What Is One Thing You Would Change About DCL?

[petrola]

I know you said just one. but for me I have two that I would really like to see changed:

1. Make the concierge deposit refundable within at least three days of booking. I think that's fair and so many times I've seen a room I'd like to book but DH is traveling, and I can't confirm with him whether booking is ok per his schedule. while trying to confirm with my husband, I lose the room I want to book. sometimes the 24-hold period isn't quite enough time.

2. the Monday-Friday 4-night cruises on the Wish. Just yuk. why on earth would I want to pull my kids out of school for five full days for a Mon-Fri cruise? At least make SOME of 4 night cruises leave in the middle of the week so you aren't losing an entire work or school week.

 

[jwalk03]

I know you said just one. but for me I have two that I would really like to see changed:

1. Make the concierge deposit refundable within at least three days of booking. I think that's fair and so many times I've seen a room I'd like to book but DH is traveling, and I can't confirm with him whether booking is ok per his schedule. while trying to confirm with my husband, I lose the room I want to book. sometimes the 24-hold period isn't quite enough time.

2. the Monday-Friday 4-night cruises on the Wish. Just yuk. why on earth would I want to pull my kids out of school for five full days for a Mon-Fri cruise? At least make SOME of 4 night cruises leave in the middle of the week so you aren't losing an entire work or school week.

Not sure how in the world they would accomplish #2. A calendar is a calendar. To do alternating 3/4 night cruises one is a weekend cruise and one is a week day cruise.

 

[holula]

Not sure how in the world they would accomplish #2. A calendar is a calendar. To do alternating 3/4 night cruises one is a weekend cruise and one is a week day cruise.

They used to have the Dream sail Thu-Sun and Sun-Thu. Which doesn’t really solve the issue. But it would be one less day for a four night.

The Adventure is sailing I think Thu-Mon and then Mon-Thu. (I’m assuming this is when Disney could get docking berths.)

But if you’re going to pull them for three days then honestly is five days really that much different?

Edit: also if you sail from Fort Lauderdale you can sail on a Thu-Mon 4 night cruise, the Dream is doing them for this year and there are a bunch on the Destiny next year.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But if you’re going to pull them for three days then honestly is five days really that much different?

For school aged and college students it is really that much different for the majority of students. I say this as having been a student taken out of school for a cruise. I was in high school it was just before winter break and I had to do a lot of arranging ahead of time. Sometimes school calendars also favor the Thursday/Friday for days students would be out of school like for parent/teacher conferences or professional days, school breaks, etc. That's not even getting into laws surrounding school attendance and then district rules when the state has less black/white rules.

I think most of us as adults who have worked jobs with PTO also can understand how the difference between the number of days we take off especially if you can't put it with a holiday which reduces the number of days you actually have to use.

That's just speaking about the PP's complaint regarding taking kids out of school for the whole week as opposed to later on in the week as there is a point towards how balancing out a schedule for selected itineraries can work; ultimately it won't be ideal for all especially with having so low of days you can sail.

 

[71 Truck]

I had mentioned this in the past and I am not sure if it has been mentioned here,
An adults only cruise (18 and up)

It could be done during a time of the year most kids are in school and I think it would be a big success.

I know Disney cruises are mostly for family's however my wife and I never had children and we have nothing against them. With that said we have been on fourteen, seven day cruises and I think it would be a lot of fun.

 

[lmhall2000]

You can ask at Guest Services daily and they will give you one. For a while they had a stack out on the desk you could grab but now they go out back and print you one. We usually stop by on our way back from the lounge area at night and ask for 1 then. There's no line around midnight!

Thank you!!! I was regretting the highlighter purchase- definitely need a paper one- I am trying to only use phone minimally

 

[jwalk03]

I had mentioned this in the past and I am not sure if it has been mentioned here,
An adults only cruise (18 and up)

It could be done during a time of the year most kids are in school and I think it would be a big success.

I know Disney cruises are mostly for family's however my wife and I never had children and we have nothing against them. With that said we have been on fourteen, seven day cruises and I think it would be a lot of fun.

The biggest problem with this is the ships themselves. The amount of space for adults would not increase- but the demand would increase exponentially on an adults only cruise.

Can you imagine how packed the adults only pool would be? Or the adult bar areas?

 

[dreamer17555]

The biggest problem with this is the ships themselves. The amount of space for adults would not increase- but the demand would increase exponentially on an adults only cruise.

Can you imagine how packed the adults only pool would be? Or the adult bar areas?

There was a thread a while back where a lot of a brainstormed easy ways to fix that for a rare once a year adult only sailing.

Things like having music trivia held in multiple locations with the same questions at the same time, rare character meets in the kids club, More adult crafts in the kids club, Match your mate being held in the theater.

