Any chance Disney is not being truthful about passenger counts?

[dreamer17555]

Just wondering with tables being brought back in/ seating parties together and yet guests on board are being told 2,500-2,600 on the Fantasy but we had 2,300 on the Fantasy in February and had private tables etc…

Also the photos I have seen of the adult pool area make our sailing look like a ghost town…

Would 200-300 guests really make that much of a difference?

Also interesting to note a member of our Facebook group for an upcoming May sailing called DCL today and was told that all sailings are capped at 50% which we know is currently not true because they have been sailing over 50% for a while.

I’m just wondering how truthful disney is being about the numbers on board.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I think the phone CMs know nothing but are making stuff up or quoting months-old info. Both based on their training model, metrics model and staffing, this is highly likely. It's not even about lying, it's about Disney's insistence that they always answer questions ("I don't know" is only rarely permitted), and the info they have not being updated.

 

[happycamper47]

I’m just wondering how truthful disney is being about the numbers on board.

Granted lower counts make for a better experience, but why would they not be accurate? I don't think anybody is going to get off if it is higher than they wanted.

 

[dreamer17555]

It’s just seems strange that they are saying things like still capping at 50% on the phone… I think it is setting cruisers up for unrealistic expectations. For instance I doubt most the people in my FB group are aware they are back to seating different parties together for dinner. Honestly I am not sure it is my place to set off a big fire storm by pointing it out… They are thinking reduced capacity yay!

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

I just got off the Wonder yesterday and a server quoted us about 1850 people, which felt accurate. It felt crowded at times but not as much as full capacity cruises. My October Wonder cruise had about 950 so it was night and day. That one was too quiet so somewhere in between would have been perfect.

The same server said they are expecting closer to 2000-ish (IIRC) in the next couple of weeks (popular spring break weeks in SoCal) and they expect Alaska sailings to be back to full capacity.

 

[tvguy]

No way to know for sure. But I have to wonder if they are limiting capacity just because they just don't have enough staff to serve more guests. They are bringing a new ship into service, and let's be honest, a lot of the pre-pandemic crew are from nations where there is still hesitancy about whether it is safe yet to drop protocols.

 

[jjb1974]

CSRs regardless of employer are treated like mushrooms…you can Google rest of that quip.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I think the staff can be told anyone of 4 numbers.
•The staff and expected guests
•Just expected guests
•Staff and actual guests
•Just actual guests.
That would explain why the numbers vary from CM to CM. I don’t expect they give CMs a number of guests turned away at port because that would make a fun little national news story.

Outside of the Wish. Has any Disney cruise been sold out this year 2022? I’ve never heard it on the board’s here. If a cruise was sold-out it would have been limited to fit the “allowed number of guests”. So less than ___% right? But I can’t remember a single person saying “I tried to pick up a cruise last week and it was full”

I think spring break could provide the first full ship or two.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I think it's probably very much in flux right now. So, it's probably very difficult to get a concrete answer. Guest relations say one thing, servers might say another. The people who really know the number, if there even really IS a number, may not be communicating it.

I tend to believe there is no formal capacity limit. I think there is probably a general range. But, ultimately, the demand, or lack thereof, has allowed DCL to not really do much to adjust any sort of capacity.

That said, I do feel like DCL should disclose if ships will be sailing at full or near-full capacity. I think it's morally the right thing to do. We are sailing on the Wish in September, and I have some very significant concerns about capacity. I have noticed that a number of cruises, including my own, which had almost no availability....has had quite a bit of availability opened up.

Now, maybe there have been a lot of cancellations, but I tend to believe that they likely opened up a lot of staterooms that were held closed for capacity reasons.

Personally, I have a significant problem with sailing at full capacity. I am okay with many of the restrictions being relaxed....self-service buffets, no masks and all of that. I think there is a certain amount of reasonable risk involved, which I am okay with. A full cruise ship I am much less okay with. And, I honestly don't know that I would go forward under those circumstances.

So, I do hope that if and when DCL moves to full capacity for real, officially, that they make some sort of statement. Not guest relations, not the servers, not the bus driver. Not second or third hand accounts....but an actual official statement/email of some sort.

 

[Sarahslay]

I just got off the Fantasy yesterday, and they definitely aren't sailing at full capacity at all. We had second seating and I would say at least, maybe more, tables were completely empty. Looking in as we walked passed Royal Court during first seating and you could see many empty tables as well (even though you couldn't move to first seating because it was "full"), it wasn't as empty as ours, but there were parties of two at 4 & 6 seater tables and definitely not packed. The adult pool area was packed, but then you walk to other areas of the ship and there was nobody, it's like everyone wanted to be in the adult area. Kick the kids to the kids clubs (since our sailing was pretty much first back to normal with no reservations or anything, people were just like "see ya' later kids!"), grab a drink, and run! Of course my husband and I could easily walk around and find a good place to sit no matter when we went out, no needing to scout out loungers like on a full cruise, so I have no doubt that they are definitely sailing with fewer passengers.

