Thoughts on the Adventure?

[leeleemurph]

views are subjective but realities are not. Realities are real. Singapore has little history because it was a small insignificant trading post for most of its history. Its not a city thats been around for 500 plus years. Historically it is objectively uninteresting. There are no fascinating sites to see. Most tourists take photos of a 20 year old hotel with a big infinity pool on top and some fake metallic trees. It has no nice beach or natural sites to visit. Its cloudy most of the time (its not alone there in that part of asia though), the theme parks/family activities are not up to international standard either. There is no unique culture with most people who live there ethnic Chinese importing Chinese culture.The place is boring for most people who have travelled. Especially anywhere else in Asia.

And we can complain because this our ship. Its the only one in Asia and we want it up to the standard of the other ones. We cant afford to travel to Florida often as its on the other side of the planet. Especially given the wonder has now gone. 3 musical shows instead of 2, adults pool and entertainment, a kids club that stays open all day, ports to go see outside singapore and cruises longer then 4 days. Was this too much to ask? A lot of these issues are fixable so complaining could help if enough people do it.

I'm currently on Easter holiday in an extremely historic European city. It's filthy dirty, it's massively expensive and the people have been nothing short of obnoxious. While it's great to see the history and the culture, that's not everything when it comes to what makes a place enjoyable. Singapore was the cleanest city I've ever been too, it's was hugely affordable compared to Europe, particularly for food. The food was fantastic and we encountered very friendly helpful people. Everyone values and prioritises different things when it comes to holidays because we are all different. Your 'reality' around Singapore may be true to you but it's also true that others who haven't had as much opportunity to travel in Asia could enjoy it and find a lot of interest there.

I live on a tiny island in the Atlantic so I know exactly how hard it is to travel to cruise on DCL. It costs us a minimum of 1500 euro on flights to get to Florida or any international destination and the price is climbing every year. And when DCL does send a ship to Europe in the summer, the cost is astronomical compared to sailing in the US. We also don't even get a ship year round. It was cheaper for us to fly to Singapore and sail there than take a DCL cruise in Europe which is insane!

And of course I agree with complaining but complain to direct to Disney themselves and voice concerns. And Asia also has a ship coming to Japan and I'm sure a lot of lessons will be learned from the Adventure going forward. It's still very early days and I imagine a lot will change and adapt as they see how things are going and receive feedback directly.

 

[cinnamoroll]

views are subjective but realities are not. Realities are real. Singapore has little history because it was a small insignificant trading post for most of its history. Its not a city thats been around for 500 plus years. Historically it is objectively uninteresting. There are no fascinating sites to see. Most tourists take photos of a 20 year old hotel with a big infinity pool on top and some fake metallic trees. It has no nice beach or natural sites to visit. Its cloudy most of the time (its not alone there in that part of asia though), the theme parks/family activities are not up to international standard either. There is no unique culture with most people who live there ethnic Chinese importing Chinese culture.The place is boring for most people who have travelled. Especially anywhere else in Asia.

And we can complain because this our ship. Its the only one in Asia and we want it up to the standard of the other ones. We cant afford to travel to Florida often as its on the other side of the planet. Especially given the wonder has now gone. 3 musical shows instead of 2, adults pool and entertainment, a kids club that stays open all day, ports to go see outside singapore and cruises longer then 4 days. Was this too much to ask? A lot of these issues are fixable so complaining could help if enough people do it.

I'm with you in that Singapore is not nearly as 'interesting' as other countries we've been to but we love the food; how safe, convenient, and clean it is; and even its tiny size. We're well-traveled and prior to having a child we definitely preferred and opted for other countries for their historical sites, outdoor activities, and natural beauty, etc. but now that we have a little one we appreciate what Singapore has to offer. We can no longer beach hop on a moped or walk days on end on cobblestone streets, don't want to worry about the possibility of kidnapping, and don't want to put up with paid and/or dirty washrooms.

