Pearl Castaway level?

[kps7795]

I am OK with this AS LONG AS they don't devalue Platinum. If they take perks away from Platinum to give to Pearl, that will just feel like a punch in the gut.

They need to bring back Platinum Boarding Group1. If they give Pearl Boarding before that, I'm ok with that...Board Concierge, then Pearl, then Platinum. But if Pearl gets the perk we used to and we still have to get a specific PAT, that will not be cool.

They can totally reward Pearl members with new over the top perks...special Castaway Club merchandise, discounts to things like Dining, Wifi, Drinks, etc. Reserve new itineraries 5 days before General Public (Platinum gets 3) and book cruise activities 140 days (Platinum get 120 days).

I feel like a broken record, but have you sent an email to DCL? The more emails that they receive, the sooner they will reinstate our Boarding Group perk.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

They need to bring back Platinum Boarding Group1.

They also need to reinstate the staggered online check in dates. Everyone checking in at 30 days is madness.

 

[Winston Wolf]

They also need to reinstate the staggered online check in dates. Everyone checking in at 30 days is madness.

Amen to this! Let us do it once and get it over with!

 

[goofy4prez]

Yes, I'd expect most Pearl members will be people traveling without kids (either because their kids are grown or because they never had kids) who like the comfort and familiarity of Disney cruises. There will also be a growing number of people who reached platinum (or near-platinum) cruising with their parents when they were kids and are now cruising with their kids. Based on reactions to the Wish saying it's kid-oriented (and the addition of a dedicated space for the 18-20 group), I'm guessing DCL is going after that second group.

I'm not complaining because it is what it is, and I highly doubt I'll ever get to pearl level. But I am willing to bet the overwhelming majority of those who qualify for pearl are those living in Florida who can hop in their Honda CRV's and drive an hour or two to Port Canaveral or Miami for a quick getaway weekend and jump on one of the ships.

 

[insureman]

I'm not complaining because it is what it is, and I highly doubt I'll ever get to pearl level. But I am willing to bet the overwhelming majority of those who qualify for pearl are those living in Florida who can hop in their Honda CRV's and drive an hour or two to Port Canaveral or Miami for a quick getaway weekend and jump on one of the ships.

We are not from Florida and will qualify for Pearl once it comes out. We have been sailing with DCL since 2004 with the majority being 7 days with a couple of transatlantics.

 

[goofy4prez]

We are not from Florida and will qualify for Pearl once it comes out. We have been sailing with DCL since 2004 with the majority being 7 days with a couple of transatlantics.

There are exceptions, and you do deserve to be commended and deserve the benefits to being pearl. But I'll still stand behind my opinion the majority will be as I mentioned. Again, I'm not complaining nor am I trying to offend anyone. I hope your not taking it as such.

 

[Robin"D"]

Someone posted the Florida resident tier would like to add the 3 and 4 night tier . Should be based on nights not cruises. with well over 200 nights on DCL. Others with far less seems. wrong ,

 

[soniam]

I've received word that one of the perks will be the option to choose what color sling bag you'd like

Or maybe it will be a pop socket

 

[DCLMP]

We are not from Florida and will qualify for Pearl once it comes out. We have been sailing with DCL since 2004 with the majority being 7 days with a couple of transatlantics.

Same. It doesn’t bother me in the least if Floridians get pearl status. Floridians have a lot of cruiselines in their backyard. The fact that they chose one that cost three times more should count for something.

Seriously, I have more important thing to worry about. It sounds juvenile and petty to even care about something like cruise line status.

 

[DCL Repeaters]

There are exceptions, and you do deserve to be commended and deserve the benefits to being pearl. But I'll still stand behind my opinion the majority will be as I mentioned. Again, I'm not complaining nor am I trying to offend anyone. I hope your not taking it as such.

I sit here in my Florida home with my SUV in the garage living an hour from Port Canaveral and will be Pearl level. I’m not offended, in fact this whole thread made me smile. There are many reasons why I live in Florida and DCL is certainly on the list.

 

[BamaGuy44]

We sailed on the 8 night on the fantasy a few weeks ago. We attended the gold and platinum reception during the cruise. They started out asking who was gold and who was platinum in the audience. Most people seemed to be platinum. They then asked people how many cruises they had sailed on - to clap when their number was called.

Lots of people clapped at 30, 40, 50+ cruises. They even called out 3 people who had more than 100 cruises!

100? Wow, that's averaging more than 4 cruises per year since 1998. I'm not sure if I'd like to cruise that often, but I'd be willing to give it a shot!

 

[BamaGuy44]

I'm not complaining because it is what it is, and I highly doubt I'll ever get to pearl level. But I am willing to bet the overwhelming majority of those who qualify for pearl are those living in Florida who can hop in their Honda CRV's and drive an hour or two to Port Canaveral or Miami for a quick getaway weekend and jump on one of the ships.

You say you're not complaining, but it sounds like you feel the people driving to the port for quick cruises are somehow less deserving to attain Pearl status? I don't see why, DCL chose to make qualification based on cruises and not nights, and all the people racking up all these cruises know that going in.

If you weren't saying they're less deserving, I apologize, but fail to see what point you're trying to make in that case.

 

[delo4]

We are not Florida residents, however we do live in a decent driving distance which helps. I have 44 cruises and my husband has 28. I cruise a lot with our daughters or friends. My husband is a professor, so he can only go during school breaks. The majority of our cruises have been 7 days.

