Why Disney Doesn't Want Real Reporters ...

[WDW1974]

... at their events, in their parks and resorts and on their ships. And would much rather the 'reporting' come from social media and bloggers etc.

Here's what Brady MacDonald of the LA Times thought of his first Disney Dream cruise, which was also his first cruise ever (the exact audience Disney is hoping to snag with the new ship):

http://www.latimes.com/travel/...38.story

 

[mickeymatt]

I love it.
"The food and service were hit or miss, and at times, the pampering didn’t live up to the top-dollar price tag. But all in all, we had a great time."

If this is his first cruise what has he to compare it to? Bottom line, they had a great time. I'd rather get the review from his kids. I have never been on a cruise either but I can assure you that when I do it will be Disney and I won't be that nit-picky!

 

[DisneyJoe]

My preview cruise had a ton of "real reporters" as well as radio morning shows and other media.

 

[JimboJones123]

I miss the free passes WDW used to give to me without any problems when I worked in TV news.

 

[SeaCastle]

I'm a bit encouraged that the folks reading the LA Times are getting vaguely more critical reporting than most of the folks that hang around Disney forums...but wouldn't it serve Disney best to have whitewashed reporting of their cruise ship in the main stream, where they would reach more people (potential customers)?

 

[WDW1974]

I love it.
"The food and service were hit or miss, and at times, the pampering didn’t live up to the top-dollar price tag. But all in all, we had a great time."

If this is his first cruise what has he to compare it to? Bottom line, they had a great time. I'd rather get the review from his kids. I have never been on a cruise either but I can assure you that when I do it will be Disney and I won't be that nit-picky!

I think that was the point. Disney likely was happy to have a first-timer and assumed he'd be much easier to impress. A seasoned cruiser would be quite adept at pointing out the flaws, as well as the many things DCL does great on.

I do have a question for you, though. Or two ... why would you pick Disney for your first cruise and why would you say the dude was 'nit-picky'?

 

[WDW1974]

I'm a bit encouraged that the folks reading the LA Times are getting vaguely more critical reporting than most of the folks that hang around Disney forums...but wouldn't it serve Disney best to have whitewashed reporting of their cruise ship in the main stream, where they would reach more people (potential customers)?

Oh, absolutely.

And while Brady had many complaints, he did overall appear to enjoy the cruise (although it, at times, was hard to tell). That said, you can bet that The Weatherman, Tom Staggs and JR (who would read the Times daily) were not likely fans of his review.

I have been trying to figure out Disney's strategy in kissing up to online whores because they are preaching to the choir. You don't grow a business that way. You already own that segment of the market. You grow a business (and by more than doubling capacity in a two-year period, that also happens to be a time of great economic trouble, the need is ever more present) by getting folks who would never cruise before and/or cruise with Mickey.

That's why I couldn't quite fathom all the fanboi bloggers living in Mom's basement (no, not our beloved Mom here) or soccer moms from Ohio with blogs that get 116 hits a week or bored housewives that take pics of planters and walls and post them on 786 different Disney sites (that are all viewed by the same folks) who made up a large portion of the Dream christening/'media' cruise.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Rather reasonable article I'd say, though I'm dissapoint at him hating on Emperor's New Groove.

 

[mickeymatt]

I think that was the point. Disney likely was happy to have a first-timer and assumed he'd be much easier to impress. A seasoned cruiser would be quite adept at pointing out the flaws, as well as the many things DCL does great on.

I do have a question for you, though. Or two ... why would you pick Disney for your first cruise and why would you say the dude was 'nit-picky'?

1. Why wouldn't I choose Disney cruise first? I love Disney....hence why I am on this forum.

2. I guess what I mean is that he didn't like the food and service at times and didn't feel pampered enough. I'm just not that fond of whiners.

 

[DisneyJoe]

That's why I couldn't quite fathom all the fanboi bloggers living in Mom's basement (no, not our beloved Mom here) or soccer moms from Ohio with blogs that get 116 hits a week or bored housewives that take pics of planters and walls and post them on 786 different Disney sites (that are all viewed by the same folks) who made up a large portion of the Dream christening/'media' cruise.

