New Disney cruise ship to set sail from Singapore from 2025

[Kwami]

Disney often demonstrates hubris and their success will depend on tailoring their product to new markets. Currently they are charging Australians in USD. That's absurd and arrogant. Since the exchange rate is poor, they may find that a lot of people cancel closer to the time.

They seem to be doing just fine, though. Reports here are that the Australian cruises sold very quickly and that they're very popular so far. I guess maybe a lot of people will cancel later, but I doubt it.

 

[Royal Consort]

They seem to be doing just fine, though. Reports here are that the Australian cruises sold very quickly and that they're very popular so far. I guess maybe a lot of people will cancel later, but I doubt it.

Yes, I'm one of the posters contributing to that report.

My previous comment was in response to whether Disney will sustain interest beyond their first/initial season. Yes, they can if they learn about the market. Same will apply for Singapore.

Disney charging in USD and the reduced exchange rate to AUD is likely to lead to cancellations as opposed to simply charging in AUD to begin with. Those that booked with a travel agent will have circumvented that but Aussies are also less trusting of travel agents since what many companies did during covid. I expect more cancellations closer to sailing but it will do fine for its first season as a novelty. Sustaining interest is up to the company tweaking for this market.

 

[Flossbolna]

Disney often demonstrates hubris and their success will depend on tailoring their product to new markets. Currently they are charging Australians in USD. That's absurd and arrogant. Since the exchange rate is poor, they may find that a lot of people cancel closer to the time.

They will quickly find that tipping is an issue for them within the Australian market. It's not part of our culture and we don't want it. Several cruise lines have had to adapt to this and change the way fares are priced in Australia (Princess, Carnival, Royal). Aussies want to ensure employees have a good living wage, but Americanising the local market will be difficult for them.

Yes. These are exactly the things I am concerned about.

They are not that great dealing with an international audience. For example you can book DCL in Euros (looking at the website from a European URL will default you to that), but then in my cruise group for the upcoming Med cruise several people have reported that they ran into (minor) issues with changes etc. because of the different currencies.

I hope DCL will succeed and Disney has proven in the past that they can adjust. But I am not sure it will be a definite long term success story.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

If Chapek was still in charge, I'd say the chances would be higher. With Iger back at the top, we'll see.

Chapek was very open about wanting to get into Sports betting so I would wholeheartedly agree.

This is not a "wait and see" Disney has already said they are removing the casino.

Yes. These are exactly the things I am concerned about.

They are not that great dealing with an international audience. For example you can book DCL in Euros (looking at the website from a European URL will default you to that), but then in my cruise group for the upcoming Med cruise several people have reported that they ran into (minor) issues with changes etc. because of the different currencies.

I hope DCL will succeed and Disney has proven in the past that they can adjust. But I am not sure it will be a definite long term success story.

Setting up reservations to take currency is far more complicated than you would imagine. If you look at other cruise lines operating in the South Pacific, they also charge in USD so this unlikely to be part of the equation.

Part of the original story when they bought the global dream was essentially the good old "They made us an offer we couldn't refuse" so its safe to assume that Disney paid pennies on the dollar for the new ship.

Singapore is one of the richest countries in Asia and is where all the old Money is found. This is one of the best decisions that Disney could make when looking for a homeport in that part of the world.

 

[sky13]

As a Singaporean who has never been on a cruise (looks like DCL might be my first in 2 years from now!), my two cents on a couple of things in this thread...

Currencies - I just had a quick look at the Royal Caribbean website for cruises out of Singapore and they are quoting me fares in SGD (though I have no idea if the payment processor is located in Singapore, as if not then there is still going to be a 1% DCC charge by Singaporean credit cards to book these). I'd hope that a Disney ship home ported in Singapore would be able to quote/charge me fares in SGD too, especially since this seems to be in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board...

Tipping - oh goodness I have no idea if tips are expected on cruises out of Singapore, I'd have to check with friends/family who have been on cruises! Tipping isn't usually part of our culture though so never even thought about this!

Edit - a very brief search of a travel chat group seems to say that the Genting Dream ship out of Singapore charges in SGD but the Royal Caribbean ships charge in USD. Not sure how accurate/etc this is though!

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

As a Singaporean who has never been on a cruise (looks like DCL might be my first in 2 years from now!), my two cents on a couple of things in this thread...

Currencies - I just had a quick look at the Royal Carribbean website for cruises out of Singapore and they are quoting me fares in SGD (though I have no idea if the payment processor is located in Singapore, as if not then there is still going to be a 1% DCC charge by Singaporean credit cards to book these). I'd hope that a Disney ship home ported in Singapore would be able to quote/charge me fares in SGD too, especially since this seems to be in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board...

