HOW MUCH more are you willing to pay for DCL?

[eskimoinparadise]

I can rationalize up to $50 more/pax/day for the same itineraries and cruise length, but anything more than that and it gets real tough to convince myself that it's worth it.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

What's making this even a decision is that there are 4 sea days on both itineraries and I think DCL would provide a much better onboard experience for DD. On RCI, from what I've gathered, the 12-17 year olds are all lumped together. My daughter will be a young 13, and I don't think she's ready for that action! On the other hand, I know she'd be happy as a clam at Edge...

 

[deanimal]

I second the previous poster and say the DCL experience is worth about 10-20% more to me. However, that's with kids who are currently 5 and 6. The value may go down as they get older. My daughter is already a bit of a daredevil who would probably prefer a climbing wall or ropes course to meeting princesses. We're sailing NCL Breakaway in a one bedroom haven suite next March for less than a standard verandah room on the Fantasy that same week. We'll see if we end up coming back.

 

[LorraineBaines]

We just booked our first cruise (ever) with DCL, and it will almost certainly be our last. Even if it turns out we absolutely love cruising, we will cruise another line next time (and it won't be for a few years). I am quite frugal by nature - this a once in a lifetime experience for our family, and at this point I'm willing to pay a premium for Disney because my kids are a great age for it (will be 10 and 7 at sailing), I know they will enjoy the kids' club, characters, activities, etc. DH and I love the idea of doing a Panama cruise at some point as a couple, but no way would we pay DCL prices for just the two of us.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Many of us here, myself included, are willing to pay more for a DCL cruise. But how much more? We really, really want to go to the Med next summer and had been pricing 11 and 12-night itineraries on other lines in preparation for DCL's release. I wasn't even sure DCL would offer a longer Med itinerary, so we wanted to know what are options are. I was really excited to learn that DCL would be offering one 12-night Med cruise, but of course I was nervous about the pricing. I expected them to be higher, but HOLY COW! Now we need to figure out just how much more we're willing to pay.

Just for illustration, here are the DCL and RCI 12-night Med w/Greece itineraries with pricing. Traveling will be myself, DH, and DD (who will be 13 at the time). On DCL we'd be in a cat 9C ocean view room on deck 2, while on RCI we'd be in a cat D1 balcony room (roughly equivalent to a cat 5 on DCL) on deck 7.

So... just how much more are you willing to spend for the DCL experience??

Talking the 12 night Med that we did last year about a third of the ship was Spainards and about 20% UK Now if all of those are after the same cruise the price will go up and up. The people of Spain love Mickey and this is the main way they get to see him. There were in fact two CDs Brent and Arnaldo who was speaking Spainish for the cruisers from Spain. As that cruise is popular its a money spinner for DCL and they will continue to do it at that time.

 

[Love2Cruz]

10%....but I can get a 7b day on one of the Oasis class ships for way less than a 7 day on Fantasy ($1800 less)...so unless I hold off on booking and wait for a GT rate or a FLR rate, I will not be booking.

 

[98slowbra]

Well all you better watch out for next year then, they will require more money and a body part just to sail with them.

 

[tweis]

I honestly can't believe the increase this year, well really I can after the skyrocketing prices last Spring, but I kind of had my heart set on Alaska even though we have the Allure booked. These prices just enforced the fact that we will never sail the Fantasy or not during school breaks which is the only time we can sail. The Alaska cruise I was looking at was up over $1000 from last year and the Fantasy was $960 more for a late May cruise. I am willing to pay maybe 20%-25% more for a Caribbean cruise with Disney but not $3000 more! We are only paying $3500 for our western on the Allure. But of course, I really want Alaska and I want DCL but not at those prices. I'm looking at RCL for Alaska and I can get an ocean view for $1200 less than an inside on Disney. This should be a no brainer but I'm struggling a little. Alaska is a more port intensive cruise though and I don't know if the ship should play a huge part in it or not? My kids do not enjoy Edge so that would not be a factor. I think it's more of a fear of the unknown. Disney is like home but I'm fixing to get evicted because I'm not sure I wanna pay the price anymore.

ETA: Just checked the price of an inside room on RCL and it's 3K less than the Wonder.

