Done with DCL

[Joel0917]

and for those of us that can't sale Feb 25....i am pointing out that no matter how much 10% off with Raise (easter is blacked out so no OBB savings)....i do have a $350 On board credit..but the difference for easter is not just $100 and change..for that i would do DCL every day. It's a $3000 difference room to room.

 

[cgolf]

Sorry about the double post as my iPad and our wifi had a disagreement lol.

 

[cgolf]

I don't think repeat cruisers is a big percentage. On almost every cruise on the first night the cruise director will ask how many people have sailed with Disney previously and maybe 10% will raise their hands. And among those people there are many form whom cost doesn't matter.

Disney is a well run business. They study trends and they know the market and they have professional business who do nothing but analyze data (real data not my 'about 10%' guess) and set prices. It's what they do for a living....2,000+ hours a year they study data and set prices based on profit margins and corporate goals and 3 dozen other parameters.

All I can say that there have been a lot of companies over time that have done the same research and have done very well and then all of of a sudden poof they are gone. Not saying that will happen with DCL, but trying to find the price ceiling can be risky. As I said eventually you will run out of people that want to pay a certain price for a certain product, then you need to tap into the secondary market.

I truly believe that DCL is holding off on more ships because they will have a harder time keeping six sailing at capacity vs 4. I think that is why other lines are a little cheaper too, as they have to work to make sure all their ships are sailing at the desired capacity.

On this point we will have to respectfully agree to disagree

 

[Rogillio]

All I can say that there have been a lot of companies over time that have done the same research and have done very well and then all of of a sudden poof they are gone. Not saying that will happen with DCL, but trying to find the price ceiling can be risky. As I said eventually you will run out of people that want to pay a certain price for a certain product, then you need to tap into the secondary market.

I truly believe that DCL is holding off on more ships because they will have a harder time keeping six sailing at capacity vs 4. I think that is why other lines are a little cheaper too, as they have to work to make sure all their ships are sailing at the desired capacity.

On this point we will have to respectfully agree to disagree

I agree! That we can respectfully disagree.

I think there is a huge untapped market in the Asia. The Disney brand is gaining popularity there with the Disney theme parks.

If Disney was having any issues filling their ships the prices would fall. But during peak times (when school is out) people are willing to pay 2x or more as much as other cruise lines. I can't imagine their expense are 2x as much.....which means they are making a boatload of money.

I predict within 5 years DCL will announce new ships.

When WDW opened in the early 70s I don't think anyone thought at the time it would grow to 4 separate theme parks, water park, sports center, Downtown Disney, dozens of hotels ranging in price from $100 a night to $700 a night.

As long as Disney thinks they can make more money they will continue to grow.

 

[Rogillio]

BTW, by the time you add in hotel, park tickets and food, the cost of 3 days at WDW (in a nice hotel) is about the same cost as 3 days on a Disney cruise.

 

[cgolf]

I agree! That we can respectfully disagree.

I think there is a huge untapped market in the Asia. The Disney brand is gaining popularity there with the Disney theme parks.

If Disney was having any issues filling their ships the prices would fall. But during peak times (when school is out) people are willing to pay 2x or more as much as other cruise lines. I can't imagine their expense are 2x as much.....which means they are making a boatload of money.

I predict within 5 years DCL will announce new ships.

When WDW opened in the early 70s I don't think anyone thought at the time it would grow to 4 separate theme parks, water park, sports center, Downtown Disney, dozens of hotels ranging in price from $100 a night to $700 a night.

As long as Disney thinks they can make more money they will continue to grow.

I have heard that China has been good to RCCL and I believe they have one of their newer ships there and are commanding premium prices. Could see DCL doing the same in the near future.

 

[tinkerone]

I did reduce the taxes and port fees, the taxes would reduce by 10% but not the poet fees. How much of the $195.00 is taxes vs port fess I do not know but the taxes go down by 10% as a result of the lower price. Also You can always buy Disney Gift Cards on Target.com with your red card.
Also everyone keeps mentioning that they live in Canada and need to add 33% more to the cost, Is this not the case with RCCL too?

So looking at the conversion rate you give, the Disney cruise (without a reduction in port fees or taxes) is a difference of C$187.94 in RCCL favor but comes with C$543 to spend on the ship. This to me is still a better deal than sailing RCCL in terms of just cost (since value is subjective as we have learned on this thread) Also you compare the Oasis the same week. Problem is they are sailing the western and for whatever reason western sailings are always cheaper than eastern ones. Since we just did a western we are looking for an eastern hence the the comparisons that week. I picked the ship I did because it’s the same week sailing the same itinerary. Also the Oasis is always cheaper to sail on providing they are going where you want the the week you want, that is the advantage of having more than 4 ships in the caribbean that time off year.



