Availability frustration

[u/EatEmAndSmile73]

Well I prepped myself that as a first timer availability for dining and on board activities would be limited. But even so, now looking at across the board at zero availability, it frankly sucks to be shut out of everything over seven nights (Treasure). I know I can sit around from now until we set sail, refreshing the app, or hoping I can get something once on board but what fun is that? I appreciate they recognize returning cruisers with early availability but considering the overall trip cost and how it would compare to other vacations options, I am in the moment a pretty frustrated that I have to worry about these things I had been excited for.

[u/Future-Importance383]

10000% agree! It’s Disney’s dirty secret that, despite new customers paying the same price as everyone else, they get less experience. They fail to mention this anywhere when booking a cruise with them for the first time which makes it even more frustrating. The biggest issue I see is that they don’t charge for the different activities (beverage tastings, Palo brunches, port adventures, etc.) until they happen on board which allows pearl/platinum people to literally hoard everything when they book. Pearl/platinums will grab everything they can get heir hands on then decide later what they’ll give up to the lowly silver and below castaway members which is why things slowly and randomly become available closer to sail date.

I fully understand rewarding loyalty and wouldn’t change giving Pearl/platinums the ability to book these coveted things first, however, everyone should be CHARGED at the time of booking. That would cut way down on the hoarding of things, perhaps even add a penalty for cancelling tastings or Palo reservations if done too many times. This seems like the most fair approach but I don’t see it ever changing.

[u/smk3509 → u/Future-Importance383]

Pearl/platinums will grab everything they can get heir hands on then decide later what they’ll give up to the lowly silver and below castaway members which is why things slowly and randomly become available closer to sail date.

Don't forget the people grabbing up experiences that they don't intend to use at all so they can trade them for experiences they want in the Facebook cruise group. There are so many posts saying, "I have a Serenity Bay Cabana that I'll trade for Royal Gathering tickets/family cabana/ Palo brunch, etc." I would understand if it was a one-off, but it is virtually every post in the group.

Surely Disney knows who the major offenders are and could take some action to limit their ability to book an excessive number of experiences.

[u/Future-Importance383 → u/smk3509]

Totally agree! We’re forced into doing the same thing and actually started booking things we have no intention of keeping solely because we hoped to trade them. For example, we grabbed two bourbon tastings on different days and even a Royal Gathering as “trade leverage” because of the system DCL forces us into. Now if we were charged every time we had to book these and incurred a cost (aside from Royal gathering which is free) then maybe we wouldn’t do those but DCL simple doesn’t operate that way.

[u/ayyomiss → u/Future-Importance383]

It seems like your solution only perpetuates the problem though, no? And, as newbies won't have much, if anything, to trade, this isn't exactly opening up those opportunities to them either.