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

[cruiser21]

Sorry you feel that way. I think many enjoy being able to book a cruise on a day when everyone else isn’t also booking and being able to book excursions or cabanas early. We always enjoy a quiet brunch and dinner on our cruises with food choices not found other places on the ship.

Would I prefer and OBC in lieu of the other perks, maybe depending on the amount but not really worth talking about as the system is what it is and it doesn’t look like it is going away any time soon.

Booking on a day when no one else is booking? Have you seen the hold times? I don't see waiting on hold for hours as a perk. No thanks. They allow you to book excursions early so you spend your money on their excursions. You can book private tours that are better for less money. Again not really a perk. Both of these things benefit DCl not the customer. If you see it as a perk then your definition of perk is a lot different then mine.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Booking on a day when no one else is booking? Have you seen the hold times? I don't see waiting on hold for hours as a perk. No thanks. They allow you to book excursions early so you spend your money on their excursions. You can book private tours that are better for less money. Again not really a perk. Both of these things benefit DCl not the customer. If you see it as a perk then your definition of perk is a lot different then mine.

People wait in line an awful long time for about a 3 minute ride at the parks. Actually it’s about the same wait to get a platinum booking, but then you get a 2-14 day ride. And you get to pick the best seats while sitting in your comfy seat at home. I’m just happy to get my silver bag.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

No other line limits when you can book excursions by loyalty level.

Viking Ocean Cruises opens booking for excursions based on stateroom level, very similar to DCL opening booking for excursions by loyalty level. Guests sailing in more expersive cabin categories get priority.

 

[cruiser21]

People wait in line an awful long time for about a 3 minute ride at the parks. Actually it’s about the same wait to get a platinum booking, but then you get a 2-14 day ride. And you get to pick the best seats while sitting in your comfy seat at home. I’m just happy to get my silver bag.

I use FP+. I would never get in a line that's over 30 minutes. I've been on 19 DCL cruise. I've had great rooms, gotten the best prices I could get for DCL, and never waited on hold to book. Never taken a cruise I've booked on opening day. DCL has created this opening day booking frenzy that benefits no one but themselves, but they've convinced their customers it's for their benefit. I'm sure the DCL suits get a good laugh out of it.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I use FP+. I would never get in a line that's over 30 minutes. I've been on 19 DCL cruise. I've had great rooms, gotten the best prices I could get for DCL, and never waited on hold to book. Never taken a cruise I've booked on opening day. DCL has created this opening day booking frenzy that benefits no one but themselves, but they've convinced their customers it's for their benefit. I'm sure the DCL suits get a good laugh out of it.

Can’t you pay a travel agent to do that for you like you pay for your FP+? If not you can pay me and I’ll do it for you!

 

[Sytrace]

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

We actually enjoy several aspects of the club as platinum.
1. We like being able to arrive early and be in BG1
2. The Platinum check in line, although sometimes it is just as busy as regular...it really depends on how the lines look as to whether we use it or not.
3. The choice of chocolate, fruit or sparkling wine that we get. (We always choose the truffles because the fruit is plentiful everywhere on the ship and we don't care for the sparkling wine)
4. Booking things at 120 days in advance is fun upon being paid in full.
5. Taking advantage of opening day prices a few days before general public is pretty cool too. Although, this is the first year that I actually DID do that, I like that the option is there.
6. The free Bingo cards (except for the last game) that you get when you play
7. The special pricing on the Rainforest.
8. The free Palo dinner (or brunch) for my husband and I. My daughter turns 18 next September and she is also going to be eligible...my son who will be 16 at the time, will still have to wait a couple of years though. lol
9. The discount goes a long way to feed my Pandora charm and Dooney and Bourke addiction.
*** I do miss the CC reception though so that was kind of a bummer. ***

All in all, I like and appreciate the various benefits that are offered. We have done more longer cruises than shorter cruises but it might be good to have a nights sailed versus number of cruises as a way to keep track of levels. And it would be fun if they added more tiers to the club as well.

