Future of Disney Cruise Lines

[e2011]

It seems to me that Disney is in a very good position to capture even more of the cruise market share which it getting more and more diluted by more and more ships. I think in the future the Disney brand will make the difference to people who are on the fence as to which cruise line to choose. Specifically I am thinking of all the problems at Carnival Corp.the company which owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess, P&O, Seabourn, Cunard and Costa, among others. I am hearing very bad things from cruisers on recent trips on these brands specifically related to horrible food. This seems to indicate the company's new CEO is under pressure to cut cost and add to the bottom line. The stock was in the high 40's in 2011 and now has been stuck in the 30's for a year. And in regards to all the new ships coming on line from RCCL, NCL, Princess, etc. I cannot see how all these cabins will get filled leading to big discounts. It reminds me of the huge boom in hotel rooms in Vegas 10 years ago and now most of them sit empty or are out of business. Since Disney has its brand excellence and has not added vast numbers of ships, I think when the dust settles they will be in a position to weather the upcoming storm and prosper.

Edited December 17, 2013 by e2011

[theshowmestate]

While I haven't cruised on any other line than DCL, I don't feel the need to because of the quality experiences we've had. It does seem with the "experimenting" with ports other than Port C. IE: Miami etc. that a new ship or 2 would be on the horizon but somehow I think DCL is not rushing out there to build new ships. The rumors will always be, they're building, they're not building. We can only wait until something comes from DCL.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I jumped ship from CCL this year and discovered how great a DCL can be, altho i knew it would, we were just always happy with CCL until this year. Than with all the maintenance problems - and its looking quite bad on the CCL boards for maintenance - my Dad knew Mom, who has a bit of paranoia, would never set food on a CCL. But since he wanted to take a trip, he did the ultimate smart move: booked Disney. She never batted an eye! We all joined them as a surprise and now 18 of us have the Magic booked for next year.

 

CCL lost us in two ways: one by cutting back the things we enjoyed (sushi bar, entertainment, etc) and by their highly desperate business plan (sell sell sell, get to the theater early to get seats, and look! how convenient, a bingo game, buy bingo cards! Here's a trivia game right next to the casino...) We also had the worst dinner service we had ever had on any cruise or vacation dinner, and the entire vacation was just barely mediocre but it was also the most I had spent on a CCL.

 

I had already decided that I was sick of Carnival this trip, when my mom called to ask which ship we had just gotten off of. As it would turn out, the Triumph happened in Feb, we cruised late feb (nothing other than an email that everything was fine on their ships) and then a week after we got off, the Dream in fact had back up generators go out and it flew passengers back and cancelled the next sailing. That pretty much was the nail in the coffin for CCL for us. In fact, I didn't plan on going on any cruises, as I told my friend I was just "Cruised Out", to which (as she had gotten off DCL in Sept) she replied that I was "Carnivaled Out".

 

5 weeks later, we were surprising Mom & Dad on the DC Dream, and its been obsession ever since!

 

So CCL lost us with their awful service, cut backs and high informercial pressure sales and unfriendly crew, and the fact that the ship I just gotten off of got stuck a week later. Bad product + bad maintenance = Hello Disney! You only have 4 ships, so they GOTTA work great!

[ducklite]

DCL's biggest problem will be retaining the "empty-nesters" before they become grandparents and the kids who have aged out--I think most agree that DCL has a "donut hole" from 18 through parenthood. This is the demographic of my husband and I as well as many of our friends, and we have abandoned DCL and their repetitive itineraries and expensive Euro cruises in favor of luxury ships at the same price and with much better itineraries.

 

Sure, DCL has adult areas and a couple nice restaurants, but that is not enough to lure us back at this point. The baby boomers are the most affluent demographic group, and there's just not enough to keep us coming back at this point.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[tractortom]

We are 'cruisers' who have tried about three different lines at this point, and go for a cruise about once a year these days. We just got off Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas on Sunday, and with that in mind, I have to say that I agree about the decline of the quality of the food. When we first started cruising a number of years ago, we were very impressed by the quality of the food and service found on-board the ships. The seven day cruise we just got off of, was good and bad. We didn't eat in the MDR except one morning for breakfast, and it was mostly like diner food. We ate at several of the 'pay to eat' venues on board, and found most of them very good, and much of the service to be very good. But over-all, the quality of the food on the ships, along with the size of the cabins, seems to be slipping. We are planning our first Disney cruise on 1 November of 2014, and looking forward to a week of it being done 'right'. Disney understands (wrote the book) on customer service and how to deal with people, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this translates to a cruise ship.

