What Is One Thing You Would Change About DCL?

[insureman]

Bring back Castaway Club private receptions for cruises less than 8 days.

 

[RedHead0186]

Bring back Bermuda

Did DCL hide it somewhere?!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist )

 

[Drfate102]

It's too bad the exchange for DVC points into a DCL cruise is so over priced. Maybe thats my one thing instead

Yes, but you could rent out the points and use that cash to get a much better room on the cruise.

Add casinos to their ships.

I have done so many more Disney Cruises, when we did a Royal, I was kind of shocked that there was a Casino on board

 

[VGCgroupie]

Yes, but you could rent out the points and use that cash to get a much better room on the cruise.

Thats what I did for my upcoming cruise. The exchange rate is absurd, I cant believe anyone does it TBH

 

[tntstults]

My #1 request would be better food. I think I can eat better at restaurants at home. But if this means the price goes up due to this, then never mind!

I agree that they need better itineraries in the Caribbean instead of just repeating them. The last few years we opted not to do Disney Cruise so that we could see some new places.

I truly only want to go on a 7 night cruise. But with my husband being a teacher we can only go in the summer. The cost for 7 nights in the summer is out of our price range unfortunately. I just can't justify spending that much money.

 

[sponica]

A regular season out of NY. I know this year and last year didn't happen because of drydocks. I can drive to NY and it's an easier port for me to plan around than anything in FL. Technically speaking, Boston is the easiest port but I'd be happy with NY!

 

[DCL58]

I have also seen this change even mid cruise (my guess is someone complained to guest services about people cheating because they didn't win). I run enough WhatApp Group chats for sailings to think it is better to just swap and save all the finger pointing. Phones face down on table (or in a bag) and swapping seems to help.

The thing I HATED was in Sept on the Fantasy every trivia they made us hold up our phones and list all the ways we would not cheat including apps (or websites Im still not sure) I had never even heard of. It was a giant thing each time (not a quick simple dont cheat, dont use the internet, Mickey is watching like normal). I would much rather save the big speech and just say don't use the internet and then swap papers.

They did not do this at trivia on the fantasy in December. Maybe this is cast related? Some like giving the speech, some don’t?

 

[DCL58]

My wish list:

Bring back 7+ night sailings on the Fantasy/Dream. Just did the Treasure. Made me wish to be sailing 7 nights on the Fantasy. And we met so many others on the Treasure with the same wish - sooo many people love the Fantasy.

Add shade to the adult only area on the Treasure/Wish. And a walking track.

Sail to Bermuda. Or just some different places out of PC.

 

[dreamer17555]

They did not do this at trivia on the fantasy in December. Maybe this is cast related? Some like giving the speech, some don’t?

It was across the board for crew in Sept. I did ask why they just didn't swap papers and they said due to guest feedback they weren't allowed to. I am guessing the feedback changed since then... or maybe a different Cruise Director on the ship deciding how to handle it. The crew was great, many of them I had on cruises before that one and no long speeches previously, but for whatever reason they were told to for our Sept sailing.

 

[mamaburrito]

It depends on who is leading the activities. We did a back to back once and the first host let us grade our own and the 2nd made us switch.

The introvert in me likes not swapping but it was nice to win when someone else graded our paper.

 

[dreamer17555]

It depends on who is leading the activities. We did a back to back once and the first host let us grade our own and the 2nd made us switch.

The introvert in me likes not swapping but it was nice to win when someone else graded our paper.

It can but it can also change mid cruise for the entire sailing. We have had cruises with no swapping at all the first few days and then everyone was having people swap (including hosts we had before that did not swap previously in the cruise). I believe it is tied to guest complaints about potential cheating but who knows for sure.

Adult only trivia was 50/50 on swapping, and very crowded ones like 90's 2000's music ones we rarely have seen them swap but I think it would be nice if they just stuck to a standard practice but apparently DCL likes to mix it up with swapping for grading. I now bring gold star stickers with me so if they do swap I can put one on the paper I grade (no matter the score) because who doesn't want a gold star?

