July 2011 med cruises repriced LOWER

[drewmisha]

The July med cruises for 2011 have been repriced a LOT lower (~25% lower). There isn't a kids sale free promo but for my Cat 5b, I saved about 3200 over the original booking. With the onboard booking 10% off plus the obc, the price is even better.

The prices are now very comparable or lower than the other cruiselines.

 

[kaseyC]

They did the same for the June 2011 dates. The prices are much more in line with other cruise lines. I guess they are being proactive so maybe they can avoid having to discount like they had to with many of the 2007 and 2010 European cruises. Maybe sales will pick up.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

The July med cruises for 2011 have been repriced a LOT lower (~25% lower). There isn't a kids sale free promo but for my Cat 5b, I saved about 3200 over the original booking. With the onboard booking 10% off plus the obc, the price is even better.

The prices are now very comparable or lower than the other cruiselines.

DCL are too late! I had a booking they changed the trip from 11 to 7 nights, would have swapped to an earlier cruise, 'if they asked me', or made it easy, they didnt suggest anything, so booked with RCCL 14 nights, in a suite far cheaper...

Pity they could offer a sensible price at the start, I would be on DCL in 2011.

 

[drewmisha]

I hear ya. I upped my cat5b to cat4b and the savings was still ~3200. We'll see what the DCL prices Alaska for the 2012 year. I think with the 2 new ships and increased capacity, the prices for all the cruises will fall more in line with the industry prices.

DCL are too late! I had a booking they changed the trip from 11 to 7 nights, would have swapped to an earlier cruise, 'if they asked me', or made it easy, they didnt suggest anything, so booked with RCCL 14 nights, in a suite far cheaper...

Pity they could offer a sensible price at the start, I would be on DCL in 2011.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I hear ya. I upped my cat5b to cat4b and the savings was still ~3200. We'll see what the DCL prices Alaska for the 2012 year. I think with the 2 new ships and increased capacity, the prices for all the cruises will fall more in line with the industry prices.

I know in the Cruise industry, you have to try to get what to can in income, and it is very competitive today, but after a few years in the med, knowing how sales go and the income they will get, they should start their price structure at a sensible level.

On these boards the advice is often book early for best price, but thats changing now and often it is not best price, and with changes to the arrangements after PIF date, booking late on less popular cruises, ( hot holiday season) is better advice.

The problem is they will cycle down in a game of *call my bluff* people not booking in anticipation of offers and discounts, that force discounts, and like Suites where they used to sell quickly but actually there are often cheap upgrades at port which devalues it and makes you book later and therefore offers more discounts.

They need to start at a realistic level first, and with more ships and competition get it right as my wallet is now with RCCL.

DCL did well in the Med in 2007, hence a return in 2010 and 2011, but have over milked the cow now, they boosted choice and bookings with the Baltic, but they needed another focus against the lure of DREAM and ALASKA, ie Eastern Med cruises, etc, they didn't do that and have too much capacity.

 

[tink too]

Oooh - I'll have to check out the cheaper prices now. Getting to a Med. pick-up port would be a lot cheaper, plus it would mean less travel time for us, but the high price had always put me off ever cruising the Med. with DCL.

This might just change our minds.

 

[kaseyC]

Oooh - I'll have to check out the cheaper prices now. Getting to a Med. pick-up port would be a lot cheaper, plus it would mean less travel time for us, but the high price had always put me off ever cruising the Med. with DCL.

This might just change our minds.

Check out the prices. The 10 and 11 night cruises are at a much more reasonable rate more in line with the other cruise lines sailing a similar itinerary.

This could be a smart move for DCL, bring back confidence in booking in advance again. Also, DCL may not have to offer discount Cat. 12 GTYs like they did for some of the 2007 and 2010 Med cruises as well as two of the 2010 Baltic cruises.