I think you have a skewed perspective since you are a Disney fan that frequents Disney forums and Disney blogs, etc.

There were roughly 3100 people on the media cruise, I would guestimate that MAYBE 200-250? were from Disney fan sites or blogs - the rest were from true media such as radio, TV and newspapers.

There were at least 30 radio morning shows broadcasting from the preview cruise that I was on. There were other TV crews onboard too. I knew of approximately 10 bloggers onboard, and they were there mostly due to the fact that they were invited by their Authorized Disney Travel Agent sponsors.

 

[71jason]

If this is his first cruise what has he to compare it to?

Are you being facetious? Restaurants. Hotels. Probably some live theater performances. "First time cruiser" does not mean he's lived in a box his whole life.

As '74 said, if anything, a first-time cruiser would probably go a little easier on the service. Royal Caribbean, the Magic/Wonder and the "old people" cruises all have far higher levels of service than almost anywhere in the mainland U.S. If you can't quite match Hilton or Loews, you're going to come up very short vs. Royal Caribbean.

 

[Bolna]

I had been quite surprised as well when I realized how many people from blogs etc. had been invited to go on the christening cruise.

One reason might have been that they had a lot of space on that ship and they rather wanted to fill it up (perhaps even so that real media folks couldn't say: "well, we have to see how the ship works once it is sailing with more than only half capacity"). Of course, then the question is, why not chose someone else to fill the ship?

The other reason might be that they are trying to convince more people who are already Disney fans to go on the DCL. I think that there still are plenty of people who travel regularly to WDW and love it, but haven't taken a cruise yet (DCL or other). They might be after these people. They might even be much "easier" customers since they already have bought into the "magic" and would be willing to pay higher prices just because it is Disney without doing much comparison shopping and might be less picky about the product. Of course this would be a bit short sighted as it would take revenue away from WDW since I think most people would take a cruise instead of a WDW vacation, or at least shorten the WDW part considerably.

Oh, and I rather want information like that LA Times article than someone telling me that everything is perfect. What in the world is perfect all around? I rather want to be informed about the low points of a product to make an informed decission wether these would bother me and wether I would still get value for what I consider important.

 

[Master Yoda]

His review was, from my experience, correct and absolutely nothing different than others have already said. I was on the same cruise that DisneyJoe was on and there were issues with service. This, for the most part, seemed to be due to a very green crew. Our staff was incredibly friendly and polite but it was quite obvious that they were quite new to their roles. From what I was told nearly 75% of the crew had never worked on a ship before.

 

[WDWFigment]

Oh, absolutely.

And while Brady had many complaints, he did overall appear to enjoy the cruise (although it, at times, was hard to tell). That said, you can bet that The Weatherman, Tom Staggs and JR (who would read the Times daily) were not likely fans of his review.

I have been trying to figure out Disney's strategy in kissing up to online whores because they are preaching to the choir. You don't grow a business that way. You already own that segment of the market. You grow a business (and by more than doubling capacity in a two-year period, that also happens to be a time of great economic trouble, the need is ever more present) by getting folks who would never cruise before and/or cruise with Mickey.

That's why I couldn't quite fathom all the fanboi bloggers living in Mom's basement (no, not our beloved Mom here) or soccer moms from Ohio with blogs that get 116 hits a week or bored housewives that take pics of planters and walls and post them on 786 different Disney sites (that are all viewed by the same folks) who made up a large portion of the Dream christening/'media' cruise.

I think this is wrong on two counts. First, by giving cruises to bloggers who will (I'll concede this much) give unabashedly positive reviews, Disney is reaching the mainstream. Do a search for just about anything Disney on Google, and tell me how long it takes you to see AllEars, Mousesavers, WDWInfo, or one of the other Disney fan sites that has great SEO. Flat out: ordinary consumers use Google, and a lot of fan sites have great SEO these days. (Better than the LA Times, or any "real" news source, even!)

Second, unless you can name some "116 hits/week" sites that got invites, I'll assume this is hyperbole. Name a specific site or blogger. The ones who I know of that were there all are driving business to Disney.

