Any Disney Cruise Line fare watchers?

[Susan2771]

I've cruised quite a bit with RCI and a couple of times with Carnival. Always wanted to do a Disney Cruise but I couldn't justify the fare. Been getting so many emails from RCI and Carnival with deals, deals, deals. Just wondering if anyone here follows Disney Cruise Line pricing or getting any emails with deals? I stopped looking at the fare pricing a while ago since it wasn't in the budget and didn't want to torture myself by always looking. Has anyone noticed a change to fares due to the pandemic? Anyone getting some good offers in Canada to cruise Disney in the future with some tempting rates???

 

[bcwife76]

DCL doesn't offer "deals" like other cruise lines. Your best price is always when the cruise is first released. They only go up from there. If you book a cruise while on board one you can get 10% off (or buy what is called a placeholder on board for $250 to secure the 10% on a future cruise). They do occasionally offer CDN residents rates on cruises that are not selling well but they don't have any at the moment due to the border closure.

 

[newdeal]

Disney does offer 25% discounts sometimes but it is VERY limited cruises and dates. Seems to be I usually see them in the fall time and maybe one or two dates are offered at a discount. The other cruise lines will often have "sales" but many times if you actually go through pricing things out each sale works out to be close to the same final price anyway I find. Personally I have been on Disney (Fantasy) and RCL (Harmony of the Seas) and would go on RCL all day long over Disney. Disney has better shows (especially if you have kids) although the RCL shows are ok also (we loved the Aqua show and also Grease). Disney has better food in the main dining rooms (and includes soda) although RCL food is good too, just not as good (soda costs extra unless you have a package but lemonade is free). Disney has a better kids club (if that matters to you, our kids don't want to be in the kids club anyway). But other than that I preferred everything on the RCL ship (way more to do, rock climbing, Flo rider, zip line, more pools which were WAY less crowded, more slides, ice skating, ultimate abyss, carousel, escape room etc). The pool on the Disney ship was literally shoulder to shoulder with no room to move while everyone just stared up at the movie that was playing, RCL the pool was not empty but was far more room to swim a bit). Might have been our room location near the rear on the Disney ship (but not a low deck) but I couldn't sleep as I felt like I was on a vibrating bed because of the vibrations of the engines. None of that was noticeable on RCL (although we were midship). For what we did (nothing that cost extra) on Coco Cay it was just as good as Castaway Cay to me. Oh and the RCL cruise literally cost half of what the Disney cruise did so I could go on two cruises instead of just one which is the biggest plus of all. If I wanted to get some Disney feel, but didn't want the parks, I would also consider Aulani. For us (DVC members) flying first class Toronto to HNL going to Aulani for a week was also cheaper than flying coach Buffalo to Orlando, staying over one night before hand to make sure we were on time and going on a Disney cruise even after food and entertainment was taken into account. I much prefer Aulani to the Disney cruise as well although the jet lag sucks from the east coast. I just don't see the value in a Disney cruise over the alternatives. I don't consider an all inclusive resort in a third world country where everyone gets sick an alternative so I didn't bother mentioning that!

 

[starvenger]

It's basic supply and demand, really. DCL only has the 4 ships (for now) yet demand is high for them. So zero reason to offer discounts.

Bottom line - if you want to sail DCL, you'll need to adjust the budget, or adjust the number of nights.

 

[Carolynleanne]

I love DCL. LOVE it. We haven't been able to justify the cost anymore though. For half the price we pay for Disney, we can get a SUITE on Royal Caribbean. It just doesnt make sense for us.

 

[Camilo]

I went only once to DCL, in 2013, during the US financial crisis, when Disney had a last-minute special "Kids Sail free". We paid less on that DCL cruise than on a carnival one, 3 years before. The cruise was amazing, service impeccable but I don't think it justifies being 200% more expensive than Carnival or RCL.

I will likely only sail again if similar specials pop up (which is unlikely)....