 

[Anal Annie]

Still crossing my fingers for some discounts on the August 7-nighters!! I looked at the website after I saw this thread to double check how much the July 20 one would be now (we USED to be on that one). Great deal but still more than what we're paying for 7 nights. I am afraid that is our limit. I might be crazy BUT I think not. I believe the Aug. 6th 7-nighter USED to be higher than the later August 7-nighters and now it is a smidge less. That is one reason we booked Aug. 13 - it was the first one that was less. Anybody else remember for sure? It must not have been selling as well as the others probably 'cuz it was more to start with?! All but 1 of the SPH cabins are still open on that one so THAT'S a sign wouldn't ya think?! I fear we may not get the same discounts.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Still crossing my fingers for some discounts on the August 7-nighters!! I looked at the website after I saw this thread to double check how much the July 20 one would be now (we USED to be on that one). Great deal but still more than what we're paying for 7 nights. I am afraid that is our limit. I might be crazy BUT I think not. I believe the Aug. 6th 7-nighter USED to be higher than the later August 7-nighters and now it is a smidge less. That is one reason we booked Aug. 13 - it was the first one that was less. Anybody else remember for sure? It must not have been selling as well as the others probably 'cuz it was more to start with?! All but 1 of the SPH cabins are still open on that one so THAT'S a sign wouldn't ya think?! I fear we may not get the same discounts.

Around the 15th May when we started looking (around that date )

6th August $2611
13th August $2471
20th August $2471
27th August $2051

so yes as you say the 6th cruise was slightly higher

 

[Annabell]

We also wanted to book in August 2011... but why there are no 10 or 11 nights Med cruises in August ? I thought I have seen them before.

Having done the 10 nighter before I find the 7 nights just too short.... and August is the only time we can go..... right now... the price per day is still high for the August sailing.... hopefully they will also go down a bit.

 

[K8T]

I agree, the 7 night is much to short, even though we are in the UK, so don't have the huge travel time that you folks have in the US, it is normal for European cruisers to do at least 11 or 14 nights.

I would have thought to make it worth while coming across the pond, a slightly longer cruise would be preferential.

What has surprised me, is how little Disney have marketed their Med cruises in the UK, yet I would have thought it would be the ideal opportunity to 'open them up', to a different market place. Currently you can buy through some on line companies, or of course Disney direct, but most High Street Agencies, although able to sell them, can't compete with the discounts these 'preferred' companies can offer, so don't stand a chance, therefore don't really promote them. Disney also don't seem to co-ordinate dates with holidays in the UK either, which doesn't help, although this could be because Ports fees are higher and busier?

On the recent Repo to Dover Cruise, there were a lot of Travel Agents on board, taking advantage of the Agents discounts, so their knowledge will be improved and they may mention DCL when families are looking for a cruise, but the standard 'family' lines such as P&O, RCCL etc., are still way cheaper, maybe not the same standard, but until folks go on DCL, they won't recognise the difference.

I know you 'gets what you pays for', but Disney obviously need to fill their ships and the incredible reductions for our 7 night show that they were struggling. Surely it is better to fill a ship at a sensible price than to cruise half empty, they could then take advantage of the on board sales.

Kate

 

[Melcatfish]

We also wanted to book in August 2011... but why there are no 10 or 11 nights Med cruises in August ? I thought I have seen them before.

Having done the 10 nighter before I find the 7 nights just too short.... and August is the only time we can go..... right now... the price per day is still high for the August sailing.... hopefully they will also go down a bit.

You did probably see them before but a while ago DCL cancelled these 10 and 11 night sailings and switched them to 7 night sailings, presumably thinking that the shorter cruise would be cheaper and therefore would increase bookings.

Unfortunately they did nothing for their customers who had bookings on these sailings, no courtesy call etc... nothing. Infact were it not for the Dis I wouldn't have known my cruise was changed then cancelled.

Of course I was mad at DCL but obviously not mad enough to stop me sailing again - shore side CMs may not be up to speed on customer service but the staff on the ship are so great that I am sticking with DCL for now!

Mel
x

 

[wayneg]

DCL are too late!

For us too,
We were going to do a short 4 night Wonder this August but they were asking £2,500-3000 (for 3 of us, inside cabin) decided not to cruise this year and do 4 nights Universal resort instead before 21 nights at Old Key West.
Last week they offered the cruise at $1,200, less than half price, TOO LATE DISNEY MY MONEY HAS GONE TO UNIVERSAL!!!!
We have booked for next year 4 nights on Dream, a realistic $1,600.

 

[ppiew]

To me the cruise prices may be high but the excursion (especially in Europe) prices are out of sight! That is also figured into the cost of the trip so with lower cruise prices maybe it will somehow even itself out.

 

[K8T]

To me the cruise prices may be high but the excursion (especially in Europe) prices are out of sight! That is also figured into the cost of the trip so with lower cruise prices maybe it will somehow even itself out.

