Thoughts on the Adventure?

[scroogie]

Any ship is usually designed with a central atrium. It’s not an “American” concept. Only one cruise ship is even flagged & registered to the USA. The company originally designed it without an atrium. A Hong Kong company. (Usually a cost measure). Their choice…went bankrupt.

"They went bankrupt because they designed a ship without an atrium" is such a bizarre take.

 

[DCLGirlie]

I get the different ship style experience. I don’t understand the all out at sea. So far haven’t seen much on what the “cruising” looks like.

Think of it like cruises out of Florida to Nassau where everyone in the know simply treats Nassau as an extra sea day, just without the legal requirement of Disney needing to go to Nassau x times a year so no need to keep up appearances of a port day no one wants.

 

[asgur5]

I disagree, it does create extra people because those people will come from everywhere to meet a character.
You are underestimating the Asian guest and their love of characters and queues.

Less characters might swing someone to do something else with their time, but if they know there are more they could be more likely to focus only on the characters.

I’m happy with the look of this ship so far, I’m glad it’s different. I don’t see the appeal of going on ships that are essentially the same and have the same offerings.

I’m really excited to experience it for myself.

Ok you get those people dont materalise out of thin air right? They are always on the ship doing something? As I said in the post you quoted, if it doesnt make the lines shorter for characters it certainly makes the lines a lot shorter at other activities or provides more spaces in restaurants and at pools. Having more things to do makes lines shoter when there is a captive audience. More things to do is always better for all the customers even if those things they add last are of no interest to you. Cos it shortens queues and frees up spaces elsewhere.

 

[asgur5]

Think of it like cruises out of Florida to Nassau where everyone in the know simply treats Nassau as an extra sea day, just without the legal requirement of Disney needing to go to Nassau x times a year so no need to keep up appearances of a port day no one wants.

All those ships go to disney islands where people swim in the ocean and go for bike rides. Thats a big part of those cruises. For many its there favourite day of the cruise.

 

[Agent 86]

In an early discussion about the Adventure (which I can't find) I think it was predicted that there may be problems with guests removing gratuities due to cultural habits. I am wondering if anyone has heard of this being an issue.

Their reliability is obviously highly questionable, but in the few Disney Adventure Facebook groups which I'm a member of, the removal of the "optional" gratuities by guests does seem to be a problem.

In particular, people have mentioned that various guests (i.e. Influencers) are suggesting it as a "hack" to save money / to have more money to spend onboard.

 

[FWRR3]

Their reliability is obviously highly questionable, but in the few Disney Adventure Facebook groups which I'm a member of, the removal of the "optional" gratuities by guests does seem to be a problem.

In particular, people have mentioned that various guests (i.e. Influencers) are suggesting it as a "hack" to save money / to have more money to spend onboard.

Wow, that's sad. I hope those influencers aren't from the U.S.!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I think DCL should just roll in the gratuities to the total cruise cost when sailing in places of the world where tipping isn't customary. That way they protect the workers who might expect them (not sure if the crew is partly coming from other DCL ships; I would think so, and in that case they likely count on the gratuities)

 

[holula]

I think DCL should just roll in the gratuities to the total cruise cost when sailing in places of the world where tipping isn't customary. That way they protect the workers who might expect them (not sure if the crew is partly coming from other DCL ships; I would think so, and in that case they likely count on the gratuities)

I agree especially when they have committed to such a long time sailing from Singapore and they are targeting a more local audience. That very different from sailing for 4/5 months out of Europe.

 

[wendlle]

Singapore has a population only slightly larger then queensland. Disney gave up on queelsnand after 5 cruises with a ship less then half the capacity of the adventure. And yes singapore gets tourists but not as many as people think.

I cant see how this lasts 18 months or even 12 months in its current form. Its going to become a ghost ship.

They may have a population like QLD but most of QLD aren't Disney fans, I said they have the highest per capita fans of Disney of any country in the world. Australia doesn't.


As for the 3-4 night sailings, Aussies are used to that, most of our ships here do plenty of sailings of that length and a lot of them are sea days, no ports. Just because some people don't like to sail like that, doesn't mean no one does.

Also the rides aren't the only thing that makes a theme park, it's the entertainment, characters, theming and service. No one is expecting a few tiny rides on the top of the ship to be exactly like a theme park, but when you are this far away from a Disney park this is a fine compromise, and a heck of a lot cheaper for Aussies too.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

They may have a population like QLD but most of QLD aren't Disney fans, I said they have the highest per capita fans of Disney of any country in the world. Australia doesn't.


As for the 3-4 night sailings, Aussies are used to that, most of our ships here do plenty of sailings of that length and a lot of them are sea days, no ports. Just because some people don't like to sail like that, doesn't mean no one does.

Also the rides aren't the only thing that makes a theme park, it's the entertainment, characters, theming and service. No one is expecting a few tiny rides on the top of the ship to be exactly like a theme park, but when you are this far away from a Disney park this is a fine compromise, and a heck of a lot cheaper for Aussies too.

My favorite thing about Disney theme parks is the shows, so I get it. But even if one has qualms with the comparison (and I think that's understandable), the Disney Adventure is still the closest Disney experience for a lot of people like yourself. I think it's a great option for those fans especially.

 

[asgur5]

They may have a population like QLD but most of QLD aren't Disney fans, I said they have the highest per capita fans of Disney of any country in the world. Australia doesn't.


