What can DCL do to make their pricing "worth it"?

[mevelandry]

That's a great idea, but how would they police that? Put the concessions inside the theater? Have CMs on hand to follow you to make sure you go into, and stay in, the theater and not back out on deck? Have CMs watching for popcorn bags in the hallways or on deck and asking you to return to the theater? I don't know.

In our movie theaters, close to the exit, employees stand with wastebaskets and plastic bags to collect the trash. Add a few signs at the entrance and at the exit stating about how popcorn should remain in the area... ?

 

[squirk]

Yes, but that's a one-way solution, right? When you buy popcorn from concessions at a movie theater, there really is no place to go except the theater. Plus, nobody's going to go to a movie theater just to buy popcorn and leave, especially at $8/bucket. Compare that to a cruise ship where, at least the way it's set up on DCL, you have everywhere to go with that popcorn. And if it's free and people can grab as much as they want, tons of folks are going to expect and try to take some with them.

And I would bet at least half of the passengers would ignore any signs asking you to leave your popcorn in the theater. I can hear it now: "I paid XX thousand dollars for this cruise and, by God, if I want to take a bag of popcorn to my room, I'm gonna!!"

And then they spill it, and don't tell anyone, and the hallway or heavily-trafficked common area has popcorn scattered all over it until a CM notices and cleans it up. I can see that being a pervasive and endless problem.

I know this can happen now with the paid popcorn, but as Perditax said, perhaps providing the popcorn at an upcharge sufficiently curbs the problem.

 

[Ofinn]

Not hard to believe at all! That's why we left NYC. We felt like we were too old to be earning that and saving so little.

We live in area with a much lower cost of living and I have a hard time believing it. LoL. I don't feel like we are in the top 15%. I feel very middle class.

 

[squirk]

I've seen more than one study indicating that people, even one-percenters, generally don't "feel" wealthy until they have a net worth in excess of $5MM. Until then, they feel "upper-middle-class" at best.

But basing economic status (i.e., how wealthy someone is) based on income is a fallacy because it does not take into account the amount of liabilities/debt that person/household has.

For a simple example, is someone making $300k/year but with $200k of debt really any wealthier than someone making $100k/year with no debt whatsoever? Depending on your definition of "net worth", you might say those people are equally wealthy at present.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I've seen more than one study indicating that people, even one-percenters, generally don't "feel" wealthy until they have a net worth in excess of $5MM. Until then, they feel "upper-middle-class" at best.

But basing economic status (i.e., how wealthy someone is) based on income is a fallacy because it does not take into account the amount of liabilities/debt that person/household has.

For a simple example, is someone making $300k/year but with $200k of debt really any wealthier than someone making $100k/year with no debt whatsoever? Depending on your definition of "net worth", you might say those people are equally wealthy at present.

Agree. Using a single number for this kind of analysis is useless. For starters what is a middle class median wage in Florida will leave you below the poverty line in New York or California. The other thing that never gets presented in these discussions is that the vast majority of those 18% (or 15%, or even 1%) are not people, but businesses. The U.S. tax code makes no distinction between "natural" persons, and "statutory" persons (businesses). Strip out the SME's (small to Medium sized businesses) and corporations from the discussion, and the 1% number for "natural" persons drops to ~$140,000.

BTW, my dad always told me that if you only had a dollar then you might believe the person who had two was wealthy.

 

[perditax]

While we're off on a money tangent ...

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older / increased my income is that no matter how much you make, you are either the kind of person who will find a way to spend it all or you aren't, and you can get used to having a higher income (meaning, find ways to spend it) frighteningly fast. Good financial habits are worth learning no matter what your income level is. (Not saying I've mastered it, mind you.)

 

[over50visits]

Agree. Using a single number for this kind of analysis is useless. For starters what is a middle class median wage in Florida will leave you below the poverty line in New York or California. The other thing that never gets presented in these discussions is that the vast majority of those 18% (or 15%, or even 1%) are not people, but businesses. The U.S. tax code makes no distinction between "natural" persons, and "statutory" persons (businesses). Strip out the SME's (small to Medium sized businesses) and corporations from the discussion, and the 1% number for "natural" persons drops to ~$140,000.

BTW, my dad always told me that if you only had a dollar then you might believe the person who had two was wealthy.

From an old folk song, but in this world so true:

A rich man eats when he pleases, a poor man whenever he can.

