Should/will DCL make capacity limits public?

[mmackeymouse]

I would argue that they absolutely should. Many people have cruises booked in coming months, and while we can read about DCL's protocols till the cows come home, the fact is....how many people are on the ship will matter to people. We have a cruise booked in November. We are on the fence between keeping it or cancelling, and the prevailing factor at this point is....what will the capacity be? And, I think passengers do have the right to know this before going forward, so they can make an informed decision for the health and safety of their family.

We know what vloggers have cited as capacity limits, or how many people are on board. But, we don't know the official word from DCL.

WDW released their capacity percentage, and they also acknowledged when capacity would be increasing. Now...you could make the argument that some of WDW's capacity numbers were a little flawed/fudged. But, at least they put it out there.

Does anyone think we will see DCL release an official capacity limit? As far as I am aware, I don't believe they have been offering major discounts for people to re-book, nor have there been reports of people having their bookings cancelled by DCL. Which makes me wonder if the capacity limit is basically......however many people are on a cruise at any given time, that's the limit.

 

[DisneyKrayzie2]

Would be nice to hear something about capacity limited. someone on my Dream aug 16th cruise said they noticed on a cast member tablet that they were expecting 1,339 passengers for our cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[Person9976]

I think it could help get people on the boats.

At the 30 day mark, I booked a Sep 20 sailing of the Dream. I counted over 200 balconies available to book. There were still 3 Concierge. And reservations for Remy dinner were pretty wide open.

I don’t think they will tell, though. They don’t even let people know they are cancelling til it’s too late for many to make alternate vacation plans, so it seems.

I was booked for the 9/6 Dream and cancelled. The cruise is practically completely booked. All oceanview and concierge are completely sold out, and there are less than 50 verandah rooms left. With Disney probably running at 85% capacity and limited amenities, you couldnt pay me enough to be on a cruise with that many people.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[tvguy]

It would be interesting for sure, but so many other things.......most that Disney can't control.........are impacting cruising now, I think 100% of their attention should go to those issues. Vaccine and testing requirements of various ports, protocol for people who test positive right before or during a cruise.......and the growing possibility that they may have to pause cruising again.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I was booked for the 9/6 Dream and cancelled. The cruise is practically completely booked. All oceanview and concierge are completely sold out, and there are less than 50 verandah rooms left. With Disney probably running at 85% capacity and limited amenities, you couldnt pay me enough to be on a cruise with that many people.

Interesting, I just checked that cruise (because I'm waiting to see if they pull it from the website ahead of a cancelation tomorrow), and Oceanview rooms are still available. DCL is known for not showing all available rooms on their website, even on opening day, so the 50 verandah rooms left isn't necessarily all that's left. Additionally, they've blocked off the inside staterooms for a long time now, not allowing anyone to book them, leaving those rooms empty.

Do I know what capacity they're running on? No.
However, to just randomly state percentages like 85% without anything to back that up, while the Dream cruises so far have been around 1,400 passengers, seems illogical.

I'm glad that DCL is allowing people to make their own choices though on whether or not they want to sail; everyone's comfort level is different, and yes, DCL publishing their capacity (even with a note that "things are fluid") would help people make a more informed decision for themselves.

 

[FWRR3]

Ten days ago I looked at the Dream 8/23 cruise and almost every deck had aft cabins available. But it was every other cabin, no adjacent cabins available. Interesting pattern.

 

[Girl of the South]

When I called DCL last week about a cancellation date question, the woman told me that when they started taking bookings again, they are limiting reservations to 50% on all ships. I don't think what you see on the website is what is actually available. I'm sure they have blocked cabins so you can't reserve them over the limit.

 

[kathi]

Capacity has a huge impact on how we feel about sailing. We are sticking with 2 cruises in September expecting low capacity (Dream and Fantasy). We are booked on B2B Christmas/New Year on the Fantasy and I’m very concerned about capacity on that one (realizing it’s just too soon to make any kind of educated decision).

 

[mmackeymouse]

Would be nice to hear something about capacity limited. someone on my Dream aug 16th cruise said they noticed on a cast member tablet that they were expecting 1,339 passengers for our cruise.

Right...at this point, though, I'm unsure if the current numbers are representative of what DCL wants or expects the numbers to be on a "reduced capacity" cruise.

I think it could help get people on the boats.

At the 30 day mark, I booked a Sep 20 sailing of the Dream. I counted over 200 balconies available to book. There were still 3 Concierge. And reservations for Remy dinner were pretty wide open.

I don’t think they will tell, though. They don’t even let people know they are cancelling til it’s too late for many to make alternate vacation plans, so it seems.