 

[alldiz]

I honestly can't believe the increase this year, well really I can after the skyrocketing prices last Spring, but I kind of had my heart set on Alaska even though we have the Allure booked. These prices just enforced the fact that we will never sail the Fantasy or not during school breaks which is the only time we can sail. The Alaska cruise I was looking at was up over $1000 from last year and the Fantasy was $960 more for a late May cruise. I am willing to pay maybe 20%-25% more for a Caribbean cruise with Disney but not $3000 more! We are only paying $3500 for our western on the Allure. But of course, I really want Alaska and I want DCL but not at those prices. I'm looking at RCL for Alaska and I can get an ocean view for $1200 less than an inside on Disney. This should be a no brainer but I'm struggling a little. Alaska is a more port intensive cruise though and I don't know if the ship should play a huge part in it or not? My kids do not enjoy Edge so that would not be a factor. I think it's more of a fear of the unknown. Disney is like home but I'm fixing to get evicted because I'm not sure I wanna pay the price anymore.

I think a cruise like Alaska a view from your room can really enhance your cruise experience.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Yes.

We were on the Adventure, and while the ship was cool, the crew was the best part. I highly recommend Alla tours for St. Petersburg. We used them for Tallinn and Helsinki as well and were really impressed and happy with our tours. If you're hitting Copenhagen, DON'T do the HoHo bus, it only runs every 30 minutes, and it's crowded, so it's hard to catch, which leaves you either cutting a site short, or sitting around waiting forever for the next bus. We ended up walking back to port from the "postcard row" canal (I call it that because it's like those houses in San Francisco that everyone thinks of when they picture it).

 

[prune1977]

We went on our first ever cruise in Jan. We went DCL because we'd never done one before and decided we'd better try a 3 night first since a couple of us are prone to motion sickness and if we hated it we didn't want to be stuck for 7 nights. Well I switched from RC 7 night to DCL 3 night because we couldn't find a 3 night on RCC or Carnival that didn't go to Mexico. It about made me sick to do it because we paid as much or actually about $300 more for the DCL cruise than we would've the RCC. I think DCL is getting out of hand with their pricing.

 

[tweis]

I think a cruise like Alaska a view from your room can really enhance your cruise experience.

I think so also which is why I'm thinking of putting down a deposit for RCL to Alaska. I would really like a view for Alaska and I refuse to pay for one with DCL.

 

[livie1205]

We will continue until we can't, we stick to the 4 night Caribbean cruise so the price increases are not that big each year. The same cruise we are doing this year is only about 200.00 more next year so we will stick with it. The ports are not a big deal for us because we sail DCL Mostly for the ship and Disney experience.It has increased but we will just save like we always do because we have no interest in other lines.
I do agree some of the costs are crazy and that they will keep doing that until people stop booking but I don't see them having that issue, it's a shame though that some are being priced out. That's sad.

 

[turtle27]

I shopped around too, but on other lines that have smoking policies in line with Disney. Therefore, Princess, Holland, RCCL, and Carnival are all out for me, so the other lines I shopped around on were commiserate with what Disney is charging. I looked at Celebrity, Oceania, Seaborne (hah, talk about pricey), and Silver Sea. I also compared square footage of rooms to get accurate info. Just a thought, it does depend on who you are comparing Disney to, and imho, Disney is worth way more for breathable air inside the ship!

 

[Ofinn]

I honestly can't believe the increase this year, well really I can after the skyrocketing prices last Spring, but I kind of had my heart set on Alaska even though we have the Allure booked. These prices just enforced the fact that we will never sail the Fantasy or not during school breaks which is the only time we can sail. The Alaska cruise I was looking at was up over $1000 from last year and the Fantasy was $960 more for a late May cruise. I am willing to pay maybe 20%-25% more for a Caribbean cruise with Disney but not $3000 more! We are only paying $3500 for our western on the Allure. But of course, I really want Alaska and I want DCL but not at those prices. I'm looking at RCL for Alaska and I can get an ocean view for $1200 less than an inside on Disney. This should be a no brainer but I'm struggling a little. Alaska is a more port intensive cruise though and I don't know if the ship should play a huge part in it or not? My kids do not enjoy Edge so that would not be a factor. I think it's more of a fear of the unknown. Disney is like home but I'm fixing to get evicted because I'm not sure I wanna pay the price anymore.