 

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

Edited December 17, 2013 by tractortom

[meatloafsfan]

We are 'cruisers' who have tried about three different lines at this point, and go for a cruise about once a year these days. We just got off Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas on Sunday, and with that in mind, I have to say that I agree about the decline of the quality of the food.

 

But DCL isn't immune from this trend. Let me show you some pictures from 2010 and their 2013 counterparts (beef tenderloin; vegetable lasagna; lobster macaroni) - can you see which was better?

 

2010:

 

 

 

 

2013:

 

 

 

[vakamalua]

DCL's biggest problem will be retaining the "empty-nesters" before they become grandparents and the kids who have aged out--I think most agree that DCL has a "donut hole" from 18 through parenthood. This is the demographic of my husband and I as well as many of our friends, and we have abandoned DCL and their repetitive itineraries and expensive Euro cruises in favor of luxury ships at the same price and with much better itineraries.

 

Sure, DCL has adult areas and a couple nice restaurants, but that is not enough to lure us back at this point. The baby boomers are the most affluent demographic group, and there's just not enough to keep us coming back at this point.

 

We totally agree with this post. We have sailed several other lines and find that they offer as good or better an experience than DCL (especially the food), often for much less. The design of DCL's two larger ships gives them a very hectic and crowded feel which the adult-only areas don't make up for. We enjoy DCL's smaller classic ships but, until they offer interesting itineraries, we're finished with DCL.

[Ex techie]

But DCL isn't immune from this trend. Let me show you some pictures from 2010 and their 2013 counterparts (beef tenderloin; vegetable lasagna; lobster macaroni) - can you see which was better?

 

2010:

 

 

 

 

2013:

 

 

 

 

meatloafsfan,

 

Those pictures are a damning indictment of the decline in the money spent on the food, the quality of the food sourced, the food prep and the food presentation.

May I ask if the food in 2010 was on a classic, and 2013 on the Dream class, or were both one or the other?

The lobster ravioli in 2013 looks disgusting.

Only asking as the DCL fanboys may excuse the Dream class as being bigger with more people to serve, which is no excuse either way.

 

ex techie

Edited December 17, 2013 by Ex techie

[truck1]

Im wondering if the consolidation of Disney has something to do with the food quality/selection, with all things being equal. By that I mean, what foods are in season and when, local flavors, time of year even the preferences of the head chef, and the head chefs on each ship.

 

Some time ago, Disney as a whole started to consolidate like items. Things like uniforms, foods, merchandise vendors. For example, say at 1 point Disney used 25 different styles of black pants. Someone figured out that they could bring that number down to 5, and therefor buy larger bulk and save money.

 

So, lets say that 10 years ago, there was 35 different styles of beef being served. If someone figured out that limiting it to 15 could be a considerable saving.............

 

Im not defending the process, though on paper it works for a lot of things.

 

I did notice probably about 10-12 years ago, the hamburgers changed, on the quick service menu. They went from a pretty good size burger, to the same burgers that can be found in the parks. Same thing with the personal pizzas. At the time, they were making me sick in the parks. Then I found them on the ships. Coming home from the ship when I noticed the change, I happened to see a WDW food semi heading for the ship.

[drb116]

On the last earning call for Disney, Eisner suggested that the next new boat would be for Asia and that was a long time away.

 

As nice as DCL is, I don't see them getting as big as Royal Caribbean or Carnival. While I know a DCL is more than a cruise with Mickey, many people are unwilling to try a cruise thinking it is just for little kids.

[Ex techie]

preferences of the head chef, and the head chefs on each ship.

 

Not making fun of you Truck1, but :D:p:D like they have a choice.....

