The priced-out pity party thread.

[sweetpee_1993]

Where are you seeing outrageous pricing for May caribbean sailings? There are only a few listed on the first page of the opening day pricing thread, and they are all pretty reasonable, very much in line with what is offered for this year from what I can see.

I didn't post the quotes I got from my TA but I'll tell ya, May Fantasy was preeeetty high. We are a family of 4 adults. "Kids" will be 18 & 20. We have 2 OBB discounts that were figured into all our numbers.

All 4 of us on the 5/14 Fantasy Western was: 9B - $5354.16, 5E - $5518.08, and 00V - $10364.16

5/21 Fantasy Eastern: 9B - $5888.80, 5E - 6153.40, and 00V - $12172.00

5/28 Fantasy Western: 9B - $6173.96, 5E - $6602.36, and 00V - 12268.16

We're looking to do something for 2 weeks for youngest DS's graduation. The cheapest 14-night option above is over $10,800. That's for a 9B oceanview, not even a verandah.

In comparison, we can get 2 connecting verandah rooms for b2b 7-night sailings on NCL's not even in service yet brand spankin new ship, the Escape, for just under $10k. Or, we can book the 4 of us in a Haven suite with all the concierge services & perks, free Ultimate dining, free Ultimate beverage package, half of our gratuities prepaid, AND $300 OBC for each sailing for under $13k. That's 2 weeks for what Disney wants for just 1 week in their cheapest concierge category. At some point we look at those prices and start feeling like we can get a lot more for the bucks. or I can use the same money to travel more.

 

[FJS961]

NCL Haven on new ships is really really nice. I have done the Haven in Breakaway and doing it again in July. I also have Escape booked for next year in a two bedroom suite. At some point you wake up. The overall concierge and amenities experience there is superior AND its about HALF the price. Not to mention rock climbing wall, ropes course with zip line, great waterslides, etc. I refuse to book DCL in summer (or other peak) times. Don't get me wrong, I have done 10 concierge cruises and had some great times but enough is enough with this pricing. Sorry, rant done.

 

[JimGA]

You have to applaud Disney, they can charge these prices and people will pay. And the funny thing is, these prices wil only go up.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I'm fairly new to cruising, have only done 2 DCL and no other lines. Booked both fairly last minute and got great VGT rates. I didn't necessarily book last minute to save $ but it's just when we decided to give cruising a try. Fast forward to now and I thought it would be nice to possibly book Europe during the summer and to do this in advance. Well, we are silver so we cant't get any pricing ourselves yet but my jaw just about dropped looking through the summer 2016 pricing thread. I don't care how spectacular Disney Cruise is, I am not paying that and it has nothing to do with being able to afford it. Although even with 2 good jobs and very good income we are almost there when it comes to these cruises. I will be now looking into Princess, Ncl or Royal for Europe anyway. It's a port intensive cruise anyway

 

[perditax]

Pity party joiner, here. DH was thrilled to hear about the British Isle itinerary.....until I told him about opening day pricing this morning. Pretty sure he crashed his work truck after that. I, too, looked at Cunard and Princess. Princess has pretty much the exact itinerary for HALF the price. So all is not lost....just lost from DCL ;-) Of course I'm partially talking about of my rear end because we have yet to even take our first cruise (that will be accomplished this Fall), but a girl can dream - a girl who turns 40 next year (as does her husband) and would like to celebrate in style. Just don't want to pay nearly a year of mortgage payments for one vacation thankyouverymuch

Same with me, in terms of our first cruise coming up this fall (September, and the off season pricing probably lulled me into a false sense of security. Well, that and some of the reasonable-seeming reposition cruises I've seen.) I also have a milestone birthday next year and that was part of how I was rationalizing it. (And maybe I'll see you on one of those Princess cruises. I wonder if Disney overflow is going to drive THAT price up.)

The signficant-other is pretty happy to let me handle the finances, and he didn't care too much about the cost of our four nighter in Sept (I even upgraded us to concierge). But as easygoing as he is (and we're double-tech-income-no-kids) I didn't even bother telling him the BI prices. (Not that I could even BOOK at these prices since I'm zero castaway club, and lord knows what they'll be tomorrow.) It's literally more than the value of the car he drives to work every day. Several times over. He was a sweetheart and insisted I get a new car first when our finances started getting comfortable a few years ago, and he's still driving my old beater. I couldn't do the cruise at that price under these circumstances.

