No more All Hands on Deck :(

[jahber]

Hey, I needed a good laugh today. Resurrecting that old canard about "the children" did it for me. Oh, and one more CM saying with a straight face that the cheese was a printing error. At least I assume he had a straight face. It *was* over the phone. It's hard to hear eye rolls and smirks.

 

[wcw57]

corporate greed is tough to acknowledge but greed is what propels a successful business. That they've managed to make the $$$ spin on an image of sweetness and pixie dust (correctly or incorrectly) is inconsequential. It was, is, and shall ever be, a business....however, the alcohol thing is not MY focus, it is the undying focus of these boards. It is always enjoyable to read about out first world problems and see how the masses react to environmental changes (not weather environment...)

anyhow, my post was not a knock at you nor an indictment of those who feel passionately about alcohol, cheese, autographs.....just a bit of acknowledgement about human behavior.

 

[Expatriat]

corporate greed is tough to acknowledge but greed is what propels a successful business. That they've managed to make the $$$ spin on an image of sweetness and pixie dust (correctly or incorrectly) is inconsequential.

Although most of us have always known that the sweetness and pixie dust surface image was only an onstage (for the guests' view) performance, THAT was what made "the Disney difference." Our increasing exposure to the "backstage" truth is chipping away at the perceived "magic" and making many of us question DCL's value per dollar, because as much as we all love Disney, most of us know when we are being deceived and taken advantage of. Something as simple as the cheese and crackers was enough to be a wake-up call. I am in the camp that doesn't believe it was a "printing error." It was a stupid mistake they were forced to correct due to the backlash. There was no way to justify its removal as long as there is room service at all. Wouldn't it be amusing to know the identity and reasoning of the individual who initially suggested such a faux pas, and the one who made the decision to cut it?

 

[wcw57]

of course, the cya machinations are always the most intriguing aspects of an error (think watergate) BUT
OUR problem (as DISers) is that we are ALL behind the scenes, as it were. MOST people are not so knee deep in minutiae and, though I would venture to guess that MOST cruisers use the web for info, hardly any of the people on the ship would know about the ahod controversy or, for that matter, care much. Our views are jaded. You can't miss what you never had and, probably, most people have never had the ahod.
Thus, i figger, the chipping away is only perceivable to us elite. My kids don't think anything of appliances made of plastic or with plastic shells (or cars, for that matter) but my Grandparents would be absolutely horrified by the "junk" they are selling today.
All things are relative.
And, if you were related to me, you would be very very sorry.........

 

[cruiseletters]

we just solved our dissolution with DCL, we just booked with another cruise line got a larger nicer stateroom and with the saved money bought a great wine package and we still have money left over. I think this may be our new norm. It's a risk companies take when they piss people off, we can only assume they don't care if we cruise with them again.

 

[Quellman]

we just solved our dissolution with DCL, we just booked with another cruise line got a larger nicer stateroom and with the saved money bought a great wine package and we still have money left over. I think this may be our new norm. It's a risk companies take when they piss people off, we can only assume they don't care if we cruise with them again.

I hope you will come back and let us know how it goes!

 

[cgolf]

corporate greed is tough to acknowledge but greed is what propels a successful business. That they've managed to make the $$$ spin on an image of sweetness and pixie dust (correctly or incorrectly) is inconsequential. It was, is, and shall ever be, a business....however, the alcohol thing is not MY focus, it is the undying focus of these boards. It is always enjoyable to read about out first world problems and see how the masses react to environmental changes (not weather environment...)

anyhow, my post was not a knock at you nor an indictment of those who feel passionately about alcohol, cheese, autographs.....just a bit of acknowledgement about human behavior.

I acknowledge the corporate greed and am choosing to spend my vaca money elsewhere. While we did book a placeholder, I don't hold out a lot of hope for actually turning it into a DCL cruise, unless there pricing structure changes. Having talked with the captain and the smaller number of gold and platinum members at the receptions, and eying the lack of people at the future cruises desk onboard, we will see if they pushed the price too far. My guess based on the increased amount of commercials we know see on TV, they may be getting close.

Corporate greed can really bite companies hard, it is very difficult to build a brand, but very easy to wreck it and lose loyal customers for a long time, maybe even forever.

 

[mrslaney]

Looks like the chicken wings are gone too and the steak sandwich is different...

This upsets me more than the cheese platter. I loved that steak sandwich. I'm hoping the panini is just as good.

 

[chirurgeon]

They do have the chicken wings according to the menu on disneycruiselineblog.com.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

This upsets me more than the cheese platter. I loved that steak sandwich. I'm hoping the panini is just as good.

