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Disney needs better targeted marketing for their cruises
- Thread starter Pizza Moon
- Start date
The fact that Disney has expanded their fleet to 8 boats with more on the way seems to indicate that the marketing is doing its job.
But
That is my opinion and I have no data to back that up.
The DCL had a 98% occupency rate for the last 2 years. I think they might know what they are doing just a tad more than you.
They just lock in little kids through marketing in the hopes that you get hooked and go back and it works quite well.
But, branding wise they could indeed try to be broader, targeted ads exist, Disney doesn’t seem to grasp this concept.
I don’t disagree, DCL is outstanding that’s why.
Even the Wish, it is a fantastic ship just different than the classic cruise liner style.
They’ve yet to miss tbh.
But, I think what I’m saying is true too, that they can have ads appealing to more demos, branding wise people think dcl is for small kids and it really just isn’t.
Chi84
Premium Member
Were you on the Wish?
nickys
Premium Member
Don’t they have adverts aimed at different demographics? I bet they do.
The Adventure has just started sailing from Singapore. I don’t think that ship is solely aimed at families with small kids. And I suspect they have had adverts aimed at adult Disney fans.
I'm sure they have different adverts for different demographics across the fleet. Taking a single advert and claiming the company doesn't understand the market seems strange.
I have never on Instagram received an age appropriate targeted ad by DCL at any point in my life, contrast that with WDW.
It’s always been for little kids, which I guess makes sense in terms of marketing as they hook you and then you want to go back.
But they can also have targeted ads that show off what there’s to do for say teenagers or 20 something’s.
Do that in addition, is all I’m saying.
A general purpose TV slot is focusing on families with small children, but not online advertising because it can be hyper targeted.
nickys
Premium Member
I thought we were discussing DCL advertising in general.
The only time I’ve seen any advertising by DCL was when they did the staycation cruises here in the UK. They did aim it at families, but that backfired - because kids here couldn’t get vaccinated. So the cruises ended up being adult-only. Other cruise lines then sized their chance.
Other than that, I haven’t seen any DCL ads.
Maybe they don’t target 20-30 because they don’t want large groups of them cruising together.
Chi84
Premium Member
@Pizza Moon: When you say the Wish is fantastic but not like the classic ships, is this personal experience?
Have you sailed on the Wish or any of the older ships?
The DCL community here has probably read everything out there on the ships but are definitely interested in personal perspectives.
Could you please answer? Thanks.
Have you sailed on the Wish or any of the older ships?
The DCL community here has probably read everything out there on the ships but are definitely interested in personal perspectives.
Could you please answer? Thanks.
So you want Disney to directly market to a group that statistically can not begin to afford the product they are trying to sell? The average 18-24 year-old makes around $42k per year.
Yes, I just got off a 3-day Wish cruise!
It’s stunning, it’s not cheap, only true miss in aesthetics is the Star Wars Bar which sucks, Oceaneer’s Lab actually did Star Wars right and is pretty spectacular.
I’d say Fantasy/Dream is still better, but it’s more 1 step forward 1 step back, lack of a cruise liner aesthetic to unify everything worked better than I thought, they really committed to the enchanted aesthetic and watching POVs and talking with trusted people who did the Treasure, it’s similar, better in some ways, but also similarly commits to the adventure styling.
I thought the IP integration was better handled than I expected, I thought it was going to be rough, in some ways, like the atrium, it feels less Disney to be honest.
Food was mediocre just like the other ships, though the pool food was a huge step up which I appreciated, Disney has got to upgrade it.
Our first night had horrible, I mean completely absent service. Night 3 they were great, not elite like I’ve had before (I mean when I say elite we’re talking God-tier), but they were good.
Treasure is probably better even if you ignore the Haunted Mansion parlor (which is cool but more gimicky IMO). They also have Beauty and the Beast which I think is better than the actual OG Broadway production in many ways, it is spectacular.
Hero Zone was a great idea, but I don’t like it because on a cruise ship if I’m playing basketball, dodgeball, foosball, I want to be running around in a swimsuit soaking in the sun, while looking at the ocean or port’s beautiful vistas.