As to your last point, circling back to your first point......honestly, it's a little silly to not release those numbers. By releasing the numbers, multiple things are possible, but ultimately the first two: those who think the number is too high won't go. So, you won't have to deal with people sailing who feel they are on an overcrowded cruise. Second, people who are on the fence, and I feel this is a strong majority of people (on the fence), may decide to keep their sailing after all. People who may have cancelled due to lack of transparency, lack of information, fear of the unknown, that may be all it will take to keep them on board, pun intended.

To me, releasing a number. Be it 30%, 50%, or whatever the number is...only positive vibes can come from that. Sure, maybe the number would be too high for me, but I will at least appreciate them being open and honest with me, so I can make a decision.

I was booked for the 9/6 Dream and cancelled. The cruise is practically completely booked. All oceanview and concierge are completely sold out, and there are less than 50 verandah rooms left. With Disney probably running at 85% capacity and limited amenities, you couldnt pay me enough to be on a cruise with that many people.

If it were 85%, I would be stunned. That would be a disaster.

That said, like I said, I haven't seen them cancelling bookings to get below capacity, so maybe they really are hoping circumstances will weed people out, and the reduced capacity will happen naturally, rather than having to actively cut people from the sailing.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I was booked for the 9/6 Dream and cancelled. The cruise is practically completely booked. All oceanview and concierge are completely sold out, and there are less than 50 verandah rooms left. With Disney probably running at 85% capacity and limited amenities, you couldnt pay me enough to be on a cruise with that many people.

I'm booked on the 9/6 Dream, and there's no way that cruise is "practically completely booked." There were a ton of rooms left, then just before DCL announced the official restart and protocols, a ton of rooms disappeared, including all the inside rooms. There's no question they blocked them off to keep the ship at low capacity. With the sailings so far running at less than 1500 passengers, I don't see a cruise starting on Labor Day exceeding that. Kids are back in school, and it's hurricane season.

 

[jjb1974]

I'm willing to trade giving up certain amenities for a lower crowd, regardless of experience, so I think publishing that number and stating what the changes are would be informative to someone like me. I could accept not having Fantasmic or hotel dining when I went in June because I knew crowds would be lower across property. It was an informed decision. Heck, I bought "better" tickets to an MLB game in May because of reduced crowds and I could see what the spacing was. Maybe I'm a weirdo.

 

[mmackeymouse]

If you knew there was reduced capacity (especially if % were stated), would you sail DCL right now?

I sounds like capacity on that sail date is not significantly reduced.

I made my decision to book just before the restrictions for the Bahamas was announced. (As in a few hours).

I don’t think the cruise will be happening. Just my gut.

Interesting...so do you think they will be suspending sailing due to the Bahamas restrictions then? I mean....it's certainly possible. In my mind, I thought that mandating vaccines to go along with the Bahamas was a foregone conclusion.

BUT, it is certainly possible that DCL weighs it out and feels that they would not be getting enough people sailing with a vaccine mandate, to make it worth it...so they just call it.


As to your first question, Disney has stated in their protocol that there would be reduced capacity. So, I don't believe there is any "If" about it. But, the question really is the number. Because reduced capacity could be 85% for all we know. So, would I sail, knowing there is reduced capacity? No. There needs to be a number.

It would be interesting for sure, but so many other things.......most that Disney can't control.........are impacting cruising now, I think 100% of their attention should go to those issues. Vaccine and testing requirements of various ports, protocol for people who test positive right before or during a cruise.......and the growing possibility that they may have to pause cruising again.

You are right. Their attention should be, and likely is, on a plethora of other issues right now. That said, it doesn't take a lot to publicly state a number. Assuming that internally they have a number, God I hope internally they have a specific number and they aren't just winging it. If internally, they have a number, it's not a huge leap to make that number public.

Interesting, I just checked that cruise (because I'm waiting to see if they pull it from the website ahead of a cancelation tomorrow), and Oceanview rooms are still available. DCL is known for not showing all available rooms on their website, even on opening day, so the 50 verandah rooms left isn't necessarily all that's left. Additionally, they've blocked off the inside staterooms for a long time now, not allowing anyone to book them, leaving those rooms empty.

Do I know what capacity they're running on? No.
However, to just randomly state percentages like 85% without anything to back that up, while the Dream cruises so far have been around 1,400 passengers, seems illogical.

I'm glad that DCL is allowing people to make their own choices though on whether or not they want to sail; everyone's comfort level is different, and yes, DCL publishing their capacity (even with a note that "things are fluid") would help people make a more informed decision for themselves.