 

[cruiser21]

Can’t you pay a travel agent to do that for you like you pay for your FP+? If not you can pay me and I’ll do it for you!

How am I paying for FP+? How do you pay a travel agent to book a cruise? The work of commission.

 

[cadien]

Yes, but the majority of people that cruise DCL are doing it for their kids. The new ships are going to bigger and don't be surprised if the have lots of bells and whistles for the kiddos.

We're big meanies. Our son loves amusement parks but that's not what we want from a cruise so we don't do those.


NCL gives double points for sailing the equivalent of concierge. Does Disney?

 

[cruiser21]

We're big meanies. Our son loves amusement parks but that's not what we want from a cruise so we don't do those.


NCL gives double points for sailing the equivalent of concierge. Does Disney?

You may not want those, but that seems to be the way the industry is going. You'll have to stick to the older ships.

Disney does not give points for anything. The don't even have a point system.

 

[cadien]

As in sailing concierge would count as two cruises towards gold, platinum, etc. instead of just one.

 

[cruiser21]

As in sailing concierge would count as two cruises towards gold, platinum, etc. instead of just one.

No DCL doesn't do that.

 

[phinz]

As in sailing concierge would count as two cruises towards gold, platinum, etc. instead of just one.

Princess does the same thing. We wish DCL would. We'd have hit Platinum two cruises ago.

 

[mab2012]

From a business perspective perks should be based on $$$$ spent!

Not really. From a business perspective, the point of a loyalty program is to encourage repeat business. By counting cruises instead of days or dollars spent, DCL is disproportionately incentivizing shorter and cheaper cruises. There may be an explicit reason for that (maybe shorter cruises are harder to fill, or the profit margin is higher?), or it might just be a decision that was made many years ago and has not been deemed important enough to change. Either way, the business decision has nothing to do with what is most "fair" for the consumer, and everything to do with what is most beneficial to the company.

If it were about fairness, days or dollars would make far more sense, and personally I would prefer that. But I'm with the group who thinks the Castaway Club perks are pretty weak, so it doesn't much matter to me anyway. If we ever made it to Platinum I think I would appreciate the Palo dinner and the earlier booking window, but that's not enough reason for me to continue booking on DCL. We will probably continue to sail with DCL for other reasons, at least in the near term, but the loyalty program as currently implemented is not much of a factor for us.

 

[tinkerone]

From a business perspective, the point of a loyalty program is to encourage repeat business. By counting cruises instead of days or dollars spent, DCL is disproportionately incentivizing shorter and cheaper cruises. There may be an explicit reason for that (maybe shorter cruises are harder to fill, or the profit margin is higher?), or it might just be a decision that was made many years ago and has not been deemed important enough to change.

The shorter cruises are the cash cows. Examples are on a 7 day cruise a person may buy a tee-shirt to commemorate their sailing where as breaking that 7 day cruise up into two sailings you would have two people looking to buy that commemorative tee-shirt. Same with drinks, people love to buy the special drink in the special glass at sail away but that's a one off. Break that sailing up into two sailings (3 night and 4 night) and you have two people making that purchase. This information comes directly from a close friend of mine who worked in the shops on the ships but I think we could figure that out without help, lol. Your comment about a higher profit margin is spot on.
So including shorter sailings in the spectrum is a bonus for DCL, it makes some people want to do shorter cruises in order to up their level and then they get very little in return (the last part about very little return is my thought, I know not everyone agrees and that's okay).
I think we can all agree that some people find value in what the offerings are, some people don't and some people such as myself just don't care. Its been a very interesting thread, seeing what others feel about Castaway Club.