Sensus Spa sucks. Long hallways, endlessly, you can tell it was the old Vibe space and backstage area on the Dream/Fantasy in concept, but it totally takes away the cool factor of going to Vibe; one of my core memories as a kid. Good times there.
Running deck not looping is also crazy that was always a must-do particularly on longer cruises to just walk the promenades.
The focus on Concierge while I get it needs to be studied: the greatest scam in the history of anything. The Concierge sundeck thankfully doesn’t take up as much room as I thought, though they need to make the other sundeck areas up front adults only. Only having the one hot tub and the one pool in the back isn’t enough. At least another adult hot tub(s) is needed up in the front.
I liked 1923 a lot actually and the Frozen dinner show wasn’t cringey.
Still awesome that you can get unlimited dishes and order from the other restaurants anytime you’d like.
Adult infinity edge pool at night is unreal, dislike how far it is to get to Cove Cafe though, really stupid, but it’s nice that the Quiet Cove Pool doesn’t have kids walking around like on the other ships, which is why I preferred Satellite Falls.
I love kids too don’t get me wrong, big family guy, but you need adult spaces on ships, and there’s no casino, so the lack of true dancing or an adult district is wild.
But I love how many hangout spots there is and book and crannies to just chill min.
Outlook is being or has been converted on the other ships, but that was an awesome spot to hangout in, so now with it gone in many ways the Wish is better if you just want some privacy to goof off or chat with family/friends/people you meet.
Way better family pool deck by a mile. The many smaller family pools and layered deck was a great idea.
Pirate Night had really cool fireworks having launches from both funnel stacks. I preferred the music being “Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho” from Pirates At World’s End, but the party pirates whatever style remix they did was fine I guess.
They need to bring back Star Wars cruises now that the Starcruiser is dead.
I wish FunnelVision wasn’t showing Wish, that was sad instead of something good.
Neverland and Wonderland theaters have beautiful entrances and while it’s a good idea in concept, it is a horrible idea to not have a larger screen. There’s zero point in watching a movie in them tbh. Buenavista Theater itself was also far more detailed.
Walt Disney Theater was fine tho I preferred the way it sort of integrated with the ship on the classic 4 and entire decks 3/4/5, Wish just feels like stylistic clashes, not in a bad way, but in a different way.
AquaMouse is sort of better and worse than the AquaDuck, I’d give it a toss-up, though it’s unacceptable we don’t have body slides like the AquaDunk and surfing simulators like Royal Caribbean. I think the rollercoaster on the Adventure is cringe, so I hope they never do that again and just commit to making a water park on deck.
The only exception I feel maybe is the Wonder given it goes to Alaska, but you still need good water features on it any other time.
Elevators were a non-issue unless you stay in Concierge or very far aft (I do neither I always stay midship/forward if possible), so the complaints are silly.
Layout gives Magic/Wonder vibes, even has staircases in places sort of like them, most of the shops are not on the Walt Disney Theater floor. I don’t think it’s terrible outside of a couple weird spots, but it is odd to go backwards when the Dream/Fantasy fixed it.
I dislike that they don’t have variety acts on 3-days, but I get it.
Adult spaces were way to spread out I did not like not having “The District” tho it’s aesthetically on the level of the Fantasy’s (so better than the Dream even), except for the Star Wars Lounge, just awful.
There was ZERO dancing on the Wish, which was nuts to me, previous cruises I’ve been on had a fun, but calm, party scene, but no one participated in anything.
The Vibe’s teen Club is a ludicrous downgrade from the Dream/Fantasy, beyond not having a pool it’s just so much weaker.
It feels like they focused on little kids as the primary focus but it’s just so weird. Oceaneer’s Club is mostly for 10 and unders since Edge starts at 11, so there is only a fraction of people on the ship able to maximally enjoy their time which is just awful priorities. Adults pay for the trip, kids have older siblings, make it make sense.
Any shorter itinerary is going to be heavy first timers (potentially 85%+), and heavy on smaller kids, if you have older kids I recommend longer cruises and to go when school is out rather than the off-season like I did. Will be a much better experience.
