Budget DCL Cruise - Is there such a thing???

[djbleach]

My Cruise experience is this:
1 Carnavil cruise smaller ship
5 Royal Carribean , smaller and BIG ships
1 Disney.
They ALL have their pros and cons. Price isn't everything!!!!
Carnival has a very cheesy, party atmosphere.
RCCL has both, party and classy
Disney, is DISNEY. Everything Disney does seems to be top notch.
We took our daughter on the Disney cruise and she was 3. She loved it. When asked does she want to go back to Disney or the Disney Cruise, she picks the Cruise. lol
We cruise in September, so it is more affordable. Sure we can do RCCL for almost half the price, but for some reason, the Disney Cruise is now worth paying the extra. We are going 3 of us, for the 4 night Bahama cruise. $1200.
So $300 a day for 3 people to eat, entertainment, tropical island, relaxation is money well spent!
It's not really all that much, but Disney does do "soft drinks" around the clock for no extra charge. RCCL has some kind of drink card you can buy, or pay $2 for a coke. That adds up. I think the card is $35 per person for cokes on RCCL. I really can't think of the other added cost that RCCL tacks on.
Even though RCCL/ Carnival have casinos and alcohol, they will Nickle and Dime you to death!! They also have to make up for the "cheap fares".
Disney just gets you up front.
The difference between Disneys private Island and RCCL island is Night and Day!
Disney's Castaway Cay is like Paridise compared to RCCL Coco Cay. RCCL is like the "ghetto"...
Once you do Disney, it does make it harder to go on another cruise line.
Check out cruisecritic,

 

[Charleyann]

We looked into Disney cruises and all other cruises. Disney was the most expensive. In the end we chose Carnival Cruise lines. WE have four night and five days of cruising for $209 a person! It will be my DS and I only. He is 12 years old. We are on the Disney Imagination cruise. 946 ft long....not much smaller then Disney and it was just renovated for 250 million dollars. The imagination now has a four storey water park. Duel racing slides too.

There are partiers on all cruises. So you make it your cruise and stay away for the partiers. There is a separate pool for adult only and bars to go along with it. There is family entertainment without drunks or partiers....

We are checking into Disney right after the cruise. So you could say we are doing our own land and Sea package! We got the 40% off room rates too. So we are only paying $56 nightly perferred with All Star Movies!

Total cost for cruise with taxes and fees was $532 + Disney room rate $503 for 8 nights at Movies + $300.00 for 3 nights at POFQ = $1335 taxes in! The dates from Dec 1st- Dec 18th! What a deal!


My advice, make your own package. Look at other cruises.....Remember if your going to Disney parks anyway, you are still going to see Disney! My DS thought the Disney cruises was going to be too much Disney!

My prices for cruise is still available for Dec 1 st/08 @ $209.00 !

Charleyann

 

[miss missy]

pssstt-----------> they are having one "DISUnplugged Podcast Cruise" with people from this very DIS site! go to http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1683088

this is a great deal on a cruise and you get to meet other DIS'ers AND have fun at special events Pete and the crew is setting up

if your not listening to the podcast your soo missing out!!

go go go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-podcast/

 

[NY Disney fan]

RCCL is like the "ghetto"...

 

[dvcnewgirl]

I am going on the 5 night cruise and I paid about 1800.00 for four of us Cat 10. So I do not think that is bad for a 5 night. That cruise is sold out now I think. I think that if you can book like the 1st day it opens you will get the 1st tier pricing. So book early and look off season. Good Luck!

 

[MagicalMom]

RCCL is like the "ghetto"...

As a lover of RCCL, that really just hurt.

 

[EthansMom]

I think the card is $35 per person for cokes on RCCL. I really can't think of the other added cost that RCCL tacks on.
Even though RCCL/ Carnival have casinos and alcohol, they will Nickle and Dime you to death!! They also have to make up for the "cheap fares".
Disney just gets you up front.
The difference between Disneys private Island and RCCL island is Night and Day!
Disney's Castaway Cay is like Paridise compared to RCCL Coco Cay. RCCL is like the "ghetto"...

I've never traveled on DCL, but have traveled on RCCL and NCL several times each.

