The DCL "company line" = predictable

[squirk]

Sure, at the end of the day, it boils down to nothing more than either living with the changes and ponying up, or not and cruising elsewhere. I think we've all admitted (in this thread and many others) that the rantings and ravings of a few nerds don't amount to jack-squat to DCL.

If their revolving-door strategy works for them in perpetuity, so be it. But I suspect there will come a day where the well dries up, and they'll find themselves jonesing for those repeat customers they didn't give a hoot about in the past.

 

[Rogillio]

That is nice for you that you can pay the increase, unfortunately I actually cannot and that makes me very sad. Meaning, I literally do not have the money to pay for it. bills wouldn't get paid etc. I have no money to pay for it.

I am very sorry. Perhaps if you delayed taking the cruise a few months you could save some additional money? OTOH, if you have cruised Disney previously, try RCCL. I think they are a close second behind DCL. It won't be the Disney but still fun.

 

[Rogillio]

Sure, at the end of the day, it boils down to nothing more than either living with the changes and ponying up, or not and cruising elsewhere. I think we've all admitted (in this thread and many others) that the rantings and ravings of a few nerds don't amount to jack-squat to DCL.

If their revolving-door strategy works for them in perpetuity, so be it. But I suspect there will come a day where the well dries up, and they'll find themselves jonesing for those repeat customers they didn't give a hoot about in the past.

We first cuise when our kids were 7 and 10. We've taken 10 Disney cruises over the years. My kids are now 22 and 25. Soon they will be starting their own families and another generation of Disney cruises will be sailing! I just can't wait to be able to book a Disney cruise for my grandchildren!!

 

[emilyann415]

We do have the money to pay for it....but I can take 2 vacations for what it costs me to do one cruise anymore. I have not cruised any other lines before and we are just at a point where we are planning our next cruise with either Norwegian or Royal....Change is hard for me, but I suspect that we will like them just as much. For what I am paying for the 5 night NYC cruise next year I've discovered I can take a week long cruise in the Haven......Hard to pass that up......Maybe I'll find I hate Norwegian but maybe I won't and then it will be hard to justify spending so much more all the time.....

 

[gumbypee]

I am very sorry. Perhaps if you delayed taking the cruise a few months you could save some additional money? OTOH, if you have cruised Disney previously, try RCCL. I think they are a close second behind DCL. It won't be the Disney but still fun.

aw thanks. I have cruised Princess and Celebrity before but they were nothing compared to Disney for me. I have thought about it, but I am not sure I want to save and spend the money on say an RCCL cruise and end up disappointed again, you know? I'll just see where life takes me and enjoy reading Disboards in the meantime

 

[tinkerone]

I haven't see a DCL commercial in months! About the only time we see them is whatching AFV on Sunday nights. I guess you watch more channels directed at families. We watch a lot of news channels, history, Discovery, etc.

I would not read to much into your perception of the number of commerials. I see a lot of Coke commercials but that does not mean Coca-Cola is foundering.

I still think, in the most simplistic terms, if you can get 10% more per passenger you can sail with 5% fewer people and and still make 5% more than would have made. And if you don't lose 5% of the passengers on any given cruise then you make 10% more money.

but there not asking for 10% more per passenger. its more like 20, 30 40, even 50% more. add to that the canadian dollar is so low we need to add another 33%.
as to the coke commercial, i haven't seen one of those since last christmas with the bears (love the coke bear commercials). maybe its the areas we live in. dcl is going to have to work way harder to get the average canadian to continue to book with them for the very reason i just stated. if you think that there is only a few people who are turning their backs on dcl then your (not you specifically so don't read into it) head is in the sand. i don't know what the euro is doing nor the australian dollar as i don't follow those but if they are tanking as well theres going to be lots of people out. not one or two.
this thread is only a few people but its telling in the other threads as well.

 

[Rogillio]

but there not asking for 10% more per passenger. its more like 20, 30 40, even 50% more. add to that the canadian dollar is so low we need to add another 33%.
as to the coke commercial, i haven't seen one of those since last christmas with the bears (love the coke bear commercials). maybe its the areas we live in. dcl is going to have to work way harder to get the average canadian to continue to book with them for the very reason i just stated. if you think that there is only a few people who are turning their backs on dcl then your (not you specifically so don't read into it) head is in the sand. i don't know what the euro is doing nor the australian dollar as i don't follow those but if they are tanking as well theres going to be lots of people out. not one or two.
this thread is only a few people but its telling in the other threads as well.

On our cruise last month there were a lot of non-Americans. Asians, Indians and Europeans where a larg percentage of those sailing. Maybe DCL is banking on the global market and their global name recognition. There are millions of rich families around the the globe. India has 1 billion people! If just the upper 1% can afford to sail that is 10 million people. If only 10% of that 1% actaully takes a cruise that is 1,000,000....a million people! And that is just India. Japan and China are getting hooked on Disney now too with the Disney parks over there.

