The priced-out pity party thread.

[tup1830]

This is a sign...buy the stock, don't go on the ship...there seem to be enough people willing to buy these astronomically priced cruises, which is great for the stock price!!!

 

[braysmommy]

On a happy note if you can take 2 weeks off and don't mind pulling your kid from school (I did), the West Bound Panama Canal is crazy cheap compared to previous years!

 

[cashe]

On a happy note if you can take 2 weeks off and don't mind pulling your kid from school (I did), the West Bound Panama Canal is crazy cheap compared to previous years!

that would be nice if i could chance her not getting sick for the whole year. the 2 weeks isn't the problem for us, it's the idea of going to jail for having her be truant. lol

 

[perditax]

The worst part of this is, it's kind of taking the shine off my first-ever DCL cruise coming up in September, knowing it's likely not something I can look forward to being a regular occurrence. It almost feels like I might as well fall back to different lines NOW.

 

[cashe]

The worst part of this is, it's kind of taking the shine off my first-ever DCL cruise coming up in September, knowing it's likely not something I can look forward to being a regular occurrence. It almost feels like I might as well fall back to different lines NOW.

my sentiments exactly. glad we snagged the big room now and i am going to do everything in my power to have the best trip knowing it will most l likely be my last!

 

[nhgirl]

We wouldn't sail during the summer anyway, but we priced out the EBTA as we had to cancel this years. I didn't like the itinerary as much but would have paid a similar price. It's so much more expensive which means no EBTA for us. It's okay though. We are doing Bermuda on NCL instead.

We are doing Bermuda on NCL too. They have really good promotions right now.

 

[ptcbass]

So happy I cancelled our WDW trip combined with the 4 day Dream this year for the 7 day Fantasy. Might be my first and last time on her.

Here's the thing. We are a family of 5 with young children. I can't jump on *GT rates because they are for parties of 4 or less. I don't want to split the family into 2 rooms because they are young and DCL can't guarantee adjoining or even close by rooms. So no discounts for us.

We are new to cruising and tried the Dream last year and fell in love with her and the whole idea of cruising. But with these prices, seems Disney has priced out my family of 5. Would really love to see the Kids Sail Free promo come back just to help out the larger families! Or some other discount besides OBB to help us out!

We are in the same boat you are. Tried the Dream for the first time last year and then had it booked for this May again and decided to change it to the Fantasy. We can't do a trip like that every year so we were going to do the Dream again in 2016. Last year it was about $1550, this year about $1720 and then next year pushing $2000. Crazy to go up that much and for 3 nights! That is really only 2.5 days of vacation for 2k! I think it is time we tried RC. I will have to say though that as of right now the Fantasy for next year (first of May) is in line with this years prices and that is good for those that can book it.

 

[deanimal]

Joining in the pity party here, but with an extra helping of tears. Spare a thought for us poor Canadian DCL lovers and our current dilemma. After years at par, the Canadian dollar has dropped over 25% against the US dollar in the past 12 months. So we're looking at a 25% price increase BEFORE we apply the new 2016 prices! So the $7800 summer Fantasy cruise that would have cost me about $7800 Cdn last year now costs over $10 000!!!!

I'll just be over here sobbing into my double-double for a while.

 

[NYIceQueen]

We are doing Bermuda on NCL too. They have really good promotions right now.

We might have to also. Either NCL or RCCL is offering NYC to Bermuda to San Juan and St. Thomas and another place that escapes me(?), and then back to NYC. THAT'S an awesome itinerary....at least to me

 

[scrapshappen]

Ugh. I'm here too. We've been on two DCL vacations and both have been amazing. We have an OBB that I was going to transfer to Alaska for 2016. We actually had it booked for summer 2015 but our kids school schedule changed so we moved that OBB to the Fantasy this past January instead. We had budgeted 10K for that trip including a veranda stateroom, excursions and driving to Vancouver from Salt Lake. Now for 2016, just the veranda room is 10K. So our choices are to move to an inside room, switch cruise lines or plan a different amazing vacation with that money.

And when I saw the BI itinerary I did picture myself on it for a few minutes, then reality came crashing down. Oh well. Really, these are first world problems. Most people in this world would love to have a fraction of the vacation budget most of us on these boards have. And Disney doesn't seem to have a problem selling staterooms so more power to them I suppose.

 

[Yooperroo]

We did a land tour of Alaska 20 or so years ago and it was amazing. We flew to Anchorage, rented a car and spent two weeks touring on our own. I'm researching another land tour now. We'd love to take our son and really experience Alaska. Don't get me wrong. We loved, loved our cruise there. It's our favorite to date, but you are only sticking your toe in the water.

