Help me understand justifying price please..

[pearljammer]

After a day of frenzied bookings by Platinum and Gold CC members, the price of the Hawaii cruise will already be out of reach for many.

Yeah, I thought the same as well. If pricing for these cruises seem high now, can you imagine where they are headed after today?

 

[design_mom]

Ummm, I never said I had a $30K car nor did I mention a $300K house, house cleaner once a week, eating out several times a week and I don't even drink coffee. Did I touch a nerve here? Perhaps my idea of middle class differs from yours. Sheesh.

I think that poster meant a general "you," not a specific you.

We have booked our DCL first cruise (it will not cost $5K+ though), but we do take a vacation every year (and a "nice one" every few years). Like others have mentioned, everyone has their priorities.

My SIL often comments that she "wishes" she could go on nice vacations like we do. I am confident that they make at least as much money as we do... but they choose to spend it differently. (I have the super-basic cellphone plan, she's got the latest smartphone with the unlimited-everything package. We have the basic cable package. They have all the premium channels. I eat breakfast at home. She "can't function" without her Starbucks.) They are not wealthy, and neither are we... but we spend our money in different places.

 

[Gdes1]

Some people just make or have tons of money somehow. That's life.

Some people will go into major debt for things they want. I think it's really common. In my life, whenever I see someone with a huge house and luxury car and all kinds of fancy stuff, I later find out that it's all done on credit.

Some people just love these cruises and prioritize it.

DH and I have always taken a nice trip every year. Sometimes we spent $5k for a month in Europe where we slept in hostels and used airline miles to get there. Other times we spent that on one week at a 5 star resort. My coworkers whined "Oh, I'm so jeaaaaalous." Meanwhile, they bought a new car ever 2 years and had $200 per month cable packages, and we had neither of those things.

I will say, though, when I see people spending $16k for one family I am surprised, but see points 1 and 2 above!

 

[MrsNick]

It also could be that others do not have the same monthly financial obligations that you do and so they have the money to blow. We are not them, lol. We have a large monthly nut (not due to irresponsibility, but circumstances that we can't help, for example expensive daycare tuition for DD, high child support payments/college tuition for DSD etc).

I do set aside a little something for some kind of vacation once per year. This is technically a "want" but for our family, I think it's necessary for us all to reconnect. I work a demanding job during the day; DH works a demanding job at night. As a family, we don't see enough of each other most of the time. But I can tell you that there's no way at this point with our financial obligations that we will be spending $5K and up on any vacation anywhere.

I suspect that there's a natural skew in who is posting here, and the majority is not going to be those of us who didn't pay the fare. It's going to be those who did. I don't think the DCL forum is representative of the majority of middle class Americans (heck I don't think the disboards are representative of the majority of middle class Americans). I'd say it skews upscale.

 

[Eeyore1928]

I just booked one of the 5 night Canada cruises. It was only $ 2099 for a family of 3. Not too bad. I think that is a great rate for a Disney Cruise. My family greatly prefers DCL to any other cruise line. We know it costs more and to us...worth EVERY penny. My husband and I worked very hard to pay off our bills and we live debt free except for a house payment. We recently purchased DVC and are paying that off in a few months. Every penny I make goes to vacations...he pays all the bills. Vacations are a very important part of our family life. I would not have it any other way.

 

[Presentation]

……..my goal is to do everything I can to cruise Disney at the time of year and room category we want as economical as possible.

We just finished a 7 night vacation including 4 nights on the Disney Dream, 1 Day at Magic Kingdom/night at Disney resort Port Orleans Riverside + visited family in Winter Haven Florida, just south of Orlando.

I counted every penny. If we put $.75 in a toll it’s on my spreadsheet. If we got a soda it’s on my spreadsheet.

Family of 5, airfare, everything, the total was $5,479.16

 

[asimaaliyah]

HI all,

Okay, so I've been seeing the prices of the new itineraries that have come out. I'm seeing price ranges in the 5 to 10K range. So this is where I'm getting lost. I know peoples income range but speaking from a middle class family, how do you justify paying this for a cruise??? That's a LOT of money. I must be missing something. How are people affording this? I know you save but I don't understand even feeling good spending that kind of money for a cruise. I guess I'm interested in the mindset. Granted, I realize for a lot of people this may not seem like a lot of money. But for me.....wow! Any insight would be appreciated.

I've thought about that question so many times, but dared not ask. We have a family of 6 and I can't figure out for the life of me how people can do so many cruises in one year.

