I guess DCL won this one...

[squirk]

I think this is what is lost on many people. Prior to the recent changes, (alcohol, pool hours, arcades, etc.) the ships were sailing 100% full. And after these changes....the ships will sail 100% full. So these changes cannot have been designed to drum up more business. 100% is as full as you can get. No one sat around a board room thinking up ways to put more people on the ships. There simply wasn't any room for more people on the ships. And the new policies were certainly not put into place to drive people off of the ships. No business would want to do that. So in the end, the new policies were not done to impact the total number of people on the ships. Instead, they were designed to increase the revenue generated by the people while on the ships.

And I think this is what is also lost on many people. Regardless of how fervent a Disney fan you are, or how many times you have cruised with DCL, at this point in time, they don't need your business.

As such, why would they grant you concessions or maintain a status quo if they don't need you to come back? Now, that could change in the future, but for now, they have the breathing room to push that pricing envelope a bit further.

 

[longboard55]

. Regardless of how fervent a Disney fan you are, or how many times you have cruised with DCL, at this point in time, they don't need your business.

As such, why would they grant you concessions or maintain a status quo if they don't need you to come back? Now, that could change in the future, but for now, they have the breathing room to push that pricing envelope a bit further.[/QUOTE]


We pretty much disliked cruises before going disney. No switching here.

 

[Lolo579]

I'm in total agreement with most of what has been said on this thread. We will be on the Fantasy in October (PIF before the alcohol policy change), but have already cancelled our March reservation with DCL and booked with Princess instead. It's less about the actual policy change (though we had planned on carrying on wine and some liquor as we have in the past) and more about how things have been handled.

 

[TChrist05]

The fact that DCL or Disney in general does not need or really care whether we come back. I completely understand this. I always loved the anticipation and enjoyed our Disney vacations--we just decided that if they really don't care if we come back we will look around. We did and booked another line. Will we be back--possible. We may get to the other side and miss Disney. What is certain is we are slowing down vacations a little now--maybe we need to get hungry again.

 

[steves100]

We are platinum, will not be changing our April trip, like Disney too much and friends are on also (school spring break). But when its just me an my wife I will certainly look at alternatives especially since competition leaves from the NYC area. Would never had thought about another line until all these SMALL changes.

 

[Rogillio]

Disney is one of the best companies at knowing their customers. They research things to death. They aren't perfect, but they will take corrective action quickly if they discover this is a mistake.
Will they lose some repeat customers to other lines? Probably. Will they gain an equal number of new customers because of the changes? Probably.

Exactly! It was a business decision based on....profit? liability? customer feedback? We will never know...but rest assured it was not an arbitrary and capricious decision. It was a well thought out business decision.

On every DCL we've ever been on they ask on opening night in the theater "How many people have sailed with DCL before?" And many hands go up.....let's say anout 10% of the people. Just a guess. That means 90% of the people have never cruise DCL before and have no idea what the DCL alcohol policy used to be! And out of that 10% who are repeat cruisers, let say 10% of them were aware of and took advantage of the old alcohol policy. That mean about 1% of the people sailing were effected by the policy. And out of that 1% many of those, like me, really don't give a hoot. It just means my bar tab will be a little higher...or maybe I will drink a little less....which is a good thing.

Just a guess at the numbers....but even if you say 30% of cruisers are repeat cruisers and 20% of them took advantage of the alcohol policy that is still just 6% of the cruisers. I seriously don't think it is that high.

Frankly I'm suprised they let you bring any alcohol on board. Next time you go out to dinner ask them if you can bring in your own booze.....

 

[JimmyV]

Next time you go out to dinner ask them if you can bring in your own booze.....

That is only part of the equation. A cruise ship is many things, so consider....

• The next time you stay in a Westin Hotel, ask them if you can bring your own alcohol to your room.
• The next time you go to a pool club or a private beach club, ask them if you can bring your own alcohol. (Understood that public beaches are different.)
• The next time you go out to dinner, ask if you can bring your own wine.

In each of these instances, the answer is typically "yes". Now, I will grant you that bringing vodka to a restaurant is typically not allowed. So when the cruise ship says that you cannot bring vodka to the MDR, it is falling in line with the norm. But there isn't a hotel in the United States that prohibits you from bringing alcohol into your room. And the "hotel" part of a cruise ship shouldn't be all that much different, no? A cruise ship isn't just a collection of restaurants. It is a hotel. A private pool club. A series of restaurants. Theaters. Libraries. And so on. On land, personal alcohol is allowed at some of these places and disallowed at others. A ship can have similar restrictions.

 

[perditax]

Exactly! It was a business decision based on....profit? liability? customer feedback? We will never know...

Oh, I think we'll know when the beverage packages go live.