(Sorry if I'm oversharing here, and God knows we spend lots of money on silly things, and if he really wanted a new car he could get one. I guess we just all have that mental line in the sand and this is where mine ended up.)

 

[ldo]

We have done RCCL in the Baltics for under $4K, NCL in W. Med. for $5K (both for family of 4), and Princess 12 day Italy/Greece for 2 persons for $3500. All were July/aug. high season. For the price difference, we added an entire week on land prior to those cruise. We love DCL, but for Europe, the ship, entertainment, etc. really doesn't matter as much. You leave to explore and come back hot and tired. Many nights we just ate dinner and then vegged in the room. We are much more picky about a Carib. cruise, where you have more sea days.
However, I did make my kids the "secret agent dossiers" that I heard about that DCL has for kids. Pretty easy with any tour book and it was fun for the kids.

 

[Ofinn]

You have to applaud Disney, they can charge these prices and people will pay. And the funny thing is, these prices wil only go up.

Are they paying? Lots of discounts this year, and they have raised the prices for next May. They can't even sell this May. I find it strange.

 

[Ofinn]

I turn 40 this year and that was our excuse to do to Europe (we've never been). Last year when they announced Norway, I was wandering around the house singing "for the first time in forever..." because I was so excited... until the prices came out and I saw I could do basically the same itinerary on NCL for less than half the price. With the savings (if you want to label it that) we are spending 2 days in London, 2 days in Paris, and then 2 days in Iceland after the cruise.

Like others have said, it's not that we can't afford DCL but that we won't spend that kind of money on DCL.

I'll have to check out princess. My son really wants to go to Iceland but I think a land vacation would be less expensive. My friend spent 3 weeks in Alaska last year, and she said she wished she would have done a cruise. I think Alaska is a destination where it's better to cruise. I'm not sure about Europe, but after seeing the prices I think I could do a land vacation a lot cheaper.

 

[LeslieG]

I'm looking elsewhere for Northern Europe. Really like Regal Princess 11 night, but don't know if I can get away that long. NCL has a nice 9 night on the Star, but I'm turned off by the older ship.

 

[FirstTimeCruiserDCL]

I didn't post the quotes I got from my TA but I'll tell ya, May Fantasy was preeeetty high. We are a family of 4 adults. "Kids" will be 18 & 20. We have 2 OBB discounts that were figured into all our numbers.

All 4 of us on the 5/14 Fantasy Western was: 9B - $5354.16, 5E - $5518.08, and 00V - $10364.16

5/21 Fantasy Eastern: 9B - $5888.80, 5E - 6153.40, and 00V - $12172.00

5/28 Fantasy Western: 9B - $6173.96, 5E - $6602.36, and 00V - 12268.16

We're looking to do something for 2 weeks for youngest DS's graduation. The cheapest 14-night option above is over $10,800. That's for a 9B oceanview, not even a verandah.

In comparison, we can get 2 connecting verandah rooms for b2b 7-night sailings on NCL's not even in service yet brand spankin new ship, the Escape, for just under $10k. Or, we can book the 4 of us in a Haven suite with all the concierge services & perks, free Ultimate dining, free Ultimate beverage package, half of our gratuities prepaid, AND $300 OBC for each sailing for under $13k. That's 2 weeks for what Disney wants for just 1 week in their cheapest concierge category. At some point we look at those prices and start feeling like we can get a lot more for the bucks. or I can use the same money to travel more.

If you don't mind, sweetpee, what was the price breakdown for your 5/21 sailing in cat 5E?

 

[NeesieOnaBoat]

We are all so blessed aren't we.... some of have cruised before with DCL, other with other lines and we HAVE money for vacations and lucky enough to have spouses that let us book at crazy prices, and we are smart enough NOT to, lol! It's a 1st world problem for sure!

I've got one of those sweet spouse's too, he let me book this years Northern Europe for a milestone's celebration year and overspend. But geez, that cruise for 4 adults in a CAT4A is still less that a CAT5C for 2 Adults on similar cruises in 2016. Like everyone else, I've indulged on WDW resorts, indulged on the BLT DVC property and likely spend way too much traveling, BUT, I still am a bit shocked at the increased pricing after reading how openning day prices are the best you can get.

I'll look tomorrow at prices, 'just in case' (I'm just a plan old SILVER Castaway) and I have a gut feeling that DCL will become our 'off season', 'US port only', 'watch for the specials' cruise line. Sometimes I act like I have more money than sense, but this time my logic and common sense seems to be taking over.

