Wish MV - Tiered experience booking?

[OpieDoodle]

I totally see where you are coming from. Like for example Dick's Sporting Goods your rewards "level" is really determined by how much you spend. I see how it is probably easier for Disney to just count individual cruises tho. I also wonder tho for them is it more profitable for them to have 1 person on 3 smaller cruises versus one big cruise. Just things to ponder. Not sure there is a way to fix it but for now its better than nothing I suppose.

I'd assume booking experiences will be just like the booking for the cruise itself. I'm not sure I agree the lower platinum members will feel like silver since they're not even getting a shot at being on the boat at all.

I am not on the maiden voyage nor do I have any desire too (after seeing titanic I'm not sure my irrational brain can handle being on any maiden voyage....ever) but my understanding is the trip should be super special. Lots of new things to do and see. Extra special things going on. I'd argue wondering if people would give up the new experiences to go to Palo when I'd bet everyone on that boat had been to Palo before (likely multiple times)

So for me, if I was one of those who has cruised so many times likely hitting Palo every cruise I'd probably consider not even bother booking it so I didn't risk missing anything! I'd also argue that most of the people that are on the MV of the Wish also likely either have another cruise booked or plan to book one soon.

 

[jenmiller114]

If it is truly about best customers being rewarded, then it should be money spent not the number of cruises or number of days sailed. But I am glad that's now how it works because I try to find off peak cruises at a lower price point so I can sail more often. And I agree that it wouldn't take more than a couple concierge cruises for someone to meet the top threshold.

As far as the number of days vs. number of cruises argument goes, they are both subjective. And justafigment27 makes a great point. The Panama Canal & Transatlantic cruises are significantly lower price per day than the 3 and 4 day cruises. We have done both and they have contributed greatly to the number of days we have sailed. But I don't feel like I should be considered "more loyal" because I had the luxury of taking advantage of better deals on longer itineraries. Most people can't take that much time off of work so they opt for the shorter cruises. Ultimately, someone who has taken 35 - 3 day cruises has probably spent a lot more than I have spent on my 17 cruises which includes a WBTA and EBPC. Personally, I don't think they will ever make everyone happy and the system is fine the way it is. I can see them maybe going one above platinum as that group continues to grow. But everyone will argue that the best way to reward loyalty is whichever way it benefits them the most.

As far as the original topic goes, I didn't love waiting until day 3 to book but I think it was probably the best way to do it to keep things manageable and it seems fair enough. I told my husband that I have no idea how they will book Palo because everyone is platinum. So that should be interesting. I opted to wait for the June 17 & 20 so we could do a B2B instead. I hate to miss out on the MV but I would prefer more days. They were smart putting the DVC cruise after the MV to keep people from booking the B2B and leaving more opportunities open for others.

 

[deltadinah]

We've only ever done late dining and haven't wanted anything else. What's the appeal of early dining? We see people prefer it but don't understand why.

One reason for the appeal could be the ability to get to sleep at night

 

[Scott H]

Personally had a very negative experience trying to book the MV and DVC with points. We have 25+ cruises, but had to call DVC on 5/17 to book MV with points, thus trying to get through with all the DVC bookings, so my 25+ advantage was for naught. I feel it was very poorly planned by DVC. Just the way it goes

 

[CM Dad]

They were smart putting the DVC cruise after the MV to keep people from booking the B2B and leaving more opportunities open for others.

My wife and I did book the maiden/DVC B2B cruises. On Monday I was able to book the DVC cruise, and the let our TA to try for the maiden when our booking window opened on the 19th, but if that was no longer available, to try the cruise after the DVC one.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We finally earned Platinum from our last sailing in Jan 2020. Needless to say, we have not had the pleasure of experiencing Platinum (with 4 cruises canceled 2020-2021). With the new Platinum tier system, I figured we didn't have a chance for MV. So, hopefully, we will be really cruising and B2B'ing in 2023 (if I finish graduate school in 2022) and quickly makeup time and adding CC #'s. I would like a number of nights to be a standard for CC levels also. We do primarily long cruises (7+ nights) because we live in NM and travel is well, pretty much most of the day.

And the Platinums with a high number of cruises should get the benefit of extreme loyalty and first dibs on everything available to CC.

And for dinner, we enjoy first seating for many of the above-mentioned reasons: Earlier to bed and early to rise, not much of a night-clubber, and a bit of reflux.

 

[AquaDame]

We prefer main dining because we do not want to go to bed full. My husband is a manufacturing engineer, which means his "day" shift is 6am-2:30pm so "swing" can be there from 2pm-10:30pm. Most nights we finish eating by 7, and we try to never eat anything after 8pm.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...8b85ac-2583-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

 

[OKW Lover]

Personally had a very negative experience trying to book the MV and DVC with points. We have 25+ cruises, but had to call DVC on 5/17 to book MV with points, thus trying to get through with all the DVC bookings, so my 25+ advantage was for naught. I feel it was very poorly planned by DVC. Just the way it goes

Did you get on the MV Scott? If so, Val & I will be sailing with you!

 

[Scott H]

Did you get on the MV Scott? If so, Val & I will be sailing with you!

Jeff,
Nope, neither the MV or DVC, we wanted to do a b2b. The member services person who answered our call kept putting us on hold to check availability, each time we said book this Cat they came back saying not available. I feel DVC should not have booked the MV for 25+ and DVC Exclusive the same day. To further I hear some DVC members who did not have qualifying points made reservations for the DVC.

I had called DVC prior to 5/17 to express my concerns with their booking arrangement and how Platinum 25+ cruisers had no preference having to call MS at the same time as the DVC cruise was being booked. I was told that on 5/17 all cast members would be cruise trained and not have to put people on hold to check availability.

So after three hours of calling and on hold , back and forth checking and not getting a satisfactory room, we decided to forget it.

We are very sad we will not make the sailing. I expressed my thoughts of the playing field being stacked against us to DVC Member Satisfaction.

Got the standard heart felt, sorry from DVC. Oh well , That said we will have so may friends on the cruise who I am sure will have a super great time.

Just the way it is, sorry we will miss ya

 

[OKW Lover]

Just the way it is, sorry we will miss ya

Doubly here

 

[bunnm09]

We've only ever done late dining and haven't wanted anything else. What's the appeal of early dining? We see people prefer it but don't understand why.

we prefer early because we eat at 6ish at home so it fits our normal schedule. Also we prefer dinner and then show, nightlife, etc vs show and then dinner. Just feels more natural to us.

A small benefit to early dining is by the time the show ends and the adult late night snacks come out we’ve had some time to digest and are hungry for a few treats vs if we had just finished dining haha

 

[OpieDoodle]

We also prefer to eat early as well. My family is pretty use to being up early (I start work at 6:30am for example). My husband and I could easily handle later dining but my kiddos would take days to adjust their schedule. They're 7, 5, and 3. So they would likely still be awake for dinner but would they be absolute raging terrors for dinner? Probably