Disney Cruise Line Updates Castaway Club Membership Requirements

[Sykes]

It may be a play to encourage people to book at least every 5 years, but my suspicion is that new liabilities around data breaches make it increasingly risky/costly to keep data (especially sensitive data like what DCL keeps in your Castaway Club profile) for customers and so they want to limit it to those that matter. If you leak the DOBs and passport numbers of everyone in the database it’s a lot cheaper to pay for credit monitoring and a potential settlement if you only have 10M active customers vs. the 100M that have ever sailed DCL (random illustrative numbers—I have no idea what they actually are).

 

[mousefan73]

this is not true for all kids, our kids have many times been the 1st or 2nd listed peron in a cabin, 2 adults & 4 kids.
When the Magic first sailed the non-conierge cabins only slept 4 people. So even when we had just 3 kids, we had to pay for 2 cabins, which means 2 of our children have always been charged the higher adult fair. Now once they were 18+ they could all be in their own cabin, and have continued to accumualte status. Since we just sailed this year, all of them will contiune to keep their staus. Not all kids only pay kids fares.
so if granparents paid for their adult kids, would you say the adults shouldn't accumulate status b/c they didnt pay for the cruise themselves? of course dcl does not ask this, or care. Why does it matter how a persons status was accumulated by whomever paid for it?

As someone who works in the industry, generally speaking it does matter who pays for it as this is the decision-maker deciding which product is being booked- that’s the Target group.

 

[Karin1984]

Very normal to clean up your database. It is a loyalty program.
Keeping people in your database who are not sailing anymore costs money.

 

[Cfabar1]

My guess is it is a way to weed out the children who are now adults.

I think it's on the whole a poor move, but practically I don't think it will move the needle very much.

 

[plutolovr]

My guess is it is a way to weed out the children who are now adults.

I think it's on the whole a poor move, but practically I don't think it will move the needle very much.

With Royal Caribbean, minor children share their parent's status. But once they turn 18, they start from zero again.

 

[Jsoenning]

I don’t think that’s true on RCL. I have a friend at work and her kids recently became 18+ and retained diamond status.

 

[Jsoenning]

Only cruise line doing this, way to lead the pack in a negative way. It’s like the leaders at Disney are thinking what other ways can we destroy shareholder value?

Seems they only care about their Floridian customers that have easy access to shorter cruises. And with so many sail dates out of Florida can shop for bargains.

 

[nancipants]

Seems they only care about their Floridian customers that have easy access to shorter cruises. And with so many sail dates out of Florida can shop for bargains.

As someone who lives within driving distance from PC, it's not that easy or cheap to take a bunch of shorter cruises.

 

[Jsoenning]

As someone who lives within driving distance from PC, it's not that easy or cheap to take a bunch of shorter cruises.

Cheaper than not living within driving distance of PC. Add flight costs for just two.

Or compare the per night cost on average to ports where they only sail out for 2-3 months per year.

 

[mom2missmous]

We are DVC members since 2008 and started cruising in 2012. It's a nice break from the parks every few years and I can reset my annual pass. We have taken 4 cruises and we're going to be Gold after our next cruise which I was thinking fall of 2025. Our last cruise was in 2018 and of course COVID messed things up for a couple years and we had to bank vacation points because the parks were closed. So naturally you need to plan a lot of park visits to use up your points after they reopen which cut into our cruise time. If I go back to zero status I am not doing anymore DCL cruises and will research other cruise lines and start a loyalty program with them. With Disney almost doubling their fleet recently (and in the near future) you would think they would be trying to hold onto the loyal travelers they have.

We are in same' boat" as you! Been a few years since we have done DCL as had to sail rccl due to multiple (3 nieces in same family!) weddings beyond our control/choice and then covid hit. Now that we are newly retired, we can cruise when we want (former teacher so our vacation choices were limited in past to school schedules .) We had been hoping to do a short 4-5 day cruise soon then book on the Treasure when it sets sail. Since this news will strip us of our gold status we are done with DCL !We will stick with RCCL and explore others that will appreciate us more than DCL! Too bad as we used to be avid disney(own DVC and annual pass holders) and DCL fans , but this is a clear message(at list in MOHO) we are not valued !

 

[Cheburashka]

My 19-year-old is pearl and my 20-year-old is almost there. It's too bad they will most likely lose that. If they ever get married and have kids and can afford a Disney cruise they may have more incentive to do it if they still had the status.

I think the policy is very fair and reasonable and am glad that it will help reduce scenarios like this, in which many of the people with the highest club status never paid a dime for the cruises that got them that status.

