Just when I was so excited about our Baltic Cruise....

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

I looked at the prices for the excursions. I was just trying to get comfortable with the price of the cruise and the airfare for 4 of us to the Baltic. Then I saw the price of the Princess Ball at the Palace in St Petersburg (excursion of a lifetime, for a Mom with 2 little girls!) and then the trip in Germany to see the Disney Dream being built. OMG!

I have saved for years to go on a Baltic cruise (before we even knew Disney would do the cruise). We planned on it for our 10 year anniversary. We made the trip for this summer so we could go on the Disney Baltic. (our anniversary was last year, but celebrating it this year)

I don't think I can gather together another $4000 (figuring all low cost excursions except for the Princess ball) for excursions, after putting together $18000 for the cruise, airfare, hotel, transfers, and tips. And if we were to do the trip to see the Dream being built, it would cost us as much as the cruise just for that excursion alone!

I know, wah wah. I just have dreamed and tried to save for this trip of a lifetime for years. I am soooooooo disappointed right now. I am going to look for something to switch too. I don't want to lose the onboard discount and OBC we got on this cruise.

 

[ontariomonkey]

Don't cancel the whole trip just because you can't go to the princess's ball! Don't tell your kids about it and they won't even know what they've missed. Find something different to do. The trip can still be amazing.

OR, do the cruise on another cruiseline and get more value for money, but of course you will lose your OBC and discounts but I bet you would still come out ahead.

 

[disfaninca]

How much is the Princess Ball and the trip to see the Dream?

 

[CarolAnnC]

How much is the Princess Ball and the trip to see the Dream?

The Princess Ball is $400 per person. Not sure about the Dream trip, but it is hundreds of dollars each as well.

 

[NancyIL]

You don't need to do DCL's overpriced excursions to enjoy seeing the Baltic ports. You can easily see most on your own using a good guidebook (I recommend Rick Steves' Scandinavia) - except in St. Petersburg and possibly Berlin.

Can you move to a less expensive cabin to save money? Have you already purchased your airfare?

We did a Baltic cruise on Jewel of the Seas in 2005, and that ship still does Baltic cruises in the summer: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/finda...ate=&btn_findcruises.x=42&btn_findcruises.y=3

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Thanks Nancy, for the suggestion. I'll look, but I don't think the excursions will be worth it on another line for the girls.

The Trip to see the Dream, which includes a flight on a 7 passenger plane out to the ship yard is........







hundreds isn't even close........






nope, higher!!





$2900 PER PERSON!!!!!

 

[NancyIL]

Thanks Nancy, for the suggestion. I'll look, but I don't think the excursions will be worth it on another line for the girls.

The Trip to see the Dream, which includes a flight on a 7 passenger plane out to the ship yard is........







hundreds isn't even close........






nope, higher!!





$2900 PER PERSON!!!!!

Capitalism at its finest! What was it PT Barnum said?

How old are your daughters, and what excursions are so important on DCL that you are paying double to cruise with them? When you said you were looking for something to switch to, do you mean you would rather not do a Baltic cruise at all than to go on a less expensive ship?

 

[Davids-Coco]

I swear I read 3,900! Either way, spendy spendy!

 

[NancyIL]

I swear I read 3,900! Either way, spendy spendy!

Either way, some sucker will pay it!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

These limited 4 cruises were always going to be expensive, thats to book, and also for shore trips.

This is why DCL like going to Europe, the Med and Baltic, as the shore trips are expensive, there is a high take up on booking these and they get a good stream of commission from sales.

12.% of a expensive Baltic trip is a good earner.

Going to see the DREAM would always be an elite trip and expensive, I didn't even enquire about it, but a few dissers have PM'd me and asked if I was booking it.

I have seen people post they have booked it, and if you have the spare funds and want to see it, its a nice day, and an expensive trip report everyone will read..

I have booked a private tour of Berlin with DCL that day, thats more worthwhile seeing the history.

Princess ball is part of a trip of a lifetime, yes expensive, like most things on DCL, bit the kids would enjoy.

 

[cindy18]

To the OP, please reconsider on not going on the Baltic. It's going to be an amazing 12 nights, and a trip of a lifetime for your family. We were also a little stunned about the prices, but we realized that with the exception of Berlin (if you want to go) and St Pete, we could do EVERYTHING ON OUR OWN and not pay for the excursions. The other cities are really approachable and accessible, regardless of the age of your kids. I agree that it would be incredible to go see the Dream being built, but that's not the reason to go on the Baltic. If you can find the money for the ball, then save for that (special for young daughters), but if not, explore these amazing northern European cities on your own, find the best deal (or a group deal) you can with one of the tour guides in St. Pete and put the excursions within your own budget. It's definitely doable.