I also highly recommend second seating as well.
Castaway Cay is frankly the reason to do the 3-days, and I’d do it again. I’d do it for Lighthouse Point too which is amazing, it’s literally a serenity bay clone basically, it’s not trying to compete with Castaway Cay or Coco Cay, it is just a beach like serenity bay and it’s totally fine being that.
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I’d also like them to market to 30 year olds, 60 year olds, yeah.
Are you familiar with targeted advertising?
I already get DCL ads, it’s not hard to throw an intern and some market research into it, you could literally just script a ClaudeBot and it could automate it all
I’m a smart guy, I’m not raising this if I didn’t think it wasn’t easy to do.
Hard or easy to do is not the issue. ROI is the issue.I’d also like them to market to 30 year olds, 60 year olds, yeah.
Are you familiar with targeted advertising?
I already get DCL ads, it’s not hard to throw an intern and some market research into it, you could literally just script a ClaudeBot and it could automate it all
I’m a smart guy, I’m not raising this if I didn’t think it wasn’t easy to do.
DCL is already sending out full ships. Why would they waste a dime on a demographic that can barely afford food and shelter?
nickys
Premium Member
I assume they had open days for all the kids clubs? That’s cool you got to experience those spaces.Yes, I just got off a 3-day Wish cruise!
It’s stunning, it’s not cheap, only true miss in aesthetics is the Star Wars Bar which sucks, Oceaneer’s Lab actually did Star Wars right and is pretty spectacular.
I’d say Fantasy/Dream is still better, but it’s more 1 step forward 1 step back, lack of a cruise liner aesthetic to unify everything worked better than I thought, they really committed to the enchanted aesthetic and watching POVs and talking with trusted people who did the Treasure, it’s similar, better in some ways, but also similarly commits to the adventure styling.
I thought the IP integration was better handled than I expected, I thought it was going to be rough, in some ways, like the atrium, it feels less Disney to be honest.
Food was mediocre just like the other ships, though the pool food was a huge step up which I appreciated, Disney has got to upgrade it.
Our first night had horrible, I mean completely absent service. Night 3 they were great, not elite like I’ve had before (I mean when I say elite we’re talking God-tier), but they were good.
Forget the race swap casting of Ariel, The Little Mermaid was so pathetic that people complain about, it’s honestly not even worth watching because of how bad the whole production is. The sets were just totally absent, the audio mixing was so bad, the leads were drowned out by music and the background vocalists. Just so sloppy felt like an high school production. Aladdin is a significant step up so I’m glad they brought it over, that’s of course worth seeing.
Treasure is probably better even if you ignore the Haunted Mansion parlor (which is cool but more gimicky IMO). They also have Beauty and the Beast which I think is better than the actual OG Broadway production in many ways, it is spectacular.
Hero Zone was a great idea, but I don’t like it because on a cruise ship if I’m playing basketball, dodgeball, foosball, I want to be running around in a swimsuit soaking in the sun, while looking at the ocean or port’s beautiful vistas.
Sensus Spa sucks. Long hallways, endlessly, you can tell it was the old Vibe space and backstage area on the Dream/Fantasy in concept, but it totally takes away the cool factor of going to Vibe; one of my core memories as a kid. Good times there.
Running deck not looping is also crazy that was always a must-do particularly on longer cruises to just walk the promenades.
The focus on Concierge while I get it needs to be studied: the greatest scam in the history of anything. The Concierge sundeck thankfully doesn’t take up as much room as I thought, though they need to make the other sundeck areas up front adults only. Only having the one hot tub and the one pool in the back isn’t enough. At least another adult hot tub(s) is needed up in the front.
I liked 1923 a lot actually and the Frozen dinner show wasn’t cringey.
Still awesome that you can get unlimited dishes and order from the other restaurants anytime you’d like.
Adult infinity edge pool at night is unreal, dislike how far it is to get to Cove Cafe though, really stupid, but it’s nice that the Quiet Cove Pool doesn’t have kids walking around like on the other ships, which is why I preferred Satellite Falls.