ETA: Just checked the price of an inside room on RCL and it's 3K less than the Wonder.

You're lucky that your kids don't like the Edge because that is what's keeping me with DCL. They love that place. They open and close the place on sea days. They have made friends all over the country that they Skype with everyday. We cruise in the Off season so I'm not even sure the other cruise lines would have kids on board. You never have to worry about that on DCL. Alaska and European cruises are Summer affairs so I'm looking at other lines, but I can't find any other cruises that go to Iceland other than DCL.

 

[MrDisneyFan]

We will continue until we can't, we stick to the 4 night Caribbean cruise so the price increases are not that big each year. The same cruise we are doing this year is only about 200.00 more next year so we will stick with it. The ports are not a big deal for us because we sail DCL Mostly for the ship and Disney experience.It has increased but we will just save like we always do because we have no interest in other lines.
I do agree some of the costs are crazy and that they will keep doing that until people stop booking but I don't see them having that issue, it's a shame though that some are being priced out. That's sad.

Ditto - we will continue until we can't... we've only been on one DCL trip and have one booked for May 2016 now. The cost is crazy. Just like Disney parks and resorts. Overpriced? Absolutely. You can go elsewhere and pay less. Maybe a lot less in some cases. But there is a Disney quality and experience you don't get elsewhere. I suppose that's why we are all here! It sucks because I'm hooked on Disney vacations and I'm guessing by how many other people are on the boards, there are many others hooked as well!

 

[alldiz]

You're lucky that your kids don't like the Edge because that is what's keeping me with DCL. They love that place. They open and close the place on sea days. They have made friends all over the country that they Skype with everyday. We cruise in the Off season so I'm not even sure the other cruise lines would have kids on board. You never have to worry about that on DCL. Alaska and European cruises are Summer affairs so I'm looking at other lines, but I can't find any other cruises that go to Iceland other than DCL.

I think HAL and princess has one

 

[NancyIL]

SO happy to read this!! When Disney's prices came out on Tuesday I started shopping around. We booked an amazing cruise with RCCL (8 countries/3 days in St. Petersburg!!! compared to Disney's 1) for summer of 2016. Honestly I think it's a waste of money to book Disney for ANY port intensive cruise (and that includes Alaska). We'll be eating breakfast/dinner and sleeping in our room. That's really about as much time as we'll be on the ship. And as far as the eating part, I was not impressed with Disney's food. So I am one happy cruiser today!!

We were on the 11-night Legend of the Seas Baltic cruise in June 2014. I loved the ports - including 3 days in St. Petersburg. We did a 2-day tour of St. Petersburg on days 1 and 3, and a tour to Moscow by train on day 2 - both with Alla Tours. I don't cruise with children, so the itinerary and price are more important to me on a port-intensive cruise than having Mickey Mouse onboard!

I have enjoyed my 5 Disney cruises (3 Bahamas, 1 western Caribbean, 1 Transatlantic), and I'm looking forward to another Transatlantic on the Magic in May. The Transatlantics have been one of DCL's best values, but the prices in 2015 and 2016 are much higher than in previous years. My next 3 cruises after the Magic Transatlantic are on Royal Caribbean (Canada repo on Serenade), Princess (South America on the Star), and Celebrity (Pacific Coastal on Infinity), so I don't see myself on DCL any time soon.

 

[krisinparis]

I shopped around too, but on other lines that have smoking policies in line with Disney. Therefore, Princess, Holland, RCCL, and Carnival are all out for me, so the other lines I shopped around on were commiserate with what Disney is charging. I looked at Celebrity, Oceania, Seaborne (hah, talk about pricey), and Silver Sea. I also compared square footage of rooms to get accurate info. Just a thought, it does depend on who you are comparing Disney to, and imho, Disney is worth way more for breathable air inside the ship!

Just make sure you are not going on a Med. itinerary. We were on a short 4 night cruise last summer and while no one was smoking inside, the outside smoking areas were not enforced at all. People were picking up ashtrays and just taking them with them wherever they wanted to go. It made being on the pool deck like being inside a bar.

 

[Ofinn]

I think HAL and princess has one

I checked princess. I saw norway and arctic circle. Hal I've heard is not that great for kids. NcL has one, but it's in Sept. I find all cruise web sites to be deplorable. I think they all have the same IT dept.