Absolutely!!!

I booked the Dolphin trip in Gibralter, £20 each £10 for my daughter, a five minute walk from the ship.

Disney were charging $59 each for the adults, although this did include the bus from shipside! (sorry but I can walk for that money!).

We were on the same boat!

Madness.

Kate

 

[Anal Annie]

I agree, the 7 night is much to short, even though we are in the UK, so don't have the huge travel time that you folks have in the US, it is normal for European cruisers to do at least 11 or 14 nights.

I would have thought to make it worth while coming across the pond, a slightly longer cruise would be preferential.

What has surprised me, is how little Disney have marketed their Med cruises in the UK, yet I would have thought it would be the ideal opportunity to 'open them up', to a different market place. Currently you can buy through some on line companies, or of course Disney direct, but most High Street Agencies, although able to sell them, can't compete with the discounts these 'preferred' companies can offer, so don't stand a chance, therefore don't really promote them. Disney also don't seem to co-ordinate dates with holidays in the UK either, which doesn't help, although this could be because Ports fees are higher and busier?

Kate

I'm another one who was booked on one of the orig. 10-night August cruises - I really wanted to sail for at least 10 nights and was looking forward to Malta & Tunisia. Then they stopped sales & cancelled all of them from July 30 on. We hopped over to the July 20 one in order to preserve "our" SPH cabin but the July prices were higher than August was so it was costing us more and it was not as good of a month for us to go...they announced the 7 night ones & we hung in with the July one for awhile. Then we had a big financial crisis with DH's car and a hooooge repair bill so after a lot of consideration we decided since August was a better month we'd just move our date AGAIN back to August. Dropping the extra 3 nights even in a Cat 10 saved us well over $2,000!! That was significant for us and should cover some private tour excursions in Naples & Rome.

I agree that flying to Europe for just 7 nights is a tad bit silly. We also wanted to add days pre- and post- cruise and by going to the 7 night cruise it will be easier for us to do this. (Most of us in the U.S. don't get to take 3 week vacations like the UK folks - we just don't get as much leave.) We will still have a 14 or 15 night trip by going to Paris for 3 or 4 nights first then we plan to go to Barcelona the day before the cruise and then tack on 2 or 3 nights in Barcelona after the cruise as well. So even though it's not 10 nights on the ship there ARE advantages to sandwiching a 7 night cruise in the middle of the trip.

What I wish DCL had done was mix up the cruise lengths more. Instead of only offering 10 & 11 night sailings for 2 months THEN only offering 7 night ones I think they'd have had better success doing 11, 10, 7 repeat so the mix was available to everyone all summer. A little something for everyone all summer long.

Still hoping for a bit of a discount for the remaining August cruises...now that they've lowered the prices on the longer cruises the cost per night on the shorter ones is out of whack.

 

[K8T]

There is an August 18th showing at $999 per person at the moment, 10 nights with good stops, although that obviously won't include flights.

It just fits with the end of our summer holidays and am going to look at that in more detal, but is that too late for you in the US?

Kate

 

[Anal Annie]

There is an August 18th showing at $999 per person at the moment, 10 nights with good stops, although that obviously won't include flights.

It just fits with the end of our summer holidays and am going to look at that in more detal, but is that too late for you in the US?

Kate

You must be looking at 2010 dates 'cuz there are no longer any 10 night Med cruises in 2011.

(And personally, yes, if that was in 2011 that would be too late for us if we wanted to add days post-cruise as DS's school starts the last week of August - that would just push it too close to starting day. I would want to get home, recover from jet lag & have time to catch up on laundry etc. before the back-to-school rush starts.)

 

[BWV Dreamin]

You must be looking at 2010 dates 'cuz there are no longer any 10 night Med cruises in 2011.

(And personally, yes, if that was in 2011 that would be too late for us if we wanted to add days post-cruise as DS's school starts the last week of August - that would just push it too close to starting day. I would want to get home, recover from jet lag & have time to catch up on laundry etc. before the back-to-school rush starts.)

Stay on it girlfriend!!!

 

[kaseyC]

IMO, I think there will be better rate reductions for the 7 night 2011 Med itineraries. Many of the 10 night cruises are less expensive than the 7 nights in some cabin categories. To me at least, the 10 and 11 night cruises offer a better itinerary than the 7, so it would be expected that those cruises would be higher not other way around.