No need for the adult only pool to be packed when you can use all of the pools and not have to worry about dodging kids.

There are lots of venues and locations that DCL could utilize for something like this. I’m gonna see if I can find that thread and I will edit this post and link it if I can because there were some really good ideas.

Edited to add Link- https://www.disboards.com/threads/could-adult-only-cruises-be-in-the-future.3963177/

 

[RedHead0186]

There was a thread a while back where a lot of a brainstormed easy ways to fix that for a rare once a year adult only sailing.

Things like having music trivia held in multiple locations with the same questions at the same time, rare character meets in the kids club, More adult crafts in the kids club, Match your mate being held in the theater.

No need for the adult only pool to be packed when you can use all of the pools and not have to worry about dodging kids.

There are lots of venues and locations that DCL could utilize for something like this. I’m gonna see if I can find that thread and I will edit this post and link it if I can because there were some really good ideas.

Edited to add Link- https://www.disboards.com/threads/could-adult-only-cruises-be-in-the-future.3963177/

I'll hang out in the Star Wars-themed kids club with a pina colada! (On an adults-only cruise, I mean)!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

There was a thread a while back where a lot of a brainstormed easy ways to fix that for a rare once a year adult only sailing.

Things like having music trivia held in multiple locations with the same questions at the same time, rare character meets in the kids club, More adult crafts in the kids club, Match your mate being held in the theater.

No need for the adult only pool to be packed when you can use all of the pools and not have to worry about dodging kids.

There are lots of venues and locations that DCL could utilize for something like this. I’m gonna see if I can find that thread and I will edit this post and link it if I can because there were some really good ideas.

Edited to add Link- https://www.disboards.com/threads/could-adult-only-cruises-be-in-the-future.3963177/

That's how it is on Seabourn. The company has no activities for kids, there are no spaces carved out for kids. Kids are able to sail and our first cruise did have some kids (our 2nd had none) but they just don't have anything set up for them. But when the whole ship is available, people tend to spread out enough. Granted with DCL it's going to be the decor that will be probably the hardest to navigate but for the odd cruise it could be adults only that hardly seems like a big enough problem.

Truly I do think the adults only would be well received and if Disney didn't have to worry about a potential PR/reputation hit for a kid-oriented company to make an entire ship no kids I think they would make bank on it and there would be a lot of interest in it.

 

[jwalk03]

That's how it is on Seabourn. The company has no activities for kids, there are no spaces carved out for kids. Kids are able to sail and our first cruise did have some kids (our 2nd had none) but they just don't have anything set up for them. But when the whole ship is available, people tend to spread out enough. Granted with DCL it's going to be the decor that will be probably the hardest to navigate but for the odd cruise it could be adults only that hardly seems like a big enough problem.

Truly I do think the adults only would be well received and if Disney didn't have to worry about a potential PR/reputation hit for a kid-oriented company to make an entire ship no kids I think they would make bank on it and there would be a lot of interest in it.

Disney makes a ton on all those 3/4/5th guests in the same cabins since they offer very little discount off the 1st/2nd guest fare. (Unlike every other cruise line where xtra guests in the same cabins are seriously discounted)

And on an adults only cruise you would have significantly less 3/4/5 guests since most adults are not going to share a single cabin.

So just to hit the same revenue as an average cruise the fare for the 1st & 2nd fares would likely need to be ~50% higher than a comparable family sailing.

So the economics just make zero sense for Disney. And that’s before you consider how many less stuffed animals and shirts and toys, etc they would sell that week.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Disney makes a ton on all those 3/4/5th guests in the same cabins since they offer very little discount off the 1st/2nd guest fare. (Unlike every other cruise line where xtra guests in the same cabins are seriously discounted)

And on an adults only cruise you would have significantly less 3/4/5 guests since most adults are not going to share a single cabin.

So just to hit the same revenue as an average cruise the fare for the 1st & 2nd fares would likely need to be ~50% higher than a comparable family sailing.

So the economics just make zero sense for Disney. And that’s before you consider how many less stuffed animals and shirts and toys, etc they would sell that week.

You underestimate the power of Disney adults, especially ones who can spend alllllll the cash on themselves

People aren't asking for DCL to become an adults only line, they are asking for specific sailings usually once a year or so to be adults only. I don't think economically Disney would suffer.

 

[jwalk03]

You underestimate the power of Disney adults, especially ones who can spend alllllll the cash on themselves

People aren't asking for DCL to become an adults only line, they are asking for specific sailings usually once a year or so to be adults only. I don't think economically Disney would suffer.

Could they afford to do it? Of course.

But is it worth doing if it doesn’t improve the bottom line? Of course not.

I just don’t think we will EVER see this on a Disney Cruise- for a multitude of reasons starting with the economics.

