New survey

[Snowwhyt]

It actually was not on a ship, but DCL corporate. They are watching from many different areas.

We asked a nice young man with the white uniform and he was doing an business internship...I think....on the ship. I talk to him for a little over a half hour with my daughter about what his friends had done with the University/College program there. Media was one of the things he spoke about. really nice guy I’m surprised he had that much time to spend with us.

 

[jane01jp]

A $250 per person OBC would not influence my decision to go or not go. The diminishment of the experience would be enough to make me cancel, even if the voyage were free. With the reduced amenities and mask requirements, it feels like a DCL cruise (or any cruise for that matter) would be a non-magical stay in a very small moving hotel room.

I have been on 21 DCL cruises and love them, but we have been spending a lot of weeks at the South Carolina coast this summer. The price points: 1) 5 bedroom house for a week in mid-May for around $5 thousand; 2) 7 bedroom house (last minute booking) with private pool for the week ending July 4 for around $6 thousand; 3) 4 bedroom house the subsequent week for around $3 thousand; and 4) 3 bedroom home for two weeks starting August 1 for around $3 thousand. Sure, we have to buy food, but we can drive and get there in 3 1/2 hours.

A sterile, no frills DCL vacation replete with temperature checks and constant health reminders is simply no match for doing anything else, including staying at home.

 

[ironz]

. I understand the CDC/CLIA/Virus is not their fault and not blaming them if they need to cancel. Would just request that they be up front and cancel the cruises that are not going to go out instead of the string along game holding up our ability to make other plans.

Why can't you make other plans? It's looking pretty clear that your cruise might not happen in October, so what's stopping you from being proactive and making a Plan B or even a Plan C or D?
Is your only vacation option a Disney Cruise in Concierge? Or can you make some (refundable) deposits/reservations somewhere else?

We've altered so many plans during this pandemic, it's not even funny, but we are doing our best to roll with the punches and be flexible. We already have a Plan B set up for our messed up vacation at the end of this month, and Plan C is already reserved as a backup, just in case travel restrictions increase or something happens to the Plan B plans.
Our Sept cruise that was cancelled is now just a resort stay, and we're working on a Plan C in case we don't want to go to Florida by Sept.

 

[T & R]

Why can't you make other plans? It's looking pretty clear that your cruise might not happen in October, so what's stopping you from being proactive and making a Plan B or even a Plan C or D?
Is your only vacation option a Disney Cruise in Concierge? Or can you make some (refundable) deposits/reservations somewhere else?

We've altered so many plans during this pandemic, it's not even funny, but we are doing our best to roll with the punches and be flexible. We already have a Plan B set up for our messed up vacation at the end of this month, and Plan C is already reserved as a backup, just in case travel restrictions increase or something happens to the Plan B plans.
Our Sept cruise that was cancelled is now just a resort stay, and we're working on a Plan C in case we don't want to go to Florida by Sept.

I cannot change my airfare until I know DCL cancels. Also, with concierge, I cannot cancel with DCL until they cancel, so I've got $10k+ locked in with DCL. We are also doing Atlantis for a week after DCL which is a whole nother story. My wife calls it surf and turf vacation (Sea cruise then land resort). I would hate to change my airfare and then find out my cruise does not get cancelled (I know, but I'm still hopeful). It would just be really helpful that if DCL knows they have no intention of making that sail date, could they let us know and cancel.

 

[T & R]

It's looking pretty clear that your cruise might not happen in October

How dare you! It's got to go out. Our next one is not until March. I cannot bear an additional 5 months of no DCL.

 

[JM23457]

A $250 per person OBC would not influence my decision to go or not go. The diminishment of the experience would be enough to make me cancel, even if the voyage were free...A sterile, no frills DCL vacation replete with temperature checks and constant health reminders is simply no match for doing anything else, including staying at home.

Lol. I would definitely take a free cruise if DCL offered it. Getting away from home right now, traveling & being pampered are more welcome treats than ever imo.

DCL could also get me to pay to cruise with restrictions, but the price point would have to be about 30% - 50% off of their current rates (depending on the nature of the restrictions). A $250 credit is a bad joke.

We just spent a week at WDW and it was as joyful a place as ever. Not sterile, despite the new rules & restrictions. We're looking forward to returning in March. We want to cruise again, too, but not until DCL's prices are more in line with what it's really going to offer.

We need transparency from DCL before we book another cruise with them. What exactly will the new rules & onboard offerings be? Until we know that, we can't gauge what price would be worth it for us. No such information has been forthcoming in all of this time, which is why when DCL cancels our October cruise, we're going to take the refund instead of the 125%.

 

[jane01jp]

Lol. I would definitely take a free cruise if DCL offered it. Getting away from home right now, traveling & being pampered are more welcome treats than ever imo.

DCL could also get me to pay to cruise with restrictions, but the price point would have to be about 30% - 50% off of their current rates (depending on the nature of the restrictions). A $250 credit is a bad joke.