This strategy might work if you can get the Target Cards for 6% or more of less the cost, I do know that the 5% is only for the Target Red Card so you can’t combine them.

*** I stand corrected as I found out tonight this strategy does work, thats another 6%, YEA!!!***

theres a few things I would consider with this that I feel may not be as helpful as you suggest. the first being you only get the 10% off the price of the cruise, not port fees and taxes. I could be wrong but did you include that? second, being Canadian, getting the gift cards to save money is not really an option. we no longer have targets and even when we did they did not sell Disney cards. also, while the cost may still look good to some, our dollar is at about $1.33 to the u.s. meaning we need to add 33% more to the cost of the cruise. not cheap at all. I can book with other lines in Canadian funds and that makes it way way cheaper.
for example, I can book the oasis leaving feb 26, 2017, in a Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony, 232 sq ft compared to the dcl sailing of 241 sq ft (I think) for 2A $2503 CANADIAN. so dcl, with exchange rate, using your numbers with your discounts ($2850 X $1.33) I will pay $3790 Canadian where as the oasis is, as noted above, $2503. I will save $1287. before anyone starts talking about having to pay for soda, that would cost me about $110 so I don't even think that's worth mentioning.
thank you for your ideas though, i'm sure it will help some.

theres more to it for us. we would need a red card, which being canadian they do not offer us. then we would need to purchase and pay exchange, again $1.33 per $1.00, and we would have to pay shipping. not being in the us shipping is very expensive. we don't get free shipping like you do in the us.
where are you seeing a difference of $187.94? i'm confused. the difference is $1287. and that is if, BIG if, i take into account all the discounts you are suggesting we can get which we can not. then it takes the difference even higher. if you want i can figure it out but its a waste of time. do you think that the difference for pretty much the same room is worth $1287? i sure don't.

as the western verses eastern, the difference is usually around the $100 mark. again, not so much of a difference. the big difference comes with weeks. if you sail the week before a march break you pay more than the week of a march break.

i just priced the week before on the oasis so you could see and it is $2638, again, CANADIAN, so i don't need to pay the exchange. in answer to your question about exchange rate and RCCL, no we do not have to pay the exchange as they allow us to book in canadian dollars. dcl does not so it is not the bargain you may think. i can still get obc's with rcl and get ta obc's as well so its not something that is only on dcl bookings. the oasis always being cheaper is kind of the point.

i'm just trying to point out that it is much much more expensive to cruise dcl. always has been, always will be. its just reached the point where we decided it held no value…….for us. if you can come up with a way to bring it in line let me know. i'm listening.

 

[cdoc29]

where are you seeing a difference of $187.94? i'm confused.

I was comparing the Allure because it follows the same itinerary as Disney Fantasy week for week. Why they are more expensive compared to Oasis I am not sure, I just know that if I want to sail Feb 25th and do the Eastern my options with RCCL are limited to Allure. Also are you comparing a balcony that looks inward to one that looks out to the sea? The inward ones are also cheaper and I was comparing sea view to sea view. The Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony on Allure is $2732.17 for the week I want to go and as I said on the DCL for the Family Oceanview with verandah is 2878.00 with all the discounts one can take here in the US, and that does take into account only reducing the fare by 10% with the OBB.
The Difference is US dollars $145. Add in the other incentives and you net a further $410 for TA credit, OBB credit and Disney Vacation Account.

As to what works for Canadians I am not sure what the rules are. I do know that for those here in the US there are a couple of things we can do to reduce the price like I mentioned above. What I posted is if you love Disney and your complaint is they are too expensive there are some ways to save money and bring the costs closer, you may have to work a little for it but if it’s important to you it can be done.

 

[tltay2005]

Was eagerly awaiting 2017 prices so we could do an OBB on our April cruise, then when they did I was dissapointed. Started to look at other cruise lines when the husband reminded me there we other options for vacations other than a cruise. So for 2017 we will be looking at a land vacation, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mtns or who knows where. Will definitely miss being on a ship, but there is always 2018.

 

[Orukal]

All I can say that there have been a lot of companies over time that have done the same research and have done very well and then all of of a sudden poof they are gone. Not saying that will happen with DCL, but trying to find the price ceiling can be risky.

