for people like us who are willing to roll the dice. It also ads to the negotiating power at the counter. It's not like there were 100 people lined up behind us to buy up those EMPTY rooms.

Be careful what you ask for.

 

[Lewisc]

Every cruise line has a sales ticket counter just like the airlines do. You MUST know what you want. You must know what the various categories best going rates were and most importantly, you must know what you are willing to pay for what and what you are willing to accept. That's what we always did.

Of course, you must be prepared to go "johnny on the spot," as we say in the south. Bags packed and travel documents ready to go.

In the interest of full disclosure, we haven't done this since 9-11. I can't imagine that this has changed anything except for the more stringent travel document requirements/recommendations. It's not like they vet every passenger in depth.

"Look. My wife and I would like to stay in category 10A. Do you have any empty rooms available that will be sailing with noone in them? We're fully prepared to go. We are willing to pay xxxx." That's almost exactly what we did and it worked virtually every time. One time, I do remember hitting a tough one at the counter and we asked for a manager and we reminded her about what good empty rooms were to her. In an hour, we were onboard (I think this was a Costa 7-day Western.)

We planned for these cruises 6 months out just like we had tickets in hand, even though we did NOT, and that's the way you have to treat it. On most major lines, there are almost always cabins available. We've mostly done it on RCCL but we've done it on Costa, Princess and Norwegian too.

You haven't done this in more then 10 years, if ever. It's no longer done. Instead cabins are released as "flash promotions" booked through your TA. A few internet agencies specialize in last minute bookings but most TAs can book.
http://vacationstogo.com/ is one example

 

[WilsonFlyer]

You haven't done this in more then 10 years, if ever. It's no longer done. Instead cabins are released as "flash promotions" booked through your TA. A few internet agencies specialize in last minute bookings but most TAs can book.
http://vacationstogo.com/ is one example

I'm not going to argue about the 10 year thing. I stated that clearly in my post. As to the "Ever," yes we have. Many times. Whether you choose to believe it is entirely up to you. I can't control that.

We don't cruise anymore. We go to Disney now.

I don't know whether you can do it anymore or not. Post 9/11 is a different world in a lot of ways, especially where international travel is concerned. All I know for sure is that we did it in the past. Many times. I would be willing tobet you can do it today too, but I can't prove it because I haven't tried recently. You can get on a plane to Germany on a last minute ticket. My bet is you can still do the same on the boats until somebody can prove differently.

 

[msmayor]

I'm not going to argue about the 10 year thing. I stated that clearly in my post. As to the "Ever," yes we have. Many times. Whether you choose to believe it is entirely up to you. I can't control that.

We don't cruise anymore. We go to Disney now.

I don't know whether you can do it anymore or not. Post 9/11 is a different world in a lot of ways, especially where international travel is concerned. All I know for sure is that we did it in the past. Many times. I would be willing tobet you can do it today too, but I can't prove it because I haven't tried recently. You can get on a plane to Germany on a last minute ticket. My bet is you can still do the same on the boats until somebody can prove differently.

You are correct about getting on a plane last minute, but on a ship it is indeed quite different.

Manifests close to new passengers about 72 hours before the sail time. Packing your backs and just showing up, hoping to get a cabin is impossible today.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

You are correct about getting on a plane last minute, but on a ship it is indeed quite different.

Manifests close to new passengers about 72 hours before the sail time. Packing your backs and just showing up, hoping to get a cabin is impossible today.

That's interesting. I admit I didn't know that. What I did and do know is that it didn't use to be that way.

Thanks for the clarifying that.

Maybe the link Mr. Lewis posted is the alternative in today's travel world.

 

[Lewisc]

This question comes up on cruise boards all the time. Cruiselines need to provide their manifests prior to sailing, I'm not sure if it's 90 minutes or 2 hours. They want passengers to provide the info in advance, online, but it can be supplied at the pier a few hours before sailing. They no longer want people just showing up.

Cruiselines want to sail at or above capacity. That's why they offer last minute "flash promotions".

 

[ccigliano]

Can anyone share what the deal was? I am not sure if I got it. I would love to get a last minute deal from NYC.

Thanks.

 

[happyann79]

Are the promotions mailed to all dvc members or is it randome?

 

[sissy_ib]

Can anyone share what the deal was? I am not sure if I got it. I would love to get a last minute deal from NYC.

Thanks.

It was $1099 a person for a verandah room on June Fantasy sailings. The did allow DVC members who already had cash bookings to upgrade their rooms or get a refund for the difference.

Are the promotions mailed to all dvc members or is it randome?

Many DVC members reported they did not get the email. But people who did not get the email but read about it were able to get the deal.