They could keep it as cruises sailed but say 8+ night cruises count as 2 instead of 1. People would still complain that a 7-night counts the same as a 3-night; but it would add a bit more balance for the really long ones
I actually see that causing more problems than it’s worth because the cruises that are 8+ nights are already ridiculously pearl and platinum heavy. At a certain point you’re going to have only pearl cruisers on those sailings if you start weighing things like that.
Or for solo cruisers, each cruise counts double - other cruise lines already do this. (I would definitely benefit from this.
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I get the idea of wanting solo cruisers to get double the points but if they start doing that, then concierge definitely would need to get double and that gets a little tricky with cutting into Disney’s bottom line. So many new cruisers only sail concierge because it guarantees that they will get first dibs at everything and they stick with it until they have higher status.
DCL giving double points to concierge, makes it where guests don’t need to keep sailing concierge as long before they are gold+.
It can be done to transition systems. I know Celebrity has done it - but that was before my time cruising with them. They just have to determine how they are going to account for past cruises/levels and assign points to be added onto from there. As long as it's communicated clearly it can work.
I’m sure it can be done, but I’m not sure what the benefit for DCL is to try to transition to any sort of a new system for castaway club. The shorter cruisers cost more per night. The longer cruisers are already heavy with pearl and platinum guests.
And being really honest, Disney guests and guests in general since Covid are a lot more apt to complain about anything and everything. There will be more people unhappy with the system where they roll it out that we are going to switch to nights but all of you previous nights count as a flat number associated with your current Castaway status. If they did it the other way where your nights just magically count there could be the pearl Cruiser, who actually loses benefits- and I don’t see that as the type of optics the Disney wants.
It seems to me that everybody wants a castaway system that personally benefits how they cruise. But there are other lines that might be a better fit for them if they care about reward system matching how they personally cruise that much.
It does depend on the clientele and the cruise line's strategy. DCL depends on the people who are willing to spend a lot of money to do 3 or 4 night cruises especially in the most recent years. But they ran into the issue that too many (that's the general thought I've gotten from the DIS threads) people moved up to the next level because of that most especially during the pandemic heavily favoriting those within driving distance to the ports; it eventually dilutes benefits there especially things like Palo dinner if you're struggling to get a reservation due to the number of people who also qualify for it it becomes not really a benefit of a certain level.
Any program is meant to promote loyalty within the line so I can see why DCL went the way they went but they got in over their head with how they did it. I don't think they would have introduced Pearl if only a very tiny tiny percentage of passengers qualified for it.
You're correct that generally the more you sail the longer it would take to reach the next level either by number of sailings or number of points however the cruise line does that BUT it's actually a more prudent way of doing it IMO. You continue to promote loyalty at the same time as preserving as much as you can the benefits as you go. A loyalty program isn't really a loyalty program if you can reach the top quickly enough because at that point you can just hop on over to another cruise line if what you're getting at the top isn't doing you much good.
I don’t actually think that the idea holds a lot of merit that only
Disney Cruise Line had issues with people climbing up the ranks quickly who could drive to ports and hop on sailings. In fact, there are lots of royal cruisers who barely pay for their cruises because they get so much comped because the gamble in the casino and they live close to the port. And you don’t actually have to lose money at the casino you just have to cycle money through and you will still get offers for free or very heavily discounted sailings. Those nights still count.
No system is perfect and I am quite sure by the time I personally get to Pearl, Disney will have introduce diamond or similar. I agree that they are eventually going to need to have another tier but let’s also not pretend 26+ cruises on DCL at DCL’s prices is a small thing.
I don’t really see a successful way for Disney to move over to a system that counts nights at this point without upsetting a lot of people with however they choose to incorporate everything. However, they do the move will upset people.
I also don’t see a benefit for Disney to do it. At some point, they’ll introduce another level above pearl- and move on from there.
Maybe at that point, they’ll move concierge boarding to group A, diamond can be group one pearl can keep their group two (or just let diamond board in group 1 with concierge). No one’s actually losing benefits. They’re just slightly diluted. They could give diamond free non streaming Wi-Fi for the cruise.
There are so many suggestions on this thread that I think DCL could implement that would not actually make guest angry that I don’t know why they would mess with one of them that would frustrate many. It seems like another dinner option or at least the pool food being open later and longer is the most requested. There are even suggestions on this thread for things that would not cost DCL any money like leaving the adult pools open later.
I think people can be frustrated with the castaway system, but it kind of is what it is and I don’t see DCL changing it at this point 25+ years in besides adding more tiers to the top.