 

Celebration make the choices after the bean counters have crunched the numbers and squeezed a little more out of the expenditure.

10000 sirloin steaks this week or 10000 stewing steaks? Mix them up and who will be able to prove the difference? After all, food is so subjectional.

I would be surprised the way they are going is they even use real cheese on the pizza's and not the whey substitute stuff now.

 

Money money money grabbing bastards at the top and no one at the top gives a **** anymore.

Just meet the minimum regs required, and do not step one inch over that as it will cost us profit and we will lose money on the shares we own, dividend payout and it could effect the shareholders.

Keep on smiling and smiling and pretend its all good stuff and the experience is great and they will keep on buying it!

 

 

 

ex techie

[Ex techie]

And having business units within the company to negotiate those great rates works sometimes for company that can negotiate great rates and do so within their scope of the business model.

 

And when the company gets big enough to provide they're own company providing the same service then great! Spending money within the business instead of buying the services of another company makes absolute sense!

 

Until those business units start competing with external contractors, and when they are locked in to only using within company business units, they start exploiting each other to make their bottom line look better, and the other business unit has no option but to use them knowing they can get the same or better service elsewhere for cheaper.

 

Welcome to the Walt Disney Company back 2000 and beyond.....

 

 

ex techie

[truck1]

Not making fun of you Truck1, but :D:p:D like they have a choice.....

 

Celebration make the choices after the bean counters have crunched the numbers and squeezed a little more out of the expenditure.

10000 sirloin steaks this week or 10000 stewing steaks? Mix them up and who will be able to prove the difference? After all, food is so subjectional.

I would be surprised the way they are going is they even use real cheese on the pizza's and not the whey substitute stuff now.

 

Money money money grabbing bastards at the top and no one at the top gives a **** anymore.

Just meet the minimum regs required, and do not step one inch over that as it will cost us profit and we will lose money on the shares we own, dividend payout and it could effect the shareholders.

Keep on smiling and smiling and pretend its all good stuff and the experience is great and they will keep on buying it!

 

 

 

ex techie

 

And having business units within the company to negotiate those great rates works sometimes for company that can negotiate great rates and do so within their scope of the business model.

 

And when the company gets big enough to provide they're own company providing the same service then great! Spending money within the business instead of buying the services of another company makes absolute sense!

 

Until those business units start competing with external contractors, and when they are locked in to only using within company business units, they start exploiting each other to make their bottom line look better, and the other business unit has no option but to use them knowing they can get the same or better service elsewhere for cheaper.

 

Welcome to the Walt Disney Company back 2000 and beyond.....

 

 

ex techie

 

 

When we were on the Fantasy in Oct, we watched the demand channel galley tour. They interviewed the head chef and head food and beverage for the line. The chefs have some leeway in what they get. Usually its based on whats available at the time, and their location in the world. They may be choosing from a set menu, but they still get choices.

 

If you ever get the chance, get the book, "10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney", by Lee Cockerell. It was his idea to consolodate a lot of items, and give the cms, some decision making abilities.

 

The way he explained it was say using french fires as an example. Say there were 15 different variations of fries being used on property. For arguments sake, well include the ships. The head of property food and beverage figures, we can get away with 5 variations, we can cut 10, and by buying those in higher bulk, it would save the company a significant amount of money. I forget the numbers he used off hand.

 

It also goes hand in hand with the overall consolodation. Karl Holz, is not just the DCL president. He has 3 or 4 combined areas under him, including DVC,ABD, Aulani. DCL is not its own division anymore like it used to. Basically the way its shown is that instead of a request from 1 department to go to another, instead of following the chain, up over and back down, the request goes and comes right back down. Its suposed to streamline operations as a whole. They basically took like divisions, and support groups, and combined them, for efficiency. Trasportation (busses, monorails, boats, PO boats, parking lots) maintanace paint shop, body shop,drydocks etc are all grouped together and answer to 1 VP now.

[e2011]

Wow, those photos really tell a sad story of the decline of food quality on Disney.