I hope that Platinum cruisers do not lose any more of their “perks”, and Pearl cruisers just get some added benefits. In the past 20 years, so many benefits have been given and then taken away. The old days of Platinum benefits included Number 1 boarding passes, on board credits, back stage experiences like a bridge tour, a back stage theater tour, a galley tour, engine room tour, special receptions, etc. Obviously, we don’t cruise for the perks, but they do send a message that loyalty to the brand doesn‘t seem appreciated, when they are removed. I also realize that Disney doesn’t HAVE to do anything, but it is nice when they do.

It will be interesting to see what the Pearl tier includes.

 

[tink1970]

You say you're not complaining, but it sounds like you feel the people driving to the port for quick cruises are somehow less deserving to attain Pearl status? I don't see why, DCL chose to make qualification based on cruises and not nights, and all the people racking up all these cruises know that going in.

If you weren't saying they're less deserving, I apologize, but fail to see what point you're trying to make in that case.

I completely agree (and this is from a Floridian who cannot just "jump in my CRV" to drive to the port since it's 7 1/2 hrs away) and feel this is definitely an example of don't hate the player hate the game. DCL set up the rules and passengers can choose to play (sail with them) or not.

I just perused several lines' loyalty programs and while yes the majority seem to reward number of nights, they also reward spend (usually in the form of double the points/nights awarded) for suites/concierge level bookings, something from the tenor of these threads I doubt would be as popular with the majority of posters clamoring for a changeover to number of nights.

Hopefully the Pearl category will have some truly meaningful benefits and the previous benefits Platinum cruisers were afforded will return.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I will never, ever attain Pearl status, but I hope they make it a free Remy dinner/brunch, since everyone seems to be fighting over Palo more since it's cheaper and Platinum gets it for free. I was able to book both Remy dinner and Palo brunch as Silver but I felt bad for the first-timers who mentioned in my cruise group that they were shut out.

 

[goofy4prez]

I completely agree (and this is from a Floridian who cannot just "jump in my CRV" to drive to the port since it's 7 1/2 hrs away) and feel this is definitely an example of don't hate the player hate the game. DCL set up the rules and passengers can choose to play (sail with them) or not.

I just perused several lines' loyalty programs and while yes the majority seem to reward number of nights, they also reward spend (usually in the form of double the points/nights awarded) for suites/concierge level bookings, something from the tenor of these threads I doubt would be as popular with the majority of posters clamoring for a changeover to number of nights.

Hopefully the Pearl category will have some truly meaningful benefits and the previous benefits Platinum cruisers were afforded will return.

You say you're not complaining, but it sounds like you feel the people driving to the port for quick cruises are somehow less deserving to attain Pearl status? I don't see why, DCL chose to make qualification based on cruises and not nights, and all the people racking up all these cruises know that going in.

If you weren't saying they're less deserving, I apologize, but fail to see what point you're trying to make in that case.

I do apologize if you took offense to what I was trying to say. Perhaps I didn't express my thoughts the way that it was meant to come across as. Again, I am not complaining at all. I was only trying to share that my belief is that most will be close to the ports who have the luxury and the convenience of living closer.

As for don't hate the player hate the game. The truth is, I don't hate the player nor do I hate the game. The game is the way the game is; and I'm ok with it. An example is cruising in concierge. There are benefits to doing it. I will be on the Dream in 5 days and staying concierge for the first time. I was able to play the game. I was able to get a cabana, secure multiple reservations to Palo, Remy, and every tasting I wanted, and have a Port arrival at 11:00 am. It's the way the game is played. Same thing here with how Disney rewards frequent cruisers and reward them as pearl.

Again, I apologize if you took offense to what I posted. It was not my motive or my intent, nor was it complaining. I'm not a big social media debater, I'm to freaking old for that, and again was not my intent to insult or debate. The online world is changing so fast on me and one of the reasons why I don't post on these boards the way I did when I joined 14 years ago.

 

[Cheburashka]

Should be based on nights not cruises.

Should be based on dollars spent per passenger.

 

[FWRR3]

I am not a Disney defender, but I have a sad theory about the CC tier levels. It won't be popular. I guess Platinum used to have a bunch of perks that have gone away, like tours and receptions, etc. But those were to reward a relative small number of guests who had demonstrated loyalty in the early years of DCL. I have sometimes felt that DCL was being cheap by taking away perks, but there are too many Platinums now for some things to be realistic. How do you give bridge tours (or Palo dinners) to every Platinum on a cruise that is half full of platinums? How do you let all Platinums board early at the same time if there are 2000 or even 1000 of them? Maybe they have to move some perks (like port arrival) from Platinum to Pearl just to be practical.
No, I don't like it.
I wonder how the number of Pearl's now compares to the number of Platinums, say, ten years ago.

 

[Cruise]

They definitely need to address the nights vs cruises issues. I've spent 58 nights onboard but am still "Gold" with only 8 cruises. If those same 58 nights were all only 3 day cruises, I'd be at 19 cruises and well on my way to Pearl. As a non-FL resident, it doesn't make sense for me to add the time (always having to fly in the day before) and expense of travel to the port to only do a 3 day cruise, but it definitely feels like that dedication to giving Disney big blocks of my vacation days and budget aren't as appreciated.

 

[DCLMP]

Should be based on dollars spent per passenger.

Why does it matter what other people spend?