 

[tinkerone]

On our cruise last month there were a lot of non-Americans. Asians, Indians and Europeans where a larg percentage of those sailing. Maybe DCL is banking on the global market and their global name recognition. There are millions of rich families around the the globe. India has 1 billion people! If just the upper 1% can afford to sail that is 10 million people. If only 10% of that 1% actaully takes a cruise that is 1,000,000....a million people! And that is just India. Japan and China are getting hooked on Disney now too with the Disney parks over there.

you could well be right. as I say, I no longer have to follow foreign currency so I have no idea what is going on. they have to have some plan but what it is is very very baffling. I don't think any of us have a clue. we all have ideas but who knows.

 

[Ofinn]

I am very sorry. Perhaps if you delayed taking the cruise a few months you could save some additional money? OTOH, if you have cruised Disney previously, try RCCL. I think they are a close second behind DCL. It won't be the Disney but still fun.

Seriously who wants to save months and months or even years to pay for a one week cruise with Mickey Mouse. I agree with you on the RCI suggestion. If DCL is out of your budget than it's out of your budget. DCl is nice, but it's not worth making a huge financial sacrifice to cruise on them. Vacations are supposed to be fun....something you do with your disposable income. They are not supposed to bankrupt you. I have cancelled as many DCL cruises as I have taken because the price started to stress me out. Paying for a vacation should not be stressful.

 

[AquaDame]

Here's the big thing.... Are you still going to cruise on DCL? If the answer is yes then your email will accomplish nothing. Now if everyone who felt that Disney is no longer worth the extra cost actually cancelled bookings and sent emails similar to the original one you posted then Disney might wake up. Empty threats will mean nothing to them.

Some of us did do this (raises hand) but drop in the bucket I am sure. Luckily I did it because it was right for us, and not to try to teach them a lesson, lol. I definitely don't think they will lower prices for the next round since it is their most lucrative sailings next at bat, and then come the popular holiday sailings... if anything they just won't raise prices as much at once next time when 2018 comes out (I still suspect there will be a price raise regardless). I'll sail with them again, if I see a time/itinerary/price I feel is a good value, which also depends on how many more perks get cut in the meantime.

As a matter of fact, if I were a shareholder, I would be upset if they did decide to lower prices just to generate good will.

Really? I am a shareholder and I am upset that they seem to be alienating so many with changes on DCL and at the parks - October has become a zoo of a time to visit and there are a lot of folks unhappy and wondering when they will come back if its going to be like this. If they are wrong and enough people do stop fueling the coffers it could be bad... but then I am not in business and don't know what I'm talking about to be honest. I'm a customer as well as a shareholder after all, so conflicting priorities I suppose...

 

[eskimoinparadise]

On our cruise last month there were a lot of non-Americans. Asians, Indians and Europeans where a larg percentage of those sailing. Maybe DCL is banking on the global market and their global name recognition. There are millions of rich families around the the globe. India has 1 billion people! If just the upper 1% can afford to sail that is 10 million people. If only 10% of that 1% actaully takes a cruise that is 1,000,000....a million people! And that is just India. Japan and China are getting hooked on Disney now too with the Disney parks over there.

Nice try, but according to the World bank, India's average per capita income is $1,570. Not a lot of Disney buying power there.

 

[Ofinn]

Nice try, but according to the World bank, India's average per capita income is $1,570. Not a lot of Disney buying power there.

Good point. All the Dr's and IT people come to the US to work. I lurk on certain cruise meet threads, and I know some of the Europeans aren't too thrilled with the prices.

 

[Rogillio]

Nice try, but according to the World bank, India's average per capita income is $1,570. Not a lot of Disney buying power there.

You obviously have not traveled to India. Not all counties have a middle class. But all counties have an elite class....the top 1% who are millionaires or billionaires. Tremendous amount of money flows thru India and China. The 'average' per capita income is meaningless. The top 1% are loaded! And 1% of a billion is 10 million. 10 million people who are worth at least a million dollars.

Just like to top 1% of this country own 35% of the nations wealth the top 1% in India hold at least that much....probably more.

 

[kiford]

I am upset that they seem to be alienating so many with changes on DCL and at the parks - October has become a zoo of a time to visit

Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron? If they were alienating so many people, it wouldn't be a zoo since I presume you're referring to it being busy. (Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded - Yogi Berra)

 

[Ofinn]

You obviously have not traveled to India. Not all counties have a middle class. But all counties have an elite class....the top 1% who are millionaires or billionaires. Tremendous amount of money flows thru India and China. The 'average' per capita income is meaningless. The top 1% are loaded! And 1% of a billion is 10 million. 10 million people who are worth at least a million dollars.

