»»June 16, 2012 Father's Day Cruise on the Fantasy!««

[triplefigs]

Well folks, it's all but done.

My wife and I have booked our 25th anniversary cruise on RCL's Freedom of the Seas. We'll be taking the Western itinerary at the end of June.

It was our original intent to use this Disney cruise with all of you folks to celebrate our 25th, but after our last experience aboard the Disney Wonder, we think we'll be happier for this event in our lives to be celebrated with a different cruise line.

As soon as the 2013 dates are announced for DCL, we'll be moving our deposit for this sailing to one in 2013. We're hoping to get something aboard the Fantasy, but it will depend on what they announce.

I know you folks will enjoy your sailing. If you are at all curious what changed out mind, feel free to ask. I'll be as specific as you like, but I am still a Disney fan so don't expect me to bash DCL. Generally speaking, we just don't think DCL fits our demographic for adults traveling without children.

We sailed the Eastern on FOS this past June and LOVED it! Great ship and tons to do. have a great time!

 

[triplefigs]

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know we will be canceling this cruise. We have lots of cruises planned and this one is just not top on the priority list. We are on the Inaguaral Hawaii and it would be impossible to turn around and head back out for this one.

Going to miss sailing with you again!

 

[Silverfox97]

Just got back from a 7-Night Western on the Magic and it was our 4th and best DCL cruise yet!!! Excellent staff, excellent cast member encounters and the ship looked just fine! Sure, she's 13 years old and isn't brand-spanking new, but she looked great We booked 2 dummy dates to hopefully move out to 2013.

One more cruise between now and this one

 

[Docjason2]

People are dropping like flies from the cruise...don't they know this will be the best cruise ever on the Fantasy?

 

[Susiesark]

New info and pics for the Fantasy! http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...the-disney-fantasy/?CMP=SOC-DCLFY11Q4FBDM0009

 

[Docjason2]

So sad....I went online today to see what the 2013 prices were going to be. For the Eastern father's day cruise next year, for a Cat 8 for 5 people, it's going to be over $2000 more than the cat 4 we have for this cruise. That is outrageous this far in advance! I understand they can demand a premium since it's Disney...but I think they may price themselves out of many people's price range. I saw people posting that there was almost a 60% increase in prices over 2012 cruises. just wow.

 

[Silverfox97]

So sad....I went online today to see what the 2013 prices were going to be. For the Eastern father's day cruise next year, for a Cat 8 for 5 people, it's going to be over $2000 more than the cat 4 we have for this cruise. That is outrageous this far in advance! I understand they can demand a premium since it's Disney...but I think they may price themselves out of many people's price range. I saw people posting that there was almost a 60% increase in prices over 2012 cruises. just wow.

Interesting - ours was less...........

Our TA booked a 7-night Eastern for us for Spring Break (ours is March 9th, 2013) - and it was $3500 (10% discount, no transfers/insurance) for Room 8188 (new Cat 5E used to be Cat 6A), which is less than this cruise - this cruise was $4300 for Cat 6A, so a savings of $800!!!

 

[Silverfox97]

OK, I just checked the June 15th, 2013 Fantasy cruise -- it is a $2000 increase for 2A 1C in the same Cat we have for this cruise. Yikes

Hoping to sail Magic to the southern Caribbean or Wonder to Alaska in Aug 2013 if offered............

 

[mousemom11]

I just priced our 8D cabins on the June 15, 2013 Fantasy Eastern. It's $1,540 higher than what we paid when we booked our 2012 cruise last year on opening day. That's a 29% increase. Plus, it's $1,264 higher than our 6/15/13 Allure cruise and we have 2 balconies on Allure!

I'm sad to say, but at these prices, I think the Johnson family is going to become RCCL cruisers from now on. We love Disney, but I can't justify paying these prices now that the girls are older and enjoy everything that RCCL has to offer on their ships.

 

[tanda4556]

I am so with you, Becky. We have our eyes on 2013 Med Cruise if DCL will sail there. If DCL increase prices for Wonder and Magic significantly, we will be sailing on RCCL. My DD (4) will miss Mickey, but she is not the one who is paying the bill.

I just priced our 8D cabins on the June 15, 2013 Fantasy Eastern. It's $1,540 higher than what we paid when we booked our 2012 cruise last year on opening day. That's a 29% increase. Plus, it's $1,264 higher than our 6/15/13 Allure cruise and we have 2 balconies on Allure!

I'm sad to say, but at these prices, I think the Johnson family is going to become RCCL cruisers from now on. We love Disney, but I can't justify paying these prices now that the girls are older and enjoy everything that RCCL has to offer on their ships.

