Another Platinum DCL sailor who jumped ship..

[Birdie dog]

I know my thread is a little late, but I had to take the time to decide if I was *happy* about my decision. I'm a platinum ( partial to suites ) DCL guest who was SOOO excited about the summer 2017 announcements until I saw the pricing and almost pooped myself.

DH and I are empty nesters. No kids. But, we love DCL and were expecting to pay. Just not as much as DCL wanted.

So, in 2017, I'll be sailing Princess on a 12 night British Isles cruise for right around half price. I'm sure DCL won't miss me but they did lose a party of 10 total. We've now got a group of 10 sailing between 6 cabins (2 solo cruisers). A $40,000 booking on Princess. A $80,000 booking on DCL.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I know my thread is a little late, but I had to take the time to decide if I was *happy* about my decision. I'm a platinum ( partial to suites ) DCL guest who was SOOO excited about the summer 2017 announcements until I saw the pricing and almost pooped myself.

DH and I are empty nesters. No kids. But, we love DCL and were expecting to pay. Just not as much as DCL wanted.

So, in 2017, I'll be sailing Princess on a 12 night British Isles cruise for right around half price. I'm sure DCL won't miss me but they did lose a party of 10 total. We've now got a group of 10 sailing between 6 cabins (2 solo cruisers). A $40,000 booking on Princess. A $80,000 booking on DCL.

We cruised the British Isles with Princess two years ago and had a great time!

 

[phinz]

Looking forward to our Princess cruise in 24 days!

 

[tidefan]

Princess has a really nice product! Love their pizza!!!

 

[Belle2002]

I have never cruised Princess, but my sister has and really enjoyed it. I find the DCL Europe itineraries are quite outrageously priced these days.
Just don't ever cruise Holland America! They have great prices but the quality and service are terrible!!

 

[Ofinn]

I know my thread is a little late, but I had to take the time to decide if I was *happy* about my decision. I'm a platinum ( partial to suites ) DCL guest who was SOOO excited about the summer 2017 announcements until I saw the pricing and almost pooped myself.

DH and I are empty nesters. No kids. But, we love DCL and were expecting to pay. Just not as much as DCL wanted.

So, in 2017, I'll be sailing Princess on a 12 night British Isles cruise for right around half price. I'm sure DCL won't miss me but they did lose a party of 10 total. We've now got a group of 10 sailing between 6 cabins (2 solo cruisers). A $40,000 booking on Princess. A $80,000 booking on DCL.

I was just curious what was the price for the two of you, what kind of cabin. What month?

 

[Anna Chassereau]

I took an Alaskan cruise with Princess in 2009 and loved it!! Have a fabulous time!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just don't ever cruise Holland America! They have great prices but the quality and service are terrible!!

I don't agree with this. We've done 3 HAL cruises and had great service, and I found the food to be a bit better than what I get on DCL.

 

[Belle2002]

I don't agree with this. We've done 3 HAL cruises and had great service, and I found the food to be a bit better than what I get on DCL.

You are definitely right about the food. Our meals on our last Disney cruise were pretty poor and the food on HAL was quite good - much better than Disney. Maybe we were just unlucky with our cruise. We had a lot of problems throughout our cruise (including a ship fire) and it seemed nobody had a clue how to deal with any adverse situations on board. Don't get me wrong, we encountered some lovely staff, but the overall standards were far below Disney.

 

[tinkerone]

Your certainly not alone Birdie Dog, seems many people are jumping ship.

I hardly ever used to see DCL commercials and I would call DH in when ever one came on because they were so seldom and we loved dcl. Last year I started to see them a couple times a month and found that interesting. Now I'm seeing them almost daily. I pvr'd some shows last week so I could fast forward the commercials and two of the hour long ones had dcl commercials more than once. I can't help but wonder if bookings are way down. Commercials are certainly way up. At least in my area of Canada. Tells me something. Not sure what but something........

 

[Imahikergirl]

Your certainly not alone Birdie Dog, seems many people are jumping ship.

I hardly ever used to see DCL commercials and I would call DH in when ever one came on because they were so seldom and we loved dcl. Last year I started to see them a couple times a month and found that interesting. Now I'm seeing them almost daily. I pvr'd some shows last week so I could fast forward the commercials and two of the hour long ones had dcl commercials more than once. I can't help but wonder if bookings are way down. Commercials are certainly way up. At least in my area of Canada. Tells me something. Not sure what but something........

The exchange rate is horrible right now, I'm sure that has a big effect on bookings, both land and sea.

We used to see a lot of DL commercials in AB. Haven't been home in a while to notice a difference though. Down here they play Rocky Mountaineer commercials and it makes me homesick.