Just like to top 1% of this country own 35% of the nations wealth the top 1% in India hold at least that much....probably more.

I don't see that many Chinese and Indians on DCL cruises. Do loaded people really go on mainstream cruises? If I was a millionaire or billionaire I would have my own ship. The majority of the people that cruise are middle class. Cruising is generally one of the most affordable ways for families to travel. DCL is not even a luxury line. Compared to some of the luxury lines DCL is cheap. DCL just prices themselves much higher than similar cruise lines like RCI and NCL.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

You obviously have not traveled to India. Not all counties have a middle class. But all counties have an elite class....the top 1% who are millionaires or billionaires. Tremendous amount of money flows thru India and China. The 'average' per capita income is meaningless. The top 1% are loaded! And 1% of a billion is 10 million. 10 million people who are worth at least a million dollars.

Just like to top 1% of this country own 35% of the nations wealth the top 1% in India hold at least that much....probably more.

I give up. Momma told me to never debate a zealot - you win, DCL is perfect - Towel officially thrown in

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I don't see that many Chinese and Indians on DCL cruises. Do loaded people really go on mainstream cruises? If I was a millionaire or billionaire I would have my own ship. The majority of the people that cruise are middle class. Cruising is generally one of the most affordable ways for families to travel. DCL is not even a luxury line. Compared to some of the luxury lines DCL is cheap. DCL just prices themselves much higher than similar cruise lines like RCI and NCL.

Bingo But as the borg said to Captain Picard - resistance is futile

 

[eskimoinparadise]

On our cruise last month there were a lot of non-Americans. Asians, Indians and Europeans where a larg percentage of those sailing. Maybe DCL is banking on the global market and their global name recognition. There are millions of rich families around the the globe. India has 1 billion people! If just the upper 1% can afford to sail that is 10 million people. If only 10% of that 1% actaully takes a cruise that is 1,000,000....a million people! And that is just India. Japan and China are getting hooked on Disney now too with the Disney parks over there.

I don't know why I continue to humor you, but even if your numbers are correct and there are 1,000,000 rich Indians who cruise (heck I'll even spot you the entire 10 million), the reality is that DCL controls less than 2% of the mainstream and above cruise capacity. 2% of 1 Million is 20,000; 2% of 10 million is 200,000. Even if every one of them sailed a DCL ship, you would exhaust the accessible population in less than one year using the 10 million starting point, and 4 weeks if you used a 1 million starting point.

 

[Rogillio]

I give up. Momma told me to never debate a zealot - you win, DCL is perfect - Towel officially thrown in

I'm a zealot? LOL. How many different cruise lines have you said with? We've sailed 5 different cruise lines.

 

[JimmyV]

Do loaded people really go on mainstream cruises? If I was a millionaire or billionaire I would have my own ship. The majority of the people that cruise are middle class. Cruising is generally one of the most affordable ways for families to travel. DCL is not even a luxury line. Compared to some of the luxury lines DCL is cheap. DCL just prices themselves much higher than similar cruise lines like RCI and NCL.

Exactly right. DCL is not a luxury cruise line. It is a small, expensive mass-market cruise line. It is able to keep its prices high due to the scarcity of cabins. RCCL has 25 ships. Carnival has 24. DCL has 4. I assume DCL will continue to order and build more ships until it reaches the point where prices have to be lowered to fill those ships. How many ships will that be? 6? 10? I don't know. But I do know that it isn't 25. The number of ships in its fleet will always be the differentiating factor in terms of pricing. It is hard to imagine a time when there aren't enough eager people willing to pay the upcharge to buy the Disney product, as long as the product is limited to 4 (or 6) ships. While it is disheartening to many who are getting priced out, the truth is that economic evolution is causing such people to move out of the "I cruise DCL" subset and into the "I used to cruise DCL" subset. Emails such as the one sent by the OP are the only way to make the folks in the home office say: "Hmmm. That's the 20th email about high prices that we got today." Whether it will matter remains to be seen. Reminds me of this lyric from "Alice's Restaurant":

Walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in, say, "Shrink, . . . you
Can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant", and walk out.

You know, if one person, just one person, does it, they may think he's
Really sick and they won't take him.

And if two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both [odd] and
They won't take either of them.

And if three people do it! Can you imagine three people walkin' in, singin'
A bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? They may think it's an
Organization!

And can you imagine fifty people a day? I said FIFTY people a day . . .
Walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out?

Friends, They may think it's a MOVEMENT, and that's what it is: THE ALICE'S
RESTAURANT ANTI-MASSACREE MOVEMENT! . . . and all you gotta do to join is to
Sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar.