What Is One Thing You Would Change About DCL?

[DCLMP]

What perks could DCL add? They would need several more tiers with the system like you are suggesting. People were already unhappy about some of the platinum perks being watered down or removed- moving forward they would be even more diluted.

I would look at other cruisel ines perks. Free drink vouchers, discounts on drinks. free laundry, free or discounted wifi, discounts on specialty dining, room upgrades when available.

Here is what Royal does.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cont...pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My biggest recommendation to alleviate a pain point would be removing port excursions from the list on the DCL website if it is unlikely they will be offered in the next year. It has been repeatedly frustrating when booking activities for European cruises that I can find only half the excursions I was hoping for, not because they're booked but because they were never a possibility. I know that things can and do change, but if an excursion was offered 8 years ago but not on cruises 1, 2, and 3 years ago, it's probably not happening anymore.

Wait they do that??? That's kinda crazy IMO. For Seabourn you can't even see the list of available excursions for each port until you book the cruise. While rare to happen sometimes they cancel existing excursions what's more common is to add additional excursions available or to open more spots if a particular excursion is being highly booked.

 

[dreamer17555]

I totally agree. There are changes that could be made that would be improvements for those who want them without directly impacting those who don't care.

My biggest recommendation to alleviate a pain point would be removing port excursions from the list on the DCL website if it is unlikely they will be offered in the next year. It has been repeatedly frustrating when booking activities for European cruises that I can find only half the excursions I was hoping for, not because they're booked but because they were never a possibility. I know that things can and do change, but if an excursion was offered 8 years ago but not on cruises 1, 2, and 3 years ago, it's probably not happening anymore.

I will suggest something even more radical, which is 30 days before booking opens for any group, including concierge, that there is a way to see what port adventures are being offered for your specific sailing. Now they might be sold out by the time you get to book, but it would be nice to know what the options are so you can have plans (and backup plans) when you’re booking window opens

 

[DCLMP]

https://www.ncl.com/latitudes-rewar...2TaDOpcBBrM2Hi622uBoCd3YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


NCL's awards.

 

[Dug720]

Would that make people happy? So many people have posted that they would’ve been pearl, but they take longer sailings. So they would only get X number of nights for being platinum and not get credit for all the 14+ night sailings they already took… Personally, I would be upset if I had already put in a ton of nights and I did not get credit for them when they are now switching to per night system.

Yes - they looked back at cruises in their system and converted. That's what grandfathering in means. They absolutely do not make anyone start at 0 if they're already in the system.

 

[Dug720]

Wait they do that??? That's kinda crazy IMO. For Seabourn you can't even see the list of available excursions for each port until you book the cruise. While rare to happen sometimes they cancel existing excursions what's more common is to add additional excursions available or to open more spots if a particular excursion is being highly booked.

Yeah - there is a list of port adventures that have been offered in the past on the website. It's under Destinations. No prices are listed, and things may change - some may no longer be offered or may not be offered due to scheduled time in port, but it gives you an idea of what is offered.

 

[dreamer17555]

Yes - they looked back at cruises in their system and converted. That's what grandfathering in means. They absolutely do not make anyone start at 0 if they're already in the system.

I understand how grandfathering works. I did not say anyone would start at zero but I can see where it would frustrate those who would have benefited if this system had been in place earlier and now would start with a lower number of nights than what they already actually sailed.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah - there is a list of port adventures that have been offered in the past on the website. It's under Destinations.

Geez that must be frustrating for people. I get the idea which is to let people get a glimpse of what is available but it's only good if the information is frequently updated and that is a very easy spot to leave it and forget it.

 

[Dug720]

I understand how grandfathering works. I did not say anyone would start at zero but I can see where it would frustrate those who would have benefited if this system had been in place earlier and now would start with a lower number of nights than what they already actually sailed.

Not quite sure how that would happen if they are looking back at your cruising record and basing your points on that.

They don't drop every cruise to 3 points or something. It's individualized to each person's cruising history.

Let's say they went with 1 point per night/ 2 points for Concierge and you had done:
10 7-night cruises
2 10-night cruises
1 14-night cruise

You'd get 104 points if you'd only done non-Concierge or 208 points if you'd only done Concierge. IOW you will get the appropriate credits for the cruises you've been on.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I will suggest something even more radical, which is 30 days before booking opens for any group, including concierge, that there is a way to see what port adventures are being offered for your specific sailing. Now they might be sold out by the time you get to book, but it would be nice to know what the options are so you can have plans (and backup plans) when you’re booking window opens

Yeah for Seabourn you get an e-brochure for your sailing though the app also works in advance of your cruise to see the options there. The only stipulation is that you have booked your cruise. For example we booked this past March/April cruise 14 months in advance and had the brochure readily available after that. It's not a perfect system in so much that if an excursion is added later only the app is going to reflect that immediately, plus pricing can change after the e-brochure is saved but you can go in and re-download the e-brochure for more updated information.

The only main complaint is when Seabourn a few years back merged certain things with Holland America some things became erroneous on the Seabourn side. For example there have been a few excursions that have listed a corkage fee to apply but there is no corkage fee on Seabourn, it's something that is a thing for Holland America though. It's specified there is no corkage fee on Seabourn's website but the merging of certain things with HAL meant it pops up from time to time on the excursion description.

 

[Dug720]

Geez that must be frustrating for people. I get the idea which is to let people get a glimpse of what is available but it's only good if the information is frequently updated and that is a very easy spot to leave it and forget it.

I think it would help if they were to put something like "These are excursions that have been offered in the past - they may or may not be offered in the future." on there. I mean, people would still complain, but at least the disclaimer would be there.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think it would help if they were to put something like "These are excursions that have been offered in the past - they may or may not be offered in the future." on there. I mean, people would still complain, but at least the disclaimer would be there.

TBH I think since the pandemic changed so much they should just completely revamp it or at least go in and do a complete check to see if those are still applicable experiences, descriptions and offerings. If the pandemic hadn't happen for sure the disclaimer would at least cover them but since the pandemic so many things can change so rapidly the information from years past could be obsolete.

 

[Dug720]

TBH I think since the pandemic changed so much they should just completely revamp it or at least go in and do a complete check to see if those are still applicable experiences, descriptions and offerings. If the pandemic hadn't happen for sure the disclaimer would at least cover them but since the pandemic so many things can change so rapidly the information from years past could be obsolete.

I'd say both. Because things can still change. A year or two ago after one of the ferry boats to Blue Lagoon sank, all the lines stopped offering anything there until the ferry company got full clearance from the Bahamian government. But they are all back doing excursions there now. So that would have been a lot of work to remove those from the page for a short time and put them back. With the disclaimer that covers places that haven't closed but for some reason Disney is not currently working with them (which is the case for some - it's not that it closed, it's that Disney is waiting to see if they clean up whatever issues were before cutting ties).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'd say both. Because things can still change. A year or two ago after one of the ferry boats to Blue Lagoon sank, all the lines stopped offering anything there until the ferry company got full clearance from the Bahamian government. But they are all back doing excursions there now. So that would have been a lot of work to remove those from the page for a short time and put them back. With the disclaimer that covers places that haven't closed but for some reason Disney is not currently working with them (which is the case for some - it's not that it closed, it's that Disney is waiting to see if they clean up whatever issues were before cutting ties).

Oh yeah sorry I did mean both as well! I had just meant the disclaimer wouldn't be enough at this point in time IMO as during and since the pandemic things change so quickly. You'd need something to cover DCL for future things but if you've really got things on that list from several or worse many years ago they need to really do a clean up ASAP

 

[Dug720]

Oh yeah sorry I did mean both as well! I had just meant the disclaimer wouldn't be enough at this point in time IMO as during and since the pandemic things change so quickly. You'd need something to cover DCL for future things but if you've really got things on that list from several or worse many years ago they need to really do a clean up ASAP

I don't know that things on there not offered are due to the pandemic. It could be contracts are being renewed/worked out, etc.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't know that things on there not offered are due to the pandemic. It could be contracts are being renewed/worked out, etc.

By that I mean a company went out of business, a place no longer does X, that sort of stuff.

I was just saying DCL should be checking that spot to ensure that it's up to date if they haven't been paying attention to it which if something is on there from 8 yrs ago what the description says may not be accurate now and I used the pandemic as one reason why things have rapidly changed.

For example if DCL is saying you'll be going to X place on this excursion only for X place to be out of business. You wouldn't want DCL to advertise on their website to go sailing on regatta boat where that isn't done any more. Behind the scenes they might be able to sub in a different business that satisfies the contract if the destination has enough of those businesses to go around but you also need to make sure the excursion is accurately depicted.

