Alaskan Cruise Pricing Question

[staceymay00]

Hello, I could use some some advice from the experts on whether the DCL Alaska cruise I booked is a decent price compared to other cruise line options. We are Disney fans but not big cruisers and willing to pay more for Disney service, quality, and familiarity to a degree. Our two previous cruises were 4 night Bahamian DCL when our kids were younger, once in a family verandah cabin and once with two connecting verandah cabins.

Details are May 2026 7-nighter on the Wonder, 5 or 6 adults, kids all in their 20s, two ocean view cabins on deck 2. We'd rather have two cabins without verandahs, plus might need two with 6 anyway, and I don't think we will mind being on a lower deck. Total price with three in each cabin is $1840 per person.

I need to switch my reservation to Costco and book trip insurance this weekend to be within 30 days of booking. I quickly priced some other cruise lines like HAL, Princess, and RC and it seems like our DCL is not that much more compared to other's unobstructed ocean view, and verandah cabins could be more than our DCL price. There are so many choices, though, and I don't have the time or energy for a bunch of research. I'm curious if anyone has a cruise line and ship recommendation that would save enough money to be worth switching from DCL (probably at least 20% savings in my mind). Also, while I'm here, what are the best companies these days for good trip insurance (cancel for any reason, extra medical, etc.)?

 

[JoeFromSeoul]

These are always the toughest questions to answer, since only you know what “worth the cost” means to you. We have only cruised with DCL, so any comparisons I could make are based on second hand information.

For my family, DCL is a great fit. There are four of us, and now that my “children” are young adults we need two cabins. I know I spend significantly more for DCL than I would for the same accommodations on another cruise line. For me, the slightly larger room, attention to detail, rotational dining, and general Disney service is worth the cost.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

If you want to see Alaska go on HAL or hal has even better service than DCL but these lines are known for Alaska itineries: they go inside glacier bay, longer porttimes, prime locations, better contracts for excursions etc.
If you want to see minnie in her furry coat and Micley in his fisherlan gear: go on dcl.

I did Alaska tIce on DCL and going on HAl early may when they offer a two week itinerary that goes all the way to the north to Anchorage etc so I finally get to see more than touristtraps juneau, ketchikan and Skagway

 

[Karin1984]

If the goal is Alaska, there are probably cruiselines with better itineraries.

If the goal is Disney and you do not want to do Caribbean, and you want to stay in the US / no long flights, Alaska is the only option.

 

[Flossbolna]

From what I have seen, prices on other cruise lines seem to fluctuate more. They usually get cheaper as they try to fill up the ship, so you might have to wait it out a bit longer before you see something where you can save money. But while DCL is very expensive for Alaska in the summer, the off season cruises (like May, which is what you are looking at) are actually amongst the more affordable DCL cruises.

I was very happy with the DCL itinerary which included Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. I think if you compare Alaska cruises, you need to take I to account the time in port as well as where the ship docks. Only Juneau the Wonder wasn’t docking so conveniently. But some other cruise lines dock further away for example. I don’t see the appeal of Icy Straight Point as it is a place made just for cruise ships. I much prefer docking in a real town. So, these are all things to consider and figure out what works best for your group.

 

[LoveDaisy]

If you want to see Alaska I would pick another cruise lines, others have better routes and better placement in port. If you want a Disney vacation I would stay with Disney. It depends what you want out of the trip.

As far as pricing it will depend when you are going and when you booked. My experience has been that other cruise lines are usually cheaper. The exception is usually with Royal’s newest ships, which are priced closer to DCL.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I will always say to do a one way so that you can get on the Alaskan interior, and you waste less time in transit while you are on the boat (my last 1 way had 1 sea day and one glacier day....usually the RT have 2 sea days or at least awful port times to make up for the long transit time).....

I agree with the previous folk saying that prices change a lot....our last Royal probably ended up being about $1300/person for a balcony room, but I definitely repriced it at least 3 times.....I know normally DCL pricing goes only up....

 

[cruisehopeful]

I have done 2 DCL Alaska cruises. I'm a huge Disney fan and have always enjoyed my Disney cruises.

I was looking at booking another and decided to go with Princess instead. For nearly the same price (looks like we're only saving $500ish when you look at the booking total), we're getting unlimited drinks, specialty coffee, fine dining, paid gratuities, reserved seating in the theater, high speed wifi, the ability to order food and drinks anywhere on the ship and have them delivered to us, probably more stuff that I can't remember. If we added on all the costs of those things on a Disney cruise, it would be at least thousand more. We're doing the inside passage from Seattle, which is a similar cruise to Disney, but it also has Glacier Bay. I also prefer the food on Princess. The service was as good or even better than DCL when we cruised Princess before covid.

We won't have cute Mickey and Minnie, but we will have a lot of nice adult only areas. We'll be adding on a reserved area of the ship for Glacier Bay. It's front and at the top, with snacks and tea and we won't have to struggle for a good view.

I did transfer my cruise to Costco, but lots of regular Princess cruisers prefer not to because it removes the possibility of bidding on a better room. I booked exactly what I wanted and I don't want a different room, so that wasn't a concern for me.

 

[Lesverts]

Alaskan cruises have the one quirk that there is a substantial premium on verandah over oceanview and inside.

Me personally, I like the Seattle departures because they stop in Victoria instead of staying just starting and ending in Vancouver. I especially like the ones where your port time in Victoria is in the afternoon/evening. I need to get on rebooking one eventually because mine was Covid-Cancelled.

 

[staceymay00]

Thank you all, very helpful! I got busy with some things and am just now checking back. I booked this cruise on a whim when bookings opened and would have benefitted from more research. For example, we are on the east coast and flying to Seattle has more appealing options than getting to Vancouver. I also messed up thinking I had 30 days to get trip insurance with pre-existing waiver for peace of mind but it's a shorter window. I will probably cancel and look at other DCL destinations and different cruise lines for Alaska for May 2026.