Comparing apples and oranges?

[wovenwonder]

Pics from our 'superior ocean view' cabin on the Navigator. This was room 1388 [deck#10 corner AFT]. Shop around for the room of your choice and you can get a good deal for the dollar.

Click Here for room & balcony pics

 

[gamom]

I have a RCCL cruise booked for April 2005 in a Junior Suite on the Mariner of the Seas (Easter Caribbean). The RCCL website lists the Junior Suite as 299 sq. feet plus a 65 sq. ft. balcony. I don't know where the cruisestaterooms website got thier figures. I also love DCL. In fact we're sailing on May 23rd on the Wonder.

 

[CB4U]

MrsPete,

If you did the same comparisons using $$ for the month of April 2005 you would see the major differences people are finding. October is considered off-season.

Believe me, I love Disney. I want to cruise Disney again (been twice now). But it is very hard to justify two ships leaving the same weekend (Magic Western 4/23/05 and Mariner Western 4/24/05 both from Port Canaveral) and saving over $2,000 and getting a conceirge room on RCCL as opposed to a cat. 4 on Disney.

I agree that having smaller children makes a big difference. Disney is the way to go if you can afford it. When you have older kids as we do (16, 13 and 11) thats a big chunk of change to be used elsewhere. No flames please, just wanted to make sure the apples were being compared during peak times as well.

 

[IrishCowboy]

kajohn...good point! I noticed the same things!

 

[Philly Jen]

Hello- I just got back from the Magic last week. I too am looking into the RCCL Mariner. One thing to note, because Disney doesn't need to discount their cruises, you will pay pretty close to "book" value. Get a good travel agent and you will pay about 40% less than book value on RCCL. Also- RCCL is a much newer ship, larger with more pool space, etc..... No flames here, we loved the Magic. I had no idea how much my girls would love cruising(3 and 5) and want to do it again immediatly. We had a cat 6 and after all was said and done, it cost us well over 5G's for the week(4 of us). That was our KTTW bill, travel and the cruise. My travel agent best friend who booked us(and was with us on the ship) said we would have gone on 2 cruises for the price.

I think alot of our cabin space was in the large walk in hallway(where the 2 bathrooms are) and truly not a spacious enough area to be useful. And I do think the RCCL Mariner's layout is better. The queen bed is by the verandah, which is good for 2 reasons. I tried to go out on our verandah every morning for coffee but the wind woke both my kids up each time I tried. So having our bed by the verandah would make more sense. Then the living space on the other side of the room appears more spacious.

Hope that helps.

 

[videoman]

We are presently booked on DCL for this October, but want to try RCCL for the next year. The only thing is, (and this is just my crazyness), I feel a pang of sadness cause I'm going to miss the "disney" feeling! Silly huh?

 

[2kidsmom]

If I am cruising with my kids, then I am sticking with Disney. We looked at sailing on the Rhapsody out of Galveston but decided against it. One of the main reasons was because of the clubs for kids. It all looked educational. While I am all for education, an entire cruise is a bit much. Also, the times the clubs are open are very limited. They are closed the entire time the ship is in port. They are also closed during meals and they close for the night at 10:00 PM. That pretty much sums up when my kids where there, while we were shopping on land, during meals and late at night!

On average, the staterooms are quite a bit small on the RCCL.

I'm sticking with the mouse!!!

Julie B

 

[MrsPete]

kajohn -- I didn't know that the balcony was included in the square footage. That does make a difference.

CB4U -- While I have not compared other months myself, I'm surprised that off-season the rates would be so similar while peak season would yield better deals. I assumed that the savings (or lack thereof) would have been equal across the months. Realizing this now, I suppose a wise consumer would compare each and every time rather than generalizing!

Wovenwonder -- thanks for the pictures.

 

[wink]

We have a RCCL cruise on the Mariner booked for October 2005. For our family of four in a D1 balcony room, the cost is $2400. I double-checked the Disney site yesterday afternoon, and a category 6 balcony room would be $4600. These are both on the Eastern route in October 2005.

I absolutely love Disney, and we had originally planned on a Magic cruise, but a 50% price difference is hard for us to justify.

Admitted, we got a terrific deal on RCCL by booking so far ahead. If the prices were closer, I'd have a much harder time making the decision. For now, we'll keep hoping and looking for a great deal on Disney.

 

[CB4U]

wink,

There goes my theory of off-peak vs. peak times to sail......

Based on dollars, your choice won't be that difficult as Disney's prices will rise also.

 

[Hygiene99]

Wink ...
but who knows what the price would have been if u had booked early with Disney .. and all I can say is that we have a cat 7 for October for $2400.00 add 2 kids for another $600.00
puts u at $3000.00

plus an on board credit of $200.00

So $2800.00 not a huge difference... and u are on a Disney cruise............

 

[wink]

Hygeine99: You got a great deal! You're right, for that price difference, we would definately do Disney and not think twice about it.

While I'm excited to try another cruise line, we're definately going to miss the sail-away party, Castaway Cay, and just the overall charm of Disney.

 

[gamom]

Hygiene99, who is your travel agent, or did you book directly with DCL? That is a good rate.

 

[my3kids]

Comparing Hygiene's rate to my Holland America for the fall still shows Disney really is charging a premium price. For 2 in the equivilent of a category 6 is about $1800. We loved Disney, but I just won't pay that much more for a similar product.

 

[trishy]

The comparisons are definitely greater when you take into account the same itinerary, the same peak seasons (Easter, Xmas, and only on DCL, "Special Cruises"), and same accomodations (inside vs inside or outside vs outside - no balconies involved, seems the best way to compare to be fair). Now if you travel during a non-peak time, DCL prices start to look pretty reasonable again - always higher, but still within reason. There are a lot of great lines and great itineraries out there. DCL is not the only line that has kid programs. Also, TA's seem to have a lot better deals on other lines than on DCL. We love to cruise on DCL, too, in fact, we're booking a Halloween 2005 7-day cruise. Just wish DCL was more in line with what other cruise lines charge.

 

[CB4U]

Hygiene99,

Wow that is a great rate. Is that a 7-day? I'd definitely go with that price on a 7-day. Good for you!