 

[over50visits]

Disney could not adopt the RC model where the public area of newer ships is a collections of places to spend money on food. It seems wherever you turn on their ships you have "specialty" restaurants that want to charge you to eat there. Can you imagine Disney building, oh for example, a sweets shop where you pay for ice cream, waffle cones, and other treats? Another step to just another cruise ship "in line with industry standards."

 

[perditax]

Disney could not adopt the RC model where the public area of newer ships is a collections of places to spend money on food. It seems wherever you turn on their ships you have "specialty" restaurants that want to charge you to eat there. Can you imagine Disney building, oh for example, a sweets shop where you pay for ice cream, waffle cones, and other treats? Another step to just another cruise ship "in line with industry standards."

I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic. They're adding an a la carte gelato and candy shop to the Dream soon.

(If you're being sarcastic, never mind.)

 

[eskimoinparadise]

While we're off on a money tangent ...

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older / increased my income is that no matter how much you make, you are either the kind of person who will find a way to spend it all or you aren't, and you can get used to having a higher income (meaning, find ways to spend it) frighteningly fast. Good financial habits are worth learning no matter what your income level is. (Not saying I've mastered it, mind you.)

I've gotten my will down to three words: "I spent it"

 

[squirk]

The most successful estate plan is the one where the first and only check you ever bounce is to the undertaker.

 

[pag23]

Bring back PUB NIGHT for adults,skit IF I WERE NOT UPON THE SEA, and bring back TREVOR the king of tennis players.

 

[cgolf]

We have been sailing 5-6 times a year for the past 10 years, and have yet to find a single Disney cruise (category for category match) sailing on the same week we sail at a lower cost than the other cruise lines we sail. It doesn't matter whether school is in or out, or when during the year we sail. With very few exceptions, the price on a comparable Disney cruise sailing to the same ports on the same week run anywhere from 30-60% more than the same cruise on RCL.

One thing we do find when we price a Disney cruise is they only show you the prices for interior cabins unless you click on one of the other categories, so you can't easily do a cost comparison between an interior and a balcony. On our next Disney Dream cruise, the difference between a cat 11c interior on deck 2 and a cat 7a balcony on deck 9 was only $132. For what we paid for the baseline balcony on Disney, we could have booked a junior suite on RCL (and that is one of those rare exceptions). We booked the Disney cruise because we wanted to go back to Castaway Cay and see whether Serenity Bay had recovered yet (when we were there in May, it was completely devoid of vegetation, and half of the bay where there used to be some great snorkeling was a huge sandbar.

I really struggle with this. I could believe it now, but in the past we have priced out different lines, and found that DCL wasn't always the most expensive, while it was never the cheapest we didn't see the difference you were speaking of. In fact the Magic and Wonder had always seemed to be reasonably priced, while the Fantasy always appeared to have a premium put on it. We did compare like ship to ship, too. It is possible that we cruise during the times where DCL prices were competitive.

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

The good news is in a couple of years you'll be able to take an over-priced Disney River Cruise when they finish building the two ships that they have on order to compete with Viking

I would really hope this is true because I would really like to do a Mississippi River Cruise but would love to continue doing Disney Cruises. I think this would be the best of both. Too bad, I think that even if true they will start out with European River Cruises rather than the American ones.

 

[kaseyC]

I would really hope this is true because I would really like to do a Mississippi River Cruise but would love to continue doing Disney Cruises. I think this would be the best of both. Too bad, I think that even if true they will start out with European River Cruises rather than the American ones.

Disney is not building river cruise ships. Adventures by Disney has a partnership with AmaWaterways who is customizing a river cruise ship for ABD. It is not a part of DCL. Next year they are beginning with ABD Danube river cruises and may add more itineraries in the next few years.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

They can only do American Cruises with American vessels and crews.......There already are a number of river boat cruises around the country, including American Queen Steamboat Company that runs the Great *American Queen*. They are working to bring back the Delta Queen as well.

I beleive Disney is chartering 2 Viking boats.

AKK

 

[kaseyC]

Disney is not chartering 2 Viking boats. They are partnering with AmaWaterways.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ounces-first-ever-river-cruising-itineraries/

 

[Bella29]

To get back to the original question, here are a few areas where I think DCL needs to step it up. My family (and my extended family) would cruise more often if they would address these issues...


My number one issue that I think they must address asap:

1. Add some fun stuff for active teens. Zip line, flow rider, climbing wall, ropes course. Get rid of the basketball court and use that huge space better.