 

[Annabell]

Wow.... when I was looking at my Med excursions I was shocked by the price of the "Cooking at Torre a Cenaia" excursion that cost $2300 pp.
Well... I thought that must be the most expensive excursion from DCL..... how wrong I am....

 

[Rogillio]

I agree the Baltic Cruise costs are adding up fast. Our Cat 4 with 4 people is $15,500 (that's w/o ground trans and w/o insurance). Add in there hotels ($600), tips ($700), airfare ($8k), excursions ($3k) and its hard to swallow. But....here some convoluted reasoning that helped me.

About the time they came out with this cruise, I was looking to get a new vehicle. I wandered into a GM dealership and my eye immediately went to a bright shiney red Corvette! OMG, it was soo cool! The list price on it was right at $50k. Gulp. But man, it would be so cool to own and drive a Corvette! My wife asked if I was having a mid-life crises....but I said "I have always wanted a Vette."

Anyway, I did not get the Corvette....instead I bought a pick-up truck for about $20k. So we 'saved' about $30k...which, coincidently, is about what our DCL Baltic cruise is gonna end up costing us!

So when you see me drive by in my $20 pick-up truck and wonder why I look so happy, it's becuase I chose the "trip of a lifetime" with the family instead of a Corvette. Some day I will get a Corvette...or maybe not. Who knows where the Dream will go? China?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Wow.... when I was looking at my Med excursions I was shocked by the price of the "Cooking at Torre a Cenaia" excursion that cost $2300 pp.
Well... I thought that must be the most expensive excursion from DCL..... how wrong I am....

I agree the Baltic Cruise costs are adding up fast. Our Cat 4 with 4 people is $15,500 (that's w/o ground trans and w/o insurance). Add in there hotels ($600), tips ($700), airfare ($8k), excursions ($3k) and its hard to swallow. But....here some convoluted reasoning that helped me.

About the time they came out with this cruise, I was looking to get a new vehicle. I wandered into a GM dealership and my eye immediately went to a bright shiny red Corvette! OMG, it was soo cool! The list price on it was right at $50k. Gulp. But man, it would be so cool to own and drive a Corvette! My wife asked if I was having a mid-life crises....but I said "I have always wanted a Vette."

Anyway, I did not get the Corvette....instead I bought a pick-up truck for about $20k. So we 'saved' about $30k...which, coincidental, is about what our DCL Baltic cruise is gonna end up costing us!

So when you see me drive by in my $20 pick-up truck and wonder why I look so happy, it's because I chose the "trip of a lifetime" with the family instead of a Corvette. Some day I will get a Corvette...or maybe not. Who knows where the Dream will go? China?

I know, I keep thinking about that new car I could have had instead of this cruise.

With Berlin $2,200 thats my most expensive Shore trip so far, I have a budget of $2,500 for the other DCL shore trips, and $1,500 for St Petes, before spending money on board.

This is a trip of a lifetime, only 4 DCL Baltic cruises, no repeat in 2011, so if you miss it you miss out, (On DCL).

 

[NancyIL]

I agree the Baltic Cruise costs are adding up fast. Our Cat 4 with 4 people is $15,500 (that's w/o ground trans and w/o insurance). Add in there hotels ($600), tips ($700), airfare ($8k), excursions ($3k) and its hard to swallow. But....here some convoluted reasoning that helped me.

About the time they came out with this cruise, I was looking to get a new vehicle. I wandered into a GM dealership and my eye immediately went to a bright shiney red Corvette! OMG, it was soo cool! The list price on it was right at $50k. Gulp. But man, it would be so cool to own and drive a Corvette! My wife asked if I was having a mid-life crises....but I said "I have always wanted a Vette."

Anyway, I did not get the Corvette....instead I bought a pick-up truck for about $20k. So we 'saved' about $30k...which, coincidently, is about what our DCL Baltic cruise is gonna end up costing us!

So when you see me drive by in my $20 pick-up truck and wonder why I look so happy, it's becuase I chose the "trip of a lifetime" with the family instead of a Corvette. Some day I will get a Corvette...or maybe not. Who knows where the Dream will go? China?

I know, I keep thinking about that new car I could have had instead of this cruise.

With Berlin $2,200 thats my most expensive Shore trip so far, I have a budget of $2,500 for the other DCL shore trips, and $1,500 for St Petes, before spending money on board.

This is a trip of a lifetime, only 4 DCL Baltic cruises, no repeat in 2011, so if you miss it you miss out, (On DCL).

My husband has the expensive car buying gene (exhibited in his younger BMW days), but apparently he never got the drop large wads of money on a trip of a lifetime one! Fortunately, I haven't been drinking the Disney Kool-Aid, either!

 

[Mom2PrincessesLinSy]

Thanks, guys for all your help.