We are originally from Asia and still have a lot of family in Asia that we visit many times throughout the year so this 3/4-day to nowhere cruise from Singapore is kinda perfect for us. It's also cheap to fly within and do land-based trips in Asia- much cheaper than paying mouse tax to live on a ship and one would get more time as well as freedom to enjoy the places more. From what we saw on our B2B, the majority of passengers are large families with tons of kids so I think that's why they close secure/drop-off childcare and run open-house at Oceaneer's for 3 hours (3-6pm) everyday. But I agree the hours can be better because it coincides with when the Ironcycle is open (4-8pm) and parents with kids who do not meet the ride requirements have nowhere to drop them off. I'm guessing they subbed the 3rd musical for the Avengers, Duffy, and Moana short shows, which is not a bad tradeoff to be honest. The dinner shows that they do at Navigator's and Hollywood Spotlight are really cute too. I much prefer having these than yet another Frozen musical or Golden Mickeys. Funnily enough there aren't many complaints about the lack of adult space/activities in the Singaporean/Asian-dominated FB group. The biggest complaint people have are the other passengers, and we witnessed lots of this on our sailings as well. Tons of people left their manners at home! But we didn't let that get to us and instead focused on the positives.

This ship is definitely not for everyone but some, like ourselves, really love it. We can say the same thing about any of the other ships though. Well, maybe not the Treasure because she is perfect in our eyes (minus the Maui we got)

 

[Anku]

Um no i live closer to the adventure then any other dcl ship. I know Singapore is boring. Ive been there like 12 times.

It's boring to you because you've been 12 times. But others have not. And based on you later reply its also because you prefer history and culture. But for others, seeing a hotel with a ship on top and metalic sculture garden with light shows plus a Universal studios theme park may be their idea of cool.

In any case, I did write in my original post that people should spend more time touring rest of Asia, not just Singapore, if they are flying half way across the world for Disney Adventure already. I've been Singapore before and really enjoyed it, but it is a very small city that only have enough to do for 3 days, therefore, it shouldn't be the only place to visit.

However, I would not use Disney cruise as the means of transport for traveling around Asia. That is not time or cost efficient. You can go between countries much cheaper and quicker by land or flight with more time for actual sightseeing.
Hence, why 3-4 days at seas is perfect. It really is just another theme park at sea that does not take too much of your precious holiday time but allows you to enjoy Disney bubble for a few days.

The only port that Disney can add that wouldn't require too much sea days is Malaysia or maybe Thailand. But from a locals perspective what is the point of adding a port in Malaysia? Most of them have been to Malaysia many times already. If they were already paying mouse tax for the cruise, they wouldn't even bother getting off the ship to see a Malaysian beach that they can drive there in 2 hours and seen 100 times. Getting off the boat means they have to spend more money on land, when all food is 'free' on board and they get to do more Disney character meets, which is what is rare and new to them, not Malaysia. In this case what is the point for Disney to increase the cost of the cruise by putting a Malaysian port stop that even the locals have little interest in?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's boring to you because you've been 12 times. But others have not. And based on you later reply its also because you prefer history and culture. But for others, seeing a hotel with a ship on top and metalic sculture garden with light shows plus a Universal studios theme park may be their idea of cool.

In any case, I did write in my original post that people should spend more time touring rest of Asia, not just Singapore, if they are flying half way across the world for Disney Adventure already. I've been Singapore before and really enjoyed it, but it is a very small city that only have enough to do for 3 days, therefore, it shouldn't be the only place to visit.

However, I would not use Disney cruise as the means of transport for traveling around Asia. That is not time or cost efficient. You can go between countries much cheaper and quicker by land or flight with more time for actual sightseeing.
Hence, why 3-4 days at seas is perfect. It really is just another theme park at sea that does not take too much of your precious holiday time but allows you to enjoy Disney bubble for a few days.

The only port that Disney can add that wouldn't require too much sea days is Malaysia or maybe Thailand. But from a locals perspective what is the point of adding a port in Malaysia? Most of them have been to Malaysia many times already. If they were already paying mouse tax for the cruise, they wouldn't even bother getting off the ship to see a Malaysian beach that they can drive there in 2 hours and seen 100 times. Getting off the boat means they have to spend more money on land, when all food is 'free' on board and they get to do more Disney character meets, which is what is rare and new to them, not Malaysia. In this case what is the point for Disney to increase the cost of the cruise by putting a Malaysian port stop that even the locals have little interest in?

