“It’s about getting the big engine running and doing it again and again with supervision and guidance,” said Daniel Cowan, senior manager standards and service excellence, Disney Cruise Line, in a recent interview with Cruise Industry News, when asked how he maintains those standards and service excellence.
“First of all, our onboard teams are remarkable. The crew wants to deliver that standard of (Disney) service, and they are so proud. But this isn’t easy; it is hard work. We have constant ship visits. Teams who visit the ships to maintain the consistency.
“Our teams both from shore and on the ships, do what we call an audit, and when people hear ‘audits’ they are going to say “oh no no!” But the Disney way is to supervise, observe, train, train and retrain in order to maintain our standards,” Cowan stated. “There aren’t many environments in the world where people work like on a cruise ship”
Disney’s newest addition to the dining venue: Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King, debuted on the new Disney Destiny within the cruise line’s rotating dining experience. It is a prime example of the extent of the details in preparation and ensuring the Disney standards are upheld.
“This restaurant is fantastic. Everybody knows and loves the movie, knows the songs, and feels the emotion. Not only are we telling a fantastic story, but we are showing the colors and music of Africa, the flavors of the food, the authentic African spices in the special dishes for Lion King we serve.
“It all started in a test kitchen in Orlando where we produced everything, looked at different combinations of what we were going to do and then looked at service, figured out the steps and created our location operations guidelines (LOG). We call them our ‘logs’ and have a team of trainers both on shore and on the ships who created this manual for the staff,” Cowan said.
The Feast of the Lion King brings new life to the rotational guiding concept Disney has created. Along with Lion King, is 1923, a tribute to the birth of the Disney company, which touts Californian, Asian, European and South American Influences, and The World of Marvel where the Ant Man, Spider Man or the Wasp may appear during dinner.
Servers are trained to know all details of the cuisine offers in each restaurant – each with its own unique menu – and arrive in different costumes or uniforms to fit the theme.
Excerpted from the 2025-2026 Winter Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine.
