How would you change Castaway Club Levels

I remember the time when flying was part of the vacation. For all classes. Now it's "crowd them in like cattle and toss them some pretzels"
I'm working on my graduation thesis at the airline I work for. I am going through 3000 remarks in a survey, I've seen this remark more than once ;-)
Except the other complaint is that we do not do pretzels or peanuts anymore and all the other food sucks as well!

I was thinking about the similarities between airline & cruiseline loyalty programs and the perks they give, how most of it is before you get on the ship, in re-booking, pre-boarding etc. and very little once you are on board. For DCL it's only the Palo meal for Platinum, I think?
For cabin crew it's easy to find their frequent flyers on the passenger list, passengers sit still in the same seat, and they can give extra attention. On a ship you have your host and server team, but otherwise at random during the cruise it is hard for the crew to recognize frequent travellers, unless they wear their keychords.
 
Well, I had some time and I went back and read this whole thread. It seems many people here would like levels based on total dollars spent. And Disney seems to be more and more favoring the big spenders. So why wouldn't they let you buy into club levels, say $1000 for each cruise credit (if still based on number of cruises)? For an extra $10,000 a first time cruiser could suddenly be Platinum. Now it's really about dollars spent.
 
Well, I had some time and I went back and read this whole thread. It seems many people here would like levels based on total dollars spent. And Disney seems to be more and more favoring the big spenders. So why wouldn't they let you buy into club levels, say $1000 for each cruise credit (if still based on number of cruises)? For an extra $10,000 a first time cruiser could suddenly be Platinum. Now it's really about dollars spent.

The perks are not worth paying extra. It's already expensive.
 


Well, I had some time and I went back and read this whole thread. It seems many people here would like levels based on total dollars spent. And Disney seems to be more and more favoring the big spenders. So why wouldn't they let you buy into club levels, say $1000 for each cruise credit (if still based on number of cruises)? For an extra $10,000 a first time cruiser could suddenly be Platinum. Now it's really about dollars spent.
Since the Castaway Club is a loyalty program, I guess it depends on what is deemed "loyalty". If you spend a lot of money onboard (or buy into "loyalty") does it make you more loyal to DCL than if you take a lot of cruises, but don't buy every thing in the gift shop?
 
I agree with those that feel that it should be based on nights.

I also think that 7 night cruise would be the basis.

Silver - 7 nights +
Gold - 35 nights +
Platinum - 70 nights +
next tier - 105 nights +
and so on....

I do think they should add more tiers for people who have cruise considerably more. We were on a European cruise and they were asking how how many cruises...there was a LOT of people who had more than 20 Disney cruises.

As a disclaimer, I may be a bit biased because I know we would have reached Platinum faster if it was by nights. We prefer longer cruises, but I don't think those who like short cruises should be penalized....but I have seen some cruiser who have purposely booked short cruise to get to Gold or Platinum...so I thought DCL would somehow discourage that...but as someone else mentioned, DCL is likely getting more money with the Dream short cruises and that's why it hasn't changed.
 
I agree with those that feel that it should be based on nights.

I also think that 7 night cruise would be the basis.

Silver - 7 nights +
Gold - 35 nights +
Platinum - 70 nights +
next tier - 105 nights +
and so on....

I do think they should add more tiers for people who have cruise considerably more. We were on a European cruise and they were asking how how many cruises...there was a LOT of people who had more than 20 Disney cruises.

As a disclaimer, I may be a bit biased because I know we would have reached Platinum faster if it was by nights. We prefer longer cruises, but I don't think those who like short cruises should be penalized....but I have seen some cruiser who have purposely booked short cruise to get to Gold or Platinum...so I thought DCL would somehow discourage that...but as someone else mentioned, DCL is likely getting more money with the Dream short cruises and that's why it hasn't changed.
They could do as some other cruise lines do and have the levels be determined by a combination of number of nights and/or number of cruises.

Silver - 7 nights or 1 cruise
Gold - 35 nights or 5 cruises
Platinum - 70 nights or 10 cruises
next level - 105 nights or 15 cruises
and next - 140 nights or 20 cruises
etc.....

whichever gets you the highest level.
 


They could do as some other cruise lines do and have the levels be determined by a combination of number of nights and/or number of cruises.

Silver - 7 nights or 1 cruise
Gold - 35 nights or 5 cruises
Platinum - 70 nights or 10 cruises
next level - 105 nights or 15 cruises
and next - 140 nights or 20 cruises
etc.....

whichever gets you the highest level.
Yes, counting nights OR cruises seems to be the most fair.

I was only half serious about Disney selling Castaway Club status, but hey, look at Club 33, or I just priced a Poly Bungalow at over $2800/night.
 
They could do as some other cruise lines do and have the levels be determined by a combination of number of nights and/or number of cruises.

Silver - 7 nights or 1 cruise
Gold - 35 nights or 5 cruises
Platinum - 70 nights or 10 cruises
next level - 105 nights or 15 cruises
and next - 140 nights or 20 cruises
etc.....

whichever gets you the highest level.

I think something like this would be good. I will add that we loaded up on 2N and 3N cruises out of San Diego to accelerate getting to Platinum. But even with that our average cruise length is 6N. We'll be 15 on our next cruise, whenever that goes. I'd love to see some added perks to add some value to the program, though.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!







Top