There is no doubt that DCL is a successful business. The two cruises my wife & recently completed on the Disney Wonder (our 11th & 12th) were fully booked. The demographics seemed to be an interesting mix across the different Castaway Cay Club categories plus plenty of first-timers. The back-to-back group we were in was the largest we'd personally been in (around 80 passengers) but, from all accounts, the back-to-back group at the end of our second cruise was going to be far bigger.
Having completed those cruises, though, I can't help but wonder if that very success is resulting in DCL becoming complacent. In other words, are they putting all of their effort into that first-time experience and not so much into the returning experience?
They no longer offer a shipboard credit for future bookings made on board. They might just as well not bother with the Castaway Cay stateroom gift - our platinum bag was identical to the gold bag we received last year. We now give our bags to charity when we get home.
They continue to charge for things that other cruise lines now offer as part of the package, e.g. laundry facilities, tips and, for some cruise lines, even Internet service.
Those points may seem picky so what about the way DCL looks after guests?
It seems to me that, over time, DCL has decreased the level of customer service. They used to be the shining beacon across the Disney companies. Now? I don't think so. Our stateroom host did not have a strong command of English, so we didn't engage with him to the same degree that we have with previous hosts. He did the bare minimum required of his job and even then managed to overlook a liquid stain on the desk mirror for the entire two weeks we were on board. The folded towels in the evening? Mostly the blue bed cover folded into something - my wife particularly missed seeing the monkey.
There were some excellent crew members on board, particularly in the dining team. However, we heard from one of the more senior dining staff that they were heading over to the Wish and were picking who they wanted to go with them. Logic suggests they will take the best with them ... leaving DCL to back-fill the vacancies across the fleet caused by those migrations. We also heard that Virgin are poaching/gaining crew from DCL, further affecting their staffing.
We had problems with two excursions during our cruises, one of which was so bad we asked for a refund. This is not the first time we've had a bad Port Adventure experience, I'm sad to say, and I think that some responsibility has to lie with DCL over this. They claim "we have pre-selected tours designed to ensure that you see the best that our ports have to offer" but they don't do anything to back up that claim. Quite the opposite. They make it very clear that Port Adventures are "operated by independent contractors that are neither agents of, nor supervised or controlled by, Disney Cruise Line". Now, I accept that DCL "does not maintain their facilities or modes of transportation" but they do publish the Port Adventure description and use that to sell us on that excursion. As a result, if the excursion does not live up to that description, DCL - on our behalf - should be interceding, obtaining a refund and making sure that the operator gets its act together or doesn't get used again in the future. Instead, it seems like the ship-board staff have less control than they used to and Shore Side are now in control of managing the Port Adventures. It took us several days of badgering and complaining to even extract a 50% refund and this was for a Port Adventure that was almost 90% deceitful in its description. How many passengers need to complain about Port Adventures (we weren't the only ones) before DCL does something to ensure that excursions are checked periodically (e.g. like a secret shopper) to make sure that they do live up to the description?
DCL's contract is full of situations like that, where services are provided by contracted third-parties and, if it goes wrong, it is tough on you, the customer. I was very surprised to hear about the $4m settlement between DCL and a member of staff over a misdiagnosis by the onboard medical staff. Why surprised? We had a misdiagnosis last year, albeit nowhere near that level of severity. DCL's response? Take it up with the medical company - nothing to do with us. If you are a non-US customer, that makes it all but impossible. There is no indication that DCL have tightened onboard healthcare procedures to make sure that even our minor experience happens again. There is certainly no indication that DCL are considering changing their medical provider.
Which is why I used the word complacent. They may well be expending a lot of planning and effort into the Wish and the other two new ships, but does that leave us with another Shanghai situation? All the money and effort being diverted elsewhere so the original fleet starts to suffer as a consequence?
There is no doubt in my mind that DCL offers a unique proposition and this is one of the reasons why it is successful. However, it costs more to attract new customers than it does to retain existing ones. Will the existing customers remain loyal if they, like us, start to see a degradation of service and value for money?
Having completed those cruises, though, I can't help but wonder if that very success is resulting in DCL becoming complacent. In other words, are they putting all of their effort into that first-time experience and not so much into the returning experience?
They no longer offer a shipboard credit for future bookings made on board. They might just as well not bother with the Castaway Cay stateroom gift - our platinum bag was identical to the gold bag we received last year. We now give our bags to charity when we get home.
They continue to charge for things that other cruise lines now offer as part of the package, e.g. laundry facilities, tips and, for some cruise lines, even Internet service.
Those points may seem picky so what about the way DCL looks after guests?
It seems to me that, over time, DCL has decreased the level of customer service. They used to be the shining beacon across the Disney companies. Now? I don't think so. Our stateroom host did not have a strong command of English, so we didn't engage with him to the same degree that we have with previous hosts. He did the bare minimum required of his job and even then managed to overlook a liquid stain on the desk mirror for the entire two weeks we were on board. The folded towels in the evening? Mostly the blue bed cover folded into something - my wife particularly missed seeing the monkey.
There were some excellent crew members on board, particularly in the dining team. However, we heard from one of the more senior dining staff that they were heading over to the Wish and were picking who they wanted to go with them. Logic suggests they will take the best with them ... leaving DCL to back-fill the vacancies across the fleet caused by those migrations. We also heard that Virgin are poaching/gaining crew from DCL, further affecting their staffing.
We had problems with two excursions during our cruises, one of which was so bad we asked for a refund. This is not the first time we've had a bad Port Adventure experience, I'm sad to say, and I think that some responsibility has to lie with DCL over this. They claim "we have pre-selected tours designed to ensure that you see the best that our ports have to offer" but they don't do anything to back up that claim. Quite the opposite. They make it very clear that Port Adventures are "operated by independent contractors that are neither agents of, nor supervised or controlled by, Disney Cruise Line". Now, I accept that DCL "does not maintain their facilities or modes of transportation" but they do publish the Port Adventure description and use that to sell us on that excursion. As a result, if the excursion does not live up to that description, DCL - on our behalf - should be interceding, obtaining a refund and making sure that the operator gets its act together or doesn't get used again in the future. Instead, it seems like the ship-board staff have less control than they used to and Shore Side are now in control of managing the Port Adventures. It took us several days of badgering and complaining to even extract a 50% refund and this was for a Port Adventure that was almost 90% deceitful in its description. How many passengers need to complain about Port Adventures (we weren't the only ones) before DCL does something to ensure that excursions are checked periodically (e.g. like a secret shopper) to make sure that they do live up to the description?
DCL's contract is full of situations like that, where services are provided by contracted third-parties and, if it goes wrong, it is tough on you, the customer. I was very surprised to hear about the $4m settlement between DCL and a member of staff over a misdiagnosis by the onboard medical staff. Why surprised? We had a misdiagnosis last year, albeit nowhere near that level of severity. DCL's response? Take it up with the medical company - nothing to do with us. If you are a non-US customer, that makes it all but impossible. There is no indication that DCL have tightened onboard healthcare procedures to make sure that even our minor experience happens again. There is certainly no indication that DCL are considering changing their medical provider.
Which is why I used the word complacent. They may well be expending a lot of planning and effort into the Wish and the other two new ships, but does that leave us with another Shanghai situation? All the money and effort being diverted elsewhere so the original fleet starts to suffer as a consequence?
There is no doubt in my mind that DCL offers a unique proposition and this is one of the reasons why it is successful. However, it costs more to attract new customers than it does to retain existing ones. Will the existing customers remain loyal if they, like us, start to see a degradation of service and value for money?
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