DCL Summer 2017 Megathread - Itineraries are out!

[scgustafson]

25k for a family vacation to the British Isles makes no sense - 25k is for a premium destination on a very exclusive cruise line...
I am not surprised that now they do not manage to sell their cabins - who can possibly afford that? Well the ones who can actually go on the exclusive lines I guess.
Hopefully it will be a lesson learnt - price increases do have limits.

Are you talking $25K all in or just for the cruise. Because my British Isles cruise with premium cabin air fare (I can't sit in a coach seat at 6'2" comfortably for a 10-hour non-stop) and a family verandah cabin is quite a bit less than $25K for the 3 of us.

 

[CM Dad]

Concur with that thought; we cancelled Med cruise that had ports of call in Greece and Turkey because of a concern for unrest. 2016 will largely be drive-cations in the USA, and we're thinking similar for 2017.

The Mediterranean/Greek Isle cruise this summer was changed to just a Western Med cruise. DCL cancelled the ports in Greece, Turkey and Malta a while ago.

 

[disneymath]

They are offering discounts on the British Isles and Iceland in June. The 2015 Iceland cruise sold fast. Then they raised the price about 50% for 2016, and it didnt sell. There are still lots of empty rooms. It will be interesting to see the 2017 prices. They couldnt sell out their cruises this year, and with people being afraid to go Europe..who knows. I still cant imagine disney lowering prices...its just not what they do.

Iceland 2016 is also two weeks earlier than it was 2015 ... many schools in Canada and the northeast are still in session so that might be a factor for more availability.

 

[Ofinn]

Iceland 2016 is also two weeks earlier than it was 2015 ... many schools in Canada and the northeast are still in session so that might be a factor for more availability.

Im sure thats a factor, but the cheapest inside 11b started at 10,300 for a family of four. Add tips, excursions, alcohol, airfare...out of my league. It was a lot less in 2015.

 

[wcw57]

 

[wcw57]

welp, another monday morning and aint nuthin posted yet..............

 

[RedSox68]

They ended up offering all kinds of discounts in the end. People book and cancel. Generally with Dcl its book early or book late no in between. Its like Dcl raises the prices. People stop booking and then they have to offer discounts. I guess it works for them.

The only problem with this theory, for some, is that we can't wait to see if they offer discounts later on because we have to request our vacation dates way in advance. This would work great if you can jump on last minute pricing and book it, but then if you don't live close you are stuck with last minute airfares also.

 

[lorimay]

welp, another monday morning and aint nuthin posted yet..............

UGHHHH...........

It is still early though.......

 

[RedSox68]

Maybe they just want to make sure the bartenders get their 15% tips. I'm sure there are people out there that would take their free drink and wouldn't tip. I think the same goes for the restaurants. Disney adds 15% gratuity on to every drink you buy. I think it makes sense unless your not a drinker. If you don't drink then just have them remove the add on. I personally think unlimited drinks for 138.00 is a pretty good deal.

I guess it is if you have several drinks a day to make it worthwhile -- we don't. We might have one drink a day each and maybe a soda each a day. Next time I think we will pick the free specialty dining -- which they weren't offering when we originally booked.

 

[RedSox68]

Here we go again -- another week, another wait.......

 

[wcw57]

I think they're just messin' with us now. They're sitting in their offices, reading these boards, and laughing

 

[RedSox68]

I think they're just messin' with us now. They're sitting in their offices, reading these boards, and laughing

It is turning into a joke at this point -- and a mean one at that! Why is it every other cruise line has some of their 2018 itineraries already up and ready to book, and Disney can't even get the rest of 2017 out? It's maddening year after year and they seem to be trying to skew past history so we can't figure it out.......

 

[PnkRockPrincess]

Just a warning -- be careful of the "free" package offers on NCL. We got the "free" drink package only to be charged more than $136 for gratuities tacked on to that package. Of all the cruises we have done who gave us free specialty dining, etc., this is the only line that charged us gratuities. To me, that's not free. We wouldn't even drink $136 worth of drinks to make the gratuity even plausible

One $10 glass of wine and one $2.25 can of soda plus the 18% gratuity is $14.45 per day. Times 2 people for a seven day cruise is $202.30. You'd still come out ahead paying the gratuities on the "free" package.

It's still a pretty good deal.

I am with you in that I wish they had specialty dining (for 7 nights) or maybe unlimited internet as a choice.

 

[scgustafson]

Why did this need to be a separate thread when there is already an existing pinned thread about the rest of 2017 being released?

 

[Flossbolna]

Why did this need to be a separate thread when there is already an existing pinned thread about the rest of 2017 being released?

I already alerted this thread to the moderators and asked that it is being merged. The OP might just not have noticed the sticky at the top.

 

[wcw57]

nice catch!!!

nobody likes a loose thread...........

 

[scgustafson]

nice catch!!!

nobody likes a loose thread...........

With some consolidation overall on this forum, a lot of people would find the answers to their questions without having to start new threads each time.

 

[Ofinn]

The only problem with this theory, for some, is that we can't wait to see if they offer discounts later on because we have to request our vacation dates way in advance. This would work great if you can jump on last minute pricing and book it, but then if you don't live close you are stuck with last minute airfares also.

I meant this way of pricing seems to work for DCL. It's the way they have done things for years. Of course it doesn't work for most consumers. We have been fortunate to be able to take advantage of a lot of deals, but it hasn't always been easy switching vacation dates around at the last minute. It would be nice if DCL offered sales ahead of time on cruises that aren't selling, but if they are able to fill the rooms at 1-2 months out they probably won't do that. A lot of the cruises we have been on that didn't sell have been full of Cast members. Our Hawaii cruise comes to mind. We met lots of Disney employees on that cruise. If they can sell 70% of rooms at a premium, and the last 30% at 20-50% off then that's what they will do.

 

[wcw57]

undoubtedly...and there would be only 1 tipping thread, one obc thread, one photo thread...

i have previously posted a thread questioning why the seems to frequently be 2 threads with the same topic posted minutes apart as if the was some conspiratorial or competitive nature between posters....
either way, there was a (bad) pun involved in my post....if u have to explain them, they're no good

 

[RedSox68]

I meant this way of pricing seems to work for DCL. It's the way they have done things for years. Of course it doesn't work for most consumers. We have been fortunate to be able to take advantage of a lot of deals, but it hasn't always been easy switching vacation dates around at the last minute. It would be nice if DCL offered sales ahead of time on cruises that aren't selling, but if they are able to fill the rooms at 1-2 months out they probably won't do that. A lot of the cruises we have been on that didn't sell have been full of Cast members. Our Hawaii cruise comes to mind. We met lots of Disney employees on that cruise. If they can sell 70% of rooms at a premium, and the last 30% at 20-50% off then that's what they will do.

It really would be nice if Disney did what other cruise lines do on a regular basis -- have special sales, offers, etc. All of them do it -- but Disney. We've booked some amazing cruises on HAL, Princess and NCL on sale -- but their sales are sometimes a year out to 8 months out of the sailing dates -- giving us time to get airfare, etc. I don't believe, as you said, Disney will ever do the "norm" if they can sell the remainder of the rooms at last minute.