Tipping - oh goodness I have no idea if tips are expected on cruises out of Singapore, I'd have to check with friends/family who have been on cruises! Tipping isn't usually part of our culture though so never even thought about this!

Do they QUOTE or BOOK in SGD?

There is a HUGE difference. DCL's site quoted prices in AUD but actually booked reservations in USD.

I would think they would need to update the tipping model for this ship and basically remove it entirely. I am thinking they may need to "Do away" with the traditional DCL dining format considering the number of guests expected on board. Time will tell with that one.

 

[Kwami]

Currencies - I just had a quick look at the Royal Carribbean website for cruises out of Singapore and they are quoting me fares in SGD (though I have no idea if the payment processor is located in Singapore, as if not then there is still going to be a 1% DCC charge by Singaporean credit cards to book these). I'd hope that a Disney ship home ported in Singapore would be able to quote/charge me fares in SGD too, especially since this seems to be in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board...

To be clear, the DCL website will quote you an estimated price in any currency. But, it'll charge you in USD.

 

[Kwami]

I would think they would need to update the tipping model for this ship and basically remove it entirely. I am thinking they may need to "Do away" with the traditional DCL dining format considering the number of guests expected on board. Time will tell with that one.

No chance that rotational dining goes away. It's one of their signature features. There's no reason for it to go, anyway. They'll just make more restaurants and have longer rotations or they'll make the restaurants larger. We're talking about 1.5 Disney Dreams, which isn't that crazy.

I doubt that the "option" automatic gratuities are going anywhere. Neither are the automatic gratuities for drinks, spa services, and the salons. I guess the question for me is whether room service and bartenders will still expect extra tips.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

No chance that rotational dining goes away. It's one of their signature features. There's no reason for it to go, anyway. They'll just make more restaurants and have longer rotations or they'll make the restaurants larger. We're talking about 1.5 Disney Dreams, which isn't that crazy.

I doubt that the "option" automatic gratuities are going anywhere. Neither are the automatic gratuities for drinks, spa services, and the salons. I guess the question for me is whether room service and bartenders will still expect extra tips.

I think there is absolutely a chance that Rotational dining goes away. Time will tell.

Tipping culture is a US based thing. I'm not counting on that to carry over to another part of the world with very different customs.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I guess the question for me is whether room service and bartenders will still expect extra tips.

That's usually still determined by pay is it not?

Doesn't matter what culture you are on a ship (and usually there's quite a lot represented) but if you're paid with the expectations that tipping will boost that's all that matters. So I assume it will be more based on the wording DCL uses with what they expect any passengers to do.

Tipping culture is a US based thing. I'm not counting on that to carry over to another part of the world with very different customs.

FWIW on Seabourn all tips are included, no one ever needs to tip anyone. That said you can tip (even the Australians tip) or you can donate to the crew fund (which goes towards many more people and is used slightly differently). Speaking for Seabourn most common people that get tips are the room hosts and steward (for Seabourn there are 2 people for each room each with different tasks) and your bartenders. But there is no expectation for tips no automatic gratuities. You're not looked at any differently if you don't tip.

The main difference in tipping culture is that in the U.S. there are a ton more categories and cultural norms surrounding just who gets a tip and just how much is generally expected. DCL sails all over including into Europe where tipping is much less utilized. Can anyone report on the European cruises if the tipping expectation has been modified?

I agree the Asian culture is a big shift however I don't think it's a cut and dried thing. Cruises sail all over the world with people from many different nationalities, expectations don't tend to shift like that. Either the cruise line itself sets up that people will have automatic gratuities and word it like tips are welcomed for xyz people or they will just leave it as automatic gratuities and those in extreme non-tipping cultures just won't be the ones tipping like it is for any other cruise line.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

The main difference in tipping culture is that in the U.S. there are a ton more categories and cultural norms surrounding just who gets a tip and just how much is generally expected. DCL sails all over including into Europe where tipping is much less utilized. Can anyone report on the European cruises if the tipping expectation has been modified?

I sailed on the 7 Night Northern Europe in August 2022 from Copenhagen. The tipping model is the same for European cruisers as it is primarily Americans on the ship.

 

[sky13]

Do they QUOTE or BOOK in SGD?

There is a HUGE difference. DCL's site quoted prices in AUD but actually booked reservations in USD.

I would think they would need to update the tipping model for this ship and basically remove it entirely. I am thinking they may need to "Do away" with the traditional DCL dining format considering the number of guests expected on board. Time will tell with that one.

Yes that's a good point.