Edited December 18, 2013 by e2011

[Host Mick]

On the last earning call for Disney, Eisner suggested that the next new boat would be for Asia and that was a long time away.

 

As nice as DCL is, I don't see them getting as big as Royal Caribbean or Carnival. While I know a DCL is more than a cruise with Mickey, many people are unwilling to try a cruise thinking it is just for little kids.

 

Eiger?

[Host Mick]

It seems to me that Disney is in a very good position to capture even more of the cruise market share which it getting more and more diluted by more and more ships. I think in the future the Disney brand will make the difference to people who are on the fence as to which cruise line to choose. Specifically I am thinking of all the problems at Carnival Corp.the company which owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess, P&O, Seabourn, Cunard and Costa, among others. I am hearing very bad things from cruisers on recent trips on these brands specifically related to horrible food. This seems to indicate the company's new CEO is under pressure to cut cost and add to the bottom line. The stock was in the high 40's in 2011 and now has been stuck in the 30's for a year. And in regards to all the new ships coming on line from RCCL, NCL, Princess, etc. I cannot see how all these cabins will get filled leading to big discounts. It reminds me of the huge boom in hotel rooms in Vegas 10 years ago and now most of them sit empty or are out of business. Since Disney has its brand excellence and has not added vast numbers of ships, I think when the dust settles they will be in a position to weather the upcoming storm and prosper.

 

I've been hearing about the cruise cabin glut for more than 15 years. Somehow the ships get built and the ships get filled, a sort of an Ocean of Dreams scenario.

Vegas is in trouble because of the perpetual recession, not because of a room glut. The crash of bookings happened at the same time ad the financial crisis. For come odd reason, when the economy looks bad on the horizon, gambling doesn't seem like a great idea for most.

[meatloafsfan]

meatloafsfan,

 

Those pictures are a damning indictment of the decline in the money spent on the food, the quality of the food sourced, the food prep and the food presentation.

May I ask if the food in 2010 was on a classic, and 2013 on the Dream class, or were both one or the other?

The lobster ravioli in 2013 looks disgusting.

Only asking as the DCL fanboys may excuse the Dream class as being bigger with more people to serve, which is no excuse either way.

 

ex techie

 

The 2010 photos were on the Magic (only the 2 classic ships were sailing then) and the 2013 were from my recent Fantasy cruise (October 2013)

 

Im wondering if the consolidation of Disney has something to do with the food quality/selection, with all things being equal. By that I mean, what foods are in season and when, local flavors, time of year even the preferences of the head chef, and the head chefs on each ship.

 

Both cruises were over Halloween in their respective years so there's seasonal differences and both cruises left from Port Canaveral (and were both Western Caribbean) so no difference in local flavours. There were different head chef's (Michael on the Magic was phenominal!) but I think a lot has to do with spending less (on ingredients and staff).

 

Even serving more meals shouldn't have as great of an impact as I've seen - yes the new ships carry more passengers but they have larger galleys and more cooks. If the same ratio of kitchen staff to guest was maintained, it should not impact on food quality as it has.

[e2011]

I've been hearing about the cruise cabin glut for more than 15 years. Somehow the ships get built and the ships get filled, a sort of an Ocean of Dreams scenario.

Vegas is in trouble because of the perpetual recession, not because of a room glut. The crash of bookings happened at the same time ad the financial crisis. For come odd reason, when the economy looks bad on the horizon, gambling doesn't seem like a great idea for most.

 

Ironically drinking, smoking and gambling tend to increase during recessions however corporate America really cut back on the big conventions in Vegas which is what fills hotel rooms. Now there are too many rooms to be filled with regular tourists so the over building is exactly what contributed to the current cut rate pricing on empty rooms. When companies start doing big conventions again, Vegas will recover however corporate America got such bad press over lavish conventions that it may never happen again which means the problems with too many hotel rooms may never end.

 

I still think the cruise industry is even now starting to feel the bite as the quantity and quality of discounts seems to have increased in the last 6 months. I am certainly not an expert on cruise ship trends but I am so of one on Las Vegas :)

Edited December 18, 2013 by e2011

[Ex techie]

When we were on the Fantasy in Oct, we watched the demand channel galley tour. They interviewed the head chef and head food and beverage for the line. The chefs have some leeway in what they get. Usually its based on whats available at the time, and their location in the world. They may be choosing from a set menu, but they still get choices.