 

[Cheburashka]

As someone who works in the industry, generally speaking it does matter who pays for it as this is the decision-maker deciding which product is being booked- that’s the Target group.

Why more people don't really get this is beyond me. Loyalty programs exist to reward customers for choosing and paying for their product. Of course, as a byproduct of the way programs operate, some family and friends of the purchaser who didn't pay often end up being included, but they aren't the target of the loyalty program.

 

[DisneyConvert]

Well, if the goal is to purge Silver then limit it to Silver. But once someone makes Gold or higher they arguably spent plenty with DCL and purging their status after 5 years will just encourage them to cruise with other companies when they do cruise again eventually.

I dont know if this is who they had in mind as DW and I (both 1X's cruises each, so solid Platinum), continue to DCL approx once every 12~18 months, BUT

We took our son with us many times (even when he was 1 and 3 years old!). He went with wife and MinLaw, w/out me, twice, so he actually hit Gold/Platinum before me.

But now, college and 1st job and his interests lie elsewhere . . . My bias, but DCL doesn't seem to be the place to be for 18~26yr olds.

He will not be pleased if he is relegated to Silver, although he never went to Palo, cared about the gift, or worried about our boarding time. And unless we take him, he won't be booking on his own for a long time, so if/when we do, it won't matter.

 

[EveV]

I totally agree with Disney decision on this it’s actually very generous. I’m also MSC platinum and I have to maintain that point level every two years and points are given based on how much you spend. Same thing with airlines. Once you don’t maintain a level with business you’re out.

A pearl versus silver/ non member has cash benefits if you look at what they pay on opening day versus what someone who’s not a CC member pays. In a way it’s a discount. I can totally get Disney revenue management thinking. OK we have a generation of kids who are pearl or platinum because their parents paid for their sailings. (at a discount because the third and fourth is significantly lower than the first two.). so why should they 10 years later as paying adults get these benefits basically as a “paying“ head of reservation starting at zero?

I showed my kid this post and she was completely aghast, though she understood the revenue management logic once I explained (she is 13 so it was eye opening). Her response? Well, you'll have to keep paying for my cruises when I get older. Sigh. She is not wrong.

 

[happycamper47]

Why does matter? Someday they be interested again.

Many could also be dead, unfortunately.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I showed my kid this post and she was completely aghast, though she understood the revenue management logic once I explained (she is 13 so it was eye opening). Her response? Well, you'll have to keep paying for my cruises when I get older. Sigh. She is not wrong.

Well says lucky. My dad and I started splitting costs in 2009. I pay my share and him his. I’m 35 now so. This day it down matter

 

[Cliffside]

Disappointed Platinum cruiser here….Our last cruise was the Maiden voyage of the Wish…We are empty nesters and have moved on to other cruise lines like Celebrity and Virgin…we were not thrilled the Maiden Voyage of the Wish after having a phenomenal time on the Fantasy one…we are fans of the class ships…
we were hoping to start taking our grandson when he is a bit older …but I certainly will not be running to do that if our platinum status expires…

 

[Bonnie1222]

If they were going to do that then I think they would have done it when they added Pearl.

I agree that is when they should have and I honestly expected it. They should have done the expiration of your status at the same time they rolled out Pearl as well. It is only good business - hit them with everything at once, and they will focus on only 1 part of it... roll it out piece-meal and they see every little thing you do. Kind of like the old addage - Promise less and give more. You know it will only take 3 hours to do something but you say it will take a day. When you finish it early, you are the hero

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

I get that for a lot of people it’s about the principle and feeling slighted at this change. But are your CC benefits really the reason you’ve sailed DCL enough to earn status? I mean, you get to book stuff earlier, and you get a lanyard and mediocre gift in your stateroom…and without that you’re saying you won’t sail DCL again? I assume anyone with this view didn’t have much motivation to continue sailing DCL anyways.

I was looking forward to one day getting the complimentary dinner at the signature restaurant when you hit 10 cruises , i was just about half way there.

 

[Karin1984]

Only cruise line doing this, way to lead the pack in a negative way. It’s like the leaders at Disney are thinking what other ways can we destroy shareholder value?

Airline loyalty programs do this as well, adding Pearl was one step to re-distribute the database. Too many people in your highest tier costs money, especially if they do not cruise. It is database capacity.

And it will not change much for the people loyal to Disney. As there is not much of a loyalty program, there are not that many benefits that that is the reason to keep returning.

People chose for Disney over and over again because of the brand, because the cruises fit their lifestyle & family etc. Not for that one free meal at Palo.

It is a way to reduce costs without it probably impacting business too much. Shareholders will probably be happy as it means more money for them.