Had not heard about the Marriott, but my guess is that it won't affect the Disney contract. They'll keep it in place if at all possible. Only a guess, but it seems it would be the best for all involved.
Here is something I posted elsewhere, but it is so fun I thought I'd share it here too. From a cruise we recently did on the Dream:
***My Favorite Conversation with a
DCL Bartender. Ever.***
One night when my husband and I broke away for adult time, we sat down in front of a gregarious, entertaining bartender in 687. Although not from the U.S., he had a marvelous (and hysterical) grasp of some of the more nuanced social strata of the most important part of American society. Let me explain.
We started a conversation with him and two of his colleagues (it was pirate night, most everyone was on deck) about what it was like to work on short vs. long cruise itineraries. Somehow this conversation devolved to CMs as high school characters. According to our new friend, there were clear personality groups that exactly mirrored American high school. Some were obvious, like the tech officers on board as the nerds. The cool kids were, of course the entertainers from the shows. Cheerleaders were the spa ladies (who they mentioned with referenced to a certain reputation...which I wont go into here...but which is another high school stereotype). The servers were the Goths. But the stateroom hosts were also Goths. The maintenance crew were the loners (who everyone agreed worked the hardest). Officers were the teachers and principal (disagreement ensued as to whether the principal was the Captain or the Cruise Director). The Kids Club CMs were junior high school. Bar staff were the social butterflies or class clowns. And who were the jocks, you ask? The servers in Remy and Palo.
Wonderful.