It's All About the Upsell - Where does DCL try to "Getcha"?

[ChicosWife]

About "getting more", it depends on who you are and what your priorities are. Of course, everybody use the cruise line differently and I believe that a family might find much better value in DCL if their kids are really into Disney than us (two adults: a wife who loves Disney & a husband who only cares about good food & more adult entertainment --and is kinda bored with the Mouse & doesn't want to hear Disney songs.) The characters experience is possibly at the top of your priorities while it is a the bottom of our priorities.

For us the price of the DCL cruise itself was kind of a "getcha" because when we have first sailed with DCL, we were not aware of the price difference compared to other cruise lines. I knew nothing about cruising. Before I tried another cruise line, I was 100% sure that cheaper cruise lines had to be crappy to charge so little prices. My opinion obviously changed since.

I completely understand and my kids don't care too much for the character experience, but DCL as a whole, has impressed us extremely with the quality of... well, everything! We are spoiled now.

 

[mevelandry]

I completely understand and my kids don't care too much for the character experience, but DCL as a whole, has impressed us extremely with the quality of... well, everything! We are spoiled now.

It is a great cruise line. That we will always agree on.

 

[YawningDodo]

I don't understand how anybody is "pressured" into these things. They are optional, say NO THANK YOU. On the first 2 days they were pushing the bottled water packages. I said NO a few times, but I did say NO.

As someone who had to learn this as a skill because it didn't come naturally to me...I totally get how people can feel really pressured and have a hard time with it. I've thankfully hit a point where I can say 'no' to sales pitches and hold my ground on it, but my preferred strategy is still to avoid situations where I expect people to be actively trying to sell me things most of the time. Dealing with high pressure sales and/or having to say no repeatedly can be emotionally draining because my natural tendency is usually to take other people's lead and try to meet others' expectations, and sales tactics are generally designed to take advantage of those inclinations. When you're shy and/or introverted, too, it can hit a point where you cave and buy something just to be able to end the interaction.

So yeah, I can say no. I say no all the time. If I were in a situation where I had to say no all the time on a vacation, though, I would be peeved because it would mean my vacation was no longer relaxing.

 

[Dug720]

Although most aren’t pushy up sells, there are plenty of opportunities to spend more money on your cruise. Hold on to your wallet

DCL Cruise Expenses (other than cruise fare and automatic gratuities):


1. Alcoholic drinks at the bars and from roving servers (welcome aboard)

2. Wine by the glass or wine packages at meals

3. Spa treatments

4. Shore excursions

5. Purchases from the stores: clothing, sundries, jewelry, souvenirs, etc.

6. Adult dining

7. Bottled water

8. Photos (individual and packages)

9. Onboard booking for future cruises

11. Art - in the form of auctions on other ships

13. Tips for room service

14. Internet

15. Room upgrades (usually at port, sometimes GS)

16. Bingo

17. Parking/transportation

18. Port porters gratuity

19. Alcohol and cigarettes for delivery at end of voyage

20. Welcome aboard packages (flowers, candy, etc waiting in your cabin)

22. Cameras from photo shop

23. Cellular phone calls (although it will be billed later to your phone bill)

24. Medical care

25. Cigars

26. Arcade

27. Hair Braiding

28. Nursery care for children under 3 - some child care on other ships after certain hours

29. Tastings and Mixology

30. Excursion tips

31. Soft drinks from room service or bar

32. Specialty coffee

33. Meeting room rental

34. Onboard wedding

35. Vow renewal ceremony

36. Sports simulator (don’t care about these so I don’t know if other ships have them)

37. Laundry room

38. Send-out laundry and dry cleaning

39. Room service sodas and candy (these have a charge)

40. Additional tip (over the automatic) for bar servers

41. Required gratuity added to spa services

44. Duties at customs at end of cruise if you've made a LOT of purchases abroad

45. Ship to shore calls from your room phone

46. Fuel supplement charge if the price of oil is above a certain level

49. Kids’s club magic bands (if you want to keep them, you lose the deposit) - not sure how other lines do their things

52. Sparkling or still (plain specialty) water with your meal

53. Upcharge food items at the adult clubs

54. Candy and ice cream from Vanellope’s on the Dream - maybe not Vanellope’s, but plenty of other lines have for-pay treats

55. Smoothies - charges for these on most other lines

56. Required tip at spa (not optional)

58. Tuxedo rental

59. Corkage fee for your wine in MDR

60. Scooter rental (for handicap us on ship)

I removed the few that are DCL specific, but all the others are fees you will find on other lines. Don’t act like there are sooooooo many more charges on Disney.