It's all perspective really with the pictures, and even who you talk to on these sailings though. If you spent your entire day in that adult area, especially in the deck 11 pool area, and had 1st dinner seating, you'd think the place was packed. Then you walk to me who just passed through the area, spent time in many different areas of the ship, and had second seating and it's a completely different story. I would say that half or close to half (maybe a hair more, but not a lot more) is pretty accurate, but just like being in the parks if you end up trapped in a pack of people you're gonna feel every bit of that.

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

I just got off the Fantasy yesterday, and they definitely aren't sailing at full capacity at all. We had second seating and I would say at least, maybe more, tables were completely empty. Looking in as we walked passed Royal Court during first seating and you could see many empty tables as well (even though you couldn't move to first seating because it was "full"), it wasn't as empty as ours, but there were parties of two at 4 & 6 seater tables and definitely not packed. The adult pool area was packed, but then you walk to other areas of the ship and there was nobody, it's like everyone wanted to be in the adult area. Kick the kids to the kids clubs (since our sailing was pretty much first back to normal with no reservations or anything, people were just like "see ya' later kids!"), grab a drink, and run! Of course my husband and I could easily walk around and find a good place to sit no matter when we went out, no needing to scout out loungers like on a full cruise, so I have no doubt that they are definitely sailing with fewer passengers.

It's all perspective really with the pictures, and even who you talk to on these sailings though. If you spent your entire day in that adult area, especially in the deck 11 pool area, and had 1st dinner seating, you'd think the place was packed. Then you walk to me who just passed through the area, spent time in many different areas of the ship, and had second seating and it's a completely different story. I would say that half or close to half (maybe a hair more, but not a lot more) is pretty accurate, but just like being in the parks if you end up trapped in a pack of people you're gonna feel every bit of that.

So, on your sailing parties weren’t seated with other parties at dinner from what you could tell?

 

[Sarahslay]

So, on your sailing parties weren’t seated with other parties at dinner from what you could tell?

No, definitely not, all parties were by themselves. We were told they aren't starting that until some time in May. Our server couldn't remember the exact date, but he said they still have a while until they have mixed tables again. In our servers section we had our family (4), another family of 4 at their own table, a young married couple at their own table, and an older married couple at their own table. Our seating had several large family groups that were obviously sailing together, each given their own server, I think there were two large families that each had a dedicated server to them. We could see no parties mixed with other parties, it was all just people traveling together, and TONS of empty tables. Heck, in Enchanted Garden every table near us was empty, the closest table in any direction had an empty table between us and them. Thinking back though, aside from the other family in our servers group of tables in Royal Court and Animators Palette, we had no one else sitting near us they really spread everyone out.

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

No, definitely not, all parties were by themselves. We were told they aren't starting that until some time in May. Our server couldn't remember the exact date, but he said they still have a while until they have mixed tables again. In our servers section we had our family (4), another family of 4 at their own table, a young married couple at their own table, and an older married couple at their own table. Our seating had several large family groups that were obviously sailing together, each given their own server, I think there were two large families that each had a dedicated server to them. We could see no parties mixed with other parties, it was all just people traveling together, and TONS of empty tables. Heck, in Enchanted Garden every table near us was empty, the closest table in any direction had an empty table between us and them. Thinking back though, aside from the other family in our servers group of tables in Royal Court and Animators Palette, we had no one else sitting near us they really spread everyone out.

That’s interesting. It appears on the dream they have been putting parties together again which is fine they’ve done that for awhile but it seemed sudden because I’ve also heard sometime in may. We sail April 30th and we sent in a request for private table and they said they’d add the request in so it does seem it will eventually becoming back.

 

[lanejudy]

That’s interesting. It appears on the dream they have been putting parties together again which is fine they’ve done that for awhile but it seemed sudden because I’ve also heard sometime in may. We sail April 30th and we sent in a request for private table and they said they’d add the request in so it does seem it will eventually becoming back.

I think it will be back sooner rather than later, but exactly "when" may depend how many people are booked to a specific cruise. If they are able to give private tables, that may continue to be the preferred method; but some cruises will have too many passengers booked to make that possible. It will vary by ship and by cruise date. I think the Dream tends to get more folks on the shorter cruises than the Fantasy gets on the week-long cruises - at least since the restart - so not surprising it may start on the Dream first. Even then, it could vary by date.

 

[Sarahslay]

That’s interesting. It appears on the dream they have been putting parties together again which is fine they’ve done that for awhile but it seemed sudden because I’ve also heard sometime in may. We sail April 30th and we sent in a request for private table and they said they’d add the request in so it does seem it will eventually becoming back.

Yeah, I don't know about the Dream, but when I emailed shoreside concierge (since we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite) and asked to have our own table we were told it wouldn't be a problem since they weren't seating parties together yet. I had originally not asked, then heard rumors they would start doing it again since capacity was going up, so I thought it was a good idea just to have a note of it in case it changed. Sure enough no parties together. Everything else aside from that, Palo brunch having a buffet, and getting up close to characters was back to normal for our cruise. It was weird having no one sitting around us though, because the tables were still set they were just empty, so it felt lonely at times if the other tables near us didn't show up.