I updated my previous post, from doing a quick search seems like two different cruise lines out of Singapore seem to handle payments differently... Apparently Royal Caribbean does on board charges in USD while Genting Dream out of Singapore charges in SGD. Again I've never been on a cruise so I can't verify this myself (could ask friends/family though).

Though that being said. Singaporeans (at least the target segment for cruises) are generally very familiar with payments in non-SGD currencies. For the simple fact that Singapore is tiny - can't drive more than an hour without ending up either at the sea or at the checkpoint with Malaysia! The phrase "going on a holiday" here implies going to at least Malaysia if not further afield (Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, USA, Europe, etc). Can't really "go on a holiday" in Singapore unless it is a staycation, or possibly a "cruise to nowhere" that they were running during COVID. So probably would just happily pay in USD. (I'd grumble a bit though as this would add on currency conversion fees for me!)

 

[Kwami]

For what it's worth, tipping isn't exclusive to the US. When I spent a few months in London, it was typical to tip 10% at restaurants and bartenders usually expected something, too. I've read reports that US tourists visiting Thailand and other countries in the region have, likely unintentionally, set expectations that foreign visitors tip. We might see something similar on the cruise ship.

 

[Kwami]

Some quick searching says that MSC charges the automatic gratuities for sailings in Asia.

 

[sky13]

Oh just a thought.

Automatic gratuities wise - in Singapore when you dine out almost all restaurants (with some exceptions) automatically add a 10% service charge and 8% GST (going to be 9% from 2024) on top of the menu price.

We don't tip on top of that. If the restaurant bill (+18%) came up to something like $34.25 (to give a random example) they'd charge you exactly that and not a cent more, and if you paid $35 in cash they'd give you back $0.75 in change.

Some places have a tip jar but this isn't really the norm. Plus card/cashless payments are pretty ubiquitous now and I can't think of anywhere that has asked me to leave a tip when paying by card.

Not sure how this translates to cruising out of Singapore though! Or what the situation is like on board ships out of Singapore with regard to drinks...

 

[Kwami]

Automatic gratuities wise - in Singapore when you dine out almost all restaurants (with some exceptions) automatically add a 10% service charge and 8% GST (going to be 9% from 2024) on top of the menu price.

On DCL, there's an 18% automatic gratuity for drinks (including specialty coffees and teas), spa services, and salon services. That probably won't change.

 

[jimmymc]

While I'm not going to fly across the world just for a cruise, I could see combining it with a trip to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

 

[holula]

The main difference in tipping culture is that in the U.S. there are a ton more categories and cultural norms surrounding just who gets a tip and just how much is generally expected. DCL sails all over including into Europe where tipping is much less utilized. Can anyone report on the European cruises if the tipping expectation has been modified?

Tipping is still the same on European cruises however Disney comes here for 4 months a year and attracts a lot of Americans on those cruises.

Disney does not homeport a ship in Europe year round for a minimum of five years. So I do expect some things on this ship to be changed for the Asian market.

It could always be changed back to normal US tipping if the ship ever does homeport in the US is Asia doesn’t work out.

 

[sky13]

For what it's worth, tipping isn't exclusive to the US. When I spent a few months in London, it was typical to tip 10% at restaurants and bartenders usually expected something, too. I've read reports that US tourists visiting Thailand and other countries in the region have, likely unintentionally, set expectations that foreign visitors tip. We might see something similar on the cruise ship.

Actually one thing I can think of that is setting some expectations for tipping in Singapore is the use of apps like Grab (similar to Uber) which ask if you want to tip your driver or person who delivers your food etc.

It's very interesting as taxi drivers never used to expect tips. (At one point in my working life a few years ago - around the time these apps were becoming a bit more widespread in use - I was taking taxis at least once a day.) As a random example if the trip was $17.40 they would give me back whatever change needed so that I'd have paid exactly that, on occasion even giving me back more money than needed (so rounding down to $17 for example) and only occasionally being willing to keep the change.

Grab might have changed this dynamic a bit. Not sure as I haven't taken a standard taxi for a while. But I do occasionally tip my Grab driver or the person who delivers my food, especially if it's raining!

Must admit I don't tend to go to bars much so have no idea about tipping expectation at bars here, I'd expect it to be the same as restaurants with the ++ (+10% service charge +8% GST) though.

 

[sky13]

On DCL, there's an 18% automatic gratuity for drinks (including specialty coffees and teas), spa services, and salon services. That probably won't change.

Interesting to know - that's almost similar to the ++ in Singapore!

I really do wonder how it currently works on cruises out of Singapore as I haven't been on one!