They do have the chicken wings according to the menu on disneycruiselineblog.com.

The chicken wings got added back on along with the AHOD when they claimed the changes were a "printing error" and came out with a new revised menu.

 

[Agent555]

I cannot wait! I am so happy it is back on the menu

 

[tinkerone]

My guess based on the increased amount of commercials we know see on TV, they may be getting close.
.

I mentioned the increase in dcl commercials on another post a while back and was all but called a liar, at least that's how it came across. i watched next to no tv during December up till xmas but have watched something almost every night since and there has not yet been an evening where a dcl commercial has not played at least once. their going all out with them now. my guess is they are looking for 'new' cruisers but who knows.

 

[wcw57]

of course, our winter months see an increase in commercials for cruising, bahamas, florida, beaches, (etc etc ad nauseum ) in general. It just may be a matter of chronology and not economy

 

[Hundredacre]

I mentioned the increase in dcl commercials on another post a while back and was all but called a liar, at least that's how it came across. i watched next to no tv during December up till xmas but have watched something almost every night since and there has not yet been an evening where a dcl commercial has not played at least once. their going all out with them now. my guess is they are looking for 'new' cruisers but who knows.

Also could be that the economy is suffering. But I do think that when people look at their own behavior, they are not unique. We have booked with other cruise lines for the first time this year and the following year. I think a lot of other people are too. I wonder if the cruise lines attract as many people looking for disney as the parks. The disney on the cruise is very much background (unless you do character meets). I dont think they will be able to rely on as many first timers as they do at the parks.

 

[tinkerone]

of course, our winter months see an increase in commercials for cruising, bahamas, florida, beaches, (etc etc ad nauseum ) in general. It just may be a matter of chronology and not economy

i don't think winter is the answer for this one. it was in the summer when i first had mentioned the increase in their commercials that i was seeing. of course it could be they were gearing up for winter, who knows.

 

[cgolf]

of course, our winter months see an increase in commercials for cruising, bahamas, florida, beaches, (etc etc ad nauseum ) in general. It just may be a matter of chronology and not economy

The only thing that I said to my wife when I saw the increase is that they must not be booking full as quickly as they did in the past. I would say that the first 5 or 6 years we sailed DCL we never saw a commercial on TV and it was usually hard to get a room late. The exception might have been the initial Alaska cruises that didn't sell well the first year. So the business part of me wonders if lower prices with minimal advertising budget would be better in the long run than higher prices with a big advertising budget and then lots of gty deals after the paid in full date. DCL has a lot of smart people working for them, so they either have it figured or took a calculated risk to see what would happen. That is why I still think the late 2017 and early 2018 prices will be telling when they come out. Also anymore changes they make to the so called perks. CC has an interesting thread about the dining room changes with the servers.

Back to the topic, I am glad they relented and added it back to the room service menu, just too late for our cruise.

 

[wcw57]

summer vacation with the kiddies maybe? I've got to say, besides tie-ins with wheel of fortune, etc, I haven't seem many commercials for dcl....wdw, PLENTY

 

[wcw57]

cgolf: yeah, the 2017 announcements should case quite the firestorm.......I've cleaned out my keyboard and squeegeed my screen in preparation

 

[hanscarlet]

I agree with Phinz that it is all money driven.. their stock price was doing pretty well until recently taking a dive with the rest of the market... seems like ESPN is a huge, costly bear of burden on Disney's back.. I wish they would dump ESPN and keep our DCL prices lower

Is it weird that I was more upset abotu AHOD than the alcohol policy? We drink but usually the only one who benefited from the alcohol was my husband, who would drink from beers from our fridge than the ones to be purchased on deck. However the AHOD move was such a tacky move... those ingredients aren't even pricey, seems like it was obvious play to take one of the most popular items on the room service menu and get $$ out of it... I mean $38 is ridiculous... I wonder how the whole ordeal would have played out if they removed the AHOD and replaced it with a $8 similar looking cheese plate option... I wonder if the outcry would have been the same

 

[cgolf]

summer vacation with the kiddies maybe? I've got to say, besides tie-ins with wheel of fortune, etc, I haven't seem many commercials for dcl....wdw, PLENTY

We see them on cable a lot more now. My wife likes the Food and HGTV channels the most. I haven't seen them on regular networks yet. But surely they have picked up on cable. To be fair I mostly just watch sports on regular TV which wouldn't be a good add spot for DCL. I personally was hoping that Star Wars would make up for ESPN