I think it's really just a difference of who is presently the target audience for the ship.

Asia cruises sell well for other lines, it's not the destination that is the issue, it's not Singapore either. Many of the Australians on the FB pages I'm on for the cruise line we sail go to Singapore for cruises, it's much closer to them than Europe and it's like people in the U.S. flying to Europe for cruises. They fly elsewhere of course but certainly isn't a case of "oh gee boorring". They'll fly to Hong Kong as well. To the poster's point about it being "their ship" as I understand it they are in Australia, DCL has about 3/4th of their itineraries in the Caribbean/Bahamas. I've said it before and I'll say it again DCL is not the line to use if you want to see the world. It's just a mismatch in liking Disney the brand and what the DCL way of doing things. While DCL is starting to get into the Asian market (they'll be doing Japan in several years) there's better options out there if you're looking to actual see the Asian destinations.

It's who Disney is trying to target initially and how they are doing it. It's not as complicated IMO as thinking about food costs on land which arguably locals know the cheaper spots to go to and if you're paying for a Disney cruise you're not going to bat an eye much at food costs, you may not choose to go eat on land but less likely to be because of costs. Just more, IMO, that they've intentionally narrowed who will want to book this cruise, a cruise that at this time only goes out to sea for several days and back.

To give an example Seabourn, who we sail with, got an offer from a Japanese cruise company to buy Odyssey, Seabourn took them up on their offer and in 2024 it went to them, Seabourn was not looking to sell any of their ships at that time but the offer was too great. They liked it so much they put an offer in for Sojourn which is a sister ship to Odyssey and now next month it will be turned over to the same Japanese cruise company. That cruise line, while they promote being bi-lingual is still primarily aimed at the Japanese market. It sails around Japan. It doesn't just go out to sea for a few days and come back. I mention this as a counterpoint to your mentioning about sailing around Malaysia, etc. Unless you know for a fact that those in Singapore have no interest in going to any place around them, I would not presume that being local means you don't want to sail your own region.

 

[Becx N Gav]

views are subjective but realities are not. Realities are real. Singapore has little history because it was a small insignificant trading post for most of its history. Its not a city thats been around for 500 plus years. Historically it is objectively uninteresting. There are no fascinating sites to see. Most tourists take photos of a 20 year old hotel with a big infinity pool on top and some fake metallic trees. It has no nice beach or natural sites to visit. Its cloudy most of the time (its not alone there in that part of asia though), the theme parks/family activities are not up to international standard either. There is no unique culture with most people who live there ethnic Chinese importing Chinese culture.The place is boring for most people who have travelled. Especially anywhere else in Asia.

And we can complain because this our ship. Its the only one in Asia and we want it up to the standard of the other ones. We cant afford to travel to Florida often as its on the other side of the planet. Especially given the wonder has now gone. 3 musical shows instead of 2, adults pool and entertainment, a kids club that stays open all day, ports to go see outside singapore and cruises longer then 4 days. Was this too much to ask? A lot of these issues are fixable so complaining could help if enough people do it.

Lots of people think Milton Keynes is a modern boring city but my son and I often go there and have a good time!
Maybe you should wait until the OLC ships come into service and then you can enjoy some Asian based cruises?

 

[jimmymc]

There are choices in the Caribbean, but Disney isn't providing any choices for SE Asia.

But even in the Caribbean I would point out that Disney is hardly offering any choice, and it's led them to offering a ton of discounts in the past year and it's largely because their itineraries are *awful* and repetitive. Nobody hates the cruise industry like DCL does.

I am curious how the Adventure will be seen 4 years from now, near the end of the Singapore contract. I'm also curious if they would ever use it in the Caribbean, since I don't think it can dock at Castaway and it would push the capacity limits of Lighthouse Point.