I think a lot will depend on people, first time cruisers specifically, being excited about going on a DISNEY cruise. They know Disney. They love Disney. They want to do something Disney and they see the cruise. I bet quite a lot aren't shopping for cruises. Instead, they are shopping for a Disney experience based distraction/vacation. They aren't comparing prices, offerings, ports-of-call, perks of frequent cruisers clubs or anything else of NCCL, DCL, Celebrity, etc. They want Disney. And they don't know any different and they don't care so there's no need to stack different cruises against each other because if it's not Disney, they don't care. DCL will survive because of that constant influx of people...families that want that Disney experience.

Now, I'm not criticizing them at all. I get it. I love the atmosphere on the boats. I'm just at a point where I'm ready to try other lines primarily based upon my conversations and research in places like this. When I read reviews at Amazon. com, I don't immediately head to the bad ones. I look over the bad ones first. I look at their comments and try and determine how much stock I need to put into what they say. Just like here.

 

[darwinsrule]

Just a heads up that Royal has a sale that is starting tomorrow. 30% off every ship, every sailing. We priced the Magic for Spring Break 2017, but considering the inside is the same price as the balcony we had on the same cruise on the Wonder this past March it becomes hard to justify. Going to price out a couple of things tomorrow to see if this is the point we try Royal.

 

[tinkerone]

I was comparing the Allure because it follows the same itinerary as Disney Fantasy week for week. Why they are more expensive compared to Oasis I am not sure, I just know that if I want to sail Feb 25th and do the Eastern my options with RCCL are limited to Allure. Also are you comparing a balcony that looks inward to one that looks out to the sea? The inward ones are also cheaper and I was comparing sea view to sea view. The Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony on Allure is $2732.17 for the week I want to go and as I said on the DCL for the Family Oceanview with verandah is 2878.00 with all the discounts one can take here in the US, and that does take into account only reducing the fare by 10% with the OBB.
The Difference is US dollars $145. Add in the other incentives and you net a further $410 for TA credit, OBB credit and Disney Vacation Account.

As to what works for Canadians I am not sure what the rules are. I do know that for those here in the US there are a couple of things we can do to reduce the price like I mentioned above. What I posted is if you love Disney and your complaint is they are too expensive there are some ways to save money and bring the costs closer, you may have to work a little for it but if it’s important to you it can be done.

fair enough.
i did just check the allure and it will be $2818 canadian for Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony. it is an outside veranda, not an inside which, as you noted, is cheaper. i wanted to keep it as close as to your suggested booking as i could. playing with the numbers, again if i use all the discounts you suggested then it would cost me $3790 canadian for the fantasy. a difference of $972. since i can't get the discounts suggested that takes the actual price of the fantasy to $4444 canadian, a difference of $1626. they are big numbers. i hope you agree that the bargain just ins't there. it may be for some but not everyone is seeing it.
our booking made with rccl for a future cruise is saving us almost $2000 and we are sailing for an extra night. even though it is a first cruise for us on rcl they are giving me a $200 obc, my ta is giving me $100. the other thing rcl gives us canadians is an obc rate of 10% which means if we purchase obc's a hundred dollars will cost us $110 canadain. on dcl that same $100 obc cost us $133.
there is no longer an upside to dcl for canadains and others are feeling the same.

i hope you have a great cruise, i know that the fantasy is a great ship and a wonderful time. enjoy it, vacations are precious.

 

[cdoc29]

fair enough.
i did just check the allure and it will be $2818 canadian for Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony. it is an outside veranda, not an inside which, as you noted, is cheaper. i wanted to keep it as close as to your suggested booking as i could. playing with the numbers, again if i use all the discounts you suggested then it would cost me $3790 canadian for the fantasy. a difference of $972. since i can't get the discounts suggested that takes the actual price of the fantasy to $4444 canadian, a difference of $1626. they are big numbers. i hope you agree that the bargain just ins't there. it may be for some but not everyone is seeing it.
our booking made with rccl for a future cruise is saving us almost $2000 and we are sailing for an extra night. even though it is a first cruise for us on rcl they are giving me a $200 obc, my ta is giving me $100. the other thing rcl gives us canadians is an obc rate of 10% which means if we purchase obc's a hundred dollars will cost us $110 canadain. on dcl that same $100 obc cost us $133.
there is no longer an upside to dcl for canadains and others are feeling the same.

i hope you have a great cruise, i know that the fantasy is a great ship and a wonderful time. enjoy it, vacations are precious.

One of the things I have been saying on here is everyone has to do their own research and book the cruise that is best for them. There is no one answer.

 

[tinkerone]

One of the things I have been saying on here is everyone has to do their own research and book the cruise that is best for them. There is no one answer.

absolutely agree.