We just spent a week at WDW and it was as joyful a place as ever. Not sterile, despite the new rules & restrictions. We're looking forward to returning in March. We want to cruise again, too, but not until DCL's prices are more in line with what it's really going to offer.

We need transparency from DCL before we book another cruise with them. What exactly will the new rules & onboard offerings be? Until we know that, we can't gauge what price would be worth it for us. No such information has been forthcoming in all of this time, which is why when DCL cancels our October cruise, we're going to take the refund instead of the 125%.

I can understand your sentiment. I think being pampered would be great, but the constant nagging about hygiene would detract from the experience for me. I can't reconcile masks and distancing being necessary with cruises being safe.

I've been on 21 DCL cruises have picked up some kind of bug on 4-5 of them.

 

[KevinFL]

"Access to port limited to only those who book shore excursion with Disney".

Absolute deal breaker. The problem with this is that by doing the DCL excursion it takes 5x as long to get to your destination. At Tortolla and St Thomas we like to just get off the ship at our own leisure and whatever time we feel like and take a cab to the beach. I have seen the DCL excursion version of this. You have to meet in D-Lounge at a set time (don't miss the appointment time or you miss your excursion) and sit there in D-Lounge for 30+ minutes waiting for everyone in the group. By the time those people are being herded off the boat to transportation I would already be at the beach on Rum Punch #2.
And the fact you have to be at D Lounge at a specific time; you cannot just hop off at your own leisure. Have to worry about missing the meeting time at D-Lounge and thereby missing the excursion. This would defeat our entire ability to cruise on DCL and enjoy a leisure vacation.

I think I see what they would be trying to accomplish with this rule but it will not succeed in isolating people enough from the indigenous so it is an unnecessary rule just to have a rule so they feel like they did enough in response to Covid. This would wreck your vacation as you are now on a tight DCL schedule rather than your own leisure vacation schedule and island time.

 

[gotomu212]

"Access to port limited to only those who book shore excursion with Disney".

Absolute deal breaker. The problem with this is that by doing the DCL excursion it takes 5x as long to get to your destination. At Tortolla and St Thomas we like to just get off the ship at our own leisure and whatever time we feel like and take a cab to the beach. I have seen the DCL excursion version of this. You have to meet in D-Lounge at a set time (don't miss the appointment time or you miss your excursion) and sit there in D-Lounge for 30+ minutes waiting for everyone in the group. By the time those people are being herded off the boat to transportation I would already be at the beach on Rum Punch #2.
And the fact you have to be at D Lounge at a specific time; you cannot just hop off at your own leisure. Have to worry about missing the meeting time at D-Lounge and thereby missing the excursion. This would defeat our entire ability to cruise on DCL and enjoy a leisure vacation.

I think I see what they would be trying to accomplish with this rule but it will not succeed in isolating people enough from the indigenous so it is an unnecessary rule just to have a rule so they feel like they did enough in response to Covid. This would wreck your vacation as you are now on a tight DCL schedule rather than your own leisure vacation schedule and island time.

Everything you said plus that $20 taxi ride for your family is now $75 per person for the excursion.

 

[T & R]

The problem with this is that by doing the DCL excursion it takes 5x as long to get to your destination.

Exactly, they move everyone like a heard and you can only move as fast as the slowest person.

 

[ironz]

How dare you! It's got to go out. Our next one is not until March. I cannot bear an additional 5 months of no DCL.

I just wanted to come back on here and tell you that I didn't mean to totally fuss at you for your hoping the cruise will happen! And I'm sorry that your money is tied up like it is. (We don't go concierge, so usually have a little less on the line, whether in deposits or fare.)
We are missing our cruise life as well, and I hope that something works out for you eventually.
Please stay safe-- I would love it if our country could collectively (ya know "United") get its act together so we can find a better new normal and get back to our traveling!

 

[T & R]

I just wanted to come back on here and tell you that I didn't mean to totally fuss at you for your hoping the cruise will happen!

Thanks, I know. I was saying how dare you jokingly. Sometimes it’s hard to joke on here because people can’t get the inflection in your voice or the little things that come across when speaking in person. There was one survey a month or so ago where somebody voted that DCL would not come back and I stated that was blasphemy. Then people started replying it wasn’t blasphemy and that’s not what blasphemy is. They didn’t get the joke. So just saying I knew you weren’t fussing, I got what you were saying.

I‘ve been in public service my entire adult life, so I too hope we can all get together and work for the greater good. I grew up in the 80’s and I heard a great speech from a guy who I can’t mention because it may violate board rules, but he said something like “we can’t help everybody but everybody can help somebody”. That always stuck with me for some reason but it’s especially important today. We want to get back to cruising but we need to fight the virus. Although we can’t keep everyone from getting sick we can each personally do something to keep the couple of people around us from getting sick. If we all do this times the millions of individuals, we may just turn this thing around and eventually get the cruise ships fired back up and going. I don’t think it will happen in time to save my Oct 2nd cruise but I do hope it happens soon.