Pete is so right!

[SA mom]

We live in San Antonio, Texas, and wanted to take a cruise out of Galveston. But we have school aged kids and our kids miss A LOT when they are absent. The best week available for us was Thanksgiving week. When the schedule was announced, I plugged in the info online and found the cheapest room we could get was almost $7000 for the 4 of us. Really? That much? And we don't even go to Castaway Cay? I even called a travel agent to confirm.

Some cousins did go that week with their 2 kids, about the same age as ours, but they booked on a military discount for less than half that amount and they had a window.

Did Disney Cruise Line take into consideration the cost of living in Texas? Do they have any idea how cheap it is to live in most of our state and that wages and salaries reflect that low cost of living?

 

[cyberbox2]

Some times the "business" side of Disney can really hamper the magic. You'd think that they would be more clued in to things like this.

 

[JimmyV]

You are assuming, of course, that Disney anticipates the bulk of its passenger load to come from TX. Perhaps they set up shop in Galveston as a more convenient option for people who live in Marin County CA, or Orange County CA, or King County WA who don't want to fly all the way across the country to board a ship bound for the Caribbean. Sure, TX will make up some of the passenger list. But surely not the majority. Many of the expected passengers will be coming from places with the highest cost of living in the country.

All that said, I think the whole Galveston experiment is going to fail. Again.

 

[SA mom]

Good point, but doesn't DCL already come to Caliornia? We are smack dab in the middle of the country and it is expensive to go to either coast for our Disney fix. We were really excited to see a Disney experience come to us. They basically priced us out and did not include Castaway Cay. They have recently added a few itineraries that include Castaway Cay. I hear the the prices have really dropped, too.

 

[Lori]

I am in Houston area and was very excited to see Disney Cruise line would be sailing out of Galveston. I would have booked a cruise if I could have found one for a reasonable price. In our school district they only have bigger breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break so we are extremely limited with available sailings that would not force us to take our kids out of school. It seems that most of the area takes spring break the same week of March,too and so prices are through the roof. We moved here recently from MN where I could take my kids out of school for a day or two and it wasn't a big deal. I informed the schools here that my kids would miss the first day of school to attend a funeral for their grandparent out of state and was told they would be unenrolled from school. And they were. So I would guess most families here do not want to take their kids out of school, break times are the same for all of us, so those prices are horrible, and they won't be here for the summer when schedules would be easier. I am better off taking a Disney cruise out of Florida.

 

[SA mom]

I feel your pain, Lori. I was going to say, we're in the same boat, except that's the problem, we're not in the boat.

Another problem in Texas is all the stupid testing. We took our girls out of school in 1st grade for a trip Disney World for their birthday. We don't dare to do that again. They miss to much. I think the current statistic is that Texas public children spend 20% of their days in testing.

I know some folks with pre-schoolers and they are opting for Royal Caribbean because it was so much cheaper, even when the kids were free.

 

[Halbleib1]

I feel your pain, Lori. I was going to say, we're in the same boat, except that's the problem, we're not in the boat.

Another problem in Texas is all the stupid testing. We took our girls out of school in 1st grade for a trip Disney World for their birthday. We don't dare to do that again. They miss to much. I think the current statistic is that Texas public children spend 20% of their days in testing.

I know some folks with pre-schoolers and they are opting for Royal Caribbean because it was so much cheaper, even when the kids were free.

The price for kids is one of the biggest reasons we have not taken a cruise yet. I can not justify paying 400.00 for my 2 year old to go on a cruise for only a few days. Heck it is tough to justify paying the price they want for my 8 year old. The only way I can see us taking a Disney cruise is if they offer the Kids sail free out of Florida for dates that will work for us. I priced it out under the current kids sail free offer out of Miami and the price is pretty good.

Why all the testing? My son is cyberschooled and he takes tests three times a year online to track his progress. They take place in Sept, Jan, and May.
In 3rd grade he will have to take the online tests as well as a state test which I believe is given in person. Sounds like Texas is overdoing it with the testing esp. for kids that are so young.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

Texas is very focused on education and testing. So alot of prep work for teachers and students is put into testing. In our district they are pretty strict on when and why you take your child out of class. Each child has to have a certain level of hours so if we are tardy we have to sign a form saying we missed educational hours. It's crazy and I think it puts too much pressure on the kids.

We are actually setting sail on a cruise out of Galveston today. The kids however our staying with grandma. It is dh and my 10 year anniversary. We knew DCL was having trouble in Galveston because we got an amazing rate for this cruise

 

[SA mom]

Texas is very focused on education and testing. So alot of prep work for teachers and students is put into testing. In our district they are pretty strict on when and why you take your child out of class. Each child has to have a certain level of hours so if we are tardy we have to sign a form saying we missed educational hours. It's crazy and I think it puts too much pressure on the kids.

We are actually setting sail on a cruise out of Galveston today. The kids however our staying with grandma. It is dh and my 10 year anniversary. We knew DCL was having trouble in Galveston because we got an amazing rate for this cruise

Have a great time! I'm pea green with envy!