Yikes! Huge price jump in 2018!!

[Love2Cruz]

The irony here is the threads about other cruise lines were friendly threads discussing experiences and sharing tips until the "complainers" came on upset that people were enjoying themselves on other cruise lines...How dare they!! lol

 

[Love2Cruz]

I did the Dream twice and I would like to do the Wonder. When their new ships come out, will probably try one too. Other than that, I don't see myself sailing DCL a whole lot as my DD gets older. I can get better food and the same service on other lines for half the price....and with more adventurous itineraries.

 

[JW9DVC]

Exactly! I agree with you.

My beef is that, for those of us who don't think DCL prices are appropriate, the DCL zealots come back with, get off these boards or, sorry, you can't afford them any more.

I can afford them today, just as I did 10 years ago when I took my first.

My opinion and the reason that I think their pricing is excessive is that there have been an ever increasing number of changes where the hard value is no longer there.

I'm amazed people think their food is so great. It's good. It's not great, IMO

They diluted(lol) the alcohol policy.

Their cleanliness isn't up to their standards when I first started.

Then, don't get me started on the same old shows, activities and ports of call that are repeated every cruise. Sure, there have been some updates and new things. Just not enough, IMO.

I've thought that I was going to start a thread with snippets of posts from DCL cruisers that have complaints. I would say these things were found on another cruise line. The Disney-ites would be overjoyed. Then I would reveal that these things really happened on DCL. The level that people defend this cruise line is mind boggling.

Yes. I will cruise when I find the value in it. I already have a booking for 2017.

But, I'm also going to make my opinion known and I'm going to commiserate when they can't justify the cost.

Bottom line, their pricing is out of line. Bottom line, they fill their ships with discounted prices and the average joe isn't invited to take advantage of that perk.

My last cruise- I only met one other person that paid full price.

Where are these discounts you speak of?

 

[ldo]

thanks, Ofinn, for your review of Vista. I appreciate fellow DCL lovers' reviews of other ships. I am priced out of DCL for spring break. Fantasy OV cabin for 4 is over $9K, which is thousands more than I am willing to pay. No ill will, as I got 2 great deals in prior years. I even held a few shorter DCL cruises, which I will let expire, b/c it would take too much extra-efforts to take the more "affordable" DCL cruises (such as taking kids out of school to cruise on Friday). I am certainly not writing off DCL forever, but we will have to make other plans for next spring.

 

[undertheradar]

Look, we sailed with Mickey on The Big Red Boat. DCL was born from those of us who sailed Premier Cruise Lines. We sailed on the Magic her first year, have our pins to prove it. We had my parents keep our youngest while we sailed since taking her would have doubled our cruise fare due to an infant needing space in a lifeboat!
My point being that it has never been "cheap" to sail DCL. My kids bugged for years to take another one, but I always asked if they wanted 1 week of experiences or a car that would last for years. Sometimes we forget that vacation is not a right, it is a choice. We all vote with our dollars and when enough people stop spending for specific brands/experiences/etc., prices will have to adjust. Remember, these are global corporations, so what some perceive as too expensive, others willingly pay.

 

[wombat_5606]

Where are these discounts you speak of?

Military, Florida resident, Canadian, travel agents, Disney employee are the ones I know. There are probably ones I don't know about.

Do you qualify for any of those? I don't.

Then there are the *GT and GTY rates. I qualify for those only if I want to pay for a discount off a prevailing and inflated rate. And if I don't want to use my OBB benefits.

 

[JW9DVC]

I'm the author of the "dark side" thread. I've made that thread because I'm a DCL fan and I was curious to try another cruiseline and compare.

I also created a Victory VS Dream review because they offer a similar itinerary and though it would be nice to compare both ships and cruiselines and see if it the experience would be just as good for people who are not able (or willing!) to pay the DCL rates.

I believe that people who have been outpriced have a right to express their disappointment and should not be shamed.

I don't think it's being shamed. Disappointed because you don't see value because either one can no longer afford it or because such and such a cruise line is x amount less. That's not what these boards are for I believe.

 

[JW9DVC]

Whenever DCL announces new cruise dates, we always see this. That's a matter of fact.

I'm priced out. We jumped ship. I get x cruise for x amount less.

Maybe it should be discussed in the budget boards. I feel that if you want to sail DCL then this is one of the best forums. It's all about the experience, the mouse and gang along with the class A Disney service.

For an informed decision. That's where a travel agent or google come into play. Research.

These forums are for research of DCL and the knowledge we share with each other about Disney Cruising only. Just my thoughts.

JW

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

These forums are for research of DCL and the knowledge we share with each other about Disney Cruising only. Just my thoughts.
JW

Pricing is part of the research that goes into a cruise and part of the knowledge that is shared.

