2017 pricing made me do it! RCL i'm coming your way!

[tinkerone]

we have looked at other lines through the years and anything we have looked at has been cheaper however not to the point where we felt it would benefit us to give dcl up. smaller amounts, hundreds of dollars but still worth it to us. it was last year where we thought dcl was starting to be ridiculous, this year made it worse which is why we booked rcl. we are now into saving thousands and that is when we question what were doing.
jmo and only jmo.

 

[Jsoenning]

I think that's indicative of who DCL is going after. It isn't the seasoned repeat cruiser. It's the new cruisers - the young families - who haven't yet had a chance to become bored with the Bahamas and Caribbean.

I agree with this and think it's all the lines. RCCL is no where near the line it was on our first sailing (2005) or even comparing our first concierge experience (2011 on Voyager) to this year (2015 on Navigator).

My observations = the line has squeezed down on number of employees per cabin and dining room tables. As a result, quality / attention to detail / overall attitude of crew members has suffered. It seems to me that all of the major cruise lines are targeting new customers and could care less about loyalty.

Based on our 2015 RCCL Navigator concierge cruise experience, we canceled our Apr 2016 concierge cruise on Serenade of the Seas.

 

[sarah_carter]

We are jumping ship. We did have the Fantasy booked for May 2016 then canceled because we got a cheaper rate on NCL with their newest ship same dates and ports but leaving from Miami not PC for 2000.00 cheaper. Then I priced May 2017 and for 2 adults in a 4A room (the only category we have sailed in on Disney) for Eastern Caribbean 5200.00 vs Royal Caribbean 8 night Eastern Caribbean in April 2017 (may not out yet) Deluxe balcony room for 2 adults 2200.00 or the junior suite for 3200.00. For us sailing with a balcony is a must and the other two lines are the way we will be going till Disney drops their prices.

For some families they want to or can pay Disney prices but we take a cruise vacation once a year and we wont to keep them so we will be going on either NCL or Royal.