I have to say that I think you're far off the mark regarding RCCL. I have found that it is possible to have a higher-class but reasonably priced cruise experience on RCCL.

It is no hardship for DH and I to go without soda for the length of the cruise and to limit our alcohol to a reasonable amount. I've never been to Coco Cay, but RCCL's private stop in Labadee, Haiti is beautiful! Also, RCCL Voyager class ships are packed with family activities (climbing wall, ice skating, minigolf, etc..) and the kids' program is awesome!

My SIL and BIL recently took their kids on DCL (they got a sale price). SIL's comments were that the kids loved seeing the characters all the time, the cabins were HUGE compared to other cruiselines, but the food was mediocre.

If you're looking for a way to save money, looking at alternate cruiselines is a good place to start IMO.

 

[Jennifer823]

If you think that DCL is too expensive and RCCL is the "ghetto" (a comment, BTW, that I don't understand...) why not try Princess? They are our absolute favorite. There is a little less of a party atmosphere than on Carnival, but they still have great kids programs. I have to say I haven't tried DCL or RCCL, but I have been on Carnival three times and Princess twice. Carnival is great for the cheap price - but it isn't as classy as Princess. (BTW - the same company owns Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, Costa, Seabourn and a few more cruise lines that don't operate in the U.S.)

 

[callaghan0416]

My Cruise experience is this:

RCCL is like the "ghetto"...
Once you do Disney, it does make it harder to go on another cruise line.
Check out cruisecritic,

Well then sign me up for the "ghetto"

We have done FOS, Freedom of the Seas, and are scheduled for LOS, Liberty of the Seas, in November. Labadee was my favorite port and the staff on the ship, well they were the BEST! How can you go wrong with men in exotic accents calling you madame and madamoiselle and telling you that they will do, get, find anything you want! I felt like royalty. OOooooHHHhhh...

I want to go NOW...

temper tantrum over, now to go and visit cruisecritic and get my fix....

callie

 

[Jeanne B]

We cruised on RCCL Navigator of the Seas in Dec and honestly, on the last day of the cruise DD14 and I both agreed that we prefer Disney. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed NOS (more so than our recent Carnival cruise) but there's just something about DCL that makes it unique, whether it's the service, the shows, the ship decor, the cruise terminal, the fireworks, Castaway Cay, split bathrooms, etc, etc.

But...to make it more affordable we cruised DCL the first time on a 3-day, during off-season (late Oct) and our second was also a 3-day in off-season (early Dec, my new favorite time of year to cruise). We also take advantage of the 10% rebooking credit as well as shipboard credits (and we transfer our res to DU to add even more shipboard credit). We're cruising our first 7-day on DCL next Nov and we have $400 worth of shipboard credits and the 10% discount amounted to about $400. I compared a Freedom of the Seas cruise during the same week and with almost $800 in discounts and SBC's the DCL cruise wasn't much more than the FOS cruise. But I do want to try FOS or LOS one of these days, just not until after we've cruise DCL again.

 

[MagicalMom]

I can understand liking one cruiseline over another. We are going on our third RCCL cruise in May and have booked our first DCL cruise for next summer. I don't know which I will like more, but doubt I will ever think RCCL is ghetto.

 

[maggiew]

Welcome to the ghetto!!




http://good-times.webshots.com/album/552195138IcanOU?vhost=good-times

Maggie

 

[MagicalMom]

Welcome to the ghetto!!




http://good-times.webshots.com/album/552195138IcanOU?vhost=good-times

Maggie

Thank you so much! We are going on the Enchantment in May! I can't wait!

 

[lucigo]

I am going on the 5 night cruise and I paid about 1800.00 for four of us Cat 10. So I do not think that is bad for a 5 night. That cruise is sold out now I think. I think that if you can book like the 1st day it opens you will get the 1st tier pricing. So book early and look off season. Good Luck!

I didn't know DCL had a 5 night cruise, and I don't think I have ever seen it for under $100 per night, so that would definitely be a good price.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

I didn't know DCL had a 5 night cruise, and I don't think I have ever seen it for under $100 per night, so that would definitely be a good price.

It is a Special cruise before the Magic goes to dry-dock.