DisneyWitch
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2010
Hey friends,
Although a little late to this discussion, I’d like to share my experience with Castaway Club status that just occurred to me today and I thought to share.
Background: I'm a cruise newbie. Had my first cruise via DCL in February 2019 – and due to pandemics, family passings, job changes and life in general, was finally able to book my second cruise for May 2025 just this past week. In spite of the 5 year gap, my Castaway Club status on the website was still Silver - not that it garners many perks, but it is nice to feel like I belong. I’ve never sailed with other cruise lines, so I don’t have much experience of how others do things.
After reading every single post in this thread, I decided to call DCL directly to find out if my status will be affected and spoke with an amazing Cast Member. I asked him about the policy and my status and he put me on hold for a few minutes to research the Castaway Club status policy. Not only did he verify my Silver status, but he said that due to a LOT of negative feedback, Disney recently modified their terms for Castaway Club status – instead of five years, they have extended that to ten years. According to this CM, your status will be revoked if you do not book/sail within TEN years, not five - so you have a little more of a buffer than before. Although it doesn't roll the policy back, if the CM is correct, it may help soften the blow a bit!
Personally, the Castaway Club is more of a feel-good thing to me. I’m older, and unless we win the lottery sometime soon, frequent DCL cruises aren’t really in my budget. But I can understand the consternation of folks who demonstrated loyalty to DCL over the years but may have a cruising gap due to health, family or life issues, only to be penalized for that. I think extending the purge window to 10 years is a smart move.
Happy that I'm still in the club and hope my experience was helpful for others here.
Although a little late to this discussion, I’d like to share my experience with Castaway Club status that just occurred to me today and I thought to share.
Background: I'm a cruise newbie. Had my first cruise via DCL in February 2019 – and due to pandemics, family passings, job changes and life in general, was finally able to book my second cruise for May 2025 just this past week. In spite of the 5 year gap, my Castaway Club status on the website was still Silver - not that it garners many perks, but it is nice to feel like I belong. I’ve never sailed with other cruise lines, so I don’t have much experience of how others do things.
After reading every single post in this thread, I decided to call DCL directly to find out if my status will be affected and spoke with an amazing Cast Member. I asked him about the policy and my status and he put me on hold for a few minutes to research the Castaway Club status policy. Not only did he verify my Silver status, but he said that due to a LOT of negative feedback, Disney recently modified their terms for Castaway Club status – instead of five years, they have extended that to ten years. According to this CM, your status will be revoked if you do not book/sail within TEN years, not five - so you have a little more of a buffer than before. Although it doesn't roll the policy back, if the CM is correct, it may help soften the blow a bit!
Personally, the Castaway Club is more of a feel-good thing to me. I’m older, and unless we win the lottery sometime soon, frequent DCL cruises aren’t really in my budget. But I can understand the consternation of folks who demonstrated loyalty to DCL over the years but may have a cruising gap due to health, family or life issues, only to be penalized for that. I think extending the purge window to 10 years is a smart move.
Happy that I'm still in the club and hope my experience was helpful for others here.