Look into the Alaska railroad. I toured all of Alaska on it. I tell everyone who says that a cruise is the best way to see AK that they only think that because they've never done the ARR.

 

[98slowbra]

I looked at the prices all the way around on the cruise lines for when our daughters get out of school. We always choose a cat 4a for 4 people and it seems like the price has gone up pretty good, for British Isles it was $17,000 just for cruise, then add in airfare and excursions and all it would be around $28,000. Their prices are getting unreal on all the cruises. I think it is time to dump Disney and try RC since they have a better price.

 

[perditax]

I'll just drop this in here:

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?searchCriteria.voyageCode=1516

Of note:

--This is for a 2015 sailing, and similar 2016 sailings are more expensive ...
--BUT, the prices on the 2015 sailing have DROPPED significantly on certain balcony cabins since release day, for example see the price history of "DF". So those 2016 prices may go down too.

 

[ldo]

actually, some of the Europe cruise are very reasonable and almost the same $ as RCCL. Fjords for 4 persons, Baltics, and W. Med in June/July/Aug is still under $7K for OV. We have 5 persons, so the price skyrockets for those cabins, but if I had a family of 4, I would book one of those. I was expecting much higher.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The worst part of this is, it's kind of taking the shine off my first-ever DCL cruise coming up in September, knowing it's likely not something I can look forward to being a regular occurrence. It almost feels like I might as well fall back to different lines NOW.

Don't be jaded. I think just like everything there's a right time & place. We homeschool so for the past several years we weren't limited to the typical busy seasons when kids are out of school. We've taken some fabulous vacations and never felt like we were being fleeced. But the seasons of life change, naturally. Now our sons have jobs. The oldest will be starting college next year. Now we are being limited on when we can do family trips. It changes things. My TA friend has a college student son, too. She's snagged some great specials somewhat closer to sailing for Thanksgiving week the last couple years. So if we sail with the "kids" for a few years on Disney it'll be when we can get the right price at the right time because that's what life dictates. And like the hubby reminds me, they're almost grown. We won't be accommodating them forever. They'll be doing their own thing. And we'll be back to our off-season travels however we want. Life's seasons change.

Enjoy your upcoming DCL cruise! Enjoy your future adventures wherever they may be. Don't mourn the trips you aren't taking. Just because Disney doesn't fit in the foreseeable future doesn't mean they never will again. Faith, trust, and pixie dust! It's okay! Promise!

 

[tweis]

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 see what the pp is talking about. We priced the last May sailing of 2015 last year and the same sailing this year is $960 difference. Same thing with Alaska....up over $1100 from 2015 prices. I refuse to pay $6600 for a May cruise to the Caribbean when I have the same cruise booked on the Allure for May 2016 for $3500. I may go ahead and book Alaska but after that, it will just be off season for us, that is, if we can take our kids out of school. I'm happy for the folks that will pay these prices but I refuse.

 

[tweis]

Apparently I forgot to insert my quote but @bumbershoot this is directed at you.

Did you enjoy RCCL to Alaska? I have a hold on DCL Alaska but the price is a bit much and I was looking at RCCL Alaska and the prices are much better. Did you do a TR on your RCCL to Alaska?

 

[aggiedog]

We have a 5b on the May 30 Baltic cruise. We paid $8,900 for 2a/2k, no insurance, transfers, etc. We booked it way late, just a few months ago. The same room is now almost $1000 more for the 2016 sailing. We have 4 kids though, so the grandparents are going and we are paying for half of their room too, as the other two kids will be with them. That's $13,350 this year, plus taxes, fees, airfare, excursions, and incidentals. The only itineraries I was really interested in were the Norway/Iceland B, and the longer med cruise. Those are both just too expensive to justify at this point, at approx $28K for cruise alone for our family, assuming grandparents would want to pay the other half of their room.

I'd do Alaska, but not for the 2016 prices. Again, adding up all the other costs, I can do a lot more somewhere else.

And I make good money. I just would prefer to spend less on any given vacation. Sad, because like someone said, I was assuming we'd love our first DCL experience so much we'd want to do more. Now this trip in May will most likely be our only unless the prices get under control.

OTOH, time to look into Disney stock!

 

[braysmommy]

I'll just drop this in here:

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?searchCriteria.voyageCode=1516

Of note:

--This is for a 2015 sailing, and similar 2016 sailings are more expensive ...
--BUT, the prices on the 2015 sailing have DROPPED significantly on certain balcony cabins since release day, for example see the price history of "DF". So those 2016 prices may go down too.

Wow $6112 vs. $14,500....and DCL has much shorter port times.

 

[lbgraves]

I say welcome to the party that started back when the first round of 2015 cruises were released. It's nice to have you join us!