 

[Dug720]

To me it seems as this embarkation day pushing of drink packages seems to be much less than in the past. I don't think anyone approached us on our last couple cruises.

Never experienced it on DCL.

Now RCCL on the other hand... From literally the moment your foot crosses the threshold IME you have their multitude of beverage packages thrown in your face.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Unfortunately when you are choosing to cruise for a vacation (and other lines are worse than Disney), or you are going where there are timeshare sales (Disney is pretty low key with the timeshare sales) sales pitches are a fact of life. If it makes you nervous and you can't relax, or you are unable to resist sales pitches, then there are places to vacation that it doesn't happen. that said, DCL is not like Vegas where there were timeshare salespeople around every corner and hanging out near the resort check-in areas just waiting. They usually pretend they are just starting a conversation and you think they are hotel employees, but if you look closely they are wearing timeshare nametags.

Personally I don't see how anybody could get "pressured" into attending a shopping seminar onboard a ship, but DCL doesn't press these too much. Other lines may be much worse. I do realize that if anybody seems to be offering you something that sounds too good to be true, it really isn't.

yes, on DCL they press on whether you want to buy a bottled water package on the first day (they must make tons of $$$ off those), but lately they don't come looking for you, they stand outside the lounge or Cabanas and try to flag you down.

 

[Trera]

Unfortunately when you are choosing to cruise for a vacation (and other lines are worse than Disney), or you are going where there are timeshare sales (Disney is pretty low key with the timeshare sales) sales pitches are a fact of life. If it makes you nervous and you can't relax, or you are unable to resist sales pitches, then there are places to vacation that it doesn't happen. that said, DCL is not like Vegas where there were timeshare salespeople around every corner and hanging out near the resort check-in areas just waiting. They usually pretend they are just starting a conversation and you think they are hotel employees, but if you look closely they are wearing timeshare nametags.

Personally I don't see how anybody could get "pressured" into attending a shopping seminar onboard a ship, but DCL doesn't press these too much. Other lines may be much worse. I do realize that if anybody seems to be offering you something that sounds too good to be true, it really isn't.

yes, on DCL they press on whether you want to buy a bottled water package on the first day (they must make tons of $$$ off those), but lately they don't come looking for you, they stand outside the lounge or Cabanas and try to flag you down.

I agree that you can say no and if they ask you again.............you can say no again. I would prefer if they just said, "if you want the water package please sign up at the pool side bar or with any of our bar tenders walking around." Then I dont even have to be asked.

We are also asked numerous times about the drink of the day when we board and are at or on the way to Cabanas, again at the sail away party and of course the spa workers are asking about booking spa appointments.

I just find all the solicitation on day 1 to be an annoyance personally. If I need them, I will come find them.

I know everyone else wont agree but I prefer quiet conversation with my family once on board. Just my 2 cents.

 

[msmama]

I wonder if they press the water package more on warmer itineraries? Because on 3 cruises I've never even seen them being sold, let alone had someone approach me (but I've never done Caribbean and only Bahamas from NY and it was cold the day we left). Plus it's usually just my son and I so maybe they think we couldn't drink it all

I got to know the DVC folks pretty well on our last cruise because it always seemed we were waiting in line for pics while they were setting up for their presentations. They never once asked us if we wanted to come into the presentation. Never mentioned what they were doing, unless someone asked (though their signage is pretty obvious).

I've also had servers actually tell me they're not going to ask me if I want anything (colder itineraries don't always have as many people on deck so the servers are less busy and around more often) after the first time, but to just flag them down if I need anything.

The only one pressuring me on DCL is my kid and usually he's pressuring me to do something fun.