I agree that this is bad for consumers, as objective reporting is obviously better, but to say it's bad for Disney is a serious stretch.

 

[Lee]

His review was, from my experience, correct and absolutely nothing different than others have already said. I was on the same cruise that DisneyJoe was on and there were issues with service. This, for the most part, seemed to be due to a very green crew. Our staff was incredibly friendly and polite but it was quite obvious that they were quite new to their roles. From what I was told nearly 75% of the crew had never worked on a ship before.

Kinda funny story...
My first cruise on the Magic was the ship's fourth sailing back in '98.
The first night at sea, the ship stopped in the middle of nowhere. We went up on deck to see what was going on, and looking over the side, we saw a boat tethered to the side of the Magic.
We asked a passing crew member what was up. She looked to make sure nobody could overhear, then told us "They forgot to load the milk and eggs. That boat just brought a shipment out from Miami."


Back on topic...I'm kinda hurt I didn't get an invite to that blogger-filled sailing. Am I not worthy? Was it something I said?

 

[hrcollectibles]

I guess what I mean is that he didn't like the food and service at times and didn't feel pampered enough. I'm just not that fond of whiners.

And yet here we are on a Disney Message board where there is nit picking and whining almost everyday.

 

[Atomicmickey]

Well, I just got back from my first cruise ever, 4 nights on the Disney Dream.

I can tell you first-hand that I experienced none of the issues that have been repeated--in many forums--about the christening cruise.

I have never felt so pampered in my life--almost shameful the way I and my family were doted over. The food was fantastic, the table service impeccable.

I think they have already worked a lot of the bugs out of the system.

FWIW, I saw lots of Disney fan bloggers saying the same thing that the LA TImes did, so there's nothing special in that article. I think that the "fan-media" was actually not bad at being realistic about things.

In any event, I'm not sure that I'm a convert to going on cruises--but that's because it's not really my style for a vacation, definitely not because anything at all was sub-standard on the ship. I have no complaints at all, really. It was top notch.

Ask away with questions, I don't have fanboy blinders on, I'll happily honestly answer whatever you want to know about.

 

[devoy1701]

what's his beef with the LCD screens? Was he expecting real magic or something???

other than that, I definitely appreciate hit critique. I hope that the service will be ironed out as the crew gains their sea legs and becomes more confortable with working on the ship with one another. We're going to be sailing on the Fantasy about 2 months after it's maiden voyage, i hope that we do not run into the same issues with the "green crew".

 

[jt04]

Kinda funny story...
My first cruise on the Magic was the ship's fourth sailing back in '98.
The first night at sea, the ship stopped in the middle of nowhere. We went up on deck to see what was going on, and looking over the side, we saw a boat tethered to the side of the Magic.
We asked a passing crew member what was up. She looked to make sure nobody could overhear, then told us "They forgot to load the milk and eggs. That boat just brought a shipment out from Miami."


Back on topic...I'm kinda hurt I didn't get an invite to that blogger-filled sailing. Am I not worthy? Was it something I said?

Perhaps they feared you would come dressed as a character from the AC and then fling yourself into one of the smokestacks while yelling, "Death to Hyperion Wharf", or something. :shrug:

Oh, and I know the OP thinks everything he says is news but isn't this a 'general discussion' topic? :veryconfu

I am not keen on the walmarting of the 'news and rumors' forum.

 

[mickeymatt]

His review was, from my experience, correct and absolutely nothing different than others have already said. I was on the same cruise that DisneyJoe was on and there were issues with service. This, for the most part, seemed to be due to a very green crew. Our staff was incredibly friendly and polite but it was quite obvious that they were quite new to their roles. From what I was told nearly 75% of the crew had never worked on a ship before.

I see your point and accept your first hand experience. Even Lou Mongello on his podcast said they were still working out some kinks on that cruise. So I retract my criticism of him being nit-picky. Just not a big fan of critics.
My question is, as a first-timer, would I be disappointed with my cruise experience aboard the dream?

Lou's Review for those who are interested:
http://www.wdwradio.com/2011/01/disney-dream-review-show-207-january-30-2011/