I mean just take a Trans-Atlantic cruise- while it’s not adults only it certainly has a heck of a lot less kids than an average sailing. And it’s usually very competitively priced instead of needing to be significantly more expensive like an AO cruise would be.

 

[dreamer17555]

Disney makes a ton on all those 3/4/5th guests in the same cabins since they offer very little discount off the 1st/2nd guest fare. (Unlike every other cruise line where xtra guests in the same cabins are seriously discounted)

And on an adults only cruise you would have significantly less 3/4/5 guests since most adults are not going to share a single cabin.

So just to hit the same revenue as an average cruise the fare for the 1st & 2nd fares would likely need to be ~50% higher than a comparable family sailing.

So the economics just make zero sense for Disney. And that’s before you consider how many less stuffed animals and shirts and toys, etc they would sell that week.

Here’s the thing- if DCL did a rare, adults only sailing with a fun name and made it an annual thing, it would sell out before it even got to Gold status (especially if it’s a seven-night or longer cruise). They could charge pretty much whatever they want and people would still book it.

The first week of September would be the perfect time since those sailings are already very adult heavy, with way fewer third and fourth guests in each room.

They’d just need to add something special, like a guest speaker. Maybe an Imagineer, a Broadway performer, or someone similar. If they did that, people would absolutely pay the premium and the sailing would still sell out fast.

They’d also make way more on alcohol sales, and they could release exclusive merch just for the adult only cruises that would fly off the shelves (and if anything doesn’t sell, you can try to sell it the following year)

 

[dreamer17555]

Could they afford to do it? Of course.

But is it worth doing if it doesn’t improve the bottom line? Of course not.

I just don’t think we will EVER see this on a Disney Cruise- for a multitude of reasons starting with the economics.

Economics is actually a good reason to do this. You might get people trying out Disney cruise that would never before, September sailings are already low so it’s not going to hurt them there, They can pretty much charge what they want.

I would think the ability to more easily fill a ship during a time of year when it’s hard to without discounts, entice new customers to your line, and you can charge whatever you want for it makes it a win-win for Disney

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Could they afford to do it? Of course.

But is it worth doing if it doesn’t improve the bottom line? Of course not.

I just don’t think we will EVER see this on a Disney Cruise- for a multitude of reasons starting with the economics.

There are a lot of things I'd like to have on cruises in general that are fun, interesting and insightful to discuss that have zero chance of ever being done

 

[dreamer17555]

There are a lot of things I'd like to have on cruises in general that are fun, interesting and insightful to discuss that have zero chance of being ever done

The discussion in February started because DCL is asking questions on surveys about adult only sailings. I’m not saying it will ever come to anything, but they are at least doing some research on it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here’s the thing- if DCL did a rare, adults only sailing with a fun name and made it an annual thing, it would sell out before it even got to Gold status (especially if it’s a seven-night or longer cruise). They could charge pretty much whatever they want and people would still book it.

The first week of September would be the perfect time since those sailings are already very adult heavy, with way fewer third and fourth guests in each room.

They’d just need to add something special, like a guest speaker. Maybe an Imagineer, a Broadway performer, or someone similar. If they did that, people would absolutely pay the premium and the sailing would still sell out fast.

They’d also make way more on alcohol sales, and they could release exclusive merch just for the adult only cruises that would fly off the shelves (and if anything doesn’t sell, you can try to sell it the following year)

Seriously an exclusive merch is a great idea, that's a good point about selling for the next year so year-based merch would probably not be the best idea.

Special guest speaker would also be a good idea. I don't have all the ins and outs of Disney people/legends/broadway stars but my DISer friends we meet up with IRL absolutely geek out (said in a loving way) when they get to see, meet and get items related to specific people. They'd book that cruise very fast for sure.

 

[CamColt]

Guest Services will give you a printed schedule yes, but it’s not like the old Navigators. Still helpful if you don’t want to stare at your phone though.

Oh yes, I totally agree with that. Not as good as they used to be, and VERY tiny print, but I like to be able to see the whole thing at once, and not have to scroll across and up and down after I've enlarged it on my phone, LOL! My brain receives the paper format much better (and that goes for just about everything, not just DCL Navigators. ).

 

[RedHead0186]

Seriously an exclusive merch is a great idea, that's a good point about selling for the next year so year-based merch would probably not be the best idea.

Special guest speaker would also be a good idea. I don't have all the ins and outs of Disney people/legends/broadway stars but my DISer friends we meet up with IRL absolutely geek out (said in a loving way) when they get to see, meet and get items related to specific people. They'd book that cruise very fast for sure.

We definitely saw that on the EBTA. Certain speakers (with connections to Disney/DCL/having been on TA cruises before) drew people lining up an hour before.

Lots of TA and Europe merch that were hot commodities as well.