I am from Scandinavia, so I have always wanted to do a Baltic cruise to go and see my ancestor's homeland. When we got married (In Disney World) we wanted to do the Baltic for our Honeymoon, but the money just wasn't there. So we said we'd go for a "big" anniversary trip.

Our 5th year Anniversary we were in the midst of fertility treatments, and then finally the birth of our second daughter, so that "big" trip was postponed again. All the while, we have been saving for that trip to the Baltic.

In 2008, we started looking at the Baltic cruises so we could plan the 10 year trip. Just when we were going to make our decision, Disney announced their plan on doing the Baltics on the Magic! OMG. It was like Karma. The trip we wanted to do on our Honeymoon, aboard the ship we were on during our honeymoon! So we decided to make our 2009 Anniversary trip in 2010 (our 11th anniversary, but close enough!)

So I sat there the day the trip opened for booking and got our reservation! I was so excited! Normally we sail in a verandah, but we settled for an outside stateroom, because that is what we could afford (I can't be in an inside cabin, too claustrophobic). We ended up re-booking the cruise on the ship in Nov 2008 for a 10% discount and OBC. Again, Karma!

And we have continued to save money for the trip. Selling our DVC points (400 of them) to help pay, Disney Dollars from the Disney Visa Card, etc. I figured we'd be set. I knew the ports would be expensive. When I looked at the Dream excursion, I thought "Wow, that would be awesome" but I KNEW it would out of our price range so I just moved on. (didn't think it would cost the same as our entire cruise, but hey, what do I know?)

But, I started to really add up everything last night. With the cruise, flight, hotel, transfers, tips, and a VERY minimal amount of on board spending, we are already at $18,000!!

We do need a car in the next year. While I see the Corvette analogy (thanks! Love it!), ours would work in reverse. Can I spend that much for one trip when I could spend half of it, and put the rest towards the car we need?

I am going to do our taxes this weekend, and see what turns up. Maybe we'll get enough back to make up for the loss, and we can continue planning our dream cruise.

Otherwise, by March 15th I'll have to rebook something else. Looking at the Southern Carribean Holiday Cruise or a Mexican Rivieria, with Disneyland. We might also do a cruise out of Baltimore up through New England. No AIRFARE!!!

Anwyay, thanks again everyone. Any other suggestions on keeping costs down and making this trip would be appreciated!!

 

[Rogillio]

My husband has the expensive car buying gene (exhibited in his younger BMW days), but apparently he never got the drop large wads of money on a trip of a lifetime one! Fortunately, I haven't been drinking the Disney Kool-Aid, either!

So have you been drinking your husband's BMW Kool-aid? There is no right or wrong here Nancy....and there is no Kool-aid either! I've traveled all over the world....I am not stupid and I'm not naive.

You wrote earlier in this thread that some 'sucker' would pay for the exclusive Dream tour. Maybe those people aren't suckers....maybe they just have more money than we do?

~Mike

 

[Rogillio]

Mom2PrincessesLinSy, I think we all go thru phases in our lives where we have more (or less) disposable income. Newlyweds are usually trying to buy a house and cars and pay off student loans and then they have children...and then maybe need a bigger house etc. So maybe the timing was just not quite rigth for y'all?

You want to see the land of your heritage and that is very cool! A few years ago I fell in love....with the food on the Norweigan buffet at EPCOT! From that we decided to take a vacation in Norway! We flew to Oslo, got a rental car and spent a couple of weeks driving around Noway and Swedan. Very cool trip and much, much cheaper than a cruise.

~Mike

 

[TinksDH]

You wrote earlier in this thread that some 'sucker' would pay for the exclusive Dream tour. Maybe those people aren't suckers....maybe they just have more money than we do?

~Mike

To a lot of folks in the world, we (cruisers) must look like suckers as well! We spend more on a cruise than they spend in a year.

I used to shake my head towards folks who buy $100,000 luxury cars, own a piece of a Gulfstream, own 4 and 5 multi-million dollar homes, etc. You know - CEO's, dot.com execs, investment bankers, etc. But when you compare their salary to mine, and that it may easily be 10X - 20X what I make, the cost of their "toys" will easily be 10X - 20X more than what mine cost. They look to me like I look to the other 80% of the world - spending excessively on things that don't matter. So, to each his own on what they buy. Hopefully their charitable giving also increases proportionately as well!

 

[NancyIL]

So have you been drinking your husband's BMW Kool-aid? There is no right or wrong here Nancy....and there is no Kool-aid either! I've traveled all over the world....I am not stupid and I'm not naive.

You wrote earlier in this thread that some 'sucker' would pay for the exclusive Dream tour. Maybe those people aren't suckers....maybe they just have more money than we do?

~Mike

In 1985 we sold hubby's 2nd BMW and bought a Chevy Citation!