Star Wars uninspiring?

[squirk]

I guess the trick is to book a cruise that is most likely to become a SWDAS cruise. Lock in the pre-SWDAS price, and avoid the upcharge when the cruise becomes SWDAS.

 

[WeLoveStitch42]

I guess the trick is to book a cruise that is most likely to become a SWDAS cruise. Lock in the pre-SWDAS price, and avoid the upcharge when the cruise becomes SWDAS.

Good advice. I'm thinking we might try this for a 2018 cruise.

 

[squirk]

Good advice. I'm thinking we might try this for a 2018 cruise.

Hopefully, DCL won't wise up and start announcing these cruises as SWDAS from the get-go.

 

[itsodisney]

We are on this same cruise! There will be a Star Wars day and a pirate night? I thought it got swapped out. Do you happen to know if you can get passes for any of the character meet and greets for SW (like they do for the princesses)?

I was thinking of that too. Last December I got my DD a ticket for Frozen characters, Princess and gingerbread house making. I read in a blog they will ask you to rank the character you want to have picture with... Here's the link.
http://www.popsugar.com/tech/What-Star-Wars-Day-Sea-Like-39877881?slide=9

We are on this same cruise! There will be a Star Wars day and a pirate night? I thought it got swapped out. Do you happen to know if you can get passes for any of the character meet and greets for SW (like they do for the princesses)?

We are on this same cruise! There will be a Star Wars day and a pirate night? I thought it got swapped out. Do you happen to know if you can get passes for any of the character meet and greets for SW (like they do for the princesses)?

 

[dreadpiraterose]

I think a lot of the "meh" reaction was because SWDAS was sold in a press release as something bigger and more exciting than it turned out to be. When we booked there were supposed to be celebrity Q&A sessions and a bar was going to be transformed into Mos Eisley Cantina. What we got was nice... But it wasn't quite what we were sold when the cruises were first announced.

I won't steer anyone away from SWDAS, because I think it was still fun (and the special menu was fantastic). Anyone booking it now will have a more realistic expectation than we had.

This pretty much exactly. Way over hyped BY Disney and they just didn't deliver on the promises. It was especially disappointing for those who booked after the cruise was made a SWDAS one, because the price jumped like crazy. It definitely wasn't worth $1000 extra, in my opinion. We were glad we had it booked prior to the announcement.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

I think this is exactly what people had in mind. And by "celebrity panels", I wonder how many folks got the impression (however unrealistic it may have been) that they'd be seeing Harrison Ford and Daisy Ridley instead of, like, Steve Sansweet.

And if you have to ask who the heck Steve Sansweet is, you're just proving my point.

Steve, nice as he is, is not a "celebrity." Nor is he even an "insider" in my opinion. At least other cruises actually got people currently active in some way in the movies or the TV shows. I wasn't expecting an A-lister. But come on...even a small time sci-fi convention can get Star Wars actors or writers. Why couldn't Disney?

 

[squirk]

Steve, nice as he is, is not a "celebrity." Nor is he even an "insider" in my opinion. At least other cruises actually got people currently active in some way in the movies or the TV shows. I wasn't expecting an A-lister. But come on...even a small time sci-fi convention can get Star Wars actors or writers. Why couldn't Disney?

Didn't Steve work for LucasFilm for a long time? I'd say that clearly gives him "insider" status at a minimum.

Still, the point remains - unless you got George Lucas, J.J. Abrams or a member of the main cast (of any film), maaaaaybe some of the voice cast from "Clone Wars" or "Rebels", then 95% of the passengers probably would be disappointed.

Even if you went up a notch from Steve S. - Ben Burtt, Doug Chiang, Rob Coleman, Dave Filoni, Kilian Plunkett, John Dykstra, etc., most people would say "Who?".

 

[wcw57]

i remember john dykstra, he was an outfielder for the Mets.....or was that Lenny???

 

[dreadpiraterose]

Didn't Steve work for LucasFilm for a long time? I'd say that clearly gives him "insider" status at a minimum.

For like a year...back when Phantom Menace was out...and it was basically a 'fan relations' thing. So no, I don't consider him an insider.

 

[squirk]

For like a year...back when Phantom Menace was out...and it was basically a 'fan relations' thing. So no, I don't consider him an insider.

From his website:

Born and educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Steve majored in journalism. In early 1969 he became a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. After working in the Journal’s Philadelphia and Montreal bureaus, Steve was transferred to Los Angeles, where he became the Journal’s Los Angeles bureau chief in 1987, a position he held until 1996 when he became Director of Specialty Marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. His title later changed to Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations. Steve officially left Lucasfilm in April, 2011, but still freelances as their Fan Relations Adviser.

Is this not accurate?

 

[dizanimator]

My cruise had Paul Zinnes, and while I had no idea who he was before the cruise, I really enjoyed the talk he did about his work on Clone Wars and Rebels. So for me, whoever Disney schedules for whichever Star Wars cruise I end up on, needs to be someone interesting and actually involved in Star Wars. Not in fan relations and running a museum, but someone who has an interesting job.

 

[squirk]

My cruise had Paul Zinnes, and while I had no idea who he was before the cruise, I really enjoyed the talk he did about his work on Clone Wars and Rebels. So for me, whoever Disney schedules for whichever Star Wars cruise I end up on, needs to be someone interesting and actually involved in Star Wars. Not in fan relations and running a museum, but someone who has an interesting job.

"Interesting" is a very subjective term. One person's interesting speaker is another person's boring waste of time.

But this goes to my point - DCL put itself in an unwinnable position. They can't deliver the caliber of celebrity/insider/whatever that will interest more than 10% of the cruisers.

For every one person who is interested in listening to Steve Sansweet, there is another person who would much rather listen to Paul Zinnes. And there and probably 20 other people who couldn't care less about either of them, and are expecting Anthony Daniels or Peter Mayhew at a bare minimum.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

From his website:


Is this not accurate?

If so, that wasn't clear in his presentation on stage that day.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

"Interesting" is a very subjective term. One person's interesting speaker is another person's boring waste of time.

But this goes to my point - DCL put itself in an unwinnable position. They can't deliver the caliber of celebrity/insider/whatever that will interest more than 10% of the cruisers.

For every one person who is interested in listening to Steve Sansweet, there is another person who would much rather listen to Paul Zinnes. And there and probably 20 other people who couldn't care less about either of them, and are expecting Anthony Daniels or Peter Mayhew at a bare minimum.

The key part of that being DCL put *themselves* in that situation.

 

[Sir William]

This may be heresy, but I don't find Pirate Night all that interesting, though I do enjoy seeing some of the costumes people wear. But, I'm looking forward to our SWDAS next year. I would prefer to see the theme run throughout the cruise but realize I'm but one of many passengers and I'm probably in the minority here. I should note here that I enjoy the films (same for POTC), and I've read a few of the fan-fiction books, but otherwise I'm not a particular fan.

I would attend the Star Wars presentation regardless of who is speaking. First, I might learn something new, and second, I'll probably find it interesting, if not entertaining.

 

[squirk]

The key part of that being DCL put *themselves* in that situation.

That's what I said - they put themselves in an unwinnable position. I agree 100%.