I think it will be back sooner rather than later, but exactly "when" may depend how many people are booked to a specific cruise. If they are able to give private tables, that may continue to be the preferred method; but some cruises will have too many passengers booked to make that possible. It will vary by ship and by cruise date. I think the Dream tends to get more folks on the shorter cruises than the Fantasy gets on the week-long cruises - at least since the restart - so not surprising it may start on the Dream first. Even then, it could vary by date.

Right, and there were still PLENTY of empty tables available on my sailing for them to be able to continue doing one party per table. I can imagine for the price, especially right now, those Dream sailings are more tempting for many. I can say I did not mind having our own table, it was just kinda sad being surrounded by empty tables.

 

[Dug720]

Yeah, I don't know about the Dream, but when I emailed shoreside concierge (since we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite) and asked to have our own table we were told it wouldn't be a problem since they weren't seating parties together yet. I had originally not asked, then heard rumors they would start doing it again since capacity was going up, so I thought it was a good idea just to have a note of it in case it changed. Sure enough no parties together. Everything else aside from that, Palo brunch having a buffet, and getting up close to characters was back to normal for our cruise. It was weird having no one sitting around us though, because the tables were still set they were just empty, so it felt lonely at times if the other tables near us didn't show up.

Right, and there were still PLENTY of empty tables available on my sailing for them to be able to continue doing one party per table. I can imagine for the price, especially right now, those Dream sailings are more tempting for many. I can say I did not mind having our own table, it was just kinda sad being surrounded by empty tables.

As a rule. Concierge always receives their own tables. It's the only wat to guarantee it on Disney.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Our seating had several large family We could see no parties mixed with other parties, it was all just people traveling together, and TONS of empty tables. Heck, in Enchanted Garden every table near us was empty, the closest table in any direction had an empty table between us and them. Thinking back though, aside from the other family in our servers group of tables in Royal Court and Animators Palette, we had no one else sitting near us they really spread everyone out.

I would like to know if you sailed after the January 13 vaccine required for kids? We were on the Jan 8th Fantasy but we had 3 groups of 5 or more closely together in the Enchantment. One party didn’t return for dinner one night because a child threw up the day before at dinner. But were all back the next night. I sail date was super busy compared to what they expected the next week.

 

[Sarahslay]

As a rule. Concierge always receives their own tables. It's the only wat to guarantee it on Disney.

Well, not always, really only if you ask. However, in our servers section we were the only concierge guests so I know it wasn’t just dumb luck.

 

[Sarahslay]

I would like to know if you sailed after the January 13 vaccine required for kids? We were on the Jan 8th Fantasy but we had 3 groups of 5 or more closely together in the Enchantment. One party didn’t return for dinner one night because a child threw up the day before at dinner. But were all back the next night. I sail date was super busy compared to what they expected the next week.

I literally just got off the boat yesterday morning, we were on the April 2-9 sailing. We were in a table near the fountain, and then literally no one in any table next to us (you could call it beside or behind). The other 4 person family never came to Enchanted, we know where their table would have been though and it would have been diagonal to ours, kind of like you had to walk between two tables to get to them from us. They had moved all the table numbers around between the previous sailing and our sailing so all the wait staff was confused when trying to seat people. It’s possible they did that to help with distancing, but the people seating were definitely without a doubt confused.

 

[eva]

I just got off the Fantasy yesterday, and they definitely aren't sailing at full capacity at all. We had second seating and I would say at least, maybe more, tables were completely empty. Looking in as we walked passed Royal Court during first seating and you could see many empty tables as well (even though you couldn't move to first seating because it was "full"), it wasn't as empty as ours, but there were parties of two at 4 & 6 seater tables and definitely not packed. The adult pool area was packed, but then you walk to other areas of the ship and there was nobody, it's like everyone wanted to be in the adult area. Kick the kids to the kids clubs (since our sailing was pretty much first back to normal with no reservations or anything, people were just like "see ya' later kids!"), grab a drink, and run! Of course my husband and I could easily walk around and find a good place to sit no matter when we went out, no needing to scout out loungers like on a full cruise, so I have no doubt that they are definitely sailing with fewer passengers.

It's all perspective really with the pictures, and even who you talk to on these sailings though. If you spent your entire day in that adult area, especially in the deck 11 pool area, and had 1st dinner seating, you'd think the place was packed. Then you walk to me who just passed through the area, spent time in many different areas of the ship, and had second seating and it's a completely different story. I would say that half or close to half (maybe a hair more, but not a lot more) is pretty accurate, but just like being in the parks if you end up trapped in a pack of people you're gonna feel every bit of that.

We just got off the Fantasy yesterday too. We had main seating and spent nearly all our time in the adult areas. You still could tell the cruise was at reduced capacity. There were a lot of empty tables around us at dinner. The two of us had a 4 top to ourselves. We never had to hunt for a lounger in the sun or reading area in the shade. We were able to get in Cove pool and Satellite Falls easily. Our servers said the cruise was around 2500, about 65%. The only time we encountered crowds were at some of the trivia games in O’Gills. But that place is pretty small. We had the best time!