Frankly I'm suprised they let you bring any alcohol on board. Next time you go out to dinner ask them if you can bring in your own booze.....

I don't think you dine out much.

http://nocorkagefees.com/

 

[JimmyV]

I don't think you dine out much.

Whenever someone uses the term "booze", a) I take it as a pejorative term intended to reveal some sort of agenda; and b) I take it to mean hard liquor as opposed to beer and wine. So when they said "ask them if you can bring in your own booze", I took it to mean spirits and not wine. If that is correct, then taking spirits to restaurants is generally not allowed, and may not even be legal unless the establishment doesn't have a liquor license, and even then, I am not so sure. Some state's laws place an ABV limit on items that you can carry in. On the other hand, if they were lumping wine in with the term "booze", it would show a real lack of understanding of the dining world, as you point out.

 

[DVC Kathy]

DH and I took our first Disney cruise in June, 2014. We rebooked on board. We took our tenth cruise (Wonder to Alaska) in June, 2015. For the first time, we did not rebook on board. We cruised Royal Caribbean out of Bayonne once. We had a great time. I can't call it better or worse than DCL, just different. Given the current Disney prices, it just isn't the draw it used to be for us. I'm not saying we won't cruise Disney in the future, but it's not an automatic rebook anymore. Even though we never brought more than a bottle or two of wine on board to drink during the cruise, the change in policy, and the hassle to retrieve liquor purchases prior to disembarkation does have an effect.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Describes my family "to a tee".


I think this is what is lost on many people. Prior to the recent changes, (alcohol, pool hours, arcades, etc.) the ships were sailing 100% full. And after these changes....the ships will sail 100% full.

According to the U.S. Maritime Administration (www.marad.dot.gov) for the period between 2011 and 2012 (the latest data available), Disney's ships sailed at approximately 98% of maximum capacity, or 147% of rated capacity - they definitely aren't going to miss a few disgruntled cruisers here and there

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Today I paid in full for my December cruise. My DH is not really into cruising, but I had hoped to get him into it by adding Disney to the mix. I don't personally care about the alcohol policy, but I am appalled at the way it was implemented and how the customer service response was handled. I can pretty much guarantee this will be our first and last DCL cruise. If I want to cruise, I'm fine with traveling on other lines for far cheaper. If we want Disney magic, we'll stick with the parks; they've yet to let us down and are the cheaper option. You're all probably right that they won't "miss" us, but neither are they getting any more of my hard earned money. Fool me once...

 

[JimmyV]

According to the U.S. Maritime Administration (www.marad.dot.gov) for the period between 2011 and 2012 (the latest data available), Disney's ships sailed at approximately 98% of maximum capacity, or 147% of rated capacity - they definitely aren't going to miss a few disgruntled cruisers here and there

Not only aren't they going to miss them, they are actually going to make more money going forward. But it is unlikely that it will be any of my money. I just priced out a cruise for next summer:

Princess:
14 Days
Cabin Size 329 sq. ft including balcony
Ports:
Barcelona (start of cruise, leaves time for extra days there)
Naples (twice)
Sicily
Kotor, Montenegro
Athens
Santorini
Mykonos
Kusadasi
Crete
Rome (end of cruise leaving time for extra days).

DCL:
12 Days
Cabin Size 268 sq. ft including balcony
Ports:
Barcelona (start of cruise, leaves time for extra days there)
French Riviera
La Spezia (which they say is "for Florence", but that is a bit of a hike)
Rome (just a day stop with no opportunity for additional days)
Athens
Kusadasi
Mykonos
Malta
Back to Barcelona

So the ports in common are: Barcelona, Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi and Rome, with Princess giving me the chance to add extra days in Rome.
The not-in-common ports are Naples (twice), Sicily, Kotor, Santorini and Crete versus French Riviera, La Spezia and Malta.
On itinerary alone, the Princess cruise wins. Larger cabin. More days. More ports. Better ports (IMO). Now for the prices.....

Princess=$10,391
DCL=$16,311

All the discussions in the world about cutbacks and new policies don't matter one bit compared to the price and itinerary differences.

 

[TK Brown]

My family and I are going on our 5th cruise in December. For us, the alcohol policy change doesnt effect us at all. Do I agree it was handled incorrectly? Yes I do. Is there a huge price difference in DCL and other cruise lines? Yes there is. I have sailed on other cruise lines and have gotten nowhere near the service and hospitality that i get on a DCL cruise. That doesnt mean i wont keep an eye on the prices. Lets face it, money doesnt grow on trees. But for now, we are sticking with DCL.