As for the 3-4 night sailings, Aussies are used to that, most of our ships here do plenty of sailings of that length and a lot of them are sea days, no ports. Just because some people don't like to sail like that, doesn't mean no one does.

Also the rides aren't the only thing that makes a theme park, it's the entertainment, characters, theming and service. No one is expecting a few tiny rides on the top of the ship to be exactly like a theme park, but when you are this far away from a Disney park this is a fine compromise, and a heck of a lot cheaper for Aussies too.

What do you base the first sentence off? Disney plus subscribers would suggest otherwise but Im sure there are other measures?

In any case the rate of singapore disney fans per capita would have to be 20 plus times higher them australias to convince me my claim is probably incorrect. As im not claiming singapore cannot maintain 10 disney wonder sized cruises per year. Im claiming they cant maintain 100 plus cruises with capacity more then double the disney wonder per year. As that is what the adventure is.

I do agree the rides on the ship dont matter too much. Its not why people go on cruises. More the food and shows and theming and pool decks.

 

[peder]

I do agree the rides on the ship dont matter too much. Its not why people go on cruises. More the food and shows and theming and pool decks.

The roller coaster is cool. I've done Bolt on the newer Carnival ships. It sells out and everyone enjoys it. And it's thrilling, too, so high up there. I don't think there's anything wrong with that ride. It's just the Dumbo equivalent and the Pym racers which look like grocery-store-sidewalk rides that you pay a quarter to ride. Those do more to damage Disney's reputation than help IMO.

 

[asgur5]

The roller coaster is cool. I've done Bolt on the newer Carnival ships. It sells out and everyone enjoys it. And it's thrilling, too, so high up there. I don't think there's anything wrong with that ride. It's just the Dumbo equivalent and the Pym racers which look like grocery-store-sidewalk rides that you pay a quarter to ride. Those do more to damage Disney's reputation than help IMO.

Agree. It would of been better if they left that area as a blank space those rides are so bad.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

not sure if the crew is partly coming from other DCL ships;

In my limited experience talking with crew, some of the more senior and guest forward positions were crew from other ships, but almost everyone who was guest facing and not leadership positions I spoke with mentioned they were brand new to DCL and this was their first cruises.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

I just didn't really the Treasure version, I felt it dragged on a bit and we had a Maui that wasn't great! (Puppetry was great though) The Adventure one was a nice condensed version of the story, short and sweet That's just my opinion though!

It has to be short and sweet so no one melted in the sun! The theater pool area where Moana is show is the aft of the ship and not covered and was so toasty! 15 minutes felt like the maximum time anyone would want to sit in the sun and see the show. I agree it was good though, and Maui's songs were top notch.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

I get the different ship style experience. I don’t understand the all out at sea. So far haven’t seen much on what the “cruising” looks like.

They sure say it’s quite warm. So I checked its routes, since a moving ship usually has a cooling breeze. It doesn’t appear moves much once it out. Not sold on this type itinerary. Probably a fuel saver but has to be a bore for the captain & crew.

It was really warm. The ship most often was sailing around 8 knots. In comparison most of the time I've been on a DCL ship and it's headed somewhere, it's going around 18 knots. There either seemed to be no sea breeze or gale force winds (not really but very very strong). The cruising views looks like still slow ocean with an occasional container ship passing by. If you spend time watching the ocean you can spot dolphins sometimes.
Mostly it just looks like blue ocean without much happening. Honestly I hardly saw anyone on deck watching the ocean except at sunset for a few minutes just before the sun disappeared. The ship is not set up for ocean watching in public areas as much as some other DCL ships. Deck 7 (the walking deck) doesn't have any chairs and while there are plenty of table seating by the windows on deck 17, the open areas by the pool do not really have a sea view. I didn't see many people on deck 18 sunbathing or ocean watching. It felt like it was a combination of it being a short cruise so there was too much to do to spend time sea gazing, and because it was so blisteringly hot. It wasn't just the air temperature, (80F) or even the high humidity, the sun just always felt oppressive for me.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

The no adult lounges is misinformed based on information and tours I’ve seen. Buccaneer Bar and the Palo Taverna were presented as adult only spaces.

The Buccaneer Bar is an adults only space after 9pm and when activities are not happening. Enforcement of this so far in my experience has been lack luster.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

San Fransokyo looks great with a handful of people in it, but I can't imagine how the narrow corridors, "free" arcade machines, etc will work when the ship is sailing at capacity.

I sailed with the ship fully booked, and surprisingly the included arcade machines did ok. There were tons of people using them, but you just waited till their turn ended and hopped on next. Less than a 5 minute wait. The Hero Training (a digital interactive group game) was crowded, and the line to play when full was about 45 minutes, but people generally waited calmly and just got on with it. It seemed sort of self regulating. If it was really crowded, people would just go elsewhere. It's more pleasant when it's empty, but it wasn't unbearable full either.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have decided to plan a trip to Asia for 2028 (for our 35th anniversary) to try to visit all of the Disney parks over there. The Adventure is of no use for that. Why would we fly half way around the world to cruise to nowhere when we could do that from FL?

We have recently booked a cruise on Holland America that leaves from Hong Kong and overnights in Shanghai and finishes up in Tokyo. It is not the dates we were hoping for but it hits the ports of most interest to us. And it is THE ONLY cruise that allows us to hit those 3 key cities. I think DCL missed the mark on what is needed to get the US and UK markets to visit Asia in large numbers. IMO this same itinerary on DCL would attract true Disney Fans in large numbers. JM2C.