We did a 10 day vacation in Orlando two years ago for about the same price of what we are paying for a 3 day cruise on the Dream. When my sister asked me why wouldn't we just do another 10 day vacation instead my, reasoning was that my husband and I are paying for the experience and we've already experienced a 10 day vacation in Orlando. Our cruise next year will be one more experience on the bucket list that we'll all get to say we've had together as a family.

I'd love to be able to take more cruises (maybe) as this is our first one we may not even like it, LOL, but if the prices stay the same or increase I'm thinking this may be our only one, at least until it's just he and I in the house and we don't have to pay for so many.

My husband lost his parents at a young age and my mother was a single mother raising three children with a very low income so neither of us have any vacation memories with our families, as our children get older and go off into their own lives this will be one thing they can look back on and remember about their childhood.

 

[jonlee]

I guess I'm interested in the mindset. Granted, I realize for a lot of people this may not seem like a lot of money. But for me.....wow! Any insight would be appreciated.

In regards to justifying the price, I think it's pretty much just supply and demand at work. Disney seems to be selling the cruises just fine at the current pricing model. When and if there's a lapse, they can offer promotions like the Kids Sail Free promotion, and the ships get packed once again. Sure, not everyone can afford a Disney cruise, or any other cruise for that matter, and that's probably the way it should be.

Whether something is "affordable" is definitely a relative thing and everyone will have their own set of priorities in life. Best of all, you get to set those priorities yourself.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

To the OP, tomorrows booking will only be our third cruise EVER. We would never spend this kind of money on a vacation while raising our kids. Only one of our three children has ever been on a cruise and that was a 3 night Wonder. My son was 20 then! It's just the DH and I sailing so we can afford it. Again, could never ever justify spending these amount of dollars on a family vacation with young children in the middle of child rearing years.

 

[smb6]

I definately think the obvious is that a lot of people simply have more money to spend than others. I have a large family; so even though we take value trips (value rooms at the parks/inside rooms on the ship) our price tag's are usually high because we always require two rooms. We are cruising to AK next month and our price tag is high, but I just save, save, save. This cruise was planned a year and a half in advance. We normally take one big vacation per year and we actually skipped taking a vacation last year in order to pull this one off. I don't have debt, so that makes it easier to save. I also live in a very modest home, drive an older vehicle (I don't do car payments, I save and pay with cash), and I don't drink any kind of coffee and have only been to a starbucks once.... I think everyone chooses what to spend their money on, and there is no right or wrong- just personal preference.

 

[5forDis]

We typically go to Disney 1-2 times a year. We live 21 hours from Orlando and have driven once....

People ask us all the time how we can afford it. No easy answer. We are both professionals (I work part-time and dh full-time). We save, plan, budget, look for deals. We bought a time share many years ago and have 1 week " free" in Orlando every year. the time share has paid for itself. We bought it 15 years ago before we had kids. We love the places we've stayed off site more than some of the on-site ones. Our cruise is a year away and this is our first. The price seemed high but for a family of 5 when I think of all that is included, it didn't seem so bad. We are paying it off monthly. We don't uses credit cards for trips...if we can't afford it, we don't go.

I drive a 9 yr old minivan with 150,000 miles and won't consider a new car until AFTER our cruise. Our house is pricey due to the community we choose to live in. I started making my iced mocha lattes at home and I am sure over the past year that has covered my cruise

We are only sampling DCL and doing a 3 night...if we like...no love...it then we will book a 7 night while on board for the discounts.

I read these boards constantly for information and tips...we are so lucky to have the internet for all of this useful information.

If anyone has a money tree...send some seeds to plant .

I have started using coupons recently...wow...can't believe it has taken me this long!!!!! I save at least $45 per week on groceries and I am not even a die hard couponer!

Like someone else said, some people just have more discretionary money. I think we'd be considered upper middle class, not middle class.

I want to be one of the posters on here posting my parents or inlaws surprised us with a cruise....if only. Not going to happen, though.

 

[WolfpackFan]

A couple of additional points -

- There is no way DW and myself could have afforded our upcoming Magic cruise if we hadn't used our DVC points to book it. But it took all our points for one year.

- This will be our ninth cruise but first DCL cruise. As I am sure most folks know you really pay a premium for that DCL label. If we had to pay cash instead of DVC points the cruise would have been twice as expensive as any of our other cruises. I'm willing to use our points because that is a sunk cost, but I seriously doubt we'll ever pay cash for a DCL cruise; we'll just go on another cruise line. FWIW - I will be booking a 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise on NCL for next March sometime soon and right now they as charging $1200 pp for a balcony cabin. Can you imagine what DCL would charge even if they offered such a cruise?

