As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Now you can pre pay your gratuities for you Disney cruise.
Guest and Travel Agents who are confirming reservations or making a payment with DCL may add pre-paid gratuities up to 3 days prior to sailing.
Those who like to take care of everything before they sail will love this new option. Those who want to wait and tip according to service can still wait and pay at the end of the cruise.
That sounds like a Good Idea.. Thanks for the update.. There is still the option that if you feel your "people" went over an above, go to guest services and get an envelope and leave them a little more cash..
Only down fall would be, how long do they have to wait for the Cash? Will they get all the Prepaid tips in one chunk, added to their paycheck?
My thought is what happens when they get a free hour and want to shop a little on an Island.. Harder to do if they don't have cash cause people prepaid
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Stacy
Cruising Again When??
*DCL Magic Eastern to Tortola.... 9/12/09
*RCC Independence of the Seas.. to Belize.. 3/14/2010
*DCL Magic 11 night Christmas.. Cat 3... 12/18/2010
We just added this to our bookings. Seemed like a good idea to get as much prepaid as possible. As Pfishgirl says, you can still tip more for exceptional service... the only downside I can see, is you can't 'untip' for poor service.
I did it once for a Carnival cruise and haven't done it again. I can't recommend it to anyone. We actually had very poor service from out room steward. He put twin sheets on a king bed. For our anniversary cruise! Three nights in a row, until I complained a second time to the hotel manager.
I think optional pre-payment is going to have a different effect than automatic pre-payment. Unless a crew member knows the guest has pre-paid (and I don't see why the cruise line would go to that trouble), there will always be enough uncertainty to motivate those crew members who are motivated by fear of a poor tip. There are also crew members who do not perform well under any circumstances. Can we really know whether that stateroom steward would have done better with a carrot dangled in front of his face?
I'd love to see a large-scale behavioral study on tipping behavior, both on the part of the customer, and the part of the worker. If poor service only occurred when a tip was guaranteed, it's an easy cause-and-effect relationship. However, poor service occurs under all circumstances, as does exceptional service. This is a much more complex system than most folks want to admit.
My own feeling is that, unless customers notify workers in advance of their tipping practices and the customers consistently tip as they say they will, there's no way for tips to be a proper incentive or punishment. Without advance notice a worker doesn't know whether a customer will tip generously for superior service, or will tip the same amount regardless of quality, or will stiff the worker for no apparent reason. It's all a surprise until after the service has been delivered. So, if a worker feels (justly or unjustly) that he/she has been poorly treated by previous customers, that may affect the quality of service received by later customers ("kick the dog" behavior). Some people just never get the idea of cause-and-effect. They behave badly and get bad tips, yet blame the customers for being cheap. Or they behave badly, and the customer tips adequately anyway for fear of making a scene. Altogether, it's a disfunctional system.
Customer service is something that has to be cultivated in an organization, as Disney does. There will always be individuals who come to the job with a positive customer service attitude. There will be others who just don't get it. The only way for an organization to be reasonably sure that their guests will have consistently good service is for the organization to be passionately proactive about providing that service, and to take the many steps necessary to make it happen. Even then, bad things will happen. We're all human.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
We've always, except for the one example, had excellent service on every cruise line. Carnival does automatic tipping, but you can always disable that or tip additionally. I don't think our steward knew one way or the other, I just think he didn't have his heart in it. Maybe it was his last cruise. However, it was our waiter's last cruise and he was superb.
You're right, Disney really drills the concept of not just "customer service" but "Disney service" into everybody, but there will always be someone going through the motions. But they too will be properly rewarded.
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Harder to do if they don't have cash cause people prepaid
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