 

[bcwife76]

Perditax I totally get what you are saying (and no you did not overshare). Our repo in September (assuming we are on the same cruise?? Van-San Diego??) was such a bargain in comparison to other cruises that we jumped on it. And now I think, like you, that lulled us into thinking we could 'afford' another DCL cruise when that does not seem to be the case (well, to Europe at least! LOL still holding out hope for more West Coast cruises).

 

[perditax]

Perditax I totally get what you are saying (and no you did not overshare). Our repo in September (assuming we are on the same cruise?? Van-San Diego??) was such a bargain in comparison to other cruises that we jumped on it. And now I think, like you, that lulled us into thinking we could 'afford' another DCL cruise when that does not seem to be the case (well, to Europe at least! LOL still holding out hope for more West Coast cruises).

Oh sorry, no, I'm on a four night "newb" cruise to see if my vertigo can handle the sea. But since Europe/UK is my dream travel (and I hate flying and love water), I've clicked on quite a few TA repo cruises and they did seem like bargains.

 

[Ssamara28]

Hi there. Thanks for the invite. I am pulling up a chair. Disney Wonder will be our last Disney cruise for a long time. We are jumping ship to Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Yes I know you get what you pay for. But I can get two Carnivals cruises for the price of one Disney. Just going to have to lower my standards of quality when I take the leap.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I'd like to whine some more please.... Aside from prices, I'm bummed about lack of Hawaii, no cruises out of NY...

 

[bethy]

I'm on a newbie cruise in October 2015. Assuming no major issues with seasickness I am assuming we will fall head over heels for DCL. Now I'm kind of scared to start down this path! Especially since after this year we will be limited to Christmas and Summer for our family vacations!

 

[Karlzmom]

Joining in. So my big question is if not DCL who would you choose for Alaska with a multigenerational group and why? Seeing much better rates on NCL, Princess and Celebrity. Parents in. Their 60s and need a bit of pampering DS will be 10 but still loves to play and enjoys kid time..DH and I know if the other two needs are met and the accommodations are clean and comfortable we can probably manage.

 

[NeesieOnaBoat]

Can I just tell you that I've been looking at Luxury Cruise lines like Cunard, Viking, Celebrity and even Regent and found that I can get a 10 day cruise in Europe on Regent with a verandah, excursions, booze and airfare included for 12,000... and if I want to fly business across the pond and have a suite with a butler, then it's 15,000. Hey, if I'm considering paying POSH prices, I sorta want POSH, lol.

 

[bumbershoot]

Joining in. So my big question is if not DCL who would you choose for Alaska with a multigenerational group and why? Seeing much better rates on NCL, Princess and Celebrity. Parents in. Their 60s and need a bit of pampering DS will be 10 but still loves to play and enjoys kid time..DH and I know if the other two needs are met and the accommodations are clean and comfortable we can probably manage.

I have chosen Royal for my family. It was our honeymoon cruise, and unless we need to postpone it unitl next year (we'll see tomorrow when the Alaska 2016 itineraries are due to come out) we'll be on Royal for Alaska again. My 10 year old son likes whatever ship he is on, but once home he says Royal's kid's club is better than Disney's. Biggest reason? The counselors get to know the kids on Royal, but there are just so many kids on Disney they don't get that chance. And he likes that they play games and interact with the kids on Royal, rather than just lead the occasional activity and mainly watch the kids doing things on Disney.

But I've heard that Princess does a *terrific* Alaska cruise.

And Celebrity has no smoking anywhere inside (not even in the casino), so that's making us think very strongly about Celebrity going forward! But I know nothing else about it.



*********

Comparing the two DCL cruises I can compare (the other two are October cruises which aren't up yet for me), similar cruises for 2016 are 400 and 300 more than they were in 2013 and 2015. For some reason that just doesn't seem *that* high to me, but I suppose if I were adding nights and kids to it it would get scary.

 

[bcwife76]

Joining in. So my big question is if not DCL who would you choose for Alaska with a multigenerational group and why? Seeing much better rates on NCL, Princess and Celebrity. Parents in. Their 60s and need a bit of pampering DS will be 10 but still loves to play and enjoys kid time..DH and I know if the other two needs are met and the accommodations are clean and comfortable we can probably manage.

Friends of ours are doing an Alaskan cruise May 2016 on NCL; they are 3 generations (parents in late 60s, our friends who are early 40s and their two kids who will be 7 1/2 at sailing time). They have done DCL before and are thrilled to go on NCL, saying for the deal they are getting it will be incredible and the ship suits all the needs of everyone in their group.