 

If you ever get the chance, get the book, "10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney", by Lee Cockerell. It was his idea to consolodate a lot of items, and give the cms, some decision making abilities.

 

The way he explained it was say using french fires as an example. Say there were 15 different variations of fries being used on property. For arguments sake, well include the ships. The head of property food and beverage figures, we can get away with 5 variations, we can cut 10, and by buying those in higher bulk, it would save the company a significant amount of money. I forget the numbers he used off hand.

 

It also goes hand in hand with the overall consolodation. Karl Holz, is not just the DCL president. He has 3 or 4 combined areas under him, including DVC,ABD, Aulani. DCL is not its own division anymore like it used to. Basically the way its shown is that instead of a request from 1 department to go to another, instead of following the chain, up over and back down, the request goes and comes right back down. Its suposed to streamline operations as a whole. They basically took like divisions, and support groups, and combined them, for efficiency. Trasportation (busses, monorails, boats, PO boats, parking lots) maintanace paint shop, body shop,drydocks etc are all grouped together and answer to 1 VP now.

 

Truck1,

 

come on, you know all of those behind the scenes videos are strictly controlled and edited to suit what the company has to say and want said.

as for "based on whats available at the time, and their location in the world" whats available at the cost price the company wants to pay.

I was told the crew food budget in the mess was $1.75 a day for 3 meals.....

 

And cutting down on different types of products as long as that doesn't harm the end product is the norm. But those pictures above show how the product has changed into a poorer product (at least in presentation).

 

And as of consolidating everything under one VP. How can one person maintain the same standard if they have their time spread over so many different areas?

They will ultimately lose focus on the non demanding areas and 'probably' only focus on the high cost areas and then standards slip.

 

ex techie

[truck1]

I've been hearing about the cruise cabin glut for more than 15 years. Somehow the ships get built and the ships get filled, a sort of an Ocean of Dreams scenario.

Vegas is in trouble because of the perpetual recession, not because of a room glut. The crash of bookings happened at the same time ad the financial crisis. For come odd reason, when the economy looks bad on the horizon, gambling doesn't seem like a great idea for most.

 

Just thinking out loud, but I would look at it this way. For just about every ship that is built for a line, 1 is retired or reassigned to a lesser division for lack of a better term.

 

Ill use RCCL as a neutral example. As RCCL adds 1 ship, at least 1 ship is moved to Pullmantur as an example, and Pullmantur reassigns 1 to xyz and they in turn break 1 up. So on the surface it may look like a lot of available rooms, but in reality, the ship count is staying the same, and the room count may or in some cases most likely goes up but no by much.

[Ex techie]

truck1,

 

If you would prefer to pass on commenting on my post above, please say so.

 

ex techie

[truck1]

Truck1,

 

come on, you know all of those behind the scenes videos are strictly controlled and edited to suit what the company has to say and want said.

as for "based on whats available at the time, and their location in the world" whats available at the cost price the company wants to pay.

I was told the crew food budget in the mess was $1.75 a day for 3 meals.....

 

And cutting down on different types of products as long as that doesn't harm the end product is the norm. But those pictures above show how the product has changed into a poorer product (at least in presentation).

 

And as of consolidating everything under one VP. How can one person maintain the same standard if they have their time spread over so many different areas?

They will ultimately lose focus on the non demanding areas and 'probably' only focus on the high cost areas and then standards slip.

 

ex techie

 

Looking at the food, yes I see the same things and noticed more then once being onboard. What I was referring to is that you may not be able to get say Maine lobster, if the Magic is in the Med. But, there may be an abundance of local Italian seafoods in its place. When the Wonder went to Hawaii, she probably had a more Hawaiin menu onboard, compared to what the Magic had in the Med. Whoever the head food person in Celebration was/is probably said were going to do this menu,(whether they came up with it, the Wonder came up with it whatever) and the head chef on the Wonder was responsible to make it happen. I doubt Celebration is telling its chefs take this do that, do this, then this in this order dont deviate. Most chefs I know of would tell Celebration where to go in no uncertain terms. Then leave. Most are artists in the kitchen. I will admit somee need more help then others.