 

[Mr and Mrs Mouse]

A little background, we have been on 14 DCL cruises, and several (Other Guys). We have always enjoyed the generous alcohol policy at DCL, not because we are cheapskates (its hard to be a cheapskate on Disney). Or because we are drunkards. But rather, it was convenient, we could have our preferred liquor in our room, along with a few bottles of wine. Did we bring our adult beverages into public places? NO. Did we bring our carried on drinks into public areas....NOPE. We always consumed our stash in our stateroom (generally on our verandah), at times that alcohol was not being served. Disney, not being one of the "party ships" shuts alcohol sales down relatively early, and starts up pretty late. My wife and I loved being able to have baileys and coffee in the early morning, and late night cocktails outside on our verandah. Will not being able to bring my own on our upcoming cruise entice us to buy more alcohol from DCL?? Absolutely not! Will the new policy change our thoughts on rebooking? ABSOLUTLEY! It is just becoming apparent how little Disney is different from the (Other Guys). I remember when your re-booking incentive was tied to your status…Not anymore…..I remember when the gold and platinum lanyards meant something……Not anymore. With the (total) price differential between the (Other Guys) and Disney becoming more apparent, and the perks with DCL fading, we will most certainly be cruising more with the (other guys).

 

[squirk]

It is just becoming apparent how little Disney is different from the (Other Guys).

And that right there is where I think DCL is going to get itself in trouble eventually. No one single huge glaring mistake, but rather "death by a thousand cuts" - literally and figuratively.

Cut a little thing here, a little thing there, and they will eventually erode away much of the collective difference they tout to justify their pricing. They'll be just like the (Other Guys) - maybe with Disney character meet-n-greets, but otherwise not much different than the competition. But still 25%-40% more.

Yes, they will still get fresh meat who don't know any better their first or second time sailing, but eventually (and it might take years), it will become apparent to the general public that DCL is nice, but not so much nicer than RCCL or NCL to justify the pricing. Like ZephyrHawk said, word will get out to get your Disney fix instead at the parks because that's where you get a lot more value for the premium Disney charges; save your cruising money for the (Other Guys).

 

[tvguy]

Dont agree they will gain customers because of the change, they may not see a real drop off though. They certainly will gain more MONEY at the bars though.

Given that they appear to be sailing at capacity most of the time, no place for more customers. Just different ones.

 

[tvguy]

Exactly! It was a business decision based on....profit? liability? customer feedback? We will never know...but rest assured it was not an arbitrary and capricious decision. It was a well thought out business decision.

On every DCL we've ever been on they ask on opening night in the theater "How many people have sailed with DCL before?" And many hands go up.....let's say anout 10% of the people. Just a guess. That means 90% of the people have never cruise DCL before and have no idea what the DCL alcohol policy used to be! And out of that 10% who are repeat cruisers, let say 10% of them were aware of and took advantage of the old alcohol policy. That mean about 1% of the people sailing were effected by the policy. And out of that 1% many of those, like me, really don't give a hoot. It just means my bar tab will be a little higher...or maybe I will drink a little less....which is a good thing.

Just a guess at the numbers....but even if you say 30% of cruisers are repeat cruisers and 20% of them took advantage of the alcohol policy that is still just 6% of the cruisers. I seriously don't think it is that high.

Frankly I'm suprised they let you bring any alcohol on board. Next time you go out to dinner ask them if you can bring in your own booze.....

Repeat cruisers were nearly 50% on our Disney cruise. They are supposed to have the highest rate of return customers.

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Well we were affected....PIF for our Oct. 30th cruise on the Dream when the policy change was announced. So with that we (5 cabins) have decided NOT to book our Alaskan cruise with Disney and to book with Royal. We also then turned around and confirmed our Norwegian 7 day Western Caribbean on the Getaway for next summer. So I'm looking at Norwegian 2016, Royal 2017 and Royal 2018. Maybe by then I will be use to industry standards and throw in a 3 or 4 nighter to get my Disney fix but right now the wound is too fresh Oh and did I mention I got the Ultimate Beverage package for my NCL booking for FREE

 

[tinkerone]

i don't know guys, even pete mentioned on his podcast a few weeks ago that people were cancelling their sailings due to this change. i think its gong to hurt a bit for a little while, not sure it will last but there will be a bit of pain for dcl. i'm just looking at all the repeaters that say they are not going to rebook (me being one of them) and thats a small hit right there. you do have people who say they are going to rebook but that was a given anyways and so doesn't affect dcl.

word of mouth is major for any business. i have referred so many to dcl and i would bet most of you have to. we could rhyme off the great reasons for suggesting people pay extra…..can't so much now. i used to try to get friends and family to come with us on dcl. last week i was talking friends and family into our sailing on the oasis, unheard of from this disney mouth. i'm finding myself excited about a new ship to explore.

i really do believe that they are going to feel a hit. big one? maybe not but they will know. it will be interesting to see what the sailings look like in 8-10 months. time will tell i guess.