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

[DCSWO]

I don't think much of it. Even though I'm silver, I generally book concierge so the castaway benefits are minimal. I don't think Disney will increase the benefits - because they don't have to. If, after they have 7 ships, and ridership starts to drop across all of the ships for an extended period of time, I think they might try to add more benefits. My guess is they'll continue to fill all of their ships even after they have 7 so the program will likely not change - or benefits will be decreased.

 

[DCSWO]

I would rather see them put their prices in check than change any CC criteria.

 

[n2mm]

They could do a better job. I get a 10% discount for the gold/platinum, same for dvc members, or Disney Visa cardholder.....so not a big deal. Now if you could stack them, yea it would be worth it. Or a nice future cruise discount. The only plus we like is #1 boarding position.

 

[Trera]

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.

Heard the alcohol policy change was a result of an of incident on board where a guest drank too much liquor in their room and then drank more at the bar and got alcohol poisoning. Disney realized they had a lot of liability by not knowing how much was being consumed by a guest prior to them being served at one of their bars onboard. With the bartender not knowing how much they had prior to ordering at the bar.............they didnt know that the person should have not been served due to all of their previous drinks in their cabin.

I can understand that business decision. I guess we are lucky that they didn't cut off wine and beer also.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Heard the alcohol policy change was a result of an of incident on board where a guest drank too much liquor in their room and then drank more at the bar and got alcohol poisoning. Disney realized they had a lot of liability by not knowing how much was being consumed by a guest prior to them being served at one of their bars onboard. With the bartender not knowing how much they had prior to ordering at the bar.............they didnt know that the person should have not been served due to all of their previous drinks in their cabin.

I can understand that business decision. I guess we are lucky that they didn't cut off wine and beer also.

Hmm.... I've never read that. That reasoning doesn't really hold up since we're still allowed to bring wine and beer along. And also from port stops. So people could still be "overserved" without the bartenders knowing how much they've had.

At the time the DCL response was that it brought them "in line with with other cruise lines are doing".

 

[Dug720]

Hmm.... I've never read that. That reasoning doesn't really hold up since we're still allowed to bring wine and beer along. And also from port stops. So people could still be "overserved" without the bartenders knowing how much they've had.

At the time the DCL response was that it brought them "in line with with other cruise lines are doing".

Well, at least there is a limit now. Even with bringing more on. From some of the tales on here, people had entire liquor cabinets they brought aboard.

But yes. I don't know of any that let you bring unlimited alcohol aboard at boarding.

 

[NancyIL]

When I was a lowly Silver CC member - I had to wait until the same day as the general public to book new itineraries. Now that I'm Gold, DCL has finally given Silver one day in advance of the general public to book.

I think the CC membership level should be determined by number of days OR number of cruises - whichever is higher. Both HAL and Princess do that. Royal Caribbean counts days, and gives double points for suite accommodations or solo cruisers staying in a double occupancy cabin.

 

[tinkerone]

For us, we don't like Palo so that doesn't entice us. We have a several of each of the welcome back gifts that have given over the last dozen years. We take our time getting to the port so we can miss the crowds and just walk on so that lets the priority boarding out. We never book things like cabanas on CC so that means nothing to us. We can get fruit from the buffet and DH does not drink so the wine is a no go. We have actually given wine to the room host. Chocolate is nice but that's hardly something to get excited about when you look at the full scope. There just is not enough for us to care about the levels and there is no where to go from Platinum so why would we worry about it anyways.
Full disclosure, we have not sailed DCL in two years but I thought I would throw in what we felt about the program anyways.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

should be determined by number of days OR number of cruises - whichever is higher. Both HAL and Princess do that

On Princess your level is determined by days cruise OR cruises taken, whichever you get to first. Gold upon completion of first cruise. Ruby from your 4th/5th cruise OR 31-50 cruise days. We just did our 4th Princess cruise (but only 21 days completed after 3) and we were Ruby.

Holland America is number of days cruised.

 

[Dug720]

On Princess your level is determined by days cruise OR cruises taken, whichever you get to first. Gold upon completion of first cruise. Ruby from your 4th/5th cruise OR 31-50 cruise days. We just did our 4th Princess cruise (but only 21 days completed after 3) and we were Ruby.