 

[SnowWhite2]

Thats what I did for my upcoming cruise. The exchange rate is absurd, I cant believe anyone does it TBH

If you book last minute for a very popular cruise that has had the price escalate, it might be cheaper to use DVC points/cash. That happened to us once. The price is set early in the booking period and the price from DCL could exceed the price asked by DVC. Granted it doesn’t happen often but I was surprised it happened for us. It’s free to check.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Bring back Bermuda

Did DCL hide it somewhere?!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist )

Could everyone please pretend I made an incredibly funny and clever joke about the Bermuda Triangle? I know there's a joke in here somewhere, but I can't find it.

 

[Drfate102]

Thats what I did for my upcoming cruise. The exchange rate is absurd, I cant believe anyone does it TBH

The only time that I think it could have been worth it was during the COVID back up on points when there wasn't enough time to use them.

 

[jimmymc]

Dinner buffets, especially on nights where the port stops go late. I'm specifically thinking of Alaska and Europe. Sometimes you want to stay out well past your dining time, and unless you get lucky and the second seating has availability, your options are sparse.

 

[minniebeth]

Interesting... we did NOT get such a text on our last cruise where we were sat with another couple but that was April '23. Maybe this is new?

For early dining I'm not sure; just going off what others on the board have said and what folks in line talk about. We usually book in advance and have always been able to select early dining.

I can't even imagine the logistics of the dining team assigning, reassigning, trying to keep everyone happy with their requests! Overall, I think they do a GREAT job! I do think it is a relatively new thing to message you with request approvals and denials. (At least in our experience~) There is definitely room for improvement and I'm sure ways to make this all easier for everyone! On our recent Wish cruise, we requested a private table through a shoreside phone request and an email request. Upon arrival, I went to dining changes to confirm and we were not granted a private table. They said they would try and would let me know. Two hours later I received a message that it was not approved. My DH and I debated whether or not to go to dinner (with the short cruise we were looking to just getaway and unplug). We decided to go and try and see what the dynamic of the group table was. When we arrived at dinner, we had our own table! While we were grateful, I was annoyed because we almost didn't go. We would have missed out on our table, AND I felt it potentially could have taken a table away from someone else who wanted a private table that we weren't using. I don't know, I always marvel how everything gets done, so I hate to critique it too much but it shouldn't always be this hard.

 

[minniebeth]

I have a list, but the one I'm feeling most lately is.... (don't come at me lol)...I wish they would do PAT and boarding numbers according to CC levels again! Maybe not how they used to do it ( I think there are way too many CC people at this point with all of the ships), but to come up with a new system. I know of all the reasons that factor into it, but it would be a nice perk if they could figure out a way to do it.

....and change up the menus
....and add alternate dining at dinner
....and add different/longer itineraries
....and keeping pools, spa and gym open later/earlier

 

[JM_97]

Dinner buffet, plus a sit down nicer than MDRs but not as upscale as Palo would seriously cut into the available space onboard the ships. What things would be eliminated?

I do think the bringing back the buffet usage as an alternate sit down dining option is a good variant, though.

Probably can't on the current ships, but perhaps it can be done on a future ship.

But yes, at the very least have the buffet open for dinner in some capacity.

 

[JM_97]

Different Itineraries. Would love Glacier Bay or Hubbard in Alaska, cruises out of NYC, more cruises that go to San Juan especially on the newest ships (an overnight stop would be amazing!) Suez Canal and Egypt, South America, just something, anything other than floating endlessly to Castaway Cay and back. It's great that they've added Australia and will have the new ship hitting ports in Asia. But I wish that the Treasure and Wish had more exciting options than they currently do.

I think one reason they don’t do more exotic sailings is that many people choose DCL for the Disney experience itself, not necessarily the destination.

The ship and the Disney atmosphere are the main attractions. That’s why they can send the Wish to Castaway Cay and Nassau over and over and over, and still have it be wildly successful.

 

[SnowWhite2]

That’s why they can send the Wish to Castaway Cay and Nassau over and over and over, and still have it be wildly successful.

There are cast member rates and FL resident rates for every cruise this summer on the Wish. I don’t think it is as popular as you think it is. My opinion is that there are too many short cruises for the target market.