Yeah...that's why the official word from DCL would be so much appreciated. People can sit and analyze the rooms available on certain sailings, but...as we know...the DCL website isn't necessarily 100% accurate. Some rooms may be blocked off from booking. Some rooms may be available and just not showing up. So....the numbers you come up with COULD be close....or it could be half of that.

We're all assuming that DCL has blocked off staterooms from being booked....but no one really knows because again....DCL has told us NOTHING. Diddly.

 

[Person9976]

I'm booked on the 9/6 Dream, and there's no way that cruise is "practically completely booked." There were a ton of rooms left, then just before DCL announced the official restart and protocols, a ton of rooms disappeared, including all the inside rooms. There's no question they blocked them off to keep the ship at low capacity. With the sailings so far running at less than 1500 passengers, I don't see a cruise starting on Labor Day exceeding that. Kids are back in school, and it's hurricane season.

There are 60 verandah rooms available, no oceanview or concierge (inside rooms blocked off by default), this is out of 1250 total guest rooms on this ship, not sure what you would consider "totally booked", but when something shows 5% available capacity, most reasonable people would call that practically completely booked. You will be grossly disappointed when you get on the ship and see how crowded it is, and many kids have multiples days off Labor Day week, that is why it is a crowded and popular cruise. Disney isnt limiting their sailings to less than 1500 people, people just arent booking them, you will see this is different when you get on your 9/6 cruise, and dont say no one told you differently. FYI, those rooms didnt disappear because Disney blocked them off, they had a TON of rooms opened after they announced the restart and protocols. These rooms were blocked off after the 9/4 Fantasy sailing was cancelled and TAs moved hundreds of families over to the 9/6 Dream sailing. I am in a facebook group for this sailing, and we got at least 100 members after the 9/4 cruise was cancelled, all stating they moved from the Fantasy to the Dream...

If it were 85%, I would be stunned. That would be a disaster.

That said, like I said, I haven't seen them cancelling bookings to get below capacity, so maybe they really are hoping circumstances will weed people out, and the reduced capacity will happen naturally, rather than having to actively cut people from the sailing.

Why? RCL is running at 75% capacity w/o issue, Carnival is in a similar boat. If you went to their parks after they reopened like I did, they were full to the brim with limited rides leading to an overcrowded and miserable experience, why do you think Disney will treat the cruise lines any different than how they treated the parts when they reopened? You act like Disney isnt out to make money.

Interesting, I just checked that cruise (because I'm waiting to see if they pull it from the website ahead of a cancelation tomorrow), and Oceanview rooms are still available. DCL is known for not showing all available rooms on their website, even on opening day, so the 50 verandah rooms left isn't necessarily all that's left. Additionally, they've blocked off the inside staterooms for a long time now, not allowing anyone to book them, leaving those rooms empty.

Do I know what capacity they're running on? No.
However, to just randomly state percentages like 85% without anything to back that up, while the Dream cruises so far have been around 1,400 passengers, seems illogical.

Try actually booking an Oceanview room, you can click the oceanview category but both sub categories are sold out. 85% is based on how similar cruise lines are operating combined with how they operated their parks when they reopened. If Disney wasnt trying to shove as many people on these boats as possible, they would actually commit to a %, but they wont as doing so would limit their ability to fill rooms. Have fun on that cruise, I look forward to the complaints about the hour long wait for your kids to use the pool for 10 minutes...

edit: I stand corrected, I lowered my party members to 2 and found a whopping 6 Oceanview rooms are available, so about 60 rooms total left on the ship...

 

[mmackeymouse]

Ten days ago I looked at the Dream 8/23 cruise and almost every deck had aft cabins available. But it was every other cabin, no adjacent cabins available. Interesting pattern.

Lots of adjacent cabins available on my November cruise which...I guess is neither here nor there. It could be that once someone books one of the staterooms, they will take the other one off the market for booking. Or maybe not.

I try to not read too much into it, other than...seeing availability for nearly every stateroom category on nearly every deck, makes me somewhat hopeful.

When I called DCL last week about a cancellation date question, the woman told me that when they started taking bookings again, they are limiting reservations to 50% on all ships. I don't think what you see on the website is what is actually available. I'm sure they have blocked cabins so you can't reserve them over the limit.

I think 50% makes sense. 50% is a sensible number.

But, I guess I wonder...Fall/Winter 2021, did they limit those bookings from the jump, to 50%?

And, if not....if a sailing is already over 50%, will they just leave it as is, or actively start cancelling people.