 

[RRB]

I think there is a logical progression here. Many of us started cruising on DCL years and years ago (with kids) when the cost was much more reasonable. The Pixie Dust was still there in cruises 5-10 and we continue to soak it all in. As time went by, the kids got older and didn't cruise with us, the ports of call got stale and of course, the costs escalated. The costs went up not only from inflation but because Disney became "the cruise of choice". DCL can and does charge a premium for their product. What's really interesting is what I found in our Cruise Meets thread for our next cruise in September. There are many first time cruisers and many first time DCL cruisers coming, many of them with young kids. Did they check prices of the other cruise lines? I would assume so. There is a unique draw to the Disney Brand. For every Platinum cruiser who goes elsewhere, there is a new cruiser that jumps on board.

 

[Birdie dog]

I'm not quite sure how quotes work on this board, but I'm answering a question from above..
We have two people staying in an extended balcony on the 10th deck. Price was $3400 per person. I hate DCL's new site but the prices run from the Navigator's Verandah (which we didn't want, we have connecting cabins and verandahs). A Navigator is $11000+. A regular verandah stateroom is $14000+.

Oh, and also, I keep an eye on Princess price drops. Our final payment (for August) is due in June. If was sailing the exact same cruise in 2016 verandahs are now priced at $2299 pp. and you can price adjust until final payment. I've locked in my room and am quite sure I'm going to get a great price.

 

[kiapepito]

My parents are now on a 12 day princess trip to Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Finland and Germany and they paid $1200 a piece for a verandah.... Cheaper than the mouse that's for sure!

 

[hanscarlet]

We are definite on Alaska for 2020 with my parents but I am going back and forth between Princess and DCL because of the big price difference. If we do Princess, this would be our first non disney cruise and my main concern is the clubs for the kids and how well Princess does with kids on the spectrum. Disney's prices are definitely really high compared to other cruise lines.

 

[Ofinn]

I don't agree with this. We've done 3 HAL cruises and had great service, and I found the food to be a bit better than what I get on DCL.

My in-laws have cruised HAL twice in Alaska and loved it. I think food varies so much from cruise to cruise. On DCL it can be hit or miss. If food was high on my priority list for a vacation. I would probably do something other than a cruise. I find the food to be ok to good, but nothing special.

 

[mjackson]

Glad to hear several people enjoyed the Princess cruise line. Group of 12 going on a British Isle cruise in June. We all wanted to go on DCL but as stated by others the price was way to high. I am hoping with DCL building two more ships this will also be a factor in their prices dropping now having to fill 6 ships instead of 4.

 

[RedSox68]

I know my thread is a little late, but I had to take the time to decide if I was *happy* about my decision. I'm a platinum ( partial to suites ) DCL guest who was SOOO excited about the summer 2017 announcements until I saw the pricing and almost pooped myself.

DH and I are empty nesters. No kids. But, we love DCL and were expecting to pay. Just not as much as DCL wanted.

So, in 2017, I'll be sailing Princess on a 12 night British Isles cruise for right around half price. I'm sure DCL won't miss me but they did lose a party of 10 total. We've now got a group of 10 sailing between 6 cabins (2 solo cruisers). A $40,000 booking on Princess. A $80,000 booking on DCL.

I hear ya. We sailed on Princess for this itinerary last August. Same itinerary as Disney, in a verandah, and Disney's price was $11,000 more than what Princess quoted me for basically the same product. I don't care if you love Disney and have kids, for us that's two more trips or more!

And we became platinum in 2014 and don't see us ever being able to afford to sail again on DCL to use those benefits!

 

[Markonefive]

I'm hoping that with two more ships to fill, and increased competition from other cruise lines, plus possible loss of repeat travellers, Disney will bring their pricing more in line with others over coming years. I think people don't mind paying slightly higher, but customers are only willing to go so far. I'm wondering if there are so many first time cruisers who just choose Disney without comparison shopping driving it up, or are there so many repeat cruisers filling the cabins on a discounted basis, that is letting Disney being able to charge so high and still get enough of a load percentage? They are obviously not sailing with empty ships.

 

[RedSox68]

I'm hoping that with two more ships to fill, and increased competition from other cruise lines, plus possible loss of repeat travellers, Disney will bring their pricing more in line with others over coming years. I think people don't mind paying slightly higher, but customers are only willing to go so far. I'm wondering if there are so many first time cruisers who just choose Disney without comparison shopping driving it up, or are there so many repeat cruisers filling the cabins on a discounted basis, that is letting Disney being able to charge so high and still get enough of a load percentage? They are obviously not sailing with empty ships.

Yeah -- we thought this when the first set of new ships was coming out -- prices would be cheaper, etc. etc. Seems to have only gotten worse