What's your opinion of being a Castaway Club member?

[ethanwa]

Obviously there are the tiers we all know... None, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

I'm curious to hear from others here: What value do you place on Castaway Club? Is it a benefit you really utilize much? Or if Disney dumped it would you not really care?

I'm only Silver, but I really don't find it to be that valuable or beneficial. Is there a different opinion from Gold/Platinum members out there?

Ethan

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Obviously there are the tiers we all know... None, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

I'm curious to hear from others here: What value do you place on Castaway Club? Is it a benefit you really utilize much? Or if Disney dumped it would you not really care?

I'm only Silver, but I really don't find it to be that valuable or beneficial. Is there a different opinion from Gold/Platinum members out there?

Ethan

DCL has about the worst loyalty program among cruise lines. As Platinum the only benefit we use is the free meal at Palo. It's nice having the option of booking on new itineraries first, but we typically book 3-6 months out, so that's no use to us. The Platinum gift (fruit, candy, or wine) is pretty much a waste for us (you can get fruit in the buffet, also desserts, and we don't drink wine).

Returning Gold & Platinum cruiser reception - well, that's only on cruises longer than 7 nights now.

I probably wouldn't miss it if they didn't have the Castaway Club. But we probably wouldn't go to Palo as often.

 

[lizzyb]

We are only silver but based on the "perks" they certainly don't entice me to try to achieve a higher level.

 

[RedSox68]

DCL has about the worst loyalty program among cruise lines. As Platinum the only benefit we use is the free meal at Palo. It's nice having the option of booking on new itineraries first, but we typically book 3-6 months out, so that's no use to us. The Platinum gift (fruit, candy, or wine) is pretty much a waste for us (you can get fruit in the buffet, also desserts, and we don't drink wine).

Returning Gold & Platinum cruiser reception - well, that's only on cruises longer than 7 nights now.

I probably wouldn't miss it if they didn't have the Castaway Club. But we probably wouldn't go to Palo as often.

I agree. We didn't go to the reception last time because it was too overcrowded and I heard they ran out of drinks and food. We don't even get a discount for platinum like some cruise lines do. At Disney's prices, they could at least give a discount to families who have sailed 20 or more times. Even being entitled to sole opening day booking is no longer a benefit as the prices start out so high anyway that you don't get in on a lower tier at all.

 

[Murphoid Mouse]

When you are platinum level don't they let you use concierge check in for every cruise? Seems like that would be the prime benefit to me.

 

[Trera]

When you are platinum level don't they let you use concierge check in for every cruise? Seems like that would be the prime benefit to me.

It is. As platinum you get to board right after Concierge does.

We get too book excursions earlier at 120 days out.

They need to sometime in the future add one tier at a higher level.................whether is based on cruises taken or days on their cruise ships, I am not sure which would be better?

 

[RedSox68]

It is. As platinum you get to board right after Concierge does.

We get too book excursions earlier at 120 days out.

They need to sometime in the futur add one tier at a higher level.................whether is based on cruises taken or days on their cruise ships, I am not sure which would be better?

I agree. Many ships have four or more levels. Disney should reconfigure the levels and add a fourth one -- Bronze and make it the lowest level. Then move Silver, Gold and Platinum to higher levels -- and with more benefits for each level.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

The only thing DH cares about it getting to the port early and getting on the ship asap. He was so happy to get to platinum status!

 

[MUN]

Obviously there are the tiers we all know... None, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

I'm curious to hear from others here: What value do you place on Castaway Club? Is it a benefit you really utilize much? Or if Disney dumped it would you not really care?

I'm only Silver, but I really don't find it to be that valuable or beneficial. Is there a different opinion from Gold/Platinum members out there?

Ethan

Are you thinking of opting out of the club?

 

[keaster]

Another idea I've seen floated is to have your status based on days sailed, not number of cruises. I think other lines do this as well.

 

[Murphoid Mouse]

Another idea I've seen floated is to have your status based on days sailed, not number of cruises. I think other lines do this as well.

Yep, suddenly Disney is the great socialistic leveler. The person who spends 1,000 on a 2 day Baja cruise gets the same credit as the person who drops 12,000 on an 11 transatlantic crossing.

 

[Trera]

DCL has about the worst loyalty program among cruise lines. As Platinum the only benefit we use is the free meal at Palo. It's nice having the option of booking on new itineraries first, but we typically book 3-6 months out, so that's no use to us. The Platinum gift (fruit, candy, or wine) is pretty much a waste for us (you can get fruit in the buffet, also desserts, and we don't drink wine).