Capacity has a huge impact on how we feel about sailing. We are sticking with 2 cruises in September expecting low capacity (Dream and Fantasy). We are booked on B2B Christmas/New Year on the Fantasy and I’m very concerned about capacity on that one (realizing it’s just too soon to make any kind of educated decision).

Agreed. We are also booked on a "special" cruise, the Double Dip Merrytime cruise, which is a little bit of a one-off. Of course, with the fall going to mostly double-dips, that does make it a little bit less special.

But, at the time that we booked, it was nearly sold out. So, I definitely worry that it could be a little bit too crowded for our concerns. However, there has been a lot of staterooms opened up, and they are still taking bookings, which I would hope they wouldn't do if it was already at a crazy number.

 

[Person9976]

When I called DCL last week about a cancellation date question, the woman told me that when they started taking bookings again, they are limiting reservations to 50% on all ships. I don't think what you see on the website is what is actually available. I'm sure they have blocked cabins so you can't reserve them over the limit.

I talked with 3 Disney cruise specialists including someone from the leadership team, every one of them stated that Disney is not releasing the %, I highly doubt its 50% as that is 2/3rd of what other cruise lines are doing, and Disney sure as heck didnt limit park capacity to 50% when they reopened, so I dont know why they would do it for the cruise line.

 

[Person9976]

I'm willing to trade giving up certain amenities for a lower crowd, regardless of experience, so I think publishing that number and stating what the changes are would be informative to someone like me. I could accept not having Fantasmic or hotel dining when I went in June because I knew crowds would be lower across property. It was an informed decision. Heck, I bought "better" tickets to an MLB game in May because of reduced crowds and I could see what the spacing was. Maybe I'm a weirdo.

Your not going to get a much lower crowd depending when you book, make sure to look at available rooms before you book a cruise as some of them are pretty full.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I'm booked on the 9/6 Dream, and there's no way that cruise is "practically completely booked." There were a ton of rooms left, then just before DCL announced the official restart and protocols, a ton of rooms disappeared, including all the inside rooms. There's no question they blocked them off to keep the ship at low capacity. With the sailings so far running at less than 1500 passengers, I don't see a cruise starting on Labor Day exceeding that. Kids are back in school, and it's hurricane season.

That's the thing.....

I think most of us assume that DCL has blocked off staterooms...like you were talking about...when rooms suddenly disappear, that is what makes sense.

But...none of us really *know* and therein lies the problem. We don't know if they initially reduced the number of rooms available to book. We don't know if they took rooms off the grid periodically. We don't really know if they blocked off rooms at all.

I'm willing to trade giving up certain amenities for a lower crowd, regardless of experience, so I think publishing that number and stating what the changes are would be informative to someone like me. I could accept not having Fantasmic or hotel dining when I went in June because I knew crowds would be lower across property. It was an informed decision. Heck, I bought "better" tickets to an MLB game in May because of reduced crowds and I could see what the spacing was. Maybe I'm a weirdo.

Exactly. Our family is in the same boat (pun not intended, this time). The lack of entertainment, and the limited Kids Clubs offerings is a tough pill to swallow. But, capacity would almost single-handedly make our decision, either way. Lower capacity could paper over those cracks. And, if the capacity is too high for us to feel safe....hey that's fine too. But, at least we could make an informed decision, like you said.

Why? RCL is running at 75% capacity w/o issue, Carnival is in a similar boat. If you went to their parks after they reopened like I did, they were full to the brim with limited rides leading to an overcrowded and miserable experience, why do you think Disney will treat the cruise lines any different than how they treated the parts when they reopened? You act like Disney isnt out to make money.


Have fun on that cruise, I look forward to the complaints about the hour long wait for your kids to use the pool for 10 minutes...

And? Universal, Sea World, and other parks increased capacity/relaxed restrictions long before Disney, and Disney didn't follow suit to keep up with the Joneses. Also...those cruise lines DID have some Covid outbreaks linked to them, so I would hardly say "without issue." Disney, unfortunate as it may be, has to rise above that. The Covid outbreaks on those other cruise lines barely registered on the radar. If a Covid outbreak was linked to DISNEY? It would make big time news. That's just the nature of it. So, DCL has to be better. They just do.

Also, I DID go to the parks after they re-opened. I never saw it full to the brim. We had an incredibly pleasant experience. In fact, my parents have repeatedly said that it's maybe they best time they've ever had going to the parks. I know it eventually did get much busier....but when we were there, I felt it was great.


As to your last comment....that's kind of the point. Tell us capacity, so either we are prepared for that hour long wait in line for the pool....or so we can choose not to go. That's the point of releasing capacity information, so people know what they are getting themselves into.

 

[auntlynne]