 

As far as consolidating, in some cases yes I can see where it makes perfect sense, in the case of material for uniform pants, and bringing some like systems together. Using Karl Holz as an example, he is in overall charge. He has several people under him under each area, who are responsible for only that area, and have control over day to day operations. Karl Looks at long term, and works with those under him to make it happen. However, if they are not careful, there is a real danger of overtaxing the system. We have what is called a span of control. In theory, 1 person can handle up to as few as 3 and as many as 7 subordinates, with 5 being the optimum number. The caveat is that you have to recognize that 1 person may have more on their plate then can be handled, such as DCA, that person may be only responsible for that park until the construction and everything else is done. The ships are set up more or less the same way. I dont know numbers but you have 1 Capt, 1 first officer, several 2nd and 3rds and so on. Hotel side has a similar structure. The Capt each morning might only meet with say 6 people, but those 6 bring with them their entire areas. (Im guessing on numbers as an example) Then those 6 go back and talk to 4 people, who talk to 7 each, and in a short period of time, the Capt has expressed his plan to the entire crew.

 

The key is flexibility, and the ability for someone to say, hey this isnt working, and whoever is above him/her to say your right, what do we do to make it work.

 

Are standards suffering because of it? In some cases Id say yes. Not sure if you had to do this before joining the Magic, but when I worked for WDW, they had a 2 day Traditions class. First day was basically learning Disney philosophy, show, how to deal with certain things, using the famed 2 finger point, and more importantly learning the why behind a lot of things etc. Second day was going out looking for ways to improve and the 2nd half of the day you spent in the area you were assigned getting the basics etc.

Today its down to 1. And you can see the result in how many people just dont know about things in the parks anymore. The big thing I remember was if you dont know the answer to a question from a guest, find someone who does. Or find the answer. Dont make something up. Today they are down to 1 day.

 

I sent a email to DCL guest services asking a few specific questions, about the Dream after her announcement. Specifically, when she comes home from Germany, will she have paying guests onboard. I got a 3 page response with everything except for what I asked for. I got ship size,displacement, where she was sailing from, passenger count, Disney was excited etc. So my response was, you didnt answer these questions. and listed them. Got almost the same thing back. I gave up at that point. You cant fix stupid.

 

Property wide, I can see a lot of substandard Disney. The hitching posts on Mainstreet as an example. You can see where they have been chipped and painted over. It used to be they yould be sanded clean, and repainted, or bondoed to even things out and then repainted.

 

Another thing Ive noticed, especially lately is that the trend is for Disney to hire a lot of upper execs from outside the company. There was and probably still is a glass ceiling at Disney where back in the days of Walt, someone could start as a ride operator, and make it to the President of a park. Today they can only go so high before they are stopped. Its rare for someone within Disney to be continously promoted, which is slowly but sure diluting Walts original vision of Quality will always win out over quantity.

 

You said it yourself Techie. Look at the food.

[truck1]

truck1,

 

If you would prefer to pass on commenting on my post above, please say so.

 

ex techie

 

Im at work at the moment and got interupted a few times trying to type the response. See above.

Edited December 20, 2013 by truck1

[Ex techie]

Looking at the food, yes I see the same things and noticed more then once being onboard. What I was referring to is that you may not be able to get say Maine lobster, if the Magic is in the Med. But, there may be an abundance of local Italian seafoods in its place. When the Wonder went to Hawaii, she probably had a more Hawaiin menu onboard, compared to what the Magic had in the Med. Whoever the head food person in Celebration was/is probably said were going to do this menu,(whether they came up with it, the Wonder came up with it whatever) and the head chef on the Wonder was responsible to make it happen. I doubt Celebration is telling its chefs take this do that, do this, then this in this order dont deviate. Most chefs I know of would tell Celebration where to go in no uncertain terms. Then leave. Most are artists in the kitchen. I will admit somee need more help then others.