 

[YawningDodo]

Unfortunately when you are choosing to cruise for a vacation (and other lines are worse than Disney), or you are going where there are timeshare sales (Disney is pretty low key with the timeshare sales) sales pitches are a fact of life. If it makes you nervous and you can't relax, or you are unable to resist sales pitches, then there are places to vacation that it doesn't happen. that said, DCL is not like Vegas where there were timeshare salespeople around every corner and hanging out near the resort check-in areas just waiting. They usually pretend they are just starting a conversation and you think they are hotel employees, but if you look closely they are wearing timeshare nametags.

Personally I don't see how anybody could get "pressured" into attending a shopping seminar onboard a ship, but DCL doesn't press these too much. Other lines may be much worse. I do realize that if anybody seems to be offering you something that sounds too good to be true, it really isn't.

yes, on DCL they press on whether you want to buy a bottled water package on the first day (they must make tons of $$$ off those), but lately they don't come looking for you, they stand outside the lounge or Cabanas and try to flag you down.

Oh, I know. I was just commenting to say how it can be an issue since you had said you didn't understand why it would be. Anyway, I found DCL to be very, very low pressure. My tour of Senses was the only time on the ship that I ever felt like anyone was pushing me to make a purchase decision on the spot (and it was one of the reasons I didn't book anything there). I wasn't approached regarding beverage packages and the DVC 'come to our presentation' pitch was very very mild. It's actually interesting (and a bit concerning) to me to hear about the apparent prevalence on other cruise lines, though it's hard to be sure what my experience would be on those lines since people have reported such widely different experiences on DCL as well. If it's true that they're more in-your-face about sales pitches on other cruise lines, that would indeed turn me off of sailing with them.

But yeah...I don't actually remember even seeing the water package for sale, but the beer package sales were all just CMs standing by carts with the items and list of offers at strategic locations. They weren't approaching anyone, just being visible in place so people could place an order with them if they wanted.

I've also had servers actually tell me they're not going to ask me if I want anything (colder itineraries don't always have as many people on deck so the servers are less busy and around more often) after the first time, but to just flag them down if I need anything.

Yeah, the servers were really chill, too. I never got approached a second time after turning one down unless I actively flagged them. The one time I fled into Keys to wait the last ten minutes before dinner (the atrium was packed with overexcited children from some activity that had just ended and I just needed to be Not Among Them), once I told the server who approached me that I didn't want anything she stuck a napkin on the table in front of me to make sure the other servers in there would know I'd already declined service and wouldn't come bother me.

 

[su_A_ve]

Now, step offshore and talk about sales pressure! Cozumel was probably the worse...

 

[YawningDodo]

Now, step offshore and talk about sales pressure! Cozumel was probably the worse...

110% this, yes. Couldn't go twenty feet in Cozumel without at least two people trying to talk me into something. Next time I'll know to either book an excursion so I get out of the sales-heavy port area or just not leave the ship at all.

 

[Tim3888]

We had the water pitched to us at lunch at Enchanted Garden on Embarkation Day on our last cruise but it wasn’t pushy.

Only time on Disney anyone in my family has felt pressured was the spa, as many others have mentioned. I booked a treatment for my wife thinking it would be a nice treat. She instead came out agitated because they had been really pushy about trying to get her to buy products to the point it ruined any enjoyment. When we booked our next cruise she was adament that she did not want to have anything to do with the spa.

 

[st0nehedge]

I wonder if they press the water package more on warmer itineraries? Because on 3 cruises I've never even seen them being sold, let alone had someone approach me (but I've never done Caribbean and only Bahamas from NY and it was cold the day we left). Plus it's usually just my son and I so maybe they think we couldn't drink it all

I got to know the DVC folks pretty well on our last cruise because it always seemed we were waiting in line for pics while they were setting up for their presentations. They never once asked us if we wanted to come into the presentation. Never mentioned what they were doing, unless someone asked (though their signage is pretty obvious).

I've also had servers actually tell me they're not going to ask me if I want anything (colder itineraries don't always have as many people on deck so the servers are less busy and around more often) after the first time, but to just flag them down if I need anything.

The only one pressuring me on DCL is my kid and usually he's pressuring me to do something fun.

The fancy water package was offered the first few times at the MDR on our Alaska cruise, but after the entire table declined, twice, we weren't asked again.

Mickey water was just fine!

 

[oam]

I honestly only have a vague memory of being asked about water just once in all our DCL cruises. And I might be imagining that one time.

Same here