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

Anyone that's cruises over 10 times on DCL has probably given DCL at least 50k. I don't consider a free meal....free. It's a reward you give your loyal customers to say thank you and we appreciate your business. Most companies reward their loyal customer. It's a nice gesture and it makes the customer feel appreciated. I can't think of a business I shop at that I don't receive monetary rewards ...except maybe DCL. I don't consider the free meal and basket of fruit to be much of a reward. I also don't consider being the first to book their overpriced excursions to be a reward either. If I got a discount on the excursions then maybe I would actually book one.

it depends. We are platinum and have spent 20k on 10 cruises for 2A1K bc we went on a ton of 3 and 4 night cruises. Thats why there are several people on here that are complaining that level status should be based on number of days sailed and not number of sailings completed. I’m sure there around lots of people that have spent 50k to become platinum bc of the type of cruises they took.

 

[YawningDodo]

I'm honestly not sure whether I'll even accept the Silver lanyard when I do my next cruise...I don't know. I've been KonMari'ing all my stuff for a while now and collecting swag in general loses its appeal when you realize you're just going to toss at least three quarters of what you're given in TA gift baskets, stateroom gifts, that kind of thing. I knew ahead of the cruise that I'd want a lanyard and picked up a fun Guardians of the Galaxy one that I really like, so another lanyard would be a bit superfluous at this point, status symbol or no. Bags, lanyards...those don't incentivize me at all because it's so hit or miss whether I'll even want them. I'd rather just buy souvenirs on my own dime.

Do people still wear lanyards? We stopped long ago. Since we carry our phones to use the app, we have phone cases or attachable pouches for our stateroom key.

I do! I hate having things attached to my phone, and I liked that I didn't have to carry my wallet on the ship. Since the KTTW has an RFID chip, too, it was very handy to just press the entire plastic pouch against the door's card reader instead of fishing it out. I had thought the plastic pouch might annoy me and had thought about seeing if I could get my KTTW hole-punched instead, but didn't bother once I realized the pouch made it really easy to keep my stamp card for the Cove Cafe in the same place.

I go to a fair number of sci fi/fantasy/gaming conventions, though, as well as conferences for work, so the idea of wearing a lanyard with some kind of ID card in it for multiple days on end is pretty normal to me.

 

[tinkerone]

I've been KonMari'ing all my stuff for a while now and collecting swag in general loses its appeal when you realize you're just going to toss at least three quarters of what you're given in TA gift baskets, stateroom gifts, that kind of thing.

Me to. Life changing. Makes me think twice about things that will be entering my house. It certainly has helped me declutter bags and bags of 'stuff'. DH's motto was 'free is good'. My motto is 'no more, thanks'.

 

[ahain]

We will be Platinum after our cruise in December. I also believe status/levels should be based on night, not # of cruises.

We have no interest in Palo, wine/champagne (we don't drink) or fruit (I can get fruit at the buffet). What we WOULD like is some OBC, complimentary internet package (the big one! ), free theater popcorn for the duration of the cruise, and a bigger discount on a placeholder/future cruise on top of the placeholder discount, and our CHOICE of stateroom gifts (one can only use so many totes!).

 

[phinz]

I go to a fair number of sci fi/fantasy/gaming conventions, though, as well as conferences for work, so the idea of wearing a lanyard with some kind of ID card in it for multiple days on end is pretty normal to me.

I have a lanyard specifically for cons like Dragon*Con that require big badges. It has a detachable cloth lower that holds the clip. It has an opening perfectly sized for a belt to slip through so I can get the stupid thing off of my neck. I *loathe* lanyards as a general rule.

I find no value in the Castaway Club other than earlier booking. That's the only reason we're trying to be Platinum before the new ship itineraries are released. We've given even that some thought and don't know if we really care anymore.

 

[dvcdisney]

I would be happy if they got rid of all the perks and just increased the obc for platinum. I don't book excursions, Palo is just meh, I don't book opening day, I don't need to be the first one on the ship, and really a fruit tray?

If they can't do a Platinum discount for cruises, then a larger OBC would be my second choice.