On our past cruise in Menorca the specific sites for the excursion for their ancient civilization were damaged in a winter storm that had happened weeks prior and the ship was only notified 2 days in advance that the sites wouldn't be opening for the season due to that. What they did was offer 3 other sites that were from the same ancient civilization. Translate that to what we're talking about if you read about exploring the ancient civilization and then come to find out the sites are no longer visited for whatever reason you'd be annoyed if it was due to DCL just not updating their website frequently enough since they put out there what "adventures" you can have in each area just as a norm on their website and rather than weather damaging the property very close to the time period of your cruise you found out it was due to the company just not checking that what they had listed a year ago is still there now.

 

[Dug720]

By that I mean a company went out of business, a place no longer does X, that sort of stuff.

I was just saying DCL should be checking that spot to ensure that it's up to date if they haven't been paying attention to it which if something is on there from 8 yrs ago what the description says may not be accurate now and I used the pandemic as one reason why things have rapidly changed.

For example if DCL is saying you'll be going to X place on this excursion only for X place to be out of business. You wouldn't want DCL to advertise on their website to go sailing on regatta boat where that isn't done any more. Behind the scenes they might be able to sub in a different business that satisfies the contract if the destination has enough of those businesses to go around but you also need to make sure the excursion is accurately depicted.

On our past cruise in Menorca the specific sites for the excursion for their ancient civilization were damaged in a winter storm that had happened weeks prior and the ship was only notified 2 days in advance that the sites wouldn't be opening for the season due to that. What they did was offer 3 other sites that were from the same ancient civilization. Translate that to what we're talking about if you read about exploring the ancient civilization and then come to find out the sites are no longer visited for whatever reason you'd be annoyed if it was due to DCL just not updating their website frequently enough since they put out there what "adventures" you can have in each area just as a norm on their website and rather than weather damaging the property very close to the time period of your cruise you found out it was due to the company just not checking that what they had listed a year ago is still there now.

I see your point.

I'm probably weird, but I'd never go on a cruise for ONE excursion. Anything could happen causing it to not be available - ranging from something like you mentioned with weather damage to the cruise not being able to port for whatever reason. If a certain location is that important to me, I'd be doing it as a land-based trip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I see your point.

I'm probably weird, but I'd never go on a cruise for ONE excursion. Anything could happen causing it to not be available - ranging from something like you mentioned with weather damage to the cruise not being able to port for whatever reason. If a certain location is that important to me, I'd be doing it as a land-based trip.

I don't disagree, most people kinda describe it like don't get attached to a place when cruising.

We sailed Portugal and Spain multiple ports in each country as well as in France as three of our destinations just weeks before the blackouts, Lisbon, Malaga, Nice, etc places we were at completely dark. Hard to get around that.

But back to the point it is still the company's responsibility to ensure information is updated frequently enough and as accurate as it can be. You won't catch all and things pop up but I think the way DCL does it makes it even more important to ensure the options on their website are more frequently and carefully gone through. Not because we can say that someone shouldn't book a cruise for that particular excursion but because that is the company's responsibility, these aren't free excursions people are paying for them (though included excursions like Regent still wouldn't absolve them from ensuring their descriptions are accurate).

 

[dreamer17555]

Not quite sure how that would happen if they are looking back at your cruising record and basing your points on that.

They don't drop every cruise to 3 points or something. It's individualized to each person's cruising history.

Let's say they went with 1 point per night/ 2 points for Concierge and you had done:
10 7-night cruises
2 10-night cruises
1 14-night cruise

You'd get 104 points if you'd only done non-Concierge or 208 points if you'd only done Concierge. IOW you will get the appropriate credits for the cruises you've been on.

But with that system you are not grandfathering in- You are counting from the beginning. In theory you could have Pearl Cruisers who have only done 3 nights non concierge who would actually go backwards in status despite those cruises costing more per night.

 

[brentm77]

I totally agree. There are changes that could be made that would be improvements for those who want them without directly impacting those who don't care.

My biggest recommendation to alleviate a pain point would be removing port excursions from the list on the DCL website if it is unlikely they will be offered in the next year. It has been repeatedly frustrating when booking activities for European cruises that I can find only half the excursions I was hoping for, not because they're booked but because they were never a possibility. I know that things can and do change, but if an excursion was offered 8 years ago but not on cruises 1, 2, and 3 years ago, it's probably not happening anymore.

It's notable that other cruise lines provide excursion details a year or more in advance (even allowing you to book them), while DCL's information is available just before the cruise. DCL should improve this by offering at least a preliminary list of confirmed options much earlier, adding more options as they become firm. All it does is disappoint customers when they list a bunch of excursions that look amazing but aren't actually offered when it becomes time to book.

Tip: Private excursions were consistently better than DCL options and similarly priced during my European sailing.