Holland America is number of days cruised.

Does Holland still add a day for every certain amount (I think $300?) spent onboard (excursions included)? I know the one time I was on them, they did - so for Alaska that added up some extra days quickly with excursions.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does Holland still add a day for every certain amount (I think $300?) spent onboard (excursions included)? I know the one time I was on them, they did - so for Alaska that added up some extra days quickly with excursions.

Yes, 1 cruise day credit for every $300 spent onboard.

 

[jrabbit]

Disney --- Parks and Cruise Line have not found the point where the amount that they charge negatively impacts customers paying for it. Until then, the Parks will be crowded and the perks of the Castaway Club will be nil, and service and quality will deteriorate.

 

[fhtpdw20]

If the ships go to the dogs like the parks have, I won't have to worry about the tier levels. My wallet will be closed to them as well.

 

[cruiser21]

Being a castaway club member is about the same as not being one.

 

[bumbershoot]

The lack of a casino we feel keeps the cruise time a bit more wholesome as it invites a different crowd sometimes.

I have not seen any difference in the crowd or sort of people on Disney vs Royal. And royal has a casino.

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 .

Yeppers.

The truth is Disney doesn't need any loyalty programs

As evidenced by their lack of one at resorts.

Heard the alcohol policy change was a result of an of incident on board where a guest drank too much liquor in their room and then drank more at the bar and got alcohol poisoning.

I was “here” through the whole thing and that was never stated. I’ve never heard that.

Disney realized they had a lot of liability by not knowing how much was being consumed by a guest prior to them being served at one of their bars onboard.

Unlikely.

And any bartender anywhere has to be able to judge the person in front of them. Doesn’t matter where they’ve been drinking before, they have to be able to make that call based on what the person is doing then.

Royal Caribbean counts days, and gives double points for suite accommodations or solo cruisers staying in a double occupancy cabin.

Though it’s worth noting that that’s a change. They used to do it based on sailings. It changed at some point after 2003.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I think DCL only has a “loyalty” program because back when they had 2 ships, there needed to be some kind of carrot for repeat business. But Mickey and co are the only real carrot they need. They could eliminate what they have and have no problems sailing at capacity each sailing. It is my hope that when they new ships are launched, more inventory means more incentives to fill them. Anticipating that, I’d like to be platinum just to ensure I’m grandfathered in to whatever new requirements are made to reach higher tiers. I can’t afford sailings over 7 days right now.

 

[bcwife76]

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.

And in comparison, we will be on our 5th cruise in October (making us Gold) and it only took us 30 nights (3x7, 1x4 and 1x5 night cruises). Eventhough I'm getting to Gold by spending less (both nights and money) I agree that it *should* be nights and not number of cruises to get to the next level.

As for the perks, unless you are platinum the other levels are laughable and even at Platinum it's not 'enough'. It is what it is. I don't cruise for the 'perks' of my castaway level.

 

[dclpluto]

They should come out with a new level. Say 25 cruises. Free remy or free dinner and free brunch at palo.
15 percent off at the stores. Keeping it reasonable.

 

[Dug720]

And in comparison, we will be on our 5th cruise in October (making us Gold) and it only took us 30 nights (3x7, 1x4 and 1x5 night cruises). Eventhough I'm getting to Gold by spending less (both nights and money) I agree that it *should* be nights and not number of cruises to get to the next level.

As for the perks, unless you are platinum the other levels are laughable and even at Platinum it's not 'enough'. It is what it is. I don't cruise for the 'perks' of my castaway level.

Agree 100%! I cruise because I love it. Any little perks are a bonus and not necessary to my enjoyment of the cruise.

 

[NancyIL]

....Though it’s worth noting that that’s a change. They used to do it based on sailings. It changed at some point after 2003.

Royal Caribbean changed from points per cruise to number of nights sailed between my December 2010 and June 2012 cruises. I'm reasonably sure the change was made in 2011. I think rewarding nights sailed is most fair, although the lines that base your status on the higher of cruises taken OR nights sailed make everyone happy.