 

[5forDis]

I wanted to add, we also don't spend a lot of money on Christmas/birthday gifts for the kids. I know so many people who spend thousands on their children's Christmas having to "take a break" opening presents. Our kids get one special gift from Santa and stockings filled...then a few gifts from mom/dad. They seem to have a merry Christmas without the latest electronics, computer games, etc.

My children are 11, 9, 6

They will not remember the car I drove when they were 11, 9, 6 but I so hope they remember the wonderful family vacations/memories. I know I will forever remember seeing their faces as they first saw Cinderella's castle as the monorail turned the corner....

I hope our cruise is just as fun as the times we have at the parks. We've gone at least 10 times since our oldest child was 3 and have never had a bad time.

 

[twinrx]

Ahhh! There is nothing like a little class envy to get the blood flowing. I for one refuse to explain how and what I spend my money on.

 

[pearljammer]

Ahhh! There is nothing like a little class envy to get the blood flowing. I for one refuse to explain how and what I spend my money on.

envy might mean if someone else has it and another desires it. I choose not spend it that way. Big difference.

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

I agree with the other posters that mention priorities. But for DH and I it is the best option for our situation. DH has a physical disability so he is unable to help me with things like packing, taking care of luggage, driving, etc. A cruise vacation allows us to visit multiple destinations in one trip so the travel burden is much less. Cruising is the perfect vacation for us. Why DCL in particular? Well, it was the first line we ever tried and they have not given us a reason to shop around. The service has been outstanding most of the time, the shows/entertainment are great and the food is good. Of course not everything is perfect, but we have always thoroughly enjoyed our cruises. DH and I have made memories all over the place that will last a lifetime but would not have been possible without DCL.

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

Oh, also, we don't go into debt to cruise either. We book early and pay it off monthly. I like to do specialty cruises, but I book them opening day where the price was the lowest and have gotten lucky twice (out of ten) with FL resident rates. DH and I did the EBTA and first Med last year, but booked a last minute Cat 11C room and paid a little over $3000 for the two of us for 25 days. So if you know the system, things can work out well for you.

 

[MellieluvsDisney]

It depends on what your priorities are. We are a family of 2, so we don't have kids so for us it's easier to put money aside and travel every year.

We travel every year, and this is our priority. We both work, we both make decent salaries (middle class). We don't have new cars, we don't have cell phones, we don't have HD TV or video games or a ton of DVD's. We eat out once a week and sometimes not. We are debt-free and would never go into debt to pay for a vacation. We have a vacation account that we put money into every week.

For some, it's travelling, for some it's the latest technology, for some it's a new car or a big house. There's nothing wrong with having or doing what you want if you can do it. I do understand that not everybody can afford it, but if you can, then it's up to you to decide what is your priority.

We booked our cruise early (August 2010), and we paid 3300$ for 3 adults in a category 7A stateroom (sailing in September 2011). We are also flying into Orlando, and for us 3 it came to 1200$. So, with cruise and airfare it comes to about 4500$ for 3 adults. So, 3000$ for me and DBF for the cruise and airfaire it was a pretty decent price. We didn't feel like shopping around since we knew we would get a really great cruise with fantastic service.

 

[AmandaRG]

HI all,

Okay, so I've been seeing the prices of the new itineraries that have come out. I'm seeing price ranges in the 5 to 10K range. So this is where I'm getting lost. I know peoples income range but speaking from a middle class family, how do you justify paying this for a cruise??? That's a LOT of money. I must be missing something. How are people affording this? I know you save but I don't understand even feeling good spending that kind of money for a cruise. I guess I'm interested in the mindset. Granted, I realize for a lot of people this may not seem like a lot of money. But for me.....wow! Any insight would be appreciated.

It doesn't work for you, and that is fine. It works for others, and that is fine, too. No justification needed.

 

[mdvlprof]

I think that poster meant a general "you," not a specific you.

We have booked our DCL first cruise (it will not cost $5K+ though), but we do take a vacation every year (and a "nice one" every few years). Like others have mentioned, everyone has their priorities.

My SIL often comments that she "wishes" she could go on nice vacations like we do. I am confident that they make at least as much money as we do... but they choose to spend it differently. (I have the super-basic cellphone plan, she's got the latest smartphone with the unlimited-everything package. We have the basic cable package. They have all the premium channels. I eat breakfast at home. She "can't function" without her Starbucks.) They are not wealthy, and neither are we... but we spend our money in different places.

yup.
We're not rich, by any strech of imagination. We drive older paid-for cars, live in an older house, cook nearly all meals, don't buy the latest fashions, Starbucks is a treat, ...... But we cruise once or twice a year.