 

[wombat_5606]

I don't qualify for a senior discount either at Denny's. yet you don't see me complaining on every yelp page about it either.

I don't complain about it here except when someone tells me DCL sails full and their high prices are justified.

 

[Ofinn]

I don't complain about it here except when someone tells me DCL sails full and their high prices are justified.

Its funny because they are offering interline rates out of Galveston in dec. I called to get a price just for fun and it was the same as the GT rate I booked the same week last year, and almost as much as my Carnival Vista cruise the end of May so even the industry rates are getting high. I am keeping an eye on the Jan 20 repo cruise to see if the price drops. I have the WBTA booked in Sept which I thought was a pretty good price. Now that Ive sailed on the Vista it will be very hard for me to find value in any of the dcl caribbean cruises. I also like the fact that I can book the Vista months in advance and get a good price.

 

[ncurley]

People keep mentioning interline rates. I googled this term since I'm not familiar with it, and I found a website that says it has discounted rates but it looks like you have to work for an airline or travel company to be eligible for these. Is that correct?

 

[JW9DVC]

Again why dont you start a thread why you find dcl worth the premium if this one bothers you so much.

It doesn't bother me.

People always pay more for the mouse.

 

[niccikatie]

Then if it's not DCL. Maybe the forums need to be adjusted to say. Other DCL options if DCL is. It within your budget.

There is an RCCL forum here at DIS as well, but people want to discuss options. I assume that the moderators and owners of this forum would let us know if discussing other lines was out of bounds.

That's logical thinking and makes complete sense. However, when it comes to a lot of people's affinity for DCL (and all other things Disney), logic rarely, if ever, enters the equation. It'a all emotional attachment. That's how you can raise prices in the neighborhood of 10-20% every single year for what is essentially the same exact experiences since they seldom change itineraries.

I agree completely. Eventually, though, I do think it's going to catch up with Disney.

Same here. We can afford DCL's prices. It is just hard to justify it. I consider the prices to cruise on other lines - RCCL, NCL, Carnival, and soon MSC (which generally will be very closes to each other) - as the "baseline", if you will. If they are all in the $3500 range for a 7-nt cruise (and we - 2A, 2C - generally only look at the newer "mega" ships with all the bells & whistles), we may be willing to go $4500-$5000 for DCL as we do love DCL and think they are, on the whole, but not in every area, better than the others. However, we are not going to spend $7000-$8000 for a week on the Fantasy - which is where the prices are now. They are only slightly better than the others, so the price would need to be only slightly higher than the others to justify it.

I agree. I gather a few quotes and decide. One thing that really swayed my loyalty was the change in alcohol policy on Disney right before our Panama trip. They didn't grandfather all booked cruises in and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't like the rules being changed after I've paid for certain terms and conditions.

We also really like the smaller ships which makes the comparisons even further apart on quotes. There is a price point that we will pay for Disney - heck, we sailed Disney to Alaska which was EXPENSIVE (and even mores now!) - but for the majority of the cruises nothing is unique enough to justify the prices. Even two years ago, the experience may have been different enough to justify but not today.

 

[mevelandry]

We asked for a "jumping ship" category to compare prices and value between other cruise lines and DCL outside of the DCL category and the request was not granted.

You might not like seeing those threads appear but they have been tolerated by the mods so far so I guess they are not as bad as you might think.

Most of us won't go troll in other threads to tell people what they should do or not do with their money. We stay on our comparisons threads. We don't bother people.

If you are not interested, don't read it. It's as simple as that. Everybody stays happy.

 

[mevelandry]

And while we are talking about the prices jump what bothers me is that they charge hundreds of dollars more for a product who has not gained value. The itineraries remain the same, the product remains the same... I would understand that the prices get a bit higher... But hundreds of dollars more seems a bit strange to me.

When I can get a whole 7 days in WDW + a whole 7 days on another cruiseline (14 days vacation) for same price as a 7 nights Disney Cruise... In my eyes, something is wrong.

I think our 650$/per adult for 3 or 4 nights cruises (2017... I haven't checked the 2018 prices yet, I am scared!) is a better value because it is closer in price to what a 3-4 nights Disney stay would be (resort + 1 park ticket + food) ... Meanwhile, I am a bit tired of the Bahamas, I would try something else if they have anything else available for short cruises.

 

[AquaDame]

We asked for a "jumping ship" category to compare prices and value between other cruise lines and DCL outside of the DCL category and the request was not granted.

You might not like seeing those threads appear but they have been tolerated by the mods so far so I guess they are not as bad as you might think.

Most of us won't go troll in other threads to tell people what they should do or not do with their money. We stay on our comparisons threads. We don't bother people.