More stuff they *need* to do to call themselves a premier line and I can't believe they haven't done yet:

2. Improve dining room service - servers have been hit or miss in my family's experience but steadily declining over the last 10 years. This is an area where they really should be achieving excellence. I'm not sure if they need more training or more staff? Probably both! I'm quite happy with the food itself, but the service - ugh. I'm not asking for miracles, but it's not too much to expect competence. And stop the hard sell on the ratings, even the less-than-mediocre ones always guilt us into giving them excellent ratings.

3. Revamp the menu at Cookies... the food there is just so so so bad! I think the banana bread is the only thing edible there. We love everything else about Castaway Cay but the food is consistently abysmal. I love ribs and potato salad, but theirs are just plain nasty. Make them halfway decent, add in corn bread muffins and a shredded bbq chicken sandwich along with some nice fruit options and it would be fabulous. I'm not asking for top of the line bbq, but I think they could at least reach the level of a chain like Famous Daves. In fact they could contract out to Famouse Daves catering and it would be 1000% better.

4. A couple other picky food things where they are acting like a budget line instead of a premium line, things that have already been discussed ad nauseum but are continually ignored... offer real maple syrup, bring back Ken's honey mustard, free popcorn in the movie theaters, etc.

5. A ticketed upcharge character breakfast opportunity with a fabulous breakfast buffet on a par with what you find in the parks - great food and all the main characters stopping by your table, along with a photographer walking around with each character. It would need to be a great brunch buffet, not the same menu as the old ship character breakfast.

6. Shutters - more photographers walking around the ship, and lower the cost of CD purchase. And for the love of all that is holy, take the borders off the CD images or make them optional. They are beyond hideous.

7. Make the new alcohol limitations more reasonable - 2 bottles of anything per person. I never get drunk, I never walk around the ship with a home-brewed cocktail, and I don't drink wine or beer, but I like to have a Bailey's on my balcony when I'm on vacation... I don't think that's too much to ask!

8. Extend the pool hours to spread out the time kids are using the pool, make it less crowded and more safe.


And this is just my personal wish:

9. A 10 day Southern Carib itinerary in early January, preferably one that leaves from Miami and stops at CC and Jamaica.

10. Special characters like when they had Kermit doing shows on a 10 day many years ago, or the 100 Acre Woods gang doing a special character breakfast a la Crystal Palace. (Not the Disney Jr gang!)

 

[holula]

Haven't read all the replies yet (I will go back to them after this). Right now I'm on Oasis of the Seas. We paid less for a balcony than an inside on the Fantasy would have cost us and have more OBC too.

There are LOTS of things Disney could do to improve.

- Service. I took my first cruise on Disney in May 2012. With each cruise, the service has slipped whether that be at Guest Services, in the MDR or just generally on the ship. I found I got better service on NCL Epic than on Disney when I did b2b cruises in December. The Epic cost half the price for two more days. If Disney is meant to be head and shoulders above the other lines in service they need to step it up.

- Activites. They have drastically cut the amount of adult activities on Disney. When we sailed last year there was nothing to do until 2pm. There used to be tons of trivia and on our last five night there was maybe five trivia sessions. NCL has awesome slides on their newer ships. Royal has the Flowrider and rock climbing and a zip line. Royal also has. Dreamworks character parade.

- New shows. Or at least have different shows for each ship. They get repetitive.

- Longer port times and more varied excursions. Other cruise lines manage this fine. Actually add some new ports in there too. I would love to see Disney alternate an eight night Eastern and a six night Western from either PC or Miami.

- More public areas. This has really only become apparent since sailing on other lines but Disney's public areas now seem TINY in comparison to other lines. Especially the pool area. I can never find a lounger on Disney. On a ship with 6000 people this week there were plenty of offerings. I know they can't change this on their current ships but maybe if they build more. Also design a ship where the elevators don't open up into the adult area. PLEASE. Again, other lines manage this just fine.

There are other things, like maybe trial an adult only cruise on one of the three or four nights as a one off. But people pay for Disney because it's Disney. And unless the prices get super crazy and no one books I don't see much changing.

 

[holula]

(Disclaimer: I don't care what the ships look like from outside all that much. I know DCL is supposed to have "classic lines" and that the Norwegian Epic is supposed to be externally hideous. That said, I prefer the modern/Euro decor in Norwegian's rooms to the pics I've seen of DCL's rooms, particularly the "primary colors" color scheme I've seen in some.)

The Epic is probably the ugliest ship from the outside. That said, the inside was gorgeous even though it had a really strange layout and I had a great time on her. Don't judge a book by its cover for sure.