 

As far as consolidating, in some cases yes I can see where it makes perfect sense, in the case of material for uniform pants, and bringing some like systems together. Using Karl Holz as an example, he is in overall charge. He has several people under him under each area, who are responsible for only that area, and have control over day to day operations. Karl Looks at long term, and works with those under him to make it happen. However, if they are not careful, there is a real danger of overtaxing the system. We have what is called a span of control. In theory, 1 person can handle up to as few as 3 and as many as 7 subordinates, with 5 being the optimum number. The caveat is that you have to recognize that 1 person may have more on their plate then can be handled, such as DCA, that person may be only responsible for that park until the construction and everything else is done. The ships are set up more or less the same way. I dont know numbers but you have 1 Capt, 1 first officer, several 2nd and 3rds and so on. Hotel side has a similar structure. The Capt each morning might only meet with say 6 people, but those 6 bring with them their entire areas. (Im guessing on numbers as an example) Then those 6 go back and talk to 4 people, who talk to 7 each, and in a short period of time, the Capt has expressed his plan to the entire crew.

 

The key is flexibility, and the ability for someone to say, hey this isnt working, and whoever is above him/her to say your right, what do we do to make it work.

 

Are standards suffering because of it? In some cases Id say yes. Not sure if you had to do this before joining the Magic, but when I worked for WDW, they had a 2 day Traditions class. First day was basically learning Disney philosophy, show, how to deal with certain things, using the famed 2 finger point, and more importantly learning the why behind a lot of things etc. Second day was going out looking for ways to improve and the 2nd half of the day you spent in the area you were assigned getting the basics etc.

Today its down to 1. And you can see the result in how many people just dont know about things in the parks anymore. The big thing I remember was if you dont know the answer to a question from a guest, find someone who does. Or find the answer. Dont make something up. Today they are down to 1 day.

 

I sent a email to DCL guest services asking a few specific questions, about the Dream after her announcement. Specifically, when she comes home from Germany, will she have paying guests onboard. I got a 3 page response with everything except for what I asked for. I got ship size,displacement, where she was sailing from, passenger count, Disney was excited etc. So my response was, you didnt answer these questions. and listed them. Got almost the same thing back. I gave up at that point. You cant fix stupid.

 

Property wide, I can see a lot of substandard Disney. The hitching posts on Mainstreet as an example. You can see where they have been chipped and painted over. It used to be they yould be sanded clean, and repainted, or bondoed to even things out and then repainted.

 

Another thing Ive noticed, especially lately is that the trend is for Disney to hire a lot of upper execs from outside the company. There was and probably still is a glass ceiling at Disney where back in the days of Walt, someone could start as a ride operator, and make it to the President of a park. Today they can only go so high before they are stopped. Its rare for someone within Disney to be continously promoted, which is slowly but sure diluting Walts original vision of Quality will always win out over quantity.

 

You said it yourself Techie. Look at the food.

 

The food! I totally agree when in rome! Not at home!

I did do the 2 day DCL Traditions class.

Day 1, Disney, Disney history, Disney point, Disney values and the 7 service guidelines (and failed on the 7 the next day!)

Day 2, ship safety, regs, rules etc and the afternoon in the park and seeing under the castle and a few other cool places.

As you said, even for the ships it's now just one day for Traditions. No park visit, the ships pre training on safety has been transferred to when the CM get aboard.

All to save 2 peoples wages for that second day, a bus ride, and the accommodation in a cheap motel on International Drive that most CM's will be sharing anyways.

 

Truck1, money grabbing share holding exec's are driving the business and value of the experience into the ground.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Mickey isn't for rent for kids birthday party's soon as long as they are within a driving distance.

At least DCL has some standards they have to uphold, like maritime regs.

If they didn't the whole company would probably sink with those investment, payoff if sacked, money grabbing bastards at the top.

 

ex techie

[Ex techie]

Truck1,

 

After seeing the cutbacks back then, I dread to think of what cutbacks and reductions in your abilities have been made since.

You guys do an amazing selfless job for the company, with little to no reward.

 

ex techie