Why we stick with Disney Cruise Line

I've realized since the pandemic that one of the motivators for cruising was that, for me, it's an unusually dense social opportunity. I work remotely, and I don't have a ton of local friends. And that's fine, because I find it difficult to maintain many non-trivial relationships. That doesn't mean that I don't like people. To the contrary, I find people to be generally interesting, and we meet so many on our voyages. Many are from around the world. Once, we even "adopted" a former server from a cruise.

We returned from another three-night Bahamas run this morning. The social interaction usually starts in a bar, with a bartender from somewhere not the US, then we meet people at the bar, or dinner, or maybe in a show, and before you know it, you're seeing people around the ship that are familiar. The servers and bartenders are people that we get to know really well, as most stick around for multiple contracts.

Back in 2015, aboard the Disney Dream, Simon, then 5, was having a difficult time at dinner over something food related. Our server, a guy named Kruno from Croatia, got down to his level, and talked him into a happier place. It was a very kind act that you don't forget. We've since seen Kruno many times, and he's now woking on the Wish. Last night, we got to do a updated photo of the two of them.

There are a lot of examples like that, but the punchline is that the level of hospitality there is in its own class (and frankly not matched at the resorts). I know it's a business, but it shows how doing things right builds customer loyalty through actual, personal relationships. Yeah, Disney has all kinds of IP, and the rat's image is everywhere, but I buy what they're selling because they often have the right people on the front lines. After 28 cruises, it's not by accident that we return.

September 1, 2024

March 22, 2015