If you are not interested, don't read it. It's as simple as that. Everybody stays happy.

I'm the one who asked for it and was denied. To be honest I got no reponse at all, so I'm fine with them being here until I'm told otherwise.

I did feel like the comments about other lines and pricing was creeping in to threads in a negative fashion which is why I spoke up. Obviously, doing so was taken harshly which was never my intent. We want to let people always speak their minds and moderate lightly - only when we get a complaint. I've seen comments here that suggest we are still seen as being heavy handed anyway. We've also left these comments alone so far.

What we may do in the future is create a mega thread for pricing discussion in this forum. I don't want to do that as I feel a review thread, general Carnial Vista thread and pricing complaint thread are all valid in their own right. Merging doesn't make much sense but it may seem negative to people coming in to discuss DCL to see so many other threads on the first page. It's a conundrum.

Some feel like they're looked down on for paying the price and others for not paying the price. In reality we're all supposed to just help each other regardless...

 

[iZon]

I'm actually confused. Just looked at Fantasy for April/May 2018 (our usual months) and the prices are $700 to $1000 less than what we are paying for 2017. Less than 2015. I don't think it's worth waiting for the OBD. Time to book now.

 

[Ofinn]

I'm actually confused. Just looked at Fantasy for April/May 2018 (our usual months) and the prices are $700 to $1000 less than what we are paying for 2017. Less than 2015. I don't think it's worth waiting for the OBD. Time to book now.

I know this will irritate certain people on this board, but I really watch the prices and discounts.The last couple of years they have offered a lot of discounts in a May.Yes, I noticed the lower 2018 May prices. The same goes for the New york cruises next year. They are actually lower then this year. This years New york cruises didnt sell very well. So sometimes DCl will adjust prices lower. What befuddled me for next year was the rise in European prices.. On several cruises this year they had to offer GT rates that were well below opening day prices so I really thought prices might come down. A lot of airlines are cutting capacity to Europe due to decreased traffic. I have no plans to travel to Europe during peak season, but nonetheless it will be intersting to see how these sell. My two trips to Europe this year left me with the impression that the economy's not that great over there.

 

[cgolf]

Maybe people think they will have a welfare system setup? If half the people that complained on these boards about the prices. It does get old after awhile.

We all value money in a certain way. I value my time with family and away from work more than anything. If others are willing to pay. Disney will always hike the prices. Soon we will have minimum wages increase to $15 an hour here in California. The cost of living is going to go up. Yet. That's life if I choose to remain in this state. If you can't afford Disney. Why complain on a Disney board. Go to RCCL and complain. I agree with you.

Here is why I share the research we do for each cruise which includes pricing. A few years back, we started seeing the pricing threads pop up, and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about, because it hadn't hit our cruise time yet. Well then after our second fantasy cruise, we started to see DCL get slightly higher than other lines. Then came 2017 where we saw huge price differences compared to other lines. 2018 saw the gap widen. For the trips we looked at for 3 adults RCCL was 90 per day cheaper than the Wonder and 180 a per day cheaper than the Fantasy. Could we afford it sure, but having been on 12 DCL cruises already, we didn't feel the value was there to spend the extra coin. To be honest I found a lot of opinions on here made me feel better about making the jump.

Whenever DCL announces new cruise dates, we always see this. That's a matter of fact.

I'm priced out. We jumped ship. I get x cruise for x amount less.

Maybe it should be discussed in the budget boards. I feel that if you want to sail DCL then this is one of the best forums. It's all about the experience, the mouse and gang along with the class A Disney service.

For an informed decision. That's where a travel agent or google come into play. Research.

These forums are for research of DCL and the knowledge we share with each other about Disney Cruising only. Just my thoughts.

JW

That class A Disney service has changed from our first DCL cruise. It seems spotty now. Don't get me wrong the service is still good, but it is definately different from our first trip. We will see what we get on another line, as I can't compare to another line yet, but as I have said before I had basically the same crew on our Magic post dry dock trip and the Fantasy 2 months later and those crew were super friendly on the magic and not at all on the Fantasy. It was interesting to observe this.

Also if I am researching my first cruise, I may be only looking at DCL, and if I saw a thread that said hey they are super pricey, but this line is similar, I might look into that other line especially if DCL would be a budget buster for us. This will open up people's eyes, we were DCL only for 12 cruises, but now that we are looking there are some great deals out there on great itineraries we haven't seen before.

Saying all that if someone is crazy about Disney stuff, 1 or 2 cruises are highly recommended, we are just learning that DCL is not setting itself up to attract a lot of longtime repeat buisness, the want the turnover with newer cruisers willing to spend a lot onboard on merchandise and stuff.