 

[Docjason2]

I'd have to agree. As much as I really, really want to travel on DCL, I can justify the small premium we pay for these cruises attributed to Disney. However if the prices are so grossly inflated over other cruise lines, I'd have to take a real long look at what that premium is worth to us on other lines.

 

[mousemom11]

I am so with you, Becky. We have our eyes on 2013 Med Cruise if DCL will sail there. If DCL increase prices for Wonder and Magic significantly, we will be sailing on RCCL. My DD (4) will miss Mickey, but she is not the one who is paying the bill.

We did a 12-day Med cruise on RCCL's Brilliance of the Seas in 2010 and loved it. And the price was significantly cheaper than Disney's 10 and 11 day Med cruises that summer.

 

[mousemom11]

Woo hoo! I just booked our airline tickets for the cruise. I used points from our credit card, and the points finally dropped to the range that I had been waiting for for the flights that I wanted, so I jumped on it. We don't fly home until Saturday evening at 6:25, so that will give us a day to go hang out at one of the parks and ease our transition back into the real world.

 

[tanda4556]

We did a 12-day Med cruise on RCCL's Brilliance of the Seas in 2010 and loved it. And the price was significantly cheaper than Disney's 10 and 11 day Med cruises that summer.

That's the exact same cruise I'm looking at. I'm waiting for both DCL and RCCL to release their prices for 2013 Med cruise, but RCCL ports are very attractive to us.

 

[tanda4556]

Woo hoo! I just booked our airline tickets for the cruise. I used points from our credit card, and the points finally dropped to the range that I had been waiting for for the flights that I wanted, so I jumped on it. We don't fly home until Saturday evening at 6:25, so that will give us a day to go hang out at one of the parks and ease our transition back into the real world.

Which airlines? I ask since we will be flying out from the same airport

 

[mousemom11]

Which airlines? I ask since we will be flying out from the same airport

We're flying out on Frontier through Denver and back on an Alaska non-stop. The cost of the tickets was $2,300 for the 4 of us , but I only had to use 120,000 points for the 4 of us. I just checked Frontier's website, and if you fly round-trip on Frontier, it's $400 pp roundtrip. According to FareCompare, you can find the cheapest fares about 2 1/2 months before your trip, but I'm not sure that's true for summer flights. We flew to Cleveland this past August, and the cheapest prices were last fall. If I were paying cash for our flights, instead of points, my price point for Orlando RT out of Seattle would be about $350. Also, you can usually find your best prices on Tuesday when airlines release their weekly fare "deals".

As far as the Med cruise, I see that you have a DD who is 4. Based on our experience, I would consider waiting until she is older to do an expensive, port-intensive cruise like the 12-day Med. The main things to see at the ports relate to history, architecture, and art. For Florence, Rome, and Naples, we arranged a private tour and left the boat at 8 am and didn't return until 5. Our 2 DD's, who were 11 and 9 at the time, were really dragging at the end of day and had reached their touring limit. So we left them on the ship in the kids club in Naples all day while the adults went to Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. We also left them on the ship in Dubrovnik and one day in Venice. I had many people tell me that their young kids really enjoyed the Med cruise and excursions, and ours did to a point. But once they reached their historical saturation point, they were satisfied to remain on the ship and do kids club activities and swim in the pool. However, given your DD's age, I wouldn't be comfortable leaving her on ship while I was away on an excursion all day. You know her stamina level best, but I just wanted to give you the benefit of our experience. Given that, we won't be doing a Baltics cruise with the girls until they're both in high school and more ready for a historical based cruise.

I'd be happy to share more of our experiences with you. Feel free to PM me, or we could even meet in person for lunch since we're neighbors!

 

[Susiesark]

Disney Cruise Line released cruise dates through 2013. Great prices if you book early. Sadly, I have no travel money left

 

[mousemom11]

OK, it's way too quiet in here and we're on the last page. We have less than 8 months until our cruise!!! Many of us have been on this thread for more than a year now. It's all downhill from here.

 

[Docjason2]

Was talking with the wife yesterday, it was 1 year ago to the date that we embarked on the Disney Wonder for our 3 day Halloween cruise to the Bahamas. It was our first cruise of any type ever, and well the rest is history as we rebooked for this cruise before we left!

I am really missing sitting on the boat right about now. I have a weather app programmed into my phone and hate seeing the temp difference between IA and the Bahamas!

Starting to really look at airfare now in the next few months. Once we get that settled, and get our taxes back next year.....this will all seem so much more real!

 

[Susiesark]

I think we discussed it previously, and I know it's still very early, but did we decide on an FE cutoff, either by date or by family count? Another group can still be added later, but wanted to get an idea of how many people we'll be gifting.
3 weeks from today I leave on our Thanksgiving on the Wonder cruise. (We had someone wanted to join the FE group just a few days ago!)