 

[NancyIL]

Was eagerly awaiting 2017 prices so we could do an OBB on our April cruise, then when they did I was dissapointed. Started to look at other cruise lines when the husband reminded me there we other options for vacations other than a cruise. So for 2017 we will be looking at a land vacation, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mtns or who knows where. Will definitely miss being on a ship, but there is always 2018.

Good for you! As much as I have enjoyed past Disney vacations, I would never vacation ONLY at Disney theme parks or sail on Disney cruise ships.

 

[Ofinn]

fair enough.
i did just check the allure and it will be $2818 canadian for Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony. it is an outside veranda, not an inside which, as you noted, is cheaper. i wanted to keep it as close as to your suggested booking as i could. playing with the numbers, again if i use all the discounts you suggested then it would cost me $3790 canadian for the fantasy. a difference of $972. since i can't get the discounts suggested that takes the actual price of the fantasy to $4444 canadian, a difference of $1626. they are big numbers. i hope you agree that the bargain just ins't there. it may be for some but not everyone is seeing it.
our booking made with rccl for a future cruise is saving us almost $2000 and we are sailing for an extra night. even though it is a first cruise for us on rcl they are giving me a $200 obc, my ta is giving me $100. the other thing rcl gives us canadians is an obc rate of 10% which means if we purchase obc's a hundred dollars will cost us $110 canadain. on dcl that same $100 obc cost us $133.
there is no longer an upside to dcl for canadains and others are feeling the same.

i hope you have a great cruise, i know that the fantasy is a great ship and a wonderful time. enjoy it, vacations are precious.

We cruised in Jan 2014 it seemed like half the ship was Canadian. We cruised this Feb on the Magic cruise which was deeply discounted. I kept wondering why so many of the Winter cruises were being discounted. Where were the Canadians. I'm sure the bad exchange rate, and high prices had something to do with it.
I just don't see the ships selling as well as some of you claim. I have cruised so many times in the last 4 years on discounted cruises. It seemed liked our Hawaii cruise was half CM's. They have to fill the ships somehow. I just got a another great rate out of Galveston. I daily check the European cruises for 2017 , and most of them have lots of availability, and minimal price increases. The Star Wars cruises have sold pretty well, but other than that I don't see them selling out at the high prices. It seems they sell a certain percentage at the high prices, and then they discount the remaining rooms in the form of GT, military, interline, CM's and travel agents. I guess they get enough people to book at the high prices that it worth it to them to keep raising the rack rates.

 

[kiapepito]

This July we took our first cruise ever! We have a 3 and 6 year old. To us what made the difference to book another trip is that not a day goes by since we came home that they and not to mention me and my husband talk about our trip or look at pictures on a daily basis. In fact, my 3 year old during Mass today asked me when we would be going to Cuba on the Disney boat... We were on the western itenrary! It is by far the best family trip we have taken aside from traveling to Europe And even going to Peppa Pig World but for this age that they are disney is so magical that as long as we can book out far enough I can teach an extra class here and there and also save on a monthly basis. I dread the day when the magic begins to diminish with Disney but I know that when that day comes it will open more traveling opportunities with our girls.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

We love DCL, but we cannot justify the price difference between the Fantasy and the RCCL Oasis for Christmas week 2015. We cancelled our cat 7 at $8500 and booked an ocean view balcony guarantee on the Oasis at $3500.

 

[Joel0917]

i wrote an email to Karl at DCL last night. Outlining how loyal i have been, but how much $7000 bought me in 2014/16 and now 17. I expressed disappointment and such and how i will be going to Royal for 2017. I received a call this morning from a "customer service rep" really just saying thanks for the feedback on pricing. Nothing special other than that.

Meanwhile Royal had a new sale today 30% off. Received an email from Royal that my cruise was rebooked under the new sale and i saved almost $1000. So now my cruise is literally 50% of the cost to go on DCL for the same time.

 

[cgolf]

i wrote an email to Karl at DCL last night. Outlining how loyal i have been, but how much $7000 bought me in 2014/16 and now 17. I expressed disappointment and such and how i will be going to Royal for 2017. I received a call this morning from a "customer service rep" really just saying thanks for the feedback on pricing. Nothing special other than that.

Meanwhile Royal had a new sale today 30% off. Received an email from Royal that my cruise was rebooked under the new sale and i saved almost $1000. So now my cruise is literally 50% of the cost to go on DCL for the same time.

Sadly for better or worse they have plenty of people in line right now to take our places, will be curious to see how long there new pricing theme lasts. Hope they don't pitch or lose there loyal customers emails or numbers when they reach a point when they have to earn people back. Meanwhile I will be enjoying my bag of popcorn on another line watching it all unfold.

2016 will be only the second time we don't go to the future cruises desk, the other was on the first when we didn't know what it was.