What would you do?

[DW2010]

I booked the Dream for 5 nights for 4/10/12. I chose this date solely for the best price (besides January) because we are hoping for warm enough water to swim in . Plus, it's a double dip! And now I'm seriously thinking that since the cruise is so far away and we have enough time to pay for it, we should just book a 7 night cruise. Is 5 nights too short? It would cost us a total of almost $900 more for 2 additional nights in the same category (in May 2012). The one date we had wanted before we picked the 5 night, was the 6/2/12 sailing cat 11C isn't available online anymore.

The prices for the Fantasy seem pretty high compared to other cruise lines but I've known Disney to be more. We are Florida residents so we're hoping for a Florida resident discount or any discount really . I know there's no guarantee, however. I'm just worried that if we change our cruise from the Dream to the Fantasy and the price remains the same, we'll feel like we paid too much and then won't be able to go back to the Dream for the price we currently have. Then there's the what if the prices are definitely better for the Fantasy in the fall of 2012. DD starts Kindergarten that year...do we really want to pull her out of school to get a better deal? Feel free to chime in and offer me advice. FWIW, Dh and I have only taken one cruise for our honeymoon 5 years ago (NCL). DD will be 5 when we go.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I would move to the Fantasy and not just because we're already booked on the 6/2/2012 cruise!

We purposely waited until 2012 to book a 7-night itinerary vs 5-nights.

Plus, you are scheduled to leave on April 10th. We sailed about two weeks earlier than that this past year on Spring Break. It was the coldest cruise we've ever done. We wore jackets on sailaway day, at Nassau and the morning of Castaway Cay. The water at Castaway Cay was the chilliest we've ever experienced. A few brave souls tried it (mostly kids), but most adults complained about how cold the water was.

Summer is more, but compared to the Oasis leaving on the same date, the 7-night Fanatasy is less expensive. The Oasis goes to the same Eastern ports of St. Thomas and St. Maarten, but also stops at Nassau (yuck!) compared to Castaway Cay.

We've done two Caribbeans in the past and two Bahamas cruises. The 7-nights are so much better IMO! I would rebook.

Yes, there are less expensive cruises out there and if you're looking for the least expensive one, then DCL is probably not for you. Again, price out the Oasis for comparison though. Also, the May and early June 7-night Disney cruises are the least expensive ones unless you wait until September/October.

 

[jilljill]

I would book a 7 day in the fall when the dates become available. I would think the school would be fine with letting her miss a few days, especially in kindergarden. We took DD out of school when she was in kindergarden for our first 2 DCL cruises. Her teacher made a little booklet for her to have us fill out what she did each day, we wrote the text and she drew pictures and even got the kids club counselors to sign the book. They thought it was pretty neat to be signing her school work.

I'm actually surprised you found the 4/10/12 cruise reasonable since that's 2 days after Easter.

 

[DW2010]

I would book a 7 day in the fall when the dates become available. I would think the school would be fine with letting her miss a few days, especially in kindergarden. We took DD out of school when she was in kindergarden for our first 2 DCL cruises. Her teacher made a little booklet for her to have us fill out what she did each day, we wrote the text and she drew pictures and even got the kids club counselors to sign the book. They thought it was pretty neat to be signing her school work.

I'm actually surprised you found the 4/10/12 cruise reasonable since that's 2 days after Easter.

Reasonable might be subjective as we've never been on a DCL cruise, but the April 10th cruise was only $120 or so more than the January 3rd cruise....$1972 for 2 adults and 1 child. It's still not exactly cheap since we could go on RCI for less for 7 nights, but I just think DD would LOVE a Disney cruise . I am strongly considering keep the Dream and then changing to the Fantasy for the fall of 2012 now. BUT man is that even longer to wait. Well, I guess it's also longer to have to pay it off, too, though.