I love kids too don’t get me wrong, big family guy, but you need adult spaces on ships, and there’s no casino, so the lack of true dancing or an adult district is wild.
But I love how many hangout spots there is and book and crannies to just chill min.
Outlook is being or has been converted on the other ships, but that was an awesome spot to hangout in, so now with it gone in many ways the Wish is better if you just want some privacy to goof off or chat with family/friends/people you meet.
Way better family pool deck by a mile. The many smaller family pools and layered deck was a great idea.
Pirate Night had really cool fireworks having launches from both funnel stacks. I preferred the music being “Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho” from Pirates At World’s End, but the party pirates whatever style remix they did was fine I guess.
They need to bring back Star Wars cruises now that the Starcruiser is dead.
I wish FunnelVision wasn’t showing Wish, that was sad instead of something good.
Neverland and Wonderland theaters have beautiful entrances and while it’s a good idea in concept, it is a horrible idea to not have a larger screen. There’s zero point in watching a movie in them tbh. Buenavista Theater itself was also far more detailed.
Walt Disney Theater was fine tho I preferred the way it sort of integrated with the ship on the classic 4 and entire decks 3/4/5, Wish just feels like stylistic clashes, not in a bad way, but in a different way.
AquaMouse is sort of better and worse than the AquaDuck, I’d give it a toss-up, though it’s unacceptable we don’t have body slides like the AquaDunk and surfing simulators like Royal Caribbean. I think the rollercoaster on the Adventure is cringe, so I hope they never do that again and just commit to making a water park on deck.
The only exception I feel maybe is the Wonder given it goes to Alaska, but you still need good water features on it any other time.
Elevators were a non-issue unless you stay in Concierge or very far aft (I do neither I always stay midship/forward if possible), so the complaints are silly.
Layout gives Magic/Wonder vibes, even has staircases in places sort of like them, most of the shops are not on the Walt Disney Theater floor. I don’t think it’s terrible outside of a couple weird spots, but it is odd to go backwards when the Dream/Fantasy fixed it.
I dislike that they don’t have variety acts on 3-days, but I get it.
Adult spaces were way to spread out I did not like not having “The District” tho it’s aesthetically on the level of the Fantasy’s (so better than the Dream even), except for the Star Wars Lounge, just awful.
There was ZERO dancing on the Wish, which was nuts to me, previous cruises I’ve been on had a fun, but calm, party scene, but no one participated in anything.
The Vibe’s teen Club is a ludicrous downgrade from the Dream/Fantasy, beyond not having a pool it’s just so much weaker.
It feels like they focused on little kids as the primary focus but it’s just so weird. Oceaneer’s Club is mostly for 10 and unders since Edge starts at 11, so there is only a fraction of people on the ship able to maximally enjoy their time which is just awful priorities. Adults pay for the trip, kids have older siblings, make it make sense.
Any shorter itinerary is going to be heavy first timers (potentially 85%+), and heavy on smaller kids, if you have older kids I recommend longer cruises and to go when school is out rather than the off-season like I did. Will be a much better experience.
I also highly recommend second seating as well.
Castaway Cay is frankly the reason to do the 3-days, and I’d do it again. I’d do it for Lighthouse Point too which is amazing, it’s literally a serenity bay clone basically, it’s not trying to compete with Castaway Cay or Coco Cay, it is just a beach like serenity bay and it’s totally fine being that.
I’m a travel agent so if you want to know more I really put thought into everything haha.
Disney spends more in a single year just analyzing their audience and how to target them effectively than most competitors spend across all of marketing marketing in the same timeframe. I wouldn't be surprised of more than several of their competitors combined.
If you didn’t like it, you probably weren’t the intended audience.
And please don’t disrespect my favorite theme park pizza place with this horrible take.
You still don’t get it.
Targeted ads can and should be better( they should target the DCL customer better for someone my age if they’re going to spend money on an ad) for example. I literally love DCL, but none of their marketing shows off what is really good, they seem to target families with small children even if the ad is targeted for someone who is neither.
This shouldn’t be controversial.