Returning Gold & Platinum cruiser reception - well, that's only on cruises longer than 7 nights now.

I probably wouldn't miss it if they didn't have the Castaway Club. But we probably wouldn't go to Palo as often.

I guess my thought is that Disney has generally not made any business decisions based on what other cruise lines are doing. And they have fireworks, all the characters, beautiful ships, amazing island, etc that allow them to charge top dollar.

At this point we cruise Disney because our DD loves everything Disney and we find the service to be outstanding and the boats to be clean................so it is worth extra money to us. The lack of a casino we feel keeps the cruise time a bit more wholesome as it invites a different crowd sometimes.

As far as a loyalty program, they dont have to offer anything if they dont want to so I will just take whatever that is that they are giving. If that is only early boarding, free Palo, early bookings, and a box of chocolates..............so be it.

As my grandfather used to say............something is better than nothing.

just my opinions.

 

[Trera]

Yep, suddenly Disney is the great socialistic leveler. The person who spends 1,000 on a 2 day Baja cruise gets the same credit as the person who drops 12,000 on an 11 transatlantic crossing.

This has been talked about before on this forum and Disney definitely favors cruises taken as the benchmark. I guess the main counter point to your point is that anyone can book 2, 3 and 4 night cruises also if they want the increased status......................they have chosen to take the longer cruises .

I am sure there are pluses and minuses both ways. Maybe it needs to be cruises taken or a certain number of days?

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

As a Gold CC member (with 10th cruise booked), the levels and the perks really don't entice me to be a repeat cruiser. Yes, it would be nice to get something more than a 'whopping' 10% off purchases in the store (wait, don't I have to spend more...?), but honestly, we come back for the reasons mentioned by PP (@Trera).

The vacation in and of itself is a reward from where I'm sitting. Yes, it would be nice to get awesome swag, but that's not why we cruise DCL.

That being said, no way are we turning down our free Palo dinner or head of the line when we hit Platinum no later than next summer!

 

[Murphoid Mouse]

The truth is Disney doesn't need any loyalty programs, they could charge anything and people would still flock to their ships as long as they have that "Disney Magic" and the ability to produce the best nostalgic feelings, they could include a poke in the eye as part of the cost people would still sail.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

When you are platinum level don't they let you use concierge check in for every cruise? Seems like that would be the prime benefit to me.

Concierge check in desk, yes. But, often we've found the "regular" line is quicker. We've even used the first time cruisers check in faster than the Concierge/Platinum check in line, on occasion.

Not really a benefit.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I guess my thought is that Disney has generally not made any business decisions based on what other cruise lines are doing.

While that was true in the past, it's not so much now. Disney's recent mantra is "we're just falling in line with what others are doing". Evidence of that - changing the alcohol policy. And the recent change at WDW to charge resort guests for parking.

They're lowering their standards, but still charging premium prices for it.

 

[nyisles84]

I wish they would switch to a days sailed based system as opposed to # of cruises. I have taken two 7, one 12 and one 10 night cruise and I am still only Silver. That is 36 nights. Someone could sail 10 3 night cruises and be Platinum.

 

[YawningDodo]

It'll be nice being able to book the cruise and book excursions earlier than non-CC members this time around, and assuming I continue to cruise with Disney it'll be nice to be able to book earlier each time I/we go up a tier. But no, I don't factor CC as enough of a value to entice me to book more cruises than I would otherwise, or to book exclusively with Disney. The way they have snagged me is with placeholder benefits; I fully recognize that my future cruising vacation timeline has been mandated by wanting to use my placeholder before it expires.

I suppose if CC was more important to me I might be upset about it being based on number of cruises rather than total days/nights, but I just don't see enough value in it to really care about how fast my CC status progresses.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wish they would switch to a days sailed based system as opposed to # of cruises. I have taken two 7, one 12 and one 10 night cruise and I am still only Silver. That is 36 nights. Someone could sail 10 3 night cruises and be Platinum.

It took us 53 nights to get to Gold (15, 10, 14, 7 & 7 night cruises). Then an additional 37 nights, 90 in total(14, 4, 7, 7 & 5 night cruises) to reach Platinum.

There's at least one cruise line that uses a combination of nights cruised and total cruises to figure loyalty levels.